It's Starting to Feel like Christmas

I was looking for some little gift that I could hand out to random people, but not look random, you know, I wanted it to say, I thought of you and put some effort into this.  It had to be cute, easy, and taste delicious.

I decided to make some jam, three different kinds, and some clay ornaments.  Not just any jam, but jam with chocolate, because nothing spells delicious like chocolate.

For the clay ornaments I purchased a tub of Crayola Clay, found almost anywhere that sells Crayola products, or here if you don't want to leave  the house.  http://www.crayolastore.com/product/13203   I had made some previously from a recipe I found on Pinterest, for air dry porcelain, I found however,

these looked cheesy and plastic when dried.  I just didn't like them, they looked really cheap to me.  The clay ones, were exactly the look I was trying to achieve.  I also purchased some stamps from the dollar bin at Micheal's to stamp them.  Cookie cutters gave them shape, and a straw poke provided the hole to put the twine in.

Jam is probably one of the easiest things to make.  It requires minimal ingredients, and equipment.  There isn't anything fancy about it, except you will have to buy some jars.  These are some of the things I bought, all at our local grocery store in one trip.

This is a list of what I actually bought, and what I made with those products.

2 600 g bags of frozen raspberries

2 600 g bags of frozen black sweet cherries

I package of Bakers unsweetened chocolate

1 -1 L box of apple juice

1- 5 pound bag of sugar

3 boxes of powdered pectin for making jam

I also purchased to cases of 250 ml jars from Canadian Tire, they carry them all year in Canada.

Following the directions for cooked jam making, inside the pectin box, (how easy is this, they provide the recipe for you), I made Chocolate Cherry, Chocolate Raspberry, and Apple Cinnamon.

If you would like to make the chocolate version, all you need to do it chop up three squares and add it to the fruit before you begin cooking.  The cinnamon for the Apple jelly is best mixed with the sugar, and then added.  Something I have done previously is to substitute one cup of sugar with Cinnamon hearts, it tastes delicious, and gives the apple jelly a lovely reddish colour.

This is the result of my jam making.

6 jars of apple jelly

7 jars of Chocolate Cherry

9 jars of Chocolate Raspberry

For each fruit jam you will need to use both bags of fruit, and 1 L of apple juice makes one recipe for apple jelly

So unrelated, but so cute, my owl herb garden, growing over the kitchen sink.  I Love the owls.

This is the finished product.

 I almost forgot the labels, these are just plain Avery Labels, and I went on line and used their template wizard, printed them out and easy peasy, labels.

A successful evening I would say, it took about 2 and a half hours from start to finish, and that included the clean up.  I hope you try this yourself, canning is a dying art.

When you just don't have the answers.

Recently my step-father was diagnosed with Leukemia.  This hit me like a tonne of bricks.  I think I was just blind sided by the news.  Up to this point he was a very healthy and active man.  I never thought of him as elderly, or failing.  He fished and camped, looked after his yard with zeal.

The news lead me to search what was going to happen.  What I found was disturbing, elder leukemia was serious business.  They live 2 and half hours away from us, and trying to help them was going to be a challenge.

Today he turns 68.  I had bought a set of luggage for them for Christmas, but decided that he should receive that as a birthday present.  I have to say that up to this point in my life I always referred to him as my mother's husband.  I have no idea why I never looked at him as a part of me, my children have always known him as grandpa, but I just called him by his name.  In fact he is the only grandfather from my family that they have ever known.  It's a messed up story, but I was adopted when I was a baby, my mom and dad later divorced when I was about 6.  We rarely had contact with our mother, she had a host of issues, and we seemed mostly to have to care for her.  When I was 16 my dad married a lady 6 years older than myself.  Shortly after he asked me to  move out, and we have had no contact since.  I have gotten married, had three kids, married off our oldest daughter, sent two kids to university, and had 3 grandchildren.  My step dad was there for all of it.  In fact, he has been around longer than the man that took me into his home, and promised a court to raise me as his own.  I have very mixed emotions about all of this.

I have always thought about myself as an orphan.  I have met my birth mother, and have a relationship with my half sister, but the mother bowed out.  It is unclear as to who my father actually is, that has been touched on, but nothing done.  Anyhow, now that you have some history , the real reason for this post was the leukemia.

I just didn't know what I could do to help.  He is currently resistant to too much intervention.  I want to be thoughtful, and helpful, and show him that he has impacted my life.  After much thought, I decided that we would go there tomorrow and have a small birthday party, I could give him his luggage, that he is going to need for trips to the hospital, and bake him some cupcakes.  After speaking with my mom, she informed me that he would like a double layer cake.  I guess I will have to put my cake decorating skills to work and see what I can come up with.  I also decided to make a soup that he always made for us growing up, and he taught me how to make it too.  A loaf of fresh bread, and it should be a nice lunch.  I really just want him to know, we got this, we will be there, he is not alone, and we love him.  Maybe we have never actually said it, but we do.

