Learn Something New Everyday

While that's a great motto for life, it's also the name of the class I'm taking.  On a lark, I decided to do Shimelle's class Learn Something New Everyday and, of course, signed up after the class had begun.  I mean why shouldn't I make it the most challenging it possibly can be?  After all it only has a daily lesson when I already know that this month will be busy and, then, to make it better, start out behind!  Yep, that's the best way to go.. well, not really.

I've been thinking about it for a while, but the whole idea of taking a class is a little daunting.  I mean I still wake up in the middle of a night in cold sweat thinking I've got to take a final in the morning and I never opened the book or attended a class the entire term, and I've been done with school for... well, quite a while now.  I don't really want to think about how long it's been because that just makes me feel old.

But I just adore Shimelle.  I get so giddy when a new Glitter Girl video is available and her blog had encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and try new products and techniques, so the idea of a class of hers was just enough to make me take the leap (plus it was pretty inexpensive and I get to come back year after year...).

[Pardon my little break.  Chewie just came into the craft room and declared it necessary that I immediately clean the litter box so she could use it.  I thought the benefit of not having kids was that I wouldn't have these interruptions to take someone to the bathroom, but apparently our cat thinks I need to have that experience in my life.  Sheesh... at least with a kid, there would come some time at which the child would be able to take him or herself to the bathroom alone.  But, Chewie is now five and still thinks I should take her to the litter box and clean it before she will use it - even if no one else has used it!]

So today I caught up on yesterday's lesson and did today's lesson too.  Although there's not much room left for embellishment because *shocker* I'm a little verbose.  But I did get to use my new My Mind's Eye washi tape in the Indie Chic collection and my date Smash stamp from K&Company.

Now I just need to think about what I'm going to do to cover my journal.  I selected this one because
I just love the little books that Vickie sent me after her trip here that have these great little pockets (meant for business cards, but handy for holding tickets, receipts, etc.) and I find myself using the post-it notes everywhere (marking recipes to try in the newest Cooking Light, masking a stamp for a layered stamping design, etc.).

The only drawback is that I'm not not hugely fond of the company's logo on the book with my "classwork."  But now that I'm thinking about it, it makes me think of subway art and I think that needs to be my cover...  Aahhh, the feel of inspiration!

 

But that may be for another day because, I'm tired after canning apples all day and it was only two buckets full!  Here's a shot of my first attempt at making apple butter.  I still feel sticky after stirring this for so long...

 

The first items in the canner were these beautiful apple ring jars the hubby put together after I sliced the apples on the mandolin.  I am still singing the praises of his cutting glove.  I can't tell you how many apples I sliced on that thing, but I can tell you I didn't get cut a single time even when I was pushing the apples through with my hand!

 Here are the cooling cans of apple rings (front left), chunky applesauce (front right) and smooth applesauce (back).

 But that's not all, here are all the cute little jars of apple butter...

Lots of work, but hubby and I make a good team so it's lots of fun too, especially when it's all done and I get to sit here listening to the jars making their lovely popping sound in the background while I listen to the hockey game (it's only pre-season but I'm so excited anyway) and watch NASCAR in the background in case something interesting happens.  







It all started with green beans and peaches...

Canning just wasn't something we did in my family when I was growing up. But my husband's family did. His mom and her best friend, Leila, would get together. The kids would play and they would can. It sounds like it was a wonderful tradition. So when Matt and I married, I was introduced to the wonders of home canned foods. It all started with green beans and peaches. They tasted so much better than the ones we could buy at the store. So every year we can a few beans and maybe a little of something else too. A few beets here, a few tomatoes there, a couple of pears... So it wasn't surprising to get an e-mail from my mother-in-law earlier this week asking "Did we need beans?".

Well, yeah, we do. You see my sister also discovered how good the beans taste so I send a jar or two home with her from time to time. So we didn't have nearly enough in the pantry to last us through the next year. So, as I talked about in a previous post, we did a little canning earlier this week. Well, the problem with that was in looking for the recipe to can those, we found a couple other recipes that looked intriguing.

Then last night we got a voicemail, "do you need more beans? They need to be picked because they are starting to get big." Hmmm... more beans = pickled beans, which is one of the recipes that had caught our attention. So another trip down, another bucket of beans, another good dinner with the in-laws, during which they shared that they had gotten a great deal on corn and cucumbers at their farmer's market. So this morning we got up early and headed to the store to get a few more jars and a new pressure canner so my in-laws could have theirs back, then it was off to the blueberry patch to get a few more blueberries to last us the winter and to the farmer's market my in-laws go to because they had better deals and then to the store to pick up a few spices and such we needed.

Then we set to work canning, oh, and making 3 more trips to the store for things we forgot or ran out of... But in the end we had more "regular" green beans, more "regular" corn, kosher dill pickle spears, two different recipes of bread and butter pickles (also with the pickles cut two different ways), pickled green beans, and corn relish. We still have 20 pounds of beets to pickle tomorrow and I'm hoping to talk him into getting some more corn because I really want to try the corn salsa recipe (and we have all the ingredients for it except corn - really we do). Then we get a break from canning until the tomatoes ripen and pears and peaches come into season. But I have my eye on a brandied pear recipe I can't wait to try and there's one for carrot cake jam that I think sounds divine, but that can wait for much later. For now, I'll just savor the sight of rows of jars that we packed and processed today:

Oh and it can wait because I'M TIRED. But I also had a lot of fun. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that it was Matt and I working together side by side. We really do work together very well. I'm a very lucky girl to have such a great hubby. So now, I'm sitting here trying to get together the energy to climb upstairs and go to bed because I'm sure falling asleep at my craft room table will not be comfortable. But there's something very soothing about sitting here listening to jars "pop."

Beans, corn, beets and pickles, oh my!

I'm oh so tired. I have pictures to upload of my crafting haul from last weekend, pictures of a couple of cards I've made and pictures I need to send to my cousin, but I'm just too tired to do it. It's canning season you see. So Monday after work we drove to my in-laws and picked beans. After enjoying a nice dinner with them, we didn't get home until late so it was straight to bed. Last night we came home and picked our own bean bushes then snapped and canned pints of beans, which should get us through to next year. Tonight we picked up some corn and pickling cucumbers (because I'm not sure mine are going to produce much of anything) after work and then came home to harvest about half of our beets. I also picked the blueberries (again - only one more picking I think). I finished cleaning the blueberries and bagged up the blueberries and raspberries I had frozen earlier on trays. Then it was skin the beets, cook the corn and prepare the jars. After a quick trip to two grocery stores for the dill I didn't have, we cooked up the pickling brine and filled the jars. Now I have a little bit of break while the pressure canner works on the corn and the water bath processes a batch of beets. I'm thinking we'll need to do some more corn and there will be a few more beets when the others finish growing. Sure I'm tired now, but it's all worth it when in January I'll be able to pull out good tasting veggies.