Ambition

Ambition is my downfall, not necessarily perfection, but ambition.  I don't have the same kind of ambition that people normally think of, I have no aspirations to climb a corporate ladder, or even to get a professional job, so i normally get accused of completely lacking in ambition, but I just put it all in a different place.  I was always told to live up to my potential, your so smart you can do so much, so my decisions have caused so much tension since I've just lost the will to fight for the things I don't want. 

This is my ambition, 6 jars of blueberry syrup, 6 jars of blueberry butter, and 8 jars of solstice preserves, a cherry blueberry mix.  It might not be the same caliber of storage that some people have, though I aspire to that one day, but it's mine. The syrup I don't know what I'll do with, maybe swirl it into cheesecake or coffee cake or pancakes, is there a non cake thing that blueberries go with?  It's to sweet to go with crepes, way to sweet as a straight topping, so not very many options, next time I think I'll just make whole fruit butter, or straight jelly instead of the syrup juice is juice for any recipe right?  The butter is amazing I ate the leftovers with a spoon. I would put up my recipes but since I broke the one commandment of caning and just sort of winged it I don't want to let anyone think that they were guaranteed safe.  But the way I see it, the national center for home food preservation says that sugar is for flavor and color not a preservative, and I know that sugar doesn't add acidity so realistically decreasing the sugar should increase the overall acid level(it doesn't hurt that I love tart/sour so I tend to double the lemon juice, because it just tastes so much better that way) so as long as you maintain the acid level and process long enough you should be good(this is my theory not fact, and not something I recommend).

The first blush of red on the first tomato, the first cucumber flowers,  the cucumbers need a trellis now, the original plan was to use some old fencing but it won't be ready in time so the cucumbers are going to grow on some spare tomato cages this year.  Soon there will be pickles, tomatoe sauce, then later salsa, and even later we're buying a head of beef, a pantry to be proud of.

This is my pride, my ambition, I have so much, and it's a shame that so many people see this as a lack, or laziness, because it's not, it's just a different level.

Theoretical Homeschool Subjects

So, While this had no practical application for the next decade or so these are the kind of questions that don't matter but I ask them anyway.  How important is it to learn cursive anymore? I know there are things I would want my theoretical home schooled child to learn, the obvious ones; math, reading(real reading by knowing the alphabet), history and science, music isn't my strong suit but it is Fuba's so that one is covered by someone who knows what they're doing, and handwriting/beginning letter writing I would have to outsource to my mother, because well she writes in a way people can read... I write in a way that most days I can translate.  I don't necessarily think of PE or "Good Citizenship" as some states call it as classes just life, so I don't count those.  But then there are other subjects that are important to some, less to others, Latin, modern foreign language, more specialized social sciences, more focused education on hobbies, and all of those are still kind of applicable to the modern world, which all brings me back around my primary question, cursive, aside from being the starting point for a signature, what good is it in everyday life, and is it worth the time to learn and reinforce it?

Blueberries

So I was going to post about my completely purged and reorganized kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, and hide the pictures of my living room that has become the staging ground for this amazing chaos but there is something better in this world than a kitchen that screams "YOU CAN COOK HERE NOW!!!"

And those things are blueberries,  LOTS of blueberries, my mom brought home from somewhere on the way home from MN. The bag has twelve cups all prepped for "Blueberry Bonanza" a recipe that makes both syrup and butter for canning with the same berries, the cup is now a simple blueberry syrup and the box has some that I'm going to go steal for a pancake.

So the syrup is setting in the fridge, it's not bad hot but hot syrup has never been my thing. I like cold food, everything except beef stew everything else I prefer cold, but since the syrup only took 5-10 minutes it has plenty of time to set before the rest of my plate is done.

Quick Blueberry Syrup

1 cup               Blueberries

2 tbsp              Sugar

1/2 tbsp           Lemon Juice

I just heated the berries for a bit let them get a little soft then used an immersion blender to smooth out the skins. Then added the sugar a little bit at a time until it got to the level I wanted it to be at. Then toss in a splash of lemon juice, stir it up and let it almost simmer for a minute. Remove from the heat and put in another container because staying in the pan makes it coagulate pretty weird, and let it cool for a bit.

Then for testing... I have some ricotta in the fridge so a lemon ricotta blueberry pancake sounds like just the thing, and a French toast too, because it's not strange to make a three course breakfast at 1:00 in the morning, so I found this recipe for the pancakes.  And my french toast which is wonderful but very much a splash of this a handful of that some vanilla extract some lemon extract and a grab of cinnamon sugar, always a little different but always great.

Have to finish of the pancake batter off.  I wish I had a double burner griddle

And TaDa breakfast for dinner at 2:30 in the morning. It's amazing the pancakes were good, but maybe not the best for this, next time I think I'll try a buttermilk pancake or waffles, something sturdier.

