Such a busy day today. I was reading one of my favorite blogs and she talked about how she does cooking once a month (or at least tries to) and it inspired me. So I pulled stuff out of the freezer and went to work. I made Spaghetti Sauce, lasagna sauce, 3 tubs of taco meat and 2 loaves of banana bread. I would still be cooking if it weren't for the fact that I REALLY need to go to the grocery store! Last hunting season, hubby and I put 3 or 4 deer in the freezer and we are down to only about 4 lbs. I hate the thought of having to buy meat at the store but gun season doesn't start until October here and I can't stretch that 4 lbs. out that long! We are wanting to get some cows but they will have to wait until we can get some fencing done. Hubby still can't decide how he wants to separate the pastures yet so fencing will have to wait until he does. Oh yeah, and we have to figure out how to pay for it!!! We had a friend offer us a wild piglet that he caught but, again, no place to put it. So for now I am stuck with venison. That's not such a bad thing, it kind of grows on you. I did do some canning last week, not much as I was running low on sugar and it takes A LOT of sugar to make jam. I made 6 jars of muscadine jam. Not sure if I like how the recipe is though. Muscadines have a very tough skin and this recipe calls for softening them then adding them back into the pulp. I didn't like how it looked so I put it in the food processor. It was better but I haven't tasted the finished product yet so I may have some texture issues!
My garden is officially kaput for the season. I am a little sad about that but I was getting a little tired of the constant grass eradicating. If I was actually trying to grow grass, my garden would have been beautiful! I packed up the tripod sprinkler and hose and moved it to the house. My yard is so brown and crunchy. Not exactly what it should be at this time of the year but look at the gas/diesel I am saving by not having to mow! I have been moving that sprinkler around ALL DAY LONG and now I think hubby and I are seriously going to have to talk about a sprinkler system!
We are very much anticipating our vacation which will start in exactly 11 days!!! We are so excited! Hubby hasn't had anything more than a couple of long weekends in over 2 years!!! My father in law is going to take care of my chickens and the cats so we won't have any worries. Poor doggies will be going to the vet while we are gone :( They like our vet, but just don't like having to spend the night. A few years ago, we were on vacation and the vet called us and asked what kind of dog food our Bichon was used to eating. Apparently, she refused to eat ANYTHING they gave her. They actually had to go to the store to buy her a bag of HER dog food. I guess I forgot to tell them that she is a LITTLE picky! She's 14 years old now so I guess she has earned that right. I mean her 2 main activities are eating and sleeping and I think she would give up eating if she had to choose between the two. She likes her naps. Every once in awhile I have the kids wake her up just to make sure she's still alive.
Tomorrow my hubby is going on a sleepover...yes 42 year old men have sleepovers! A friend of his has a lake house about an hour from our house so he is going to go fishing with him tomorrow night and come home the next day. I wonder if they will do each other's hair???? I hate when he is gone though. Every little noise in the house freaks me out and I can't be freaked out with the kids here. I did get him to agree to a brilliant idea I had though. Since he will be out all night and I need to get some groceries, I thought it would be nice to follow him to the town where his friend is and get some dinner. Then he can go fishing and the kids and I can do our grocery shopping. There is a newer store there that I would LOVE to check out and, if dinner is involved, I am all for it!
Speaking of dinner, it is about time to start making mine (as if I haven't been in the kitchen enough today!). We are having some venison cube steaks, mashed potatoes and gravy and something else. I just haven't figured out what that something else is. Pioneer Woman made this same dinner and had a marinated tomato salad to go with it. Would LOVE that but I only have 1 tomato left....dang I need to go shopping!