Random Tidbits

It's beginning to look brighter, earlier in the days here.  Sunrises are pink and beautiful,and it does help with rising earlier now.  This cold winter has made me lazy in the mornings.  Happy Valentine's Day, by the way.  

Hubby had to fix the gas line on our daughter's car (18 yr.).  Luckily, it's was fixable without buying parts.  However, my car needs back brakes now.  Not sure when or how it'll get done (too cold to work outdoors, and with his hours).

I've been reading "sheet pan" dinner cookbooks from the library lately (when I have a few minutes).

Hot Pepper Pickled Eggs ~ Trial #2

I decided to make the second trial run, using Bragg's organic apple cider vinegar (vs. white organic/non-gmo vinegar).  I have access to it by the gallon, and white organic vinegar is not available in stores. And it more expensive by the gallon.  So...

Here is what I did for this jar of hot pepper pickled eggs.

Happy Homemaker Monday ~ Grab a beverage, snack or even a meal today - it's long.

I am taking the morning a bit slower today.  There is a reason for this too.  I know it's unusual, but trust me, things will be slow today.   I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a stay at home Mom.  

Hubby and I worked our bums off on Sunday.  We spent the morning cutting, splitting and stacking wood. It rained on us, so there was a layer of ice over the top of the snow, making it most difficult to walk in.  I woke up so exhausted, although we retired early.  I can't imagine how he feels today at his full time job today.  Especially, since I over slept, and never heard his alarm go off and slept through the time I typically get up and fire up the coffee pot, get his breakfast and lunch around etc.  I didn't even hear him leave this morning.

My teabag, after we came inside from wood cutting work.  Sort of funny if you ask me.

That's not all we did.  Or I should say I did.  I made a 5 gallon bucket of laundry detergent, so I could get right back to "busy" again today. 

Then I paid some bills.

I am sluggish and really want to go back to bed, but there is the possibility of an afternoon nap.  Maybe.  I am definitely taking the to-do list and delegating, and spreading it out all week.  Today's list is very short, just so I can recoup from yesterday.  Then again, my fitbit challenge is to walk 55,000 steps from the 12th to the 16th this week.  Which means 2 miles on the treadmill or it won't happen.

Plus, I woke up to a mess in my living room.  Zuri-raptor struck again.  This time she ate one of my baggies of radish seeds (why oh why??????) that I had germinating, then she had pulled trash from the trash and it was all over, and then (yes there is more), she some how got the bag of raffle tickets (for the fundraiser) off the top of my recipe boxes, which are at the back of a counter, and ripped them open almost ruining some of them. Why?????  That dog!  They both are the reason our butter is kept in a canning jar with a lid on it vs. a butter dish.  Irresponsible kids leave the dish too close the edge, and too many times the dogs ate the entire stick of very expensive organic butter. 


The weather. . . 

Goals

I've made great strides in my goals of self-sufficient meals, even though I have to purchase real lard at this point.

Breakfast the other day, happened to be one of those happy moments. 

I pulled blanched garden kale from the freezer.

The Crocheted Flower Cup/Mug Coaster Story

I used to participate, year long, with a local Farmer's Market.  We'd sell items every month, but as the years have gone by, kids have moved out, dairy goats were re-homed, and well, I got very very busy with my garden.  And we stopped making goat's milk soap.  I stopped selling jellies and jams.  However, I still crocheted and knitted.

At the beginning of our adventures, I wanted to have an item that filled a basket, and sold for $1.00 each.  I decided to make cup coasters with scraps of cotton yarn, and make them like flowers.

These sold every time we set up at the market.  Women loved them especially.  I was complimented on the colors and how fun they were to have.

The Best Soup Beans Ever ~ Holy Basil Question

I'm not from the south, and my husband has family that is from (and still lives) in the south.  I have been under pressure to get some real soup beans made, and I did. 

I'm back to share how I made mine.

They are what I call a "Home Grown Recipe" as it can be completely homegrown, other than the tiny bit of brown sugar I used.  Although I may attempt this with sorghum molasses in place of brown sugar, but Hubby may say "don't mess with this recipe!"  We have been growing pinto beans for a few years now, but we don't grow enough I think.  Anyway, here is how I made them, and Hubby absolutely raved over them.  I am pretty sure I got the "southern" part of it down right.

Donation Blanket ~ Lentil-Swiss Chard Soup

The fundraiser folks have asked for donations to auction off.  Hubby wants to make something from barn wood, and of course my donation will be crocheted.  We are strapped for cash, so we can't spend money to create either.

Like a crazy fool, I took on this project, and have been crocheting like a mad woman (putting all other  projects on hold).   This is how much of it I've been able to do in 4 days.  It's wider than the photo shows, but get the idea of how many rows it will take.  And colors.