What happened to October?

Wow, I haven't been here in a while. It has been a crazy 7 weeks. Let's see. After my freaking out post we found out that Matt's work would be having cutbacks, and so I really started freaking out about whether or not Matt would be laid off. Thankfully he still has his job as of right now, and hopefully that will continue to be the case. Two people have already been laid off. It may not sound like lot, but considering there are/were only 13 people in his office...it's a lot. We have been lucky enough to visit my brother and sister-in-law for a weekend, and also Matt's brother and sister-in-law. And then most of the other time has been putting up food for the winter. Well, I guess I haven't put up that much food...in fact...I have a feeling the food I have put up will be gone by the end of the year.

I now know that the salsa I canned is really yummy, and I should have made gallons of it instead of the 6 pints that I came up with. Note to self, at least can in quart jars next year instead of pint jars. We use one pint for one meal pretty much. I also canned 7 pints of apple jelly, which will go with the 5 pints of strawberry jam I have in the freezer. I at least know I have enough jam and jelly to last us until next year, yay! What else? 6 quarts of applesauce (Emma will be starting solids soon), 4 pints of apple butter, and 3 pints of pumpkin butter. OK, so it really doesn't seem like much at all when I write it down :-) But, it all sealed, and as this was my first foray into canning, I am extremely happy.

We make muffins pretty much every weekend, usually with some kind of fruit in it, either frozen blueberries or cut up apple or whatever. But, now that we have the apple butter, I can make plain muffins and just put the apple butter on them. It is definitely yummy. I used about half a pint of pumpkin butter in a batch of muffins a couple weeks ago, and it made the most delicious pumpkin muffins I have ever had. So, yay for me! It also helps me realize what I will need to do for next year. I think that we will need to get at least a couple bushels of apples if I am going to continue to can the applesauce. I used about half a bushel for the applesauce, and then a quarter of the apples for the apple jelly. I also had about 7 cups of apple juice left over which we drank pretty quickly. I was thinking I would make more jelly, but we didn't need it after I took inventory of what we had for strawberry jam.

So now it is November, all of our plants are dead now, and we are getting ready for winter. We had bought the wood stove and were ready to start on the chimney, but when Matt found out about possibly losing his job, we decided to hold off on the chimney in case we needed the cash to live off of. Instead we bought an edenpure electric heater. So far it has worked really well. We have only had it a few weeks, and it does look like our electric bill is going to double, but that is still a lot less than what we would pay for oil. Last year we were buying only 100 gallons a month and keeping the heat on 55, and we bundled up nice and tight, but the house was frigid. It was fine for us, we just spent a lot of time under the covers reading etc. But, now that Emma is here, it just isn't an option. We don't have the heat on at night still, and it seems to be fine because she is in bed with us and stays pretty toasty, but during the day, we need some heat. The fact that our electric is only going up by like $60, is amazing though. We'll see what it is like in January and February when it is below zero.

I have also been doing a lot of sewing recently. Getting Christmas presents made. I'm really happy about what I have done so far, and hope to continue to make presents in the future. Finding the time to complete the projects is the main challenge. Currently I have my sewing machine downstairs on the kitchen table which is good, considering I spend most of the day in the kitchen. I do have a dedicated craft room, but, it is in the other part of the house, and I have come to the conclusion that until the two parts of the house are connected indoors, there is no way I will be using the craft room (except on the weekends when Matt is home and can help watch Emma). So now my kitchen is doubling as a craft room, luckily we have a big kitchen...and that we don't mind eating on the floor :-) I have also made Emma's Christmas stocking. My mom made both my brother's and mine and so I felt that I should make Emma's as well. I was very proud of myself, I didn't even have a pattern :-) OK, so most of the stuff I have sewed hasn't had a pattern...and it has been coming out ok. I just need some better tools for sewing, like a cutting board. Unfortunately, very expensive, so I am working with what I have.

Next week we start our winter CSA. I am definitely looking forward to that. I also think that we are getting our pig next week, or at least the portion not smoked. And I found out that my town is going to continue their farmers' market through the winter at an area church. That is very exciting. Not that I will need much, but being able to go will be nice, in case I do need to pick up something. I guess the first day was yesterday, but I missed it. I will have to try and go next week.

So that is what has been going on in my world. Oh, and of course playing with Emma all the time is a big part of why I haven't posted much :-) She is a character. I shall leave you with her smiling face today :-) This is from a few weeks ago.