Pioneer Woman at Heart

Tiger loves to hang out on my writing chair, but sin ce I' ve been using it more often, he' s found another location - in front of the corn /pellet burner. I keep a clothing rack in fro nt of my corn/p ellet burner, to dry clothes, when I cannot hang them outs ide, or when they d on't dry completely ( after being outside) .  Tiger loves to stay warm there.  I'm down to the last 10 ro ws or so, and adding the fringe, on my knitted shawl.    Although I found "In Defen se of Food" interesting, I am enjoying this book more.  This book explains the cont ent and benefit s of s pecific foods that folks should be in cluding in their diet more.  G rowing u p, I can't remember being served b russe l s prouts , Kale, or Swiss Chard.  We have started growing th ese in our garden, but there are so many ot her foods we should be eating too.  Watch out kids , Mom's adding more vegetables! Tonights frugal dinner - Ham Bone Soup and h omemad...

It's that time again, where we have to "pinch" pennies to keep the bills paid.  It happens when the income is reduced.  This means meals without going to the store.  For a differe nt lu nch, I took leftover turkey, added home canned zucchini re lish ( a bit of spice to it), and some lite safflower mayo .  I grilled it bet ween 2 slices of bread , in o live oil. Yum!  The relish a dds just enough fla vor too.

Most are made from leftover yarn from other projects.  These are being shipped to New Jersey , for fol ks in need. I had a mo ment the other day.  I was complain ing about clea ning my bathroom, and here there are folks on the East coast that don't even have a house at all.  Shame o n me. Th ese scarves will h elp a few more fol ks this winter.

. . . unloaded one truck full o f s plit wood and s tacked it on the porch, sp lit another load and sta cked it in the wood barn.  Hubby and son dro ve to s plit and load anot her load, and we helped uploa d and stack.  . . . got our first snow on Friday, and a light dusting on Saturday.  The weather went from 60's on Thursdays to the 30's on Friday. . . . spro uting another jar of mung beans to feed to t he chickens.  They love them, an d we a re getting an amp le a mount of eggs.

I borrowed my Farmer's Mar ket basket to hold a c u rrent knitting project , but one of the cat's had another idea. See her (Mattie) all curled up on top of the knitt ed blo cks in side t he basket ?  I guess that means the blan ket will be nice an d cozy when it's fin ished. H a ha ha!

If you follow my blog, you probably already know I detest Black Friday .  I detest the overload of wa sted paper stuffed into my Thursday newspaper.  I detest t he stores attempt to lure in the craziest people, and today, you are liable to get shot while sh opping on "black Friday." "Look h oney!" he laughs throwing the entire ton of store flye r s at me , "look at all those black Friday deals !!" Literally, the flyers weigh ed down a sink hole in my bed.  I was trying to crochet and rest before retiri ng, and he has to do that to me ? (He laughed , and laughed) The rest of the night, wh ile si pping our loose leaf organic sleep tea, and attempting to relax with a g ood TV show, we were bombarded with blu rps of black Friday songs , commercials and more commercials - blech!   What a way to r uin the night , I though t. During e very commerical, I'd look at hubby.  He'd be smirking and holding back a chuckle. I could not sleep af...

U p early, to start the cooking, I gla nced o utside to see the most beautiful sunrise.   While taking a few photos, I not iced a jet flying right through the clou ds.  Imag ine what those passe ngers saw in their wind ow.  Gorg eous .   I put to gether a cute clothespin ornament over at S.C.R.A.P.   I hope to have a few more before the special day arrives.  Yesterday, while crocheting in my reading chair, I glanced out to see two cardinals in the evergreen tree.  By the time I got out there, I only got this one photo .  They wer e sin ging and flying around together. However, while I was out there, I noticed the lack of highway tra ffic, and the absolute peace and qui et.  Although I won't be able to drive south on the high way (due to the next little town hooking up to city water and s ewer and roads c lo sed) without a de tour, I will enjoy thi s quiet time.  Every day, cars, trucks, and semi'...

I t's a bad photo, but you can see the len gth of my hair.  I have not gotten it cut at a sal on for two years.  Why? I simply put it off , due to expenses for the kids, school costs, car repairs, and house hold exp enses and repairs.  Basically, I put myself last.  It's a bad habit. I think my kids get one once a year, and then I try to trim their ha ir myself.  With such a large family, haircuts are not that often around here. So ....toda y's the day.  I will do nate the hair, as I have done before, if I have enough to cut off. If I get the chance, I'll h ave a photo take n of the length after it's cut , and update it here. To day, I'll be r oas ting the Thank sgiving turkey a day in advance, baking a pumpkin pie and writing.  I hope to write all afternoon today. Have a Happy and P eaceful Thanksgiving!    

S imply Scrap ~ Scrap Happy Moments ....taking those , somewhat larger scraps of yarn, and putting them to good use. These will be shipped to New Jersey f or those in need.   Thanks to my son an d telling me he saw clumps in t he chicken fee d, we immediately got rid o f it (too late to return it), and started giving the hens apple cider vine gar.  We may still lose one hen, but thank go odness he notice d s omething wro ng with the feed (wor ms, most li kely came off the truck that way). UPDATE:  The hen died. :( T he kids are helping me finish up a few ornaments to put up on my S.C.R.A.P. blog .  My 16 year-o ld put the eyes, nose and buttons on the one I poste d today.   Is it worth it?  You know....those crochet proj e cts you want to sell, but take 3 days to make?  The se ornam e nts take about 2 days to finish ( considering my chores I do in a day), and one day to block.  I'm not sure these are pru d...

To keep tabs on my organizing, I am putting limits on them now - one crate for recycled items that can be used for other uses , school projects and so forth. I am limiting the h eight of how many maga zines we keep for school pr ojects and journal ing. It's easy to think we need to run out and buy the next best organizing unit, but I try to use what we have.  Organi zing can become expensive if you don't watch yourself.  I'm organiz ing my sewing supplies in recycled pill bottles.  Take a look over at S.C.R.A.P. to see how nice it's t urning out.      

This Way of Life  Reflections of 800 country women who express a speical philosophy that comes from down-to-earth living. A Countryside L iving Book Complied and Edited by Maude L ong well   One person writes about the school bus being a "monster ."  That one really made me laugh. I was surprised to see my 10 year -old making coffee this m orning.  She not only se t the pot to brew, but poured me a a special cup , in my special cup. The cup was bought at a village , where the school took a fi eld trip.  They have de monstrations for gl ass blowing, basket wea ving etc. She added peppermin t m ocha creamer and topped i t with whipped cream !  Mmmmm!  I just may have to ma ke a second pot of coffee after they are off to school (tee hee!).  Don't worry, we switched to half-caff coffee recently.  S o that means I can have twice the amou nt, right? (ha ha ha!) There were a few reque sts to se e more of my key c hain...