serendipity

Welcome Karelle!

I am so excited you get to see what a wonderful place this is! We are so blessed to have it, and appreciate everthing Darlene does to make it possible for us to be here!

Plus I think it is hilarious that now Darlene ~really~ has to behave!

(Just kidding Darlene, please don't kick me off, lol...)

I recycled my shop-vac bag, ala Amy Dacyczyn and the Tightwad Gazette.

Cut off the end, dumped out the contents, folded it back up to close it, stapled it heavily and sealed it with some packing tape.

Worked like a charm!

Those buggers have gone wayyyy up in price and since I vaccuum the house every single day we just go through them too fast, big as they are.

It took me about 6 minutes to do it and even with factoring in the staples and tape, saved around $5.

That would work out to a $50 hourly wage, tax free.

I'm so glad I finally just did it!

I wonder,

Is skip dipping like dumpster diving? My apartment complex where I grew up had trash dumpsters and I loved finding treasures in them!

I was wondering the same thing.

I am in the midst of cleaning my basement. I already have a huge pile for Goodwill, all ready to go. It is a great feeling but exhausting too.

But how nice it will be to have all that finished! Dear son graduates this spring so the house needs to be spiffy for that, plus once spring arrives I will be outside all day long working in the gardens. No time for cleaning and organizing then! The house pretty much just gets a once over all through the summer months, but if I am ready for that with a clean house and canned meals, meal plans, etc. then it all goes together just fine.

So after a short break here I will head back down there and tackle some more.

Whew!

Welcome, Angela!!! My name is Angela too! And there is one more on here as well! (ain't2nuts)

We are so glad you are here and we were all beginning canners ourselves once. I just got brave enough to pressure can meats myself this year after canning for 20 years (water bath).

A huge welcome to you!

Thanks, PCS! This is pretty neat!

Very cool! It looks kind of like crystal, lol!

Your unknowing dh looks around at your stash and asks if we became Mormon when he wasn't looking!

(yes this happened to me, lol)

Ha! Good point jewlz! Gee, now my name will be up there again just like that, lol! Lucky me.

Quick, someone else post SOMETHING on this thread, lol!

Too funny!

This thread is hysterical. Just found it for the first time and ...er..well..hmmm...how do I say this, not exactly what I was expecting??

roflmbo

Too funny!

Where in the world do you all get all these pics from? Mercy.

Okay I just checked their prices as of today...a #10 lb. box is $57.00 shipping included! Wow! Great price!

Hope this helps someone...we have been happy with this company in our preserving.

I thought I'd post a source for pectin. We get ours from Pacific Pectin, Inc. They are online at:

www.pacificpectin.com

I ordered a 10 lb. box from them in April of 2006 for $54.00 plus $4.20 UPS shipping charge. If I remember right from this past summer a batch of jam takes 1/3 c. of their pectin. This is the equivalent amount to what a batch of Sure-Jel makes for quantity of jam/jelly. It came with a few recipes on a sheet too.

If I remember right they carry Clear-Jel too (thickener for pie fillings, etc.).

Might be worth a look-see although I would imagine prices are up from what they were then. I will have to order more this year myself so hopefully it didn't go up too much.

Hope this helps...

Wow, Debbie! Good for you! How exciting to get started for free!

Keep us posted on your canning adventures!

I also cut up every decent square of outgrown/torn up jeans and clothing to make into simple scrap quilts for my kiddos to take with them when they are older.

This also has the benefit of holding some memories of a special shirt, etc.

The one I am working on right now is denim (worn, of course!) 4 x 4 patches with pink 4 x 4 fabrics. Very sweet...

I am also off to start some loose leaf lettuce in a pot. I have wondered if that could be done indoors in the winter and my dear mil did it last year so I'm going to give it a try. Lettuce likes cooler temps anyway and it will be in my basement.

I cut off the ends of the arms of old sweaters that are too worn out to donate to Goodwill and use the bands to "seal" the space where my children's mittens or gloves meet the sleeves on their jackets.

They love this and ask for it when they are out sledding/playing in the snow because it keeps the snow out of their sleeves.

The bands dry fast too...