Writing Books - and Getting Published

 

On my nephew's wish list is a book kit where you write your own story and send it in and it comes back in published form. I recalled these small journals that Amy over at Angry Chicken makes for her family all the time and decided I had all the materials  to make two for him.

She even made one of her fabulous videos:

I used to do custom picture framing so for my outsides of the book, I used mat board but I think you could also use some cereal box cardboard (two sheets glued or taped together). I used my UPS box knife to cut the mat board just bigger than my paper.
For my book,  I used four sheets of paper, folded in half. I cut the mat board in half, applied the duct tape and stapled the papers in. I now have a long-arm stapler on my wish list.

When you use Amy's trick of opening up your small stapler and stapling into a rubber eraser, you have to push down the prongs before you can go onto the next staple. Tiresome.

This project took me about one hour to complete. It would have been less if I could have found my decorative tapes. I thought this would be the perfect  project to use them on but could I find them?   Twenty  minutes of pulling drawers out, pushing them back in, pulling them out again;  boxes rummaged through to no avail.
Along the way, I found some small envelopes to tape inside the back cover. For whatever.

Nearly everyone has duct tape, 1  ply cardboard (cereal boxes glued together make 2 ply. My mat board is 4-ply (heavier yet), computer paper, a pen and a rubber band.

After work tomorrow, I plan on driving to Michael's to see if they have one of those book kits. I researched amazon.com and saw this one. 

If the price range is near my budget, then I  will go ahead and get it. If it's not, then I can come up with something else to go with these handmade journals.

CAN YOU SEE THE FOG?

Tomatoes Before The Frost

It's beginning.
We just had a couple of nights where it dipped below 40'.
I made my husband happy by canning the last tomatoes.

Over the years, in my indescribably busy life, I have figured out how to can and not go crazy.
First of all, canning your own food can quickly become expensive. The jar lids are 2 or 3 bucks/dozen, then the electricity cost. Finally - what's your time worth?
My tricks are to grow the right product, know what you like and make it simple & quick.
These are just stewed tomatoes - same as the ones in a can (sans chemicals).
I can in pints - 2 cups is a nice recipe measurement.

First?-- get everything ready: Water in the canner simmering, jars sterilized in dishwasher then waiting in hot water on back of stove with lids, pan for boiling water bath - the bath helps slip those pesky skins off nice & easy.

Drop tomatoes into bath for 30 -45 seconds. Use paring knife to either take top core out or slice off top (romas), usually the skin slips right off here, but the knife is helpful for the stubborn ones.
I slice them into big chunks.

Into each jar; one Tablespoon of lemon juice to help the acidity level and then I carefully cram tomatoes into the jar. I wipe off the top of the jar, place a lid on, then the Screw top and place it in canner to stay hot until the canner is full.

The jars gently boil in my water canner for the specified Ball Blue Book time and voila, canned tomatoes to add to soup, lasagna, or marinara sauce.

Roma tomatoes remain my favorite because they speed up the prep time amazingly. Next fave is Early Girl, a nice meaty medium size tomato with a few seeds.

The point of this? People get way too finicky and fanatical about their canning - to the point - it's too much work to can every year.
My system means I have enough canned tomatoes for two years (hint!) and it's fast. Not to mention healthier.

Not to mention that smug feeling of satisfaction when I open the cupboard doors and see the array of food put away for a rainy day.