Summer?

We taught Mya to carry a bucket, so that she could use some of her energy helping out. She carries lots of stuff in it, but you have to be careful when you give it to her to take down the stairs. If she carries it by the bucket lip, instead of the handle, she can't see, which is funny, but not very safe. :) Mostly she carries dirty socks. She'll either carry them by the tops, all the way to the hamper, or she'll carry them in her bucket. One day I was moving some stuff upstairs and had forgotten some small pieces, so I had mom and dad send Mya up with her bucket - worked beauty! Until she tried to go downstairs with the empty bucket over her head, before I could catch her. But at least she wasn't injured! :) The only thing that doesn't work in the bucket is magazines, they tip it too far sideways, and then they fall out.

Here's the goofy cat stuck between the screen door and the glass door. He wanted out, and when I wouldn't let him, he got mad, and wouldn't get out of the doorway, so I just left him there for a minute.

Our corn!!


Here's our corn - it was so good and sweet!

We really have had a slow summer this year, not that we're going slowly, but that summer is slow to get here. We've only had to mow the lawn 3 times this summer - its just not growing because its too cold. So, its been a really good thing that Justin built the greenhouse this spring. We actually grew corn! Everyone we talked to said that corn can't be grown in the greenhouse, but so far so good. I don't think we're going to get a bumper crop, but we've gotten at least 1 ear, which is pretty cool! Mom wrote on Ben and Denae's blog a couple months ago that she wanted to move to someplace where she could grow corn. So this spring Justin planted corn, and we studied up on how to fertilize and pollinate it. And it worked! So now mom's in trouble, since we can grow corn here. :)

Other than that, Justin and I have been sick for about 3 weeks now. He went to the doctor about 2 weeks ago, and got some antibiotics, but I was taking some that our friends brought from Mexico (just amoxicilin, nothing weird!). But everytime I finished a course of the pills I would get instantly sick again. So yesterday I went to the doctor, and she asked how many amoxicilin I had taken, and I told her, and she looked at the bottle, and said, well if that didn't cure it, we'll have to go to something stronger. So she put me on Keflex, which I guess is pretty heavy duty. And I have to take them ever 6 hours for the next 10 days. She actually visibly recoiled when she looked at my tonsils, which really was the only funny thing about the appointment. So now I'm just trying to get better. They think we had some sort of strep, but not the kind they find when they swab your throat, but some other kind. She tested me for mono and came up negative, same when they tested Justin, so they think its just a bad case of "atypical strep" with sinus infections. Whatever it is, I am ready for it to GO! Its been about a month now, and I'm sick of being sick! I have too much to do to be sick like this. I still haven't taken pictures of the 1100 lbs. of food storage that has taken over my living room, or the 24 buckets we got to store it in that need washed and filled, or the piles of other stuff that need done before winter gets here (i.e. empty the food storage room, build new shelves, re-organize all the food storage, put it all back, split like 25 cords of wood and stack it, or the window that needs installed, or the door that needs fixed, or on and on and on...) I guess I just have to be patient and hope I get better soon....

A new week

I don't have any pictures right now to post, so I guess I'll do a pictureless post. The camera is downstairs somewhere....we took it with us to Anchorage this weekend, and I haven't unpacked it yet.

We went to Anchorage/Palmer this weekend for the day on Saturday to pick up the bulk food order from the cannery. We got our stuff (about 1100 pounds) and the ward's stuff too (another 5000 pounds). We borrowed a uhaul trailer from our friends Trace and Heather, and we filled the uhaul, and filled the truck. It was a huge amount of food. We loaded it all at the cannery, went to WalMart, got some other stuff, and then basically came home. We stopped in Ninilchik, and off-loaded all the church stuff (by hand) and re-loaded all of our stuff, came home, and unloaded everything....again. :) Now I have about 30 bags of bulk food in the middle of my living room, and long with 5 big boxes, and a bunch of walmart sacks. Plus I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and got some stuff that I've really been wanting for my house. I LOVE shopping there this time of year because they have all the "going back to college" sales, so stuff that I like is really cheap so college kids can get it. So I got a pair of nesting ottomans, 2 end tables, some canvas "baskets" to hold hats and gloves in the entryway, and 2 closet organizers, which was really exciting. I'll post pictures of that when I get them all put together, after I get all the food storage taken care of.

The food storage is in my living room because the pantry room is right next to the living room, and its a train wreck, so first we have to take everything out of there, organize it all, sort it all, build new shelves, and then put it all back....which will be a huge project but really nice to have done.

Other than that, we've been really busy trying to get all the stuff done that has to be done in the summer (building a barn for the goats, hauling/splitting/stacking firewood (I also need to take and post pictures of that project), working in the greenhouse, and just general summer stuff). I also got a new canner the other day, so now I have 2, which I am VERY excited about. I got another one of these:

They don't have rubber gaskets, so its a metal/metal seal, so it basically never wears out, never leaks, never fails to pressurize - its really sweet! So I guess its not a pictureless post after all. :)

Now I need to get busy and can some pinto beans - hey I have a picture of that too! :D And you can also see my original canner in that picture too. Its the one on the left. The one on the right is the one I replaced.

I guess that's about all I have to post for today. Now I have to, I mean get to, go clean the kitchen. :)

Funny Cartoon

I was reading on a friends blog about the un-written rules of blogging, and they were talking about how you're supposed to talk about things that go wrong, not just talk about how everything is sunshine and bunnies. So, in that vein, I was reading this new book I got the other day, its a collection of the comic "Get Fuzzy" which is by far my absolute favorite comic. I have all the books of the daily strip, and as soon as they come out I get them. The newest one is calleed "Take Our Cat, Please!" and the artist is Darby Conley. Anyone who has, or has had, or knows people with funny pets, will like it I think.

Anyway, I was reading that and came across this particular cartoon. And it is so how I feel sometimes when I try new recipes. I mean, I consider that I'm a good cook, and generally what I make turns out, but sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it doesn't in a big way. Like the other day, I was making Pot pie, which I make about once a month or so, and have been making for many years. Well, the only part I don't like about making pie of any sort is having to roll out a crust, I just don't like it. Well, last summer I found this recipe for a no-roll crust for making fruit pies, you just mix it up and press it in the pan, and sprinkle a little on top. It works beauty for fruit pie, so I thought, well pie crust is pie crust, so I made that recipe, with a little tweaking to make it more suitable for a meat pit, and an hour later so proudly pulled it out of the oven. It was not good. I said it was nasty, everyone else said it wasn't nasty just maybe not that good. I guess they can't all be winners. I was pretty sure it would work, but oh well! I guess it was my equivalent of "blueberry crabcakes".