Within the Lines

Thursday

  Today has been a better day.  I spent the morning reading Scripture until I had quelled the stress I am thinking by not focusing on what I need to do and let go of the rest to God.  I emptied the clothes that have been in baskets in 3 locations in the house and started through them. First, to sort out what needed to be washed and donated, for wrong sizes or needs. Then to particularly do the towels and sheets, for nothing is nicer than coming home to freshly made beds and towels after a long day.  Then daughter baked popovers and they were not only tasty they were pretty such as were in Little Women.  I love their steamy goodness with  honey.  Now I am taking a break as there are still 4 loads or so to do and they are sorted on my kitchen floor.  We homeschooled from 12-3 and that worked well for us today, so we got our chores done in the morning after my reading time.

     I live in an urban area. I am a modern wife, mother, but  the longer we are here, the more I realize I need to focus on being me, his wife, and their mother, and let the rest go. We're not jetsetters, nor weathy, nor do we wish to be in competition for anything....and the sooner I learn to be content in my own life the better.

      Tonight is Dh's birthday. It will be a quiet night at home, but how thankful I am to have him and to know he's not in Iraq nor Kuwait this birthday! God is good!

Weekly Menu

My husband gets paid on Wednesdays, so I generally try to do my errands including my grocery shopping on Thursdays. So here is my menu for the remainder of this week, and the whole of next week. I am doing some extra cooking for the freezer a little every week, at least one meal a week, and perhaps one desert as well. I will post my menu, along with a breakdown of my daily kitchen to do's.

Breakfast-                 Lunch-                       Snacks-              

-oatmeal                    -leftovers                  -animal crackers  

-granola                     -ramen noodles           -muffins            

-eggs/toast                -sandwiches               -fruit

-yogurt                      -corn dogs

-french toast sticks          

Dinner-

Thursday-lasagna, salad

Friday-salmon patties*, mac-n-cheese, carrots

Saturday-homemade pizza, salad

Sunday-meatball subs, salad

Monday-roast chicken, mashed potatoes, salad

Tuesday-meatloaf*, mac-n-cheese, green beans

Wednesday-leftovers

Thursday-chicken pot pie

Friday-lentils and rice burritos, salad

Saturday-homemade pizza, salad

Weekly Dessert-peanut butter cookies*

Weekly preserving-jalapeno pepper jelly

All the asterisks(*) mark a freezer meal.

Thursday-Make salad dressing. Make granola. Make oatmeal mixes. Lasagna is frozen, so start it early enough.

Friday-Start salmon patties early, leave out enough for dinner, freeze the rest. Thaw sausage for homemade pizza. Thaw 2 pounds of ground turkey for meatballs.

Saturday-Baking Day-Make bread for the week. Make peanut butter cookies, leave out 1-2 dozen, freeze the rest. Make several pint jars of jalapeno jelly. Make 2 crusts for pizza. Make meatballs and cook for Sunday.

Sunday-Start meatballs in crockpot before church, we will usually have a late lunch or early supper. Thaw 2 whole chickens for Monday.

Monday-Start chickens early. Save rest of chicken for pot pie. Thaw 6lbs of ground turkey for Tuesday.

Tuesday-Make 4 meatloafs, eat 1 for dinner, freeze the rest.

Wednesday-leftover night, clean out the fridge

Thursday-Make crust and assemble chicken pot pie

Friday-Start lentils early

Saturday-Baking day-make bread, deserts, and granola as needed. Make 2 pizza crusts. Do preserving if needed.

I'm going to be doing as much baking and freezing, and preserving as I can. We usually give food as gifts for the holidays and the baby will be arriving at around that time, so I want to be a little more prepared.

We're off to the store! Have a blessed day!

sara

Musings...of Autumn?

Picking Berries...

I am having Chelsea read through some readers to try and improve her fluency with reading.  Today's story was about picking berries.  It was a nice warm story of one family picking blueberries. 

