MY MARY AND MARTHA MOMENT

     Yesterday at church I had a "Mary and Martha" moment.  I am in charge of an upcoming crafting activity for my ward (church congregation) and was talking to the Young Women's President about inviting the young women to join us.  I asked her to come with me to the foyer where I had a display set up so that I could explain what  projects we were going to be making so that she could then inform the girls.  While walking to the foyer she ran into two young women who were visibly upset, she stopped to inquire as to what the tears were about and proceeded to give them hugs and words of encouragement.  As this scene played out before my eyes I was impressed with the amount of compassion she was showing.  I realized that I was in such a hurry to show her the projects that I had walked right past these two  young sisters.  I was a woman on a mission and completely missed an opportunity to show charity to them.  As I thought about this later in the day I realized that I was definitely having a "Martha" kind of day and she was being "Mary".

     Now I don't mean to berate myself because I truly had a job to do which was a righteous endeavor, however I am glad I had the experience that taught me that sometimes most times people are more important than things.  I will now look for opportunities for Christ-like charity as was shown to me by this sweet sister.

LET'S BUILD A SNOWMAN

HOW TO BUILD A SNOWMAN

I thought I would share a tutorial on how to build a simple snowman out of wood and other simple materials.

Materials needed; 1- 4x4 post, not pressure treated.  I got mine at Home Depot for around $8-$10 ( I can't remember for sure as I bought this one about 6 months ago for another project). It comes in 8 ft. lengths and you have to cut it down to size.

I cut the main body in a 9.5" length

The hat consists of a 1"x6" pine board cut 5.25".

The top of the hat is another piece of the 4x4 cut to 2 inches.

  

This is how it is stacked.  But first paint the main body of the snowman with white paint.  I used Apple Barrel, white 20403E.  The bill and the top are painted black using Apple Barrel black 20404E.

Here are the extra supplies needed:

A piece of fabric (cotton works well) cut 3"x 25" folded in half lengthwise for the scarf.  I tore the fabric rather than cutting for a rustic and frayed look.

   

Fabric, sprig of greenery, a bunch of mini pine cones and a calligraphy pen to draw the face.  You could use a Sharpie to draw the face on the snowman too

I hot glued the hat decorations on the bill.

The nose is something I cut using my scroll saw.  You could also paint a cute nose right on the face using orange paint.  I usually draw the face with a pencil first so I get it just right.

A quick spray of  Glitter Blast is the finishing touch.

Oh ya, some mismatched buttons are glued down the front also.

THIS PARTICULAR SNOWMAN IS PART OF THE INVENTORY I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON FOR MY ANNUAL BAZAAR.

AN UNEXPECTED NUTTY SURPRISE

 Checking my mailbox yesterday I was surprised to see a package inside.  I started searching my brain trying to remember if I had ordered anything recently or maybe hubby had ordered something?  I then spied a familiar name on the return address, it was from a blogging buddy that I have gotten to know and even had the honor to meet in person a few years ago.

I recently commented on one of her blog posts about her son and daughter-in-law who spent the summer going to fairs selling sugared and spiced nuts.  A mere mention that I LOVE nuts put her into action and low and behold she sent me a bag of them.  How stinkin' awesome is that?

PECAN, ALMONDS AND CASHEWS COVERED IN SUGAR AND SPICES. 

THEY ARE DELICIOUS! 

LUCKY ME!

THANK YOU MY SWEET FRIEND.

Her name is Saimi.  Go check out her blog here: http://mydogarchie.blogspot.com/

SHE IS AWESOME AND FUNNY AND SHARES THE FUNNIEST STORIES ON HER BLOG.

(Oh and she has the cutest little twin grandsons ever)

Thanks again Saimi, you rock!

RENEWED COMMITMENT TO BLOGGING

(Photo on right you can see the corner where the bookcases used to be and now the Pellet stove gets the corner)

I recently had to move some bookcases from my living room to make space for a pellet stove.  During the process of moving a few hundred bazillion books I came across some of my previous feeble attempts at keeping a journal.  I guess I have never seen myself as a very good writer so to me the journals felt like travelogues and needless to say they were quite lacking.  Last night before going to sleep I had the very distinct thought to return to blogging as my way of keeping a journal.  When I first started blogging I loved it and worked very hard at keeping it updated with family adventures and just some of my everyday life.

Move over Facebook, take a backseat Instagram, get out of the way texting because I am no longer going to make you my go-to communication, the blog is gettin' some more attention.

