Happy Housiversary To ME

I realized that today is exactly 6 years since I signed the closing papers on my first home. I can clearly remember that day and the events leading up to it...
I was 22 when I decided that I should invest in a home and stop paying rent on an apartment. One Friday I drove by a cute little house and thought, "oh, I need one of those!" I called the number on the sign and a real estate agent answered. He said he had an offer already but had plenty of other cute houses he could show me. He invited me to a home buyers seminar on Sunday. I attended the seminar and talked with a broker and the agent. We crunched some numbers around and decided how much I could afford to spend on a house.
That evening I started looking at properly online and found my house.
It was 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, carport, nice older subdivision, plenty of room for kids and pets. :)
The next morning I walked into the broker's office, filled out an application, and was preapproved for a mortgage. I took my approval letter, walked to the car and called my agent. I told him that I wanted to look at this house I had seen listed with another agency. I had already driven by twice that day and it felt right. That was on Monday.
My agent showed me the house on a Tuesday afternoon. I liked what I saw and scheduled a home inspection for Thursday. Everything looked good so I put the offer in that same day. On Sunday evening my agent called me and said, "Congrats! You got it!"
This is what my house looked like the day I bought it:


So in only 9 days I went from, "Hey, maybe I should buy a house." to "Oh my gravy, I just bought a house!"
I had to wait nearly 2 months to close on the home so I could count my second job as income and get a lower interest rate (a part time job must be held for at least two years in order to qualify that income for loan purposes).

Buying my home was the best financial decision I have made. I took out a 30 year mortgage, but by paying extra on my mortgage, I should be mortgage free in the next 9 years. And that, my friends, is priceless!
I will take a new picture of my house as soon as the snow melts away so you can see the progress.

Watching and Waiting

Simon cat has enjoyed the snowy view today. He spent an entire hour sitting motionless on the window sill watching my feathered friends gorging themselves on bird seed. I have been feeding the birds of Shady Grove subdivision since I bought my house 6 years ago. Simon has been terrorizing those same birds since he adopted me on March 19, 2005.
Seeing Simon and the birds has taught me a few lessons:

1 - Be prepared. Have the knowledge, skills, and tools in place. Study your goal.
2 - Patience is the key to success.

3 - But don't wait to long or your oppurtunity will fly away.

4 - When the time is right, strike hard and fast. Hesitation means failure.

5 - Take only what you can handle. Going for two birds at once means no bird at all.

6 - Celebrate your success. Simon does this by decapitating the bird. I prefer a good chocolate

7 - Share the bounty. Simon leaves the poor headless creature on the front mat for me. I like to treat my friends and family with my time and profit.

Fresh Start

I have started a new blog and done away with the old one. I have copied a few of my favorite posts from the old blog so I wouldn't lose the things I wanted to keep. I PROMISE to do a better job of updating this blog. :)

Jar Toppers

As promised: How To Make A Jar Topper

I love making things, even though I am not very crafty. These jar toppers are simple to make and make your homemade jams just a little more special.

First you will need fabric. I bought mine at Wal-Mart as a remnant. I was able to get enough fabric for 12 or so toppers for about $1.50.
You will also need string, ribbon, or twine.
Find a rubber band or hair elastic to be an extra set of hands for this project.
Oh, and you will need your sewing scissors.

Cut your fabric to the size you want. Since my fabric was a pattern of squares, I didn't have to measure. I just followed the pattern and cut 6 by 6 squares.

Then fold your fabric in half and then half again. Then clip the raw corner to make it rounded.

Use your rubber band to secure the fabric over your jar and adjust until centered.

Tie the ribbon or twine around the top to secure the fabric in place. Add a decorative label tag if you like. I printed mine from http://www.domestifluff.com/
Roll the rubber band off the bottom and admire your pretty jar!

Jammin'

I recently started making jam. I had an old water bath canner from who knows where in my storage room and thought I would give it a try. I have now made several successful batches of jam. Wanna try?

