Pickles

Today we canned 12 quarts of bread and butter and spear pickles in the afternoon. Jon is really enjoying (and I am, too) canning. I never thought that at this stage in my life I'd be canning. I did a little of it earlier in our marriage, but only water bath canning. Not pressure canning. There is a great sense of accomplishment when you look at the cupboards filled with the "fruit" of your labor.

Rachel took Jessie to the Library to return books and get more books. They bought a box of brownies to make on Wednesday and ate lunch at Wendy's. Jessie also did "school work". Today she was writing. She enjoys book work and I'm glad Rachel has the patience to work with her on it.

A Restful Day

Church day today - Jon first service - me second. Lunch at Wendy's per Jessie's request. Walked around Frontier Town then a two hour nap for me, TV for Jon and iPad and cards for Jessie. Dinner and time on the 2-seater swing outside for Jess and me. Another week begins.

Carrots

All I have to say is that after 7 quarts and 10 pints of carrots canned, I am ready to call it a day!

Catching Up

Tuesday, August 25

The kids and I left home around 9:30 a.m., went to the bank, Tim Horton's for breakfast then drove to Outdoor Adventures near Davison, as guests of Brenda. We rented a "small house" as Jessie called it. It looked like an over-sized camper on the inside and a mobile home on the outside. We were fortunate that there were only 3 steps to get in to the place, as Jessie doesn't do stairs. She mostly did them on her butt.






We also rented a golf cart because that is one thing that Jessie will get on and ride. She absolutely loves it. She laughs hysterically and is very loud, but I don't care because she's having fun!

The days that we were there we did not see the sun. It was so cloudy and in the lower 60's that we had to wear coats most of the time. It was perfect weather for Jon, but my toes were cold since I didn't bring socks and shoes. Oh, well.




Wednesday, August 26

Jessie was very upset on Tuesday because I wouldn't let her go in the pool swimming. On Wednesday, it was about 5 degrees warmer - 64 degrees and I let her go in the outdoor kiddie pool. (The indoor pool was out of the question because you had to use stairs to get to it and it was filled with kids.) She had a great time! She didn't care that it was cold - UNTIL she got out then she came shivering to me and wanted me to hold her! NOT!

Wednesday evening Brenda came (she was camping in her camper on the other side of the campground) and we had a campfire and she also brought hot dogs and stuff to make s'mores. Jessie finally came outside (she loves laying on the bed, watching her small DVD player with "Full House" episodes and playing with her tiles).

It was a perfect evening - until it began to rain!




It didn't matter, though. Brenda came to the rescue with large umbrellas! Thank you, Brenda, for giving us a wonderful mini-vacation. We used to camp quite often with a pop-up camper and enjoyed that. Having a "small house" was perfect for us now.

YUM !!!

Thursday, August 27

We were up by 8:00 a.m. and checked out by 10:00, which was a miracle, as we had done nothing the night before to get ready to leave. I even made breakfast sandwiches. On the way home we stopped at several places: a Farmer's Market in Davison, a golf cart store and a gun store, The Smoke Haus in Almont, and several vegetable stands. We couldn't have stopped anywhere else because there wasn't any room in the van! We went to Benny's for a late lunch/early dinner, post office then finally home.


Friday, August 28

Today was wash day - at least 7 loads were done while Jon and I canned 10 pints of potatoes and 6 pints of pickled beets. In between times Jon pulled carrots so we can can those tomorrow. Jon also finely ground his dried Stevia and put it in one of his special herb jars he bought. Needless to say, both Jon and I are very tired tonight.

Rachel came and took Jessie out to breakfast then came home to spend the day. They went outside in the backyard, did some "school work" and read books.

Well, that brings us up-to-date with our mini-vacation and canning.

Jessie's Day Out

Rachel decided she would like to try taking Jessie to the MJR theatre today. Usually Jessie only goes to the "old fashioned" theatre that you walk down, not up stairs. Rachel said she did really well and they sat in the handicapped section. They saw Shaun The Sheep and Jessie paid attention to it, ate her pop corn and pop and had a good day. They also went to the Library and went outside in the back yard and Jessie swung in her hammock. Not to mention it was a beautiful weather day.

