Month: September 2011 (Page 1 of 2)

Can you count 40 items? These are just my items. I have bags and bags to deliver, too! Fun sorting….

And there are three things back ordered. I actually only have two of one thing, too, I think – the wild blueberry jam. There are dessert mixes, like brownies and scones, and breakfast items like pumpkin bread and buttermilk biscuits, and there are sauces, and quick supper mixes, and syrup (blueberry) and catsup and soup base and a jar of beef stew base. I just don’t know where to start trying things! I took pictures of the packages of everything and I’m going to take pictures of the prepared products, too, and start a scrap book, because the catalog doesn’t have many pictures – mostly descriptions, because there are so many items to include.

More juice making pictures. Two jars boiling in the hot water bath. And 4 jars cooling after they are done.

The grape tomatoes were abundant and quite large this year. One plant has literally produced hundreds of tomatoes. And I grew the cute little mini pumpkins. We have lots of those, too.

And I moved the hibiscus inside and it seems to like it. It has been blooming and blooming and blooming! Such a pretty flower, too.

Since this is the only place I can really brag about my accomplishments, I must say that I had a good week health-wise. I stayed on my eating plan Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and yesterday. And Thursday wasn’t awful. I lost 3 1/2 pounds this week.

But the greatest thing is that I ran my whole run this a.m., instead of alternating with race-walking. So that was about 2 1/4 miles of steady running. It has been a really long time since I’ve run that long without walking. So I am very proud of myself. I know that I won’t be able to do that every week because of my feet, but even once a month will be great. Race walking is probably just as good for me, but there is just something about running. 🙂

I started an additional workout 3 times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. It was in the Prevention Magazine and is called something about getting rid of belly fat. It is supposed to be a 50 minute workout, but I don’t need that much with all the other stuff I do. So I shorten the warm up and cool down to 5 minutes each (rather than 10, which seems like an awful lot) and do the recommended aerobic section, which is 10 minutes of circuits and one time through the strength section, which is another 10 minutes of circuits. I’m not losing weight any faster than I otherwise would, but my hips and butt are trimming down enough that Dad noticed. It is quite a demanding workout, but only 30 minutes, so definitely doable. I think if I tried to do any longer, I would have to back off on the effort or I’d get injured. If you want me to send you a copy, I’d be glad to. Just let me know.

Today I am working on parts c.d.’s for the Rice Lake college choir. I have the tenors and basses/baritones finished. I also am playing for a short recital for the choir director tonight. It is part of a big fund raiser at the college. We are just doing 6 songs, but a couple are hard, so I’m practicing on those, too.

Wednesday already. And I’m on my 3rd day in a row staying on my eating plan. (I know, not as good as Amy’s 12 days, but its a start for me.) I’ve been really concentrating on not getting started on things that would raise my blood sugar (sweets, basically), to see if I can stay better in control. It is working so far – I’ve felt like having something I shouldn’t, but did feel compelled to eat something I shouldn’t. Big difference for me.

I’ve been picking and preparing one bucket of grapes each day. I’ll be gone all day tomorrow, so I won’t be able to do any more until Friday. I think by the end of the weekend I should have them all done. Hopefully I will have 12 quarts by then. Not a lot, but I don’t drink grape juice all the time. It is kind of a treat!

Here is a pictorial on my grape juice making:

Picked a bucket of grapes                                               Washed them in the sink

Put them, a few at a time, in the food processor and processed them to get the juice started coming out.

Put them in a pot and boiled them for 10 minutes.

Strained them through cheescloth into a bowl. Can you see the stream running down? It is a rather slow process. I actually strain them twice, but I don’t have a picture of the second time.

When done, I had a lot of grape juice ready to can, and a very pink spoon!

That is how much longer Dad plans to keep up this two-job craziness. He will be done giving the flu shots by next Wednesday, so that is when he is going to wrap it up in Chippewa and begin just concentrating on Rice Lake. And begin being home weekends and in the evening. But the extra money he made will be nice.

It is 2:20 and I’m home for a couple hours, then have to head back for two lessons at the senior center. I had hoped to fill Tuesday up from 2:00 on, but I don’t have anyone until 4:30 right now and then I just have two. But I also have to go to the city council meeting tonight at 7:00, so it isn’t a trip just for the lessons. I got quite a lot of work done yesterday and Sunday, so I can relax a bit today. I think I’ll go out and finish the mowing at the property. I just have a little left. And it is such a beautiful day to be outside!

I had a great day Saturday. I was bummed because Dad had to work 12 hours, but he was actually still home when I got back from working at the fundraiser at work, so I got to see him for a while. And he was up and gave me presents before I left for work, too.

Then I headed over to Erica’s where I had a great time playing with the Friesen pair of grandchildren. I got to hold JD endlessly and he even smiled at me! And I got to play with Chloe. She is at the age now where she isn’t afraid of me at all, even when she gets up from her nap. That is always a milestone with grandkids for me! I felt so bad having to leave, but I wanted to be home at a decent hour – Chloe was very sad.

All in all a very nice birthday, complete with Tim’s famous grilled kabobs and Erica’s German chocolate birthday cake!

The week seemed long, even though it was a short week. I think that was because Dad was gone Wednesday through today. Yesterday was my first day of piano lessons. Right now I only have 4 on Thursday and another 2 on Tuesday. Hardly worth getting all the piano lesson stuff out! Hopefully I will pick up a few more, eventually. I did put up posters here in New Auburn and Bloomer and contacted the schools in Bloomer and New Auburn asking them to refer students to me. Of the 6 I now have, 2 are adults. Maybe I should try advertising to adults. I’m also thinking about putting an ad on Craig’s List. I think they have that sort of thing on there. I need more students!

Dad is planning to work all weekend again, going in tomorrow right after our cabinets are delivered and working 12 hours. And another 12 on Sunday. So I won’t see a lot more of him than I did when he was gone. But I will, maybe, see him at breakfast. But I’m driving over to Shakopee tomorrow, so that will be fun. I checked out a book on C.d. to listen to on the way so I won’t get bored with the drive alone.

That’s about it!

I spent 7 hours over the weekend mowing the property in the country. It was beautiful out, so I didn’t mind, but I don’t want to have to do that again. Our rider died. But we found a new one – well, used one, but only 2 years old. It was right around what we wanted to pay, but nicer than we could ever have hoped for and exactly the kind I wanted. I’ll post a picture after I pick it up later this week. But here are some pictures of the property after it was all nicely mowed with the push mower.

Today I went to an auction. A older woman that moved into a small apartment in town. We had thought about buying her farm, but they want too much. Anyway, I got some real treasures!

I’ve had two of my three “launch tastings.” The last one will be here in New Auburn on Tuesday evening. It will be a lot easier because I won’t have to haul everything to the car, into the Senior Center, back to the car and back into the house. That was more work than I had anticipated. But the two of them together netted almost $600 in sales and I still have the last one to do. So I’m going to be getting tons of free stuff.  And I have one booking and 4 more that said they might, so I will try to get them on the schedule. Yea!