The terrible no good very bad day!!!

I had two crockpots waiting for me when I woke up ready to finish the apple butter so as the kids ate breakfast I was blending and mixing it up putting it in jars.  I got one going before I left to run Lexi to school and when we came back it was done.  I let it cool off and waited for my others to cook and be done.  I was sanitizing my jars and I went to poor the hot boiling water out into the sink.  Being the smart person I am I didn't use hot pads and so in the 5 foot journey to the sink somehow the plastic handle was burning me.  So I dropped one side into the sink and it poured all over my other hand.  It was HOT but didn't really hurt at first.  I thought phew that was lucky. After I dried what had spilled on the floor I began to fill the burn.  My hand was red and you know how when you get burned it just burns?  I don't know how to describe the feeling.  I immediately grabbed my colloidal silver and began applying that on it and let it soak in.

My mom has burned herself quite a few times in her cooking history so I called her up and I said what should I do besides the silver.  She said lavender oil... ok great I have that on hand.  I rotated between lavender diluted with coconut oil and soaking it in silver.  It burned for quite a while but by mid afternoon it was feeling much better.



That afternoon the last batch of apples were ready for canning. I went out to fill up my steam canner with water and noticed there was a huge hole in the bottom.  That makes sense now why it wasn't steaming at the end of the last batch!  I had forgotten to pour some more water in. ARGGG.... So I had not only burned my hand but managed to burn and ruin my steam canner.  They don't even make that kind anymore.  I was quite distraught.  I texted my sister in law that lives down the road and asked if I could borrow her water bath canner for my last load. I decided I better stop for the day I had already had enough trouble.  I was afraid that if I kept going I might ruin something else.  I had better throw in the towel for the day and not attempt anything else.


By that night my hand just had a few tiny spots that were red on my knuckles but besides that you couldn't even tell I was burned.  It was still tender to the touch of water.  The next day it was almost completely healed.  I couldn't believe it.  I had poured boiling water on it and after using lavender oil and colloidal silver it was fine.  Miracles really do exist,  and I am thankful for this one today.

My first attempt at peach butter....

I thought I would switch it up a little bit and I did a video of making peach butter.  The kids love to watch fast forwarded things. So they watch this video and just laugh so hard.  Especially when Sawyer is in it.  He is such a cutie.

 Here it is....click here to see the video I made for this post.


Let me know if you like it and maybe I will do some more videos I know I like watching videos. They make things fun.

Apples, Apples and more Apples make delicious butter

We have quite a few apple trees in the back field but most of them didn't produce this year because we pruned them so much this spring.  So hopefully next year.  My neighbor had a ton of delicious apples though.  I still had plenty of apple sauce from two years ago and last year so I decided to try something new.  

I had never heard of apple butter and my sister in law had made it last year and so I went to my trusty friend Pintrest and found an awesome recipe that didn't have sugar just honey.   So I put it to the test.  

One of the other reasons I wanted to do apple butter is that one of the recipes I looked at didn't peel the apples so I was all for it.  That makes it soo much easier.  We had a huge hail storm that damaged everything so there were a lot of spots I had to cut out still so to not have to peel was awesome.  I just washed, cored and sliced them up.  

I threw them in the crockpot and let them sit for a few hours and they softened up.  I borrowed my mother in laws crockpot hers is twice my size so I had mine and hers going.  It made about 3-4 pints per small crockpot.  

I put them into my blendtec so it would be smooth with leaving the skins on.   It whipped up so good and thick some batches I had to add some water.  Then I added nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and honey.   I blended it up so it got mixed in evenly and then poured it into the jars.  

It tasted so good warm.  I'm sure its tasty cooler as well.  I am excited to have this all winter.   It will be delicious. I have quite a few and hope to be able to give a few away as a neighborhood Christmas gift.  

Elderberry syrup and gummy bears

Elderberry syrup is an excellent source of antioxidants.  They really help in the cold and flu season.  I bought a pack of dried elderberries from Amazon last fall and never got around to making the syrup.  So finally a year later I am attempting it.  I got a recipe off pintrest from the wellness mama.  

