This & That

Keeping Up

There was just a bit of a lull in the canning this week. I used the last of the plums to make plum-raspberry jelly. 

I love the color. I may have over-estimated how much jelly I was going to get. I ended up with 14 jars of various sizes, so I think it may be a year or two before I need to make more. I have said before that I'm not much of a jam/jelly person, but this is one that I do like, and will pick it over the honey or plain butter I usually prefer. Next week, however, will start tomatoes. I need to do salsa, and if there are more left out there, I'll do a few pints whole and then ponder whether or not I'm motivated enough to do spaghetti sauce. Ironically, I don't usually use it for spaghetti. I'll put it in soups and stews to flavor them up.

The next red and white block. Thankfully, there weren't a thousand pieces to this block, so it actually turned out pretty well.

And last week's house block. It had a bit of appliqué this time

And what is this, you ask? I stumbled upon a gal who makes seasonal stickers for my specific design of planner. You would think that Christmas came early when these came in the mail. I dropped everything to put them on my October planner pages. It's the little things, people.....

Other People's Cameras

So if you've been with me over the past few weeks, you know that I have been flying solo while my husband and son have been up north. Evan still maintains that he was connecting with his Canadian roots. Those of you that know our family know what a lie this is, especially as it relates to wearing camo. I swiped my husband's phone so I could share with you the reality of those Canadian roots which, by the way, are thousands of miles away from where any of these pictures were taken. In my mind, cruising through the Edmonton airport doesn't count.

This picture did make me laugh, though. My husband said, "You know you're in Canada when there are hockey sticks for sale next to the shovels and rakes in stores.

Don't worry, I've spared you any pictures of critters.

There experiences took place about 70 miles south of the Arctic Circle (or maybe it was 70 miles north? One of the two....I can't remember exactly).

My husband does appreciate the beauties of nature.

There were times they were cold, though.

Really cold. I'm not sure exactly how many layers my husband had on at this point.

And despite the beauties of nature, I'm thinking the accommodations look a little interesting...as in, I don't think I'll be going any time soon.

This was the photo I didn't really enjoy. Those are grizzly bear tracks and if you notice, to the right are my husband and son's boot prints. Those bear tracks go over the boot prints....meaning he was following them. The rifle cartridge is there for size reference. It was a big bear. Fortunately, the bear was curious, but not curious enough to require a face-to-face meeting....thankfully.

Crock Pot Honey Lime Ginger Pork

While this month dinner prep has not been a big deal, although I have newfound respect for people who are living on their own and only have to cook for one, next month, however, will be an adventure. Marc's family will be here for the month while he does a clinical rotation here and Collin's family will be here for part of the month to visit.

I will need to have my ducks in a row and that has motivated me to (hopefully) get meals planned beforehand. I have been rummaging through my pile of torn-out-of-magazine recipes looking for some new inspiration to go along with family favorites.

As previously mentioned, dinner prep the last 3 weeks has been limited to family Sunday dinners and what I have taken over to my DIL and the boys to help her out as our husbands have been in abstentia. This was what we had last Sunday for dinner. I will be posting the cornbread recipe next week. Interestingly, I got the recipe for the pork off Facebook. It was one of those fast-forwarded videos that are sometimes posted to show how easy they are to make. I have to admit, it was easy and it was tasty, and it made enough that I sent a meal home with my mother and with my DIL, and even froze some to give to my poor, starving college kids. The recipe comes from here and qualifies as Mom Food  because I can throw it into the crock pot and forget it and have it magically turn out, and the most exotic ingredient is a lime.

Crock Pot Honey-Lime-Ginger Pork

• 2 pounds pork tenderloin
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• Marinade:
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• About 1/4 cup water

Season pork loin generously with salt and pepper, then heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, sear pork loin until nicely browned.
Combine honey, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, lime juice and zest, red pepper flakes and ground ginger in a small bowl, and whisk together.
Transfer pork loin to slow cooker, then pour marinade over the top. Cover slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours (or on high for 3-4), or until pork is tender.
Once pork is cooked through, pour remaining marinade/juices into a small saucepan and place over medium-high heat.
Combine cornstarch with water in a small bowl and whisk together.
Pour into sauce mixture and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and cook until mixture starts to thicken.
Pour over pork, then serve hot, garnished with lime wedges, if you're fancy like that.

Around Here This Week

So around here this week...

Of course, the arrival of fall made me incredibly happy. This is a shot from last Sunday as I walked out of church. We had Stake Conference last week and there were lots of good talks. I'm grateful for reminders and encouragement to just keep going and trying. I was able to help with the music and that was fun as well.

Fall arrived after 3 days of temperatures in the 80's. This. Was. Awesome. I know I talk a lot about my love for cooler weather and I have to tell you that this is not because of where I sit age-wise. Even when I was much younger, I lived for cooler weather.

