A Slice of My Life

This is what's going on in my life lately:

1. PICKLES!!! As you know my mother, with the help of my brother, had a big garden on the way to harvest before her stroke. We have been enjoying the bounty of the garden... tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, squash, peas, corn and more. She had two little rows of cucumbers that yielded enormous amounts of fruit. So for about three weeks, we have been making sweet pickles. Each person in the family spends different days with Mama, so each person did the next step in the process when they were there. Sometimes I washed, sliced and put the pickles in the lime. Sometimes I rinsed them and put them in the ice water. Sometimes I put them in the vinegar and sugar bath. Sometimes I boiled them on the stove and put them in the jars. Each batch is a 2 or 3 day operation. I never knew how much went into them all these years when I would see Mama slaving over those cucumbers. I'm not sure how many quarts we have put up but there are plenty for everybody in the family.

2. Exercise. I have been unusually motivated to exercise. I've really been sticking to it by walking during my lunch hour and on the treadmill at home when I can. I've also been trying to eat better. I've been reading several good library books that have helped to motivate me. A recent one is called, "Younger Next Year for Women". Its not so much about looking younger, but about being physically younger. This book stresses LOTS of exercise. Way more than I can dare to accomplish with my schedule right now, but its very motivating. Today I walked one mile on the treadmill early this morning and 1 mile at lunch, followed by a healthy lunch. I'm still hungry, but it was healthy!

3. Sewing and crafts. I checked out some great books from the library on crocheting and purchased 3 skeins of yarn. So far I've gotten nowhere. I'm not giving up, but maybe this isn't my thing. LOL :o) I really want to learn to crochet an edge on a baby blanket and have read 2 or 3 great tutorials from other blogs. I was thrilled to find a dresser cloth at Mama's that my grandmother had made. She crocheted an edge all the way around it and embroidered beautiful flowers on it. This piece is at least as old as I am. She also did this to pillow cases. Surely if she could do that with no library books or blogs, I can figure it out!


4. Cooking. We have been eating lots of fresh veggies. The corn is so good this year. Any meal is good when you have fresh vegetables to go with your main dish. We also love pasta salad this time of year which rounds out the meal.

I learned to make "old timey" fried cornbread like my Mama makes and which my sweetie has asked me to make before. Nothing to it! Not my favorite, but anything for him. :o)

5. Cleaning. Need to.

6. Gardening. Need to.

I hope you enjoyed this slice of my life.

Have a great day!