They berries come like this. They grow in bunches like grapes and they are small so when they are dried they are even smaller.  

So you soak them on a low boil for 45 min so they get reconstituted and get the juice out of them.

Then you add the cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and let that simmer for a while.  

Then I strained out the berries and let it cool off a little before I added the honey.  

  

Honey is so good for you especially if you are able to get raw.  Honey can also help with low energy, sleep problems even seasonal allergies.   So its great to add into this. It replaces the sugars as well.  I have really been trying to use raw honey and agave instead of sugar in a lot of things.   

This first batch of syrup I made was super spicey I think it was too much cinnamon so I made another batch with no spices and just the honey.  Then I mixed the two batches together to even it out.  Its still a little strong but doable.   So I decided that in order to actually get the kids to eat this I would have to make it appealing.  I saw also from the same lady she made them into gummy bears.  My kids love gummy bears so I thought its worth a shot.  I got some gelatin and followed the recipe again and they turned out great.  I only had one gummy bear mold so I had to just make some blobs on a plate as well.  Those will be mine.  

They seem to like them.  They aren't like normal gummy bears they kind of just fall apart in your mouth but it does the trick.  We are going to add this remedy into our winter fighting season. 

Next time I make it I will have to majorly adjust the recipe for my liking.  

Things that help keep kids quiet in church

If you are a mom of little kids your ears perk up when I say things that keep kids quiet in church.

  I have found a few things that work like a charm and everyone loves them.  

One of the items is something that Grandma have one of the kids for birthday or christmas I can't remember but its a big magnet book with a whole bunch of magnets.  She gave us the train on and the kids have loved it.  So one day I was shopping at good old  Smith and Edwards and I came across the same exact ones, and was sooo happy to discover a variety of  them.  Of course I bought a whole bunch of them.  They were like $3.99 or something each.  So worth it.  

Of course we have to have animals Lexi loves the animal ones.  So we got a farm and zoo one.  Lexi likes to use all of the animals interchangeably.  It doesn't matter if it goes to that magnet board.  

They are pretty narrow so they fit into my church bag which is great.  This is the inside of the zoo one.  Its pretty large and has room for the animals.  Sometimes they are squished if you don't arrange them right.... as if there is a right way.  haha

This last time I was at Smith and Edwards I found a fairy one and Lexi is sometimes into fairies..... it comes and goes.  I think I have every one they had in stock.   Have a mentioned I love them.

Then we have the Melissa and Doug reusable stickers.  These pads are quite a bit bigger than the magnet pads.  They have a ton of "stickers" for each page.  There are probably 6-9 different pages with different themes on each one.  Like the boy one has tractors on one page,  an airplanes page, construction, and boats.   

I store the stickers in the wipes containers that I get with each box of wipes.    They make great storage containers. 

We have quite a few as you can tell.  

This one has been Lexis favorite,  she has played with this one so many times.  She loves putting all the of the dresses on the girls.  It has been well worth the money, these ones are only $4.99 I think.  I found a bunch at Smith and Edwards again... 

I really have to limit how much I go to that store because I always find something I "need" there.  

This is another one of our favorites is the animal one as you can guess.  It took Lexi a while to be able to do it on her own and get the stickers unstuck from being in the containers.  But now she can do it without a problem and she even helps Max.  Maybe its that the stickers are so old they don't really stick together haha.  Who knows... I am just glad that they are so entertaining for the kids.  

I really have loved these and recommend them for anyone with kids... even if you don't go to church.  My kids play with them everywhere.  Even in the car on long road trips.  They have been a life saver to me.  

Who doesn't like gigantic muffins?

I recently started watching this awesome vlog on You tube.  It's called "She's in her Apron".  I love it.  She is a down to earth mom and she just shows her life.  I love watching these, she has motivational Monday and she gives good ideas on how to clean and run a house.  I have gotten some really good ideas from her.   She makes me want to be a better home maker and wife.  So that is good right?

