Does a water pill make you float?

*265*

   I ask this question because I am going to start taking the Diuretic tomorrow. My pharmacist said it would be a good idea to take it when I am not going anyplace. I have bills to pay this week and next week so there will be no festival going this weekend. Perfect time to take the pill. I guess it can make you dizzy. Great! Like I need to be MORE dizzy. LOL If it makes me feel mega shitty over the weekend, I am going to have to think long and hard on whether I want to take it or not. I usually follow Dr`s orders but I cannot have something that makes me feel much much worse.

 I am sorry I have been lax in the posting lately. Obviously my mind has been elsewhere and I just do stuff around the house. The job has not started yet. I go visit every week to see. Even hubby went by to see what is going on. The business is open but does not have permission to put a sign out yet, which makes it difficult for customers to know it exists. I hate this dicking around that is going on by the Planner of the town. It sucks that one motherfucker has the right to screw with you if he wants to. This has been going on since April. I figured I would be working have all my bills paid by now and be square so that I could start saving and using the little extra I was getting. I do not even know if I am going to start working end of September. It is like the dude ruined the business for some reason. All Spring and Summer are gone. Prime time to be doing his thing. Fall and Winter are approaching. It is like he wants the business to fail. I am talking about the Planner of the town. I have never seen this before. SMH Cross fingers that I can start soon. I am worried about affording home heating oil. I need the furnace cleaned too. UGH! Do not even get me started on Christmas. If I do not start working, that will be a non event in this house.

  Enough of the gloom and doom. I need to keep a positive outlook. SMILE. Maybe things will be better soon! I bought some nice pickling cukes and supplies this week. I am hoping after I go to the bank this am, that I can snag another 2 lbs of cukes from the farmer`s market to make pickles this weekend. I am not going to do bread and butter this time.I want to do straight Dill pickles. I hate sweet pickles. This year is MY year. I am not talking about jelly right now but I might. I have to make some strawberry jalapeno for a friend plus I have regular strawberry and blackberry to make. I have a 10lb bag of sugar that I bought because the other sugar bags pissed me off. The sugar makers have made the bags 1lb smaller (4lbs instead of 5lbs) and they are charging the same amount. I noticed when I picked up the bag. It was easy to lift and hold with one hand. Aint that some shit! I use alot of sugar in baking and such and that just took the cake for me.

Pumpkin, Butternut, and I have no idea. :)

  I want to share something about Squash and Sweet potatoes. Now is the perfect time to buy all your winter squashes. They do not have to go in the fridge. They can be left out on the counter or someplace where they will not get jostled. You can buy as many as you desire because now they are selling for cheap. Sweet potatoes too. Many people do not buy winter squashes so they are there for the taking. Do not cook and freeze if you can help it! I have been buying small acorn squashes lately. I will start buying butternuts now. I have a recipe for butternut squash soup that I could have sworn I posted on the blog but I do not see it. I will post it at another time because it is a really good soup. I am not a huge squash fan but this soup is rich and creamy. Perfect for winter. You can purchase small pumpkins now too. Not just for Halloween but for cooking. Soups, breads, pies, and so many other things. I am telling you this because if food gets expensive this winter, you have these old standbys to help out. You can also buy something called storage onions. They last longer I am told. I do not have a root cellar and we are prone to mice in the winter, so I do not put anything like that in the basement. Just a thought to help you out.

  Woke up early at like 6am cause my allergies were kicking my butt. I am not sick but my eyes were bothering me. So I am fully coffeed up at quarter to 8am. I need to get going. Off to get the bills paid and the pickles bought.
Have a great weekend. Since I will be homebound, I will probably post over the weekend. About what..I have no clue.

Skinny Saturday..I wish!

*264*<---WooHoo!

    I am doing something right. Ever since I have been taking the correct amount of insulin, keeping my sugars down, and wanting to keep them down..the weight has gone down bit by bit. I know that if I can get fired up about going to the gym, it will drop like sweat off a fat chick`s ass. oh yeah, that`s me! Natalie has noticed that I have been eating much less. It is called the Recession diet. You eat less so that there is enough food for everyone else. I know that sounds bad to some of you that live way above MY means (you know who you are), but this is a fact of life for many Mom`s out there now.  You give the biggest portion to hubby/wife or the main worker cause he/she is working hard and needs the calories, then you have everyone else get their food with the warning that they can only have so much cause others have to eat too. So Chelsea and Fred get the largest portions and then Natalie and Raymond and then me. I get whatever is left. There have been times were I have gotten 1 chicken wing and some sides for dinner. I did not complain though. I am losing weight from it and my sugars are doing well. It will hopefully get better once I start working. That stipend will make a difference.
  Today I am going to work on the livingroom. Carefully pull out couches (do not want to bust another disc) and clean underneath. Anything that I deem garbage has to go. All the curtains need to be taken down and washed. I do not dry them. I was taught to hang them in the windows wet. Then you do not have to iron them.
 The weather is absolutely gorgeous. The dew point is low and there is a nice breeze. Good time to wash the windows also. I know. I know. I sound like a damn freak cause I like to wash windows. I actually kind of do. I WISH I had newer windows though.

