Hurry Up and Wait!

That's what I've been experiencing all day today - hurry up and wait!  I've been a canning fool, all the damn day long.  We went by the farmer's market yesterday and picked up a bushel of corn, a bushel of crowder peas, a bushel of butterbeans, a bushel of snap beans, and 5lbs of jalapenos.  We got the butterbeans and some of the peas canned last night, and today I've been working on the peas and snap beans.  I've got the last 7 quarts of snap beans in the pressure canner right now.  It's almost 10pm!


And I've had to do laundry today, and my nails, and cook dinner, and didn't get anything finished.  Well, the canning I planned for today is done (well it will be soon), and my nails and dinner got done, but the laundry is not finished - I still have sheets and towels to wash, but those will wait til another day. 


Brian and I are starting a new earlier bedtime - 10pm - but that's not going to happen for me tonight, seeing as I'm still waiting on those beans in the canner.  Once the timer goes off, I'll take them off the stove, let the pressure dissipate while I shower, then come take the jars out to finish cooling.  Then it will be bedtime for me!


Clydie's gonna work on the corn tomorrow while I'm at work, and we'll get the vacuum sealer out after dinner and put that stuff away in the freezer.  It seems that it's just a little less work to freeze it than it is to can it, and it's a little less time consuming, so the freezer it is.  She's also going to work on making some candied jalapenos tomorrow.  I never tried any of the ones that she made last year, so I'm going to have to try some of this year's batch. 


If you're wondering why we had to buy 5lbs of jalapenos instead of using the ones we are growing - the ones we are growing are not hot.  AT ALL.  It's rather disappointing, to bit into a jalapeno and expect a nice little zip of heat, and you get nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  Zero.  So, so disappointing.  But on the other hand, the ghost, habanero, and reapers are quite hot.  I've only tried the habanero this year, and those are really good.  We've made 2 batches of salsa with the ghost peppers, and while it's extremely hot, it's quite tasty.  I haven't gotten the nerve up to try this year's reapers - Brian said they are much hotter than last years.


I had a "surprise" party for Brian last weekend to celebrate his retirement after serving in the Army for 25 years.  It was supposed to be a surprise, but he busted me making burgers that morning.  Yes, I know it wasn't real smart to do things the way that we did, because it greatly increased the chances of him catching us prepping for the party, but it worked out the way it was supposed to. He knew about the party ahead of time, so it gave him the chance to clean the mancave and garage, and he was prepared for company.  A good time was had by all.


Well I hope you all had a productive or relaxing weekend, whatever works for you.  It's been a busy one for me.  Have a great week!