Window ArtI'll

Jessie and I met Diane and Randie at Theo's for breakfast. We do this every so often when Jon works a Sunday. From there we spent an hour or so visiting. I hope to go to their house in September during the day and make my own glass window. Diane made this one out of an old wooden window and sea glass and cut glass. I'll post Randie's picture tomorrow. I'm not sure mine will be anything close to theirs, as they have worked with glass for years.

On-Line Buying

I have been having fun buying inexpensive items on-line. I get Groupon and The Grommet daily e-mails that have wonderful savings and interesting items. Just like yesterday's boat trip. I got 4 tickets for $16.00 a piece instead of 2 at $20.00 and 2 at $18.00. PLUS it included 4 pictures ($10.00 each) and 4 drinks ($2.00 each). Now that's a savings plus we had a wonderful time.

If you get a chance, look up Groupon for your area and The Grommet, which is US made unique items. Shopping on-line sure beats going from store to store for what you need or what you'd like to have. I needed new over-head range filter screens and I couldn't find them around here so I ordered them on-line. Same as my vacuum cleaner bags. A lot of time there's free shipping which makes it even better.

In today's mail I got an order from The Grommet, Groupon, Harriett Carter and Amazon. It was like Christmas!

Huron Lady II

Jon, Diane, Randie and I went on the Huron Lady II cruise on the St. Clair River. I got the tickets on Groupon and it was an exceptional day. Beautiful weather, wonderful family!

They are very large boats looking at them from land, but enormous when you are within feet of them!

More Harvest Pictures

Jon picked potatoes several weeks ago and left them to dry on a rack in the shed. He brought them in today and cleaned the dirt off of them then separated the potatoes for canning or storage. There really isn't anything like a fresh potato from the garden!

Jon picked fresh carrots for our dinner tonight. Yellow and orange. We were surprised when I cleaned one and found it to be a combination of both !!!

As Jessie Would Say ... "Stupid People"

After SM tonight I went to a Hallmark store. As I was walking back to my van I heard angry yelling and the F word every couple of words, by a very angry man in a vehicle, not far from where I parked. Apparently a woman had parked in the road in front of a store instead of the parking lot and was tying up traffic - which was only his car. He's screaming out his driver's window, waving his fist in the air. Unbelievably, the woman in the parked car gets OUT of her van and walks up to the man. (I was thinking that this action wasn't the smartest thing to have done.) She sorta calmly explains to him why she's there, which didn't make any sense to me. She then puts her hand inside her purse and I was sure this really wasn't going to end well, but I think she just pulled out her phone. After several minutes of her within range of his fist and ear-drum-breaking screaming, she slowly walked back to her van and very slowly moved her car out of the way, which I'm sure made him all the more mad! He zoomed off still yelling and she circled the parking lot. Like Jessie would have said ... stupid people!

A Day With Chris

Chris picked me up at 8:45 a.m. today and took me with her while she had a test done at a local hospital. I've had this test before, knew it wasn't pleasant, and I'm glad she asked me to go along and drive home. She did better than I have done in the past - we went out to lunch then shopping !!! It was a nice day spent with a very good friend. When we got home she stayed and had dinner with Jessie and me and didn't leave until almost 8:30 p.m.

Jessie had gotten up early this morning but then went to sleep on my bedroom couch. Brenda finally had to wake her at 10:00 a.m. They went swimming, lunch then their 1-mile walk. Jon worked and had a hard day - again.

One Job Leads To Another

Have you ever started a job but realized you needed to do another job before you could complete the one you wanted to do? I had some Christmas houses I had bought a while back that needed to go in the Christmas closet. They've been in the garage and I do want to park in there this fall. It's become a catch all place this summer! However, when the Christmas closet door is opened, you need to stand back in case things fall out. So something had to go. I opened the door, took out a great deal of items and removed my box labeled "Gifts For Others". Bri helped me several weeks ago clean out one of my hall cupboards and I wanted to put the gifts in my newly arranged area. I brought up all my Christmas stuff from the garage and put it in the closet. Now I just need to put the Christmas Gifts in the hallway closet with my other year-round gifts I buy when I see something on sale. So much for one job.

A House Full Of Company

What a nice day of visiting today. Julie and the girls met me at church this morning and it was nice being back. I think it's been since the beginning of July since I've been there! They came back to the house and we grilled steaks and had a nice dinner on the deck - complete with fans since it was so hot outside. The girls both took naps and Julie showed me pictures of their recent trip to London and Paris.

