How I spent my Saturday morning

Making JAM!

24 cups of crushed berries
16 cups of sugar
6 cups of water
6 boxes of SureJell pectin
Lots of LOVE

Mmmmm strawberry freezer jam for a year! Yes Sue some is for you :) and Jsue I am returning your two jars with jam in them :) best way to return jars in my opinion.

saturday in the country

Steve split and stacked wood.
All day.

So me and the boys did some other things to occupy ourselves.
We walked to the hardware store from the bridge. 
Actually Olaf, Serenity, and Micah rode their little run bikes while Christie, Donna, myself and my mom walked behind them, carrying the little babies.  And on the way back Olaf had to be carried too because apparently his endurance isn't that of his cousins :)  But we all had a good time out in the rain, even Forest and Kyler who both (blessedly) slept the whole time.

After lunch somehow both the boys ended up sleeping at the same time - yeah!  So I made applesauce, as shown below.

Does anyone else ever use these apple peeler/corer/slicer doodads?  They are AMAZING.  I want one, badly.  This one is my mothers.  I borrow it sometimes in the fall because it makes anything with large quantities of apples so much easier.  I swear we'd eat more apple pies if I had one.  (Hint hint mom, Sue.... Christmas... just sayin')

Nevermind the particle board countertop... we'll get our concrete one installed one of these days...

Since Wenatchee calls themselves the "Apple Capital of the World", we always have lots of places to get apples in the fall during harvest time.  They used to export more apples than any other place in the world, and do hold the world record for largest apple pie ever baked, but I think Japan is beating them in apple exports now.  That's okay with me.  There are still PLENTY of apples to go around.  Not to mention pears and cherries.

My applesauce recipe is this:  Put all cut up apples in a pot with some water to keep it from burning.  Bring to boil.  Turn down to simmer for like 1/2 hour, stirring every 5 minutes or so.  Put in the blender and pulse a few times until smoother.  Voila!  I don't add any sugar.  These apples were Fujis from Mom and Dad's tree, so they were already pretty sweet.

I just love making things to eat to put in the freezer.  This is my third batch made!  Although batch 2 didn't count because I sort of forgot I was making it, and burned it to the pan so badly it took steel wool, hours of scrubbing, and my sister in law's mom Donna to get it all off the pan.  Needless to say that batch didn't quite work out.  I am just thankful our precious All-Clad cookware survived.  I can't afford it again without a wedding registry.

Fire in the fireplace was nice too.

All in all a good day.

on being home.

We'll I am finally home!  After one long day yesterday, I don't think I'll be needing to head back to Othello soon.  Well, except maybe next Monday.  But no more spending the night!  Woohoo! 

It feels really nice to be home.  Still have some mental stress going on with work and scheduling and budgeting and committing to work on the side which is turning out to be more work than I thought... but alas.  Hopefully it will all be slowing down soon.

Anyway, hoping to write a post soon on what I was doing on construction.  I know some of you would be interested in that :)  (well I think so anyway).

So here's to being home and starting the transition to an elastic wasteband!.... ahhh how I adore thee...

Peace, Joy, and Love

Here's to a Christmas Eve that's full of wonder, joy, and celebration!

Love from Plain

December is a crazy month

Yup, December is crazy.  And as much as I may whine about being busy or not having enough time in the day... I do just LOVE this month.

I love the special family birthdays -- Aleksandr, Sue, Serenity, Haakon, Josh and Steven.  Whew!  That's a lot, but apparently a good month to share time and experiences with one another as we see some of you for parties!

I love decorating for the holidays.  Yes it can be cheesy.  Yes some people go way over the top.  Yes even I have many lights and ornaments and a few wall hangings in my house... but I have no guilt over "commercialization" of Christmas... because for some reason it sort of brings back the magic that I remember Christmas feeling like when I was little.  Hope, expectation, joy... all those feelings.  I remember just laying on the couch in the dark with my sister Kirsten and just talking and staring at the lit up tree and listening to Little Drummer Boy off Mom's favorite tape...  I swear it was magical and so much fun!  I know those feelings aren't a result of the decorations, but somehow they are connected in my mind because of how much I love them when I was younger.

I love Christmas music!  Top favorite album for the season -- Amy Grant Christmas.  Just can't go wrong with that CD.  Then Late Tuesday.  Their rendition of O Holy Night is AMAZING.

I love cold weather and snow outside, and a crackling fire on the inside.

I love that Gravity rarely has too much work in December, and so I get to keep Steven home with me a lot :)

I love the parties and many excuses to see people that you love, both family and friends!

I love seeing an outpouring of generosity from many folks I know to those less fortunate -- food, gifts, money, volunteering...  and I love giving back to the community I live in, in small ways, and hoping to be a blessing to someone else.  

I love Oly.  Enough said.

I love ALL OF YOU READING THIS!  and here's a shout-out to Grandma Hazel - it was so nice to talk to you last night, and I am sure glad to know that you and Grandpa Russ enjoy reading this blog :)

Happy December 9th.  Happy birthday Josh!

fall days

Steve hasn't been home for more than 24 hours since Labor Day weekend (3 nights, mostly spent sleeping)... boo.  But I did just find these pics from that weekend when we had our lovely guests the Sorensens over for 3 days of rain rain go away... and good fellowship, talks, lattes, garage sales and wine.  Yum.

 

 

Stopped over at the folks place this last week when my car was sputtering/stalling/in bad shape so Dad could change the spark plugs... ended up going to the mechanic instead :)  Luckily, $350 later, I have new spark plugs, wires, and valve covers.  Apparently I am lucky my car didn't kaput at a stoplight 6 months ago with the condition of my spark plugs.  Who knew all the cylinders firing at the right time depended on 4 little pieces of metal?  Anyway, caught these pictures of Oly while Grandpa was looking under the hood of the Subaru.

Started my FIRST FIRE in the fireplace Thursday night... IT.WAS.AWESOME.  Felt like fall, winter, cozyness... I loved it.  Only wishing Steven was here to share it with me... just a few more weeks and he will be!

I have thought multiple times since Steve started his business and traveling so much... WAIT A MINUTE - I GOT MARRIED SO I DIDN"T HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS!  Aka car breakdowns, cutting and putting up my own Christmas tree, plumbing backups and the creepy roto rooter man, shoveling mountains of snow, frozen pipes, chopping kindling to start a fire, attending weddings solo... but you know, I think it is just making me stronger and tougher.  You just learn to deal with it, and find people to help you out.  And BOY do I have more respect for single moms/dads, and those who have spouses deployed in the military...  it's not easy doing it all on your own.  YOU GUYS ROCK.   I don't know how you do it.

Happy Fall weekend folks, hope it is FANTASTIC and you are enjoying watching and feeling the season changing!