A little updating... This is the set for our Newlywed game (for Valentine's Day). I had a long session making the big sign (refrigerator box, paint) and another to make the Conversation Hearts (posterboard, chalk).  The rest was cool.  I used the rest of my paint on three big hearts for the podium, put sheets in front of the tables (one twin ripped in half, yard sale, 50 cents) and we used black markers (6 of them) and white card stock for the contestants to write their answers.  A few Christmas lights and microphone and it's ready.  Ahead of time work:  Get a good MC and a bunch of non-"whoopie" Newlywed game questions!!  In our church, anyone can throw an activity for the whole ward (church).  We do it more than most because we feel there is a need to chat and get to know each other, and we have a lot of practice from Cub Scout meetings.  Sure wish there were more activities!!

 This was a diaper cake I made for a friend's baby shower.  I have made them three different ways:  Roll each diaper into a cinnamon roll and ribbon individually,  then ribbon them all together;  Make a huge cinnamon roll starting with one diaper then tucking the ends of the next diaper in and rolling until it's huge; And this one, which was totally cheater, I emptied out a round hatbox and lined with clear celophane.  Then line up the diapers around the outside, then crammed in as many as I could in the middle, ribbon. Repeat three times and make waves and rainbow to go with Noah's Ark theme.  You gotta really love someone to make one of these... that was a megapack of size 2s from Sams.  Then to "decorate" you add on cute little things like socks, rattles, thermometers, diaper-bag sized baby powder, etc. Fun fun! When it's that big it's hard to transport so it's smart to cut out a large circle to put it on at least during transit. 

I meant to include this on the last post. This is just what I canned January and February. In March so far I have just canned the leftover meatballs from Sunday's big dinner.  There were 7 quarts left over, just enough to fill up my pressure canner.  It needed a new seal so I refrigerated them in the jars and Monday morning we got a new seal and by noon they were on the counter. So I have dinner 7 times, already made, just add noodles, shelf stable and not taking up room in my freezer.  I am feeling very environmentally responsible about that. And they will warm up fast since they're room temp already. I'm thinking the noodles will take longer to boil than the meatballs will to heat through but they're pretty big, so it might be close!


Two weeks ago Julia came over and taught us how to make pie crust, so some of my apples got used up. I learned it is DUMB to can them in pints, because you're going to need 3 for a pie, so I will just be doing quarts from now on, pints only if there's left over apples. Julia's crust got a 100 out of 100 and the apples got about a 45.  Nothing compares with a great crust!

I have been working on the pantry meals and finally broke down and ordered the book when I got my tax return money.  Can't wait to get going on some of that. Also made a food storage order and found some spices (after reading My Year Living on Food Storage I felt it more important than ever to get some seasonings) on Myspicer.com.  Can I just say, WOW!! It was so much fun to "shop" online and get all excited about the spices.  I will get the box Monday and will take some pics then of the cool stuff and then we will be having some major cooking and taste testing going on over here!!