She has this recipe for these muffins and I tried them they are sooo good.  I followed the recipe exactly but next time I want to tweek it a little bit and add some applesauce in place of oil and see if I can do less sugar too.  They were a hit though the kids love them.  I love how they are in the bigger muffin tin too.  They seem more costco like as well.  

I made two batches  because it only makes 6 giant muffins plus I wanted to do blueberry and then Max wanted poppy seed.  

I made them exactly the same and then added the two different flavors.  For some reason the  blueberry batter was a little bit thicker. 

I had a little bit extra so I put them in normal sized muffin tins.   

OH my!!!   They came out sooo perfect with the crusty tops and they were soooo good.  They are almost all gone and I just made them today.  

Here is the recipe for you to enjoy them as well......

I love it when a recipe turns out and I can add it to my book. 

3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour (very careful not to overmeasure)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs, room temperature preferred
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
1 cup (240ml) milk*
1/2 cup (120ml) canola oil (or vegetable or melted coconut oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups (150g) fresh or frozen blueberries
coarse sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F degrees. Spray your muffin tin of choice with non-stick spray or line with muffin liners. Set aside.In a large bowl, gently toss together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until all dry ingredients are combined - a 20 second toss to disperse everything together. Set aside.In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until combined. Mix in milk, oil, and vanilla. Mixture will be pale and yellow. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix everything together by hand. Avoid overmixing. Gently mix until all the flour is off the bottom of the bowl and no big pockets of flour remain. The batter will be VERY thick and somewhat lumpy. Fold in the blueberries.Pour batter into prepared muffin tins, filling all the way to the top. Top with a sprinkle course sugar, if preferred. Bake at 425F degrees for 5 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 and continue to bake for 25-26 minutes until tops are lightly golden and centers appear set. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in pan before enjoying.Muffins taste best fresh the same day. Store muffins at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Muffins freeze well for up to 3 months.

Additional Notes:

*Buttermilk is preferred for the moistest texture. 1% or higher milk fat of regular milk would be fine. Almond milk + soy milk are OK too. 

*For 15-16 standard size muffins, reduce baking time to 18-19 total minutes: 5 initial minutes at the 425F and 13-14 minutes at 375F. For 30 mini muffins, bake for 11-12 minutes at 375F the entire time

Experimental canning.... you win some and you lose some

Its that time of year again.... canning season.  I love this season with fall and the weather cooling off.  I really love canning and learning how to do something new.  It seems like every year I am able to try to can something new.  

We have a lot of fruit trees in our back field and we had the apple trees pruned this spring and they took a hit.  Most of them are in shock and didn't produce this year.  One did but then the crazy hail storm damaged everything.  So we have a tree with some apples on it and they have been falling off.  I didn't think they would be ready  until the end of september but they are all falling off.  So I went out and tried one and they are pretty sweet.  I already have a ton of apple sauce from last year and even the year before.  So I thought of the different ways I could use these apples I hate to see them go to waste.  We could dry them or make apple pie filling, but they are pretty damaged with the hail so it would be a lot of work to cut it all out.  I decided to try apple juice.  I read up on it and they said that you should mix different kind of apples to make the sweetness better.  So I got some from my neighbor and mixed the two since that was what we had.  I tried juicing them in my juicer and then can it but it didn't work 

This is what it turned into some murky liquid on bottom then what looked like good apple juice in the middle and a foam on top.  I tried to skim it off and try it but it just mixed back up and it didn't taste very good at all.  So I tried to put the apples in my steam juicer and that produced 1 half gallon of juice and it didn't taste very well either.   

Well I tried and that is ok now I know what doesn't work. 

Maybe I need a cider press?

The kids love to help do anything so its a good time to teach them and just talk to them while they help me out.

