Pioneer Woman Strikes Again!

I told Mark this week that I felt like a pioneer woman, and today was no exception. I ordered from Bountiful Baskets this week. I've been wanting to do it for a while now, but it seems like every Saturday that they do an order, I'm not available to pick it up at the time they're there. And if you aren't there to pick up, they donate your baskets to a local fire station. While I don't mind donating occasionally, I'd rather not donate fruits and vegetables that I've paid good money for. Well, today, we were able to pick up our basket. We got a good selection of both fruits and vegetables. One of the kinds of fruits we got was a golden plum. I don't know the correct name for it, but it was interesting to say the least. It was round on the top and on the bottom, it came to a bit of a point. It tasted like a regular plum, though. And the apples were oh, so sweet! As an addition item, you could order a 25 lb. box of Anaheim chili for $9.75. I've bought green chili before and roasted it on the grill, steamed it, put it in ziploc freezer bags and stored it in the freezer. It's great to pull out a bag and use it just like you'd use a can of green chili from the grocery store. So tonight was out chili roasting night. We would have done it on Monday, but Erin needs help canning some meat and I'd told her we'd do her meat on Monday. It took us about 3 hours from washing the chili to putting it in the freezer. Our only glitch was that other times we've roasted chili, we used a propane grill. Since we don't own a propane grill any more, we used our charcoal grill and we underestimated the amount of charcoal it would take for that amount of cooking. So we had to stop roasting and add more charcoal a couple of times. But other than that, it went smoothly. After we were finished, I told Mark that I really enjoy canning/preserving foods for a rainy day. I think the reason why is that it gives you such a sense of accomplishment as well as doing what our church leaders have asked us to do....get your food storage act together so your family won't go hungry in leaner times or times of disaster. Makes me happy to see food stored on the shelves/in the bedrooms/and in the freezer.
Between picking up our baskets this morning and our chili roast, we went to Casa Grande to watch another of Emma's t-ball games. It's so fun to watch young kids play a team sport and learn not only the game, but how to cooperate with others, be a part of a team and learn sportsmanship.

Lesson and Start of the Week

Sunday was my lesson. It went well, I thought. I had to delete about three pages of what I'd prepared, but that was okay. We had a good discussion going, and I'd rather have that than just go over what they can read from the book. A discussion is difficult (impossible) when you're reading at home on your own! Now I'm on to the next lesson....Valiant in the Cause of Christ. Should be good...I teach on Easter Sunday!
Aunt Lorna passed away on Sunday and her kids had a short graveside service for her. It's amazing to me that they both died just a week apart. They couldn't bear to be separated for even that short amount of time.
Last night Mark picked up some round steak from Safeway. It was a smokin' deal...usually $5.50/lb. on sale for $1.47/lb. So tonight I canned beef. It is so simple to do. It's a wonder I/others don't do it more often. But I'm resolved to get better and keep on top of my canning/food storage. Erin is prompting me to come up with my 3-month menu, list all of the necessary ingredients and get it stored. I'm starting with 3 months and will work up to a year. I think we have a pretty good start. I just need to get it organized and tallied.
Deb asked me to post some more pictures from the 10th Ward Reunion, so Deb, this is for you.

I Have a New Friend

Yesterday when I was scrubbing the tub/shower in the bathroom, I noticed a stain that wouldn't come up with an SOS pad. That's when I noticed a bit of mildew on the inside of the shower curtain (the side that touches the tub). Try as I could, I was unsuccessful getting the stain up. A few months ago, Mark noticed the same sort of stain when we moved a couple of shower gel/shampoo bottles. Dark stain that wouldn't go away. We tried an SOS pad, bleach solution, Magic Eraser...with no success. I mentioned it today to Erin and she suggested Bar Keepers Friend. It's a powdered cleanser you find at the grocery store. Cheap, too! Anyway, I put a little of it in my hand tonight with a little water to make a paste and I gently rubbed the stain. GONE! No scrubbing, no effort....but gone! I tried it on the old stains, too and they're gone! YEA! I have a new cleaning friend! Thanks, Erin. So I replaced the shower curtain liner. We got one that's guaranteed no mold/no mildew. We'll see if that works! But for now, I'm happy.
This afternoon Erin and family and Brian and family came by and had lunch (pizza). Then we all headed off to the Glendale Chocolate Affaire. Our goal was to let the kids make their own chocolate pizzas at the Cerreta's booth. After we finally found a place to park, we took a short walk to Library Park. The kids each made their individual pizzas and we walked back to the cars. Nobody was really interested in walking around this year because it was so darned crowded. So we met our goal and the kids all headed home. Matthew and Emma weren't able to come up to join us, so we made one for each of them and decided to deliver it to them. They were pleased and surprised! We visited with them for a while and headed back to the valley. On our way, we decided to try out the Wal-Mart in Queen Creek. We'd heard that they sold food storage buckets with Gamma Seal lids for not a lot of money. We found the store at Ellsworth and Rittenhouse and found the buckets. The buckets were $5 each (5 gallon) and the lids were $5.50 each. We got three. They also carry canning jars, water barrels, pumps for the water barrels, small lids for the barrels and a wrench to remove the lids for filling and usage. It's a good resource...and cheaper than what you typically find in a specialty store. Score!!
Tomorrow is my lesson. I've spoken to several people who agree with me that the Joseph Smith lessons are challenging, to say the least. At least I feel like I'm in good company and that it's not just me!! I pray it goes well. I've already started looking at next month's lesson. It should be a fun one, too!