Pioneer Woman at Heart

It's definitely back to reality today.  The treadmill, and other work out equipment are all moved to the upstairs.  The table I used for the sewing machine was moved upstairs, and the sofa moved as well.  It'll feel like a zoo around here again, but we are making progress.  The armoire we had used for the TV left the house Friday to a good friend.  Today I will measure an area rug from the living room.  If it's too big for a room upstairs, we'll donate it to the Habitat Re-store. Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  I'll link up when she posts.   The weather . . . Rain, drizzle, 60's. As I look outside my window . . . It's still dark out. Right now I am . . . Making more coffee , as it shuts off at 6am from the pre-set 4am pot. Thinking and pondering . . . We are considering taking the pellet stove out and replacing it with a gas fireplace.  The cost of pellets compared to gas is the question. How I am feeling . . ....

  We had a beautiful sunny day, but it was cold.  Look at all those leaves.  A dog's dream.  Jesse loved to run and jump in piles of them.  Of course, out in the country, we do not rake these. Mom's Zygo cactus has more buds this time around.  So beautiful.

  I was so busy cleaning, I did not get one photograph for today's post.  The pantry is almost done.  It's been wiped out and re-organized, other than waiting on two containers for my pasta.  We have really cut back on pasta, so the container is getting downsized, and it's cheaper to order online and have delivered than to make a trip all the way to the "Big City" with gas prices. Once those arrive the pantry will be completely done, and much easier to take inventory for grocery days.  Daughter K had lots of stuff in there that had expired.  I imagine she forgot about them after she moved in two years ago.  Anyway, as I was in the process of that job, I found a few items in that room to toss and donate as well. Our handy-man was out.  He tuned up our wood splitter, and we talked about the to-do list a bit.  I explained my washer was on the fritz and we chatted about that in case I need to hire him to help me.  My husband's long hours sho...

  The morning sky was so beautiful the other morning.  Today it's raining.  The cooler weather returns. The battle of the leaves ha ha!  As soon as I blow them off, they are right back on the porches. My rainy day projects are back on track today.  The pantry is still under construction, but I will be so happy when I am done.  It just got out of hand with a kids grocery shopping as well.

  Mom's cactus is blooming again.  It is so, so pretty. I spent most of the day putting laundry on the clothesline until I ran out of room.  My washing machine needs tuned up.  I kept getting an error in regards to water it was adding (not enough apparently).  Not what my husband wanted to hear, but hopefully he can fix that. I started the pantry project.  Daughter K had stuff in there that had expired.  I'm gonna be so happy to finally get some order in those cupboards.   I yanked the last of the hot pepper plants and was surprised at the size of some of them.  It was rather hard to pull them too, as it was pretty dry out there.

  If you are wondering why there hasn't been a post lately, it's due to great weather here.  Sunshine, high 70's meant motorcycle rides.  I could not, as hard as I tried, get my husband to work on the to-do list.   One ride was to our grandson's birthday party.  The other to deliver a foldable lawn chair to our youngest.  She was set up at a pop up show for a new store in town, to represent the salon.  She did not have a chair, so my husband said he'd load up on the back of the bike, and yes he did ha ha! Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. The weather . . . Awesome weather for the first few days this week, high 70's again, and then rain returns mid-week, followed by the temperature dropping again. As I look outside my window . . . Leaves are everywhere.  I'm charging the leaf blower as I type to get them off the porches before the rain cements them to the pavement. Right now I am . . . Making another pot of coffee. Thin...

  Our stores do not sell organic milk by the quart.  We buy the half gallon, but find that it goes bad before we finish it.  I decided to start freezing half of it, as we buy it.  I'll have it on hand, and it won't be wasted.  We have no access to goat or cow milk in our area either, so it's purchased at the store.  Heck, I couldn't even find goat milk for soap making, so we are back to buying it. Speaking of soap, I think I asked this before, but how much essential oil to add to 1# of soap base?  I have some to use up, and want to make travel size soaps for traveling (and to get the base out of my closet, ha ha!). Spreadable butter was made.  It's great to have on hand when the weather is cold.  We keep our butter on a butter dish in the kitchen, and during colder weather, it's not spreadable on fresh bread, or to grill sandwiches. I am starting to dislike "errand" day ha ha!  I got 'er done though.  I was tickled pink to find gru...

