Welcome to another installment of T Tuesday!
Life has been busy and I just haven’t taken the time to post anything. I find sitting at a computer pretty much the least desirable thing lately mostly because when I do, it hurts my back. But I’ll take one for the team today. I’m actually sitting on the floor at my coffee table in hopes that it will help my posture.
Lately I’ve been doing more canning and preserving. A neighbor ended up with an excess of fresh food items from an event of some sort and shared hard boiled eggs, potatoes and apples with us.
I decided to try pickling eggs again since I had a gallon sized bag to get through. I don’t have a picture but you’ll have to believe me when I tell you they turned out wonderful. I even made egg salad with the pickled eggs. So yummy!
Canning potatoes is something I’ve always wanted to try and now that I have a pressure canner I am able to can low acid foods.
My first round of canning potatoes turned out great. And more to the point…tasted great!
I have been using my new outdoor propane camp stove for my latest canning projects. I’m so pleased with it. I have an electric stovetop in the house and hadn’t realized how much I like cooking with gas!!
Over the weekend I did back to back canning projects in the garage. (Yes I had proper ventilation in case anyone was concerned).
I canned 6 quarts of turkey broth and 7 quarts of potatoes. Unfortunately one of the quarts of potatoes failed to seal so I put it in the fridge and we had it with dinner tonight…so yummy!
Getting our pantry/storage room stocked and organized has been on my mind lately. Especially the organizing part because you don’t know what you have unless its organized in some fashion. 
Slowly but surely I’m getting better on the organization end of things. My brain seems to work in a creative chaos most of the time but I am learning the value in everything having a place and everything in its place. At least in some areas of life. Don’t even talk to me about my desk…or craft desk…
Rewinding a bit to November…I had the chance to go on a couple of field trips with a handful of my 6th graders. The first was an outdoor environmental learning experience…unfortunately it was a terrible rainy day. We made the best of it and I think the kids got something out of the experience. The following day we headed to the MN Science Museum. 
What’s a science museum without a bunch of dinosaur fossils?!?
This piece of art intrigued me and I wish I had had more time to check it out but duty calls. 
I did snap this quick photo about the piece to check out later. I found it very interesting! I love that the artist used pieces salvaged from the Mississippi River.
As far as everything else in life… I’ve done a tiny bit of crafting when inspiration hits. I’ve also been listing things on eBay again with 50/50 results.
We hosted Thanksgiving here as usual and I was very happy that Mini-me was able to come home. J came over as well as Mr. G’s side of our immediate family. It was a nice way to spend the day!
Marvin enjoys his “only child” status immensely.
Since it wouldn’t be a proper T stands for Tuesday with a beverage…
here is one I sampled with the neighbors one Saturday afternoon while watching some college football.
What are you doing today?
Just checking in again after a 2 month hiatus. Life happens but blogging doesn’t. :)
Last time I posted Mini-me and I had just gotten back from our cabin adventure. We were trying to get in as much as we could while she was job searching and I had the impending back to school dates looming ahead.
I was happy to get something canned this summer since my garden wasn’t super prolific this year. I was able to harvest enough hot peppers to make some cowboy candy aka candied jalapenos. I don’t need to make very much as I’m the only one who really enjoys it.
I’ve also been slowly working on using the supplies that I have accumulated. It does no one any good sitting collecting dust. I used the better part of a paper pad from my stash to create gift sets of blank notecards. It’s always nice to have some gifts on hand…and bonus that they are handmade!
Mini-me suggested that we go to the MN state fair on opening day this year. I’ve rarely turn her down when she wants to go somewhere since she tends to be a bit of a homebody. Wowsers was it busy! That day set an attendance record with 138,875 people!
We couldn’t leave without getting a bucket of these! We didn’t eat them all there. Only enough to jam the lid on the bucket after using some elite tetris skills. I froze cookies in small batches to enjoy for the future. In fact, I ate the last two cookies today.
On the bus ride to the fair, Mini-me got a phone call that she got the job she’d interviewed for a couple days previous. This was amazing news! Now she needed to find a place to live in and start work in 12 days. Yikes! It was a whirlwind… She is an admissions counselor for her alma mater. So cool! The only trouble she had was trying to find someplace to live in a small town at the beginning of the academic year. Everything is scooped up! However, between her heavy travel schedule on the college fair circuit and some temporary housing, it all worked out and she got an apartment after a couple weeks.
I had fun finding some furniture for her like this amazing vintage table and chairs at a garage sale!
Her place isn’t ideal but it’ll do for now. She’s hoping to get a roommate since she has a 3 bedroom all to herself. Again…that was all that was available!
So now we are really empty nesters. It’s so strange converting your children’s rooms to another use because its even more sad walking past an empty room. The smallest bedroom has become a sewing room, craft room. And now we have a guest room as well. So strange.
