Back in the Swing of Things

Last night I went to bed before 10 which was very early for me. I truly slept like a rock and couldn't believe how well I had slept when the alarm went off this morning. Most days when I first wake up, I lay in bed for a few minutes thinking about what my day holds. This morning I decided to do whatever I felt like doing. Vince and Chad were both working so I had the whole day to myself. I decided that instead of quilting or working in the yard (both of those really need attention) I would spend the day in the kitchen. I made a batch of kibbie, which isn't fantastic. If anyone has a great kibbie recipe you'd like to share, I'd be real happy to try it. I canned 7 pints of tomatoes and have enough tomatoes remaining to make 7 pints of tomato relish tomorrow. I have beef stroganoff in the crock pot for tomorrow and I made Oatmeal Toasting Bread. Maybe in the morning I'll run down to the farmer's market early and see if there are any good tomatoes there. I'd love to put up a couple dozen quarts of spaghetti sauce but I don't have enough of my own tomatoes for that. Not just for my little 7 pints of tomatoes but I bought myself a new 23 quart canner today. For nine years I've heard that you can't can on a smooth top stove. Thankfully, I did a little research this morning. I found that I could buy a "5th burner" which is just an electric coil type thing -- like having an extra burner on the regular electric stove. I went to our local Rural King and found one of those for $10. OK, that fits the budget. Then I went to the canners and big as Texas, on the outside of the box, it says:

Canners are constructed of extra-strong, warp-resistant aluminum and are suitable for use on regular and smooth-top ranges.

So, I was able to get the canner, put the 5th burner thing back and now I'm all set. All I need is a bigger garden . . maybe next year. For those who have asked about the log house. We are not getting it. After Daniel's accident, there's no way I want Chad driving on these roads . . even though Daniel's wreck happened on a major highway. I'll hopefully go back and forth to Louisiana every couple of months til I feel mom and dad are ok and it's so much easier for us to work out of the house in town. It's less than 2 miles from community college, 5 miles from Chad's job and 6 miles to Vince's job. I think there will be some major changes in our house before Christmas and a big house with lots of land is not what we need right now. Judy L.