Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Weekend Tidbits


The kids pretty much eat me out of house and home after school, so Friday morning I baked up some pumpkin pancakes using some of our favorite ingredients, and saved the rest for their after school snack.


I spent Friday cleaning the utility room, which is a "catch all" for everything and anything (we have no linen or coat closets, so just imagine).  Everything is stored in there - a cupboard for pantry items, a recycled kitchen cupboard for canned goods, cleaning supplies, all our coats and jackets (I have shower rods in between to cubbies to make a "closet"), soap supplies, crafting supplies, empty canning jars, school supplies, brooms, mop and sweeper, etc.  Things get out of control in there.


Hubby is working major overtime right now, so the girls and 
I put away all of the outdoor furniture.  



 (shallots cooking in organic butter)

Saturday was a gloomy, rainy day, so I took advantage of being indoors, and prepared for winter.  I mixed up a few batches of  homemade condensed cream of mushroom soup, and got those in the freezer.  Those will come in handy for meals.  We much prefer this over the canned stuff.

I also took advantage of the time Hubby was home.  He mounted shelves in my utility room, which free up a counter for moving in my crafting items. 



He also fixed my indoor clothesline.  Yay!  All ready for winter and rainy days now.  This is suitable for light weight items, but strong enough for kitchen towels.  

And before he left for work, he also re-mounted the hand-crank pencil sharpener.  He is so funny.  "Who uses these anymore?" he asked me.  Why we do.  The kids art pencils require one too.    Most likely Son will need it when he is partaking in his artwork, on any future time here at home as well.

All in all, we got a lot accomplished.  I still need to wiped down my washer and dryer, wipe down wood work, bleach the utility sink, and a few other things. 

Today however, I'm not sure I'll get Hubby's help with much.  He's got some car and truck repairs to work on.  I try to keep Sunday free of work, but will tackle one more cupboard under a sink.  Then I'm free to be free, and I've already finished the king size cat blanket.  




 My 17 year-old daughter picked up my library book and said, "you read the most boring books."

She has no idea.  I love these pioneer stories.  I do read a variety of books, but anyway...  I'm reading about how they tied their containers of cream to the wagons, and the motion of it traveling churned the most delicious butter for them.  At the end of a hard day of travel, they had something wonderful.

When I read that I remembered the trip home from South Carolina this summer, and the ride through the mountains.  Can you imagine how much butter our car would have churned with Hubby driving.  Ha ha ha!  

Well, today I woke up with a good story idea, so I must get it down on paper before my not yet caffeinated brain forgets it all.

10 comments:

Mama Pea said...

My daughter has a fascination with any "pioneer women" books, too. On our family reading night, which we manage only about once a month, she'll often read from the current one she has.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, family reading night sounds fun!

My Garden Diaries said...

You had me at those pancakes! Those look amazing! And I can only imagine how much you have to cook for all of your kids!! I grew up with a hand crank pencil sharpener right in the kitchen...best thing ever! I am trying to figure out where to place mine in our house! And I love that indoor clothes line!! Have a great week Kristina! Nicole xoxo

Michelle said...

You have more motivation then I do. I still have a quilt room that is yelling to be cleaned up.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Michele, although I got a lot done Friday and Saturday, Sunday was full of changes that prevented my "free" time. I hope to get some today.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Nicole, I put our pencil sharpener in my utility room, but then again that room is oddly built too. I almost put it under a kitchen cupboard.

RB said...

Our Dad was a route delivery milkman from the age of about 14 until he retired, only taking off work long enough to go to war (WW2) and another time for just one day when he had a terrible flu.
Sometimes he'd get out-of-date cream the dairy was getting ready to toss out, and he'd bring it home to make butter with it. I think we had a pretty engenious way of making butter from it. We'd scald out an old Miracle Whip jar (they were glass back then, would put the cream and a pinch of salt in it, then one of us would begin to shake it, and we'd sit down on the living room floor in front of the tv watching the Ed Sullivan Show on a Sunday night passing the jar around making butter. The little ones would get tired pretty quick, so it was up to us older ones to keep on shaking until we had butter.
It was cheap and worked great too.
Memories.

God bless.

RB
<><

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

RB, thank you for that nice story. I would love to make butter with our goat's milk next year.

Sam I Am...... said...

What a great productive day! I'm catching up with your posts as I have been working pretty hard around here too.

Beansieleigh said...

Oh, those pumpkin pancakes look delicious! I may have to try making them sometime! ~tina