Last Day of Summer Break

Today was the last day of freedom for the kidlets... We had to get a few more things on their supply list, and then we were determined to do something fun. They were pretty darn patient as we ran from store to store. In between markers and thesaurus's we went into a grocery store and I asked for some fish trimmings... we bought three bags for $1 each.  We went and had ice cream and a little walk through an old cemetery.. the kids found some interesting things there,

Acorn hats.. each came home with a pocketful of acorns to plant.

There was a large wasp nest that had fallen from a tree.. There were no wasps around, but the paper was fascinating to the girls. It really is remarkable that what they do with some chewed up wood.

This gorgeous old tree's roots were growing around thise cobblestones.. I found it kind of cool

Someone painted this little rock and left it on a grave..

Then we went to feed the seals.. They are such hams.

 

 

As we were leaving, it started to rain. The girls were talking about how much fun they'd had on the way to the car..  love that :)

Win a Kellogg Prize Pack (Open to Canada)

WIN a Kellogg Canada breakfast and snack prize pack from the SnyMed.com blog! Prize pack may or may not be the same as the one pictured above (1 Pringles adult-sized t-shirt, 1 Kellogg's Krave cereal, 1 Kellogg's Rice Krispies Multi-Grain Shapes cereal, 1 Special K Original cereal, 1 Special K Low Fat Granola cereal, 1 Pringles Tortillas Nacho Cheese, 1 Pringles Tortillas Original, and 1 Pringles Tortillas Zesty Ranch snacks.)  Contest open to Canada, and ends on Thursday September 18th, 2014.
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Tomorrow's goals

Tomorrow will be a busy day here.. the kids go back to school on Tuesday and there is a lot to get ready to make it go smoothly. I haven't got all the school supplies yet .. bad me. Usually I am far more prepared than that.

Anyway, I am only going to make a small goal for tomorrow so it is attainable.

I am going to attack the junk drawer... I almost think that should be in capital letters! I haven't touched that drawer for sometime.. it is much easier to ignore it. Push everything down and close it quickly.  But with our place being small, every cupboard, drawer, nook and cranny needs too be utilized to the best of it's ability. So tomorrow will be purge and clean the drawer.

Wonder if we should make bets on how quickly something will be needed after I throw it out.
Do you think setting a daily goal for yourself helps you be more motivated?

Saucy Spaghetti

Today was a bit crazy... did a lot of running around. The oldest daughter has gone camping with friends. Lucky duck.. we have had a fire ban here for sometime, but it was lifted just recently. So they will be roasting marshmallows galore.

I tackled the mountain of tomatoes... well not really a mountain, only 25 pounds worth. But I am telling you, by the time I was half way through it felt like a mountain. I had a system going.. prick the skin of the tomatoes.. 10 at a time.. pop into boiling water... watch for the skin to crack, then scoop out and plunge into a bowl of ice water. Then quickly put 10 more in the boiling water.. peeling the first 10 while waiting on those ones. Squeeze the juice out and repeat.. many more times!

The reason was for all this was for spaghetti sauce. We eat a fair bit of pasta here.. I love it, the kids love it.. hubby tolerates it.

I had to cook the sauce in two batches, as I didn't have a pot big enough for it all. While the first one was simmering, I ask hubby to cut up some hot pepper to go in.. I said, three peppers.. 1 1/2 for each batch. These peppers were smoking hot.. when I made salsa the other day I had a burning thumb from doing a single swipe to get the seeds out of  ONE. No was was I touching them again. Hubby has calloused hands from his work.. so it doesn't bother him. Well... he heard me wrong... he put all three into one batch. AND mixed it up. *sigh* it is very spicy!

Oh well.. I will most likely use it in some lasagna at some time.

The second batch was much better...

Gorgeous Amazonite

When I got these gorgeous Amazonite beads, I knew it would be lovely in a bracelet. Worn on the wrist you can hold it up and gaze at these deep rich stones. Made with solid copper clasp, this statement piece would look lovely dressed up, or casual. Will certainly catch eyes!
I will hate to part with it.. but it was made to be sold.