Right after they left John and Joyce came to see Jon's garden and visit. They were here for an hour or so before Chris stopped in. We go from having no one over to a house full. I like it!

A Very Loud Jessie

You would think that Jessie would get hoarse from talking and yelling so much. The 3 of us went out to breakfast and she talked non-stop and was very loud. We went to a Farmer's Market and she was still loud. By the time we got home both Jon and I had had enough. I sat her on the couch and tried talking her down. That did help and she was semi quiet for about an hour. Then she and I went back to the post office, Home Depot and McDonald's for lunch. Talk, talk, talk. I just don't get why she is so loud and talkative. She was looking forward to a "just you, me and Jon Day".

I mentioned the other day that I was doing a craft project. Diane made me the picture on the right for Christmas. I did the other two this week and hung them in my bedroom. The picture on the left is my mom and me praying at bedtime, the next is me about 4/5 years old in front of my grandparent's fireplace, and the next one is with the 3 of us kids .. Nancy, Diane and Eddie at our home in Detroit.

A Day Out

Post Office, bank, Walgreen's, Kohl's, Home Depot and Meijer's were my mid-day stops. Paperwork in the afternoon. Rachel took Jessie to breakfast then they went bowling in the afternoon. Jon had a crappy day at work. That's about it.

No Rest For Jon

Wow, did he come home in a mood tonight. I guess you can't blame him, though. He couldn't fall asleep last night and when he finally did, he woke up to "BEEP BEEP. FIRE FIRE. BEEP BEEP FIRE FIRE." He said it scared the crap out of him and he was sitting up before he knew what was going on. Then, it did it again. I didn't hear it because he had his window air conditioner on and my door was partially closed. Jon said the beeping didn't scare him it was the loud robotic voice declaring, "FIRE FIRE".

He came down to my room to see if all was OK and I woke to the light in the hallway. We couldn't figure out why the smoke alarm went off so we took it down and put it in his suitcase that was on the floor. (Don't worry - we have plenty of other smoke detectors in our house!) I didn't know that the newer smoke detectors also had the voice besides the beeping. It didn't go off again.

He wasn't able to fall back to sleep and when he did he only got about 4 hours of sleep. Obviously, he didn't want to go to work. And, he wished he hadn't since he had a horrible day. I'm going to pray that he gets a good night's sleep tonight and tomorrow is much better!

Brenda and Jessie went on their 1-mile walk, went to Gym class then lunch before going to Meijer's.

I had a good day. I did quite a few small things around the house and I also spent the afternoon on the deck doing a craft project which I will post tomorrow because I wanted to highlight Jon's day today and not mine.

Art Class

Rachel took Jessie to her last Art class of the summer.They also went to McDonald's for lunch. Jon worked on harvesting more herbs and I spent a couple hours watching Shiloh while her family went to a funeral. Since Jessie came home she's done nothing but talk, talk, talk. She's very happy today and is talking along with Youtube videos she's been watching - especially the Christmas ones!

A Little Of This and A Little Of That

Jon took me out to breakfast this morning at The Pantry. When we got home he spent the rest of the day in his garden harvesting. We had one of his freshly dug up potatoes for dinner tonight and there is nothing that compares to it. It was absolutely delicious! He had bought us rib eye steaks for dinner (something I have never bought) and sauteed brussel sprouts, kale and bacon, drizzled with maple syrup got 2 thumbs up from Jessie numerous times! Jon and I agreed whole heartedly!

Brenda took Jessie to the pool and they had a good time until 2 bus loads of small kids invaded the pool. Of course, subway for lunch.

I had a SM Leader's meeting at noon and got home around 3:00. I rested for about 20 minutes and did some computer work. Jess and I sat out on the swing for a good 45 minutes and she is already in bed. That's always good.

Book Club

We only have 3 more nights to go as we complete our book study of "Heaven", by Randy Alcorn. It's been so good. We not only learn a ton, we laugh a lot. We usually sit on the deck and Jessie is in the house on the family room floor. I asked her if she would be good while the ladies were here. Her response? "NO. Quiet." She said she wasn't going to be good, just quiet. Actually, she was good, but NOT quiet. I guess I can't expect both.

