Pioneer Woman at Heart

Youngest was out of school a few days ago, so I got her to help me put the sliders under my heavy dresser, so I could move it, clean and push it back.  What a job that was - one heavy son-of-a-gun dresser. I still have large items to move in the bedroom, but a few may have to wait until after Christmas and New Years.  I guess we'll see. Christmas trees and decor are going up.  Its looking mighty fine this year too.   I found several rolls of ribbon in one of my totes, so I decided to wrap all of my upper kitchen cupboards like this.  I would like to do it again next year in blue ribbon and white or silver bows. I'm waiting on lights for one tree, while we need another string of lights for another tree.  

Caramel Apple Salad 1 pkg. instant, organic butterscotch pudding 1 14-15 oz. can of organic crushed pineapple, with juice 1 cup organic mini-marshmallows 5 organic apples, peeling on, diced 1 container of organic whipped cream 1 cup organic salted roasted nuts, diced Dice the apples and all remaining ingredients, adding whipped cream last, by gently folding it in the mixture.  Chill and serve.

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom blogspot.  You are graced with two blog posts today due to inclement weather.  I just feel like being lazy today, but the show must go on. On the breakfast plate . . . Egg, bacon and cheese sandwich, coffee.  Lots of coffee. The weather . . . Raining like crazy, which is to turn to snow later this morning.  Cloudy, dreary, and a bit on the cold side. Thinking . . . ...that hunters shooting out back of our homestead stay off the property.  I hear shots going off already. Right now I am . . .   Waiting on the washer to quit, and getting ready to start on dishes. My reading pile . . .  More old writer magazines On my TV . . .  Movie rentals from the video store where one of our daughters is a Manager. On the menu this week . . . Leftovers.  Lots of good, tasty leftovers. On my to-do list . . . Laundry Dishes Put Christmas decor and trees up Move dresser an...

The eagles were out and about again yesterday morning.  The kids were even flying and later up in this same tree.  They were flying over our place looking for their next meal.  I'm waiting to clean my coop until this week - shotgun week starts.  I'm going to hope the eagles stay away while the hens are in the run, but I'll have to muck it quickly and put them back in. Sunday was a day of errands and delivering extra food, and what not.  I talked Hubby into cutting wood for a good hour before it turned dark.  Family borrowed the truck for 3 days and we didn't get it back until late Sunday.  Too late to haul our cut wood to the porch or barn, and now it's raining.  Hubby's back is sore from lifting furniture up onto sliders, so we cut our time short out at the barn rubble pile (but have enough wood to last a long, long time). I got Youngest with the hide-the-rat the other day.  She tried to get me by putting it under a kitchen towel....

I got more of these crocheted. Embroidered a kitchen towel for one kiddo for Christmas. The bald eagles were out and about again.  The are out and about this morning too. Thanksgiving meals are behind us now.  Time to get back to cleaning (utility room, bedroom), and get back to organizing the garage.  I'll be back to share a fruit salad recipe.  Not sure what Sunday will bring, as we are worn out from get-togethers, cleaning and cooking.  Family borrowed our truck to move, so it'll be an as-we-go day.  If the truck is returned, we may just get more wood cut.

We've been watching a family of 4 bald eagles out in a field by our homestead.  As long as the leave my barn cats and chickens alone, we are enjoying watching them. I made homemade seasoned salt for a recipe I needed it for yesterday.  It was better than store bought seasoned salt. I used my homemade onion powder and garlic powder to make it too. Homemade Seasoned Salt 2 Tbsp. salt 2 tsp. sugar 1/2 tsp. organic paprika 1/4 tsp. organic turmeric 1/4 tsp. homemade organic onion powder 1/4 tsp. homemade organic garlic powder 1/4 tsp. organic non-gmo corn starch Mix and use in any recipe.  

I made this punch for the Thanksgiving meal this year.  I'm sharing the recipe.  I wanted to jazz up the holiday, when it can be pretty hectic.  You know, put a few smiles on a few faces. Champagne Punch 2 bottles champagne (made with organic grapes), chilled 1 bottle organic white wine, chilled 2 cups organic orange juice, chilled 2 cups organic cranberry juice, chilled 1/4 cup freshly squeezed, organic lemon juice Mix and serve in a 1 gallon container or punch bowl, serve immediately  (yield-13 1/2 cups). We survived the Thanksgiving meal.  What a busy day, but we had a good crowd.  In the midst of it.  Several deer were out eating in the fields across the way, and we saw a bald eagle.   It's nice to wake up to a clean house, other than dirty dishes.

