Grape Juice

 

We were blessed enough to be invited to pick grapes at a friend of a friend's backyard vineyard mid-August. He had a wonderful slew of vines, and we came home with a couple bushels of Concord and what I think were Reliance grapes. I can't wait for the day we have a lovely backyard vineyard. We picked wild grapes earlier a couple weeks before, but their yield is just not much compared to these juicy beauties.

 

These are the grapes draining. After I was all finished making juice, and had already tossed the spent skins, pulp, and seeds, my preservation group had a posting that said I could have used all of that to make fruit leather by putting it through my handy-dandy food mill. Something to try next year!

 

We ended up with 8 gallons of grape juice. Grape juice and apple juice are the only things that are safe to can in half gallon jars, and boy does that fact make processing go so much faster. I canned grape juice a couple years ago, but did it all in quarts that time and it makes for a lot of time spent canning. The Concords made a beautiful purple juice, while the Reliance, which were green to pink, made a lovely mauve-y pink juice. All those quarts up there are chicken stock and crushed tomatoes. It was a busy week :)

Babywearing

Plastic Schtuff

We are one of a growing number of families trying to reduce the amount of plastics we use. That being true, I am having a Tupperware party on Friday. What?!? How does that make sense. Well, there are a couple contributing factors.
1) Even though we are cutting down on plastics, they are still a cost effective way to cut down on other more damaging/wasteful items, like plastic baggies. In October I bought two sandwich holders from my TW lady. I LOVE them. I intend to buy a few more. I would much rather reuse those a hundred times (or more) than go through that many baggies, plastic wrap or foil. Might there be a stainless or such alternative? Probably, but in taking the steps to be a more earth-friendly entity, it is the most reasonable approach at this time.
2) TW sells more than just plastic stuff. They also have high quality cookware, cutlery and gadgets. I like their silicone mats for rolling out doughs and baking on, especially with delicate cookies, like my biscotti.
3)But other places sell silicone baking products. Yes, but I am a stay at home/work at home mom. I like to support other WAHMs, and buying through TW is a way to do so. This particular WAHM happens to be the friend of a friend, and a friendly voice, as she is also a dj at a local Christian radio station.
4)Still plastic is bad for you and the earth. Yes, it is petroleum based. Not my first choice, but the simple act of reusing is a huge step in the right direction. The stuff is pretty strong. And after a lot of research, the plastics TW used are generally considered safe. We still do not cook or reheat in them. I have pyrex containers for that. And I won't be buying any containers that would be used as such. TW sells plastics that are the recommended type by most green/consumer groups. Would it be awesome if they started selling bio-degradable plastics? Totally! Do they yet? no.
5)They also sell dip/seasoning mixes that help my husband eat better. How is that? He will will eat things he normally wouldn't because they taste like SW Chipotle and Vanilla/Cinnamon. I have tried others. He likes theirs. Whatever.

So, in conclusion, I am still having the party. I actually prefer Pampered Chef, and will be hosting only those parties from here on out. That is what I actually wanted, but no one has had one recently and my cousin who used to sell, no longer does. This is simply a favor of sorts. Anyone nearby who I talk to regularly is more than welcome to come out. I didn't send via mail any invites because I didn't want to waste the stamps. I just kind of word-of-mouthed it. There will be chocolate fondue, and I will have made Indian food for dinner (yum!). Oh, and you don't have to buy anything. It is more just a good reason to sit around and chat and have a warming girls' night out in the middle of one cold, snowy winter.

*EDITED to add-I have found even better substitutions for most the TW stuff, now too. Read later posts, or ask questions and I will tell you what I use!

I hate bedrest....

