Tidbits

I'm in overdrive again! Ashley and I made a flying trip to Fairview on Monday to turn in worksheets (due Oct 1) and pick up supplies for the display samples for my two kids' classes (a crazy-patch pillow and duffel bag, if I haven't mentioned it yet). I was feeling pretty good about having everything under control until I got home to the mail that accumulated while we were gone . . . there was a proof sheet from Jackman's - I have two MORE classes in December! (Adult classes, a childen's holiday jumper and a garment bag.) Fortunately, we were already planning another trip to the metro-east for Amy's birthday dinner so I can go to Jackman's again on Sunday. Although shopping on Sunday is against my principles, I'll have to make an exception, this is kind of an emergency!

Which brings me to another gentle reminder. I had so many phone messages on our machine in our absence. I can't tell you all how flattered I am to have such interest in my humble sewing projects but at this point I just can't take on any requests. At least for now. Please bear with me, I wish I could do everything for everyone but there's just one of me!

So . . . Monday evening I was approaching melt-down. Yesterday I got a lot done (must be that rested up vacation thing!) but nevertheless, with so much running through my mind I woke early this morning with ideas swirling. I turned on the computer to look for some design inspiration (or divine inspiration, whichever struck me first). Well, I have a hard time passing up the feeds from some of my favorite blogs and this one had me laughing to tears. If y'all have time, you've just gotta read Monday's entry (Sept 22) on Becauze I Said So, entitled It Smells Like Peppermint. It brings back memories of my dealing with a similar situation with one of my younger sisters while my mom wasn't home. Aren't kids great!?

A little giggle and my thoughts while canning

While I was browsing blogs early Sunday morning I came across a very funny lady and a post that cracked me up. I forwarded it to my youngest sister and she thought it was hilarious -- if you have time for a laugh, check out Becauze I Said So. Scroll down to Friday's entry (Aug 22) titled An Author Gets Her Start. She comments on drawings she made as a child - very funny!

Back to my world, my tiny little garden is still producing cucumbers at a record pace. I don't understand this. In other years, we got just enough to eat and a few to share. Maybe it's our comfortably wet year, but this is what we got in two days -

So I made MORE pickles.
Now I've never had this happen, have you? I heard a pop (didn't sound good) and when I looked, the lid on this half-gallon jar had buckled outward! I thought we'd have to use these right away but can you believe it still sealed?! You should have heard it pop back! It's got a little wrinkle to the lid but it's a solid seal.
After the pickles were complete, I realized I had to do something with the apples, so I made pie filling. And we had too many necatrines so I made jam. Then I picked tomatoes at Tammy's and they became salsa (the kids' special request), more spaghetti sauce and tomato juice.
Are you all sick of seeing photos of home canning jars in my kitchen? Me too. So this is the last one I promise, as I am officially putting away the canner for this year.

While I was canning I had a lot of time to think so I was trying to answer my husband's question - why do you do all this? Granted, it is a lot of work. Besides the obvious - first, I'm so frugal I just can't stand to see anything go to waste and second, when you make it yourself you know what goes into it, that it's clean and chemical free. (If you don't know, I have this thing about eating chemicals and artificial food!) So besides that - I think that some people have a special drive to do-it-yourself. I'm not saying that's necessarily always a good thing. I admit that there are times when I spend way too much time, effort and frustration when it would be far more logical to just buy it!

But also I was thinking about some influences from my childhood. My paternal grandmother read me the story about the little bread baking hen. Do you remember? As she sowed, tended, harvested the wheat, ground it to flour and made the bread dough, she asked for help at each step of the way but all the other animals declined as they were too busy enjoying other activities - like playing in the sunshine etc. So as you can guess - in the end the little hen had wonderful fresh bread to eat while they had none because they had spent their all their time indulging themselves. Oh how I took that to heart! Then when I got just a little older she told me the real story about the poor pilgrims who starved to death because they didn't anticipate the hard winter and weren't properly prepared. Remember that one?!

My husband keeps telling me we're not going to starve . . . Yeah I know, now we're not! You just go play in the sunshine Rude, I've got you covered.

Who likes to read?

This morning I found an interesting link in a newsletter from Discover Card. This book swap site is a forum for readers to list books they'd like to trade and wait for an acceptable exchange. Books are swapped by mail and your only cost is postage. Although I don't buy a lot of books (we're faithful library fans), I know that a lot of people do and I think this is such an interesting concept. There is another site for CD DVD and Video Game Swaps too. Here's the full list of cool sites from Discover in case anyone's interested.

Take 2 minutes to watch this, you'll be glad you did . . .

This very touching video is short (just a little over 2 minutes). Apparently it was featured on the Today Show recently but not everyone can or does watch morning TV -- so if you've got a couple of minutes, this is so worth your while.

Another monogrammed bag

Here is the other bag I was working on that I mentioned in the last post. It was a gift for my sister-in-law's birthday and we gave it to her last night so it's not a secret any longer. Happy birthday Pam!

If you have a few free moments for nonsense, check out this personality test . My results told me I'm original, sensitive, individualistic (neither leading nor following) and intuitive to others' feelings. I was really wondering about the recommendations for career choices when they started off with counselor, clergy, doctor and teacher but then later in the list I found artist, writer and librarian - so okay, maybe I see some of that. This simple little quiz brings to mind the more serious and complex aptitude tests we used to take at school and how time after time, mine would recommend a career in engineering. I was consistently irritated at that as I have no passion whatsoever for math and couldn't imagine how I could connect to engineering. It took me a long time to figure out that it was my aptitude for sewing construction that was leading me down that path. Once again, they knew more than I did . . . :)

It's a beautiful morning and time's a wastin'. Better go get busy. I have some more fun things in the wings -- later!