There was even real rain.....off and on for TWO WHOLE DAYS!!!

This week's rose bouquet. OK, I can admit that I will miss this when the weather turns really cold. Intellectually, I can see the need for warm weather, in the whole yearly cycle of things, but I'm so much happier when the thermometer is below 70°.

Put the pears I got last week into bottles, but didn't get as many quarts as I would have liked.

Last week's Project Life pages. 

And the other side. Am I still happy doing this? Absolutely. Do I wish for regular layouts that I'm not getting to? Absolutely as well, but the difference is, that life is getting documented and that is by far the most important thing.

I worked a bit on a card project, getting ready for some time with my sisters, so I won't show those completed cards yet, but I will show a couple that I made from the leftovers of this paper I put some ink on. I just couldn't see throwing it away when it still had cut-able space.

So I cut out some shapes and put them on a stamped background. I thought it was pretty enough without anything else on there.

Sent to me from the kids this week, Eric's family went to the zoo. Emmett had to work up some courage to touch the turtle.

And the girls in the aviary. Apparently this picture was snapped right before they began squealing to get the birds off when they began kind of scratching and pecking, looking for more food.

James has recently become fascinated with Elmo. He found this infant Elmo snowsuit that he insisted on wearing around. Cracks me up. Looking forward to his family coming to visit next month.

He apparently helped out with a Where's Waldo church youth activity at the mall. 

And my DIL sent this picture of Isaac helping Levi get a snack. Now, I will apologize up front for this next picture, but when your college kid only sends you about 2 pictures a semester, you feel duty-bound to post them. They've had a mouse terrorizing their kitchen and apparently apartment management hasn't been very quick about doing anything about it. I told Bryce to go get a trap since, as you might remember, I have had my own dealings with aggressive mice in my kitchen. He sent this picture showing that he won....and his brothers will appreciate it. Sorry, but you've been warned if you get queasy about that kind of thing.

 

Happy 35.

So somehow, 

...my eldest has gone from to this cute little guy to a mid-30's father of 4. 

I'm trying to figure out how that happened. How this messy-faced toddler grew into a dad.

I feel this most with him and my daughter, who is my youngest....the bookends of my own children. For some reason their birthdays bring me up short on those milestone birthdays when I think, "Wow...my eldest is 35." Or, "Holy cow! My baby is 21!"

And once I get over the shock, I can take a step back and appreciate the fact that he's a good kid, a good dad...even though he let his dad lure him into the Frozen North. Thankfully they will both be home soon.

So happy birthday to my Evan! Love you! Hope you had a good time, because I have a feeling you won't be going anywhere else anytime soon. :)

Happy Fall!!

So it's the first day of fall!! I am happy beyond words for this because I love everything about fall...the changing colors, the changing temperatures, and my favorite holiday (which is Thanksgiving), is in the fall.

Despite that we had a couple of days up in the 80's early on, the forecast for today is cool and perhaps a little rainy. I am smiling. Here's my neighbor's ash tree.

I'm seeing signs of fall on my walk,

And in my yard. Love this tree because,

...its leaves start dropping in early fall and they are so pretty.

 

The birch tree is starting to turn. 

And while I'm not all that happy about the mess the ornamental crab trees make when they drop these little apples, they are really vivid and pretty on a cloudy day, and the kittens really have fun chasing them around the patio.

The honey locust has just started to change. It also drops leaves all over my patio, but the wind just blows them away. I'm totally happy.

Just Passing the Time

You know, it's really an inconvenient time for my husband to be in the wilderness. It's September....prime canning time, and while he doesn't often participate in the actual canning process, he is very handy to have around when it comes to picking the stuff to be canned. So I've been just passing the time all by my lonesome, up to my elbows in fruit. Perhaps foolishly, when I took Roger on our last Honey Day to look at the pumpkins at the farm stand, I got a box of pears that will be going into bottles sometime later this week. Nothing like voluntarily giving myself more work to do.

So to pass the time, these are almost all the peaches from our tree. 13 quarts out of those 2 half-boxes the boys and I picked. See Eric? They ripened up nicely.

With the last of them, I decided to freeze a few to try in cobblers and such this winter. My husband also likes to make peach milkshakes.

These were some of the plums that Roger and I picked last week.

This past month, my other way of passing the time has been some sewing/quilting projects. I put this together last weekend to prove to myself that, in spite of the way the red and white blocks make me feel, I CAN actually piece fabric together and have everything turn out  and look nice.

I also found yet another "sew-along" quilt on the internet. Like I need to be working on another quilt project right now. But the block are very large...this one is 18" square....unlike the teeny, tiny red and white block that kick my behind. And everything fits together.

Here's the second block in that sew-along. The quilt will be made up of big blocks like this...houses of different types and configurations.

And sewn together...You may oooooo and ahhhhhhh. I have raided my fabric scraps for these and hope to continue that for the rest of the quilt.

