Good grief....I can't believe its been nearly a month since I've blogged....We had a wonderful Christmas...Israel's first Christmas with us!!
I've been spending a LOT of time thinking and planning our little "homestead" here in Indiana. I mean, I'm working on planning our garden and thinking where we'll put our chickens, etc.
Believe it or not, I have already bought some vegetable seeds! Then, I ordered a pressure canner from Walmart, bought some really cute canning lids on clearnance, and a new canning book! I have lots of cans already. Some from years ago and some I have purchased at Goodwill or Salvation Army.

I've already put my canner to use. It was kind of scary but it all turned out ok! I remember my mother used to can all the time and she always scared me to death by telling me to stay away from the canner in case it exploded! Geesh!!!! No wonder I have waited all this time before trying it out!!

My first effort at pressure canning has been...believe it or not...canning ground beef and onions. Yeah, it's kinda weird, who'da thunk of canning hamburger?? But, really it is quite handy to have it ready to go. I got a BUNCH on clearance sale at the grocery store and THEN I came upon chicken breasts for $1.71 a pound! (Or something like that...pretty cheap....) So, I decided to try to can them and I did! One of the quarts of chicken did not seal so I immediately put it in the refrigerator. I'm going to try again tomorrow....I'm canning "Vegetable soup starters" and I will just use the chicken in the vegetable soup. I have LOTS and LOTS of cabbage that I bought for 25 and 33 cents a pound and I'm planning to add veggies to it until I have a nice "starter" to vegetable soup. How nice it will be when I just open a can or two, add some left over vegetables to it and have a healthful and inexpensive meal for us!

I'm trying to get used to living on less before we actually HAVE to...in two years, our income will be cut in half when our blended family of children no longer receive child support or social security. That's a big reason we decided to sell the "Big Fancy House In Town..." (And because we wanted to adopt!!)

I think it's kinda fun, actually...living frugally. It's almost like a game that I plan to win. "Let's see how much money I DON'T spend at the grocery store or department store...."

I got some awesome denim skirts at Goodwill for myself the other day! (I'm a skirt lady....) I was just thinking that I wished I had a skirt that would match my new fancy $13 shirt from Walmart and low and behold....there they were! Soooo cute and chunky....like me!! Well, I didn't mean I was CUTE...I meant that I was CHUNKY....these skirts would probably have been at least $35 new...and they are LIKE NEW!! WooHoo!!!! God really blessed me with these!!

I made my newly married daughter, Marci....and her hubby, Ben....a rag quilt for Christmas and shipped it to Seattle. She cried....I think she likes it. I'm going to try to do some more of that in the coming year. Rag quilting, I mean....not making my Marci cry......Geesh....I have lots of fabric and I bought some more....on clearance of course...at Hobby Lobby last week. Hopefully I can get my little sewing machine to work well and then I'm gonna get sewing!

AND.....finally............
I did some Christmas shopping yesterday...for next year....

I'm a sicko. I admit it. But the deals were incredible!!!!!!!!!!  I got the four littlest grandsons matching pajamas and camo fleece pants. SOOO cute! I got our little grand daughter a night gown and an outfit. I also got chunky little Parker an Old Navy outfit....SOOOO CUTE!! (Parker, I mean....but also his new outfit.)  I also got them some stocking stuffers. The problem is.....where to store them all while I wait until next Christmas. (Because I didn't stop there....I got probably 12 jar candles for the ladies for Christmas and some cute critters for all the kids for Valentine's day. ) Roger doesn't know all about them....so don't tell him yet...Ok??? He doesn't need to know about the depth of my "sicko-ness".  One of these days....he will thank me....yeah. I keep telling myself that.......:) He'll find out soon enough......

Blessings to you all!
Beth