The holiday is closing in now.  It's time to step up and tidy up.  The overnight rolls were made and will be baked later today.  The ham will be cooked too.  There is a lot of turkey warnings going on, so I'm not even sure I'll eat turkey if it's brought here for the meal.   Check out these cuties!  More are getting made.  I made a few for the first upcoming craft show.  Hubby and Youngest love them.  I'll be working on more color options too. Oh my.  I have to share this, ha ha!  Hubby got his first hair cut from our Hair stylist-in-training.  He worked over, and got home late, but she was able to check out trimmers and sheers from her school. He was yelling through the house for me to come sit in the kitchen and watch.  I literally sat down and he told me to leave.  I pulled out my phone and filmed our daughter working away. He told me to leave again.  So I did.  Ha ha ha! A few minutes ...

We had 4 deer out by our garden the other night.  I'm pretty sure they were munching on the pears I tossed in the pasture.  We may see some drunk deer, ha ha!   I had lots to do Monday - major laundry (cold outside, wind at 1 mph, cloudy, so I had to use my dryer, sigh..), dusting, tidying up, more deep cleaning, and the other regular stuff like fetch wood, care for the hens, dogs, cats etc.  I needed to tidy up the study, and wipe down more cobwebs (just part of country living). I bought these to brighten up the kitchen on Thanksgiving day. Only $1.00 each. I made this for the kitchen to add a tiny more bit of homemade touch.  The dish was only $1.00. They are the new colors in my kitchen.  I'm just loving the new look now. It only took about 3-4 searches to locate my matching tablecloths.  Whew!  That job is done and ready for Thursday. Medicinal, restful - beam me up tea was brewed.  

Despite deep cleaning, I've managed to sign up for not one, but two craft shows in December.  And even though I've been doing so much organizing, purging and cleaning, I've managed to whip up these cuties . . . Scrap yarn Christmas ornaments.   I believe I got the pattern from a library book.  I'll post it if I can locate the book.  I apologize for the bad photo, it was pretty dark out and I turned on a pretty bright light. I'm also putting the finishing touches on the Starbucks ornaments, and wine cork keychains.   I've finished another washcloth and scrubbie set, and have another knitted dishcloth almost finished.  I would like to get a few more ornaments made before the shows too. Hubby is tickled pink to see the deep cleaning getting done.  I'm hoping it will motivate him to get started on other bigger projects that need done here too.  I finally got my antique rug beaters up on the wall.  We've actually used...

I apologize on not getting around to reading blogs, commenting, etc.  Two days of the internet issues slowed me down, so please be patient as I get time to do that.  By the way, it's day 3 of internet issues.  In the midst of it, I got a text alert that someone was trying to hack my microsoft account as well.  Hm.   Hubby immediately mentioned our internet provider.  Who knows, but I'll be on the phone again today, so my patience will need more coffee perhaps. I took the plunge and emptied this . . . My breakfast bar.  I just have to empty the drawers, but those will be done after the holidays.  I just needed it empty to move from the wall, wipe down cobwebs, clean wall, trim and carpet, which will happen later today.  School was closed due to weather.  It's an icy mess out there. I'm thinking I need to host here more often.  I'm cleaning things I haven't cleaned (yikes) in years.  Like the carpet under the larger fur...

I'm thankful for all the recipes I haven't tried yet.  The anticipation keeps me fired up, looking forward to something. I'm thankful for having Jesse with us.  He's been a blessing and he's getting much needed exercise on the homestead.  And of course he's a great watch dog. I'm thankful for anti-ill oil spray.  It's been killing off germs for us. I'm thankful for coffee.  Without it, I would be a bear to deal with, ha ha! I'm thankful for one daughter who has stepped up to the plate with helping out at get togethers.  She's bringing pie, cookies and other items to the meals, and I am so happy for that.  Woohoo to her helping out. Here's what's been going on at the homestead.  First off, our internet provider has caused us problems.   We cannot access the internet on the desktop computer, due to a problem they created, and most likely to force us to use their DNS server to track and sell our browsing history.  I have alread...

