Pioneer Woman at Heart

Woke up to 3 inches of snow.  Lovely.  I also woke up and asked myself what day it was, ha ha! Daughter K's car is still in the garage on a jack.  Hopefully it will be up and running by tonight.  They kept running into problems, and now she needs a new battery.   Since we are down one vehicle I had my Daughter K deliver the ornaments to the salon on her way to work. A hunter knocked on the door and said he shot a deer and wanted permission to walk the woods behind our homestead.  I told him yes.  Later in the day I saw them dragging their deer from way out back.  I locked up the dogs (only way to get out of the house without them getting out), and told them they could drive their truck out there and get the deer.  They are thankful. Their 4-wheeler would not start.  Nice guys, and thankful they were respectful to knock vs. trespass.  I'm glad they found their deer too.   Mom has been admitted into the hospital.  ...

It was a long, stressful weekend.  My husband and I got Daughter K's car home safely.  He used a trick his nephew taught him (vs. paying a tow or towing the car home).   The brake line on the front driver's side broke.  He and a friend of ours teamed up to work on it, but after a full day, and replacing both front lines, it was not repaired.  They kept running into more problems.  Now the brakes and rotors are getting replaced. The girls have no idea how lucky they are.  If she had to go to a garage, the cost of all of this would be well over $1,000.00. On top of that, Mom's car won't start.  It's the vehicle we transport her in to appointments.  My husband can't go look at it until next weekend. We are getting snow, and I'm not liking it, but it is November. I got my hair cut and a pampering hair treatment with Daughter E.  Funny story.  I gifted her a nail polish crocheted ornament and she put it up at her station at the salo...

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving day.  We literally stayed home the entire day.  It rained and was mostly a cloudy day. My husband made tacos, I made black bean dip, and he also made queso.  Daughter K had to work, so we did a lunch "thing."  Daughter  E came out and watched a movie with us and enjoyed some food.  Daughter T had a meal with her own family, and we never heard from the other 3 kids (yes we have six). Just for the record, we have never done this on Thanksgiving.  We've either had a meal with family elsewhere or had a traditional meal here.  I actually enjoyed doing this. While Daughter E was here, my husband changed her light bulb on her car.  One was out.   We have a busy weekend starting today, but hopefully not so busy it's "stir crazy." I finished the second sleeve to Daughter K's cardigan.  Guess what.  I put it up to the first one and guess who had to frog the entire first one? Yep. Sigh.... The ...

Wednesday was a day to take back my home.   Well, it was a good start anyway. The morning sunrise was so beautiful, before the sun came out. Keeping order to the house is tough when you live with an adult kids who (sorry gonna say it) is a slob.  Nicer words to describe her ....horrible housekeeping skills.   I'm going to have to be a daily enforcer of house rules if she wants to continue living here.  I can't stand messes, junk laying around, and whatnot. I put 3,000 steps on my fitbit by 10am.  I moved every tote I had downstairs to the upstairs, vacuumed sealed one camper pillow (need more bags for the rest), put away our travel bag, tossed some things out, started a box for donation, and put together two full boxes of stuff to take to Daughter E.  She's having a birthday party next month and I had a ton of stuff leftover from the graduation party we didn't have.  It's save her some money, and free up my space.  I totally forgot I had...

Something I learned . . . You can roast pie pumpkins whole!  I never thought of this until I saw it on the cooking channel. We have plans to do work over the long weekend.  Although I'll be cooking a few dishes for the family Thanksgiving, there is much to do around here.  Thankfully, the leak under my sink has been fixed. Our personal Thanksgiving meal will be tacos and black bean dip.  Seriously.  We are taking it easy, and do not want 3 big Thanksgiving meals. I decided not to bake the delicious rolls this year.  There is less food being brought, so I may be adding a third dish to my list. The camper is on the to-do list.  We would like to get one barn cleaned out and a cement slab poured, but not sure if we'll have the time.  The camper cover was not given to us.  They are telling us it had a rip in it, but I could have repaired it (so that is frustrating). My good friend from high school, her husband, one of their daughter's and the daug...

  We had a long and busy weekend.  One day I took Mom to one of her appointments (and forgot to bring chicken food home), one day Hubby worked and I worked outside, and we had a family Thanksgiving Sunday (my husband's side of the family).   I still had garden hoses that needed put away, garden stakes to put away, and other stuff.  I just couldn't get it done earlier with everything going on.  I got the camping coolers put away, dug out the leaf blower, because everyone was dragging leaves into the house. My mind has been a whirlwind lately.  I literally brewed a pot of coffee without putting grounds in the filter. Sorry for the lack of posts.  It's been a crazy schedule. I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  I will link up when she posts today. The weather . . . Sunday it rained all day long. Today it's 38°/25°F, Sunny How I am feeling this morning . . . Tired.  Woke up to dirty dishes in the sink and the dishwasher is nex...

