New Friends:)

We met some new friends last week from San Antonio, TX. They came to our area for an AIG conference. They stayed with us Monday and Tuesday night. I was sad to see them go. They have 7 children and it was a blast. We hope to see them soon:)

Here is a picture of all the children:(the blond little boy that is facing the children, is Asher, a little boy I babysit)

Singing

Last night at our church we had a singing and both Hannah and my husband sang. My husband played and sang with the youth band and Hannah sang Beautiful, Beautiful.

COW APPRECIATION DAY 2010!!!!!!!!!!

We went to chick-fil-a today for their annual Cow Appreciation Day!!! This is our second year going, check out last year's post here. My husband even went. We got $29.79 worth of food for free:) Here are the pictures:

Jesus loves me:)

Haley wanted to sing for the camera so here it is

PICKLES .... Anyone????

I am super excited about canning my first pickles. I made up 4 jars, but we kinda of already started eating one before I got the picture:) These are Bread and Butter pickles from the Complete book of Home Preserving Book recipe. Here is the recipe:
BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES
10 cups sliced trimmed pickling cucumbers
4 medium onions, thinly sliced(I only used 2)
1/2 cup pickling or canning salt
3 cups white vinegar
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric

1. In a bowl combine cucumbers, onions, and salt. Mix well, cover with cold water and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours. Transfer to a colander placed over a sink, rinse with cool running water and drain thoroughly.

2. Meanwhile prepare canner, jars, and lids.

3. In a large saucepan, combine remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Stir in vegetables and return to boil.

4. Pack vegetables into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of top of jar. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover vegetables, leaving 1/2 inch head-space. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

5. Place jars in canner, insuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Since I use pint jars I also added 1/8 tsp of pickle crisp to each jar, because we like crispier pickles. Have you canned anything so far this season??

More sickness:(

Monday I started getting a headache:( I thought it was from being sick, but it just kept getting worse. By Tuesday it was severe. Same Wednesday, I could not even go to church. The Doctor called me in imitrex which is supposed to get rid of it, if it is a migraine. So I took 2 Thursday and it did not work:( Then I started to run a fever and my ear was hurting like I had an ear infection. So Friday I went to the doctor(which I do not do unless I am pregnant or it is severe). I had blood work ran and everything came back normal except my iron is low. I had blood in my ear from a busted blood vessel and he said the blood vessels in my eyes looked strained. So he recommended that I go for a vision visit. He adjusted my back and gave me a steroid shot. I have to go back for a physical in about a month. Today I went and had my eye exam, the eye pressure(in which the dr was worried about was normal), however I have astigmatism so I get to wear glasses:( Not all the time, just when I am on the computer, watching tv, driving, reading etc.. pretty much all the time. The good news is My headaches is pretty much gone. After being in the bed for a week, I feel so much better:)

Sickness:(

It has been a long couple of days. Strep throat has entered our home. It started Wednesday with Miss Haley, she didn't feel good so she and I didn't go to church. She told me her neck hurt and she was running a fever. Then Thursday morning I woke up and my throat was killing me and Hannah told me her throat was hurting too. So I made them appointments and sure enough Hannah's quick test came back positive for strep and Haley's was negative. But the one they do overnight came back positive. I knew I had it so I called the doctor to call me in some antibiotics. The girls felt good by Saturday but I felt awful I was achy all over like the flu, My temp got up to 103. Today I feel a little better, but I still don't have all my strength back:(

Garden update!!!

My garden is growing wonderfully:) Look here at when we first planted. What a difference??





We had our first "mini" harvest today. It was only 4 cucumbers and one little cherry tomato, but there are lots more tomatoes that need to ripen, and more cucumbers.


We are in awe of gardening and can't wait to do a BIGGER one next year:) Does anyone have any garden tips for me??

How Does Your Refrigerator LOOK!!!

We are trying to eat more healthier. So I went shopping at the Farmers Market, Earth Fare, and The Fresh Market. Of course it is more expensive to eat Whole foods and organics, but we are trying to eat healthier. Our goal is to eat 80% raw, but with that said we are taking it slow. We will first just try to eat one salad a day and work our way up. As far as organics go, one rule of thumb is if it is peeled, it doesn't have to be organic(bananas, avacodas a favorite here, onions, cantaloupe, etc.). Some things are definitely organic(carrots, celery, apples, especially because we juice). After watching Food, inc. and King corn, it really made me think "where my food came from!!" As far as meats, we are trying to cut down, but I have started buying from the farmers market from local farmers, only grass-fed organic ground beef and free range organic chickens(of caourse I still have some chicken and meats that was in my stockpile that we will use first, so you will see those in there:). We are doing it slow so that it is not a big hit in our budget, but it is worth it. Here is a look into my refrigerator and freezer and I would love to see everyone's too. Blessings, and have a great day.

HERE IS AN OVERALL LOOK


HERE IS A LOOK AT THE SIDE STORAGE(MOST ARE ORGANICS AND NATURAL SAUCES



HERE IS A CLOSER VIEW OF THE TOP TWO SHELVES




HERE IS A VIEW OF THE BOTTOM TWO SHELVES




HERE IS THE "GREEN DRAWER"




IN THE FREEZER

FROZEN FRUIT FOR SMOOTHIES



FROZEN VEGETABLES



BEEF

Busy........

We have been so busy, but I have a lot of new posts coming soon:)