Preparing the Garden

We're planning on doing pole beans again this year but not where they were last year.

Here's a picture of the garden as it is now.  There is straw on the top portion covering the soil. The straw is turned into the soil on the bottom portion.

Head cut off for sure!

I always think I'm going to have time to update my blog but it never turns out that way.  My last post was in September and here we are in January of a new year!

What's been going on in my world, you may ask?  Back in October I went back to school.  I am continuing to work full-time, however, along with cooking, cleaning, carting kids to and fro, and guess what?  I think I gained the "Freshman 15" that is so often talked about concerning Freshman in college.  I'm a Sophomore, but the stress of going back to school after three decades, working, raising a teen and a tween, helping my husband with his homework and his finals, I made bad food decisions and became rather sedentary.

The title of this post is self-explanatory, don't you think?

Solitude.

Canning 2013

I hope to show our jars from our canning event tonight. We did 6-8 large jars and probably 8-10 pints of pickled beans. These beans we grow in our own garden, and there are hot peppers from our garden in the jars as well.

Do you grow veggies?

Do you do any canning?

White Wines

Just so you know, white wines are not created equal. Take, for instance, Turning Leaf's 'Crisp White' wine. I bought it because I was looking for a new white wine and I knew from previous purchases that Turning Leaf wines were superb.

'Crisp White' is crisp, yes, but it's also somewhat sparkling or lightly carbonated - something I did not expect from a white wine. The aroma, when I took a sniff from the newly-opened bottle, was slightly sweet. Groan! I don't like sweet wine! Imagine my surprise when, after sipping from my glass, I found it to be very crisp and not sweet at all! Sure, there's a hint of sparkle or carbonation, but it's a welcome surprise!

Kudos to Turning Leaf for their imagination and ability to create new things which keep consumers coming back for more!

Freebie Finds

Do you like to get free samples in the mail? It seems ages since the day of companies sending things without us having to ask for them. Nowadays, we get to scour the net in search of these gems. I love a good freebie just like the next person, and you may as well. I'll post things I find that I hope you'll enjoy, and remember, these aren't being sent by me, personally, so don't complain if you request something and it doesn't come. ;-)

Bio-35 Nutritional Supplement

Brew Over Ice Snapple K-Cup Pack - You need to say that you own a Keurig in order to get this.

Oh, Happy Mail Day!

What to my wondering eyes did appear but a happy brown box on my doorstep. I thought to myself, "I didn't order anything, did I?" Then I remembered I'd ordered a FREE Kindle Fire with the points I'd earned from scanning my purchases for National Consumer Panel these last eight years. May as well get something for all that trouble! Actually, scanning isn't that bad - it's just time consuming. If you're interested in earning reward points for scanning (they send you a scanner for free along with instructions), go here: and sign up. The information that you scan is transmitted weekly via phone line. We don't have a traditional land line but instead have VOIP, so I had to replace my original scanner with an Internet-based one. It's still easy to use.

Well, I've gotten completely off topic! The Kindle Fire is very cool! I already have a Kindle 3G Wi-Fi model but after viewing the NCP rewards catalog, I decided the best thing (for me) was the Kindle Fire. I cannot wait to play with it! It has apps and Internet which I am not used to, except if you count my smartphone which has those as well. I am eager to see if I can purchase magazine subscriptions (my husband will love not having more paper coming into the house) as well as books from eHarlequin (which are not available for non-app Kindles). I will have fun playing with this thing!