In this case, I was meant to have strawberries.

A lot of strawberries.

At one point, I had 12 containers of strawberries in my fridge.  For $1.50 a container, how could I pass it up?  They are my favorite fruit after all.  Ariana and Harper (and baby!) love them almost as much as I do.

But what to do with dozens upon dozens of strawberries?  Freeze some sliced berries (for use in oatmeal) + make jam of course!

This is my pectin-free freezer jam method… I’m sure there are dozens of better recipes, but I am pretty darn happy with my way.

1.  Buy a bunch of strawberries (it honestly doesn’t matter how many containers-worth you have).

2. If you’re saving some for other uses, sort the berries into two bowls- one for good berries, one for slightly mushy/ ugly berries.  I use basically all berries unless they are moldy.

3.  Thoroughly wash berries and remove caps.

4. If desired, slice berries into smaller chunks.  In the above picture, the bowl on the left are my berries-to-freeze.  The bowl on the right is my soon-to-be-jam berries.

5. Sugar those jam berries!  I sprinkle some sugar on (maybe 1/4 of a cup), stir carefully, then re-sugar (another 1/4c), stir and if needed, I add a little more.

6.  Stick the bowl of berries in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight to let the sugar absorb and let the juices start to release from the berries.  I don’t bother covering them, but you can I’m sure.

7.  Pull the berries out of the fridge and toss em in a saucepan or stockpot.  I use a stock pot because I think it’s easier.  If you like really sweet jam, add another 1/4c sugar now (I didn’t for this batch because the berries were sweet to begin with).

8. Cook, cook, cook the berries!  I turned the burner on medium heat and let the berries cook, stirring often, until they boiled a little.  Then I turned the burner down and cooked them (stirring occasionally) for 20 minutes or so.  I like chunky jam, but if you’d like, you can mash the berries down as they cook.  When the berries thicken to your liking, they are pretty much done!

9.  Ladle into ramekins or other freezer-safe containers (I’m too cheap frugal to buy real freezer jars), leaving 1/2 to 1/4 inch head space.  Let cool on the counter, uncovered, for a few hours.  Transfer to fridge to cool completely, then move into freezer.  Voila!

Mmm.

And on homemade bagels with a little cream cheese?  Ohh yes.  Check out those berries!

And of course, they are taste-tester approved!

The girls both got sweet little gifts from both sets of grandparents (stuffed bears, candy and the now-beloved Hello Kitty drawing paper), but when I tried to explain the holiday behind the presents, they didn’t quite understand.  Luckily, they haven’t asked many questions beyond “is it time for chocolate?” :o)

I will say, each year, I do make my husband a card, not necessarily because it’s Valentine’s day, but because it’s an excuse to remind him how much he is loved and appreciated… plus I just like making cards and this is the only time of year I can get away with an extremely sappy cards ;o)

Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? 

I’ve never really been one to take “baby bump” or “belly” photos, but I realized there are very few pictures during pregnancy- partly because I’m usually the one holding the camera, partly because I’m self-conscious about having my picture taken.  To appease some of my dear friends who’ve asked, I took a few pictures using my iPhone and decided to share them on here as well.

If the text is difficult to read, the first photo is me at 20 weeks, the second is at 29 weeks (taken just a couple of days ago).  For comparison’s sake, I wore the same shirt and jeans (which are pre-pregnancy jeans that still fit at nearly 30 weeks!).

Baby is doing well-  strong heartbeat, head down and in correct position, measuring right on track, extremely active as soon as I sit down to rest (of course!).  It’s just a few months until we meet our sweet baby #3!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday :o)

Terry surprised me with a little sheep & bird knick-knack that I saw in the store the other day.  He was pretty sneaky & managed to buy it before we left the store without me knowing!  And of course, he found me a pink gift tag out of our large collection.  Such a sweetheart!  Oh the Meercat & Moose nicknames?  Long, silly story falling back to when we were dating in college… and they’ve never gotten old :o)

My sweet daughters have made the day enjoyable, as they do every day!  And in the spirit of my birthday, they have been a little less off-the-walls than usual.  I’ll take it.

I’m cooking homemade spaghetti sauce in the crockpot for my special birthday meal of spaghetti and sausage.  The house smells delicious.

I’m also making ricotta cheese out of the leftover whey that we have from making mozzarella cheese yesterday.  If you ever have the time/ opportunity to make (or at least try!) homemade mozzarella, it is delicious and surprisingly easy to make as long as you are patient.  The ricotta is even easier, as you simply warm the whey, let it sit and scoop the curds out.  Yummy!  I’ll be posting actual recipes for our cheeses later (as long as I remember!).

I am excited for this afternoon, when the girls will help me make a whole wheat chocolate cake and maple buttercream icing!  I can’t wait for Terry to get home to share it with us.

Thanks for reading and sharing my birthday with me :o)

I used a plan thought up by Rachel (post is here) that has worked almost perfectly for us.  Within this month, we have essentially finished our entire list of projects, with the exception of our garage.  Everything that is leaving the house has been moved to the garage (or the trash) and needs to be loaded into the car for a trip to Goodwill this week.

One of the biggest fixes for me was one of the smallest things (funny how that actually works!):  I finally sat down yesterday and hemmed my living room curtains!  It took me all of 10 minutes to pin the curtains and run them through the sewing machine.  I’m obviously not a professional seamstress, but I was pretty darn thrilled at my quick fix…

Before:

And after:

Not too shabby, huh?  It was one of those small, needed fixes that made a huge difference in what my living room looks like.  I no longer cringe when I glance at the windows.

This wasn’t on my list, but because I am cheap and lazy frugal and creative,  I found these scraps given to me by my mom (these scraps are fairly old since I remember them being around when I was young!) and voila, instant curtain tie-backs.  They may not match, but I don’t mind.  At least the curtains are properly restrained ;o)

Do you have an organizing or cleaning goals/ resolutions for this year?  What are they?  Have you accomplished any yet?  I’d love to hear!  I can always use some extra inspiration :o)

The above photo is at exactly 4 years old (she’s sleeping, as she was born in the middle of the night!) 

Where have the years gone?

(this is the outfit she chose to wear in the morning, but she changed soon after since the straps kept slipping)

When she was first born, I held her in my arms, with so many hopes and dreams for a bright future.

Her intelligence constantly amazes me, her jokes keep me smiling, her creativity astounds me (in a good way!).

Happy 4th birthday, Princess :)

(Ariana told me that this picture “has to be there because my hair is silly!” Can’t argue with that!) 

Whether it’s breakfast with all three of my loves, just me and the girls or a quiet moment alone with tea or coffee, the best part of waking up for me is enjoying the calm, slow-paced, relaxing first hours of the day.  While I’m not a morning person, I make the most out of it each day, otherwise the day inevitably starts on a bad note and it’s hard to improve on it!

What’s the best part of waking up for you?