Looking Ahead

As we get nearer to Christmas, I start looking ahead to what comes next.  I love Christmas and all the cozy things that go with it.  Winter feels warmer in the month of December.  I have no meteorological evidence of this, it just seems that way because everybody is in a good mood and there are smells of yummy food and pine everywhere.

Then comes January.  All the warm coziness of the holidays and their decorations get packed up for another year.  As much as I love decorating for the holidays, I equally enjoy the putting away of all the extra stuff in the house.  Everything feels clean and tidy, especially after all the Christmas presents find homes and get put away.  

In January, my oven gets a break.  There is nothing left to can, no cookies to bake.  I can just enjoy the quiet of winter.  I fully intend to get some reading done and practice knitting some more.  I'd like to actually complete something, even if it is only a dish cloth.

I am not a big "New Year's Resolution" person.  I think one can make a change at any time with no need to wait for the new year to begin.  However, I do have some things to work on starting with January.  More because it is a new month than because it is a new year though.  I am looking forward to getting my household budget back on track.  I have really slacked off on this and it shows.  

I am going to get myself set up with a day planner and keep track of which bills are due when and pay them all on time every single month.  This may lead to some tight(er) weeks, but it will be worth it to have the peace of mind that everything is taken care of.

This year has not been a bad one overall.  Things have mostly gone smoothly in my everyday life.  However, I always get excited for a new year to come and wonder what lies ahead.

Wishing you peace, prosperity and good health in 2013.

Canning. Again.

I think I may need an intervention.  I can't seem to walk past a sale on produce without buying as much as I can afford and canning it.

It all started years ago when my friend told me that's how they fed their family while her husband was a graduate student.  They were on a limited budget and when she saw rock bottom prices on seasonal produce or meat, she would buy as much as she could afford, then can it.

I don't have a nifty closet or cupboard to keep all my canned goods in, so they are stored in the boxes the jars come in, under my bed.  Its starting to look like Doomsday Preppers in there.  I just can't seem to help myself.  I started making jams out of any free fruit I could get my hands on about ten years ago.  This year it has gone to a whole 'nother level.  I made gallons of applesauce, every kind of jam and jelly I could come up with and now I have made some pepper relish and, most recently, a dozen pints of cranberry sauce.  Oh, and I have two turkeys waiting to be cooked and canned too.

Canning is a way to stretch my grocery dollars, but it is also something I get a real sense of pride about.  Canning makes me feel useful, resourceful, self-sufficient.  I like knowing that I can spend $6 on fresh cranberries, add a little sugar and come out with a dozen jars of cranberry sauce made with minimal ingredients and nothing artificial.  Six dollars for twelve jars is also a rock bottom price for a sauce that we use regularly, even if you factor in the roughly $1.50 worth of sugar added.  The same can be said for wild berries that we pick along the roads in the summer and the apples that we have unlimited access to.

Strawberry jam from the summer.

I do hope to get the nerve up to can some vegetables next year and maybe even try pickles again.  I did some dill pickles a few years ago and I wasn't thrilled with the results.

One more thing, I really like anything in jars.  If you have read previous posts, you may have noticed that I keep lots of things in jars.   I kinda have a thing.

Jars, they aren't just for jelly anymore...

The above picture is a sliver of my cupboard that houses all my spices/seasonings, coffee and other beverage mixes.  There are many more jars in there, but I thought it made the point to show you one part and not show the whole thing.  Just in case it causes anyone alarm and you feel the need to have me committed for treatment.  Hi, my name is Lisa and I'm a jar/basket/organize-a-holic.  The first step is admitting it right?