Date Night Mini Album

Today I posted a new mini album on my Etsy site. I created this album to record the memories & pictures from your date night with your honey ;)

I made it with what looked to me like teen themed "Love" paper, because sometimes it's nice to act like high school sweethearts again!

Hubby & I don't have many date nights anymore, but maybe after making this album we will have to plan something extra special!
 What about you? What did you do on your last date with your sugar muffin? Are you a dinner & movie person, or something more elaborate? Let us know in the comments & maybe everyone can get new date ideas from everyone else!

Pickles

This last weekend I decided to try my hand at pickling. Tiffany & I went to our local Farmer's Market bulk sale & I got cucumbers & okra at a great price :) Then it was time for the pickling to begin! For my first batch I used Mrs. Wages pickle mix, for the other batches & for the okra I used the recipe in the Ball Canning Recipe Book. I highly recommend that book to anyone interested in canning. Here's some pictures of my process, this was not as intimidating as it first seemed.

First I washed my cucumbers,

and sliced them because they were to big to fit in the jars whole.

Then I made the brine & put the cucumbers in the jars & poured brine over the top.

Then I processed them in the water canner & this is the finished product :) I was very proud! My first pickles!

Here's my second batch, I decided to use quarts for the second batch.

And the third batch :) It's so satisfying to hear the popping of sealing lids congratulating you on a job well done!

Labeled & ready to store!

Then I started pickling the okra. This is batch one :)

and batch two in the water canner

 And here are all my lovely pickles & okra stored in the previously unused space above our cabinets.

The pickles got Conner's seal of approval!

 If you have ever been interested in canning I would highly recommend it! You can do pickles or jam or fresh veggies! Have fun with it, but get a good recipe book to help you along the way.

And no I was not paid by Ball for this post, I just had a great weekend using their product & wanted to share it with you :)

Oral Surgeon, Nursing Home, Hospital, Oh My!

This has been quite a busy week! It started out on Monday I took my wonderful Sis in law, Jamie, to the oral surgeon to have her wisdom teeth surgically removed :( So I spent the rest of the day at her house keeping her company & full of meds.
Monday morning I found out that my Nanny (AKA step-great-grandmother) had had a stroke & was being taken back to her nursing home because the hospital couldn't do anything more for her. My mom wanted to go see her & did not need to be going alone, so I took her out there very early Tuesday morning. It was about a 2 hour trip & we stayed & visited for awhile & then came back home.
Wednesday I took Tiffany, ...(I don't know that I've ever explained to you our living arrangement...Hubby & I live with Tiffany & Burns, and their 2 amazing sons Conner & Elias. We live in the upstairs of their house cuz they are awesome & don't mind having weirdos living above them.) ... so I took Tiffany to the hospital to have her gallbladder removed after having her appendix removed only 3 weeks ago :( Conner went to stay with one set of his grandparents - it's always nice to have multiple sets of grandparents - and I kept Elias in the waiting room.
So as you can see it has been one hectic week! I was a little surprised to be staying home today & just working.
Jamie is recovering, still on pain meds so not back to work yet. I haven't heard anything new about Nanny, and Tiffany's pain meds are making her nauseous. Hoping & praying that everyone gets well soon!