WHOOOOOOoooSH !!!

My adolescent chickies...

  Dang--I am losing time faster than you can imagine. Not sure where it keeps going, except that I stay very busy this time of year.

  After spending all morning cleaning like crazy on Tuesday, my guests had to cancel due to illness. I spent the rest of the afternoon working on cleaning the siding and gutters on the outside of the house, as well as in the garden and flower beds.

  On Wednesday, I packed up my canner first thing in the morning and headed for my cousin's house to show her how to pressure can her green beans.  Turned out she had quite a lot, and I didn't get out of there until after 3 She made a nice salad for lunch and we got a lot of talking in there too. lol.and went to the market because they had cherries on sale.  I bought 10 pounds and headed home. Stopped for laundry detergent (have got to get back to making my own!!!)  and bleach  and then got home in time to make supper.

  On Thursday, I pitted and halved all the cherries and got them into the 2 dehydrators. The cherry juice stained my hands and nails so badly!!  And I can't get it off...I tried everything I could think of--lemon juice, bleach, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and a scrub brush. All to no avail.  It's finally starting to fade a little today...but my hands look like hell.  lol

  That afternoon, late, my countertop convection oven/rotisserie arrived and I spent a little time getting it set up and couldn't wait to bake something. It works like a charm, is extra large and will accommodate a 9x13 pan --2 of them, in fact. HOWEVER---not if it is a pan with handles that stick out. sigh...of course, that's exactly what all mine are. So, I'm going to have to invest in some straight edge pans as well as a couple of metal breadpans...mine are all glass, and the book says not to put glass in there.  hmmm...I wonder if it means baking glass pans??  I should call customer service...Anyway, I made oven baked french fries to go with veggie burgers for supper and it worked great.  yippee!!  I ordered it from Amazon and it was only 69.00--a Hamilton Beach.

  Friday I had to go to a noon mtg and give one of my sponslings her 19 year coin. After that I went to the market again, got another 10 pounds of cherries, came home and stemmed them and washed them and froze them whole.  About 6 quarts worth.  Then I whipped up a batch of granola and toasted it in the oven and got it all finished finally by late Friday night. By the time the day was over, my legs and feet hurt so bad that I could barely stand. My sweet husband gave me a foot and leg massage and suggested that I should quit doing all this barefoot or in my Crocs..that maybe I needed to start wearing my good lace up Avias. He said "I know you love those Crocs, but maybe try wearing real shoes and see if your legs don't feel better. "

  This morning I got up and got dressed and put on my real shoes. I wore them all day, and darn if he wasn't right...things feel much better today. I was up early, did some chores, went to a 10 AM meeting, went to lunch after with 2 friends, went to Edwardsville looking for a 20 pound bag of organic carrots to dehydrate and neither of the 2 places I can get them had any. DRAT!   Came back home, vacuumed up a couple of mountains of dog hair, did some laundry, straightened the living room and did some dishes. Went to dinner tonight and got home and watched about 3 hours of ALASKA: The Final Frontier...about a family that for 4 generations has homesteaded 600 acres up there. There's a deal for ya!!!  I'll never complain about the winters here again.

  No wonder time is slipping thru my fingers!!!!   lol

  Now I'm tired and ready for some sleep. It's coming up on midnight and I thought I was going to be asleep before now, lol.  Tomorrow himself will be gone a big chunk of the day again, and I have lots to do. It's time to can beans again, if I can put it off til Monday, I will. I have tomatoes to pick, and lettuces to harvest and gardens to water (NOPE--still no rain here, but at least the temps have dropped down to a little more normal).  I have one more wall to finish outside, a banana tree to plant, and 2 small beds to get ready for a second bean planting. Probably peaches need picking too...

  There is no rest for the wicked.  I must really have some back dues to pay !!!!!!  LOL

Nighty night.

Namaste.