wacky weather, feeling out of sorts

So the tropical storms have started....well, I'm in Virginia, so I don't usually pay *that* much attention to them (other than tracking to keep an eye on where my family members live)....however, Andrea - first one of the year - has apparently picked up speed and brought us cooler temps and rain.  Last night she was traveling at 3mph and wasn't supposed to get to us until Friday afternoon but would hang out until late Saturday/early Sunday....I'm hoping that the fact we are getting rain today means she will keep moving and be gone by Saturday - we have an end of year cook out planned.

Yes, I know...Man plans, God laughs....but we've rescheduled this cook out so many times already...lol

Since the last post, I tackled the spaghetti sauce again.  I found the recipe I used for my original sauce a few years ago and decided to make it a little chunkier with green peppers, onions, and garlic....we have too many jars of the sauce made with Mrs. Wages spice mix and they all have a slightly burned taste to them, which I kind of expected but which still caught me off guard....I think I'll try to use those in lasagnas or other dishes where there are enough other flavors.....here's what the most recent batch looks like:

 There are 8 quarts of this - ALL sealed - and about a dozen of the first attempt.  I'm pretty happy with the progress of my canning....getting the things done that I know we will definitely use over the course of the year.

I have reached the point where I'm ready to try new things for future use....but I forgot how time consuming it is and how you have to be fairly accurate as you time the water bath and the cool down....so I think I'll take a break for now and come back to canning when it gets closet to the start of school (apples will be cheaper in the fall anyway).  I will be doing some more dehydrating....just have to figure out what snacks I can make the will actually be eaten (or not since I can vacuum seal them...lol).

HOWEVER....today I am taking a day for myself and am SO thankful to my friend Matt for agreeing to keep an eye on my son (who is going to be playing computer games with Matt's son)....I do have a few errands that need to be done for the benefit of the family, but other than that....I can work on stuff that is satisfying just to me....very rare thing...haven't decided on a course of action.....lol...might include sewing, might include knitting, may even just be vegging out and reading.....