Deliver me out of the mire...Psalm 69:14

The county fair started last Wednesday and ended yesterday. For the fifth year in a row, our church staffed a booth at the fair. I always look forward to the fair starting, praying that we won't have the VeggieTales nearby. By Sunday, I'm glad it is almost over! So, that's where I've been the past week. As in the past few years, Grandma came to stay with kids while The Man and I were busy with the fair.

Yesterday morning after breakfast it was discovered the kitchen sink was clogged. Despite using drain opener, many tools, and a plumber's snake, it is still clogged. This morning The Man crawled under the house and discovered the clean-out pipe. He said he should be able to clean that out tonight.

While The Man was under the house I was in the bathroom with some improvised dishpans in the bathtub washing up all the dishes from yesterday. Those were put away right after breakfast and another load was washed (yes, we're using paper plates, but we still generate lots of dishes!). Then I tackled the stove top, kitchen counters, and sink. When those were clean (no easy feat without running water in the kitchen), I boxed up all the stuff from under the sink that was scattered on the floor and put that on the counter. Then, I mopped the floor in front of the sink so the kitchen looks a lot less scary and actually resembles a kitchen!

A sign is on the bathroom door reminding the children to use one of the other toilets in the house since I have a slight issue with them using a toilet with dishes drying a few feet away. Hopefully the kitchen will be put back together within the next day or so. I AM thankful that this happened on the last day of the fair instead of the first!

For school, M is finishing up a few things from last year. What needs to be ordered for this next school year has been decided and the orders will actually be placed in the next week or so. I'm tentatively planning on starting after Labor Day weekend.

J almost has the entryway back in order, Sacagawea is cleaning out the toy box in the living room, and I'm ready to go rescue some laundry from the dryer. The schoolroom was in the midst of a major overhaul when the fair started and it really needs to be finished this week. I have some green beans and peaches begging to be frozen, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow in hopes of having running water in the kitchen. Ahhh...don't be shocked if you don't see another update soon!

Eat of the fruit...Joshua 5:12

Grandma and Grandpa arrived today and I was able to catch up on my blogging for the week while they played a rousing game of Monopoly with the kids. Here are some pics that I promised of my cupboards.

These are the apricots. J cut the cardboard for me so the jars are more stable in this shelf-less cupboard.
Here are some more. (Sorry, I'm still using my cell phone for pics...no flash).

Here are the jars of apricot and blueberry jam.

The tofu boxes have been moved from those shelves to make room for the blackberry jam I made this morning.

Note: Just because a jar seems to have the same diameter as other jars, don't assume the rings will fit. The "Skippy" jar on the right doesn't work with canning rings!

I had to hold the lid in place during the inversion process! It seems to have sealed just fine, but I won't be using that particular jar again for any preserving in the future!

Fruit...Leviticus 19:25

Tuesday evening I made 3 batches of blueberry jam. Wednesday morning I made 3 more batches. In the afternoon I made 2 additional and final batches. All the Sure-Jell is gone and we've used an obscene amount of sugar this summer. We just emptied the last of the 3rd 25lb. bag of the summer into the sugar container. Let's see...75 lbs. / 7+ people. Ick. And the year is barely half over.

There are 89 jars of jam (blueberry and apricot) in the cupboard. I used miscellaneous hand-me-down jars for the blueberry jam. I'm not sure some of them were actual "canning" jars, but the lids and rings fit. Since I use the inversion method for jams, I wasn't worried about breakage. There are several 10oz. jars and some really cute short pint jars. Hopefully they will provide the kids with their weekly PB&J fix this winter.

We still have 20+ lbs. of blueberries in the refrigerator, so those will probably be frozen for eating this winter.

I know we'll be doing sugar-free applesauce from culls this fall, but I don't know what else is on the list for fruit preservation.

Our garden is coming along. We may get some zucchini to eat this week. It was reported to me that something has been eating the tops off the cucumbers. Another planting of black beans went into the garden this week. It is a bit late to guarantee a crop, but if the frost holds off, it will be worth it.

Hot...Exodus 16:21

Preserving report:
More blueberries went in the freezer today. I bagged up 26 more quarts!

Weather:
Hot.

Kids:
Mowing the lawn (S & J), riding bikes, and packing for a week at camp (M). M, S, & J also are working on keeping the unwanted weeds out of the garden.

Me:
Pregnant. Hot. Tired.

I haven't yet turned on the air conditioner this summer, but we did bring home one of our "on permanent loan to the church" fans last weekend. It is blowing on me right now. Usually we open up all the doors and windows when it starts to cool off in the evening, but it was still too hot when we left for a church business meeting this evening. We didn't return home until after 9 pm and it was like an oven in the house. It is cooling off nicely and I may be able to sleep comfortably tonight. Good night!

Fruit...Genesis 1:11

The apricots are gone! I made 3 more batches of jam (27 c.--some in pints, some in 8 oz. jars) and froze one more quart. We picked up lots and lots of blueberries this afternoon. So far 30 qts. have gone in the freezer and a lot in our tummies for supper. Since I was too busy bagging them up for freezing, I didn't get any pictures tonight. You'll have to travel back a few years and see these pictures. They look about the same!

Our garden is doing reasonably well, considering we were still getting frosts the end of May and beginning of June. You will NOT believe what J harvested from the garden to take to potluck yesterday at church...oh, I need to go to bed now. We'll save that exciting revelation for another blog post. I'm afraid I'll run out of blog-worthy material before this July marathon is over!