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    2026 Summer wrap up

    September 7, 2026 - By 

    Once again the summer has flown by with hardly a thing crossed off my “school me” list…the list I write during down times at school while longing for the freedom of summer. The “school me” is always more ambitious and has no limitations on herself. She also assumes that the calendar will remain blissfully empty of any sort of appointment or obligation. She is ever the optimist with lofty goals. To be 100% transparent…I can’t even remember what I did with my list. I know it’s somewhere around here.

    With all that said…now I’m trying to decide how I want to go about blogging my summer. Month by month or grouped by some arbitrary system that may only make sense to me.  I feel as if I’m taking you on a journey through my ADHD brain…verbally processing with you whether you like it or not. 🙂

    June

    The beginning of summer break honestly wasn’t the greatest. Mr. G was dealing with some foot and ankle issues so original plans of hiking and other adventures went to the back burner. Thankfully I was off work and able to take over things that typically he would do.

    One of the goals I set for myself was to list some on either ebay or etsy every day. I’m happy with my progress with that even though it wasn’t every day. I made quite a few sales and got rid of some clutter around here.

    Since I knew I’d be hosting over at Art Journal Journey for July, it kicked my creative side into high gear. I had so much fun creating! One of these days I should do a recap of that as well.

    July

    Life began to pick up a bit of speed in July. The garden was really filling out and it had me thinking about preserving, fermenting and such.

    I decided to try my hand at making cottage cheese.

    It turned out pretty well even though its not recommended to make cottage cheese from ultra-processed milk. Since I sometimes get tummy troubles from milk I tried A2 milk and have had better success with dairy.

    I also made Greek yogurt and it was so yummy.

    During this time we had a lot of wildfire smoke so limiting time outdoors was a necessity.

    So one day I grabbed my scraps and made an afternoon of making random bits.

    I ended up with a good pile of cards.

    Mid July we had had tickets to a show about an hour and a half from home. We went to a local brewery for a meal before heading to the venue. It was busy but a good meal. Originally we were going to make a weekend of it with hiking, antiquing and such but Mr. G was still on the mend so we settled on just an evening adventure up and back home.

    Our tickets were for Jim Gaffigan. We really enjoy his comedy…likely because he talks so much about his family.

    The venue is pretty new. It was built in an old granite quarry. They made some lovely views for people to enjoy before the show.

    I did a bit a art journalling unrelated to my theme month on Art Journal Journey just for fun.

    I also got to enjoy some of my sunflowers…although I learned very quickly that they drop a ton of pollen so they aren’t great to bring in the house.

    August

    Ok here is when life really started to accelerate. Things were being thrown onto the calendar faster than I could have even imagined.

    The first weekend in August, Mini-me came home so her and I could go to Wisconsin for a family “Christmas party”. We stopped ay Amnicon Falls since we were too early to our final destination.

    We also made a visit to Duluth since its been a few years since J was in college there. I never get tired of that view.

    During this time we made the decision to have our landscaping in front of the house redone. We were told that things would be 4-6 weeks out…that changed at the drop of a hat and suddenly one week turned into a marathon.

    Before

    After

    There is actually much more but I’m only highlighting my favorite transformation.

    But let me back up a bit and tell you about that week. Monday morning I had my routine physical and got my first Shingles vaccine. Tuesday morning Mr, G messages me and says the landscapers on on their way and I need to move all the pots and such from the front of the house. Any other day…maybe not so bad but I have a fever and feel very flu-like. But I get it done. Wednesday they came back to repair damage to the lawn while I was helping set up for a garage sale at my neighbor’s house…still with a slight fever. Thursday 6am dragging stuff out of the neighbor’s garage…no fever, just sore arm. 8:30am I get a calendar reminder that I’m supposed to be in a meeting (thankfully it was a voluntary one). Friday more garage sale. Saturday up early to drive 3 hours to Mini-me.

    Ah yes…forgot to mention…Mini-me was moving home. Her contract ended and she has moved home to go to do a Masters program. So Saturday we loaded everything up and drove back home and Sunday we loaded all of her furniture and things that won’t fit in our house into a storage unit.

    Since the garden is producing, I’ve been working on canning . I love my outdoor set up.

    It keeps the heat out of the kitchen.

    On this particular day I canned 3 pints of spicy beans, 6 pints of spicy pickles and a jar of pickled eggs.

    With Mini-me living back home and summer winding down it seemed to be adventure time. We went to the Mall of America and IKEA.

    We went to Sea Life while at the mall. We hadn’t been since she was a little girl.

    Our next adventure was to the MN State Fair.

    We tried some new food.

    Saw some animals…including this rabbit that looked so crabby that it was almost comical.

    This was my favorite sign at the fair.

    School started a week earlier than usual around here. So Tuesday begins my second week of school. This year is very different for me…lots of new classes.

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today?
  • Around home - Blog - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: preserving the harvest edition

    October 26, 2020 - By 

    Despite the lingering snow, late season canning and preserving is still happening around here.