But, then again, who has ever said they loved it? I love the fact that it is keeping me pregnant until I start labor naturally, giving me a chance at a "normal" birth, but that is about it. This hypertension is crazy. I am laying down, my bp is 100/60-all the time. I sit up for more than 2 minutes, it jumps back up to 140/90 or more. I have been good thus far. I do cheat a little. Part of the reason I hate bedrest is that so much of my life is in the hands of others right now. The meals part not a big deal. I am easy going, and if someone else wants to feed me, that's fine. But the house maintenance part, errrr. I am VERY picky about my laundry. I labeled the way they should be separated in the laundry room. I am not a lights/darks person. I am a down-to-the-color-group separator. I am also very picky about how Pony Gal's diapers and wipes are washed. This has lead to my potty breaks being potty/laundry breaks. I figure an extra 2 minutes to move things about won't kill me. I also have a fairly large kitchen, which seems to confuse people. Rather than look around and see, "ah, yes, this goes here as there are other items here exactly like it" they guess. And then I am left doing a speed rearrange in the morning while I get my giant glass of water and tea for the couch. And I don't use nasty cleaners. I have one multipurpose I use for everything. This throws everyone off as they look for 409, or bleach or whatever else. I direct them to what is to be used and they look at me like I'm crazy. We haven't died of any filth related disease yet, so I must know what I am doing to some extent. Rather than have to rearrange the closests once this is all through (and have my husband ask me twice a day where his underwear is...) all our clothes are simply getting sorted into laundry baskets on the floor of the bedroom-something I can do laying down. It is also frustrating to have EVERY person who walks through the door ask me what my blood pressure is. It's fine. I am following the rules. I feel like I have freakin' bruises on my hips from laying around like a bum. I hate watching people work around me. I enjoy maintaining my home. But health is important and so long as I need to lie down in order to keep me and baby healthy, I will. It just sucks in the meantime. Oh and Pony Gal is going nuts. She has been so whiny. I did not realize how much we actually do until we couldn't do it. She is going to turn into a little tv addict if this baby doesn't come soon. She asked me the other day if the baby "broked" me. I had to reassure her that he did not, but that mommy just has trouble sometimes. That's what I need. Pony Gal to already dislike her brother because he broke her mom. She is also upset because our dog, Mr. Deeds, is staying at my in-laws until the baby comes so he does not go stir crazy as well. I think letting him out for potty time several times a day would have been against my bedrest rules. But she is not sure he is coming home, so we have to keep reminding her he is just getting a haircut at Grandma's (which he is, conveniently, that just wasn't the reason for his temporary move). It is also frustrating for people to think I am totally helpless. I can still walk. I can still lift. By golly, I can even feed myself and go to the bathroom by myself. I just need to lay down most the day. I can also drive to my dr.s appointsments, all by myself. This seems crazy to my father in law who freaks out everytime I leave and don't check in or ask him to take me. His driving is more dangerous than if I was driving asleep. Like h*ll I am going to put my life, my daughter's life and my unborn son's life in his hands. Um, no. Until the doc says I can't drive, I will drive myself. And if he restricts me, then I will make appointments on Tuesdays and Thursdays when my sister can drive me. I am very picky about who drives me places. I drive a certain way. I am very careful with the lives of those in the car with me, and I am afraid most others I have ridden with are not so. It's only 30 minutes. I sit in the office waiting to see a doc longer than that, though they do make me lay down as soon as I get into the examining room. So that's my rant on bedrest...may this baby come soon!

Nesting

So, I think I won't know if I go through a nesting spurt with this pregnancy. I have been obsessed with prepping the house since like 4 or 5 months along. That's a little early, I think, to be indicative of impending delivery. I think, lol. Anyway, I have been busy since then, for sure. We are trying to do some rearranging in the basement, and clearing extra clutter out of the main living area and moving it down there, trying to keep the house remotely clean in the event its that "Time", I have been freezing healthy lunch leftovers for use later when I don't feel like cooking, and made about three bags of baby food for the freezer as well. I went yesterday to the Stork Wearhouse to get a few accessories. I have come to the conclusion I am a natural living stuff addict, especially baby stuff. I bartered diapers from my friend Sarah for a farm share, and got a Klean Kanteen for Pony Gal yesterday to start to try to eliminate more plastic from our household, along with more cloth mama pads, a few diapers (still Wallypop brand, they were on clearance and I can't help the words clearance...;) ), some Babylegs-neat little inventions for keeping warm legs on half naked babies, and now mommies too!. I meant to get some Snappis so we don't have to use pins on the prefolds, which is probably what I will have to use for at least a few days until the baby starts to put on a little more weight as I think he will be a little small for the diapers I have on hand. I hate pins, and after seeing Snappis in action, they are definitely the way to go. I had Louisa, the owner, show me how they worked and everything and still managed to walk off without them. I felt like such a doofus. But, back to nesting, I have quite the list to finish off. More baby food. Bread baking and freezing. Dough making and freezing. More junk to be rid of. More rearranging. Maybe it is this weird pregnancy long nesting that has made the pregnancy go quickly. I think everyone in the house is ready to meet this guy at this point. And we have decided because I will not be induced due to my c-section, even if I go a little early, we will not let the drs stop the labor. Especially since dating my pregnancies is an even more inexact science than the regular pregnancy. So whenever it goes down, its happening!

