The Five Seasons

Depending on the location of your home the number of seasons you experience varies. Utah you see about two winter and summer. In Washington you also have two rainy and rainy. The east coast you get four with winter, spring, summer and fall. Here at the Fruth household we have Five. Winter, Spring, Summer, Canning, Fall.

So far this season I have done:

60+ jars of salsa

50+ quarts of green beans

25 quarts of diced tomatoes

5 quarts and 1 pint of tomato juice

7 pints tomato sauce

2 pints nectarines

We still have so much more to go.

Here are some pictures of our most recent session last Monday (the 23rd)

Start with some tomatoes

add two cute and anxious helpers

Here the girls are washing the tomatoes

(I love Meghan's face)

Meghan is in charge of squishing the juice out of the tomatoes


she needed a little assistance...



lots of clean jars

Tomatoes in the water bath on left, green beans in the pressure canner on right back and tomato juice in the front pot plus sauce in the crock pot off to the right. It was a busy day.

This wasn't all of it but that day I canned from 7:30 in the morning until 10:30 that night with breaks for annoying things like eating having to stop to go pick up Brock from work. On days like these I understand why my mom had us eat cereal or bologna sandwiches for dinner a lot during canning season. It was crazy trying to cook too.

All in all that day we did 14 quarts of Green Beans, 7 quarts of diced tomatoes, the juice, sauce and nectarines. Monday's usually are my most productive days of the week. Besides the canning I switched Meghan's clothes from 18 months to 2T, Emily and I washed the bay window inside and out, I put away the 4 loads of laundry that had been folded and not put way last week, cleaned and vacuumed the living room, and went to the tin caps game for family home evening. I even managed to play with my kids a bit.

This salsa was from the Saturday before.

Date Night X 2

So a great friend of ours gave us a coupon for a free pizza from pizza hut, 2 super saver movie passes and provided her daughter for babysitting for Free! On Friday Brock and I went out to Pizza Hut and then we actually rented a movie. I of course have not seen it yet because I fell asleep before the opening previews were over. (Good thing we have it until Wednesday). The next day my dad came over and watched the girls for a meeting we had and Brock asked my dad if he could stick around so he could take his daughter out for a date. He did and we doubled with some friends of ours and saw Letters to Juliet. I loved it. It was cheesy, predictable, funny, and adorable. I think it will go into our personal collection and will make the "Project Movie" list.

I love date nights.

Just a Little Confused

Is it just me or is any one else confused at the way our legal system tends to work? I was watching the news yesterday (not something I normally do because it is depressing.) Any way this lady could have been sentenced up to 20 years for leaving her cats along for a month with no food. That seems a little odd to me since I have watched the news and people who do things to little children or elderly people et. al. have gotten what appears to be a slap on the wrist and most defenatly less than 20 years. It is appalling really. Now don't get me wrong; I like animals and all, but the system seems a little out of balance to me.

Thank goodness its what?

We've heard the phrase thank goodness its Friday. Well let me tell you about my Friday last.

*Come home to Emily being awake at 10:30 at night on Thursday night. Just hanging out on her bed playing and reading books. At least she was enlightening her mind.

She doesn't go to bed until after 11:00. So why would she wake up at 6:30 in the morning on Friday instead of sleeping in? I don't know maybe because she is psychotic.

*Get her and Meghan around, breakfasted, etc.. Give Emily breathing treatment. (Both girls have been on them for 2 weeks. Well, Emily one and Meghan 2).

* Have a business training meeting at 8:30. Meghan refuses to be put down with out screaming her head off and Emily will not sit and watch a movie so we won't be bothered. I remember some stuff.

*Give Meghan breathing treatment. That is the biggest joke. It is like torture for both parties. Get frustrated and bawl.

*Baby goes down for nap a little after 10 and right after treatment.

*Emily and I bake 3 tiered chocolate birthday cake for Brock's surprise birthday party the next day.

*Meg wakes up from nap.

*Lunch.

*Try to get house cleaned and ready for people coming next day. Decide to wait until kids go to bed.

*Meghan crawls around screaming and holding on to my leg while I try to decorate cake all the while fighting back toddler "helping" fingers.

*Put both girls down for nap

*Have no recollection of what I did. Other than get things ready for that night. (Pack diaper bag, etc...)

*Run upstairs to two screaming children. Emily did not make it to the bathroom after her nap and Meghan just woke up grumpy (yeah, surprise).

*Clean huge puddle on carpet (where does she store it all?)

*Decide she should just get a bath. It's been a few days. Might as well do the baby too. Her antibiotic causes diarrhea. Bath should help with rash.

*Get baby out of tub and dressed in jammies. Its only 4:30 but I am being proactive.

* Go into Emily's room to realize she had peed on the bed too. How many bladders does she have?

*Run the linens and some other clothes down and start load in washer.

*Run back up stairs to screams of "Mommy". I enter the bathroom to see Emily holding a very soggy lump. " Mom, Meghan threw the toilet paper into the tub." I notice that she also threw in a tampon or two. Unwrapped even.

