HOME - Joys of home ownership

Rob and I are now officially the proud new owners of a home built in 1913. We knew it would be a lot of work and even though we are sore and tired of spending money - we are having a great time updating much of the house. We were hoping to salvage the original Douglas Fir flooring in the front room and bedrooms - but much to our chagrin - there were nails every 16 inches - likely to diminish the squeeky floor. We could not remove, pound down, or sand over the nails - so we had to go with Plan B - a new hardwood floor. We are using Acacia in the front room, pre-stained and all set to install. We went with this type b/c it is 3/4-inch real wood - rather than the engineered hardwood that is iffy to refinish. In the bedrooms, we are using bamboo - but it's a grass, not wood. Here are a series of photos of the front room and the work we have done so far. If you know of anyone looking for brass fixtures (lights, door knobs, hooks) - we have them from every room in the house that are yours for the taking. All of the new sub-floor is down, boxes of wood, and bamboo are open - tomorrow is a painting day.

I am pretty sure that the rhubarb raspberry jam is my number 2.5 favorite jam ever - right behind strawberry freezer jam and tied with apricot. I will be sure to hoard this jam, just like the apricot I still have in the basement. Speaking of which, I ought to pull that out and eat it before the apricots really start showing up at the market. The rhubarab did not breakdown as I hoped, instead I processed it for about 5 seconds, got it boiling, then added the pectin and raspberries. This jam has a really vibrant color.

We are closing on our new house in 7 days and are very excited. Our current rental, while a nice place to have called home for 8 months, is becoming a pain in the behind. It's up for sale, meaning we have to leave the house in the evenings - with dogs in tow - so that people can come see the house. I would be much happier about the whole thing if we got something out of it - like a decrease in rent... Instead, we have to deal with a young realtor that is awfully unprofessional - requesting that we leave the house open rather than putting out a lock box. Lock box is now up per our insistence.

My first post

Welcome to my very first blog posting. I didn't think I would have a blog - at least not until we have children to brag about. Yet - here I am, ready to share my thoughts and activities with those who are interested in what I am up to on a regular basis. I am thinking pretty seriously about canning right now. The veggies and fruits are roaring into the Farmer's Market here in SLC. Tomorrow I am trying my hand at rhubarb raspberry jam. I've got the rhubarb chopped up and soaking in some lemon juice and sugar overnight. I have never made anything with rhubarb and thought I've give it a go - mainly because I have been steering clear of that wacky vegetable due to it's uncanny likeness to my least favorite veggie, the big C - I cannot even bring myself to type the word.

I am not sure if I'll have to process the rhubarb before I add the raspberries or if it'll lose it's structure when I cook it - we will see tomorrow. I have already put in an emergency canning call to Lisa concerning the amount of sugar the recipe call for - far too much for my taste so I am going to cut it in half and see how that works - also, I am going to put in 4xs the raspberries - so I suppose I am not really following a recipe at this point...