Fun day on the Train

So, this past Sunday, I decided to brave it and take Evelyn on her first trip to the ride the train... with her Daddy as the Conductor of the engine and some dear friends to ride and fellowship with.

The little one got a bit rowdy after being in one place for so long and having not taken a nap yet, so Mommy had to give her a "talkin' to" and this happened right away!   ;)

Fun times!!

Consignment Sale Finds

A good friend of mine and I left our kids with other responsible adults as we headed off to a childrens consignment sale.  I found some great stuff!  Here is Evelyn enjoying her very own new (to her) tent.  I figured her day would approve of the railroad theme since he also works for the railroad sometimes.

A great kitchen (in the far corner) for $45.  I was wanting a new and modern one, but it was $147 online, so I thought we could just live worth this, and she has lived it so far! 

I got her this spinny thing, thinking she may not know how to use it yet...  But she did great right away and loves it!!

Also this rocker, I was unsure of, but she had done well with it too!!

There were also some other smaller, fun toys and clothes (off course) that I don't have pictures of...

This is Ev the next day enjoying an ice cream cone at our local college.  Yes, that is an early bite she took out of the cone! ;)

Here was her playroom after I cleaned it up and organized everything.   (And before the big tent went up).  It took me about 10 years to do!!

See ya soon!!!

Kitchen Makeover on a (Very Strict) Budget

My kitchen before:

As in my title, this was a very strict budget we were working with, as in zero dollars!   Our kitchen project just started out that I was going to paint the walls in a color that would go better with or cabinets.  I have never really 'loved' our cabinets before, but I can say that after I did my painting projects, I at least 'like' them now!  ;)  I checked on Pinterest to see what colors would best go with honey oak cabinets, since painting my cabinets was out of the question for me because that is too much work and I have waaaayy too many cabinets!!  And the color I liked best was close to a color I had left over from our dining room.  So, that was free!  As was painting over our dingy backsplash.  I used the same color we painted our trim around the house with.  Only that, when I took off the stainless steel sheet that was the current backsplash, to paint the tiles and discard that piece, I found this...

So, of course I had to do something different, so I bought these plasticky-metally looking things to put up and paint to match the rest of the backsplash.  About $50 to do.

See?  Pretty, right?!  Well,  that is only just the primer ;)  Wake till you see the completely finished project! 

So, my kitchen reno was going to end there, but I have never liked my kitchen countertops very well, so I thought, "Hey,why not just get the whole darn thing done?"  So, I looked at different ways to redo countertops,  not the Rustoleum way-which is a speckle like I already had and really expensive, I decided I liked the hand-crafted 'granite-like design best...  So here is my go at it...

Primer-also my base coat:

I tried to add a little "natural cracking look" with a feather as well as the multi-color spackling with some pieces of natural sea sponge.  I didn't do so good at taking step-by-step photos, but here is one.

And the finished product...

What do ya think?  

Canning Peaches

Canning Peaches

Well, it's nice to be back in the "blogging business"...  Here are some peaches I canned during Ev's nap about a week ago.

Start of with peaches from a local farm. 

Wash the peaches. 

Boil a pot of water to put your peaches in.  Put them in. 

Then after about 2 minutes, take peaches out of boiling water and put in a bowl of ice cold water and let set about 2 more minutes.  

Then comes my favorite part!

Skins slip right off.  Then just cut the seed out and slice. 

Put slices in cold water with a tablespoon or two of Fruit Fresh in it. 

Meanwhile, jars have been heating up in water in the canner.

Then place peaches in jars,  fill with boiled sugar water, wipe rims clean and put lids on.

Place jars in canner and once it comes to a light rolling boil, boil for 10 minutes.  Take jars out with jar lifter and place on towels to cool.  

Yumm-o!!!

Yard Sale Finds

Found these little charms at a yard sale today.  If anyone has any ideas about what to do with the feed bin, please share those with me!  :)

Cool can - $3

Feed bin - $5

Sign - $1

Canning Tomatoes

You are probably going to get a little tired of seeing my posts about canning...  But this the season!  ;)

So, yesterday, I canned a box of "canning" tomatoes I got on Thursday.  Now by "canning", that means basically that the tomatoes are at peak of ripeness and need to be done something with in the next one to two days.  So, 4 days later, only about half of my box was in good enough shape to can.  And even several of the ones I did had bad spots in them that I had to cut out...  So, unfortunately I only got 6 quart out of my whole box.

Here is the order of canning tomatoes:

First, you need a recipe. 

Then some tomatoes that have been thoroughly washed. 

 And of course, an adorable helper, who is also your instructor!   ;)  ...(if a friend is not available)...

 (See her pointing that little finger at me?)

Then, you place the tomatoes in boiling water for about 2 minutes.  You will see some of the skins start to crack which is a good indication to put them in the ice water.

You can of course use a clean kitchen sink for this.  I had to use my large vintage enamel bowl because I did not have a stopper for my sink.

 My adorable helper eating the ice out of the water and poking at the tomatoes. 

How cute!!  ;-*

One of the pictures I forgot to take was of the tomatoes getting peeled after putting them in the iced water.  That is, by far, the messiest and most fun part-I think!!  I guess I must have been having too much fun doing that and forgot to take the picture!  ;)

Salt, citric acid and measuring spoons.  Jars are sterilized and ready to be filled!

Be sure and wipe the rims clean with a damp rag.  Put tops on jars and place in water bath canner with water up to lids.

 Canning Selfie, of course!

Ta-da!!  More canned goods to add to my pantry! 

Happy Canning!!!