I'm almost scared to post what crazy things I did this year. ;) I canned: 400 Quarts of Peaches 400 Quarts of Pears 70+ Quarts of Dill Pickles (No one even waits for the 6 weeks to be over before they start eating them) 35 Quarts of Bread and Butter Pickles (My cukes went nuts and I was desperate to find more recipes) 13 Quarts of Tri Pickles 10 Quarts of Tangy Dill Relish (Careful with the food coloring. Oopps) 150 Quarts of Pickled Beets 60 Quarts of Chicken Stock 60 Quarts of Stew 24 Quarts of Pasta Sauce with Meat 12 Pints of Peach, Pear and Apple Butters 6 Quarts Blueberry Syrup 60 Quarts of Corn 40 Pints of Peas 50 Pints of Beans 60 Chickens in the Freezer 2013 was first year gardening and pressure canning.... and I have a market size garden... and it seems nothing I planted failed... thought I'd never get done.. :) My husband works out of town and lives in his trailer and I have 2 sons with their girlfriends, my parents and of course us... totally covered for 5 months worth of preserves and all my hubby's foods were done and ready to eat. Took me 2 months of canning after work (I hardly slept) but I'm pretty pleased with my results and loving this life. :D What was shocking is once I divided it all up about 800 jars left my kitchen and I wasn't left with all the much. :) But that's okay... keeping my kids fed and healthy is the goal... but next season THEY WILL BE HERE HELPING MOMMA WITH THE PRESERVING. LOL PS Spending the winter catching up on my sleep!!! ;) This post was edited by diane5770 on Sun, Jan 5, 14 at 0:41

Howdie everyone!! So far this morning I have made blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup. I also bought a box of Paczkis-bavarian creme-yum!! For supper its going to be a pot of jambalya with sausage and shrimp. I have some bananas to make some bananas foster but I haven't made it in years plus since we don't drink I have no liquor in the house...prob just make a caramel pan sauce and warm the bananas in the sauce and drizzle over some ice cream. In past years I would order a king cake from Gambinos...they always arrived beautifully!! As for lent I volunteered to run the company used book drive with the proceeds going to MDA. On a personal note I don't drink, smoke or swear so I guess I will just try to get to the gym more often and to cut out all junk foods which somehow creeped back into my diet LOL!! Tomorrow I will get up early and get ashes on my forehead but they will no doubt be gone by noon so I may have to go back for more-good thing it doesn't matter what church you go to, they are all open all day for ashes!! It is a day of Fasting and Abstinance...which means only one meal and no meats. This rule only applies to healthy adults. I will probably make a tuna casserole and salad. Cheers! Susie

Chase : Thanks for the Info, I might as well end this one at 150. Unless , If they want I'll start another " Baking or Cooking tips Continued " We will need a vote !!!!! Bri : I was sort of kidding at first but then I got to thinking about it. I could just put the jar right in with the Walnut media, then wash it off, when done. David: What do you think? Denna: I guess you can use the Tuna with Water and add some vegetable oil. Or better yet some EVOO. So they go out in Style. Thanks for your vote !!! Nina: I'll have to finish off with the Yellowjacket story. I had to redo the inside of a 1 story Kitchen, for a friend, who reminded me of Bill Cosby. This was in the Pine Barrons of New Jersey. It included redoing the roof. That had to be done first, so there would be no leaks. I put the ladder up and climbed to the top. Got on the roof about 5 feet from the side wall. It was cinder block with a Terra Cotta capping. The end was open (cement was missing ) I saw a Yellowjacket standing Guard there as others were flying in and out. NOW !!! As I moved around he followed me. SO I moved farther away! He came towards me like he was going to attack. Very slowly, I got down off the roof. I went in and told the owner about the Bee's. He said "I'll take care of them tonight , when it gets cooler out side " I guess it didn't get cool enough, because when we came back the next morning, He had about 20 bumps, all over his bald head. It looked like some took a Ball Pean hammer to his head or my Grandmother's Wooden Spoon when she was really mad. I asked what happened, in between us all laughing. He said " I went up and stuck a torch in the hole, Man they came out like Kami- Kaze's. I was down the ladder and in the house in 2 seconds. To top it off, he was re-enacting the scene and swinging wildly and hit a tree branch. GUESS WHAT !!! Bees came out of the tree, after him. We ran the other way, and jumped in the truck. We met him inside later. You guessed it ! he had more bumps on his noggin. He did get rid of them that night. Said he almost set the house on fire. Threw gasoline in the hole first. BUT! he didn't get bit ! Is this story, good as the tablecloth caught in the Zipper? Let me know if anyone wants this Post continued into another. Have the Title picked!!! LOU