Here are just a few things that I have been up to lately:

 These are some of the last blooms of summer from my front yard.  I am going to enjoy them until the first frost then I will give way to fall and winter.

 With fall comes hunting season for a lot of people.  This is a sign I made to sell in a Salon that lets me sell some of my goods at.  I believe it sold the first day.

 I have always admired hydrangea wreaths but have been too cheap frugal to buy one for myself.  I happened to have bought different colors of silk hydrangeas for various projects over the years and was able round up enough to make my own wreath at a fraction of the cost of ready made ones.

 Another sign I made for the salon.

 These projects were made for my cousin who has a florists shop.  She is very generous to let me sell things through her store.

This is a custom order for a friend who is giving her daughters room a makeover.  Old windows make great frames for quotes, sayings and scriptures.

Nothing much has changed about my life so I don't expect to blog/journal about anything too wild or crazy, just me and my simple little life.

It feels good to be back...

HOME CANNING AND DEHYDRATING...SO REWARDING!

It's been awhile since I posted anything to this old blog, time to blow off the dust and get busy I guess.

For the last few months I have had the drive to get back to canning and dehydrating, it's almost an obsession but I stop short of full blown crazy prepper canning lady, (well maybe I am a little bit crazy, ha!).Putting up meals in jars has also been happening along with the canning obsession.

I blame YOUTUBE for my current state.  I have found a couple of ladies on YouTube that have posted some very informative and inspiring videos.  My favorite one is Linda at Linda's Pantry.  I can't get a link to work but if you go to YOUTUBE and type in "Linda's Pantry" it should bring up her channel. 

Here are some different food preservation techniques I have been doing:

DEHYDRATING

Here I have mixed vegetables which were dehydrated from one 5# bag of frozen veggies I got at Cash and Carry.  That one bag reduced down to one quart.  Next are Roma tomato slices, about 3# of fresh tomatoes sliced about 1/4" thick.  The last jar is full of dehydrated corn.  I believe that was about four 1 pound bags worth of frozen corn.

This is a #10 size can of pineapple tidbits dehydrated down to a one quart jar.  This stuff is really good.  I think it would be good in trail mix or just by the handful for eating.

 From left to right in the jars I have dehydrated navy beans that were cooked and then dried, these will be great for doing up meals in jars as they will be quick cooking.  In the next jar are some dried button mushrooms, again great for meals in jars.  Next is a jar of dehydrated spinach, which will be great to throw in soups, stews and casseroles.  Last but not least are milk chocolate chips.  No I didn't dehydrated them I just thought I would seal some up in a jar for future emergencies.  The pink dots are just vinyl I had put on some jars for table centerpieces for a church activity and decided to leave them on to add some cuteness.  Actually, they are a pain to peel off so I just left them and they have stayed on quite nicely.   In the front are some dehydrated oranges that were close to spoiling in the refrigerator.  I thought they would be nice this coming fall and winter in pans of water with spices for a yummy smelling house.

WATER BATH AND PRESSURE CANNING

Here are some canned pork and beans (left) and plain red beans (right).  These will make for some quick and convenient meals.

I canned some Jimmy Dean sausage and some ground beef for the first time.  They turned out fabulous.  I recently opened a jar of the sausage and made a breakfast scramble with it...wonderful and convenient.

This is one jar of four jars that I canned of homemade vegetable soup with ground beef.  It doesn't look so appetizing in the jar but believe me, it's very tasty and have I mentioned convenient???  This will make great shepherds pie.

Of course I can't forget to mention the pie fillings I made last summer; mixed berry, apple and peach.  Delicious!

 Here I have beef chunks, pork and chicken all canned up.  Can I just say that having these on the shelf ready to use are so...you got it, CONVENIENT.   They are cooked and ready to eat either cold out of the jar or heated up for a meal.

Along with preparing the meat for canning I ended up with some of the broth left over which I put up in a jar to use in soups and stews.  This particular broth came off the pork that I canned which was seasoned with both beef and chicken bouillon along with onions, celery and carrots which I strained before canning.  This stuff is like liquid gold.  The beef broth in a can you buy at the store doesn't even compare.

MEALS IN JARS

Here I made up a dozen meals in jars.  The only thing I bought recently was a can of freeze dried chicken I purchased at Winco (Thrive brand) in their bulk food section, the rest of the ingredients I had on hand.

These meals include Chicken and rice soup, creamy potato soup, meatless spaghetti, chicken noodle soup, chicken and vegetables with pasta and a meatless chili mac and cheese.

I hope this might inspire some of you to give food preserving a try.  It might be a bit time consuming but so rewarding.