Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I had overly ripe bananas, so banana bread was baked with some mini chocolate chips in it.  Good thing I did too, as Daughter E stopped out and was hungry. I created a watermelon ornament for a future craft show, and decided to make lemon and orange slices too.  I am also wondering how many to make? I created this key hair clip per a special request.  She is a real estate agent, and I think it turned out super cute. We are starting to get very cool nights now.  I'm so far behind in putting the garden to bed for the winter.  I feel like we are being slammed with all sorts of things that need fixed, repaired, lack of supplies in stores, expensive parts.....stress at my husband's work....sigh.... On another note, I am still filling boxes to move the living room items to other rooms.  In the process I am filling boxes for donations as well.

  I made 2 batches of green onion pesto, and froze it for winter.  I took advantage of the herb garden before winter weather takes over it. I also froze, what may be the last, of the bell peppers in the vegetable garden.  I most likely will be pulling those plants soon.

  I'm still freezing jalapenos.  I got one tray done yesterday, but got very side tracked.  I had our handy man here working on the camper water heater, Daughter K was coming over to pick up some things, and I spent most of the day emptying out our breakfast bar (in the living room).  I was thankful Daughter K came over with her boyfriend.  They took a few things off my hands that we did not need/use.   The Florida weather situation, has our weather wacky.  Yesterday we had a sudden rain storm, that came with hail.  Praying for all in Florida right now, as we have family in FL, and in GA. I think I am the only one I've talked to, that has refrained from turning on the heat.  It's definitely been chilly at night. I feel like this is the time of year where so much needs to be done, but I think it's because we have to do the repairs as well.  I still have a still of "stock it up" to check off in all the midst of everything else. In cle...

  A new to me (used) cookbook, because I clearly only know how to cook for an army.  Hope it helps teach me to small batch cook.  I am so used to cooking largely, that we get way too many leftovers. Tomato plants and stakes are all out and stored.  I have more to yank in other areas, but wanted to get some more work done in the living room. I emptied and moved a bookshelf out of the living room, to another room for now.  That job took some time.  I had to make a breakfast as well, which ended up being French toast, sausage patties and scrambled eggs.  We should be good for a few days.  I had to pre-set the coffee, and pack my husband's meals and fruit.  He's still getting up very early. I found out our local school is taking donations for a fundraiser.  I have boxes of stuff that can go (rummage donations), and I have someone coming to pick up 3 serving trays I no longer use.  So happy to get more out, but more furniture needs moved...

  It's been a bit rough at our homestead.  My husband has not been sleeping well.  The plant is shut down, and calls keep coming in.  Thank you for all your prayers for these two young men.  If I remember correctly, one brother was 32 and the other 34.  Both had children, both married, and the wife to the younger brother is pregnant and due in May of next year.  Now I am not sleeping well either, as my husband will be working there until retirement. It's been raining, and more rain, wind and cold weather today.  We joked about me going out to work in the garden, but both retracted quickly when I reminded him of my boots getting stuck in the mud.  Putting the garden to bed has once again been halted. Not enough jalapenos for cowboy candy and not enough of a mix of the other hot peppers for jelly.  Hm.  I know I will freeze some and some will be included in the menu this week.

  I got some more dandelion greens blanched and froze for winter. Blanched and froze more asparagus. Yesterday was a bit rough all around.  First, there hasn't been a death at the refinery in 100 years until yesterday.  Two, the two men that died were brothers.  Fundraisers are being set up.  I only know that one was young with a wife and new born baby.  Thank you for all of  your prayers.