Then we moved onto something I know how to can for sure and its super easy.  Plums .... I love these they go great in our smoothies and they are sweet.  They help sweeten up any green smoothie and they are super easy and quick to can.   Our aunt Darce has a whole bunch of these so I took a few grocery bags full and canned quite a bit.  I love how easy they are, it makes you feel very accomplished.  

All you have to do is cut them in half to get the pit out and then you throw them in a jar and fill it up. Then you top it off with water and your done.  NO extra sugar or anything.  Straight up pure plums.  

I love being able to use all of the fruit and seeing my shelves fill up in the basement.  I love being able to just run down to the storage room and grab another jar instead of putting it on the grocery list.

I am hoping to be able to make some peach jam this year too.  I know jams have a lot of sugar in them.  They have to have sugar for them to set up right so that is ok but at least I know exactly what is in it and I made it.  So that is another new thing for me this year.  I have done nectarine jam and it's good but peach sounds soo good.  Usually I just eat all the peaches fresh because they are so good.  I love the feeling of juice running down my hand and arm.  I have gotten a few from my sister in law and my neighbor but we are clean out of canned peaches.  So I have a plethora of places I can buy peaches from.   I did plant three peach trees this year so in a few years I will be able to eat all the fresh peaches I want.  

My Dave Ramsey experiment

My husband and I have been listening to Dave Ramsey for a few years now and I feel like we are both pretty good with money.  So we have never actually put together a budget and stuck to it.  We have done a spread sheet and watched where our money went and that made me aware of what I was really spending money on.
My brother has a few of his books and so I borrowed them and read them . I read it so fast, I loved it.  It had some really good information in there that I learned from.  We had already done a few of the baby steps he talks about so that was a boost to be able to start on step 4.  It was motivating to start right there.  We were both raised to not buy new cars or get into debt.  So we don't owe on our cars or have any credit card debt, or student loans.  We are very blessed I know.   We are very grateful for that.

I have had a credit card for quite a few years and I have always paid it in time or before.  My reasons for having a card is that we get money  back and it seems to add up quick when we are doing house projects and making large purchases so I thought it was worth it.  Then I listened to really why Dave says its not worth it even when you get money back.  He says you still end up spending more money so really your not getting money back.  I really truly evaluated myself and yes I do spend more.

Just last month I took my credit card out of my wallet and just kept my debit card in there and have been using just that.  I spend less when I see the little amounts widdle away at our bank account.  I really think this will help me spend less and so I am going to stick to it.

I also set up a budget in the Dave Ramsey app Every dollar and I love the set up of it but to get it to sync with your bank accounts you have to pay $8 a month and I just cant justify that.  I think it should be free I mean its Dave Ramsey we are talking about, the King of Finance.  Whatever, my husband found another awesome one.... mint.com  and its free!  It is pretty good online, then I downloaded the app and its so much better on the phone.  I love it.   I can adjust the budget pretty easy on there and then I can enter stuff in right away and know where I stand on the budget.  This is the best part about it.  They have it set up so you can roll over the money you didn't use last month.  So in like the gift budget that will roll over so just every month we can just to $10 or something and then it will build up and we can use it for birthdays or Christmas.  I love that option.

I have really been trying to save up so we can finish our basement and do other fun stuff in the back field next summer.  We both have good jobs and we could be much better at saving up.  It all comes down to what do you really want in the future.  Do I have long term goals?  Its easy to spend money now and be satisfied with what you get.

I also want to teach my kids about money.  I was taught very well from my parents how to earn money and I have also learned some things about money the hard way.  It really comes down to self control for me.  I have always had a job since I was 13 or 14 I believe is when I started working for an older couple cleaning their house.   I still work now too and so I have always had "my money"  I feel like if I didn't work I would be better at not spending too because I don't have as much as a right to spend it on stuff I want.   Does that make sense?  Anyways I don't know how long I will continue to work.  I hope it will work out to keep it until all of our kids get into school but family first so well just continue to see what happens.  Its always nice to have that extra income.


