JessDMiller: Family

When you have to drive to your home town twice in two days, spending 8 hours in the car can get a little boring. What do you do? Take random pics to try and figure out your new camera that has too many setting for you to figure out.
I took some pics of the world zooming by.
Aperture setting:

Shutter Speed setting:

Hmm, not much different.

Focus on something up close

Focus on something far away

I'm an auto focus girl because up until now I've had a point and shoot but I suppose as I learn more about my DSLR I'll be learning the world of manual focus.

So, what did I go to my home town twice in two days for? I had a funeral on Thursday and had to work on Friday so I went back and came home. Then I had to go back on Friday to see my niece. She was an attendant for our high school homecoming.

So Cute!

I'm back! After a break in blogging I have lots to share!

Its down pouring out!

It was a long weekend so we accomplished a lot. Not as much as we could have but hey, what is a holiday for if you can't be a little lazy here and there.

Friday night Adam went to help his dad do some more shingling. I stayed at the apartment and painted the little "hallway" area between the bedroom/laundry/bath. And then we were lazy...

Saturday Adam headed straight to help his dad do some more shingling before it got hot out so I took the opportunity to mow the lot again. I have a feeling that our new house is going to have to be air tight. We sort of have a mice infestation. I saw at least 5 young mice running crazy from the mower! Then I went and sprayed the back yard at the new house with Roundup.I hear it takes a week for it to start working so I'll be sure to have pictures when it all turns brown! I'm excited for it to all die so we can just have a fresh start. I of course ran across snakes when I was there and one was itty bitty so I know they are thriving. Hopefully with no greenery to shield them they will leave after this week! Adams mom made us a yummy lunch of BLT's which we haven't had a chance to make yet this summer! THey are always so good! I went home and started making my appetizer for the big game! Pampered Chef's new theme show for the season is "Game Day" so I used one of their recipes and made the Breadbowl Artichoke Dip. It was really yummy and really not that hard to make.

We went to a friends house for the game (HI!) and watched Trey play hide and seek with mom. He for some reason thought that he could look under the chair and see her.

Sunday I went my parents house to make some salsa!
Pick your tomatoes

and peppers

Wash them and scald them. Then put them in cold water to cool off again.

Peel the skin and cut out spots

Chop them up

We pushed them to the sides and took some of the juice out of them (you can make tomato juice with the juice you take out- just strain, boil and can).
Chop up your onions and peppers

And cook until you have it the consistency you want.

While you are waiting for it to cook down, wash all your jars and rings,

visit your old tuckered out dog lounging in the shade,

and play with your nieces

What is with these three year olds? She stands up and starts doing the twist and says "shakin' my booty"

My coworkers three year old also knows how to "shake her booty" :)
So then the 6 year old gets up and says, no, do it like this

Stick your booty out and shake it.
Oh boy, back to the salsa.
Now you're ready to can it.
Give the jars a water bath in the microwave for 5 minutes.

Boil some water to heat up the lids in.

Pour some salsa in the jars

Wipe the rims

Put the lids on and tighten the rings.

You'll probably need a towel to hold the jar as everything should be hot hot hot at this point

And wait for the chorus of pops!

Sunday Adam worked on the quilt rack that he is making (pictures to come) and I worked on making some cake fillings. I am making another wedding cake and tonight we are doing a fun little taste testing :) We're going to try strawberry and raspberry fillings in white cake.
Here is Wiltons strawberry filling recipe.
Ingredients:

* 1 pkg (16 ounces) frozen sliced strawberries packed in sugar thawed
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar
* 3 tablespoons Cornstarch
* 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice

Makes: Filing serves 2 cups.
Strawberry Filling

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instructions

1. Drain strawberries; reserving liquid. Add enough water to liquid to equal 1¼ cups.

2. In large saucepan, combine strawberry liquid, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; mix well.

3. Heat and stir until mixture boils and thickens.

4. Cool completely.

5. Refrigerate until ready to use.

6. Fill cupcakes. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

It's pretty easy and fun to watch it boil. It just magically turns into a gel like substance. Here is my final product after it is cooled.

It doesn't really look all that appetizing!
I tried to do the raspberry but I couldn't find any frozen raspberries when I went shopping and the fresh ones I got were moldy by the time I got to them. So I took to the internet and found that most people just actually use pie filling or jam for their cakes. We will be going with one of those for the raspberry filling for the taste testing.
We also got the bathroom in the apartment painted. Laundry room and bedroom left to go!