Monday Night Jammin...

I have a new obsession that I can't get enough of. Lately, I have been canning and jamming like a crazy homesteader and I LOVE it. The other day I got a butt load of plums. You see my Grandpa is a master gardener and he grows it all. The other weekend we were down at his house near Salem, Oregon and there in his garden were these two beautiful plum trees. I mean beautiful, all purple and full of sweet juicy plums. So I picked myself a big old bag. Ok this is where I go overboard. You see on the way home to Astoria I stopped at my Momma and Markies house and there in their backyard is a Plum tree just busting at the branches with white golden plums. Mark told me he hates seeing plums go to waste so he has been eating at least 10 a day. I can't imagine. Anywhoo... he picked me yet another bag and I set about my way home. So here I am all plum happy sitting in Astoria busting with plums or whats about to become a pile of rotten fruit. Thank the heavens for my friend Melissa who decided we would can them for the kids and jam them for everyone else. I didn't document this crazy day yet I did managed to take a few picture of our final product. We canned plums and made spicy plum jam with jalapenos and habaneros to throw over cream cheese, chicken or pork.

Well that was on Saturday then Monday rolled around and my friend Chelsea reminded me that we had too many blackberries taking up space in our freezer. Whenever I go walking I always bring my bucket because blackberries are in abundance in and around town. Not to mention my little Lou can't get enough of them! (Caught hand in the bucket.. Berry snatching.)

So I am not going to give you a step by step because I used the directions on a box of Sure-Jell. I will tell you that I did one batch of regular blackberry jam and one batch with hot peppers. Best idea ever... You can throw it over cream cheese with crackers or pork.

Frozen berries....

 

Here my lovely  friend Chelsea is mashing up the berries and measuring them into my Twilight tub. (Isn't she the cutest pregnant lady ever!?)

 

 These are the peppers we used to spice it up. Jalapenos and habaneros. We took the seeds out and made sure to wash our hand really well cause these suckers are hot! Make sure too that you subtract the amount of berries for the amount of chopped peppers that go into the whole measurement. Otherwise your jam may not jell. (p.s. look at that pie. I am so freakin proud of it. Its no mistake that it's in the photo. I threw it together sans recipe and all the pie gods came together and gave me that. It also tasted amazing, even Cole who doesn't like desserts said he would eat it again!)

Stirring the pot... Make sure you have an apron on cause its hot and bubbly!

 

 Once the substance was in the jars and sealed tight we flipped them. But then we didn't have enough faith that they would seal which in the canning world is a big deal because you don't want to give people your goods then kill them with botulism.

 So we put them in a water bath just to be sure.

 This is a bad photo of me but it is important so I put it in. The best part of canning is waiting for the suckers to seal. However, you cannot touch the lids or else you ruin the whole process and your stuff goes bad. So you have to be patient and wait, and wait and wait. I went to bed that night hearing the popping of the lids sealing. There is no sound so sweet after canning all evening!

 Our finished product! Looks and tastes amazing....

 



So Long Summer.....

I can't believe I am typing this (saying it would be harder) but ...The summer is officially over for me. Yesterday I went back to work after a wonderful, busy and adventurous summer. I haven't posted in forever... This I know, but its because I have been on the go go go!! Since our last internet meeting I taught six weeks of Summer School which was so amazing. I was able to teach third and fourth graders and it was a magical experience. I realize the picture below is really creepy looking. You are probably wondering what I actually did with my kids but this was an exercise in echolocation. We studied whales the whole time so we became pretty well versed on our largest mammal friends.

 I ran my half marathon with my best ladies in Missoula which was amazing! I felt really good and met my goal. Not to mention I got some much needed quality time in with my lady friends. Later in July we  toured the Great Western States of Montana (where Coles brother Kyle married the lovely Aisha), Idaho and Wyoming.  I haven't hooked my camera up to the computer yet so I have more photos to share on this matter. Especially since Cole and I were in the wedding and looked dashing together! Unfortunatly my phone had no wedding photos. Then we headed to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in  Wyoming.

