Winter : A great time to can meats , hearty soups and stews.

It's too cold outside to do much more than feed and water the animals.The manure is like immobile cast iron frozen to the ground. No barn cleaning these days.So I wander about my house looking for something indoors to do. Ahhhh!!!  A few empty canning jars in the cellar gathering dust. I snatch them up, scavenge about in the freezer and find hotsy totsy Italiano sausages just begging to be delivered from their icy cave.Sausage cans up beautifully . I also thaw out bags of frozen tomatoes and bell peppers I stored up from a bumper crop this past summer.Red and yellow peppers add pretty color .

 I sliced up a large onion and, after browning the sausage with diced garlic cloves in olive oil ( in my cast iron pot), stirred it quickly into the sausage.A quick toss of the bell peppers into the pot,stir, then add just enough tomatoes to coat the sausages. Not too much.  Add oregano, fresh or frozen chopped basil leaves , a little salt and pepper and WHALLAH!!  Fill the jars and can away (10 lbs pressure for 90 min for quarts.)

The kitchen is now toasty warm despite frigid temps outside.

Sausages also make yummy soup with vegetables . I use my little red potatoes I dug up in the fall and keep in the cellar refrigerator.Don't bother to peel them.Just cut them up into bite size pieces.Add frozen mixed vegetables ,onion ,garlic,pepper and salt and another frozen bag of tomatoes (thawed in the microwave) and mix it all together in a big pot. Add a few TBS. of cornstarch mixed in a little water to thicken the broth.I also add beef boullion cubes,around 3 cubes per QT of water added.

Challah beard~ WONDERFUL Challah bread!!!

The most WONDERFUL bread in the world is challah bread !!  Because  I don't live in a Jewish area of the state of Pa., I had to learn to make my own challah bread. That's OK , because on line are the recipes of the best ! Vanity dictates letting others know. HAH HAH !!  Their secrets fell into my lap (:> So~~~~~~  I softened the yeast~~~~   then I aded the other ingredients~~~~~   then I kneaded away~~   and thought of you  !!!!~~~~~   hahahaahhahhahaha    yummy    yummy    yummyyyyyy!!!

And here she comes !!!Maybe I'll bring some to work~~~~~      and maybe I won't.       HAHA!!!!    (:>

Kitties and Christmas trees~ what a headache ! But always entertaining.The glitter on the ornaments is irresistible and they just HAVE to give one a swat or two. 

What a great scratching post!!

The next thing I knew a soccer game was in progress with 3 cats swatting the bell  to each other.This one was plastic.I pretended I didn't notice while I wrapped presents~ until SMASH!! One of the glass balls bit the dust. Of course they all went running.Fortunately , this room can be closed off by french doors. As soon as you open the doors a stampede of kitties race through the door from nowhere (:<  I think I'll poke two holes in the bottom of a few stockings and slip  the kitties into the stockings to 'hang out' for awhile to keep them out of trouble.

 It seems that, every year,  tradition holds that an old favorite ornament will break . But a new gift, from a child or grandchild,will be added to be treasured year after year.

What's on our Christmas trees? What do they say about us/ Are they memories  we treasure or just glitz?The decorations we choose have varied importance. Some we buy because they are just 'so dog gone pretty~

others are collectables and  fun novelties~"All Aboard!!!"

Some may tell a story ~

Others have precious memories~ a daughter's lace from her wedding dress that she made into an ornament to be remembered by you.

Or a Secret Pal gift from a friend who left this earth too early, leaving behind young children.

A WW II  blue glass ornament with a paper hanger.Metal was precious in war days and was redirected  for military needs.

My parent's first Christmas ornaments which hung on the trees in my early childhood.

Trees hold precious gifts from children who struggle financially but still remember you, "MOM" this heart has engraved.

Little toddlers need to touch but not break, so the unbreakables but pretty hang on the lower branches.

Christmas gifts to parents are unpacked and re-displayed every year. 

 My hand print,Kathleen Lawler December 1954.

Many an elementary school teacher earned her tenure 10 times over .

And now my grandchildren make me gifts that I treasure , display , and then pack away at the end of our next Christmas celebration.(:>

I usually support fund raisers for kids because 4-H groups,soccer teams, school bands and Christian schools are expensive to run .They are also  important activities for children . A half bushel of grapefruit is a bit much for my husband and I but I love it for breakfast. Instead of letting it shrivel up  in some corner of the house I decided to can it up. Cut through the skin in quarters then peel it and remove the white layer. It strips off pretty easily.

Then I cut through the grapefruit in 4 pieces and quarter each of those sections.

I make a light sugar syrup, according to the Ball Bluebook ( or any of the canning books) and water bath the pint jars. I did half today and will do the other half of the box tomorrow. This is the first year I canned grapefruit. I hope I like it.

After Thanksgiving ,schools and some work places remain closed for Deer Days~the first 2 days of deer season. After spending hours in the deer stand , there's nothing like coming in from the cold to a big pot of turkey soup that's been cooking down all day.

I can up my soups during the late fall and winter after all of the harvest canning and freezing is over.I add noodles later, when I heat the soup up to eat because noodles mush in the pressure canning process.

These little guys hatched out on Thanksgiving Day. They will be laying eggs by June or July.

She doesn't like getting her picture taken.

They are terrified and so huddle in the corner .They saw a VERY BIG HAND coming thru the roof ! Run Away !!   Run AWAYYYY !!!

I love listening to their contented  purrs and  peepings from  the basement thru the kitchen door .I will have another batch incubated for Christmas,hopefully.

In November, my husband bought me a soda maker.It makes seltzer from tap water via using a small CO2 canister .You certainly DO save $$$$$ and the seltzer(soda water) comes out perfect. You can buy these units in your local grocery stores and can exchange the CO2 canisters for fresh ones at multiple local chain stores.I love seltzer, especially iced cold.I experiment with homemade flavours and am very impressed. We cut up a lemon in pieces and put it in a half gallon jar of plain water to steep for 24 hrs in the refrigerator.The colder the better when using these units for the best outcome. Lemon makes it taste great!

Instead of dumping the fruit juice down the drain from canned fruit, use it as the syrup for soda. When was the last time you had PLUM Soda?? Hmmmmm? It was excellant !!  YUM !