The most important thing is to gather ALL the ingrediants and tools that you will need. Once things get rolling there isn't time to hunt for anything.


- A jar lifter is essential for picking up and moving hot jars as well as lowering them into the boiling water.
- The lid wand has a magnetic end and is used for picking up lids from the hot water and keeping them sterile. Lids should be kept in hot, but not boiling, water until ready to use. This helps to prepare the sealant on the jar lid to adhere to the jar as well as helps keep the lids clean.
- The measuring tool lets you easily measure the head space. Head space is the distance from the food level to the top of the jar. It is very important to have the correct head space when perserving food. I also use this to removed trapped air from the sides of my jars.
- The wide mouth funnel helps when packing the food into the jar. It is VERY IMPORTANT to keep the top and sides of the jars clean. Otherwise the lids will no seal properly.

You must start with clean jars. Place your clean jars into a boiling water bath for at least 10 minutes. I leave mine in until I am ready to pack them. You always want to pack hot jam into hot jars.

For this jam you will need:
3 pints of strawberries


1/2 tsp butter
If you don't know what a 1/2 tsp of butter looks like then I can't help ya :)

1 package of powered pectin (1.75 ounces)


7 cups of sugar



Wash, drain, and hull your berries. I use a food processer to crush mine, but if you like chunks of fruit in your jam then you can use a potato masher. You will need about 5 cups of crushed berries. Put these in a large, heavy bottomed pot on the stove. Add the butter and pectin.
Heat on high heat, stirring constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Add the sugar all at once. Contiue stirring until the mixture come to a full rolling boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim the foam off with a spoon.


Using the wide mouth funnel, pack the hot jam into your hot jars, leaving a 1/4 inch headspace. Be certain to wipe any drips of the tops and sides of your jars.

Using the lid wand, remove a lid from your hot (but not boiling) water and place it on the jar.

Screw a band to just hand tight on top of the jar and add to your boiling water bath. Continue until you have filled all jars.
Process the jars for 5 minutes in boiling water. Start timing ONLY after the water has returned to a full boil. The entire jar and lid must be under water. It is important to use a wire rack so keep the jars off the bottom of the bath so that water can circulate all the way around the jar.

Remove the jars from the bath and place right side up on a towel to cool for 24 hours. After 24 hours remove the bands and check the lid for a good seal. Push down on the middle of the lid. It shouldn't give. Try a gentle pull on the lid. It should not come off easily with your finers.
Save your bands and jars for reuse. DO NOT TRY TO REUSE YOUR LIDS. They are made for single use only and may not seal properly a second time. No need to sicken or kill your family for a 10 cent lid.
Enjoy your Strawberry Jam. This recipe makes about 10 half pints.

I plan on making cute jar toppers and labels for my jam. I will post a tutorial on that later on.

Back to School

As of today, I am officially a student of the UALR College of Engineering and Technology. I know what you are thinking...how many majors have you had now? BUT, this is the one I will finish. My manager at work wants me to do this program, and I want the money I will make after I finish this program, and I like the security that an engineering degree provides.

So I pulled out my trusty backpack and am filling it with school supplies. I know I am a nut, but I think school supplies are so much fun to buy. Those new pencils and notebooks just SCREAM with promise and ambition



I am VERY ashamed to show the current state of my desk in my home office, but maybe it will shame me into cleaning up this MESS. I think it is VERY important to have a clean desk to start the semester off right.



So if I seem a bit stressed the next few months, please forgive me. Between working full time, going to school nearly full time, and keeping a home, I might be a bit frazzled.

Certified Quality Auditor

On June 5, 2010 I took the 5 hour American Society for Quality Certified Quality Auditor Exam. As you can see from the nifty logo up top, I PASSED! I am pretty excited about earning my first ASQ certification. I am trying to decide if I should test for my Certified Quality Engineer exam in December, or wait for a year. Since I am going back to UALR in the fall to continue my Mechanical Engineering Degree, it may be better to wait. We shall see... But in the mean time, I PASSED! :)