August happened all too fast as well. Below is a picture of Lucy Lou my hillbilly looking kid, fitting right in at the Tillamook County Fair fishing for a big fish. She loved it! Her cousin Sadie joined her where they indulged in everything fried together. Magical cousin moments if you ask me.

On our wonderful tour of the West we picked up Coles Grandpa's 1968 Chrysler 300. So I guess you could say we are vintage car owners. I love the car it is really cool. I can't wait to bring it to a car show and do the car show things with it. I don't know what that means yet but I will let you know when I figure it out. The best part about the car is that it belonged to Cole's Grandpa so its a nostalgic thing for him and I love that. Oh and Lucy loves the car. She is always wanting to sit in it.

It is a boat but it fit in the garage. But only by inches..

The last little adventure I took this summer included my Mommy and Lucy. We took a trip to see my Grandpa in his home. We had a blast loving on him and each other. (On this trip Cole surprised me with a new kitchen floor and front door. He did it all with his Daddy and Mamma while we were away. I need to take a few more photos and I promise to show the home upgrades later this week!)

I hope you had an amazing summer doing what you love to do with whom you love to do it with. Here is to the last few days of August. Soak it up baby...

Banners & Birthdays...

Whew... What a wonderful weekend in Astoria... On Saturday we celebrated Lucy's 1st birthday with lots of close friends and family. It was a GREAT day! The best part about the day was that the weather was A-mazing... I mean people left my house and ventured into the back yard... Where they enjoyed our finished deck. Wouldn't you know it...?  I took zero before and after pictures of our deck. My Mark worked all day Saturday to finish the second level of it. (It was our Christmas present) I also didn't take any outdoor photos. My head was in the clouds I guess. I want to share a few details from her party with you and another craft I made for her party. So I will start with the banner I made her.

Last week I set out to make her a banner. I recently purchased some great oilcloth scraps and knew I could do something cool with them. After I made her banner I realized I didn't like it because it looked Hawaiian which was not the theme of the party so I set out to make her a better one...

 I decided that on  my second go around I would back the letters with burlap. I just had to decide which oilcloth I liked better for the letters. I decided on the blue/green one.

Then I went to the computer to find a font I liked. I used "storybook" I think. Then I blew the font up to like 500+. I cut out the letters and placed them strategically on the fabric. I don't want to waste any of this stuff cause its too cool.

 I traced around the letters...

 Cut them out...

 Then I cut out some large triangles from some of my coffee sacks. Still the ones I scored for $0.99. Even though people have been telling me that I can get them for free from one of the local coffee shops in town.

 Then I glued them on with my hot glue gun and strung them up with yarn and mini clothespins and wouldn't you know after they adorned the party as a decoration I hung them above Lucy's crib. Pretty stinking cute huh?

 Close up on the mini clothespins. I love these...

 This picture is pretty washed out from the sun (and I am no pro-photographer)so you can't tell how awesome the banner really is but it looked neato hanging at the party next to the poms I made here.

I really like the banner and I love that it is not a one time use piece cause now it decorates the little ladies room. I might be a new found banner freak and make banners as gifts for all of our upcoming parties... Watch out...

Lets take a peek at some more b-day highlights... (Keep in mind Buckaroo theme)

This was the dessert table my Marcia, Mommy and Sis made cupcakes and I made a cream puff topiary... Very addictive...

 Long time love of my life Lynds and Lucy's future husband Charlie... Matching hats from her hub...

 Check out Lucy's dress. I mean I think its the cutest thing ever. It was a Target score. One of Gwen's pieces you can buy here. Also Lucy loves candy now.. Thanks Grandpa...

 I had this really cute little station that asked the guests to take a second to offer Lucy some words of wisdom to live by. Yet No one did it. It was really my fault though because I was sort of a lame hostess and didn't tell people to do it. Once everyone showed up I kinda shut down. I walked around like I was in a dream. I usually love being the center of attention but I think I was overwhelmed by the thought of my baby being one. Birthdays are crazy and emotional and exhausting.

