Loving Home

Even though summer is in full swing - can we say way to hot - it is time to start thinking about school. My bff goes back in two weeks, she teaches high school Spanish and my dh goes back in three weeks, he teaches 7th grade science. Our tax free weekend is coming up in August (the first weekend) and so plans are being made. My dd starts college on August 30 and my son graduates on August 20. He will be in the "real" world then. Are you ready for school to start again? We look at it as the "normal" routine. It is a day to day, same each week day that we enjoy. As much as we enjoy summer we enjoy the routine more. Go figure.

Today I made homemade V-8 juice. Last year when I made it dh loved it. This year I added more "greens" to the mix. It is in the canner right now. I love it because it is all veggies - no salt, no sugar, no nothing other than veggies. It is a great way to get hubby to eat his veggies. ~smile~ Also shredded some zucchini. Got 6 cups of shredded and froze two of the bags. Will make bread with the other two cups.

Last night I stayed up late to finish canning. I got 13 pints of dill pickles, 8 pints and 1 half pint of zucchini relish and 3 quart bags of summer squash. Shelves are looking wonderful. Today, I processed the rosemary that has been hanging in my pantry. I have a 9 x 13 pan over half full. I love the smell of rosemary and my plant survived the winter and is huge now. I may end up giving some away but I know I will have lots for me.

so far this has been a very busy day in the kitchen and I am not done yet - just taking a break. We have already baked a zucchini spice cake, a double batch of peanut butter cookies and a double batch of chocolate chip cookies. I have two double batches of zucchini relish waiting for me and cucumbers ready to be made into dill pickles. I need to run to the store for white vinegar and dill seeds as I do not have enough dill. Need to get it done tonight so I can stitch tomorrow without feeling guilty. Happy 4th everyone.

Today we went yard saling again and I hit the jackpot with snowmen and found 6 quart canning jars. I picked up 7 snowmen items for $6.50 and the canning jars were $2. A little more than I would normally pay but they are clean and no chips. I couldn't get over how many had way overpriced items. I think folks don't realize that if it is in a yard sale then you really want to get rid of it and you will take bottom dollar for it. Last week we found a set of books that dh wanted to buy for his classroom. When he asked the price one of the women said that she wanted them and they weren't for sale. I found that extremely rude so we left everything that we were going to buy and left. They had the nerve to fuss about us so loud that I heard it. Not cool. Hopefully when we have our sale this fall I will not act like that.