This is a time for rest, for taking the time to pause in your life to take stock. This is a really good time for us to get a grip on things that have put us off balance a little, or maybe a lot, this year. I can only use my own personal experience; but I too get wrapped up in doing all the "things" that everybody else is doing with no thought to how it is affecting my health, those around me and my future. Winter says, "Slow down! Give this some thought and prioritize." It says a lot more but that's what I've been hearing! Life has a tendency, sooner or later, to stop you in your tracks if you're not listening. It will MAKE you slow down and I would heartily advise you to take this time given you and slow down all by yourself. Listen to your body. It will tell you a lot - but you HAVE to listen! My Daddy always said I wasn't good at doing two things at once. Why I remember him saying that to me I'll never know, but over the years I've done multiple things at once and handled them pretty well (pat on back) - yet still his words haunted me. At last I've begun to understand what he was really meaning. Do you? It was an elementary statement just meant to inform me that I should prioritize and not put too much on my plate. Finish one thing and move on to another and whatever you're doing - do it well - or frankly, why bother doing it at all. He was basically saying to get my head on straight and not to tackle more than I could handle. It was a great saying from back in the 50's and 60's, and it certainly stuck in my head!! Well, anyway, if you find yourself at a point where you're catching yourself coming and going, or you're in a whirlwind of major proportions - STOP!!! Rest, take a pause, take stock and get back in balance!! It's time!
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Also, I'm happy to report that I ended up pressure canning 5 quarts of beef. I know that doesn't sound like a lot but that's about 2 meals in a jar. That's quite a bit of beef. I had enough for another quart but decided to use it for stew and sandwiches instead. I also put a bunch of the chicken legs and thighs, I had bought for a little of nothing, in the crockpot and shredded the chicken, jarred it up and pressured canned 4 pints of shredded chicken. Hubby and I love Stuffed Tomatoes in the summertime and now we are ready. We have our own eggs for boiling, I can our own dill pickle relish, we grow fresh onions and I make my own homemade mayonnaise. How about that?!!
The extra nice part about all of this is when I cut the beef off the bone I put the bones in a big pan with the bare minimum of water to cover, added an onion, a couple carrots, a few pieces of celery and some herbs. These were the last of the fresh veggies I had stuck back in the frig. After simmering all that for several hours, I ended up with 5 pints of beef broth and several wonderful meals for our dog. I strained the bones and vegetable out and the dog got the bone leftovers and the chickens got the veggie leftovers. Sambo, our hunting dog, also ended up with the chicken bone leftovers and skins (although I've recently read where frying chicken skins is becoming all the rage-I'm not quite there yet). No waste!! None, nada - I LOVE IT!!!