Easy Like a Sunday Morning

    

      One of my favorite times of the year has arrived!   Strawberry Season!  You can't beat fresh local strawberries that were picked just hours before you load them into your car.  I bought a gallon bucket yesterday, but they are already almost gone .  Yesterday, we had some with lunch, then last night I made shortcake for dinner, and I had more shortcake for breakfast this morning.  Tomorrow, I am going back to buy some more strawberries to make jam and preserves.  I haven't made strawberry jam in forever so the outcome might be interesting to say the least!  It's been such a long time since I canned anything, that I had to go out and buy mason jars.  They don't seem quite as heavy as they used to.  I also didn't know that WalMart made their own jars.  I went with Ball  even though they were more expensive, because that is what I have used in the past and they have always held up to their end of the bargain.
    I am also going to attempt to grow things in containers again.  I've always been able to grow vegetables in the ground (Square Foot Gardening Rocks!), but my last two attempts to container garden haven't gone well.  We will see what happens.  I would have preferred to have larger containers, but anything larger would keep us from being able to navigate our stairs.  I am also hoping they will get enough sun during the day.  I am hoping we get enough that I can make fresh sauces on occasion.  If it doesn't work out it's fine and we are planting beans and cucumbers at my mother's house.
     Our main reason for venturing out today was to get the Sunday paper.  It's the 1st and the good coupons are usually in this Sunday paper.  I looked briefly and wasn't impressed, but I won't form an opinion until I really get to go through it.  I am not an insane coupon fanatic, but if I can get a deal I will take it.  I am trying to figure out a better way to organize everything.  My current system involves an envelope.  I bet you would like to know how that's working out.  It's not.
     Other than that I only have a few other plans this week.  I of course have to sit down and menu plan tonight and get a grocery list together.  I also want to make a few dozen banana muffins. Muffins freeze well and I can whip them out the night before and my kids have a yummy and relatively mess free breakfast.  My fridge and freezer might run away or come to life and devour me whole when I try to open them, so I am planning on gutting those and cleaning them out.  I also  need to start restocking my non perishable supplies.  I try to keep at least a week's worth of these kind of foods in case we ever lost electricity for extended period of time or for whatever reason we couldn't get to the store.  I've had this happen enough times in my life to know that being prepared is key.  I also have to clean my house.  I have been a bit lazy about.  It needs a good purge and scrub.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/
http://www.squarefootgardening.org/