Time to Clean the Closets!

It was pouring BUCKETS today.  Seriously!  So, I decided to tackle a shelf in the closet.  And you know how it goes, once you start a project...  Anyway - after I took this photo I did another 3 LARGE totes.  Earlier this week I gave away 3 large garbage bags of towels, sheets, pillowcases, etc.  Then I dropped off another 3 large garbage bags of clothing to the Salvation Army.  Now - I am looking at probably another 3 big bags sitting on my sofa - all sorts of boys clothing that my son has outgrown.  He has cousins - so all his outgrown clothing goes to family first and what they don't want, they can donate.  
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But what I wanted to say... is before the cold/sick season descends upon us - now is a good time to go through your medicine cabinets and throw out the expired stuff.  You don't want to take/give your kids expired medicine.  I was a bit surprised at how old some of the stuff in my cabinet was - so into the trash it went.  I never knew that mouthwash had an expiration date!
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For the past few days it has been very windy.  I took advantage of paint drying weather to spray paint these old wrought iron chairs with white rustoleum paint.  There is 1 more chair and a little table too, but those were up on the back lawn.  These things are heavy - think cast iron frying pan super-sized into chair size.

These are funky, little chairs.  Not so big.  But they are decorative and I figure I might set them out in the back patio next year with some big pots of red geraniums around them.  
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And yesterday, you just knew it was going to rain because of the flurry of activity at the bird feeder!  I know a lot of people don't really like the bluejays, but I do!

Also this week, I finally got a chance to use all my frozen blackberries from this summer.  One of my neighbors picks buckets of them every summer and I always end up buying a ton of them.  One summer I wasn't home and my husband told him I already had enough, so he chased me down in the grocery store parking lot and sold them to me there!  I told my husband - from now on, just buy the berries.  Goodness, the man must be in his 90's and if he has the gumption to pick them, I will buy them.  No time to can in the summer, so I just pop them all in the deep freeze until fall and then I am very happy to have a whole bunch...  This week I went down to a friends house and we canned together.  Here is a photo of part of what I brought - the blackberry juice is in the juice container and I thought this was the perfect way to get it across town without spilling it!

We made blackberry/apple jelly, raspberry jelly and apple butter.  Her husband got a doe so we put up all that meat for her deep freeze too.  It makes the work go faster when you have a friend to visit with!  Since then, he also got a buck and she told me today on the phone that she already has that meat put up too (we live in an area where you are allowed 2 deer per season).  She did beets this week, but I didn't have a chance to go back as I have been very busy in my own neck of the woods!  Basically, around here, everyone is busy with fall canning, putting in the outdoor furniture, doing the final mowings of the season and stuff like that.  I always like this time of year!