This afternoon, I was working in the garden and got what onions I could find out.  We also got some tomatoes and then I remembered that Dh showed me last night that the elderberries were ripe. 

I called Megan and Chelsea and asked them to come help me.  I grabbed three buckets and out we went to collect some elderberries.  We have a small patch that is quite easy to get to.  A second batch cropped up this year in a pile of brush.  In trying to reach the elderberries, I had to climb onto crackling logs and branches which were buckling under my weight, but thankfully did not come crashing down.  The girls enjoyed my gymnastics and had a good time out there together picking berries... just like in our story.  Chelsea even commented on us picking berries... hope we don't find any bears... just like in her story earlier.  She is 16yo, and was poking fun, but it was a smiley fun and she didn't mind picking berries at all. 

I have spent some time pulling berries off their stems, but I needed a break, so thought I would let you all know what I will be doing the rest of the evening!  My fingers are already purple and I smell of berries.  My hope is to get enough berries to make a batch of elderberry jelly and a batch of elderberry muffins.  We will see what we come up with. 

Well, I guess I had better get back to plucking berries into the bowl.

Warmly, ~Melissa

Pepper Jelly...

Yesterday I made 14 jars of pepper jelly.  A friend had asked if I would make some for them at the beginning of this summer.  I've been thinking about it for quite some time, waiting for the peppers to ripen... and finally I had enough to make some.  I was really glad to get that job done. 

I will be making some raspberry pepper jelly as soon as I get to the store or Farmer's Market for some jalapeno's.  Dh requested that jelly.  My jalapenos didn't come up in the garden, so I'll need to purchase those. 

Nice to get something into the pantry for a change! 

Warmly,  ~Melissa

Blessed Wednesday

After a taste of Hurricane Gustav last night, heavy rainfall, wind, etc, Oklahoma is experiencing a major cool down today. Our highs of 95-100 are no more, at least for today. Today's high was 73 and windy. I nearly needed a sweater. How I love the cool down that fall brings, but unfortunately for me, every time a change of seasons comes around, I end up getting sick. I'm feeling it  come on slowly, sore throat, constant sneezing, and an irritating headache. But I am one of the fortunate ones that sickness generally does not linger long. Praise God for that!

So, how has your day been? Ours has been full and tiring. After another productive day yesterday, today we all went to the dentist, well, all being myself, my oldest son, and my middle daughter. It was cleaning time and I have got a tooth that's becoming increasingly sore. Shame on me for not taking better care of my teeth. The kids passed with flying colors, however I didn't, so I'll be back in the dentist chair before long.

The rest of the day held school, cleaning chores, and now, I'm settling down to do some desk work...balancing checkbook, bills, menus and shopping lists. My beloved husband, apparently saw the look of exhaustion on my face and offered to take the children with him to deposit his check and said he would pick up a couple of the Little Ceasar $5 pizzas for dinner. I knew I married him for a reason. lol. So I'm getting to enjoy a little peace and quiet and I praise God for that too.

On my menu this week, and for the next many weeks, I'm going to include at least one meal a week that I make extras of to freeze. Being that this baby is due not many weeks before the Christmas holiday, I feel an urgency to prepare as much ahead as I can, that includes meals, and gifts, which for us is usually handmade of special baked gifts. So I'll be sharing that in the next few days as well.

Well, back to desk work and preparing for dinner to be delivered. Have a blessed evening!

Sara

Pressure Canner

My mom went and bought a brand new pressure canner from Lehman's.  I know that she bought it for me, even though she's just borrowing it to me for an indefinite period of time.  What a blessing!  I canned some beans yesterday.  Today I hope to can some pears.  I also want to put up some pear jam and can some carrot juice.  Lord willing, I will also start some sauerkraut and dry some oregano and thyme.  Can you tell it's harvest season.

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Tonight they're predicting frost.  It'll be the second of the season already.  My plants were nipped by it a week ago.  Corn, tomatoes, winter squash, pumpkins, none of these are done yet.  A bit early even for us.

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Best get going.  School time.

From Glory Farm