A not so quick update

Olivia asked me the other morning if I had given up writing on the blog since it's been so long since I have gotten here. Then my husband mentioned my lack of writing. And then my mom mentioned that I hadn't updated this spot in a while; a month to be exact. So: here is the update... (and it is veeerrrrry long! feel free to skip the words and just admire the pictures!)

It has been a very busy month here.

You heard about the broken washing machine? Well, a couple days after that my kitchen refrigerator stopped working. Really. Just stopped.

For three days we went back and forth to the garage to get anything that needed to be cold. The good news: my hubby fixed this appliance as well and I got the fridge clean. I mean C.L.E.A.N.! Look:

Yeah, I spent a lot of time admiring that fridge.

And then; because we spent our summer getting the house in order with construction, (most pictures of the basement are here) I had put the school organization on hold until that was done. So, while starting our school schedule, I was trying to organize as well. Talk about working at cross purposes!

Frank let me go back to IKEA. Yeah, he was really not thinking that one through! BUT, I did get the system I was looking for:

I had been using some cubbies by Closet-Maid. However, as cute as they were, they couldn't hold all the stuff I need to store for school. The tall books and binders didn't fit unless they were put in sideways. This new system holds everything...

Now I still have some stuff to get through, but at least it is all in one place.

I also reorganized all the bookshelves and purged our books. That was fun! Seriously, it is always a good time for me when I can reorganize and purge. Doesn't everyone look forward to this? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Then I took one of the previously mentioned Closet-Maid cubby things and put it in the family room/office for the stuff all over the floor and desk. It took a week and a bit, but I finally got the desk and behind the desk purged and cleaned.

I even cleaned the windows and sill.

(Frank asked me how long had it been since the window sill had been paper-free:. Answer: years!)

I got a serious amount of canning done: here is my new storage area for the fruits of my labor (literally)!

I love all that wonderful goodness just getting ready to feed the locusts children this winter. On these shelves are:

Peaches

Peach Jam

Plums

Plum Jam

Applesauce

Peach Butter

Tomatoes

Tomato Juice

Spaghetti Sauce

Pickles

Pickled Green Peppers

Pickled Banana Peppers

I have since added many, many jars of grape juice and jelly to those shelves. Oh yeah! that is another story...

Tuesday night a couple weeks ago, I finished cooking dinner and called Frank to see where he was. He had brought the boys out on the boat to do some fishing and they had scouts in a half hour. He had taken the boat out of the water and then he had to turn off his truck to get something from the back. And it wouldn't start again. So, there he was 20 minutes away from home with my 2 boys and a dead truck. What's a girl to do? That's right: go get a starter and jumper cables (wasn't sure what exactly the problem was) and bring them to the stranded men!

In the meantime, a friend had called Frank to see if he would be interested in some grapes from his parents vineyard. Seems they had someone back out of buying all they usually did and they had a bit extra. Since he lived about 15 minutes in the opposite direction from where Frank was, he drove over and met me there to give me the grapes:

Yeah! it was WAY more than I expected. And I have been wanting grapes for a couple years now. But, around here, unless you get your order in very early, all the local grapes go to the Portuguese wine makers and the ones you can buy from the fruit stands are cost-prohibitive.

Our friend gave us enough grapes to make 35 quarts of grape juice (OH.MY.GOSH! the best tasting juice ever) and I don't know how many pints and half-pints of grape jelly. A LOT!

It took my mother-in-law and me about 12 hours total to de-stem and clean all those grapes. Our hands are still stained!

(And yes, my husband switched out the starter at the very dark marina in the cold and wind and got the truck started again. Oh, he is so very handy, that man!)

ok, that should be enough for now... I am sure there are more things that happened the past 4 weeks, but I have to figure out what!

Oh! wait: I almost forgot: the most important news: We added to the family:

WE GOT A DOG!

Ginny

ok, now I am done!