Slaving over a hot stove

I tried something new last weekend . . . making tomato relish and tomato sauce. Where as my mother was a great bottler and preserver – I never inherited that gene. But with the world like it is, and money becoming a scarce commodity around here, the vegie garden went in. It is just a strip along the fence with tomatoes, and a wheelbarrow of lettuces to start off with, but we all have to start somewhere. The watermelon never came to anything – that was really disappointing! The pumpkin that appeared from the compost is going great guns – three pumpkins on it – and I have no idea how to tell when they are ready LOL

We have an abundant supply of tomatoes – so many that my freezer is full of them as I haven’t had the time to do things straight away with them – I’ve just picked and frozen them so they don’t go to waste.

I picked the ripe ones off the vines and used them straight away last weekend, though. It was one of those “if you feel like doing it, then do it straight away or it won’t get done” sort of moments.

I have to say that I was a wee bit disappointed at how much it all reduced down while cooking. I was thinking I was going to have a shelf full of jars, when in reality I got only five jars in total. A miserable little amount for the work that went into it! But the bottles do look nice!

Friday 13th March

Friday the 13th. Sends shivers down a lot of spines and is very unlucky for some.

Some interesting facts and superstitions about the number 13:

*Italians don’t use the number 13 in their national lottery.

*It’s bad luck to fly on Friday the 13th.

* The 13 ball is the least likely number to come up in the UK lottery, since it’s inception in 1994.

* It has been suggested that if 13 people all sit down at a table together at once, that they will all will die within a year.

* Beware of naming your children anything with 13 letters, example, Charles Manson.

* There are 13 witches in a coven.

* We have 3 Friday the 13ths in 2009, February, March and again in November!

* The British Navy is notoriously afraid of Friday the 13th. Nonetheless, it built a ship named Friday the 13th. On its maiden voyage, the vessel left dock on a Friday the 13th and was never heard from again.

* If you were born on a Friday the 13th then today is your LUCKY day!

* Many tall buildings do not have a 13th Floor, because if they did, no one would want to stay on them.

* Most hospitals do not have a room 13.

* A baker’s dozen is described by a dozen loaves of bread with the 13th being an offering to the devil so he would not spoil the other 12.

* More than 60 million people do not go to work, drive or leave their house on this unlucky day.

* The seals on the back of a United States dollar bill include 13 steps on the pyramid, 13 stars above the eagle’s head, 13 war arrows in the eagle’s claw and 13 leaves on the olive branch.

* President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the 13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at a meal.

* The ill-fated Apollo 13 launched at 13:13 CST on 4/11/70. The sum of the date’s digits is 13. The explosion that crippled the spacecraft occurred on April 13th.

* According to the British Medical Journal the risk of a car accident in the UK increases by more than 50% on Friday the 13th.

We’ve had a busy time of it lately. Ricki came home for a month in between moving houses in Chch. I flew out to Australia with family to my nieces wedding. I was really impressed there with how well the kids coped because it was so BLOODY HOT. Back home we have continued to run up the kms checking out rural properties. We have been trying really hard to decide what we really want to do. My mind has been going in a thousand different directions, and with working mostly full time for the last couple of months I have been stressed to the max!

Decision has been made (I think LOL) as of today that we will stay here for at least the next year and put the finishing touches on the house and section to get it into a sellable state. That way, if the right property does come up – then we are ready for it. The possibility is there that once the house is sorted, we may well sell it then anyway and effectively become cash buyers. I feel a lot more settled now. We have a plan. Plans are good!!!

A couple of pics:

Birthdays

Birthdays continue this month in our household.

My sister had hers on the 13th. Visited with her on the day and then the following Sunday we spent a lovely day together in Nelson.

Dallas had his birthday last week. He requested sausages, mashed potato and gravy for his birthday dinner. When I went to the butchers to pick up the fresh pork sausages, that was what the butcher was having for his dinner that night too. Must be something about butchers (and ex-butchers LOL)

Mine was the next day, and a lovely roast of lamb was cooked for me. Gail & Wayne came around to share this with us. I was totally spoiled as I received some lovely smellies, some Australian dollars for my trip this coming weekend and Jamie Oliver's latest book - The Ministry of Food. There are some great recipes in there, and I intend to try a different one each week.

SIL Kaye has hers today. She and Bruce came around yesterday, and we shared some wine and great conversation. Then we all went out looking at some lifestyle blocks a few minutes out of town. We fell in love with them and checked with the real estate regarding prices today. I think they are going to be a wee bit out of our reach. My hope is to reduce our mortgage but I don't think that would happen if we bought one of these. Still some thinking to do, though. Maybe a lower price can be offered . . . and who knows?

I have been dreaming today of gardens and chooks and sheep; of living in a garage until we can afford to build the house piece by piece without having to borrow money to do it. Maybe my dreams are over the top and not really do-able for us. I will be sad if that is truly the case.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!!

Off to a slow start, blogwise . . . Have spent the past two weeks working full time at the Lab (minus the two days off work sick) and haven’t even managed to keep up with the housework – let alone a blog!

So – looking back:

I didn’t get Christmas cards out . . . the first time ever. Apologies to those who were expecting them but didn’t receive them.