The Gross Side of Being Pregnant

Here's a little comic relief for you all...
Okay. First of all sharing this on the INTERNET is pretty doofus like as it is, but the situation is pretty dumb looking back on it now. Not when it happened, granted, but I am pretty good about laughing at myself in retrospect.
Now, I have been sick with this croupy cough for over a week now. It is just a cold, I know, but annoying nevertheless. And despite the well meaning folks that are all like "sister took this drug while she was preggo" or the dr. telling me to take some robitussin, none of it will make it go away faster. I will just use my tea, horehound drops and water, and ride it out, thank you. But this violent cough that pops up at inopportune times reared its head pretty ugly like the other night. I was trying to do my usual finish four hundred tasks before I lie down with Pony Gal and Dad routine for the night. Dad and Pony Gal both asked me to bring them something to drink, which is pretty normal as I am the last one in, and they are always pretty settled by that time. But I was cranky. And hurried. And I had to pee. Aaah, that is the important fact. I had needed to go pee for some time. But, I am Momma the great and I can hold it. Riiiiiggghhht. Um, hey genius, you have over five pounds of baby sitting on your bladder, among other things. So I am standing in the kitchen, desperately trying not to pee my pants while pouring milk and ice water to rush to the bedroom, after which I can go pee when I cough. A big rough, nice cough. Yeah, can you guess where this is going. Not just a little squirt that I have gotten used to this pregnancy despite my use of kegel's exercises. A stream down the leg. Totally traumatized. Stopped what I was doing, yelled at Dad for not just getting something to drink himself (although, it was in no way his fault. He was fine with waiting. I was the stupid one), and then went and turned on the shower. Which calmed me down and lead me to the wonderful conclusion that I should be putting myself first at eight months pregnant. I am just hard headed and think I can still do it all. So the moral of my little, embarrassing story (go ahead, call me some mean nickname the next time you see me. I deserve it for this episode.) is:
WHEN YOU NEED TO PEE-GO PEE! (just do it in the potty, and not the kitchen).
And no, there was no puddle. I can't hold that much liquid at this point in the pregnancy. Just enough to make me feel gross and dumb.

Mosquitos? After THAT weather?

We have known for some time that Pony Gal reacts pretty strongly to mosquitoes, and that they are oddly attracted to her. She gets this tendency from her dad, as I rarely get bitten unless it is like swarming with the evil little things. We were at my sister's the last half of the week for prison town to the north's citywide garage sales, and despite the rather chilly weather, she had tons of bugs. We haven't had any out here at the farm for quite some time. Anyway, Pony Gal got several bites Thursday, which we benedryl'd and calamine'd and moved on. They swelled a little, though not as badly as we have dealt with before. Two were on her head, and the biggest one was on her nose, making it look like it was broken. Friday she got stung on her forehead. Not good. By dinner time it was so large I wouldn't have recognized her if I didn't know who she was. Come Saturday it was on the verge of taking over her eyes, which would have meant a trip to the er. The Dr. told us to wait until that point, if we reached it at all, but to use claritin and something for the itching. So then we noticed that she was WAY hyperactive and irritable all weekend. Aaah. Thus the epiphany that Pony Gal is one of those kids who react to claritin. It has been a just fantabulous last few days waiting for that stupid bite to go away so I can get my kid back. I will not be using claritin again with her. If it weren't for the fact that it was pretty serious I would have avoided using it anyway, but she was so uncomfortable. We did get some great balm from Prairieland Herbs while were out there for their open house on Sunday. I actually bought several things and grabbed quite a few samples, too. I highly recommend the healing stick they sell. It made such a difference for her forehead. And it will be used for our diaper rashes, now as well. We will be going back. For sure. And Pony Gal is all back to normal, now, but I am rather paranoid about letting her out after sundown as we don't want anymore bites. It made our weekend waaaayyyy too long.