Gardening and canning.

Wow today is the pinnacle of un-productivity, got absolutely nothing accomplished and from the looks of people I encountered it looks like the whole towns day was the same way.  But as promised a list of things that I need to can this year. 

This is my garden, five tomato plants, two canning, three salsa and sandwich. And eighteen little cucumber sprouts, they worry me being so small still a month old and only 4-5 inches tall,

This is my sad but growing Early Girl tomato plant with its two baby tomatoes, the other one is just as sad and only has one. They need cages soon; the stakes aren't working that well anymore. The Rutgers and the WI 55s are still little though just starting to flower.

Next year I 'm looking into heritage varieties,  not to sure about the tomatoes yet but a variety of cucumber, the Snow's Fancy Pickling was developed just down the road from where I live so it seems fitting, so that will probably be going in next spring.  With any luck in an expanded garden.

But these are my two plants so they are the corner stone of my preserving this year and the apples we will get from the local orchard.  I'll be putting up lots of tomato sauce if the plants are agreeable.  I use so much and would love to cut it out of my store purchases at least half of the year.  And pickles, something my partner and our niece’s love, me not so much but if it makes them happy, I'll slave over a hot stockpot for them.  The apples are my favorite part of the list, lots of applesauce, quite a few apple butters both 4oz & 8oz, more than a few apple jelly both 4oz & 8oz, and a couple apple pie fillings I think. 

Then quite soon I need to find a good cherry recipe because the local market has them cheap by the pound and they look great, and I looove cherry jelly, preserves, pie and everything else you could think of.  Lemon curd will be essential too, I want to gift some out so I'll need both 4oz & 8oz.  These are the must haves if I do nothing else this year, not that I'll be content to settle for this but it makes me feel better to know that my bare minimum is.

Lists, lists, lists

It's a funny, I always write a list pretending that it will guide my day, even have a daily/morning routine.  But for some reason whatever’s on my list doesn’t get done, however I got a hundred things that weren’t on today’s list done, so it’s not a total wash.  Today’s job was to clean the entryway, really, probably the easiest job in the house. Since it’s so small it’s a matter of

·         Take cardboard downstairs

·         Take aluminum out

·         Rearrange coats rack

·         Clean AC

·         Wash floor

·         Deal with cat food mess

A grand total of ten square feet tops.  But nope, not for me, it looked icky and boring, so I did everything else to avoid doing that. 

The kitchen is amazing, cans all crushed, dishes all done (This is a huge sticking point I did four loads plus hand wash dishes) fridge cleaned, sink cleaned, countertops shined, and cookies for a supervisors goodbye party cooling as I speak.

Laundry got done, four loads of that only a load of delicates and a load of miscellaneous left.  And my closet got cleaned, finally gathered some things that can absolutely go, found my canning supplies and decided to make a list of things I want to and need to can this year so I’ll be posting all that in morning.  All of this to avoid cleaning a space smaller than an average powder room.

Tomorrow I will clean the entry, and when I’m done I’ll post pictures. Every day I get a new space cleared I’ll post pictures of that to so I know not to let it get back to being too bad lest I have to share my shame with the world.

I am a housewife.

A housewife seems to have its definition neatly laid out, a wife who keeps house, or more eloquently put by the dictionary,

– A married woman who manages her own household, especially as her principal occupation.

And I’m sure that definition works great, but something about that word pulls at me, that it’s bigger than that.  I’m not a wife, not by the standards of the state or IRS, but I think arguing semantics is not the point here and truth be told I’m not that good at housekeeping either.  The dictionary also says that homemaker is a better word (even Microsoft word wants me to change it), as housewife can be used offensively, and granted it’s a good word I’m sure, but it’s not the word that calls to me.  I am a housewife for better or worse, when I can say that, even just to myself I know I’m where I want to be. So I do the dishes, and the laundry, keep my apartment as clean as I can stand and cook not as much as I would like, and far more than I should.  I’m a wannabe homesteader, though I only have one garden growing two things at the moment (neither of which I eat).  I’m a techie with 50’s sensibilities, a country girl in love with makeup and fashion that I can never figure out.  I dream of construction projects, and learning to knit and crochet, designing wonderful chainmaille everythings, a serial procrastinator with perfectionist tendencies, and a carnivore with sugar fueled compulsions.

This is who I am, These are things that do not change, and today I’m okay with that. But today I’ve also decided to work on the things that can.  So I want to start here on this blog, taking more pride in my home, working towards a healthier life, and finding out what I want for the future.

I want a place to share what I learn, and receive ideas from those generous enough to share them, about life, home, self, and everything else.