Mental Health Day

Yesterday I took a much needed mental health day.  My 21 year old and I went on an adventure visiting two towns and local shopping.  I did some antique shopping too.

We went to Wal-mart so she could pick out yarn for a Christmas present she asked me to make.  I went to the canning section just to see (but knew well it's be empty).

This smells amazing!

Although I didn't find may towels, I found a few tablecloths to use and even a Christmas one.

Today I have another date with tomatoes, which I am happy about.  The cucumber plants and squash plants are starting to die off and the yellow squash either didn't produce or gave us only a few sadly.

Rain ~ Tomato Sauce

It thankfully rained for a bit the other day.  So happy to see that.

I canned tomato sauce.  Beautiful 6 1/2 pints, but realized I dag'gon forgot the lemon juice.  I wasted 7 hard to find lids, opened the jars and froze it in freezer bags.  Sigh....at least I got the tomato sauce made this year.  Woohoo to that.

Extreme Clean ~ Garden Goodness

What got cleaned?
-living room carpet, cobwebs knocked down, dusted
-kitchen cobwebs knocked down, cupboards all wiped down, coffee pot washed, canister lids washed, sink scrubbed, counters sanitized, floor swept and mopped.
-utility room: all cupboards wiped down, washer and dryer finally wiped down
-hallway carpet cleaned, cobwebs knocked down
-wiped down a fridge and freezer
-glass doors cleaned
-porch swept off
-wiped down 3 wood doors

When I went to clean the glass doors, this visitor arrived and didn't want to leave.  

Brought in another 3# of jalapenos.  We have now harvested a little over 12# of them.

Brought in 8oz. of hot banana peppers.  Not enough for mustard sauce. I guess I  will wait a day and see if I'll get more.

More of the ladies are laying.  They love the new coop.  We will soon start clearing the cement slab hopefully move them before winter.

Happy Homemaker Monday

I took this photo Sunday morning.  The clouds looked like mountains.  I'm up super early to try and get more cleaning done, as the tomatoes are starting to turn red even more, so that means canning resumes very soon.

Today I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

I'll link up when she posts.  I have a lot to clean this morning.

The weather outside is . . .
84°F/62° sunny

How I am feeling this morning . . . 
Mad. Mad as a hornet. I'm about to charge my 21 year old rent.  I told her to get all of her stuff out of my living room, for the last 5 days now.  She did not.  Hubby and I moved it all to one of the barns after doing yard work all day long.  Guess what I woke up to at 4am in my living room???  Yep.   I am the maddest most angriest mother on earth right now.  Guess who is going to get her up ASAP and move it to her room herself before she leaves for work?  Oh, this Bear is not letting her take the zen out of my home any longer.  She moved a huge heavy tote of hay back in for her rabbit.  It has no business being in the house in the first place. Lack of respect hurts me the most.  I feel like a rubber band about to snap.

We got the burn pile burned down.  The fire dept. didn't come out and put it out either (they have been doing this to people if the burn is more than 3 feet).  

My step-daughter came out with the grands and they helped weed the rose bed and my herb garden (which needs finished today).  By the way, I have more green onion than I thought, but the thyme, parsley, and cilantro died.  We had so much fun watching the grandkids.  They had a blast with a mud puddle and our sprinkler.  We spoiled them with peanut butter sandwiches and ice cream.

On my mind . . .
Just getting the house in order by tonight.  


On the breakfast plate . . .
A bottle of wine sounds about right.  Kidding.  Probably quick toast and coffee.  


On my reading pile . . .
No time to read or just plain exhausted.  Oh and there is this....ordered books from the library.  They are in and I have no vehicle to pick them up.  Sigh....


On my TV . . .
Heart of Dixie

On the menu . . .
Grilled honey jalapeno chicken, have no idea on sides
-no idea for the rest of the week yet.


From the camera . . .

Looking around the house . . .
The tomatoes are rolling in.  One kitchen table is filled.  I have a list for the day, and the living room is first, and making sure the wood stove is cleaned up for winter.  Oh yeah, we haven't even started to split wood, but it's on the non-canning day weekend days list.


New recipe I tried . . .
Well the lemon zucchini bars were a fail (didn't turn out like the photo, and the family didn't scarf them up which tells me a no-go).  The caramel corn was a hit and I want to make it again.  I have a new recipe I want to try, but need a new pa to try it (needed the pan anyway).  It won't be happening until later mid-week or even later.


To relax I will . . . 
Bwahahaahahahahahaha!  Not happening until Thursday or later.  Maybe.