The refinery my husband works at had an explosion last night and two (last I was updated) were badly burned.  Please send prayers, although I do not have names. Update:  The two people died from their injuries. I have been distraught since we heard about this.  My husband has been working a supervisor position with lots of over time lately.  If you haven't watched the movie Deepwater Horizon, you really should.  Then you would understand why I stay busy when he is at work, to keep the worry bugs away.   Speaking of busy, I had a special request for a hair clip, so I'm working on that between everything else.   Daughter K showed up late, but showed up.  Her stuff is out of the living room, and she also helped me out by taking a small table. She always has stories to share and gives us the giggles and shares interesting stories. Her latest one was saving baby birds.  She literally had to hide them at her work place.  I guess...

The weekend went way too fast, and Monday snuck up on us fast.  Rain moved in, so I have been inside working on the to-do list.   Sunday we purposely got porch therapy.  I was thrilled to get crochet time to work in this scarf.  I love this new stitch. We have had hot weather, and foggy mornings.  We are back to the 90's again today.  Crazy, but good for the loofah plant, and the peppers I left in the garden. We are hoping our smaller AC unit lasts until this heat ends.  It's on the fritz.  It sounds like it will just fizzle out any day.  The lawn mower is also on the fritz.  We already bought a new battery for it, but now it needs two more new parts to get it running.  We are also hoping it lasts until mowing season ends, and without more expenses. Boxes for donations are piling up, so I must get them delivered soon.  It's crazy how much stuff you own, until you have to box it all up and move it for a while.  At leas...

  I took this updated photo on 9-15-2022.  It's definitely not very big yet, but with the heat this next week, I hope to see it grow more. I'm now working on rotating out food in the freezer, and putting more back in.  The threat of a railroad strike prompted me to pay more attention.  I know I need to stock up on homemade cream soups, so that is currently on the list. Daughter E came over and I of course fed her.  Both my husband and I could tell she was hurting for cash (she will never admit it to us, and has never ever asked for a dime from us).  She has to buy all her supplies to become a hair stylist who rents her own booth now.  She picked up several boxes and I gave her some clothes she might like for her job (that I needed to purge as well).  We also slipped some cash in her bag (he he).  We really want to see her succeed, with her being her own boss. She inspired me to create a new business card for my crafts, and I did. My old ones ...

We have had foggy, cool mornings for several days now.  However, we will heat up again next week.  Literally into the 90's for a few days.  We were not expecting that. I had good intentions of going to the garden first thing yesterday (after two days of rain), but the weather was not good.  It was foggy, cloudy and misting.  Finally when the fog lifted and the sun came out, I was able to check the garden. I brought in some hot peppers that went to work with my husband (not enough to can anything with), and another 40 some pounds of tomatoes.   By evening I got, what felt like 2 minutes of crochet time.  I am learning a new crochet stitch that I came across the other day (winter scarf).  I'm using up stash I already have to keep costs down and prices lower for a craft show.  I'm sure my husband will be happy it's "stash" yarn, ha ha!

  We love to support local businesses, and we purchased a handmade bird house.  We will set it on a post in hopes for birds to move it, and I am setting out some grape jelly in hopes to encourage a few Boston orioles to visit.  I think my husband wants to paint the birdhouse first, before we put it out for the birds.  In fact, now that it's fall, we may not put it out until spring. My new spoon rest, ha ha! Fall blooms. My minimal fall decor, ha ha!  I, for one, have no time nor the space for storing fall decor.  I did swap out the placements and put the potpourri in the one bathroom.

Today I will be pretending I do not have a garden. Well, at least until dinner time (or even tomorrow) anyway. There is a need to tidy up, and other to-do's that I need to catch up on. I'm really missing Mom.  There were so many moments I just wanted to pick up my phone and call her.  Today I will be super busy.  Hopefully it will keep my mind focused. GrannyJ if you could give my your email again.  I will send you my address.  It keeps saying I have the wrong email.  I apologize. Blogger has done away with email notifications.  I'm on the hunt for a widget or some sort to put on my blog right now.  If I find something that works, I will update you all.   Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. I will link up when she posts. The weather  . . . 72°/52°F and cloudy As I look outside my window. . .  It's early, so it's a bit dark outside. Right now I am . . . Making another pot of coffee. Thinking and pondering ....

