Canning Apple Preserves

I know this really isn't the canning season, but I wanted to try it out anyway. Apples are pretty much good year round, right?
I won a giveaway from Girl Versus Dough many months ago and got a gift card for William Sonoma. If you have ever been to William Sonoma you would know that a spoon costs like, $100. After doing some searching I figured out that all the canning supplies were pretty inexpensive! I picked up some canning tongs, a lid lifter, a canning funnel and Sherri Vinton's book, Put 'Em Up for recipes and instructions. I chose Apple preserves as my first recipe since if the canning didn't work like I planned at least apples were cheap. I also love apple pie, apple tart, apple crumble... basically any baked apple is the best thing ever.

The recipe was super easy. I actually added some nutmeg and cloves because I wanted a little more apple pie flavor. I love apple pie more than anything.

I just have to say though... if you read the recipe directions you will notice it says to "ask your farmer" about the best baking apples. Are you shitting me? I may live in Louisiana now, but that sure doesn't mean we have apple farmers around. We have Walmart. That's it. She couldn't give a suggestion, like Granny Smith? 

Granny smith is what I used. I used those because that's what other recipe books recommended when baking apple pie... they don't get all pretentious about having apple farmers on hand to answer all your questions. 

I'm crossing my fingers it doesn't just turn into apple sauce! I can't wait to get some summer berries to make chutney and jam! I've got little swatches of gingham fabric, bakers twine and little tags to make the jars look all cute.

A Walk by the Swamp and Life in Louisiana (so far)

Does this count as a swamp? I haven't lived in Louisiana long enough to know the difference between a swamp, a bayou or just a pond. I'm going to call this one a swamp since there was a sign that said "Beware of Snakes" and snakes seem like a thing that would live near a swamp. 

It gets pretty chilly and foggy in the morning but by the afternoon it's nice and warm, that is, if it's not raining. I realized that in the three years I lived in Alaska, there never once was a thunderstorm! Louisiana has it's fair share of thunder and lightning.

It's been nice to live in a place where we can go for walks. I love that I can go outside with a light sweatshirt and walk Murray around the neighborhood with Joe. In Alaska we didn't live in the prettiest neighborhood and most of the year it was too snowy, cold or rainy and we just wanted to stay indoors. While nothing can really compare to the beautiful mountain views in Alaska, I'm happy to live in a place with pretty blooming dogwood trees and rolling hills. I'm looking forward to taking Ellie out in her wrap carrier and walking the dog with Joe. 

Other than not having anywhere to buy quality produce I really like Louisiana so far. People were telling me such awful things about this place, but I have come to the conclusion that none of these people have ever lived in a place called Fort Leonardwood, Missouri. Let me tell you... This place is so much better! 

Baby Bump - 34 Weeks!

Weight Gain: 15 lbs

Belly Button? Innie 

Feeling: Pretty good! The most annoying thing is my left ear getting plugged up.

Food I'm Missing: This week I took a breastfeeding class and was happy to hear that I can drink alcohol! Yay, for red wine being in my near future!! 

Movement: Not as much movement since there is less room now, but still rolling around and wiggling a lot.

Listening to: Scissor Sisters

Looking Forward to: More classes! We signed up for a bunch of classes at the hospital for newborn care, breastfeeding, breathing and relaxation and labor and delivery. The breastfeeding class was pretty helpful so I'm looking forward to the next one. I've also been getting freezer meals together when I get the chance. So far I've made quiche, a shepherd's pie and pizza dough. I don't know what else would freeze well but I'm going to try out baked macaroni and cheese, a lasagna and freeze a bunch of black bean burger patties. 

We took Murray out for a walk this morning and got some pictures by a swamp. He got busy sniffing everything and now he is totally pooped and napping in his bed. My belly is getting pretty big too! 

This week was Mardi Gras, but of course I missed it! I know that next year during this time we are going to be getting all packed and ready to move back to New York so we probably won't make it then either. It's too bad because I would really love to see what goes on and all the culture! I'm just crossing my fingers that we can actually make it down there at some point, if only to get some delicious food.

One Year Ago, Today

I'm taking a weekly journal prompt from Sometimes Sweet this week and the subject is advice I would give myself looking back at the past year. 