Another good update was that my most recent scans show no recurrence of lymphoma! Remission is a wonderful word!
I continue to walk in the morning before school as much as I can. The sunrise over the new parking lot pavement is lovely.
Last week was only three days which was great. I travelled to see Mini-me for a bit. I’m soaking up all the moments I can since I know they are fewer and farther between. Unfortunately my breaks from K-12 school only mean a busy time for her since that’s when people want to visit the university.
We went out a couple times in the brief time I was there. This place had really awesome coffee and a darn good Reuben sandwich. Eat local.
I’ll leave you with Marvin enjoying the “new” vintage quilt on the spare bed. I brought the comforter up to Mini-me so I’d have some blankets on the airbed. :)
Today had me back to work with an early meeting. No walk before school. :(
Mini-me and I went on our “annual” girls trip last week. We really try to do one each year. This year we were able to stay at my cousin’s cabin in what is sometimes referred to as “lake country”. I grew up at this cabin…it’s a huge part of my childhood. I love being able to share it with my daughter.
The area had gotten significant rain the day before so the gravel road we took in the cabin was not a good choice. We made it but it was not a fun drive. The mud and gravel was really caked up under the van.
We had a good laugh later after the adrenaline wore off about on our Montana girls trip where we really did get stuck in the mud.
When we arrived the lake was like glass…virtually no wind. We immediately changed into our swimsuits to get as much time in the water as possible knowing that the weather wasn’t supposed to hold out for us.
We had a great time on the standup paddle boards. Neither one of us fell into the water. We left our glasses on shore just in case though and wore lifejackets.
Because of all the rain we’ve had this summer the lake is really high…as you can see we had to wade out about knee deep to get onto the dock. As I waded into the water I noticed all the minnows swimming in the shallows just like when I was a kid. So many memories.
A campfire reheated hotdog was a perfect end to our first day.
Our second day was a rainy one. We decided to drive into town. Mini-me was interested in a used book store which happened to be on the same block as a couple antique stores. We both found some treasures.
After eating lunch at a favorite place alongside a lake, we stopped by 22 Northmen to pick up a 4 pack of my favorite summer beer.
I brought a bag of crafting supplies since we knew the weather wasn’t going to be perfect. I’ve been on a card making kick lately.
I managed to create 20 blank cards ready for sentiments. I love working with scraps and challenging myself to use what I have on hand. 
The following day was very windy. Also not great to water sports so we decided to go hiking. Inspiration Peak isn’t too far from the cabin, so that was our destination.
The hike is fairly short but steep. The view was gorgeous.
Since it was still early, we checked out surrounding area map for another destination. We found a state park we’d never been to before. We did a bit more hiking there before returning to the cabin to enjoy a relaxing afternoon.
We had a wonderful time quietly enjoying each others company. I’m so thankful my cousin let us use the cabin.
Today has boring household chores on the agenda as well as some shopping for interview clothes for Mini-me. She has a second interview on Thursday…this one is in person.
What are you doing today?
A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I was doing a bit of coffee dyeing. The heat and humidity were high. The papers took a good while to dry. I had to flip and rearrange the stack multiple times.
The Results
These were my favorites of the batch. I definitely learned some things about how the types of paper reacted. Some really thin paper that I thought would be great, really didn’t hold onto the coffee. I bought a vinyl lace tablecloth at the thrift store this winter for the purpose of coffee dyeing papers…do you think I can find it?!?! UGH! So frustrating. I’m sure I’ll find it in the dead of winter when I’m not able to easily coffee dye.
Vintage finds
I went to a vintage tractor, car, machinery, etc show with my neighbors on Friday. They have been telling me for years that I’d love it. They were right! So many things to look at. I have enough photos to do an entire post about it. But I couldn’t wait to share the items I bought at the flea market that was also on the grounds.
I instantly fell in love with this little drawer. I love using interesting vintage items for storage. The color was what got me. I have a decorative wooden box the same color.
Don’t judge me for the poinsettia tablecloth. It stays on our game table year round simply because it fits perfectly and I like the color in the space.
Look at the adorable price tag. The booth that I purchased this from had all fun handmade price tags made from recycled boxes. Mine was a Raisinets box.
I found some vintage papers that will be great for junk journals. 
And this amazing box of postage stamps. Some are sorted into small glassine envelopes but most are piled in the box and other envelopes. It’s a massive amount of stamps really. 
Look how fantastic the glassine envelopes fit in the drawer. It was meant to be.
I fixed myself a hardy breakfast this morning. I had cooked way too much broccolini yesterday but it was great warmed up alongside the eggs. I used some Trader Joe’s Crunchy Chili Onion on top for a flavor boost. I love that stuff on eggs and was really good on the broccolini too.
Today has me trying some new recipes for dinner. I love trying new things but I hate having to measure and follow directions. I’m more of an intuitive cook but I try to follow recipes at least the first few times.
What are you doing today?