So we we are one month in and Dave says it takes a few months for the budget to work and get fixed up right.  Its true our first month didn't work.  I had forgotten things that we would normally pay. Some of the budgets were pretty off, I didn't realize how much I actually spent in certain areas, like household items.   Granted some of what we spent wasn't something we spend every month.  Like Jared needed some new shoes,  and I got some pants.  This is why I love the roll over system, because some months you spend more in a certain budget area and others you don't spend any.  So the overall amount is important I think.  I feel like its a yearly budget because throughout the whole year you might even out in the different budget areas.  So when we go over in an area this isn't just fixed by upping the budget in that area it's about evaluating, did I really need to buy that?   Was it a want or need? Sometimes yes its necissary to up the budget and sometimes it means not buying things you "want"  So this will be hard to do for me, I am very stubborn.  So this next month will be better and the next even better.   I am super excited to start really saving more and telling our money where to go and not having it tell me what to do.

Essential oils and how we use them

I think I have said this before but the more natural things I learn about and discover I usually remember that my mom used that or did that for a while.  The one I remember the most was a plastic magic washer ball.  We all gave her a really  hard time for that.   I guess it turned out to not work and she noticed it after a while the clothes weren't getting really clean.
I love that my mom tried or did a lot of these things I am now trying.   One of those things that she still uses is essential oils.  My grandma, her mom is a big oil user.  You can tell when grandma comes in a room because you smell the oils on her.  She is very healthy and in great shape because of it.
I have been using rosemary and lavender for years now and love them.  I know they work well for the right things.  You just have to learn how and when to use them.
I think I have mentioned this before but I am just amazed at what natural herbs and plants are available to us that God put in nature to help us.  We just have to learn how to use them.
My husband has always had pretty good allergies and this year it has been extra bad since we  have been working in the field.
So I have been looking for another option for him that isn't saline nasal spray because he got to the point where that wasn't even doing anything for him anymore.   One of the ladies I have met from this crunchy facebook group was kind enough to help me understand some oils and get me some help for him.  So we use a mix from DoTerra that is called breathe and we diffuse it at night in our room and we have both been sleeping better.  He is even asking for me to make sure its running before we go to bed, and the other night I taught him how to do it himself.  That is how you know it really works.

Here is my diffuser I got off amazon and it does an amazing job.   The kids like to turn the lights on it on. It rotates through all the colors.  Its pretty cool.   It diffused intermittently or it can be constant.  I usually do it intermittently because it will last a lot longer that way.

                   

 I received a book about all the different oils that I have been looking for. I have been borrowing my moms to help try to learn more. So its great to have my own now and it was free with the oils I bought.  Awesome.   I also got a balance mix that I rub on my feet before I got to bed.  It helps balance your emotions and ground you.  Just what I needed from the foot zone.
I love reading about all of the  different oils and how to use them.  I started to get more interested in them as well when I watched the Truth about Cancer series and how powerful oil is when used correctly.
I have also been defusing oil in our kitchen since that is where we spend the most of our time.  I put lemon and wild orange in there and they are supposed to uplift the mood and make you cheery.  I think it works, I sure think it smells good, so that is a plus.
I have been taking epsom salt baths to help with magnesium and I put a few drops of lavendar in the water as well.  I feel like I sleep better after soaking in the bath for 20-30 min.  I am trying to learn a little more each day about oils.  I really want to be able to use them on my kids for sickness and my little baby gets ear infections quite a bit.

I got some roller ball bottles and I filled one with lavendar, one with onguard, and one with melaluca.  The kids love rubbing it on each others feet before bed.  They think it tickles and they always ask if they can do it.  I have also been rubbing on guard on baby because he has been coughing and congested.  Hoping that helps.
I am excited to try to prevent as much sickness as possible this winter season with the oils and the kefir we use.  I really hate going to the dr and having to get probiotics because it just destroys your gut and the probiotics you have built up.   So lets see how good we can do with the kids this cold season.