The finished lap afghan for Mom.  Now I can focus on finishing Daughter K's cardigan.   Speaking of Mom, she has  5 appointments this week.  it's been stressful and a bit of a strain on life at home.  To take her, it's a 50 minute round trip, and some appointments last 1 1/2 hours. If I ever win the lottery, I'm going to create a charity that has transport vans and give free service to families at least once a week. Including shopping. Yesterday she wanted more boxes of tissues (her closet is bursting with them already).  I'm thankful I have a good friend from high school (who went through the same thing) to talk to, get advice, etc. It's been touch and go with her as well.  She has refused to be admitted to the hospital 3 times now (when the doctor insisted).  The other issue now is that the local EMS is using a bypass system.  The hospital closest to Mom can refuse EMS patients if the hospital had full capacity of covid patients and la...

We have a couple of Thanksgiving meals planned, and I'm working on what I'm going to make and take.  We are actually having a meal with my side of the family this year. Best and cheapest place (in store or online) place to buy Lion Brand 24/7 cotton yarn?  I'm currently looking at $4.99 a skein, but it'd be great to find it less than that.  I haven't been to our Wal-mart lately, so I haven't checked there in store yet. I baked us a loaf of banana bread.  Kitchen smelled so good. I found local pasture fed meat, and it is super close to the homestead.  I'm working up my order.  

  I was tickled pink to get a message with an order for 8 of my hand crocheted dish scrubbies the other day.  Shipping, however, has gone up again. (older photo) I have about 15 more rows to finish this lap afghan for Mom. Daughter E asked me to make her a handmade ornament for their salon.  I crocheted her a nail polish bottle. Did anyone see yesterday's cooking show on Create TV?  They baked a pork shoulder, bake a side dish with red cabbage (in the oven) and homemade BBQ sauce?  I can't remember what they called the red cabbage dish and cannot find the episode or recipe.  If you watched can you help me find it?  I was crocheting Mom's blanket and my husband got home.  I missed the end and missed the name of the dish and BBQ sauce.  I missed the names of the people cooking them, so I have no idea how to find it all.  I checked the TV schedule, and it won't go backwards, only forwards on the schedule.  I even tried searching the re...

We had our once a year craft show over the weekend.  It did poorly.  No one has the money to spend, or they just don't prefer homemade/handmade anymore.  I typically sell out of the dish scrubbies.  Not the case this time.  Most bought the $1.00 and $2.00 items or didn't buy anything.   Until our economy is in better shape I am pretty much out of business.  The cost of the space was higher, my cost to buy supplies is higher and it appeared more people were more interested in the china made stuff (jewelry, scentsy and things like that). I had more people soliciting their business to me, and I saw one woman writing notes after looking at stuff.  Possibly getting ideas from my own items to sell herself?  Sheesh.  I was so greatly disappointed. It didn't help that it was cold and snowing and there was football to watch at home either.  I had Daughter K helping, my husband helped for a bit after he got off work, then Daughter E came...

  Aurora was named after the colors of her coat.  She was so pretty.  She was a great hunter.  She was so friendly.  We will miss her so much.  She came with the house when we moved here 13 years ago.  The last people who lived here left her here.  We fed her daily, but she hunted mouse and rabbits.  She loved my husband, and spent many hours in his arms.

  I did something different this year.  I dehydrated my chives vs. freeze them.  I had a bit of trouble though.  I thought  dicing them up first would help dehydrate faster.  My dehydrator fan sort of blew them forward, but they did dry. I dug out this unfinished lapghan.  I took a completed one over to Mom's house.  It will keep her legs warm in her transport chair, however she loves it so much she wants another one for the house while she rests in her recliner.  I'll be working on this at the craft show. Why I have not thought of doing this, is beyond my mind.  I noticed that the paper filters at the store were pretty low, and I checked Amazon for a reusable one.  I bought one that said it would fit my coffee maker. We finally cut the last of a tree down and starting cutting it to move to the splitter.  It's finally time to fire up that wood stove soon.

I   've been grounded.  Our November adventure has been postponed until next year.  We simply have too much to get done, and my husband hasn't had a day off in literally weeks.  He's exhausted, and more exhausted knowing what we need to get done.  I'll just have something to look forward to next year. Sadly, we have not seen our barn cat Aurora in 4 days now.  I'll do another attempt to call for her, and look around, but there is not a day she does not come to the door to eat.  I know she is old, but she still had spunk.  We are all worried. I dug out all my handiwork, and am making sure items are packaged and priced.  My bedroom looks like a hurricane went through it, ha ha!  I told my husband, it'll all disappear soon, and hopefully in the way of a lot of sales. Made another apple crisp.  My daughter ate the last of the last one for breakfast, and I heard about it for days from my husband.  He's happy.