Todays abundance

Today's abundance was pears!! Yummy, sweet, juicy, delicious, pears. I answered an ad on a local online selling site. This person had unsprayed pears ready and we could come pick them for $5 a bag.

I took one of my twins... I like when I am able to split the kids up and taking one of them with me. Even when we are doing mundane things like shopping and errands.. I feel like I am able to connect with them and we enjoy lots of laughs doing almost anything. A lot of great talks happen in those times. Plus lets face it.. the extra help is always nice!

I am not sure who ( yes, sadly it was me ) decided picking them at noon on a hot day was a good idea! Phew were so red faced and thirsty by the time we were done. The lady ended up only charging us $10 for three bags. What a great deal!  I am going to give them a couple days to ripen a bit more before canning them.
We will be enjoying this bounty through the winter!

Zesty Blueberries???

Blueberries.. yum. Who can resist plump ripe blueberries? Of course their season goes all too fast and unless you preserve them in someway you are waiting a long time to enjoy them again. This year I decided to make some blueberry jam... I did not think this would be a hit with my kids.. they tend to be a bit picky and have their favourites that they rigidly stick by. I remind them often, when trying to get them to try something new, that it might be their new favourite thing..

Anyway, the appeal of this recipe was that it also had lime in it. I like zing.. sweet is ok, but with an added zing, it seems to have the right amount of kick. Having seen some rave reviews for it, I jumped in and tried it myself.  I was so happy I did. Not only is this jam low in sugar, it is also pectin free. I love recipes that don't call for a lot of ingredients!

The lime enhances the flavour so much. Everyone in the house had a spoonful to lick... even hubby. It received a resounding thumbs up from them all. This recipe is a keeper.

Here is the ingredients:
4 cups blueberries
1 1/4 cups sugar
zest of two limes
1/4 lime juice (this should be store bought to make sure it has the right acidity)

Combine in a pot all the ingredients.. Stirring often and making sure the berries are mashing to your liking ... simmer for about 20 minutes or till it sets.
Water bath for 10 min.

It made 2 and a half pints for me.. and we happily ate the half pint over the next few days.  I will definitely double or triple this recipe next year.

A Jarring Experience!

I love canning jars... I admit it.. I am sure from my last couple posts about canning it may not be that big of a surprise. There are so many interesting ones out there.. the old ones are my favourite. I tend to like old things.. they have history behind them. You wonder about the family they belonged too. Who worked hard filling them. The comfort and celebrations that the food in them were part of. I can picture people from days gone by spending hot summer afternoons harvesting and preserving their families bounty for the coming winter. Something quite comforting about that.
When I was in Arizona, I found the coloured Ball brand canning jars. I was determined to bring some home. Here the only stores I could find them in were craft stores, and they wanted WAY too much for them. So I found the cases of the pint size jars.. now the decision.. blue or green??? Initially I decided on the blue... but before I went home I went back and got a case of the green as well.

I packed them in my carry on and carried them through two airports.. more than one border patrol inspector looked twice when it went through the x-ray machine. I also had to unpack my bag at both airports to show them that they were empty *sigh* .. by the time I got home, my arms were tired from carrying the bag, but I was glad I had bought them.

I also bought the top accessory to turn them into a drinking cup. I thought they were kind of fun.

 

The blue and green coloured jars were brought out on Ball's anniversary. Many people love the old vintage blue Ball jars. The original blue was caused from a mineral in the sand that the Ball company used to make them. It was very unique to the area it came from and I think it is safe to say was a trade mark.

I was shopping at a local second hand store and found some wonderful glass top canning jars.. these have the vintage zinc rings. While I wont use these for actually canning, I will use them to store things in.

I only paid .50 a piece for them. Somehow the jars we have now, pale in comparison to these lovely old jars. But they still look pretty good when they are filled and stacked up on a shelf.

