Fall Canning

This year I'm not doing as much canning as I would like. Being sick and needing to rest is really taking up most of my time right now. However, I'm crazy and I bought bulk fruit anyway. I just won't be getting anymore for a while.

My friend, Morgan and her sister-in-law came over on Monday and we bottled peaches. We had another friend show up in the evening and we all made peach pie filling, too. All told, we got almost 50 quarts of peaches and 17 pints of peach pie filling done Monday, but we were up and working on them until 1am! We got started really late due to some unforeseen setbacks.
My husband helped me wash, label and put away our share of peaches last night. Storing them above our cabinets is a great way for us to see and remember to use them and it's a nice kitcheny decoration (I think).We'll be working on our 3 cases of pears later today. Hopefully, we'll get done before 1am this time!The one fruit I'm willing to break my "I'm done canning this year" decision for is raspberries. We LOVED the raspberry jam I made last year and we've been out for several months. They just went on sale today, so I'll be picking up a ton and making jam tomorrow. I'll probably do freezer jam because it's quick, easy and makes the smallest mess.

Morgan and I also went out and started picking up all our supplies for Craft Night next week. Son #2 fell asleep in Morgan's van on the way home from Joann's. Isn't he cute?

Under the Weather

I wanted to let everyone know that I haven't forgotten my blog. I recently (4 weeks ago) came down with valley fever and will have it for at least a few more weeks. That combined with a couple of other exhausting things around here has zapped my energy - including my crafting energy. My husband commented tonight that it's odd that I haven't made anything in a while. I also spent a week and a half doing a LARGE vinyl order for a friend of a friend. I'm thinking and designing in my head several upcoming projects, I just haven't had the energy to start any of them.

So, with that in mind, I thought I'd share some of my upcoming projects with you. My next big-ish project is our upstairs hall bathroom. We'll be painting it, adding crown-molding and beadboard around the room. I'll also (finally!) get to decorate it with all these cute safari themed things I've been collecting for the last year (seriously). We'll also change out light fixtures, paint and add hardware to the vanity. Plus, I'll be framing in the mirror above the sink. I'm also hoping to paint the master bathroom and an accent wall in our nursery before the end of the year. I'm hoping to also get my boys' bedroom curtains made and the furniture refinished in the nursery.

I hope I get my energy back soon, because my plan is to have all that finished plus all my homemade Christmas presents for my boys done by the end of the year. I'll be adding a list on my sidebar detailing the above to track my progress.