I got 5 more pints of tomato soup canned.  It takes most of my day, but that is 5 more meals for two, and so good.                                             In between watching and stirring the pot, I have been catching up with laundry, restocking camper ornaments (making the pieces, just have to put them together later), and creating more hair clips.  I'm also creating more embellished paper clips.  I have not booked a fall craft show just yet.  I keep seeing them for October, but I cannot commit with the canning still going on.  I do better in Nov. and Dec. Rosemary made it out of the dehydrator.  I need to check my pantry to see what else I need dried. I'm now writing out a winter prep to-do list, but I have to get cracking on the living room.  I have boxes now, so I am ready as soon as the tomatoes are all put up. What's on the list?...

  It was finally time to start freezing tomatoes.  I cleared off the kitchen table. I also put rosemary in the dehydrator and snipped green onion for freezing. Our green onions have superb flavor this year. It's  a race against the clock this time of the season.  I'm trying to get the tomatoes in before it's too late.  I baked a breakfast for us, for the next few days too. I heard some restaurants are not offering green onions on their menu due to shortage of supplies. We woke up to a very foggy morning.  The air is very cool, but they say we'll heat up again.  

  We had a very busy Labor Day weekend.  We had invitations for 3 birthday parties and a cook out.  Golly, all we wanted to do on Monday was get our kitchen and front porch in order.  I have to admit, it was nice getting up this morning to a tidy kitchen.  Although I still have tomatoes on the table. I had to start bringing in the tomatoes to ripen on the table.  They were splitting outside on the vines.  Crazy weather this year. I'm not the only one cleaning house.  Daughter E dropped off two boxes of yarn.  Her best friend's mother was also cleaning house, and had 5 people move back in, so she sent her yarn my way.  I will need to sort it, but it's out of the kitchen now. However, there are tomatoes in my living room too. No kidding.  Like I said, the rain/soil situation this year was causing them to split if we left them ripen on the vine. Before the rain arrived, I was able to fall plant 80 cloves of music garlic.  It's bee...

  Well, here we are to the weekend.  The one and only perfect holiday weekend day to take the motorcycle out, and my husband left at 4am. I have tomatoes to deal with, so that is happening after I down a pot of coffee and figure out a breakfast with minimal cooking. I put up 22 1/2# of tomatoes yesterday, but here is the situation....I brought 38# back inside (bwahahaha!).  Oh my. My husband is laughing, but I have no idea how I dealt with our 500# year.  I do need to freeze some tomatoes, can crushed ones, and make another batch of soup and pizza sauce (will gift the kiddos). He joked "tomato fight" as the plants are literally almost dead, tomatoes falling off and some rotting as I try to keep up.  The summer heat waves were the cause of the late ripening. I'm hoping to get my fall garlic planted.  Rain is moving in late Saturday and for several days (unless that changes).

I woke up in time to see this beautiful sky.  I did however, sleep in, and did not get to see my husband before he went to work.  He is taking over a supervisor position for a few months.  Let's just say the coffee pot is pre-set at 4:30am now.  Unless I try and put up another table in the living room, I am plum out of room for ripe ones.  I'm trying my best to get things canned, but I can only do one sauce/tomato recipe in one day. We have surpassed 200 pounds of Amish paste this year.  There are more out there, and the plants are dying.  Sheesh, but so thankful for the stock up with all of them. The recipe I use for the Lemony -Tomato Basil soup is from this magazine.  Looks like a magazine, but thick like the ball regular canning book.  I think I bought it at TSC farm store.  I canned another batch of this soup. It is also the same magazine that has the BBQ sauce recipe that I can.  To me, it's the best one we've tried so far. I ...

  August 19, 2022.  Loofah buds starting to develop on the vines. August 30, 2022.  Tiny loofah.  Not sure it will have the chance to grow fully with it being so late in the year.