Taking a Break

That's right, I'm going to take a break. I've been wasting a lot of time on the computer lately. I just browse wonderfully crafty websites to get ideas and inspiration. So tomorrow I'm not going on the computer at all. Who knows what I'll do with all the time. Maybe I'll even find the pedal to my sewing machine! If I don't find it tomorrow I'm probably going to buy a new machine. I just want a really basic inexpensive one. Any suggestions would be great. I just figure when I pay for a new pedal and getting this old thing serviced, I'm almost spending the amount of a new machine anyways.





I realized that Owen was getting gypped in the picture department. Here's one when he's just waking up, and another where he's thinking "what the heck is that silver thing, and where my momma?" And I stripped Dean and Annettes crab apple tree to make crab apple jelly, yum! I got this scale from my Grandma, I love it!
Our "LTG" groups started tonight. I'm pretty excited to just go deep with these girls and get to know God in a real way. I feel like this fall is a new beginning, a fresh start for our church group. Things have been pretty quiet and relaxed this summer. We are all excited to just get going, to get out there and love people.

Oh and my hubby bought me flowers today. I like him. A lot.

Real Life

I can take criticism. Someone pointed out that by reading my blog people will hate me. Ok, fine. That someone read aloud certain sentences in a VERY mocking tone. So I thought I would devote this post to them and others that may feel the same way. I never wanted to portray myself as perfect, if people came to that conclusion well then hey. Haa ha. No seriously though, I'm normal and to prove it here's my house on a typical day.







Laundry everywhere. A blanket for a window covering. Dishes, diapers, and dirt. Yup, that's my life. So don't fall into the trap of believing that I, or others, are amazing 'n all that. Even though I canned a lot doesn't mean I'm super wife/mom. Quite the contrary actually. My house, kids, and hubby were a little neglected during these last two weeks.
In other news, the potty training is going MUCH better than last week. No poop on the floor, yay! Also, my cousin and family are moving here today from B.C. I'm SO excited about this (and not just because they have cute kids). Owen is loving his baby mash, and slept through the night again last night, yay! Lot's of 'yay's' today. Oh perhaps the most exciting 'yay' of all: I got fabric in the mail today!! I'm making a quilt for Katelyn. I have to take a class 'cause I have no clue what I'm doing and I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to sewing. I'm still waiting for a bit more fabric, some inspiration, and a pattern. Then I'll get started. We'll see if this is a project that actually gets finished:-)




P.S. Does anyone know how to unexport my blog to facebook? Right now every time I update here it gets sent to facebook, but I want to undo that and can't figure out how. Stupid Facebook.

So Close

I'm nearly done my crazy canning kick. I've been canning for 8 days. I have one flat of tomatoes and less than a box of peaches to go.

Today I made jam. Every few minutes I sneak to the fridge and take another spoon full, YUM!! I desperately need to be done this craziness. I have a headache and my muscles ache and I have zero train of thought, not to mention my poor neglected kids. I'm trying to potty train Katelyn in the midst of all of this. And of course Owen decided to start eating solid foods this week too. The best part about that is that I get to sit down for 20 minutes three times a day:-) To answer my question about thawing from my last post: I keep about three days worth of food in the fridge. For each meal I put a bit in a bowl, which I then put in another bowl of hot hot water and leave it for a few minutes. Like a double boiler kinda, only... never mind you get the point.
Did I mention that I'm trying TRYING trying to potty train Katelyn? She just pooped on the floor. Yup, that's my big girl. Seriously!!! I was not impressed. I need to just take the time to work with her on this. She's so smart and she could be ready. I just need to teach her better. I posted a funny video on youtube. My name on there is hollhil. If you just type hollhil into the search line you can see all my videos. Anyways, watch and enjoy.
Ok, Owens done eating, breaks over. Two posts in one week yay! I'll try to keep it up!

I Love Autumn

I love autumn, but why does it have to be so busy!?! I always say how much I want to be a farmer, and I do, but I can't imagine all the work that would come with it. I already feel so busy. This morning I slipped my bare feet into my rubber boots and stepped into the deliciously crisp fall air. Mmm, I'm not ready for summer to be over, but nothing compares to that wonderful feeling of cool air. It's been so cold here already I've been covering my garden for weeks now! As soon as I get the chance I plan to just bring everything in and call it quits. I'm hoping my tomatoes will still have the chance to ripen a bit though. We were in the Okanagan last week for holidays. We love love love going and hope to go every year. In saying that though we really need to enjoy summer here more, it goes by so fast. I was away a lot this summer. I spent a week in Calgary with the girl friends. Then I flew down to San Diego for a super long weekend to visit my sister. Then Okanagan for a week with the fam. So I really felt the summer go by fast. Next summer I'm sticking close to home, my garden, and some good camping spots. Anyways, we brought back tons of fruits and veggies and I'm still dealing with them! I've been canning every day for a week now. I only have a bit more salsa and some jam left, then I'm done yay! It's been fun though, and so satisfying filling our shelves for the winter. To me there's nothing quite like it. Having a meal on the table and knowing that I ordered the seeds, planted them, nurtured them, harvested, and then prepared the meal. I just can't wait until I can grow everything instead of depending on the farmers markets etc.
Other things that have been occupying my mind? Fabrics. Glorious, beautiful, and oh so addictive! I've been dreaming up so many projects. I'm going to take a quilting class, and from there the possibilities are endless! Last year it was knitting, now it's quilting. I'll definitely be posting pictures as I go along.
I haven't been getting enough sleep lately, I really need to get to bed. Owen has been waking up early. He's showing signs of being ready for solids. I wanted to hold off as long as possible. I HATE this stage of mashed food. I do big batches and freeze it in ice cube trays. I hate thawing it, does anyone have suggestions? It takes forever. (p.s. I don't use microwaves, it's a long story) Anyways, I'm not looking forward to this stage. Maybe I can teach Katelyn how to feed him, ha ha that'd be even messier than it already is. I gave him banana mash today and he loved it. I'll probably make rice mash for him this week. When Katelyn started solids I ground brown rice in my coffee grinder and then cooked that for about 15 minutes. Mix it with some mommy milk, and the consistency and taste were pretty ok, I mean for a baby. Ok, you can tell I'm getting tired, sorry for the rambling. Goodnight.
P.S. Could I just complain about blogger for a sec? Why do they make it so hard to arrange your photos within your text? I wanted three pictures lined up side by side. Tomatoes in the field, tomatoes in a box in my sunny kitchen, and the canned tomatoes. I added them and then they end up all over the place and look retarded. Wouldn't it be easier if you could just click and drag them wherever you want? Argg