A Batch Of Dried Up Worms

My first attempt at dehydrating green beans is a total failure. They look like dried up worms - they don't taste much better, either! (Not that I've eaten any worms lately.) The picture that accompanied the directions on Pinterest did NOT look like mine. Next time I will have to use fatter beans and maybe try the oven. If those fail, I'll just buy them.

Rachel took Jessie out to lunch today and Chris and I went to church for a friend's 90th birthday party in the afternoon. Chris has know Shirley longer than I have and saw many "old" friends she hasn't seen in quite some time. Bill grew up with Shirley's "kids".  He would have had a good time today.

People Book

Jessie used up almost all her iPad battery this afternoon, so I let her use mine. She was adament that she wanted to watch "People Book". I just stared at her trying to figure out what that meant. I gave her the iPad and she found it herself ... Facebook !!!  She knew exactly what she wanted to look at.

Jessie will only watch certain things on the iPad depending on where she is sitting. I'm not kidding. In the morning before I get up she will grab the iPad and watch home made kids videos. Downstairs in the family room she'll watch Table for 12, 19 Kids and Counting, and a few others. On the couch she watches Facebook. On my couch in my bedroom she plays games. When she goes to bed she sings Jesus songs on Pandora. She rarely diverts from this routine.

I did not have a good physical day today with my back. Last night I was so bad after dinner that I had to take a strong pain pill. This morning I was hung over and making breakfast my back started to spasm again. I took lighter pain pills since Jon was working and it was just Jessie and me. I wasn't able to do as much as I had wanted to since I had to sit down for several hours on the couch. It's not good again since I finished cleaning up the kitchen after a late dinner. I just need to lay down or sit in a chair with my legs up. Guess we'll go upstairs early.

What A Day !!!

We 3 did A LOT today! We began with breakfast at Benny's, grocery shopping at Vince and Joe's, then our daily trip to the post office before coming home. Jess headed for the floor and her iPad, Jon headed to his garden and I headed to the laundry room to do several loads of wash.

Jon worked for several hours in the garden harvesting beans, sugar snap peas and cucumbers. He pulled finished plants then planted some more cold weather seeds: shelling peas, sugar snap peas and spinach. Thanks to our friend, Matt, the lawn got cut! Good job, Matt! It looks great!

Jessie and I went to McDonald's for a light lunch then went to Meijer's grocery shopping. It was a mad house! I've only seen the store look like this if there was bad weather predicted or a holiday. Not usually a Friday shopper, I asked a cashier if this was a normal shopping atmosphere for Friday. She said, "NO! This is EXTREME!"  Poor Jess. Poor me! There were so many screaming and yelling kids, too, that I was about ready for a panic attack myself.

Do you want to know what one of my pet peeves is? I can't stand the way children stare at Jessie. And stare, and stare. And when an adult does it, I want to become physical and wack them over the head! It irritates me so much. It's not like she has an extra head or no head!

When Jess and I got home Jon helped unload the groceries and Jessie emptied all the grocery bags. Immediately after the food was put away, Jon and I began our first day of canning for this season. We did 7 quarts of green beans. Thankfully, I had purchased a roasted chicken for our dinner. Otherwise, we wouldn't have had anything to eat. I was exhausted. I still am. Jon, too. But, a lot was accomplished this Friday and it was a good day - other than those beady eyes staring at Jessie! (I know - get over it!)

Field and Stream

Jess and I had GYN appointments this morning and Jon went with us. I needed another pair of ears, as Jessie will be having surgery in September for a female issue. What I didn't understand, Jon did. We left there and went to Bahama Breeze for lunch. We usually only go there once a year for Jon's birthday, but we were just down the road and Jon voted to eat there.

From there we went to the new Field and Stream store north of the Oakland Mall. It was really nice. We were in there for almost 2 hours. As you can see from the pictures, there were animal displays like Outdoor World has. It is a very nice store. I overheard a worker and a customer discussing the fact that this store is "part" of Dick's Sporting Goods. Interesting. Alot of their hunting and other clothes were 75% off. You may want to go and see what they have!

When we were at the doctor's office today I gave Jessie a baby magazine that was wrapped up with a pacifier in it. She insisted that Jon open it for her. She was laughing so hard and having such a fun time with the pacifier on the way home. She had it in her mouth and was making such loud sucking noises that we were all laughing. She's such a goof ball.

