Sauerkraut!!!!

I finally checked it yesterday. I put it up on 9/22, not to be opened until 10/22. I was a'feared of what I'd find, so I left it 'stewing in it's own juices' so to speak. I finally opened it yesterday, 11/7. Guess what? It didn't rot, it didn't smell overtly obnoxious (kraut does and is supposed to smell obnoxious, but this wasn't overtly so). Should I? I stuck my clean fingers into it....it didn't dissolve my digits, so I pick up a few strands....sniff, sniff.....doesn't smell rotten.....look at it. Look at it again, sniff it again....finally, strand to lip, tongue it, pull it in.....it TASTES like sauerkraut!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!

I then sterilize some quart jars and two pint jars and stuff the kraut into them. Seal with ball lids/rings and into the BWB for 20 minutes. Now they sit, like silent soldiers, on my counter telling me....you did this. But, and the big but is this.....from two massive heads of cabbage and a month and a half of waiting, I acquire only four quarts and one pint of sauerkraut. Was it worth it? I'll let you know.

Since last Postings......

Well, let's begin in October. A lot was going on, so not too many posts were made. To say there was a major upheaval in our little corner of the world is an understatement.

Most of you are aware of my ongoing battle with Southern Lehigh School District and the way my children are perceived. Southern Lehigh, as it was just described in the Marketplace magazine sent out in this area, is an 'upscale, exclusive region with houses in $1-4 million price frame'......duh, when we first moved here in '96 it was still fairly rural and median income......now, although I doubt that most of the housing is in the price range they quoted, more and more developments with huge houses with garages that back into their neighbors' garage door are popping up all over and are populated by doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs....if your kid gets picked on in school and you go to the principal you are met with 'I can't punish that child, do you know who their mom/dad/stepparent is?' Or a school trip is a cruise? Come on people.........for getting out of the eighth grade do you deserve a dinner/dance/cruise that lasts all night on the Hudson River line?

My husband was a blue collar skilled laborer, mechanical maintenance, until he really tore up his arms. He was on disability for over three years, between having corrective surgery and being retrained (you can teach an old dog new tricks......he graduated college after being out of school for over 30 years in 2005!). Although I went to college, with four kids, we had decided that I would stay home to raise them. When he was hurt, I went back to work....nothing spectacular, but I ended up mid-level management at Walmart...not pretty, but we ate. He is now an Occupational Therapist and I am back to being mom, but in this location, we are still looked down on as the 'hep'.....why waste your time on the kids when you can get an au pair and you can get your nails done....we are the oddity. This also grates on the school, because if something isn't right, guess who shows up? Here's a clue - 'it ain't the au pair'.

My youngest son is now enrolled in a cyber school. It took the whole month of October to pry, wheedle and finally threaten to sue Southern Lehigh to release his records. They didn't want HIM, but they didn't want us to make the decision to change schools. He is happier than he has been in a long time. Things are looking up for him......the instructors here judge him on his work, his personality and his heart......not the type of house he lives in, how much $$$$$ mom and dad make or how much bling he wears to school. He is starting to drive and is turning into a decent young man, which is all you can really ask for.

His older sister just made Honor Society at college. She has made Deans List ever semester she has been enrolled. Not bad for a child, now young woman, who was told by said school district to not apply for college since being Type 1 diabetic, she was going to die soon anyway, so why take a college slot a more deserving 'healthy' student needed. Moma went off the rails.....the lovely guidance counsellor who told her this told me, and I quote: "I'm not dumb enough to put that in writing, but she IS taking a healthy child's spot. So go ahead and report it, I'll deny it and where will we be? hmmm?'....I have never wanted to meet someone in a dark alley with a club as I did that woman. But, I am seeing the old adage come to pass....'Success is best revenge'.....She is doing wonderful. He is doing wonderful.....Southern Lehigh was wrong. Now to attempt to get my youngest in one of the Charter schools and good ol' SL can kiss my saggy white......well, you know where this is going.

In the midst of all of this, my eldest son's girlfriend gave birth to their second, his third, little boy. Brennan John was born on the 13th, full of personality, as you can tell by his winking at the camera when he was two days old. He's a dumpling, not nearly as big as his big brother Lucas was, but he's a keeper. It's been hard not seeing him, but October has been the month of the 'sickness', so we have kept our distance. We all at one time or another have been diagnosed with sinusitis, ear infections, the common cold, etc. that we DON'T want to share with the baby. Fortunately, we have been spared the Piggy Sniffles, as Jamie likes to call it.

We are finally coming out from under it all. November is the month of the All Souls Novena......we remember those we lost and celebrate those who we still have. We thank God that He is good all the time. He brought us to October and He brought us thru it. As a parting shot, October bombed my washing machine....it gave up the ghost (should I add it to the Novena? -wink,wink). It owed us nothing as we only had it 13 years, but we could do without having to outlay another $500 on top of paying $500 to get one car ready for winter and inspected, and $500 to fix yet another car because it started to slowly fall apart on us....nothing like $1500 of unforseen expenses with the holidays coming up....BUT, as I said, God is Good...All the time....ALL the time God is Good. Cars, washers and the like are inanimate objects, not worth losing sleep over as they can be replaced.

Now, November calls. I have drapes to hang, a house to clean for the holidays and finally that damnable sauerkraut to get out of the bucket? Any takers for some?

Quote of the Day

I got this on my ArcaMax recipe newsletter today. I like it.

