Strawberry time...

 It's always best to pick strawberries with friends!

 Yummy!

 NO, that is NOT blood, but strawberry juice and I haven't the faintest idea how it got on her cheek.

 Strawberry picking wears little ones out.

 Ready for jam!

 I love babies....babies are for kissing!

5 baskets picked.  Each weighed right at 7 1/2 lbs.  Took about 1/2 hour to cut up 1 basket and de hull them ...is that a word?  The word is actually hulling the strawberries.  You hull them, you are hulling them.  They have been hulled.   I finished 3 of the 5 baskets.  They are bagged and in the fridge along with the NO hulled ones.  We will decide how many we will "flash freeze" and be bagged for smoothies and how many will be given to friends and then do what we need with them in the next 24 hours before they begin to go bad.  I seldom ever freeze before making jam.  I just simply make the jam.  This will be the first time with a day in between picking and beginning the jammin' process.  5 kids will slow you down, although I had 5 kids last year when I did it.  In fact, the day we picked was the day CPS brought us Mighty K.  I used the 24 hour honeymoon period to get those strawberries in those jars.  It worked and then it got wild!  Mighty K was a force to recon with.  A joyful force, but a force none the less.  All 35 lbs, 4T wearing 17 month old.  What a joy that BIG boy was.  We still miss him so.

Well, I truly planned on recording what we did and how we did it and how much, but alas....I just made jam and this time with a friend and her little ones.  We did make tons of jam and this time made smaller ones as well.  I actually had to buy some jars....shock....I usually always get them from garage sales or freecycle.  This time I had to buy some.  Oops.  I always buy new sealing tops, although some of my old ones sealed so I just used them.  All went well.  Rebekah and I also made jam out of blackberries she had frozen.  They were yummy too.

I simply use the recipe on the box of Sure-gel and then double checked with Pioneer Woman (same thing).  If you want to see some REAL pictures then head over there.

Our strawberries come from McPeaks in Pittsburg, about 45 minutes away.  They were $1.85 a pound to pick your own.  We do it every year!  Now the fun part begins....giving it away!

My treasures for the day...

I might be a nerd for this one! Caroline and I want to make various gifts for Christmas. We knew that we have had success with body scrubs and bath salts and various foods, but it is always hard to find something to put them in that is inexpensive and yet cute. We decided to hit Hope's Closet to see what we could scare up and also look for a Halloween costume. We found both. I bargained down for the costume because it was ripped! Yippee! These are the containers that we will put various things in! I just washed and removed the tags, but was so excited that I had to take a picture and act like a real blogger! Now if someone will ooh and ahh appropriately and leave a comment telling me how smart I am....I know it's a stretch, but come on...make my day....then YOU might be the recipient of one of our fine gifts. I am not above bribes apparently! LOL

Oh yeah, I also got the basket. I am a closet basket collector. I LOVE baskets! The basket was .99 and the jars with lids varied from .59 to .89 with no real rhyme or reason for the price. I love the ones that lock down.

Home made Christmas Gifts

     So...Christmas is around the corner and I am always looking for ways to make this time memorable, truly about Christ and not about commercialism and about family. One of the things we really like to do is make and give gifts to people. Some people do NOT like homemade gifts and in a commercial world I DO understand that, BUT I want my children to give the gift of time so homemade is what comes into play.
     Now, budget is a BIG consideration....NOT that we are cheap, but we like to give A LOT and we need to stretch the budget a long way. I have been searching for new ideas, but not coming up with very many. A few years ago we made candles. This was a fun thing to do, but me being a big candle person, well I was somewhat disappointed. I wanted the candles to smell up the entire house and though they did smell good, they weren't Yankee candles so I was sad.

     We also made body scrub! Now this was WONDERFUL as was the goat's milk soap. I had made both before, but used your basic kits from shops in town. BIG MISTAKE. You must get quality products online! I used a goat's milk base for the soap and our hands were well moisturized unlike the drying soap from the kits. We WILL make soap and the body scrubs again!

     Now onto food....I have done the mixes in a jar, but often I follow the recipe exactly and come out with more ingredients than I have jar. What am I supposed to do...hand them a baggie with the rest of it? I don't like that! Containers can also be expensive....what to do? Goodwill is great as is our local Hope's Close, not to mention garage sales, but it takes time to get enough and you must have a place to store them.
     Now for the list of people we want to give to.....here's hoping...1. mailwoman (we have 2), 2. UPS man, 3. FedEX, 4. garbage men, 5. Sunday School teachers, 6. Awana leaders, 7. Children's Church leaders, 8. Nursery Workers, 8. ELO teachers...holy cow that could be a LOT (like I said, this is a dream list), 9. people who are so good to us and our foster children....who share clothes and diapers and take pictures and make stuff for us....we are blessed, that list is long, 10. family, 11. Buckner workers, 12. CPS caseworkers, 13. Physical therapists, 14. Speech therapists, 15. Occupational therapists, 16. ECI coordinator....oh boy, now I am getting a little frantic. Time to stop this for now and hunt for ideas. Any ideas? List them here! I need help!

***...and you thought this was going to be one of those crafty blogs with fun things pictures and made easily on no money.  Oops, sorry to crush the illusion.

Letterboxing and Entepreneurial Ventures

     What a week... well I guess I should say series of weeks since it took all of them to get to the point. Yesterday was the 6th Annual Christmas Extravaganza at Kim Wallis's house. I have never actually sold anything, just helped Carolyn Shaw and Rebecca Camp put it on. It's always been fun. This year Caroline wanted to do "her" crafts, whatever that was. She loves things like this and had insisted months ago that she wanted to do some things for Christmas. Well there went hours of research for me. We had done candles before and they were not good. We used the kits from craft stores and they were drying and smelled bad. I finally found a site called Cajun Candle Factory and we were in business. We made candles in these beautiful red containers with crosses on them and the soaps were poured in a detailed cross mold and smelled delicious not to mention they were very moisturizing to the hands with the Goat's Milk soap base. Well, Caroline wanted more.... so next came the Sea Salt Scrubs. What fun! you can eat them although I don't recommend it. They really work well. We sold lots and had a great day. We may have spent all the money we earned, but all was well. Caroline counted change and packed up sacks for customers and then shopped. Partea Pizazz was her favorite venue as would be any girls!

     Now it's on to more fun stuff... weekend at grandparent's. The kids have not finished their scheduled schoolwork, but have worked hard and learned much in our quick trip to Lafayette to see Grandaddy and our craft venture. We went letterboxing and found 3 treasures in Lafayette, all of which were very educational. We go to see one of the largest Live Oak trees in the country with one branch weighing over 72 tons. It was amazing to see! We got lots of pics so I'll post soon. The St. John's Cathedral where it is located was exceptional. It was truly breathtaking along with the very old cemetery where our find was located. The tombs were all above the ground in cement casings and one was even for a soldier from the Civil War. He was from New York, but fought with the south where he felt he had to. It was pouring down rain on and off, but we traipsed through to the far side of the cemetery to find our Letterbox.