Ah the homesick student, and parenting from a distance

Handling the homesick youth at university is becoming a difficult task.  We are 8 hours away, and this just doesn't seem to be getting any easier with time.  .I have tried everything I know to ease this situation.  His father even made the drive for a surprise visit hoping that would cheer him up, and it did for as long as he was there, but we have jobs and commitments here so having an extended visit is out of the question.

I have googled this problem, and most say just have them get out and do things, which I encourage every day.  I do find that with the ease of communication, perhaps we talk to each other too much.  With unlimited long distance, and beefed up cell packages, texting, im, etc, you are virtually accessible at all times of the day, with very little cost.  Perhaps this is contributing to the problem.  It would be hard to move on in a new situation when you are constantly talking to and wishing you were home.

I thought that by giving my children the skills to go out and live on their own, they would have no problem in this department.  They can all cook, look after their cleaning, and do their laundry.  However, we spent a lot of time with our kids, and weekends would often find us hanging out together, or going on day trips.  Even as teenagers they would go along, my kids never had that parent aversion.  I hear so much from others that their teenagers hate them, and can't wait to be rid of them.  I almost wish our kids had a little of that in them, although that would personally break my heart.

Does anyone have any advice on how to handle the homesick university student?  I am totally open to suggestions!!!

Brighter days ahead I hope.

As I have talked about previously I work for a construction company.  I arrange trucking and materials for all our jobs, and I manage the flow of trucks daily.  For the most part we have the same drivers, every day.
In the morning when I arrive there is a parade of trucks waiting for me in the drive way.  The same two are always in the lead, they have probably been there for about an hour before me.  Last weekend, sadly one of them passed away.  I have been doing this job for thirteen years, and in that time you get to know people.  I want to first say this gentleman was a mennonite, he was dedicated to his church, his family and his job.  He was humble and caring, and in the 13 years that I had the pleasure of working with him, he never said a bad word about anyone.  He had an optomistic personality that could help change a bad day just with his cheerful attitude.  He also shared some of his life, his children, his grandchildren, projects his church was working on, the fabulous meals his wife would prepare.  I think, we as people, often disregard what we don't know about.  Our ignorance breeds prejudice and racism.  I learned a new respect for this community.  There were aspects of their lives that I would wish for myself.  The sense of community, helping each other in times of need, the positivity, their creativity was evident in every word he spoke.  I couldn't understand why their wives did not use a hospital when giving birth, they almost always have a home birth.  However, after he enlightened me about their customs I was enthralled at the way they care for their women.  A midwife delivers the baby at home in their comfortable setting, and then after, for approximately three weeks, other women in the community come and care for the family and the baby allowing the new mother a time to rest and recover.  Since the demands of her life are taken care of this allows her to bond with her new baby, get lots of rest, and not worry about the little things.  I am so glad he shared some insight into his customs and community, it gave me a new perspective and respect for them.

Compared to my last experience of having a baby at 6:30 pm and being signed out at 9am the next morning, their practises seem much more humane.  I actually talked the doctor into letting me stay for an extra day, I had two little ones at home and no help.  I couldn't even imagine going home that day, with all the demands, and staying sane.  My mother, even though she just lived a few blocks away wouldn't come and give me a hand, my husband had to work, Christmas was just 3 days away, and honestly I just felt really overwhelmed.

Yesterday was such a challenging day.  The truck belonging to the driver I mentioned was loaded when he passed, and I had a conversation with his son earlier in the week about him bringing it in to unload, he really wanted to do this, take the truck for its final destination.    I was touched by this, and told him to take his time and do it when he was ready, there was no rush.  About eleven o'clock I saw the truck coming down the drive way, and I was having hard time keeping my emotions in check.  They stopped at the scales and came in to get directions.  Now I just have to say here I have never met nicer young men in my life, their manners were impeccable, and I could see how hard this was for them.  John's son had his son with him and also his Dad's brother.  The family resemblance was striking.  We talked about his Dad and he expressed an interest in seeing the new asphalt plant his dad was always talking about.  I issued them hard hats and sent them on their way.  I watched that truck unload and cried a little, it just seemed so sad.  I called back to the plant to let them know of their arrival.  When he was leaving, he again stopped at my office to return the hats, he was crying as he said thank you, I was crying , it was so touching,  His son was about ten years old, and I gave him the hat to keep to remember his grandpa.  There were few words exchanged as the tears were getting in the way.