Sneaking in late.good job Nancy starting this thread! Alexa, please post a picture of you all done up to the nines. Stacy have fun with your pork haul, been following the conversation on your thread. Good luck with car shopping toomy 10 yr old, 150K van is still going strong but starting to creak.maybe Ill let DS #2 have it. Yikes! AM these years will fly. Sharon the weather is finally turning cool here too and I may try canning again, good luck with yours. Hang in there Goldgirl, one day you will have a life again. LindaC (still want to go to LindaWhatever) let us know what you do with those apples. Pat T: One more semester! One more semester! One more semester!!!....... One more semester! One more semester! One more semester!!!.......that enough? Maggie I have no concept of close up the house, but good luck. Annie, DS #2s English teacher has a photo of a giant fork stuck in a road on her website. I chuckle every time I get there. I hope that chef puts out food worthy of your standards, I know youll be analyzing every dish to see if you can do better. Bring us some good recipes, and pix of salmon hauls. Mimsic feel better. Wednesday night approacheth. Duane, 11 dogs.wow. Glad you have the work but oh boy thats a lot of poop to pick up. Stacie, glad your gallbladder is cooperating until you can deal with it! Doug, my in-laws are dealing with a bunch of elderly cats. You guys are all saints. Hey if the pizza turns out, I have some caputo flour I can send ya. I picked up some at a local Italian store (same one I get my 6-in-1 tomato sauce, also beloved by pizza heads). My DH is the pizza guy here so I may get him to make something tonight. Hmmmm..cool weathermaybe pizza. Sherrmann we are busy w/bdays in October too. I notice lots of bdays this time of year.means people are busy in February when its cold, and nice and warm inside? Darfc. Shaun watch out I might just crank call ya while you are working the phonesFeel better! Rhome410, nice haul, welcome again to the forum. Dedtired I feel your pain. DH has more time off work so he has decided to go on a closet clean out rampage. My closets too. Grrrr. Sometimes being single looks good. Hey Ellen think reciprocation.vacation in New Zealand? Photo ops! Lyra, mixed blessings, eh? Stick to your guns, sweetie. Tobyt, by now you should know is OK for non-liner postings, LOL. Youre an old timer and have earned it! SharonCB, welcome home! Susie hang in there, I think the market will turn around, but not for a while. I have friends in similar boats. Terri, keep your finger on that farm job. Somehow I bet that teen wont last long and theyll be calling you again. Bri29 enjoy the projects, gotta love em. Me? I surf WAY too much. Awwww David. You need a HUG. Sending you a big one. Looking forward to the real thing in November. Peppi, glad to hear the house survived that rain you showed us. And a Foodsaver set up looks PERFECT for that new couple, good thinking! Katiec, my favorite librarian, keep on trucking. Jojoco were couch potatoes. Im jealous! Happygram youre not as much of a lurker as you think you are bwahahaa. Hey we have our own quilter on the forum, Teresa NC7. Go check out her excuse me thread on conversations, if you havent already (too lazy to check). Sprout26, Im craving Utah againtime to think of skiing. Happy Anniversary! cotehele, I have a funny Il Trovatore story (were BIG operaholics). When the kiddies were young, we took them to a student preview. We had prepared them by showing them the movie, telling them the character/story, playing the music (especially the Anvil Chorus) and of course showing them the Marx Brothers A Night at the Opera. DS #2 fell asleep in the car on the way there. He woke up crying I dont want to sit through a three hour opera!. The minute the house lights went down, and the curtain up on the castle scene, his eyes got big and he was enthralled through intermission. We sneaked down from nosebleed to third row center after intermission. After the show he proclaimed mom, if I can sit here, I want to go to operas! Ka-ching, ka-ching.um grow up a bit, kid when you can sit through the Ring cycle, well add you to our subscription. LindaC, every time there is an empty seat by us, I put you there in spirit. Kathleen.enjoy a quiet weekend. I like alternative busy ones with quiet times. [hint: I open a Word document, make it a smaller window, and catch up from there.] Chancesmom, give that girl a hammer and nails and put her to work on that demo. We put ziplocks of time capsule stuff in our bathroom walls when we were remodeling a newspaper, a letter, etc. I asked the future owners why they dont like my gaudy Italian powder room, LOL. Rachel, good luck moving. No info on the new kitchen? My turn? Yikes! Friday we had my inlaws over for dinner, DH put a chicken on his beloved Big Green Egg. Im the only one in the family that doesnt like chicken/beef on that thing. It was a late dinner because he had spent the afternoon in downtown LA talking with a Bee Keeping company. Because of our garden, we now have a hive on our side yard (pretty sure its Euro not African beasties) and DH wants to keep it but move it down to the bottom of the garden. May not be doable, but hell try. Its next to a row of oleanders and he says honey from those blossoms are toxic, so we wont be harvesting any. Saturday we started setting up our sukkah or booth for the Biblical Festival of the Tabernacles which starts Oct 13th. We come up with humorous decorative themes remodeling (hanging power tools from the roof), disco, my favorite a few years ago was mentally ill bible heroes. Lots of those! This year Im thinking it would be topical to choose either Jewish bankers (good AND bad) or Jewish political candidates. LOL. Last night we took the kids, as part of DS #1s bday present, to see The Capitol Steps; he is into politics. We went out to a good Japanese restaurant, his favorite, before hand. Good laughs. Poor kids bday falls on Yom Kippur eve this year. Bound to happen as he was born the day after YK. Today DH and I are going to a swap meet to pick up more parts for the sukkah. I think Ill put up a pizza (Dougs fault) for tonight. I have to start planning Yom Kippurs dinner meal on Wednesday nightDS #1 has asked for salmon in puff pastry, and I suggested it would be good with an avgolemono sauce, with orzo pilaf on the side he is delighted. Whew, it was easy doing this on Word, with the TGIF thread open in another window, then cutting and pasting! Clinking with water to everyone (big water drinker)!