December went to hell in a hand basket

     December 4th we hear our car/brakes making a squeaking sound, so we call the next morning and get it in to get checked out. The rotors aren't gripping properly or some such nonsense and the vibrating is causing the sound. So nearly $250 and one day later we picked up the car.
     December 8th. The garage door is broken, won't close and my husband has to work until after Lowes is closed. I was able to make it close, but I knew as soon as it was opened again the problem would return. He was able to leave work long enough to get supplies and then fixed it after work. it was only meant to be a temporary fix until we could get a new door, but then the next day happened.
     December 9th. I was headed to the Hot Chocolate 15K/5K race expo to pick up my race packet. I went to make a stop and wait until it was my turn to make a right turn. Unfortunately my car had other ideas. I hadn't driven since the brakes were worked on and it didn't stop the same. That led to an accident and the passenger of the other car instantly got out and start yelling at me like I had done it on purpose. My 3 year old was in the car with me, but with the low speed everybody was fine. My front end crumpled like a wet sack, so I instantly knew it wasn't driveable. I called my husband at work to pick us up. Police were called, information exchanged, and then we sat and waited for the tow truck. After the police and other car left, I pretty much lost it. Lots of crying, pretty much for an entire hour. I've been in 6 accidents, but this was the first one where my insurance was listing me as "at fault." As soon as the Civic was dropped off, we went and got the rental and my hubby drove me to pick up my packet.
     Fast forward a week and I find out my 6 year old car has almost $6000 in damage and they are writing it off as a total loss. When we got the car it had 16 miles on it and it had just overy 91,000 on it at the time of the accident. Fresh tank of gas and relatively new tires.
     We start looking at options for a second car. The FIL has a free car, but it's in Michigan and not something we could get to for at least a month. So I start searching for used cars. I found one that was everything we needed and for a really great price.
     After nearly two weeks, a ton of phone calls, and some drama we got our Pilot. Thanks to the settlement from the Civic, we were able to put $3000 down and reduce our payments.
     Holidays were great though and I got to see my bestie when she was in town from New York. I hadn't seen her in two years. I really need to get up there and visit her, it's just not feasible right now.
     I'm so glad 2016 is over, but I'm also worried about what will happen in the future.

EEG

     My youngest finally got his EEG on November 18th. He had to fall asleep which I was worried about, but daddy held him and he was asleep in just a few minutes. He wasn't particularly happy when we had to wake him up for the last part of the test.
     Fast forward to November 28th and we got the results. Everything was noreal and no sign of seizure activity. It was such a relief. One less hurdle to get our little man over.
     We will be getting him into all of the recommended therapies starting early next year. Our insurance is switching over, so there is no point in going through all the start up and paperwork just to have to change it over in 2 months.
     He has continued to eat better. He had started eating pears and pistachios. Still trying to get him to eat more forms of protein and vegetables, but he is making improvements.
     Sleep is a little iffy. More often than not, he wakes up in the middle of the night and crawls into our bed. Goes right back to sleep, but just enough to wake us up. He likes to take up my side of the bed, so I wake up in pain a lot. Hopefully we can turn it around but for now I'm so exhausted all the time that I don't feel like handling it.
     Well that's all the news for now, got a busy day ahead of prepping salad in a jar. Great way to have a healthy lunch ready to grab, but they do take some work. But that's a post for another day!

Last canning of the season

     To finish off the last of the jalapeños that my parents grew I made some pepper jelly. I made two different batches. One was all green bell peppers and jalapeños and the second had red bell peppers and a jalapeño or two that had turned red.
     The first batch was runny so I ended up having to fix it, but the second batch turned out great.  

      This was the first batch that I fixed up. It is perfect now!

     This was the second batch that turned out just right the first time!

     I've never actually had pepper jelly so I had my family try it and they said it tastes good/just ad it should. I was glad to hear it turned out right for a first try. 

     The recipe was in the booklet that came with my FreshTech jam&jelly maker. It is also online at:  http://www.freshpreserving.com/pepper-jelly-%7C-pepper-jelly-recipe---ball-fresh-preserving-br1308.html

    I'll have a new post soon about our trip to the pumpkin patch. We're carving tomorrow, so it'll probably be Thursday or Friday.

Officially diagnosed

     My youngest finally got in for his tests back at the end of September to see if/where he is on the spectrum. He was diagnosed with a moderate level of autism, but with a prognosis that improvement is likely with therapy.

     I expected to be emotional after the appointment. I just didn't know if it would be hopeful or sorrow. It wasn't a surprise that he is, in fact, on the spectrum. My biggest fear was that he'd always be nonverbal and I'd never get to hear him say "Mommy I love you!" This appointment gave our family both a plan and hope.

     Right now the plan is to get an EEG, a hearing test, a vision test, and to start dental visits. The dentist isn't part of his therapy it's just time. They recommended a genetic test as well. We are going to see about getting him into speech therapy and possibly an eating group to improve the range of foods he will eat. 