It took me a little time to pull myself together, but I managed finally, and then my mother called, they had returned from a trip to the cancer clinic in Hamilton, and finally had a diagnosis for my step father.  He has  Leukemia, as I was on the phone with her I was trying to keep it together because she didn't need my grief to deal with I am sure she had enough of her own.  When I hung up the phone it just poured out, I am sure anyone that witnessed this thinks I am emotionally unstable, but seriously I just don't care.  As i was driving home I called our eldest daughter to tell her the news, and she told me some too.  Our grandson Ethan who is five seems to be going blind in one eye.  They believe he has a disease that produces tumours on the nerves throughout the body, surgery can remove them, but there is no cure.  We are awaiting additional testing and specialist appointments to get a complete diagnosis.  We are a family that has never known illness, we are hearty, healthy people.  All of this just seems very overwhelming right now.

I am looking forward to brighter days ahead, courage to face whatever we must, strength to help those that need it, and a positive outlook no matter how bad things look right now.

It's a dying art.

One of the things that I do, and I do believe it is a dying art is can.  You know what I mean, preserving food for consumption later in the year when fresh is not as easy to acquire.  Now I see a lot of posts about preserving food due to budgetary concerns, however this has never been my motivation.  When I was growing up our mother was not in the home, this was the 70's and my dad was tasked with trying to care for and raise 3 children.  We were farmers, but because of society constraints he was not prepared for this.  We lived on frozen (thank god for the invention of T.V. dinners), boxed and tinned food.  We had to be able to prepare a meal and feed ourselves when he was busy farming.  Can you say Spaghettio's!!!  We tried classing it up and we added ground beef, and quite seriously thought we were gourmet cooks.  To this day I still have a soft spot for t.v. dinner mashed potatoes.  All our potatoes came from a can or box.  I digress, so back to the matter of canning, my motivation has always been to feed my family real food.  When I can, I know what went into it.  I feel it is worth the effort to do this, and now that the birds have left the nest, I make enough for all the households, so they can eat well.  

Our weekend started with a trip to a tomato field across from where I work.  The lovely farmer always drops by and tells me where to go to pick.  He grows a few different things, I usually get cucumbers for pickles, sweet corn, and tomatoes.  The last couple of years I stopped making pickles, and I still have corn left over from last year, so that is out.  Just tomatoes this year.  After I bribed my son with a trip to Tim Horton's for an ice cap he helped me pick three large laundry baskets full and we spent the rest of the day shopping.

Sunday I got up early to begin production in Chef Boyardee's  kitchen.  I made salsa, bruchetta, spaghetti sauce, and pizza sauce.  I worked all day Sunday and still had one and half baskets left.  Monday night was more pizza and spaghetti sauce.  I have one full basket left for tonight and I need to make more salsa and spaghetti sauce, wrapping it up with just plain stewed tomatoes.  I work 11 hours a day at my job, and then head home to work until 10pm in the kitchen, not because I have to, but because I really want to.

The finished product.

There is another aspect to this that I feel proud of, I can look after myself.  A lot of the people I talk to always think we do these things because we are "cheap".  That's just not it, Ragu is cheap when it goes on sale, but should there ever come a day when I can no longer purchase store bought items, I know I possess  the skill and knowledge to make my own.

How I spent my long weekend.

I work in construction, and we put in a lot of hours every week.  When it's the long weekend we always try to leave early on Fridays.  I was able to leave at 3pm, and headed straight for home.  My son had called me earlier to see if we could go thrifting.  I love a good thrift shop, and we set out as soon as I got there.  I picked up this lamp for $5.  There was a tutorial on pinterest on painting them.   I also bought a dress that I plan to overhaul, more on that later.

$5 goodwill lamp

I used Krylon Dual paint and primer in satin ivory.  The lampshade was purchased from Wal-mart, and yes I have seen all the tutorials on how to refurbish the ones from the thrift store, but didn't feel it was worth the time. 

I also decided to make a trip to Windsor to go to the fabric store.  Our store closed earlier this year.  I am making a baby quilt for our eldest daughter's day care provider.  The nursery is going to be gray, so I think I found the perfect fabric

I drove home and couldn't wait to get started on this, by the time I thought to take pictures I had already pieced it together.   This is the finished product.  I need to learn how to properly bind a quilt, and those corners, I might have said a bad work during that part.

That took up the first 2 days, one day left, I think I will spend it with my favorite teenage boy.  The time is fast approaching when he will be leaving.  I need to cram all the time I can.

Learning to use the new machine

I love pinterest.  I think I spend more hours a day looking at that site, than anything else I do.  I find so many great ideas.  This one seemed so cute, and since I bought a new sewing machine I thought I would try it out.
I made my own pattern out of newspaper, and just used some scraps of fabric I had from previous projects.

As I am writing this, the little owl purse it being taken to Ottawa to go to its new home.  This whole project took about 2 hours, and I am sure that could be minimized by knowing how to work your sewing machine.  

The babies leave the nest.

Our middle daughter has been away at school for two years now.  I like to send her little things in the mail so she can feel a little bit of home, in her home.