All my boys were home for Christmas :-) That was the only thing I wanted LOL Karl and Ricki caught the bus home Christmas Eve morning, and left again Boxing Day afternoon.
Anne, Nicola, Dylan & Jaykob were also round for lunch. We had a really nice day, although we didn’t get any gifts opened till after five in the evening!! Liam had to work a morning shift at the service station, then the others arrived before he got home. Just before Anne & co left, Kaye and Bruce turned up.

I worked at the Lab between Christmas and New Year. Dallas stopped working for Christmas Day and I made him stay home on Boxing Day, too, although he wasn’t very happy about it.

Our cherries were beautiful! So juicy and sweet. They were given as parts of gifts to some. Having said that - all the ones around the bottom of the trees were eaten by the dogs. They also ate the strawberries. And the Christmas chocolate – including that which was wrapped and underneath the tree. They unwrapped the socks, boxers, books, etc that had chocolate hidden within. They went into my wardrobe and ate the after dinner mints that were hiding in there. Obviously they weren’t hiding well enough. Chocolate is supposed to be toxic to dogs. My dogs are alive and kicking with minimal disruption to their digestive tracts at the time of the offence.

Our lettuces have been growing well, but are quite bitter. Apparently this is because they haven’t been watered enough. I think next time I’ll get a lettuce with a heart instead of frilly ones – it will be easier for me to tell if they are ready to eat.

We lost the cucumber plant – thank you dogs, again – but have one watermelon doing OK. A stray pumpkin has also turned up in the compost.

The tomatoes – grosse lisse – are doing well and are leading the way in the bet of alcoholic beverages that they will be ready before the neighbours. D swears that ours have the beginnings of red tinges, and he has requested ‘good’ beer, not cheap stuff.

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OK, so the above was written last week. Yesterday I carefully picked our first tomatoes and the neighbour mentioned above cooked fresh scallops and offered beer on our winning of the bet LOL. And boy, do those tomatoes taste SO good! So much better than shop bought ones!

Adulthood PLUS two

Ricki Lee is 20 today. I sent him a text at 5.30 this morning - he was starting work at 6am, and Cleo had woken me up, so I thought I'd get the happy birthday wish in ultra early. This is the first birthday he hasn't been home with us . . . that's what 'adulthood plus two' does to some, I guess, but I don't like it!

Ricki was born 3 1/2 weeks early - he was due in January, but as they all have done before and since, couldn't wait till full term. My poor doctor got called away from a Christmas BBQ to come and tend to me. I ended up having a C-Section, went into shock and had to have a blood transfusion. It was all a bit traumatic, but we got there in the end. He was a wee dot, quite different looking from Karl.

He is currently studying Computer Science at Canterbury University, and working a part time job to help pay the bills.

I haven't got a current photo of him - this one is from earlier this year - Ricki on the right, Karl on the left . . .

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RICKI

Adulthood

Third born son is 18 years old today. Where have all those years gone? He finished school a couple of weeks ago and unfortunately has no plans for his future. He knows he must get a full time job because we certainly can't afford to 'keep' him.

We have been so very lucky to have 'good' kids. They honestly don't give us too much grief, although their father does blame them for his grey hair. I just think it's that age thing again LOL.

So eighteen years ago I was spending the day saying "No, this can't be happening, it's too soon (yet again)" And most of all I was thinking that this baby cannot come today because it's his brothers birthday tomorrow!!! Oh my goodness, two birthdays in the week before Christmas.

So this was my second baby to spend his very first Christmas in the hospital, but he was born a healthy 6lb even though he was a few weeks early. He made his way into the world via a C-Section as, like his brothers before him, he was breach and also like his brothers, had been the entire pregnancy!

Liam Samuel - Sam to his father and his Pop - Liam to everyone else . . .

Happy, happy birthday, son!

On being organised

Over on Karens blog Karen's Choice she has a photo of her favourite organising tool:


So nice, neat, tidy and - well - organised!

Mine doesn't quite cut it, does it?







***sigh***

Gardening

I remember when I was little, dad did the veggie garden and mum did the flower garden. My dad had a huge veggie garden. I have no idea if all the vegetables were used, I know that I certainly didn't eat many back then. Our front paddock in suburbia was full of potatoes for the first couple of years, then corn, then became a wonderful field of grass to play on. We also had some fruit trees - pear, plum and two greengage. Mum would get peaches and pears and bottle them. They would last us all year. She also made jam. My favourite was a crab apple jelly that she used to make from my nanas crab apples. I looked at making some once - and once only LOL. Too fiddly for me!! She also bottled beetroot. I've never had any to match hers. It was delicious.


Now my attempt at gardening. We've always grown tomatoes, and usually potatoes. Up until about 6 or so years ago, I guess. We just ran out of time and energy. Still don't have the time or energy, but are keen to try again.

Here are some starting pics::

Tomatos staked along the fence line with some lettuce in between

Two dwarf cherry trees and the area inbetween that needs tidying . . .

Cherries:

Lettuce, cucumber and watermelon - they patiently waited all week before getting put in the ground today

Four lettuce and one cucumber safely planted, and there is room for more

Happy 80th Birthday

MICKEY MOUSE