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.

Otters

The girls and I headed to the marina to feed the seals. Instead of seals we found, Otters! These two adorable ones were climbing over a covered boat when we got there. One is a baby. When I saw them I crouched down to take some pictures and they headed over .. which kind of made me a bit nervous. Baby was not nearly as worried about us as Mom was.. She intervened and wouldn't let the baby eat the fish we brought and herded it into the water. These are actually river otters, which are in more abundance than sea otters. They also have a longer tail and are a lot more adept on land than sea otters. All however, are so entertaining to watch! Look at the in water picture, the size of its front paws is amazing..and with that webbing you can see why they are such great swimmers.

Fun in the harbour

Recently a friend and I headed down to the inner harbour and checked out the buskers. This guy was juggling fire, while balanced on a metal pipe. There was some amazing artists selling their wares. I love looking at what people have created. It was fun to step away for a couple hours from it all... 

School is coming.... yes it is!

This year the return to school is a biggie for me. My twins will be heading to kindergarten. Full day kindergarten! I havet had full days to myself since before kids. My twins arrived just as my oldest was heading into kindergarten.... so while I am dreading not seeing the little gaffers all day, I am looking forward to getting life back to some kind of "normalcy".

Having my Mother inlaw, who has alzhiemers, to help requires quite a bit of time too. So I will hardly be rolling in the free hours. But I am SO looking forward to organizing my house.

We live in a small house... a very small house. I could say its cozy.. but most of the time its too cozy for comfort. Five of us in a two bedroom home.. plus a dog.... yeah you get the picture! While I clean one area, the rest of the house is being "uncleaned" quickly.

I am also hoping to get some challenges for myself going... I was reading a blog today on organization.. decluttering, and I saw a discussion on taking on a challenge a month of stopping something. Quite a few were trying to not swear for a month.. I need to give it some thought but I like the idea. Challenging yourself feels good. Here is the link to the blog, incase you want to read it for yourself. http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/give-it-up

Award Ceremony

Today was my oldest's school award ceremony. I am so incredibly proud of her. Last year she missed a lot of school, she got sick a lot.. including a bout when she was very sick with swine flu. So this year she did a year long review of last years math, along with completing this years. She will never be a mathematicians, but she is doing well and holding her own. It wasn't easy to come home every day and do math homework either! Her report card was wonderful. Now for a summer full of fun.... AND no math homework! :)

Can't pick your family

When I met my husbands family for the first time.. and got to know them. I never thought I would end up being one of the primary caretakers of my Mother Inlaw.
My Father inlaw passed away and I started noticing things about my Mother Inlaws behaviour that bothered me, worried me. I mentioned it to other family members who said she was "fine". Well she wasnt, isn't. She now lives in an assisted living condo. I do her shopping for her and am her rock. She calls me when she is worried, mad, confused and bored. I do my best to be all that she needs. I certainly dont begrudge her this at all. She is a wonderful woman and I love her. But I do get angry that her own family are so quick to pass it to me. She deserves to have them WANT to be there for her.

Its Spring.. almost Summer

Wow we have had the most crazy weather here on the west coast.. everything is behind. But slowly its starting to feel like mother nature is catching up..

The bird house in our backyard is a hive of activity and the bugs are starting to show up.. even the dreaded wasps that my 4 yr old is terrified of because of her first sting last year.

Blast from the past.... errr not soooo past.

This past late spring I had the opportunity to spend a while wandering the grounds of Hatley Castle, also known as Royal Roads University. The grounds are beautiful. Being late spring the gardens were bursting with new growth...and the green that IS spring.

Life is good!

The kids and I spent a wonderful day at the beach. The wind was blowing and the birds were loving flying in it. You could see their enjoyment in the way they caught it just right and would dip down, skimming along the water. Were spent three hours there and dug in the sand, played and just enjoyed lazing in the sunshine. Summer is winding down but this was one day that we slowed down and savoured it completely.