*Scoop up as much T.P. shreds out of tub as I can, let water out, refill tub and wash toddler.

*Get her dressed in jammies as well and decide it is time for dinner.

* Open fridge to get our thawed venison to make spaghetti. Exclaim "Oh Great!" and clean up deer blood that leaked through the Ziploc bags s it was thawing. Come on lets make some more durable bags please.

Decide we are just having left overs. Emily white chicken chili, Meghan cheese to help with the diarrhea. I'm sure she ate something else but I don't remember.

*Anna comes over a little after 6.

*Brock comes home a little after her.

*We throw the girls into family car. Brock takes the girls to my dad's while he visits the accountant to get the taxes done and Anna and I go out for a well deserved break from sick kids and crazy life.

*We ate at Carlos O' Kelly's and went to the Home and Garden show to which I had gotten free tickets (yeah).

*Kids were in bed when I got home. Snuggled with hubby, watched the Olympics and went to bed.

Whew!

The Best Day Ever

So yesterday was my best day so far this year. Too bad it was only the 5th day of the month. I got to sleep in until 7:45. It is mostly because Brock and I slept through the alarm and then our back up alarm (Emily) slept in so she didn't wake us up until then. He was late and rushed but hey I got to sleep in. I got my scriptures, Ensign article, and Church News article read, worked out, got the whites washed and dried (they got put away this morning), got the bedrooms picked up and vacuumed, had dinner in the crock pot so it was done no hassle. I worked out, stayed within my caloric intake goal, had a good team connect, had companionship study, played with my kids and watched Episode 1 of Cranford. It doesn't get any better than that. Today on the other hand isn't bad but its not as great as yesterday. Speaking of which I better go see what Emily is getting into I just heard her pulling the step stool around the kitchen floor.

Recently Called

So I was recently called as the 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. I should've know a new calling was in the works. That is how the Lord works with me. Once I truly love a calling and/or the people I work with I'm moved on to learn something new. And I truly loved my scout calling. But now I am over Enrichment. I am feeling a little overwhelmed especially now that it is an every month thing again. And all the ladies before me have done a superb job. But I read a quote by President Uchtdorf that really helped me feel better. Here it is...

"The Lord doesn't' expect us to work harder than we are able. He doesn't (nor should we) compare our efforts to those of others. Our Heavenly Father asks only that we the best we can--that we work according to our full capacity, however great or small that may be."

I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for me to learn with this new calling. Hopefully one of them is the ability to balance all of the responsibilites and duties I have in all areas of my life. That would be most helpful.

Time to relax

The last load of laundry is in the dryer.
The Kitchen is cleaned from dinner.
Floor is swept.
Living Room cleaned and vaccuumed.
Menu planned for tomorrow.
To Do list done.
Email checked.
Husband at business meeting.
Time to blog or read a book or watch a movie or whatever I want.

Emily woke up yesterday morning with a fever of 101.5. Today it is gone and all that is left is a runny nose and bit of cough. She is still a little irratible. I can't tell if that is because she is still under the weather or if she is back to normal. Meghan is grumpy and clingy and jealous of Emily getting held a lot over the last two sick days. I think part of it is she is cutting a couple of molars. Life is good. I have a wonderful husband and two absolutely beautiful girls. Meghan is moving along. She walks if she holds on to her push toy and will cruise the furniure and or people when ever she gets a chance. She crawls so fast and goes up the stairs just as fast. Time to get out the gate. Well its been time for a while but I really should do it soon. Well Brock just got home and I'd like to get a shower before bed. (Didn't get that one done on today's to do list).

Brain Dead

So I had this planner a "Mom's Plan It" planner to be exact. I got it at the Mom's Night Out that Anna and I went to about a month or so ago. Anyway. It was sitting on the dryer cerca the open washer and fell in unbeknownst to me. After each canning batch I would throw my towels and washcloths etc.. into the open washer and then do a load of laundry as needed. Well I went to get our my clothes to put in the dryer and voiala!!! Paper on everything!!!!

You can't really tell on Meghan's camo jammies complete with ruffle on the but. It just kind of blended in.

Here is the floor after shaking paper off every single piece of clothing.


The maintenance guys came out a couple weeks ago because our washer was leaking. It came through the wall into the living room, was leaking into the kitchen and boiler cabinet. I couldn't figure out why it would do this. Then it dawned on me as he was snaking out the pipe to the washing machine. It is probably that pile of paper from my planner that has been hanging out in the pipes. Since then we have had no more incidents and I have tried to keep things off the dryer or at least not near the open washer.

Here is brain dead number 2. I was making rice for dinner and in a hurry and while making the stir fry to go with said rice I kept smelling this burning smell. I lifted the pot that cooks the rice and the instruction manual was in between the heating element and the pot. (Note the perfect burn circle.) That was a close one.

