Putting up Tomatoes ~ Loofah

 

Tomato soup and ketchup canned so far.  I brought in more tomatoes.

I also brought in another pound of jalapenos, so I'm putting those up today.  I brought in a few more hot banana peppers, but all of the other types are slow to harvest this year.

My kitchen heated up to much, so the AC went back on.  I was literally sweating.  I didn't want to do that, but I do like to be comfortable.

Canning ketchup takes all day to reduce, but I managed to put chicken in the crockpot early, and right after the ketchup came out of the canner, I baked us some bell pepper fries with homemade dip.  So good!

My loofah plant is about 3 1/2 feet tall now.  I don't see any sponges yet.

Foggy Morning

 It's still been great being able to open windows, but today it will reach the 80's.  The garden will love it, but the tomatoes are starting to die already, and before all the tomatoes have turned red.  They are so far behind this year.  I may be bringing in green tomatoes to ripen inside.  Time will tell.

The to-do list continues, but today I will need to spot clean carpet upstairs in preparation to move stuff up there and out of the living room.  I'm so not ready for this, but it must be done.

My husband stopped by the free fair on his way home, to pick up my favorite French waffles. They had zero.  In fact, they had 3 food trucks and they were not even open (and no waffles).  Many food trucks went out of business in 2020.

I'll be checking tomatoes today again.  Tomato days in the kitchen are long days. Thank goodness for crock pots and leftovers.  

In between all the canning right now, I got on the computer and ordered us new keyfobs for the truck.  The hotel never called saying someone turned in our lost keys.  The other keyfob stopped working.  

I also booked some camping trips.  I'm am hoping we don't have rainy weekends if it all works out.  We still have to get a new fresh water cap, because we lost that too.  Not sure how, but it's not on the camper anymore.

My computer area in the kitchen has become my "craft" area.  I try and get a few small items made while reducing tomatoes on the stove.  My husband keeps making jokes about my yarn supply, so I'm trying to use up small stash right now.

Canning Day ~ Leftover night

It's another canning day today.  The paste tomatoes are rolling in and I have 38# in my kitchen.  

Looks like we get to enjoy leftovers again tonight.  I made a sheet pan chicken fajita dinner and it I am loving it.  Sheet pan dinners are quick and meat and veggies, and less dishes to wash.  Work is buying lunch for the employees, so I only had to pack breakfast for my husband.

Breakfast was thrown together with what I had - zucchini, onion, garlic, eggs, tomatoes and fresh basil from the herb garden.

Happy Homemaker Monday

We took advantage of a rainy day, and got work done inside Sunday.  I guess we'll be looking at new kitchen faucets soon.  We took it apart, blew air threw the lines, soaked parts in CLR, and we still have no water pressure in the kitchen faucet.  Sprayer works great, but not the faucet.

We finally installed the new kitchen island light.  It's been sitting in the garage for two months.  It was a lot of work, as we had to move the wires from one area to another, cut a new hole, etc.  I'll have to wait for him to patch the old hole before I can paint, but I love it.  The old light never matched the kitchen and never turned on.  It had those long florescent bulbs an looked like it was installed as a used light. Anyway, it's up and my kitchen is bright!

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  I'll link later after she posts.  My morning is a busy one today.

The weather . . .

....in the 80's all week, but once again a rainy weekend ahead.

As I look outside my window . . .

Morning doves are pretty noisy this morning, and our hummingbird is busy with our flowering bushes.  There is a layer of fog out there, and it's a bit warmer than the weekend was.

Right now I am . . .

Brewing coffee.

Thinking and pondering . . .

Possible camping trip.  I'll be working on that soon.

How I am feeling . . .

Tired, but ready to tackle the day.

On the breakfast plate . . .

Coffee and toast until I get a casserole baked.

What I am wearing . . .

T-shirt, sweatpants and slippers.

On the reading pile  . . .

My canning recipes.  Just checking to make sure I have all the ingredients.

On my TV this week . . .

Anything that looks good.

On the menu . . .