They say hindsight is 20/20, and with good reason- looking back at something always gives us a better view. We're often able to really see how our choices and decisions then shaped our today, and examine what we would have done differently given the chance. When looking back though, we often look way back, but for this exercise stay a little closer to present time and look back just 12 months. If you could go back just one year, what would you tell yourself? What advice would you offer about everything you've experienced?

It seems like 12 months wasn't really that long ago, but after I really thought about it, just one year ago was when Joe finally moved up to Alaska. Since that time everything changed. Only a year ago I was hauling my stuff out of the army barracks and moving to an apartment. After two years and four months in a long distance relationship, including one year of officially being married, this was the day I had been waiting for.

Let me tell you, things were pretty rough leading up to this. At this point last year I already knew that things were finally looking up. If I could give myself advice on this day last year I would say, All the little things you are going to worry yourself over aren't as serious as you think. 

I would definitely tell myself that I won't be disappointed anymore and to just let the past be the past. 

I might also want to give myself a few warnings, like, "Your landlord will scam you!" and how my boss would be a total jerk in my last few months of living in Alaska. But who wants to talk about boring stuff like that?

Aside from trying to avoid a few disappointments here and there, I would let myself know that a ton of great things are coming my way. I will find my soulmate kitty, Mrs. Peacock, at the pound. Joe and I will decide to have a baby and it will happen just like that, so there is no need to worry about timelines! That cross country road trip I had been dreaming about for almost a decade? It will happen. I'll even get to catch up with a bunch of old friends along the way.

Now that we have been living a family life for a year now, it's hard to imagine that it was ever any other way. Even Murray, or newest puppy addition, feels like he has been around for a longer time than he has been. 

Speaking of the silly boy, this is Murray wondering where his Daddy went off to... (he was taking out the garbage.) He gets so upset when his Dad leaves without him!

...and, of course, Miss Kitty-face is posing for the camera as usual. I can't believe we have had her for just one year! It feels like she is my oldest friend.

Baby Bump - 33 Weeks!

Weight Gain: 15 lbs-ish

Belly Button? Still an innie. 

Feeling: I feel like I could sleep forever! I go to bed fairly early and still wake up late. I slept about 12 hours last weekend each night. Sleeping still is uncomfortable and I wake up at least once a night and whichever side I sleep on something always hurts. Misses Peacock has been very snuggly with me on my side of the bed lately. I think she is jealous of Murray, who likes to sleep on Joe's side. At least I have lots of company when I get restless!

Food I'm Missing: Honestly the food I've been missing isn't because it's food I can't eat... there is just no food here! We tried going to dinner one night at a sushi/hibachi place I heard was good, but the service was so bad we walked out before even ordering! Looks like we won't have to worry about spending too much on eating out for the next year. I would think that in a middle-of-nowhere type of town there would be farms or something so there would be at least some decent vegetables. But unfortunately the only place to get food is at our local commissary on base or Walmart. Neither one has any decent food to speak of! Yuck. 

Movement: She is rolling around and kicking my ribs as usual.

Looking Forward to: Taking some time off starting in April. I think I will take the two weeks before the due date to relax and get the last minute "nesting" done. 

I finished painting the second dresser and started putting some of the cute stuffed animals out. We have so many animals and dolls from different places! While we were on our road trip we stopped to see my family in Santa Cruz and my grandpa gave me a Raggedy Andy doll with a storybook he found. While I was there I went through some boxes of stuff that had been left in his garage when I was in college. Inside one of the boxes and found a Raggedy Anne doll! I was so excited to see that they matched each other perfectly. Another find I was excited about was an Ichigo Pan (strawberry bread) doll I got in Japan.  

Road Trip Scrapbook - Finished!

It took me quite a while to take some snapshots of our finished scrapbook from our 2013-2014 road trip. I find that making scrapbooks for everyday life is a little boring and I can't motivate myself to keep up. I tend to make scrapbook for things like road trips and vacations, like I did for my 2012 visit to New York (when I unexpectedly got engaged AND married) although I still haven't made a scrapbook for our formal wedding ceremony OR our honeymoon! Talk about inconsistent!

Going through and looking at these scrapbooks brings back so many great memories that just plain photo snapshots couldn't capture.

In fact, I don't know why I even stopped adding to this scrapbook! I still have a ton of Instax film, there are still tons of empty pages in the Smashbook and my scrapbook kit I put together for travel is still in its box. I think I will resume scrapping until I run out of space! Let's make it a promise. Maybe I will do a biweekly update of my progress on the blog as well.