     He's been thriving at school. Sleeping better. Not necessarily eating better, but eating more. He does seem willing to try more new foods. Recently he ate ground beef, an apple with the peel on, and a pear. He actually points at something when he wants it, where he used to excitedly wave his arms in the items direction. He also seems to be making more purposeful sounds as opposed to just noise. Like he is trying to say actual words instead of just monotone sounds. He has even started giving hugs and kisses!

     For now we just get him all the help he needs and hopefully before long I'll finally get to hear his voice. Hopefully he'll finally be able to get out of his own head and tell us what he's feeling, what's he's thinking, what makes him happy, what makes him sad. 

     Hope. It's what we needed, and it's what we have. Even if it's all we have for now. We will get through this together.

CordaRoy's corduroy beanbag chair-full sleeper

     My husband recently started the program for his master's degree, and he set his computer up on a low table in our bedroom. He can close the door and get work done, but sitting on the floor was uncomfortable to say the least. He knew he was going to have to go the beanbag route because a chair would be too high. We checked out tons of brands over several weeks when I came across the one we ultimately chose.
     I read lots of reviews talking about how the company really stands by its product and if the beanbag isn't fluffy to your standards they send more fluff, free of charge. So few companies do this, so I knew we had a winner.
     There are so many great positives to this chair. The best being the inside is actually a full size sleeper. The whole thing is machine washable  (though I'm not sure how you'd fit the inside inside a standard washing machine.) There are a few different sizes and fabrics for the cover. Lots of colors and patterns to choose from. There is something for everybody.

      Comes packed in a surprisingly compact box considering how big this thing gets. Around 20"x20" and fluffs up to over 40" wide.

     Some details about what is covered under warranty should an issue arise. We chose the corduroy to help prevent certain issues. We have a cat who scratches everything but his scratching posts.

      This was before it reached full fluffiness, but it is obviously still pretty large.

     This was the cat I mentioned earlier. So far no scratching *fingers crossed*

     Couldn't get the whole measurement in the picture because it was just too big. 

     So far the beanbag chair is working pretty well. He can sit and be supported while doing stuff for school. All of the kids and animals love it, so I'd say it's a win/win! Definitely recommend this chair to anybody who is looking.

Compost tumbler and canning jars!

     I've had a certain compost tumbler on my amazon wish list for at least 6 months and the reviews were great, but the price was hoverify between $90-$100. I checked my list and it was on sale for $67 and some change. I hopped on that right away and I'm super excited. The instructions weren't great, but luckily it was pretty easy to figure out with the help of a YouTube video I searched for. It is the yimby brand and I've already put egg shells, coffee grounds, apple peels and cores, a paper egg carton, and a whole bunch of other stuff in it.

     In addition to the sale on the tumbler ball jars were also on sale (on amazon as well.) I got 12 half pint, 12 pints, and 12 quart for around $26. If I'd been thinking I would have used my gift card and gotten $5 off. 

     I bought some more Jonathan apples and turned the caramel apple jam I made before into a recipe for pie filling. It looks good and I'll get to see how it turned out later this fall.

Lots more canning to finish off the summer

                               From this:

To this: 

In just about 4 hours. 

     First I cut an "x" into the bottom of each tomato and put them one at a time into boiling water. After about a minute to a minute and a half I moved them into an ice bath. I peeled them and then cored them with my handy dandy tomato corer (made it much faster!) I cut them into quarters and pureed them in my ninja blender. 

   

    I moved them to my big old stock pot, added my ball pasta sauce spice mix, and brought it to a boil. I reduced the temp to a simmer on medium in order to reduce the liquid. I'm not sure exactly how long I ended up on the stove for, but it was at least an hour. 

    I them put them into warm quart jars and processed them for 65 minutes in my electric water bath canner. I feel like the sauce could/should have been reduced a little more (probably at least another 30 minutes) but overall I'm satisfied. I can doctor it up a little bit when I actually cook dinner with it. Maybe add a little tomato paste and a bit more spices.

     Back in June I made some pickles and they were a big hit, so I wanted to get a whole bunch more made for the winter. I made 4 pint jars of bread and butter pickles and over 20 quarts of dill pickles. Most if them were slices but I made some spears as well.

     A couple of weekends ago I went to the local pick your own place and picked 20 pounds of Jonathan apples. It was way more than I intended to get, but I quickly had 3 ways to use them all up. I decided to make caramel apple jam: http://www.alattewithotta.com/2013/09/carmel-apple-jam-in-ball-freshtech-jam.html?m=1

Applesauce: http://www.freshpreserving.com/applesauce-recipe-%7C-how-to-make-applesauce---ball-fresh-preserving-br1126.html

And Apple butter: http://kristagilbert.com/amish-crock-pot-apple-butter/
     With the apple butter I ended up having to reduce the liquid in the oven at 250-300 for about an hour. Next time I will just remove some liquid before pureeing the apples. I also altered the caramel apple jam recipe by prepping the apples in lemon juice and water before hand and adding 3 tablespoons of lemon juice to the actual recipe as it was cooking.

     I am going back to pick some Granny Smith apples in October. I'll be using them to make apple pie filling, but canning season is winding down for now. I've made a lot of new recipes this summer and the results have been pretty good so far!