Oh well. No biggie.

Sunday is going to be a cooking day. I have some cucumbers that I bought at the Farmer`s market. I am going to make a few jars of bread and butter pickles. There are not a huge amount. They were charging $2 a lb! That is a lot when you need many cukes to slice for each jar. I guess I will have enough to make a personal batch for the family this year. I was hoping to make some to send to friends but I don't know about that right now. Maybe I will get some more next week. I have no idea what I am cooking for Sunday dinner yet cause I am waiting to get some grocery money. I hate life sometimes. It is all about hurry up and wait.

Hope you all have a nice Saturday and a cool breeze on your face.

Bread and Butter Pickles

*272*

Yesterday, in the blazing heat...I made and canned pickles. Bread and butter pickle spears to be exact. I have a couple friends that would like to have the recipe. It is nothing that was handed down. It was something I had found a couple years ago. I had to give a canning demonstration and I wanted a couple things that I canned for people to sample. This one came out wonderfully as a pickle chip. The plate of pickles disappeared. I was so proud! So here I am..sharing another one from the vault. I hope you enjoy it.

Bread and Butter Pickles

Ingredients:

5 lbs of pickling cucumbers (for spears) or regular cucumbers for chips
3 red onions; sliced thinly
8 cloves of garlic, peeled
1/3 cup of canning salt
1 T of tumeric
2 t of celery salt
2 T mustard seed
5 cups of white vinegar
3 cups of white sugar

Directions:
**Get your water started in your water bath canner now. It will take some time to boil. Enough to completely cover the jars.**

I used pickling cucumbers this time around. They are the very small version of a regular cuke. I have used plain old ordinary cucumbers to make pickle chips though. So use either or. I had enough to fill 9 pint jars.

I usually use yellow onion in this recipe but for some reason I decided to use red onions sliced thinly. I also used a purple garlic. One clove peeled and dropped into each canning jar.
   But Wait! You have to clean those jars first. New lids, collars (inspect for rust or dents..throw away if so) and jars. I do not have a dishwasher but that is the quickest way to sterilize by running them through a cycle. Or you can wash, dry, and then boil for a bit in the canning pot like I do.

I cut the cukes into 8ths. If the cuke is on the small side then only in fourths. I piled them up in the biggest bowl I own. And this bowl is huge! The reason being is because we have to sweat them out a bit.

You add the 1/3 cup of salt to the cukes (i did half. piled some more on top and then the other half). Mix it well. Then cover them in ice cubes and plastic wrap. Put them out of the way in a cool place (if you can find one) and let sit for 3 hours.

After the three hours, you are going to drain them, rinse them, and drain them again. Wash all the salt away. This is what they will look like after their little spa treatment. Nice and pliable for the jars.

In this pot is the juice for your pickles. Place in the pot your sugar, turmeric, celery seed, mustard seed, and white vinegar. I used that much juice because I was doing 9 jars. If you are going to do less then change the amounts. If you are going to do more jars, add more.  It is a very forgiving recipe that way. Let this come to a boil and stir occasionally.  When it does boil, turn down to a slow simmer until you are ready. Oh by the way. TURMERIC STAINS! So do not wear anything you love when you do this recipe.

They smell amazing

At this point you want to start packing your jars. You want them to be tight but not so tight that you cant get a pickle out without them all coming out. They are going to shrink a bit so you want to have a good amount in each jar. If you find they are hanging over the top..you can trim them or just shove them down like I did. I placed one clove of garlic and a nice handful of sliced onion in each jar.  I do not put the juice in yet. I want to wait until the canner is boiling. That way these pickles can be as crisp as I like them.

You want to pour your pickle juice in your jars with a ladle and a funnel. There are special canning funnels that you can buy and they are inexpensive. Fill until you have half inch of head room at top of jar. Fill all of them up the same way. Wipe the outside rims of each jar to get them clean. Place your lid and twist on your collars tight. Then take your jars and put them in your canning rack (comes with the canner) and place in pot of water. Put the lid on and set the timer for 10 minutes. Do not start canning until you have a rolling boiling in that pot.

Yummy!

After the 10 minutes are up, use canning tongs to lift each jar out of the canner and onto a towel on your counter. You do not want the jars touching. I do not know why this is but that is what I was told and I do that.
You will start to hear the pop pop pop of the lids sealing. I had three of them that did not seal right away. I could push up and down on the lid. If that happens, they become refrigerator pickles. But give them a wait and see first. Because when I came downstairs this morning..this three were sealed. I think it was cause of all the heat and humidity.

And there you have it. Now you can successfully can your own pickles.

