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!