Although Saturday felt like I was running around, and not catching a break, I got some einkorn peanut butter cookies baked.  Recipe is online. Breakfast for the next few days will be einkorn blueberry pancakes.  I made a big batch while Youngest slept in. Man what a day yesterday - cold, cloudy, snowing etc.  The water in the chicken's watering unit froze.  There was just a lot to get done. I finished one handmade Christmas gift.  I may post photos, but I may need to wait until after the gifts are gifted too. Today's another run-around day, so I surely hope to get Monday off for once.  Things will just need to sit so I can catch my breath. I'm up early doing the usual homestead hustle.  I'm letting Hubby sleep in on his only day off.  It's 25°F, but no wind thankfully.

It's very rare to catch a close up of a star holding my camera (vs. using a tripod).  We saw a very bright star early this morning.  I thought I would share. The snow eventually turned to rain, then back to snow this morning.   I'll admit, as the wind died down, the slow falling snow was relaxing and pretty. I got a good laugh the night I made the rolls and chicken teriyaki.  You should have seen Hubby and Daughter packing food for the lunches the next day.  They talked and looked like carnivores, fighting over the leftovers.  Daughter never takes homemade food, but she did this time, ha ha! I promised one kiddo I'd deliver some of those yummy rolls, so I whipped up some spreadable butter to deliver too.  She was working, and I knew she'd want butter and pop one of those (or more) delicious nuggets of comfort into her mouth. I wanted to go to the big hardware store too, but could not.  There was an accident at the entrance, ...

Oh my.  Yesterday I had so much to do, a lot going on (windshield guy showed up and Jalopy Joe is back in action almost), and by noon I realized I had not made the teriyaki sauce.  Whoops.  I had laundry, carpets to clean, move furniture, spot clean carpets, dust, wipe woodwork, wash a few blankets, was my dirty rags, take a dog out (in, then out, in, then out...), dishes to wash, dry and put away, dinner prep and so forth.  I even got a a teeny tiny, itsy bitsy start at handmade Christmas gifts. I had to wait for my daughter to get home, to help move an antique desk into the living room.  It belonged to Hubby's Mom. We woke up to our first snow this morning.  At a chilly 33°F too.  Blowing and cold.  Old man Jesse couldn't hold his ol' bladder, so he woke us up at precisely 5:05am, which makes me wonder if his Mom will be able to do the same for him when she gets her new living arrangements come next summer. I made these ...

It's been one of those weeks, were we need to be here and there, and still somehow manage to get things knocked off the to-do list.  Today, the windshield folks are to arrive here and put a new one in.  They didn't arrive when I was told, so it was re-scheduled for today.  Crossing my fingers they get the job done and it doesn't rain. The new time change is for the birds.  Hubby leaves for work when it's pitch dark, and arrives home in the pitch dark.  I've managed to get a good load of wood each night before dark, so he doesn't have to do it after work.  So far, so good. Tiger (youngest daughter's cat) has been in heaven again.  Without Mia here, his anxiety is down and he's out and roaming the house again.  Poor thing.  Jesse has been great.  He's true farm dog.  Behaves well, roams the homestead on his own again (no sign of coyotes), and is a great watch dog.  Speaking of dog, I will need to buy Jesse a red battery ope...

  View of the larger garden, and raised beds looking south.  Pretty scary, and downright a frustrating mess.  These photos were taken a few months back. I "bit the bullet" and went out day after day ripping it all out.  Yeah, rain prevented us from winterizing the garden this fall.  I'm pretty frustrated, but what can you do?  Nothing.  That's what we can do.  Spring will be a very, very busy spring for us though.  Snow is in the forecast for the weekend, and Hubby is working overtime all week, including the weekend. I'm so happy the political ads are done.  I got so much junk mail this year.   We are past the funeral now, and continue to pray for "A's" family.  We are so emotionally drained, I can't even imagine what his family is going through right now. We had high winds yesterday, so I can thank the weather Gods for clearing all of the leaves off one of my porches.  The wind has died down today...

Homemade dry onion soup mix 1/4 cup  homemade, organic onion flakes 1/4 tsp.  homemade, organic onion powder 1/4 tsp. organic home dried parsley 1/8 tsp. organic celery seeds 1/8 tsp. organic paprika 1/8 tsp. organic ground pepper Mix together, and store in an airtight container.  1 serving.  I like to store this in my freezer if I make it ahead.  The onion powder will draw moisture if you do not.