Letters from. . .

In the process of slowly cleaning clutter, in between gardening and stocking up, I created a way to preserve the letters my 10 year-old daughter writes to me. 

Over the years, she has written me many letters.  I tend to put a note in the kid's lunches when I can, and add a small piece of candy.  In the process of that, she started to write me letters and put them all over the house. 

In the past she'd pop popcorn, and put a "treat" down inside the bowl.  We'd enjoy the popcorn, and she would pretend to be surprised when we got to the "treat" at the bottom.

Each of my kids have a unique personality, and I just could not throw these notes away.

I purchased an inexpensive photo album with the pages that peel back.  I inserted the letters so I can re-read them like a book.

For the cover, I mixed 50/50 of white glue and decoupage, and covered the front with a piece of scrapbooking paper.  I don't scrap book very much, but do journaling and create fun journals.   

Here, I will write "Letters from ...." and will add pocket pages on the inside.  Those pockets will hold the very long letters she has written me, and pictures she has drawn me.

Life...

Escape the Ordinary

The grass is still wet from the rains we got yesterday, but I picked a lot of tomatoes.  I canned peach salsa, but actually had to buy jalapeno peppers from a produce stand.

I won't be updating the canning stats today, as my computer virus protections is blocking a Trogan when I click on "layout" on blogger.  I hope they fix that soon.

I picked enough broccoli to blanch and freeze another quart bag. 

Our buckling is not selling, so he's at the vet today.  He'll be a wether and trained with a harness, and hopefully still sell.

Today, I am yearning for "island time" - no worries, no hurries.

Hubby and I continue to enjoy the photos we took, and hope to get another "escape" in, before winter arrives.

Island Getaway ~ Camping Trailer Night Light

Saturday, my husband took me away for a one night Island get-a-way.  Look what I found!  This very cute trailer night light.  This one will remind of the most absolute, best ever, getaway we've taken so far.

More photos are posted on my Flickr Photostream for you to view.  I'll be loading a few more later today.

Stocking Up

Well, if you have been wondering where I've been.....

I canned a second new recipe for salsa.  I canned 4 pints of Fiesta Salsa.  This is delicious too.  I found the recipe on-line.  In place of the chili pepper, I used green pepper, and used 1/2 cup combined jalapeno and cayenne peppers.  Yum!  There are many recipes on that site if you are seeking for recipes for canning or for other tomato recipes.

I canned another 3 1/2 quarts of seasoned tomato sauce.  This is tedious work - chopping 23 pounds of tomatoes.  Thanks to my sauce maker, I don't have to peel, remove seeds, etc. prior to heating it all up first.

I dehydrated another quart jar of potatoes, some kale and Parmesan cheese.

I canned 4 half pints of homemade ketchup.  This took another 10 lbs. of tomatoes.

I canned another 4 half pints of Pepper Jelly (a mix of green peppers jalapeno and cayenne peppers).

I finally dug up some of the sweet potatoes, but still have another row of red potatoes to dig up. 

I canned a third type of salsa - Home Canned Salsa.  I'd like to can peach salsa, but I need to see if I can still find peaches at the produce stands.  Our tree is not mature enough yet.

Oh....it continues.  I froze more tomatoes and green peppers too. 

Note:  I found this neat site that gives 30 tips on what to use leftover salsa for:  http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/03/serious-heat-what-to-do-with-leftover-salsa-30-uses.html

Camping Funnies ~ First Day of School

I have to share the funniest thing that happened on our camping trip.  It was the first morning there.  I got up about 6:30am and asked if anyone needed to visit the toilets.  My 10 year-old said she did.

I exited the camper.  As soon as my daughter stepped off the camper step, the camper fell backwards, and the front end was up in the air.

We first screamed in shock, then tried to hold our laughter and not pee our pants.  I whispered to my daughter, "we gotta go, I can't stay and help him (laughing hysterically)." Hubby and my 13 year-old were in the back bed. 

Very calmly we hear my husband's voice from the camper, "uh, I think someone forgot to put the jacks in."

More laughter.

Ha ha ha ha!  The back bumper was catching the back end, but we were lucky.  While we were at the toilets, not far from the camper, we watched it slowly go back down, as my hubby walked forward to straighten the camper again. 

Once we got it all set again, with the jacks in place, hubby said, "honey you can't get out of the camper before I do anymore." 

We laughed the entire weekend about it, and I think we woke the entire campground up that morning.  I still can't tell anyone the story without cracking up laughing. 

So funny.

Another funny story.  On the last night at the campground, I had walked to the toilets with my 13 year-old.  It was pitch dark and we had not taken a flash light.  We were walking back, and my husband and 10 year-old jumped out of the trees and scared the livin' day lights out of us.  Once again, we laughed the entire night.  I'm sure the rest of the campground was ready for us to leave at that point. Ha ha ha ha!

School

Today was the first day of public school.  Yesterday was the first day of college for my son.  It's kind of a strange day here today.  All of my kids are on one bus this year.  Even so, my youngest still let me give her kisses this morning.

I better get out to the garden and see what last night's rain gave us.  It's back to work for me today.  Just the thought of canning anything more, makes me want to hook up that camper and head to the hills today.  Ha ha ha ha!

Unplugged

Hubby and I finally took off to go camping.  It was a very much needed break from "life."

While camping the first night, my youngest daughter cut this comic from the paper we were reading.

We all got a good chuckle out of it....."sounds just like you Mom," the kids said.

 Day 1 of teaching the younger two to fish.  This wasn't the best location either.

We had not camped all year, and my 10 year-old could not resist to build and eat a triple-decker s'more.

Every meal was cooked over the campfire, and we loved it.

The girls enjoyed their marshmallow madness, hot chocolate both mornings.  We had very nice cool sleeping weather.

 This was our Sunday morning breakfast - cinnamon bread dipped in egg for a delicious french toast, sausage patties and hash browns that were browned with our garden onion and green pepper.  Yum!

This was one of our dinners - organic chicken breasts, and garden potatoes with onion and butter.

I spent one evening, by the campfire, knitting blocks for that blanket that has yet to be finished.

One morning this cardinal stopped by to sing to us.  He was up on a very tall tree, but in between me and the campfire smoke.  I was disappointed in the clarity of my photos, but was happy to see it, and so was my 10 year-old.

Second day of teaching the girls to fish.  We located a better spot to fish.

Our 13 year-old daughter holding her first fish caught by herself.

Our 10 year-old daughter holding a stick that she hooked.  We tried to stay longer so she could catch her first fish, but we were really getting hungry.  We'll have to take her fishing again.

We also hiked and put new wild flowers in our wild flower press.  This one was a new one.  According to the book we took along, is Jerusalem Artichoke.  There is a story behind this one, but I'll share that another day.  It's very tall too.  Some were over 6 feet tall.

We read books and magazines, and played games by the campfire.

I snapped this photo, and later realized it looks like an animal trying to get out of the water.  

We packed up, only to head home and wash all the laundry. We came home with some very funny stories to remember.  I still cannot tell people the story about the camper, without cracking up laughing.  I'll share that in tomorrow's post.  I think I made this one way too long for readers.