Pickled

My first try at canning was a success! I now have 10 quarts of picture perfect dill pickles! I'd like to do more but finding the time before cucumber season is over may be a challenge. We had a late harvest for most of the produce this year so I may just get lucky.

I also attempted to finish my market bag but the handles are giving me issues. After completing the handles I realized the opening was way too small to appropriately carry anything bigger than a grapefruit. So I'm in the process of frogging the handles and trying to knit them on larger needles. Here's a picture of it with one of the insufficient handles still intact.

Tomatoes, Hens, and To Do Lists

I have the entire day to myself!! From the time I rise to the time I go to bed I can do whatever I want. My James is house/dog sitting in Park City while I had to stay home with Sebastian and his girlfriend, Sugar Pie. Her parents are out of town too so we are watching her the the week. Along with Sugar Pie, came a bag of canned goods and fresh tomatoes! Sooo here's what I had for dinner last night...

Oh-for-the-love-of-fresh-tomatoes, I was in heaven! However, it was missing fresh mozzarella. I'll pick some up today though. The basil is from my little herb garden. Guess what I'm having for dinner tonight? Good golly maybe even lunch, too.

Yesterday I planted a little succulent garden. I had a shallow pot and my Chicks n' Hens and Stonecrop are multiplying out back, so I decided to make a new garden for our front porch. I found the Chalk Fingers and Split Rocks for a great price (probably because they were so tiny).

Do do list for today:

-Laundry (yuck)
-Finish knitting Sheldon - a pink stuffed turtle (yea!)
-Watch some Olympics
-Walk Sug and Sebastian
-Finish knitting market bag - way cute; made out of mustard yellow cotton
-Clean bathrooms (yuck)
-Go to store for fresh mozzarella (yum!)
-Dust and vacuum (double yuck)
-Bake some bread with fresh Rosemary (yum!)

Found. Done.

A sweet little nest for tiny baby birds. Found.

We had a bit of a wind storm here a few nights ago and I found this in our backyard while watering this morning. I'm surprised it survived the curiosity of our two dogs. I pray the little babies had already left the nest before the storm blew their house out of their tree.

Sweet little booties for a sweet little baby. Done.

Well I guess I don't know if the baby is sweet yet. She hasn't been born. The baby shower for said baby was last night. (And it was the biggest baby shower I've ever been to--50 people, spouses invited. That number doesn't include kids or dogs. Overwhelming really.) Thankfully I had these done the day before. The mom really liked them which always means it was worth the time and effort. And though I doubted the sex of the baby and had to confirm with a friend, I made them in the correct colors for a girl. Isn't it weird that we still have a tendency of going pink for girls and blue for boys? Why is that? Hmmmm....