  I got a small amount of garden swiss chard blanched and froze. Blanched 2 heads of cauliflower and froze them. Blanched 2# of carrots and froze those too. Tried to catch up with laundry and washed kitchen towels. Did final touches on the ornaments, earrings and one necklace.

It's been sort of an overwhelming schedule.  I thought Mom having a visiting nurse would take the edge off us taking her to appointments, but that's not the case.  She still has appointments 2-3 times a week that require transport service, and she refuses to use the free transport service for seniors that is in her town. Yesterday I tag teamed with Daughter K.  Took Mom to the wound clinic and then took her shopping.  She refuses to use the electric carts (she's very stubborn), so it takes two of us to take her shopping.  One pushes her in a transport chair and one pushes the shopping cart.  Then we take her home and unload her purchases and put them away.  It was an hour and a half at the wound clinic, and I kid you not, 1 1/2 hours walking around Meijer.  I could tell she was thrilled to get out to shop, but we were exhausted.  I think we rounded the entire store three times, ha ha! Before that we have other stops she wants to do, and then ...

Beautiful sunrise and a morning visitor. We decided to put the trail camera out to know get proof of exactly what was tearing up the yard.  Mainly, to put my thoughts to rest on entering the barn (ha ha ha!), and not find any surprises (although we have a solar barn light that deters visitors at night).  Absolutely no activity.  I think they or he/she moved on.  I'll set the camera one more night and double check. I finally got my new fitbit watch to sync with my insurance program.  It was not a fun job.  Now I know why my Mom doesn't like technology and changes.  The watch they sent me could only be set up via a mobile device.  Sigh.  I could not sync it to my computer until I downloaded the fitbit app to my phone, signed in, and set up the device. My husband helped me do that, and yes, it will still track steps if it's in my pocket.  I am not wearing that thing on my wrist so they can monitor my heart and sleep and whatnot.  They ...

Breakfast for the next few days - crock pot steel cut oats with apples, raisins, walnuts, and cinnamon. I cut the recipe in half.  I'm sort of getting used to cooking for 3 people now. I took advantage of the beautiful weather, so I headed out to muck the coop.  Didn't happen.  This chicken herself, saw that the skunks did a lot of yard damage near the barn I get my straw from.  I was too chicken to go in the barn.  I messaged my husband (who got a chuckle out of this), and asked if he'd check out the barn tonight after work.  I know skunks generally sleep in dens during the day, but I saw one out during the day last week (up the road).  I didn't want any surprises in the barn.  Sigh. Update on a crock pot meal I recently made.  Didn't really follow a recipe, but tried cooking bone-in chicken thighs a different way. I sliced up some red skin potatoes and tossed them with 2 Tbsp. olive oil and 2 Tbsp. melted butter,5 cloves of minced garlic, p...

  I cut the entire 10 yards of green netting I bought, but now have a blister on my thumb from cutting so much netting.  I will need to raise my prices next year on handmade items.  My supplies have all gone up in price. My husband was not able to leave work early yesterday, so I have much to do today on my own.  It's going to be much nicer out today, so that will help. I worked a bit more on my Christmas ornaments.  I'll take them to the craft show this weekend.  I would love to keep one for our tree, but we'll see.  I will be sure to post a photo when they are all done. Bottle Cap Earrings I made. I'm making more for the craft show, but I still need to balance outside work with inside work.  Instructions on the ornaments can be found on my S.C.R.A.P. Blogspot. I went out to find something dug up the yard looking for grubs I assume.  I'm thinking either skunk or raccoon.  I guess we don't have to worry about army worms, but the rodents ...

  A friend shared this photo of our Meijer store the other day.  It is just like 2020 now.  Not sure if people are hoarding or if supplies are slow coming in. Photo from another friend (Meijer also, but another state) We woke up refreshed with the time change giving us an extra hour of sleep.  I however, hope the state stops doing this.  It's frustrating with the quicker darker evenings, and less work time. I went to Aldi's to stock up on quinoa.  It used to be $1.95 and it's now $2.75 (still cheaper than at the other stores).  I was shocked at the new organic items they are carrying.  I haven't been there in a while. A niece and her best friend are opening their own business - bakery/cafe.  I wish them well.  It's a tough time to be opening a business, with supplies high in price and the supply chains slow right now. Well, my husband had to work today (again).  We were both up early, so I could pack his breakfast, coffee etc. ...