-Fajitas, baked bell pepper fries
-BBQ chicken, green beans

-leftovers

Looking around the house . . .

I'll be working in the living room, so we can get that project started next.

To do list for the week . . .

-clean kitchen
-check garden
-bake a breakfast
-order new keyfobs for the truck

-shampoo carpet upstairs

-put trash out

-run dishwasher

-laundry

From the camera . . .

Here are the cute wine glasses with lemons on them I found.  They match the lemonade wine cocktail bottles, and everything is citrus themed in the silent auction basket I put together.

Devotional/prayers . . .

Prayers for 6 puppies that were picked up by a rescue transit company in TX.  After one person dropped them off to another transit company, they were lost (last co. says they are all dead), but prayers they find them.  Also, there are 18 people in the county we live in, that have E. coli.  They have not found the source yet.

 

Play Day!

 It's a no picture post today.  Saturday we took off on the motorcycle for a ride.  We first went out for breakfast, followed by scheduled hair cuts with Daughter E.  I also got a treatment and french braids.

Shortly after that however, rain arrived (when it wasn't supposed to until evening).

It changed our plans, so we hopped in the truck, took another load of donations and dropped them off, picked up a big bag of meal worms for the ladies (chickens), and I picked up some very cute wine glasses to go into a silent auction basket I am donating.  I'll get a photo hopefully to share.  

I can't say the entire day was "fun" but we were not working in the garden or the house either.  It was nice to have a day off, so it's back to work in the house today.

The rain is still falling, but a slow and steady kind.   The garden will love it, but the weeds will double.

First thing this morning - clean my kitchen.  It's a bit out of control again, plus I am bringing in paste tomatoes, so canning will resume this next week.  Hubby will take apart my kitchen faucet and see what's going on with it.  We still have almost no water pressure ever since the water was turned off to repair the bathroom.

Well, at least I can cross "hair cut" off the to-do list and get back to it.

Total Melt Down ~ Garden Updates

I had a total melt down the other night.  I'm missing Mom in the worst way, and it came out of no where.  I think I know why.  These items are haunting me I swear.  The top belonged to Dad and the bag was Mom's.  I  have handled both twice, and they were Daughter K's last.  If I had her address, I'd box these suckers up and write a note "no take backs" on it.  I do not have her address, and she lives one hour away. 

I put the last of her stuff by the road with a free sign.  People took her stuff, but not these, and our guy came to mow, so I had to take it out of the yard.  I just can't find homes for either.  Mom didn't want her belongings to go to Goodwill.  We have one place I could take both, but it's a drive.  The shells are falling off the bag, and there is melted candy inside it (part of Mom's story behind the bag).  I just can't get myself to throw it out.   I have a tote with some things for her, so they are going in there for now.

The tomatoes are turning red, the bell peppers are starting to get harvested, and we are still getting squash.

I've already made yellow squash patties.   These are so good with sour cream on top.  My husband likes chopped jalapenos in his.

I brought in some goodies and more tomatoes.  The paste are turning red finally.  The recent heat kept them all green way too long.

 

Garden ~ Extreme Clean

 

We are still getting beans.  The green beans are doing much better than the wax beans.  I may change what I plant next spring.  Either way, it's way more than we got from last year's garden.

There was a possibility of rain, but we didn't get any.

The giant pile of donations has left my kitchen. There is one box left in the truck however.  So happy for that, so I resumed cleaning the last of the trash upstairs, vacuumed and pulled posters off the walls (yes they left them all over the upstairs, sigh).

I'm now ping-ponging from room to room, but progress continues.  The cooler mornings and evenings are a bit of a worry that summer is ending, and we still need to repair the living room floor.  

While waiting for the corn to cool, to freeze, I whipped up this cute set of hair clips for fall.

Daughter K was the inspiration.  I have only made one set, as I have the garden keeping me busy too, but so happy how cute they turned out.

What is your go-to dish to take to an outdoor potluck?  I'm coming up with the same ol' thing, and want to change it up a bit.  I am thinking of a cold pie, but wondered what your favorite is to take.