Paying Off Debt

A while back I decided that we probably ought to be tracking our money a little better. I starting reading a lot of articles about money online, and stumbled upon some articles by M. P. Dunleavey that talked about the Women in Red. They were a small group of women talking to each other about money and trying to pay off debt.

There is an associated MSN Money message board where anyone can join in the discussions. I started out just lurking (reading without posting or participating in any way), and finally decided to join the Women in Red Racers (WIRR). They are a group of women from all over the country who are "racing" against themselves to pay off their debt.

They are all amazingly supportive! They have great ideas about saving money and will cheer with you in the good times or cheer for you in the bad. Please stop by if it's something you're interested in.

Cakes

Last winter my sister and I took some cake decorating classes at Michael's. Since then I've made quite a few cakes, mostly to keep myself in practice. It's a lot of fun, but it's a lot of work to be doing on the side. I have a Flickr account set up with pictures of all my cakes. I'll share future cakes as I make them, but in the meantime please take a look!

Cakes

Salsa

Last week Patrick and I decided it was about time to make more salsa. Last year we made a bunch of salsa, mostly mild stuff and a little hot stuff. We apparently like the hot stuff better because the last jar is in the fridge and we still have lots of mild left. All we need to do this year is replace the hot stuff.



Saturday we drove up to the fruitway in Perry. We stopped at a couple roadside stands and bought all the fixin's we needed. Sunday morning we got to chopping, stirring and canning. It ended up taking twelve hours total, but we made 41 pints. Let's just hope it was worth all the coughing, sneezing, sniffling and crying over hot peppers and onions.

Recipe:

1/3 bushel of tomatoes (24 cups)
8 small purple onions (6 cups)
1 whole garlic + 3 cloves
2/3 bunch cilantro
3 large bell peppers (2 cups)
5 anaheim peppers (1 cup)
4 cayenne peppers (1/2 cup)
20 jalapeno peppers (2 1/2 cups)
30 serrano peppers (1 cup)
1/4 cup salt
1.85 cups apple cider vinegar (I just guessed on this one - its supposed to be 5%)


Each batch made about 14 pints.


I spent about $60 on all the supplies, so it cost less than $1.50 per jar! If I ever get my garden going next year, hopefully it will be almost free.

It's Begun

After reading Emma's blog (Musings of the Mindless Banterer) and hearing her talk about it at work incessantly since she started it, I decided I can probably handle this.

This morning, my mom also made a comment that I should start a blog after seeing a photo I took, so here it goes!