Jennifer St. Clair's Blog, page 18

Jam!

I made jam! All by myself, too!

Junk Room

Today's goal was to clean up in the Junk Room enough for all drying racks to nicely fit so that I have one place to dry my clothes and other things. I'm aiming for the Junk Room to become a Junk/Project Corner with a Junk Closet. Anything that can go to the indoor yard sales at the end of the month will go there, and I have a large pile already. Smaller stuff can be stored in the unused closet. 
So far, so good; the drying racks are in place and I'm working on the rest. 

2007

Last week, a notebook slipped out from underneath my bed. (Oliver helped with that; he was doing something Important under there, and I had no idea it was there in the first place.) When I saw it, I picked it up and opened it.

It was from 2007.

It only had a few pages of notes and thoughts and lists and suchlike, but it opened a window in my mind about 2007. The year I gave up High Fructose Corn Syrup for Lent. The year I started reading about local foods, and affluenza, and how we all have too...

Noise.

So I've been listening to the pipes gurgle, especially this weekend, since its been so cold outside. (I have hot water heat and radiators, so there are lots of pipes.) and I thought that they were awfully loud, especially in this room, until I realized that I've never really listened to them before, because my computer has always been on, drowning out background noises. And now that its hum isn't always in the background, I hear the gurgle of the pipes and radiators, a sound that has always b...

By Any Other Name--How Colin met Carmen, Matt, and Seth

So I've been busy writing the sequel to By Any Other Name, the story I wrote and posted on LJ in 2012. I had no real idea how Colin joined up with Carmen, Seth and Matt until he started to tell the story to Abby. Naturally, I had to write it down, but I didn't write the whole thing, just a snippet. I thought, for the New Year, that I would post it here. :)

Before Colin met up with Carmen, Seth, and Matt, he was with a woman who billed herself as a witch. At first, she treated him like her son,...

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014

2013 is almost over, completed, bid adieu. We stand on the brink of a new year, a new start, new resolutions (if you make them) or new goals. We have survived for another year, another turning of the calendar. Tomorrow, the sun will rise on 2014. Some of us will be awake to see it.

2013 was not a bad year for me, not at all. I learned a lot about myself in 2013, and I made a lot of progress on my goals. 2013 was supposed to be the Year of Completion, meaning to clear my plate of "Maybes" and "...

Christmas Roundup

So every year I list the Christmas presents I received, so that I can keep track of when I received what, which is helpful when something breaks or no longer wants to work. (Which doesn't happen often, but even so!)

This year, I had a hard time with my Christmas list, but I ended up receiving a replacement pan set from King Arthur Flour (13 x 9" pan, two bread pans, and a half cookie sheet) so that I can replace some of my ancient aluminum baking pans, a digital scale for my kitchen (which has...

I probably won't be posting much this week due to Christm...

I probably won't be posting much this week due to Christmas, so if you read this, I hope you have a very merry holiday season!

And Sourdough

Goals

One of my goals for next year is to make as much from scratch as I possibly can, including the rule that if I make a chicken, I must make stock. The Thanksgiving turkey made three gallons of stock, basically for free, and the small chicken I roasted last night gave me almost two quarts.
This also means sauces, so today I am making pulled pork with homemade barbecue sauce. 

We'll see how it tastes...