 This was the goody bag/ stick horse table. Here are Lucy's boots which she refused to put on so we used them as decor. They are still too big so I guess it was ok.

Here are the poms hanging...

I really don't like this picture of myself but I have to share it because it shows the headband I "tried" to make for Lucy. It was a craft FAIL. Last week I made felt flowers for her headband.... They were cute, until I put it on her head. It popped out like something you see on a roast Turkey leg. She hated it so I ditched it. (This is also the only picture I could find that showed my awesome new tablecloth, its a yellow oilcloth. LOVE

Ok so I didn't take nearly enough pictures of Lucy's party. I didn't even pick up the camera really but I did clean before the party and I wanted to share a clean house pic with you guys. Also this picture shows the new chairs I got from Craigslist for $30....For the Pair!! I love them and I cant wait to reupholster them...someday. For now I added a decorative pillow to fancy them up.

All in all we have a one year old now, and the sun was shining all weekend. What more could a girl ask for...Oh yeah a flowerbed, which I got yesterday after some hard man and woman sweat... I will post more on that later cause it is pretty impressive...

Tooting My Own Horn....

It's not perfection but it's pretty close if you ask me... What am I talking about you ask? Well ladies and gentleman I reupholstered my first piece of furniture tonight.... Over a year ago I swiped this really cool chair from under Cole's office

 My baby.... Checking out the project of the day. (She is turning one tomorrow.... Oh my god a year ago tonight I was in the hospital taking my first Ambien waiting for Lucy. Who knew what a fast, wonderful ride I was in for... Who knew my heart would forever be stolen by such a little person. Crazy Love....)

 Cole works downtown Astoria. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Astoria it is the oldest settlement west of the Mississippi. This place has a lot of history. The history of Astoria was not on my mind when I claimed this chair from the depths of the town. Tonight though as I started to redo this chair I couldn't help but wonder what its history was. This was because as I went in to tear off the fabric I realized it was stuffed with straw. Now I have been doing my research and none of the blogs I've been studying have talked about coming across furniture stuffed with straw. How old is this chair and did I just destroy some antique that could be worth millions (OK thousands?).... Check out these tiny little nails. They are located under the green trim you see below. I was careful not to pull these out or let them drop on the floor.  They were rusty! So I tore off the green trim but when I ran into the straw I stopped and realized I was going to have to recover the chair with the existing fabric underneath. This decision however took me like four hours to make. I think the straw intimidated me so I had to give myself some pep talks. I needed a mental kick in the A. Then I attacked it and boy am I glad I did...

 Yeah folks get a load of that .... what is that pictured below and how do you cover it? Makes me wonder if there is treasure or money stuffed in the cushions of this baby....

Tearing off the trim.... It was just glued on. Please keep in mind that I do not have trim so the chair is not finished yet but I am too excited not to share this!

 I found this butter yellow fabric above on clearance at Mill End Fabric Store in Beaverton. I got it for $5.00 a yard. Not too bad... So I set out with my new staple gun and I just went to town. I was careful with my selection of every staple and before I knew it I was redoing a chair.

I couldn't help but notice some of the details in the wood on this chair. It by no means feels like a frail antique it actually is extremely sturdy and very heavy. (Who knew a chair could get me so excited, I guess its the little things these days. I like the little things.) I guess what I am really trying to say is that if this chair had a story to tell I would want to hear it.

 Here is my finished chair all prim and proper. Pretty cool huh? I am so excited that I did it. I can't wait for Lucy to wake up tomorrow... I know she will love the new chair all soft and velvety.

 Lets do a quick little before and after, shall we?
Before.............

After..............

 This picture shows some of my flaw spots. You can also see the exposed staples. I will put trim on it soon to cover the staples but until then... Who cares... I LOVE IT!