Pioneer Woman at Heart

. . . pla yed around wi th a new "flower" dish scrubbie pattern.  I am making some to sell at the next Farmer's Market . . . . fini shed my 11 year-old's table t cover.  Finally. . . . started another p ot holder set, and dishcl oth.  These are my "to go" projects.  When I need to go somewhere, and I am not driving, these go with me. . . . got around to embellishi ng the crocheted cat bookmark . (Click here to see more from my S.C.R.A.P. Blogspot) . . . spray painted chalkboard paint on a clip board to make a sign for Farmer's Market.   . . . crocheted 1 rag rug for the master bath (sheets and pillow cases). . . . crocheted another bookmark for the store/market. The weather is hot and humid here.  I collected 70 pints of water in my dehumidifier.  We have been running it in our master bath, to help the the tile project dry completely.  Rain is in the forecast today, but you never know anymore. ...

There is nothing worse than waking up to screaming kids, or worse, reaching into the kitchen sink to be greeted by a big hairy wolf spider.  Do you like my spider trap?  I'm not sure if I saved my 11 year-old or saved myself from this hairy beast. Last night it was my 13 year-old who was screaming about a big scary garden spider, crawling up to the top of a door jam.  And yesterday, while weeding my herb garden, I was greeted by a baby, black and yellow orb weaver.  The rain has woken up the spiders here.   My son, aka the "Spider Man" pulled a joke on me.  He enjoys catching these hairy and scary beasts and releasing them outside (just so they can come back in again, ha ha ha!).  He does this with his bare hands.  Ewwww!  So, back to the story.  He walked towards me with his hand curled up and smiling.  He continued to approach me while I screamed bloody murder, and none of the kids came to my rescu...

Over the weekend, a thrift store was having a customer appreciation sale - 50% off store wide.  I got all of this (two bed sheets, 3 vintage tablecloths) for about $8.00 total.  The bedding will be saved for camping, and possibly a few of the tablecloths. 

I found this cute garden rooster, and it has a flower pot in it.  I admit, I didn't get very creative with the pot of flowers, but at least the grass in it looks like feathers.

We are very much enjoying roasted pecans on our salads lately, so I sta rted ma king my own (vs. buying them already roasted ).  Here, a 3.5 oz. bag of honey roasted pecans costs $3.99. 

Yesterday, while planting , watering and weeding, this li ttle guy cam e to visit me.  There is a small hole in my garden hose, a nd he came to get a drink.  I d o have a bird bath filled with water , but he chose the hose.  I'll have to do some research to find out if this is a he or a she.  I 'm still not getting a pristine photo, but working on it. Some things, like this bird visiting me, make all the a ll the hard work of self-sufficiency and good living hard labor wor th it.    Speaking of birds, a vulture came to visit us .  This time, he /she was right behind the goat bar n munching away.  I was just zo aming my lens , and then "SLAM" we nt the side door on the house.  Off went the vulture.  Hmpf.  Anyway, when the pasture was mowed, he ran over a large black water snake, and that was the vulture's meal.  He neve r did fly back for the rest . Y esterday, I manag ed to get 40 roma tomato plants in the g...

Rue, short for Rudy, does not like the early heat we are getting.  I took some scraps out to my daughter , to feed her goats, and saw her giving Rue a h air cut with her trimmers.  He was panting miserabl y. The lamancha goats han dle the heat better, unless they are babies, but generally the ir bre ed c an handle heat better.  Poor guy. Here is an update d photo of Primrose.  I had trouble getting a good pho to, as sh e thought my camera was food.  When I went in to her st all to get th e water bucket, that little stinker got out twice.  Good thin g she has a collar on her. Well, the joke is still on us .  No rain as of this morning.  Hmpf.  The w eather continues to for ecast th understo rms, yet we get nothing.  I did read that torna do type weather was coming our way around Tuesd ay.  They are forecasting storms around 2 pm today.  Shou ld I bel ieve them?  Hubby was so happy that he was not working ove...

....all within the last few days     . . . Hubby and son rigged up the dog kennel for the meat chicks, and the layer chicks are out side now (we got the kennel for free, covered the top , and sides with chicken w ire).  The barred rock la yers ar e finally outside.

