~ This Week ......... ~

I had to go grocery shopping Monday , needed cat food , milk and a few other items.. I decided while I was in town I would go ahead and vote early. Glad it's done and I won't have to go out next week and stand in line to vote.

I did some decluttering in my art room , the closet is clean. Now I hope to get hubby to build in some shelving , so I can store my canned goodies and other items I'm stocking up on in there.

Annette ask about the recipe for the pineapple sage jelly , I found the recipe I used at this link http://www.willowpondherbs.com/kitchen/sage/page3.html , it also has the marinated chicken recipe I plan to try this week. I'll be making a few more jars of the pineapple sage jelly too.

**** Hope your Day is Blessed ****

JoyceAnn

~ Busy as a Bee ~

Hope everyone is doing well , I haven't had much computer time lately , been busy finishing up the fall harvest. I made more pear preserves and pineapple sage jelly last week. We also picked more grapes . I've made wine with some of the grapes , I'm not a Wino (LOL) but I do like a glass with my evening meal occasionally. I bottled my first batch last week , it tastes pretty good. I'll be teaching my youngest daughter how to make grape jelly this week , her boyfriend loves my grape jelly , so she has decided she needs to learn how to make it.

I've moved my herbs and tropical plants to the basement for the winter. I found a recipe for pineapple sage marinated chicken , that I'm planning to try. We've been cleaning up the garden and picked about a 1/2 bushel of peppers from the garden , I've been pickling those. In the next week or so I will be planting garlic for next summer's harvest , hope to double or triple the amount from last year. Anyone tried Garlic jelly ? I'm thinking about trying to make some , just wonder how it taste.

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

* Doing Not Thinking Challenge Update *

I haven't did any decluttering over the last week. My oldest daughter , her husband and Little Missy have been staying with us. They are doing some remodeling on their mobile home , new flooring.

I went to the grocery store last week and did some stocking up. I want to start a nice stockpiled pantry. Hope to get the art/craftroom organized and use the closet as a pantry.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Snake in the House ~

I had a very unwelcome guest in the house this morning. I don't like to kill snakes , but this one invaded my territory and had to be dealt with. I went to throw some junk mail away and it was wrapped around the trashcan. I grabbed the broom and gave him a few good whacks. I couldn't take a chance on it getting away , so it's history.

Yesterday I canned 9 pints of grape jelly and 4 quarts of pears. My uncle brought me some more pears this past weekend , I plan to make more preserves from them. What are you harvesting and preserving this week ?

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

* Doing Not Thinking Challenge Update *

I've been busy decluttering the grand's bedroom , it's almost done. I also give the bathroom a deep cleaning and did some decluttering. I've got a couple of shelves I need to declutter in the bathroom.The house is looking better , although I haven't got to the most cluttered room yet (yikes). My art/craft room has become the catch all place for the last year or so , it needs a major declutter , hope to start in there next week.

~~ Hope your weekend was Wonderful ~~

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

* 100 Foot Diet Challenge *

10 ~ 9 ~ 08

Meatloaf ~ Homemade

Ground Beef ~ Local Owned Store

( Need to find Local Grown Beef )

Egg ~ Local Owned Store

( We're working on getting laying hens )

Garlic Salt ~ Local Owned Store

( Plan to make my own soon )

Bell Pepper * Homegrown

Banana Pepper * Homegrown

Cayenne Pepper * Homegrown

Onion ~ Grocery Store

( Need to grow more next year )

Ketchup ~ Local Owned Store

( Hope to make my own next year )

Creamed Potatoes

Potatoes * Homegrown

Butter * Grocery Store

Milk ~ Homegrown

( I would love to have a goat or cow in the future so I will have milk and

can make butter )

Collards

Collards ~ Locally Grown

Fatback ~ Local Grown Hog

Blackberry Cobbler

Blackberries ~ Wild Food

Flour ~ Local Owned Store

Sugar ~ Local Owned Store

Milk ~ Local Owned Store

Vanilla Extract ~ Local Owned Store

( In the process of making my own )

Butter ~ Local Owned Store

~ Cleaning , Cleaning and more Cleaning ~

I've been busy cleaning the Grands bedroom and it is almost finished , need to declutter a couple of shelves. Thought I would share a photo of the ceiling I sponge painted a few years of go.

The bedroom has a moon & stars theme , Curious J loves looking at the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling when he stays overnight. I have more stars I need to add to the ceiling ,when I finish cleaning. The framed art is Curious J's first finger painting .

~ Hope your week has been full of Bright Stars ~

Blessings ~ JoyceAnn

~ It's only Natural Odor ~

I don't know why , but I was inspired by that skunk to create a drawing. We haven't seen it anymore , so hopefully it was just hunting food. Jazzy , the rabbit has been turning her food bowl over and the rabbit pellets fall to the ground. I think maybe that skunk has found a food source , since it went to the rabbit cage twice. I put a rock in the wire basket that holds her pellet bowl , she hasn't turned it over yet. Hoping I solved the problem. I'm still a little paranoid , so I'm keeping a eye over my shoulder.
The skunk we saw didn't have a stripe down the back , it had a white spot below the head. I did some research about skunks and found out it was a Southern Spotted Skunk.

~ Hope your day is Blessed ~

JoyceAnn

* Doing Not Thinking Challenge Update *

I finally got that closet decluttered and organized ( Yay ~~~ ) !

I also managed to get the back porch decluttered , lots of gardening items found their way there over the summer. I've got them back to were they belong.

Today I'm working on the Grands bedroom , hope to get it cleaned and decluttered. I feel like the challenge is working , now that the closet is finished.

~ Autumn Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Never A Dull Moment for Sure ~

I had a new visitor today , this one has me scared. I was at the computer this morning , when DH looked out the window and saw a skunk. It went around the house , I got to the puppy just in time , he was on the back porch so I opened the door and he came in the house . The skunk then walked across the yard , toward the dog lot and rabbit pen. A little while later it came back around the house , Dh wanted to shot it and I told him not to , I thought it might be looking for food. It went out toward the road , so we thought it was gone. I decided a little while later I was going to get some fall / halloween decorations from one of the outbuildings , when I came out I saw the skunk coming back through the yard. I grabbed Shadow and eased my way back to the house. It went back toward the rabbit pen and under the other outbuilding. This was about 11:00 a.m. , so now I worried it maybe rabid. DH was gone to pickup the wood splitter , when he got back I told him he should kill it. Now we can't find it , I 've got the puppy in the basement , I'm afraid it will come back and you know how curious pups are.

It has halted my plans for today , guess I 'll stay in the house and do some cleaning.

Hope you are having a Great weekend .......

~ Autumn Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Gathering Grapes ~

~ Beautiful Trellised Vines ~

~ the vines were loaded ~

Guess Who ?

My Niece


~ adding a few more ~







Wow ~ what a Blessing , my Mom's neighbor let us have all the grapes we wanted this year. My niece and I enjoyed picking grapes in the drizzling rain yesterday , a nice cool day for harvesting.






~ Autumn Harvest Blessings ~
JoyceAnn