A fishy tale

Today the kids and I went to the pet store.. that is sort of like going to the zoo for my kids lol. They have a lot of different creatures there .. cats for adoption, snakes, spiders, birds, lizards, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats and mice.. and a huge display of fish.

We went for something specific today. We have a large 100 gallon tank and recently we have had an explosion of snails. I was given some live plants and the eggs must have been on them. The tank, almost over night is just full. We tried containing the problem by picking the ones we could see, but soon realized that was like plugging a hole in a damn with our finger! Futile!

I did a lot of research and looked at what our options were. One option was to treat the tank with some stuff that would kill them.. but we also have ghost shrimp, and it would of killed them. The other option was to get some Loaches.. they love snails. Seemed like the right thing to do to me!

So we got two

But do you think we could get out of there with only them!?! No way.. We also came home with two more mollies (we already have a healthy amount of them) AND... duh duh duuuuh... a Peacock Eel

I had a couple of them long long ago and loved them. They were friendly, I was able to hand feed them and they also loved swimming inbetween my fingers if I put my hand in the tank. This guy was bought for my oldest daughter. He is buried in the substrate right now, so we will have to see how friendly he turns out to be.

 

***Pictures from pet store website, not my own***

More Canning!

My family loves pickles. Really loves pickles. I used to be able to buy these amazing and huge dill pickles at a grocery store, bulk. They were so big you could fit maybe 3 in a container. They always sold out quickly, and unfortunately now they don't carry them. When I would bring them home, the kids would dive into it.
I decided to make some yummy extra extra garlicky dill pickles. I went shopping at the local farms and got the dill and pickling cukes.. I had no idea how much the recipe would make.. frankly I put as many as I could possibly fit into the jars. I put the cukes in a bowl and sprinkled sea salt on them.. then added water until it was just covering them. I placed a dinner plate over top to keep them under the water and let them soak for more than 12 hours.. I didn't time it, but you can soak them from 12-24 hours.

At the same times as I got this part going, I did a sea salt bath for my dill. Hanging them upside down in a salt water mixture will ensure you don't have any added surprises in your jar.. and yes there were a few in my water afterwards.
I got my pickling mix ready.. and boy does it make the house smell of pickling! Heated my jars.. and got my canner boiling. Peeled my garlic and cut it into quarters and then once the jars were sterilized and hot I packed them with the garlic, dill and cucumbers. Then poured the pickling mix into the jars and wipe.. lids and rings.. and into the canner they go.

 

 

This was the first time I ever had a jar break on me when canning. I was given the jars and there may have been a small crack that I didn't notice. I was sad, because I didn't want to waste any of the pickles. I didn't notice that it was cracked until the water bath was done, and some of the liquid was gone. I took that jar and emptied the contents into another jar.. thankfully I had enough of the pickling liquid to cover it and I put that jar to ripen in the fridge. Water bathing it again to seal it would of meant some very mushy pickles .. so we will see how it turns out.

Next year I plan on growing my own pickling cukes.. The cheapest I could find was $1 lb and that adds up quickly. Those little cukes are heavy.
On with the domestic fun!! Wonder what will be next...???? stay tuned :)

Jammin

I was oh so fortunate to be able to pick raspberries at a friend of mine's Mom's place.. plump juicy berries.. with nothing yucky sprayed on them.
My girls love raspberry jam. well lets be honest. .who doesn't love raspberry jam!?!
My friends Mom told me how she was making her jam.. with no pectin. Sounds good to me, so I gave it a try this round and was very pleased with the results.

• 8 cups berries
• 6 cups sugar (I have seen online there are recipes calling for equal amounts of fruit to sugar, I didn't think it needed that)

How easy can that be?? Seriously!

Get your jars sterilizing and the lids and rings in a pot heating.

Heat your berries and give them a good mashing.

Add your sugar and bring the whole mixture up to 220 degrees.

