Life

As you have well noticed, I have been very neglectful with my blog. Life has just been busy, and I have not made it a huge priority. I wish I would because I think this is an amazing way to keep track of your family "goings on." I love that we will have a family photo journal someday from this.

I decided that I would record the day to day of what I have been up to lately. Sit down and hold on tight, this could get really exciting..... :) This list is not in any particular order.

1) Canning! I have wanted to do this for a long time. When we moved up here, I decided that this was the year. I bought two steam canners at DI and hoped there would be something to can. Well, I have done a few different things. When we got home from Labor day in Albuquerque, I watched Erin and Kelly's house for a couple of days, until they got home. They told me to check their tomatoes, and that I could pick what was ready. I had NO idea that there could ever be as many as there were. I only picked what was really ripe. If I tought it could last a couple of days until they got home, I didn't pick it. I felt bad. I think this was THE time for their tomatoes, and there were so many ripe ones at one time. So I picked them. And picked them. And picked them. I would estimate there was probably 50 lbs. So, I went home and decided to learn how to can tomatoes. I actually really enjoyed canning them. There was a learning curve trying to get everything timed right, but I did it. And the feeling when you are done, and looking at bottled food on the table, I was really excited. I ended up bottling 7 quarts and 9 pints. Thanks Erin and Kelly! A friend also gave me some apricots. I froze them when I got them, because I didn't have the time to do them then. So I did them the other day. Canning jam is EASY! I really had fun with it. I ended up making 20 pints of it. AND, Kelly's mom gave me some peaches the other day, so making jam is on the list for today or tomorrow. It makes me want to have fruit tree's some day. Think of what you could do! (PS- I bought a pressure cooker/canner the other day at a garage sale. It is not a big one, but it will be fine until I have hundreds of dollars to spend on one. I saw it and the lady was asking $25. I didn't know if that was a good deal or not. It had been used once, and most of the canning parts to it were still in plastic. So I went home and looked it up online. I am glad that I did. They sell new with the parts for about $130. I scored for $25. Now I want to try canning chicken in it. We'll see if that happens anytime soon.)

These are the bottled tomatoes and apricot jam. I wish I was a good photographer and could make this picture neat. The jam is the one on the right.

Here's our hall closet with my bottles. The Kerr box is full of jam. (By the way, as you can tell, cleaning out and organizing the closet has not been on the list. )

The next step in my canning adventures, is having enough confidence to give some away. I keep worrying about whether I did it right, if it is pretty, too thick, too runny.......

#2- Cleaning up after canning. Here in this rental, we have a stove/oven that is very...unique. Old. Frustrating. You name it. Unfortunately, our landlord thinks it is great. She kept telling us that "it's a Jen-Aire you know. A great stove!" Does it being a Jen-Aire make up for the fact that it can only fit one 9x13 pan in it? Or that it burns my food? Or that it is from the 60's or 70's? Hmm. It took me two days to clean it up after canning. That was a project. It has a steel top, but unfortunately it does not seem to be stainless.

#3- Babysitting- I have decided that having two kids who are basically the same age/stage is HARD. I usually only watch Jossue 1 or 2 days a week. He is about 5 months older than Morgan. Last week I had him for 4. I am not a full-time babysitter. I won't bore you with all of the antics. I will just say two words- terrible two's. And I am not kidding. Thankfully I made it through. But it is definitely worthy of this list, because it took the majority of my week trying to make sure we all survived. Thankfully we are back to one or 2 days a week.

#4- Laundry- The story of my life. I gathered up and sorted all of the hampers and after working on laundry all week, I still had five loads that needed to be done. I have gone through all of the kids clothes and have seriously weeded them out, trying to cut down on the laundry and the mess. Is it working? I wonder, because there is still an awful lot to do. I guess my job as a homemaker is secure. I will never run out of things to do around the house.

   

 #5- Cleaning up after messes. I love it when the kids are playing and being creative. They love to build forts downstairs in our family room, but they don't always love to clean it up. I am grateful we have this family room, because it is downstairs, and no one has to see it. They can play and it can be a mess, and usually it is ok. But then, I reach my limit, and we have to do a major clean-up.  

 So, this is a slice of my life for the past couple of weeks. Can you handle the excitement? That is why I titled this life. This is it. Real life. And most days, I love it.