You may remember me telling you last year about Laura and I making and canning great quantities of applesauce, apple butter, and pear sauce. This year, we're getting a little more ambitious. From my Grandpa's garden, Laura took tomatoes, bell peppers and jalapenos and made salsa; from my uncle's garden, we took cucumbers and made pickles.



The jar on the right contains Polish dill pickles, to which we also added garlic and red pepper flakes to standard pickles. They're going to be delicious.

We also love to make tiny pies. Here are chocolate pudding pies with a Drambuie ganache layer at the bottom, and meringue on top.



They're like pies for babies!

A couple weeks ago, Sarah bought a mess of dresses at JC Penney that had been significantly reduced in price because of cascading clearances. That, plus Laura's employee discount, allowed Sarah to make quite the haul. Check it out:


Original Price: $50.00
We Paid: $6.38


Original Price: $70.00
We Paid: $9.58


Original Price: $70.00
We Paid: $9.58


Original Price: $90.00
We Paid: $4.31


Original Price: $200.00
We Paid: $4.46
(Sarah was unsure about this dress. We told her that when you can buy a two hundred dollar dress for less than five bucks, you grab that dress by the points and you don't let go.)

I also bought a pair of jeans; original price: $54.00, we paid: $6.38.

Original Price, In Total: $534.00
We Paid, In Total: $44.01
Total Savings: $408.70