Fill your jars.. then put them in to the canner for their water bath. 5 Min after the water starts to boil (time from the point of boiling)

and voila

 

What to make next?... hmm stay tuned to find out :)

Arizona

I recently traveled to Arizona. A friend of mine owns a house about an hour from Phoenix. We went for a week at the end of June. It was hot.. and yes, while I kept hearing it was a "dry heat" (that became a bit of a joke!) once you hit the 40's (100's for my American readers) it is just plain hot. I was surprised how quickly I acclimated to the heat .. but yes, it still was hot lol. That just gave us an excuse to lounge in my friends wonderful pool.

Knowing I had never been to Arizona, my friend went out of her way to take me places and show me the sights. I was floored with the beauty I found everywhere. It was a different kind of beauty than I was used too on the west coast of Canada.. but, just the same.. it was very pretty. I loved the saguaro cactus I saw everywhere. Some were huge and gnarled.. you could see they had been through many years of weather. Some cactus we saw had fruit on it.. that was pretty cool.

We took a drive to the Superstition Mountains... they are amazing. I would love to go in a cooler season and have the chance to hike out there.

We had a wonderful experience one day while driving on one of the highways.. a way off to the side, on a cliff we could see the silhouette of some wild horses. We pulled over and found a road that led us out to where they were. These horses were amazing.. most were in remarkably good condition. They almost looked like they had been brushed and let out for the day.. but then you would see some of the stallions and see how beat up they were. Scars covered most of their bodies. Beautiful untamed animals. For yes we did try and get closer to some of them.. they were having none of us lol.. the stallion would quickly rush them off.

We went to Scottsdale and walked around one evening.. it is a really quaint place. Lots of statues and very unique stores.

I enjoyed my time in Arizona.. and can't wait to go again!

Sunday Etsy Ramblings

The gorgeous colours of Autumn are showing up everywhere. This time of year, like no other.. I want to bring the outdoors in. acorns, leaves and even bare branches make such lovely decorations. The theme of decorating has been on my mind a lot the last couple weeks, and I have been keeping my eyes open for inspirations for new crafty decor items. As I was rambling through etsy I found so many wonder things..Here is just a few,

 I love these primitive candy corn. So unique They can be found here

 

 

 

This banner is super sweet. Found here

 

 

Last but not least.. not home decor, but so very pretty... love this comb. Can be found here

 

How do you decorate for Fall?

 

 

 

*I am no way connected to the makers of these items, these are just things that have caught my eye and I wanted to share. I receive no compensation from posting them here and do not endorse the sellers in any way*

Contesting

Contesting, contester... call it what you might, this is a huge pass time on the internet. I read a while back that this was one of the biggest growing hobbies online. With the amount of contests that you can find, it is not surprising.
I am an avid contester. I have been at it for years.. but took a break due to life being too busy. I am back at it and boy do the wins fuel you to enter more. It is hugely addictive. Yesterday I received an email letting me know I had won $500.00!
So where do you go to find contests? I find them in a number of ways. I belong to a few groups. They usually require you to submit a number of contests each month to remain active. These groups can be a lot of fun, but most take their entries seriously so if you apply to join one be prepared to not only submit the required amount, but also to make sure you are not submitting one that has already been posted. Single entry contests can void your entry if you accidentally enter again!
Another place that is good to find contests is blogs. The number of entries is usually smaller so the odds are a bit better. Face book too seems to be the new advertising mecca for companies, and they are maxing out their visibility with contests that make you "Like" them before you can enter. That can annoy your Face book friends if you enter a lot and your pages is filled with them. I would suggest you let friends know and suggest they block that part of your posts.
I also use Google. I love Google. What can you NOT find on Google!?!
Which ever way you enter, have fun and don't give up. We all have dry spells, but eventually you will see some wins coming in and there are some incredibly fun prizes out there.

Loreal Canada Youth Code Sample Giveaway

Loreal Canada is giving away 75,000 samples of their Youth Code Cream. Who knows, it might be your new favourite skin care item :)

https://www.facebook.com/lorealpariscanada/

Yummy Sweetness... Figs are so good.

