A Peek in the Kitchen and Bulletpoints

I froze green beans yesterday. The easiest and fastest way ever! The produce cookbook says you can simply snap, wash and dry, then put in freezer bags. Using this method, they will last for 6 months. As hard as I try, I still haven't managed to get enough beans at one time to make a full pressure canner load. My goal for Janel's home canning adventures, is to can. green. beans!

I've been wanting to highlight a few spots of our kitchen, and here's one: 

Commonly used utensils in old canning jars. I simply love this! 

I tried putting a layer of cork in the bottom so I wouldn't crack the bottom of the jar, but it is old and dried up so it doesn't stay laying flat. Bah humbug.

Another highlight is my paper towel holder. I didn't want paper towel holder to sit on the counter, and I remember at Seth and Harmony's wedding, Seth's future father-in-law came up with this for the women's restroom. So I walked about 15 yards to the back of the property and picked up a stick. Literally. Then I cut some twine, tapped a couple tacks under the kitchen cupboards. Easy as one-two-three!

And, here's the view from the window above the sink. 

Our, two bowl, kitchen sink! 

(That and the tile floor in the bathroom AND the kitchen was definitely a renting point for us.)

See my patch of green beans? 

Updates for other parts of life:

• I missed taking 11 pictures on the 11th for August. I might just do it tomorrow, but...I don't think I'll aim for 16. ;)
• We bought tomatoes for the first time to can. I have one bushel sitting in the kitchen, waiting to ripen. Soon I'll have spaghetti sauce simmering in a roaster!
• Facebook gave me timeline. Ugh.
• Daniel is still looking for a job. We don't know yet, but a move might be in the future. Every meal, Natasha prays: "Daddy get a job. Mommy playing with me. Okay, AMEN!" It's true. That's what our prayer is. I'm learning patience not only with potty-training these days! The whole looking for a job thing, is because, Google made some changes and all the websites that Daniel built while in Panama, aren't doing as well...because of the changes. Psalm 27:14 has been on the chalkboard for a few weeks now. And it will probably remain for a while longer, because every time I think about changing it, I realize it's so applicable right now, I'd better leave it.

• I love our library. It's not big, but for my purposes now, it's perfect. Whenever we go, Natasha and I are usually the only ones in the children's section. She sits and looks at pictures, while I select the next two week's picture books for our take-home-pleasure. Then we sit on the funny cushions and read a couple that we aren't bringing home this time. Next, we stop by the movie wall, to see if there's anything we might get a chance to watch in a week, then we check-out. The last time we went, it was only to return an overdue book and pay the fine. When we got to the counter, the librarian asked if it was only a couple days overdue. I said, "Yesterday". She smiled, shrugged her shoulders and said, "Don't worry about it." Oh thank you nice librarian!
• My sister-in-law and her husband, and my brother-in-law and his wife, returned today from their 3-week, motorcycle and BMW-car road trip to Alaska! 
• Potty-training isn't going as well as I thought. Real life practice for patience on my part!
• I re-decorated the piano top. Pictures coming soon. Hint of what it includes: The glass cake stand that was my parent's wedding gift. Did that make sense? They didn't give it to us, it was a gift to them 26 years ago.
• Since my Grandma passed away, it's now our job to go through her house. Since I'm 4 hours away, I haven't done much hands on there, but Mom and Dad did bring a few things up for me this past weekend. A big box of cards and letters Tiff and I sent to Grandma and Grandpa. Two bags of vintage scarves. A whole stack of vintage aprons. More handkerchiefs than one could imagine! I'm trying to find unique ways to use them! I think the hankies might become bathroom curtains...