Loving Home

Tomorrow starts our tax free weekend for school supplies. Rachel is in need of some items before she leaves for college. We start shopping around 6am. First will be Wal-Mart then Target. I need to be home by 9:30am to met my bff. If we don't find everything in the morning we will go again on Sunday. Saturday Rachel works all day. She still has two gift cards from graduation so that is why we are going there first. Hopefully she will be able to find what she needs. I will post more tomorrow about the deals we find.

Alot of you know that I have been waiting to hear about my disability that I applied for almost two years ago. Well on Friday, July 25 I found out that I will be receiving my disability. I cried and cried. We (my dh and I)had just been praying about it just days before. It will most likely be a couple of months before I start to see it but it is coming. ~Praise God~ My ds Ian has decided upon a major and is returning to college. He realized that to find a full time jobs in this economic climate you really need at least college. He will be majoring in Criminal Justice. He is really excited and is looking forward to starting school in about a month. Now he is trying to get a few more hours from work. He has been averaging about 12 hours a week and he definitely needs more. It is nice that he finally listened to his mother's wisdom ~smile~. He will be taking 13 hours in the fall and 12 in the spring. Summer session looks good too so he can get caught up. My dd Rachel leav...

Got my menus done for this week. Went grocery shopping on Saturday. Here they are: Sunday, July 27 - ate out for lunch, hamburgers for dinner Monday, July 28 - salmon, boiled new potatoes and carrots Tuesday, July 29 - chicken legs, corn and green beans Wednesday, July 30 - meatball subs Thursday, July 31 - tilapia, boiled new potatoes, carrots Friday, August 1 - hamburgers and mac salad (Beth Moore event 5-9) Saturday, August 2 - chicken, mac salad, carrots Lunches will be BLT's, pulled pork or leftovers hope you have a blessed day.

I just realized that I have not posted since Monday. I have been very busy processing tomatoes and other produce. So far this week I have canned 10 pints of peaches, 6 pints of pepper relish and 12 pints and one half pint of salsa. On the stove right now I have a triple batch of salsa with enough tomatoes picked for another triple batch easy. I should get at least 18 pints from it. I am now out of all of the onions from our garden and our cilantro. I will have to start buying both of these now. I am eihter going to GFS to buy a 10 pound bag of onions or to Sam's. I am not sure how big a bag I can get at Sam's. I may go there first to see. Tomorrow is normally my grocery day but it might end up being Saturday because of scheduling and two cars for three drivers ~smile~. Tomorrow we (Rachel and I) see Rich in the morning, then my bff is coming over and we are going to stitch, then at 5:30 on a Friday I have a mammogram. Ugh. The only thing I have bought at the store...

I have had people ask me for my salsa recipe so I thought I would post it here. Fresh Vegetable Salsa 7 cups chopped tomatoes, you can peel if you want but I don't 2 cups coarsely chopped onion 1 cup coarsely chopped green bell pepper 8 jalepeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1 5.5oz can tomato paste 3/4 cup white vinegar 1/2 cup loosely packed finely chopped cilantro 1/2 tsp ground cumin Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium high heat stirring frequently so it doesn't burn. Using a hand blender or a regular blender, blend until smooth. Return a boil over low heat stirring frequently, until thickened about 30 minutes. Pour into hot jars and put in a water bath canner. Process for 20 minutes, remove lid of canner and wait 5 minutes before removing jars. I hope you enjoy it. We love this salsa. If you don't like a smooth salsa then don't blend it. Here is my recipe for Pepper Relish Sweet and Sour ...

I know that this actually started yesterday but oh well, better late than never. I don't have any food money left until Friday so this is from the freezer and the pantry. Sunday July 20 - Sausage, fried potatoes and snow peas Monday July 21 - chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots Tuesday July 22 - tilapia, snowpeas and carrots Wednesday July 23 - chicken stir fry Thursday July 24 - salmon, mashed potatoes and broccoli Friday July 25 - sloppy joes ? this is payday so I am not sure Saturday July 26 - steak sandwiches with onions and peppers Saturday I will do my food shopping so I wanted something easy. Saturdays meal is from my last Angel Food box back in June I think. Dh really enjoyed them the first time I got them. I was talking with my bff last night and she asked whether I have had the urge to stock up recently. I had to laugh because I have had that urge for a couple of months now. I am wanting to get six months worth of the basics in the house. By basics I mean ever...

I love summer's harvest. First comes the cucumbers and I canned 22 pints of dill pickles. Dill and cucumbers from our garden. Then we got zucchini and summer squash. After eating a ton I froze sliced bags for later. Then the banana peppers, green peppers and tomatoes start. I have made 5 pints of pepper relish and my first batch of salsa. I was trying to modify a recipe and I am not happy with the first batch but I have more than enough tomatoes to try again ~Smile~ I am trying to make it more like you get a the restaurants. Thick and smooth. This first batch had that but not enough kick for me. A friend picked up a peck of peaches yesterday for me so I will be canning peaches also. I love harvest time ~smile~. I will be going to the farmers market I hope on Tuesday to see what they have. I am wanting beans and corn. I would love some peas also. Yummy. We did not plant any of these so I need to find a good source. I am trying to preserve as much as I can for winter...