Smoke Inhalation

Jess and I spent a leisure morning before we left to have lunch with Chris, Joyce, Carol and Carol's 3 young grandchildren. It was our last time being with Carol, as she is moving to Arizona later this month. Jessie did really well with the kids at the table. They were angels. Not so the other kids in the restaurant. It was packed with loud toddlers and babies, and their families, of course.  It was almost too much for me, and it WAS too much for Jessie, as she made it through lunch before breaking down. I felt so bad for her. It was so loud that I didn't even notice that she was sobbing. We got up and left right away. We talked about the noisy kids when we got to the van and she settled down. 

When we got home I decided to shut off the air and open the windows because it was such a nice day. I turned on the upstairs attic fan and it was soooo nice to have the windows open. My SM Supervision group was held here tonight because I had no one to watch Jess and we sat on the deck. When they left I noticed that the house was beginning to smell smoky. Sure enough - our neighbor had lit a fire in the backyard. He must have used so much fire starter that my throat hurt and before I could get the fan off and the windows closed, I felt like I had inhaled way too much smoke. I was NOT happy. Granted, he wasn't doing anything wrong. I was just counting on having the windows open tonight rather than the air. I don't mind a camp fire, but I don't like smoke in the house. 

Ultra Crab

Brenda took Jessie swimming then to Subway before they shortened their day and came home early. Both Jess and I had appointments at the endocrinologist's office at 2:45 p.m. We strolled around Joann Fabric's before getting an ice cream cone at McDonald's then to the post office. In the morning I did paper work, wash and paperwork. I'm still not done. Jessie has been ultra crabby today. It's 10:48 p.m. and she's whining and hollering at me because she wants to go out to breakfast tomorrow, which is not going to happen. I have no aides for the next 3 days, so it's just "you and me" until Monday. Lord, help me.

Catching Up ... Saturday, Sunday and Monday

Saturday
Jon left around 6:30 a.m. for Richmond, Indiana, to visit Jacob and Hannah for the weekend. It was about 275 miles there. Jon made it there without any problems. It was challenging, as he doesn't like to drive.

Brianna came over to help me with one of my two upstairs hallway closets. My gift closet. If you opened the door, well, you better not. Items would fall out. I bought drawer organizers several months ago but never have had the time or help to get it done. It now looks great! Thanks, Bri. It only took us about 4 hours!

Bri, Jess and I went and picked up my new glasses, went to the post office, went to Benny's for lunch, then we went and pcked up Jessie's new tennis shoes at the children's store (she has size 3 feet!).

Around 5:30 Doreen brought Shiloh over for the night. There was a concert at Simpson Park, featuring Plumb that several people from church were going to go to. I decided to stay home and offered to have Shiloh stay the night since the concert wasn't to end until 11:00 p.m.  I wasn't sure how Jessie would handle it, but it went very well. Both kids had a good time. Shiloh did well with her first ever sleep over.


Sunday
Doreen picked up Shiloh for church around 11:00 a.m. and Jessie and I just sat around for a couple hours before meeting Chris, Eric and Sean at Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch. It was in the 90's, humid and the wind was blowing pretty hard. I thought that it felt like it was brewing up a storm, although the skies were clear. Later in the day I began to get Weather Channel alerts about a possible Severe Thunderstorm. Looking at the radar seemed like we were going to be in for it, so I prepared our "storm closet". Jon even let me know that it "was coming." As it got later, I decided that Jess and I would stay downstairs on the couch until the worst was past so we would be close to the closet and not upstairs if the sirens went off. (Can you tell I do NOT like storms?) There was a lot of lightening, some thunder and rain, but it wasn't that bad. We went upstairs at midnight. We lost power during the night several times but it came back on - thankfully!


Monday
I had to leave early this morning for an appointment, then I had a pedicure, ate breakfast at Dimitri's and went to the post office before coming home. Rachel took Jessie to the Rec Center, but all the gyms were full so she took her to Stoney Creek to walk around. They also went to the library but it was closed because of no power. They ended up by coming home early. Jon arrived back in the area about 1:30 p.m., tired and glad to be home, although he had a really nice time visiting his friends. The kids and I ate dinner at KFC tonight. They have $5.00 Fill Ups. It was really good: 2 pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuit, medium pop and a cookie for $5.00. Can't beat the price and it was a nice change from McDonalds, Wendy's or any where else we tend to go. We haven't been to KFC for months and months.

That about wraps up 3 days.