Figs have been around for a long long time...We have all heard about Adam and Eve using fig leaves to cover themselves once they became aware of their nakedness. Edible figs were one of the first plants cultivated by man. There are fossils of figs that have been found dating back to 9400–9200 BC in the Jordan valley, north of Jericho.
Figs are chock full of goodness, thiamine (B1), Riboflavin (B2), Niacin, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium and a great source of fibre.
Figs are very easy to grow and require very little care. Give them a sunny location and they pretty much take care of themselves. I am often appalled by the price of figs in the grocery store.. knowing that I get more than I can eat off my tree.

A lot of people have never eaten a fig.. they look.. well different and a lot of people think "fig newton" when they hear the word. I can tell you figs taste nothing like fig newtons! They are delectable. The tree I have is one from my Father in law.. he had a few different kinds.. and I do wish had some of the other varieties now. The one I have is kind of a middle ground. I am not really sure what the variety is.. they are sweet but not as sickly sweet as some I have tasted. I have also had ones that were similar that were quite.. well, bland. Not very sweet at all. This one is a nice mix and he referred to it as an Italian fig. Now if it is that kind, or if it was because his Italian neighbor gave him a cutting, I have no idea!
If you do a search on google for recipes with figs, you will find some delicious temptations. I prefer them fresh, but, with some pungent cheese would be pretty yummy as well.

We're going to Mars

Long ago, I was taking my three kids grocery shopping. It is never an exciting thing for the kids to do, especially when it is a large shopping trip. I do try and make trips to the grocery store as exciting as possible.. the kids get their own "list" or we choose a colour we are going to search for.. but no matter what, it is hard to keep still. So, on this particular trip I had promised the kids we would do something fun, afterwards. I floundered what we would do, I didn't have very much money and it was getting late, so not many places were open. I wanted to do something to burn their energy off.. so I took them to a park that is behind one of our rec centers. It has a lovely large grassed area with a lot of beautiful oak trees. There is a huge hill to roll down and a woodchip path you can follow through a forested area. The kids kept asking where we were going, and I told them, to mars.. more to shut them up than to be funny. There is a backyardigans show that is about that.. Anyway they were amused and ever since we have called that particular spot, Mars.
Today we went to Mars again.. they needed to run. And boy did they run.. up and down the big hill. As there were running there were sparrows swooping where ever they ran. It was interesting to watch how fast the flew along the ground. We figured it was probably because as they were playing, bugs would be stirred up from the grass. Sparrows of course eat bugs. They followed the kids all over and then the kids tried following them!
We went for a bit of a walk and I tried to get the kids to slow down and look around. We talked about camaflouge and how creatures hide.. Once they started looking, we found so many interesting things. A baby bunny, a beautiful big moth with amazing patterns and an "eye" on it's wings, a garter snake (much to their delight I yelped and dropped what I was carrying as it slithered almost under my foot!) We found a lot of different birds and interesting grasses, berries and moss.
Our little energy burning trip to Mars turned into a fun, much talked about.. experience. We came home and the girls drew some pictures to remember their day.

Festival of Trees

Today I was a Kindergarten field trip. We went to a local Hotel that hosts the "Festival of Tree's"

There was lots of great ideas.

The one below had ornaments made from nuts and there is some squash in there too. 

 I had to get in one macro shot... cause, well.. im me lol

I really likes this simple reindeer design. A very easy craft to do with young children.

We havent actually decorated our tree yet. Its in the house, in the stand... waiting. So today was very inspiring.

Sunday Etsy Exploring

Organic waldorf babies...  I love these, so cute and cuddly.

 These Acorns were in so many wonderful colours and the real acorn "hat" just adds so much to them. It would be incredibly hard to pick my fav of these!

These were found at SewnNatural, Link to their Home page on Etsy.

Handmade Wooden Toys

I am a sucker for handmade.. there is something about things that have been touched and worked on that truly makes them special. These wooden toys caught my eye while I was wandering around online. I really love the idea for crayon storage, they are cool enough kids might actually USE them!

Click here to visit the maker of these wonderful Toys.