Today, I am thankful for: ~for t he wonderful lilac aroma wafting throughout the outdoors (and which I brought indoors too). ~for God's guidan ce , and giving me the knowle dge to know how to cut back on my stress with gardening by do ing a little eve ry day vs. all of it in one long day, and leaving the dirty dishes for the kids and looking the other way .... giving me the strength to get up extra e arly to avoid the heat ...giving me a bo u n tiful garden ... ~for the color s that are re appe aring on the front porch.   ~for the spearmint in my garden and iced tea made with it. ~for the pounds I'll lose this summer with all this gard en/yard work to do. ~ for our dogs, who al erted us of a group of people on the highway (at 2:30 am) , who had some sort of drivin g mishap.   ~for Timmy, the barn cat who showed up on our porch a y ear or so ago.  And w ho always makes me smil e.  He plops wherever he wants, as if he has had the mo...

5 Random Things 1. I Got "Notered"  My 11 year- old often leaves me notes that are special.   We call it getting "notered ." She left me this one recently, in my inbox: "i love you mommy. anyway, you should take the day off and go return your shirt,wear it with your new skirt  and wear some new mother's day jewelry, the ones i bought you. by the way... I Love You! and just so you dont forget about me... i throw it on thee grownd!!!" It ma de me laugh .  Y ou see, when she went to camp, she told me how the "mailman" cam e to visit them a nd deliver letters we wrote .  Prior to camp, the teachers allowed us to write our kids letters, and they would be delivered.  Anyway, the mailman would come in and do a funny act while d eliv ering the mail.  He'd throw it on the g rou nd an d say "I throw it on theeee groo uuunnnnd!" enunciating it in a hilarious fa shion.  When she got home from cam p, she re-ena...

I inte nded to take "happy" snapshots of my day, but as work proceeded, I became cynical.  Maybe I already was.  I spent the early hours planting a half-flat of pur ple salvias, watering everything from vegetable garden , to flower g ard en, herb gard en and then pots.  I got more items out of the garden barn a nd so forth.  I had to drag about 300 feet of garden hose from one end of the proper ty to the other.  I know it's good exercise, but blah, blah, blah.  This may be where my cy ni c ism started.  I contin ued to dig out flower pots and put them in the places , all ready for more p lan ting. Put another one up and filled it wi th soil and flower seeds, and had a few happy thought s po p in my head (pretty f lowers ma ke me happy). But then I looked at the one end of my herb garden - weeds.  They are all over the herb gard en. More weeds.  This time it's grass in th e raised strawb erry beds.  This is w ha t ha...

My kids ( and I ) love to drink tea and coffee both.  But lately, they have gott en funky with both.  Mom se nt over some vanilla choc olate tru ffle teabags, and guess what my 16 year-old did? Sh e put that very same teabag into the coffee maker, along with the coffee grounds, and brewed it.  Not bad too. I wonder what else they wil l come up with , now th at m ost of my tea is restocked. Wh at would you call that any way ( brewing coffee with tea )? Coff-tea?  Tea-F ee?  Ha ha ha!  

Last night my son finished his drawing of our new farm logo.  It was a gift to me .  

You won't see a ph oto of it either.  I'm scarred for life ( as the kids tell me , w ith a hidden evil smile). I was on the south side porch, drinking from my water bottle and taking a look down ward at a smaller flow er bed.  I had already done some front yar d wee ding and planting, and even planted vegetables in the vegetable garden.  I had been wondering where to start ne xt (thinking to myself and n ot making any noise).  T he small flower bed was pretty haggard looking.  So , I stood and co ntemplated. To my left t he bathroom juts out from the house , and out of the corner of my eye, I could see black fluff moving acro ss the grass t o wards me.   It was within 8 -1 0 f eet of me. I screwe d my water cap back on, and was about to p e t Aurora, when I st e p ped in tha t direction, and scre amed.   I t had walked directly toward me, and stopped at ab out 8 feet (or less) fro m me. That black fluff was not Aurora our barn cat, ...