"Intellectual men who quickly wolf down whatever nourishment is necessary for their bodies with a kind of disdain, may be very rational and have a noble intelligence, but they are not men of taste."Sainte-Beuve, Charles Augustin (1804-1869) French historian

NO MORE Southern Lehigh

Things have been unusual lately. I will post more later, but effective today's date........Joshua is no longer enrolled in the school who made his life a living hell. He was sent on his way with 'you will fail, and you will be back'.....not if Momma has anything to say about it!!!!

I will post more about what else is going on (new grandbaby and all).....but to keep you rolling...I 'baked' 3 rather large pumpkins. Made enough pumpkin stuff to bake umpteen pies. Found a seriously good, but rather easy recipe on Allrecipes.......

A box of spice cake mix
2 cups pumpkin
3/4 cup water.

Mix together, bake in muffin tins. Yummy. Too easy to be that good.

Until later.

Thank YOU, Jesus

As those of you know, who have been following this blog, tale of woe, of what have you....I have been fighting with my former employer for my unemployment compensation. I filed, was awarded compensation, my former employer appeal led, compensation was halted until a hearing was held, hearing held, I showed up, they didn't. I was awarded compensation again. They appeal led again, I received a letter saying that they would allow them to request another hearing but I would continue to receive compensation until then. Hearing was to be set for next Thursday. I just received a call.......the company pulled out of the hearing. I will receive a final determination, but the way it reads in the original paperwork for this hearing, I won the first, and the company would be allowed to have it's say 'why' I shouldn't have, but it would have been under the cloud that they never bothered to show up prior. Now they say, it's nice you are having a hearing, at our request, but we won't be going to this one either. So, this morning I get a call from the court overseeing the hearing, although the official determination will have to be made from Harrisburg (state capital, for all you non-PAians), they have stopped the appeal process. Apparently, it is customary if you appeal a decision, to actually SHOW UP for the hearing. Today looks like it's shaping up to be a good day.......refer to last post....the plumber comes at 1 p.m.!!!!

Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me

Nothing like having the switch on the 'just replaced' sump pump kick out and flood the basement/playroom. Oh well, it needed to be cleaned up anyway. Sigh

Another day, Another Way to Avoid Housework

Again, I find that procrastination is my best virtue (snort). I have last night's dishes to do and more clothes to fold than I can shake a stick at (I can't do that since I lost the stick in the clothing pile). I did get the sauerkraut made, but the cukes turned before I could get them in jars (see sentence #1). I know, I know. I put things off and then they pile up......I know my faults, but my problem is overcoming them.

Yesterday wasn't one of the best. I got another notice from Unemployment. My former employer contested my unemployment, I had a hearing in August, and since no one from the company showed up, the judge made a determination in my favor. They appeal led saying it was unfair (unfair that they actually had to show up) and to reschedule. The state agreed to let them state their side, but it would be tinged with the fact that they blew off the former meeting and allow me to question their motives. I am confident that it will still go my way, but I have to take time out and run 20 miles out of my way for a 10-15 minute hearing. That, and it falls right in the middle of the one time during the week I usually go to a Ladies Bible Study...any other day of the week I am at home trying to ignore the dishes, laundry and dust bunnies. Thursdays I go out. It is scheduled for Thursday. Since I was bummed, I do what I usually do when I'm out of sorts....I cook. Dinner was as follows:

Bacon wrapped pork chops, rubbed with a dry rub (salt, black pepper, gran. garlic, cumin, chili powder and paprika - there IS measurements in the recipe, but I just eyeball it, this way if you want more garlic -you make yourself happy, etc.) and broil until done (I used 175 internal temp as done). I served Spanish rice and corn with this.....Made enough for dinner and Joe's lunch today (I always make a platter of food for him to take to work the next day). I thought there would be chops left for my lunch or the kids after school, but I was WRONG. I left them out to cool while I went to a meeting last night and asked Joshua to put them up for me. He did.....nom, nom, nom.....when I came in I asked where the chops were....He burped.

Baby boy is front and central lately. We are having all sorts of issues with his school and I am back and forth with them. It all sounds petty taken individually, but when you add up what is going on, I am a raw nerve. Yesterday I had to go to school to find out WHY he owed lunch money. His school uses a debit system. You put money on the account, they swipe their ID card and the lunch is debited to his account. Last school year, he had THREE ID cards stolen from him. Rather than being concerned that there was a thief in their midst, the school was more concerned with me paying $5 a pop to get him a new card. When school started this year, I just gave him cash for lunch each day, no need to use the card. Finally, they gave the kids the new IDs for this year. I give him enough money for a week's worth of lunch in the form of a check (yes, people still write checks) to put on his account. He deposits it and is told he has $6 available to him. How? He hasn't used the account, it should not be in the negative. When they checked the records, his card has been swiped a number of times up to that date. Gee, I wonder who was swiping his card, since he was paying cash for his lunch and didn't even have a card....In order to get to the cafeteria, I have to run the gauntlet of getting thru the office. Now at this school, you get buzzed in, must report to the office, turn in keys and ID to get a visitors pass and must detail where exactly you are going in the school.....I go in, plop down my keys and ask do I have to check my guns, knives, heavy artillery and pike poles as well. I think they know me by now and get 'no, just your keys will suffice'. I go to the cafeteria, find out that they will monitor his card 'usage' and I will continue to send cash with him daily, hopefully they will catch the culprit. The office, however, still feels it is Joshua's fault for LETTING someone steal his card. Oh well.....

Momma is bummed again. So, tonight is whole roasted, seasoned chicken, mashed potatoes and a green veg. I may even make 'nanner bread (yea, I'm that mad). Hopefully, the machinations I have working in the background regarding Joshua's school experience will come to fruition and I can go back to cooking for love and not out of frustration.......as his appetite has been compromised and I eat out of aggravation. Not helping my waist line or his well being.

Off to the stove.