Something I want to share . . 
Nothing at the moment.

On my prayer list . . .
Us, myself as I know I'm at my exhaustion level again, but will dose up with nettle tea.  Personal requests, and of course our country and for the virus to vanish.

Random Tidbits

The kale in the garden was a complete fail.  No harvest.  What didn't get eaten up by bugs was fried in this years drought.

Collards don't look good, but there is hope for the chard.  Have no idea on the root veggies yet.  The turnips I did pull were small.

Tried a new recipe - frozen peanut butter pie!  Delicious.  Hubby was happy to have a cold dessert after a long hot day.

By the way, we got rain last night.  Not a lot, but more than the last time.

Almost stepped on this guy yesterday.  They day before that I almost stepped on a snake.

Made a batch of homemade Kahlua.  I gifted this one year for Christmas.  Recipe is online and easy to find. I won't be gifting this batch.  Once it's done, strained and re-bottled, I'll be trying a new recipe with it.

Made myself my first mint julep.  Very refreshing.

Made my Mom's Dried Beef casserole for dinner last night. I needed something easy. Recipe is on my blog.  Another recipe I am scanning for the girls for their Recipe Boxes I'll gift.

I'm finally back to deep cleaning my utility room.  As soon as the rain passes, I'll be washing up winter coats, quilts, blankets, and comforters (before outside drying becomes more difficult).

I'm thrilled I don't have to water the gardens this morning.  It gives me more time to deep clean today and tomorrow.  Maybe.  Just maybe.  I'll get a teensy bit of crochet time in today.

I marinated chicken last night (another recipe to pass on to the girls), with homegrown jalapenos and garlic.  I have a very easy dinner again tonight.  Honey Jalapeno Chicken on the counter top grill, and a side of hopefully garden veggie.  I guess we'll see what's out there this morning.

Feverfew ~ Catnip ~ Canned Hot Pepper Jelly

The rain went right off the radar on Tuesday.  Not a drop.  Rain on the radar on Wed. went right off the radar as well.  Sigh.  I had to pick and choose what would be watered, considering the well isn't getting filled up.

I finally got some feverfew put into the dehydrator for winter tea if needed.  I'm hoping if we get rain, I can dehydrate more (it's in a pot vs. the ground).

Once that was dried I loaded it up with catnip.  I make catnip tincture as an ingredient for my bug off spray.  I will also make some catnip pillows for our cats and Mom's cats if I have enough for both.  I want to make my tincture with fresh catnip.

We love hot pepper jelly (now that I know how to really make it hot).  We love it as a go-to snack for gatherings or snacking.  It's great with cream cheese on a cracker.  I couldn't find hot cherry peppers, and did not grow them this year.  I used habanero, serrano, hot banana, hungarian wax, and jalapeno.  We'll taste this in a few weeks to see if it's a good as last years.

The sunrise is quickly moving to the south.  Sigh.  I'm not even ready to pull root veggies (if they even survived this drought).  Just another sign we need to start winter prep.

I overslept again.  Gonna down some nettle/oat straw infusion later, but first I have some work to do.  I forgot to marinate chicken, so dinner is a change of plans, but I need to stick to my list today.  I totally missed some things yesterday.  It's gonna be a very hot above 90 degree day.  Praying we get rain.

Canning

Got another batch of Cowboy canned.

Canned a batch of taco sauce.  Makes my heart sing.  Haven't been able to do this for the last two years.  I you can with anything (tomato) sauce related, you know they are long days.  The end result is so delicious.  I can it in 4 oz. jars because that is enough for one meal for all of us and nothing is wasted or needs used up.  I can only fit 11 of them in the canner, so I put the remaining 1/2 pint in the fridge.  We'll be eating tacos or taco salad this week. Taco sauce from the store has corn syrup, corn starch (all gmo), and other preservatives.  So worth the time to can.  I'm hoping the other tomatoes ripen together so I can do tomato sauce next.

I didn't have time to bake a breakfast for a grab-n-go for all of us either.  I was so exhausted I overslept this morning.  I wasn't even up to kiss my husband before he left for work this morning.  I'm taking the day off today.  We expect rain anyway.  We did get a short shower of rain yesterday thankfully.  I was literally so exhausted I crocheted 6 sc and put it away last night.

See ya' in a few days.  Hopefully super powered from a day of rest.  Not sure if I will fall plant green beans.  I'm exhausted.  I do miss the taste of them already, but we have a 3-4 day window to get them in the ground before the temps lower.  Not sure fall planting will happen this year.