Front Porch Musings

 

I really miss the island life.  No service....just normal life, live music, the beach, waves, good friends, and peace of mind.  It was so hard to adjust when we got back home.  How hard?

First, I was utterly frustrated to see that my kitchen was filled with processed foods.  Daughter K went on a shopping binge, and there was junk food and pop everywhere.  On the floor, on the fridge, counters and table.  That was even before I had check the front room.  I had a feeling she had a friend over while we were on vacation.

Breakfast scramble was made - sweet potatoes, onions, green bell pepper, jalapeno, spices, eggs and bacon.

Got the green and wax beans blanched and in the freezer.

Here is a photo of the winter hats I worked on over the weekend (my travel project).  Although I am still not booked for any holiday craft show at this time, I am still doing handiwork when I can.  I try and set an hour or half hour for myself daily.  I have to, or I'll lose my mind.

Happy Homemaker Monday

We had a superb weekend on the island.  Our last sanity saver trip over this year.  Maybe. If they have an opening, I'm taking it.  We were literally off grid.  There is no service where we stay, and we like it that way.

On the way home we stopped at a large produce stand and brought home some green and wax beans.  I will be stopping there every year we head to the island from now on.  They have a large variety of everything.

Came home to find out one of my chickens died.  

We literally unpacked the truck, threw everything on the bed and kitchen counters, ran out to pick a tomato, and headed to the "Big City" to check on Mom.  We took her some chocolates a woman makes on the island, one tomato (only one turning red that was a beefsteak type), and some popcorn she loves.

Mom looks much better, but has a long way to go to recovery.  She still cannot drive herself anywhere, so between our Daughter K, her neighbor, my younger brother and I, we are trying to do our best, but we all have jobs/work/kids/garden to put up etc.  It's been rough, so hence the trip to the island.

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  I'll link up if my brain remembers to.

The weather . . .

Hot and humid.  No rain in sight.

Right now I am . . .

Dragging my feet trying to get the day started

Thinking . . .

I wanna go back to the island. There is too much going on here, and too much needing done.

On my reading pile . . .

Nothing.

On my TV . . .

Bloodline

On the menu . . .

Have no idea.  Just got back from a weekend vacation.

On my to-do list . . .

Everything.

-put away dishes (life with a lazy young adult kid)

-run dishwasher

-pick garden

-water all gardens

-laundry

-clean entire kitchen

-label and put away canned items

-unpack from the trip

-vacuum

-sweep and mop

-clean out fridge (may be a week long job)

-clean green beans and blanch and freeze

-water house plants

-clean bedroom(yikes!)

-water porch plants

-dehydrate some herbs

-the. list. is. endless....

In the craft basket . . .

Winter hats.  I'll post a picture later when it's light out. Maybe even tomorrow if my brain remembers.

Looking forward to this week . . .

A clean house???

Looking around the house . . .

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!  Ugh.

From the camera . . .

A photo while driving the golf cart on the north side of the island.

Prayer list . . .

Mom.  Right now there are no other special requests.

Freezing Tomatoes

I decided to freeze the last of the picked tomatoes.  I didn't have enough to make or can anything, so they went into the freezer until the next harvest.  

I canned another round of hot pepper jelly.  My mad hatter peppers are finally turning red.

On a good note, I talked to my Mom about Life Alert, and I think she will be getting an Apple Watch that detects falls, and calls so many phone numbers when it happens. I'm just happy we have come up with a solution.  The cost is way less than Life Alert too.  In the meantime, her insurance is delivering her 14 free meals (great news)!

Taco Sauce ~ Seed Saving

(before running it thru the sauce maker)

I canned a batch of homemade taco sauce.  I picked fresh jalapenos for it, and boy are my hot peppers doing great in this heat.  It has zero corn starch and only 1/4 cup of sugar (no corn syrup) and only real food.

10 glorious jars of taco sauce done. Checked that off the list.  Hoping to get more tomatoes.

Seed saving has begun.  I have bell pepper seeds drying and a bit of jalapeno seeds.  It's harder to save my hot pepper seeds, as I freeze and can with the seeds in, but will get them dried as well.  I have some Amish paste seeds drying as well.

Heat Wave ~ Canning ~ Tidbits

The water hose was working overtime due to the heat and no rain. In fact, schools closed and will not be open until the 30th for now (due to the heat).  

However, we woke up to thunderstorms.  Glorious rain is falling on the gardens this morning.

My first batch of hot pepper jelly was done, but I will need to do more canning today with a small amount of tomatoes.

Froze more bell peppers and jalapenos, and made egg salad for a cold meal.

Mom was released from the hospital a few days ago, but since then has had a bad fall, which required stitches.  I'm very worried about her health right now.  She is a very stubborn person and we keep telling her to take her cell phone with her when she is outside. 

She was even out shopping prior to the fall, which I need to get after her to use the scooter in the store from now on.

First, we scolded her for being outside in 90 degree weather doing yard work at 8pm.  Second, I need to see what phone she has to get her a holder or shoulder strap to carry her phone.  Somehow during the day we managed to get a meal ordered and delivered to Mom.  She was very very happy.

Monday's are Tough

 

Mondays I typically try and do the entire house, so I can enjoy it the rest of the week.   Didn't happen.  I started out making egg/sausage/cheese and chickpea tortilla quesadillas for breakfast (next time will add jalapenos), cooked up ground beef for sloppy joes and had a mountain of dishes after that. Dinner was crock pot sloppy joes on Ezekiel bread and sweet potato fries (baked).

Laundry got started, but our mower guy arrived, so I couldn't put it on the clothesline.  I started on floors, but had to do other stuff too.  Just hard to keep up with.  I haven't even checked the garden yet.

I got another corner area of the upstairs carpet shampooed, but when Daughter E moved out she left trash and belongings.  Good luck getting her to come and clean it up, so guess who is doing it?  Yep.  Me and my husband.  I am gonna have one big party when the last one moves out.  These kids, and I didn't raise them that way, are so selfish and lazy right now.  

Anyway, it was stinkin' hot yesterday.  I'm glad I don't have a lot in the garden to deal with right now, but I may be canning this week.  

Hot but Productive Weekend

We were very productive over the weekend.  Got more taken out of the upstairs, weed whacking almost caught up, all flower beds but one weeded, herb garden weeded.  Picked up more totes and got more yarn and crafting supplies moved to the upstairs.  Started another box for donations, tore down more boxes, made a trip to recycling and more.

It's been ridiculously hot here.  No rain in sight. Watering is happening, but only on certain parts of the garden now.

Hubby finally looked at Daughter K's car.  The AC is not working.  Unfortunately, it needs more work than he thought.

Speaking of working on her car.....weird things happened on Sunday.  While he was out working on the car, and I had just got out of the shower (after working in the herb garden), a woman literally (kid you not) walked out of the woods behind our property, walked up to the driveway and asked for water and use of a phone.  We were like "what is going on?"  She had some sort of story that didn't make sense, had make up on from the night before (clearly), and her boots where soaking wet from walking in the creek.  We both took her to the nearest gas station and dropped her off.  I was so strange and odd.  We are out in the country and our closest neighbor is 2 fields away one way, and further away the other direction.  

Then, we saw a elderly guy walking up the country highway, pulling a cart full of stuff with a sign that said "Alaska" on it.  It was strange and odd.  

We hot more hot weather ahead, but I sure hope it rains to cool it off.