Hope

Hope, an amazing word. It means so much to so many people. Hope is something that has sustained people throughout the ages, hope in God, hope in times of peril, hope for a brighter tomorrow, etc... Well for me hope currently weaves through Four things. ONE I hope that Meghan does not wake up to night at 1:30, 2:30, or 3:30 which has been the common theme all week. TWO I hope that Emily calms down, goes to sleep and doesn't' wake up Meghan in the process. THREE I hope that the people who stole our gas tank off of our grill really needed it so that we could some how be of service to them unknowingly. And FOUR I hope that they rot in Hades!
I mean don't take the one sitting right in front of the grill (maybe they new that was empty), but lets go to the trouble of lifting off the grill cover and getting the tank off. At least they put the cover back on. Fortunately there was enough gas left in the empty tank to do our burgers tonight before it died.

Stinkin' Wildlife

Don't know if you can tell but this is a picture of what used to be my broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.(all that is left is the stalks) It would appear that a big, fat,(and getting fatter) groundhog is gorging himself on my garden. He has even been brazen enough to move on to my lettuce, peas and green beans; although the damage to these has not been so extensive. I hope my dad either gets the sights fixed on his rifle soon or he pops off a lucky shot. He has taken to sitting at the bathroom window with his gun but has not gotten so lucky. He's come close and scared the poop out of the little guy. (literally just check out my garden.) My tomato plants have been safe so far (keep fingers crossed.) I did not invest the time and money to give this ground hog a years supply!!!!

The Leave it To Beaver Switcharoo

When I was growing up there was a show on TV called Leave it To Beaver. It was set in the 1950’s. The perfect little family. Dad (Ward), Mom (June), Sons (Wally and Theodore, nicknamed the Beaver). Dad worked in an office 9-5, mom stayed home wore a dress and heels, always had dinner ready when dad came home. And Wally and the Beave would always have a dilemma that taught some sort of moral lesson (Cheating, stealing, lying, etc…). The best part about this show is the language. They always said things like Golly, Gee, Etc.. Well we are going to have to make the switch because Emily seems to pick up on EVERYTHING I say and I mean EVERYTHING even if I don’t notice what I say. Brock said yesterday at breakfast she said Dang It and this morning I got really frustrated at her and apparently said Gosh and she finished with Dang It. So it is going to take a conscious effort to focus on what I say but it is Golly Gee Whiz, and Fiddlesticks at our house. Maybe we’ll even take a leaf from Scooby Doo and add in Zoiks, and Ginkies.

Those Lovely Hormones

Now that my body is starting to regulate a bit more after having the baby my hair is falling out by the droves. I think in the last two days I have managed to shed enough hair for a wig for a Barbie doll. I will say my 2 most favorite things about being pregnant is that I don’t gain a lot of weight and that my hair grows nicely without falling out.

Phone Companies

So last week we switched from Comcast to Verizon because we were having problems with our phone cutting out all the time in the middle of calls. Truly annoying. So Brock found a deal on the Internet with Verizon. Basic phone and high speed Internet for $45.99. Not bad. It is saving us $12 a month or $144 a year. It comes with free long distance :-) but not caller ID, Call waiting, or voicemail. :-( So when you call you will receive a busy signal if I am on the phone. I won't know who you are ahead of time, and we do have an answering machine built into our phone so you can leave messages. Our number unfortunately was not able to port so we got a new one. I emailed every one I could. I don't want to post our new number so look on the ward directory or call Anna. :-) Everything is up and running now but it wasn't such an easy process. (Is anything ever?) So I couldn't go to provident living because the Verizon guy would be here anytime between 8-5. (Lovely, I'll just put my life on hold so they can show up whenever they want.) SO he shows up after I would have been home from provident living, of course. By the way Emily, Thanks for the demonstration soap. That was super nice. Anyhow Anna and the kids come over to deliver said soap and have lunch. Needless to say it is crazy fun in our little 1200 square foot apartment with 2 adults and 6 kids all 5 and under. The Verizon guy thought so too as he was stepping over children, toys, and poopy diapers, which by the way were alot. Sam alone had three, Seth had two and Emily had one. PEEEYEW! He was here for like 3 hours trying to get our phone to work.. There was something wrong with our jacks and he wouldn't go into the attic/crawlspace to see if he could fix it. (Understandable, just following company policy). He just couldn't figure out what was the problem. He kept telling me that Comcast must have run something through our jacks and I kept telling him it was all a cable line. Finally he left and we had no new phone. Fortunately we hadn't cancelled Comcast yet so we still had a phone. The next day I am getting the girls around and getting ready to leave for an appointment and there is a knock at the door. It is another Verizon guy. I had no idea they were coming. So again I couldn't make my appointment. He was here to install the DSL stuff for the Internet. Which he couldn't do because our jacks weren't working correctly. (No thanks to the guy the day before who didn't fix them.) But Mike was great .He worked on every jack and checked out he crawlspace so we could be up and running. So now we are. The bonus is he didn't charge us for the extra labor ($90/half hour). And he was here almost 3 hours. I fed him lunch out of gratitude. Why can't anything ever go smoothly??