Speaking of the red and white quilt.....sigh. This one wasn't quite as bad as the last one. Not quite, but it wasn't easy either.

And OK, there was this, too. Yep, I'm just passing the time.

Oat Chip Banana Bread

With my husband out of town there has been virtually no cooking besides canning going on at my house, other that the occasional dinner I will make and take over to my DIL and the boys, since my husband dragged my eldest boy, kicking and screaming (and if you know my family, you know what a lie that is), to the Frozen North with him.

That said, before they left, this happened. We love peach season here, and my husband is missing out on the ones from our tree. Serves him right.

I had some dead bananas in the bowl. Gauging banana consumption at my house is a little tricky. Very rarely do we come out "even" at the end of the week. Either we run out of bananas way before the week is over, or I end up with dead ones. I tried a new recipe that turned out pretty well and who doesn't need another way to take care of dead bananas? The oats give it just a hint of texture and the chocolate chips are just plain tasty in it.

Oat Chip Banana Bread

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (3 to 4 medium)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in bananas. Combine the flour, oats, salt, baking powder and baking soda; gradually add to the creamed mixture, stirring just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour into a greased 9-in. x 5-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350° for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pan to a wire rack. Yield: 1 loaf

If you're looking for other ways to use dead bananas, you can also try:

Cream Cheese Banana Bread

Buttermilk Banana Pancakes

Around Here This Week

So around here this week...

This week's rose bouquet. Just so pretty, and the smell is incredible....in a good way....not a Rule of 13 way.

My sneaky husband also made arrangements to have this sent while he is gone in the Frozen Northland. Sneaky...

I had another couple of Honey Day's with Roger this week since our husbands are still MIA. For one of our projects, we pulled the onions. Well, I pulled most of them while Roger chased the cats, but we were in the garden together.

I dragged Samson and Delilah to the vet for their booster shots and found out that they also have ear mites, which is like a toddler disease kittens can get, so they got smeared with some stuff to kill those. They weren't terribly happy about being in their box and riding in the car. I heard about it.

Last week's Project Life pages.

You've seen all these pictures already.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids....From Eric's family, pictures of some of their outdoor time.

Gwen bike riding in an empty parking lot near their house.

Here's Caroline.

And Emmett.

Collin checked in with this picture. Apparently when James wants to wear his helmet, everyone gets to wear their helmet.

Marc sent me these funny pictures of Isaac exercising with his mom. He apparently stripped off his jammies, then ran to get his shoes on so he could participate.

He's got some good form.

 

And Levi. Making mini-fart noises is cute for babies and does not fall under The Rule of 13 until they are old enough to know they are making fart noises....and they laugh about it.

 

And to finish things off, we have this very creepy spider building a web out in the barn. I haven't killed it yet, because I thought it might be interesting for the grandboys to look at. But unless I see "SOME PIG" written in the web, it's time here is limited. It's body is about the size of a dime. Add the leg width and it's about the size of a quarter. We had one build a web up by the patio door last year and I think it's a Cat Spider. Gives me the shivers.

 

Honey Days

Since my husband and son will be gone for a while, and I know EXACTLY what it's like to be left for days, and even weeks at a time with lots of kids, we have had a few Honey Days lately. Maybe this can be classified as Slave Boy training, but we picked all the peaches off our little tree. 

Look how many we got despite the fact that the horses tried their best to eat all of them when they were tiny.

There was a team effort getting  the step ladder put away. My crew works pretty cheap. They'll work for donuts. 

I had Roger by himself for a few different days by himself while his brothers were in school.  We picked the plums, or I should say that I picked most of the plums. Roger kind of lost interest fairly quickly.

He did discover that the 3 very large spruce trees in the corner of the orchard area create a very cool hollowed out place underneath them that is perfect for playing under. Adventures abounded....mostly zapping, which I had to participate in when I was done with the plums.

There was some outside truck playing.

There was also chasing of cats. They are fairly tolerant and mostly just try to avoid the little boys.

 

Roger actually wanted to get his whole self in under the dripping hanging pot, but we limited it to his hands.

We also made a treat to take home to his brothers after school, and in case you want to make some as well, here's the recipe. Found it in Taste of Home magazine. Roger really enjoyed dumping the cups of things into a big bowl.

Critter Crunch

1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1-1/2 cups Crispix
1-1/2 cups Cherrios
1-1/2 cups animal crackers
1-1/2 cups honey bear-shaped crackers
1 cup bite-sized Shredded Wheat (I just added more Crispix)
1 cup miniature pretzels

In a saucepan or microwave-safe bowl, heat the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until butter is melted; stir until blended. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Add butter mixture and toss to coat.
Place in a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 300° for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Watch this carefully. It can get a little over-brown quickly. Store in an airtight container. Yield: about 8 cups.