Useless facts you never wanted to know 50 lbs of pears make 48 pints. I did not know it was that many. Now I need to go buy 2 more cases of jars before my peaches get here in Sat. We did a light syrup with cinnamon. YUM!! This with the peaches will make a good set for winter. We also realized we are slowly building up a food store again. I had one about 2 years ago but money got tight and we ate it. I have been picking up a box here, a container there. But with all my canning this summer I am replenishing the extra stuff. I need to work on the main items this winter. I have some things but not a lot. I did mange to make this entire month on less then $250 for groceries. And that includes my pears. The peaches are actually after our next payday so I am considering them in my Sept budget. I am working on building things up slowly so I dedicate a little each month. Oct will be apple month. I am thinking we need 75 to 100 lbs. I so under did pickles this year. The kids are in them already. They came out so good!!! The dilled beans are awesome!!! I only have 7 or so jars and they are going fast. I have a feeling they will be gone by Dec. Lesson learned. I also found out I prefer to can in pints over quarts. I need to buy more next summer. I have like 4 cases of quarts. Hmm  I should use them to do apple sauce. My kids eat it like it going out of style. I still will probably need a couple more cases. 

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Movie review!!! I have 2 today.

 First one was Drillbit Tailor. Not worth my time. I did not enjoy it. I stopped watching it about half way through.

Second one is The Bucket List. AWESOME!!!! I so enjoyed this. It is so good. It has a sad undertone but I really enjoyed it. It was well worth watching. It is inspirational too. I want to do some of the things they did.

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I have a new recipe!!!!! It was way Yummy!!! The kids loved it!! Stephie is asking for it again already. It is a chicken and wild rice soup.

4 cups chicken broth
3 cups water
one cooked chicken (rotisserie from the store is fine) I used some legs out of my freezer and cooked them up. de-bone and cut up
1 (4.3 oz) Rice-A-Roni wild rice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
16 oz of half-and-half ( I used fat free)
Approximately 1 1/2 cup shredded carrots
3 celery stalks
2 garlic cloves-minced
1/2 white onion-finely chopped

In a large pot over medium heat, combine broth, water, and chicken. Bring just to boiling then stir in just the rice (You will use the seasoning packet in a minute). Cooking on medium heat. In a skillet sauté all of your vegetables with about 2 tbsp olive oil until al dente. Add them to the large pot with the chicken, water, and broth. In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, and flour and set aside. In skillet used earlier melt butter over medium heat. Stir in contents of seasoning packet from the wild rice until mixture is bubbly. Reduce the heat to low, stir in the flour mixture to form a roux. Whisk in the half-and-half, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Cook until thickened for about 5 minutes. (Keep an eye on this, the flour will otherwise like to clump up at the bottom of the saucepan). Stir cream mixture into chicken, water, broth, and veggies. Cook over medium heat until heated through. About 10-15 minutes. (Be sure again to keep an eye on this so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot and might burn).
*Serves approximately 8.
*Goes great with rolls or some kind of bread or breadsticks!

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Dh is now hooked on World of Warcraft. Thanks a lot Boychild!! What is means is that I have no computer time on Lappy. I am using DH's antique that has issues hoping I type faster then it overheats and shuts down. I honestly am not angry. It is just an adjustment to not being able to log into the things I like. Its also not my computer so it feels weird. It's not my screen saver, mouse is set to his preference, programs are different. I use Vista and he has windows XP. It's just awkward. Maybe he can sell a kidney and get his own shiny new computer!! KIDDING!!!! SO if my posts seem weird that's why. I also do not know how to gets the pics of the camera onto his computer. Mine takes the memory stick and automatically does it. Then I upload them to my host site. So pics might be few and far between right now. Unless I remember to do them when he is not on and access them through the network or I remember to buy a flash drive this weekend and put them all on there. I am seriously thinking about that. It would free up a bunch of disc space and I could use it on either computer then. Also his spell check is hard for me to use. I guess once you go Vista you can't go back

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So that is today's endless rambling post. A bit of this and that. I have everything all canned and ready to be put away. I also got 6 loads of laundry done today. We cleaned up the house a bit too. The girls were ubber helpful with canning. Stephie helped peel, core and cut pears. She was a sticky mess when we got done. Then we made a pot of soup and scarfed it with some fresh bread I picked up today. We needed milk so I got bread while I was there. I also am trying out a spam and french fry casserole tomorrow. The kids are looking forwards to it. I do like spam but usually in Fried rice. Speaking of I need to make that this weekend.

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