Recently she asked me to make her a new duvet cover from some fabric that she selected.  I added some pillows to match and plan to mail them off tomorrow.

I also thought I should add a surprise that she is unaware of.  So I had some flour sack towels that I have been wanting to do something with so I took something that she finds funny, and put them on the towels.

I hope she finds them useful and fun.

A little bit of home

Our second daughter is in her third year of university.  She chose a school that is about 8 hours away from home.  We wanted her to live out her dream, but also feel at home.  While decorating her room she asked me to make her a quilt.  Since i have limited sewing knowledge I was hesitant.  However, she fanned  a flame inside of me, to keep trying and making more things.  

On the quilt I hand embroidered the lyrics to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" since this is our family anthem.  I penned them on the squares in my hand writing, and she  will always have a piece of her mama no matter where she goes.

We created all the pillows, and most of the things in her room are items she bought at yard sales, or were donated.  She loves the vintage feel to her space.  While most of her friends have typical Ikea rooms, hers in unique and homely.  The rug on the floor again was our creation from some fabric that she selected.

And one lonely piece of Ikea furniture to have a place to house her growing collection of books.

I also made this little garden bench into a couch for her room, we covered it with canvas purchased from the local bag maker.  

And I printed from my bubble jet, a excerpt from Winnie the Pooh, and an Eiffel Tower because this girl is in love with all things French since she went to Europe in grade 11.  The bench itself was in major need of a make over, it was so ugly, but I have to say it is now in its third year of school and still looks good lol.

As you can see from this picture we attempted to make the Anthropology duvet cover.  And for the most part it was good, if you didn't look too closely at it. However, the sheets I used were not a good enough quality and one of her roommates ripped it to shreds, thus I have been commissioned to make a new one.  It's in the works right now. 

$25

A few weeks ago my husband went past a really cool yard sale.  When he got home he told me I should go check it out.  I did and this is what I ended up with.

It was a steal at only $25 dollars, or so I thought at the time.  I had no idea how much work it was going to be to reupholster it.  I thought it was a simple unscrew, cover seat, and staple into place.  After careful selection of fabric, courtesy of our daughter away at school, she spent an afternoon shopping with me on a visit to her.  She also selected some lovely fabric that her mama was sent home with to make her a new duvet cover.  She likes to keep me busy since we are soon to be empty nesters.  So I began on the chair

My husband came home one day to find me on the kitchen floor, in a pile of dust on an extremely hot day, surrounded by tools.  He asked me how it was going and when I answered him, he just picked it all up and took it into the spare room.  It would have to wait for another day.

And eventually I went back to it, with a plan, and some patience, and the end result was lovely.  My seat fabric is a little off center, but by the time I realized this, there was no going back.  I think the neighbor kids learned a few bad words that morning as I sat on my back deck with the tools and the chair.

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I will say though the next time I see a chair that needs a little repair I will definitely look it over a little bit more, before I get so excited I hand over my cash and stuff it in my trunk

Change

Tonight we will honour our youngest child at his high school graduation.  I know so some it's just another day, but for me it seems so sad.  For 26 years we have children in our home, we have never just been the two of us.  I am excited for him, he has been an honour student thoughout his academic career, and is heading off to university in the fall.

I am proud of all my kids, they are really an incredible bunch.

Our son didn't like school at first, he was only three when he went to junior kindergarten, and for 3 months the school called me within half and hour of dropping him off, to come back and get him.  Eventually he would stay, but it took time.  When he was in grade 2 his teacher called me, and said for 2 weeks he was complaining he was sick and needed to go home, he needed to eat chicken noodle soup with his mom.  She thought since he seemed healthy she would call me.

Often as the youngest you get lost in the shuffle.  He was a patient little boy, going to figure skating practice, swim practice and basketball games, all for his sister.  He studied guitar, and played hockey.  He quietly went about his way, always eager to help, excelling at school.

These last couple of years, he has developed an interest in classic rock, and music of all kinds.  He was never embarrassed to ride in the car with me, singing Grease songs with the radio cranked.  He was my buddy, my thrifting friend, we went to yard sales, and concerts, My life is going to change in a big way shortly.

I want to embrace this change, and forge ahead.  I want him to know how incredibly excited we are for him as he embarks on his new life, full of promise and hope.  I want to mail him cookies. Hopefully he calls me and tells me about his adventures.  Perhaps I will have some to share too!!!!

My reason to be

My whole life I wanted to have a family.  I wanted to be the mother I never had.  I wanted to bake cookies, and care for my family.  My "real" family started the day I had my first baby, whom is now grown up and has three of her own.  

I am so proud of my children, although they have all decided to pursue different paths in life, I am in awe of them.  They make me laugh, occasionally cry, but they are the foundation of who I am as a person.  

When ever life gets me down I know that I am linked to three of the most incredible beings on this earth.