It is expensive when you first start out canning. I spent maybe $100 on all my supplies and that was 10 years ago. I have a water bath canner, a pressure canner, and all the utensils that are needed so you do not burn yourself. Then the jars, lids and collars. Jars and collars can be used over and over but you have to inspect them. If a jar has a crack or a collar has some rust..toss them. Lids can only be used ONCE. That will be the thing you will have to buy every year and it is not that pricey.

Enjoy! and let me know if you tried it.

Waking at noon, Pickles, 2 MORE DAYS!! and so much more.

*272*
I woke up at noon. I did not fall asleep until like 3am so that is the main reason. I had such a horrible head ache and sore throat last night. I still have a bit of a sore throat but the headache is not as bad. So it is 330pm and that is like mid morning to me. LOL This day is going to fly by quickly.
 I cut all the cukes into spears and they are in a HUGE bowl with salt and ice. I have to rinse them soon. I have to start the water in the canning pot, wash dishes, sterilize the jars (lids and collars), make the juice for the pickles (bread and butter), and can them. I am documenting the whole thing so that I can post it tomorrow. I will be posting the recipe also.  I spent $26 on 2 dozen wide mouth pint canning jars. WTF! Everyone has decided they want to try their hand at canning. I have not problem with that but the supplies are low and the prices are higher. I used to pay $6.99 a dozen last year! I got a guy in another town that has a dozen to give me for free thru freecycle. I will have the girls with me so it will be safe. I have strawberry jam to do. I have some more strawberries that I have to cut and freeze today also. Cannot forget that.
 As you can see from the picture, Oliver and Milo are fast friends. They sleep together. My last couple cats did not do that. They did not even clean each other. So I think it is sweet and nice that I have two buddy boys.  Oliver was still a young cat when MonsterFace died and he missed him so. Now he does not bug the shit out of me every morning like he used to.
  Tuesday we get the Jeep! Woot! I have been looking at Jeep spare tire covers. I have not decided which one we should get. I do not want it to be girly or masculine so we shall see. I am so excited!!
   I go back to the Periodontist tomorrow. Final check on the surgery site and then the bottom line. I got a *this is not a bill* thing from the dental insurance. It says that MY portion of the bill is over $900. I guess that means no trip to Colorado or any place else for that matter. I paid them $300 already so I still owe $600. I have $200 to give them tomorrow. That is all I have to give. I will have to just send them money each month until it is paid off. I cannot have any more dental stuff done until October. That is when the new insurance cycle kicks in. Ugh!
Wow..I have posted alot of boring fucking information. Sometimes I wonder why I even do this...

Oh..I remember! Dude! None of my Bras fit! My boobs are swimming in them! Woot! Woot! Woot!
I will get fitted again and purchase like 2 bras for now because if this is a trend, I do not want to waste money.
Smaller boobs dude!! Oh, my garden clogs are not snug anymore. Woot!

I also wanted to thank one of my readers and friends...S. She graciously offered her small AC to me because I was bitching on FB about how hot it is upstairs. I could not use it because it will not fit in my window but I asked if I could use for Natalie. Her AC shit the bed last year and she has been sick the past couple week with stomach bug. She didnt have to do it but she did and I love her for that. Strawberry jam for you my friend!!

Oh..the fleas! They were winning. So I gave up, broke down, and called the vet. $65 later and I had two vials of Frontline plus for the cats and two vials of Advantix for the dogs. They are all better. Lu is not chewing the crap out herself anymore. Hail!

Okay, gotta go. Pickles to make.

The fine art of Canning

*277*

*I have to wake Natalie in an hour to go to the gym so I have some time to chat*

 Fred and I were watching the cooking channel last night and this commercial came on. It is new, I had never seen it. I think it is cool. Really I do. I love to can foods. I have my canning supplies on the diningroom table as I type this.
I started this when we bought this house..about 13 years ago. I started with apple sauce. I was given an opportunity to buy half a peck of ginger gold apples for $5. They were seconds. They were gorgeous seconds! OMG! WTF am I gonna do with all these apples? I made apple sauce with them and canned them. It was a big hit with the family and with my friends. I did the same thing the next year but then I branched out and made raspberry/jalapeno jelly. That was good too (and I have not made that in a dogs age). A canning staple for me is strawberry jam. I start buying and freezing strawberries in May. I buy and buy until I think I have enough..which will be at the end of July and then I buy a shit load of sugar and pectin and I am ready to go.
 I scour yard sales for old canning jars that I can use. They have to be like the kind that takes collars and lids. You really cant use the really old ones with the rubber seals, not safe anymore. I use those for decoration.
 This year I have a bunch of people that want jam. I will make my bread and butter pickles. I made the sweet vidalias, and I am thinking I am going to try canning the local corn here. It is super sweet and tasty. Best in Connecticut. I want to put up a batch for the winter.
Oh yeah.. *putting up* is a term used when you can a batch of jars of goodies.
If you are ever ever ever interested in canning and need to ask a question, do not hesitate to ask me. It is not that hard once you read the guidelines and you have the instruments. That will be your biggest expense but once you spend it, you wont have to again.
Okay..I am going to drink some more coffee now