    In addition to our garden, we purchased a farm share or CSA again this season. However, it was through a different farm than we had used in the past. Unfortunately the CSA we used wasn’t the best. Even though it was disappointing, I was able to do quite a bit of canning. One of the main reasons was lack of variety. The standard family cannot eat a dozen jalapeno peppers in a week. But a large amount is good for canning as well as jams and sauces.  So thankfully it wasn’t a complete waste of money.

    I’m also drying some herbs right in the kitchen. In the past I hung them in the storage room but that area is honestly a little chaotic right now. I just used some bread twist ties to attached to the hanging fruit basket…ta-da. Once the herbs are good and dry, I’ll remove them from the stems and store in jars.

    I thought I’d share this book I finally purchased from my Amazon wish list. It’s been on the list for a couple years. I’m thrilled with all the recipes and ideas its gives me for items I had never even thought about. 

    My mom had always canned quarts of whole tomatoes when I was a kid…so of course when I started gardening I did the same. Turns out my family doesn’t care for the recipes in which she used those canned tomatoes. So for years I’d mainly used our garden for fresh, eat it now veggies and hadn’t given much thought to preservation.  Over the past 5 or so years my thoughts and interest has changed on gardening. It’s not just a fresh veggie patch, its food and seasonings for the coming year. Back to those “old-timey” skills. 

    My school life continues to consume most of my energy. The weekends are spent catching up on household chores. Perhaps as winter settles in and the outdoor chores are at a minimum, I will regain some creative momentum.

    I keep making lists of things I want to try, ideas for projects, etc. I just need the time and energy to align.

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today?
  • Around home - Blog - Crafts - Creativity - Kitchen - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: another two weeks edition

    September 28, 2020 - By 

    It appears that this is how things may be for a while…slow to update…such is life these days. Time keeps ticking away and I’m finding less and less time to be creative. So many fall projects to tackle before its too late.

    I’m scrounging for canning lids as I keep getting more green beans. What do you think of my carrots? LOL  I had to pull them up because the squirrels were trying to do it for me.

    I also have a couple other canning projects I’d like to try but I either need more regular lids or more wide mouth jars…neither of which I can find anywhere.

    I did can some bloody Mary mix and somewhat appropriate sized containers.  It is a homemade, never be able to reproduce since I didn’t measure anything, type of mix. Hopefully its not the best ever. (Please excuse the poor photography and chaotic pantry.)

    School is going well. We all seem to be finding a rhythm…although I really should not have said that since I’m likely jinxing myself.

    One crafty thing that I actually completed during the past week was this paper garland. Our resource room is tiny…white cinder block walls with 6 doors but no windows…I can’t even make that up. It was originally a storage space of band instruments almost half a century ago.

    I really want to dress it up a bit without spending money since we certainly don’t have a budget. I’m hoping that between the 4 of us that current use the space throughout the day, we can make it a like happier. Brighter. A place the kids actually want to come for extra help without being distracted or over-stimulated.

    Last week, (I think…it’s a blur) we had some really interesting sunrise and sunsets. A high veil of smoke gave the sky a sort of post-apocalyptic look.

    I’ve been suffering with a sore hip or sciatica this past week. Its so frustrating! Hurts to do anything for any length of time. Whether its sitting, standing, walking or laying…it all hurts. I’m sure it came about from my abrupt change in activity when I returned to work. I’d been used to walking 2-3 miles most mornings then puttering around the house and garden. Being barefoot on soft surfaces. Nothing like life now. More sitting, hard floors, shoes, standing, leaning over. When I spell it all out like that, it makes complete sense but it doesn’t make the pain any less.

    I did get out for a walk Sunday morning. The trees are so beautiful. There was a slight crisp in the air. I love this time of year. Jeans and hoodies…my perfect outfit.

    I’ve made a few more masks as well. I decided when this is all over I’m going to cut apart all the masks I’ve made and make a COVID quilt.

    I have done a bit of art journaling as well….this is a current WIP. Of course this was what I should have been doing…but since I cleaned up my space it just had to be done.

    As many of you know my art space is in the laundry/utility room. My crafty chaos tends to overflow my actual space and I end up putting things on the washer and drier.

    But look…they are clean. Unfortunately there is a really lame reason for my sudden cleanup. The rubber gasket that keeps the water from leaking out the door of my front load washer ripped. Mr. G ordered a new gasket but the washing machine has to be taken half apart of replace the it. While waiting for that part Mr. G came across a video showing a potential hack to “rebuild the gasket with roofing sealant. We are giving it a go since…if it fails…we are right back where we started. I’ll update you next week as it takes a couple days of cure time.

    I’m so thankful that he is able to tackle these projects. In the meantime, I had to clean and make a trip to the laundromat.

    It’s certainly not perfect but trust me…much better. I tend to end up creating in a one foot square space. So dumb but I can’t seem to break myself of the habit.

    This is also madness. All of the scrap papers I had laying about. Ok truth be told…half of this was in the bin to start but seriously. I have a problem.

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today?