  It was another cold miserable, dreary day.  Of course I am not out of inside work either.  However, I managed to squeeze into my day, by making w hiskey butterscotch sauce .  We drizzled it over the apple crunch cake for dessert.  No we didn't need the sugar in our diet, but it is so good. I only make this once a year if that. Now that my youngest has found out, she wants my flourless brownies for sundaes.  The sauce will last in the fridge for 1 month, so it may happen. We did not plant pinto beans this last summer, so I had to order those (dry).  Our stores do not sell organic brands of those. First it was the mower that broke down (it's old and passed down), then the smaller AC unit died.  Now?  My 20-some year old Kitchenaid mixer.  Sigh.  I use it a lot.  My husband wasn't happy that he couldn't do anything to fix it either.  I guess I will be hoping for fall sales (if we are lucky to get those this year). It's stil...

  Spicy Apple Crunch Cake went into the oven.  I had some home canned applesauce I needed to rotate out of the pantry.  So good! I baked skillet bread to go with our leftover Chicken/gnocchi soup.  I'll definitely be making the soup again.   The view out of the windows is definitely screaming fall.  However, our weather has been colder than normal.  They say we will warm up, and I hope so.  We have some work to do outside.

The chicken/gnocchi soup was delicious.  I only made it due to having all the ingredients on hand.  It was definitely different, but glad I had spinach on hand (note to self, freeze more).  I did not take a photo though.  I also need to make celery cubes for the winter.  I simply dice the celery, fill an ice cube tray, and then add a bit of water and freeze, then bag and store in the freezer. It's great to have on hand for soups/stews. I have had making gnocchi homemade, on my try it list, for a long time.  Does anyone know if you can freeze it after making it?  Or is this something you make fresh for a meal?  I used already made gnocchi for the soup.  I intended to try a new recipe for a mac n' cheese, but ended up using it for the soup on a cold, cold day. Our weather is freezing cold.  However, they are predicting high 70's this weekend (only in our state ha ha!). I'm getting a lot of the indoor work done due to the weather though....

  Another successful donation drop weekend. Four boxes of stuff were all donated to a Habitat Re-Store.  In the process of emptying a plastic storage container, I cleaned it up and am now using it for yarn. Whew!  The only thing?  I started filling up another box.  I found a few things in the garage we don't use or need. I've been doing great on using what I have in the house for meals, before going to the store to re-stock.  Now that it's just us two, and an occasional kid, I don't really need to stock up as much as I used to. I'm taking advantage of the online digital coupons for regular stuff, and I realize I do not stock up enough for things like coffee, toilet paper and fresh veggies/fruit.  I will be now. Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom The Weather . . . 46°F/37°, rain and possible snow in some areas, raining right now As I look outside my window . . . I looks like a winter sky. Right now I am . . . Getting ready to start...

  The display finally arrived.  It's perfect for the small area our daughter has at the salon.  I'm donating one for a raffle the salon is doing as well. It rained last night, and we had pretty bad wind.  There were a few fires in the area, and one being a field fire.  Crazy weather for sure. I managed to box up for donations.  Just things we've had for years and never use.  Drop off days have changed though.  I guess it will give me more days to find more to donate, ha ha! The weekend will involve us trying to get my husband into the eye doctor.  He thinks he got soap in one of his eyes, and the drops we have are not working.  It really looks bad, and he's in a lot of pain today. I re-stocked our fresh fruits and vegetables, and will be making a meal plan based on what else we have on hand.  Prices are crazy high.  I had a short conversation with a person at the grocery store.  He was picking up pie filling and the can wa...

  I got 2 quart jars of 4 Thieves Vinegar made.  It is good for a year with proper storage, but needs to "brew" for 3-4 weeks.  I use Rosemary Gladstar's recipe.  For those who do not know what it is, you infuse it, drain it, and store it.   It's taken when you start to feel ill.  It doesn't taste that great, but it does work.  In the past, I have also made Fire Cider. The weather will dip to the low 30's tonight.  Brrr!  I am not really ready for this.  Although it is nice to know the bugs will be gone. I made beef stroganoff in the crock pot last night, only because I needed to use up the sour cream, but my husband was delighted.  The cost of everything is so expensive, I just can't afford to let anything go bad. My yarn was piling up on the kitchen table, making hair clips for the salon. I literally filled a large reusable grocery bag, and put it all back where it belongs.  All, except a few colors of worsted weigh...

  We did indeed get rain yesterday and during the night.  It will be a few days before I can return to weeding and pulling the last of the last of the garden.  I was glad for the rain though, as our newly planted mums needed it.  We are now moving into cooler days and nights. So I was sitting on the porch and this decided to hitch a ride on my pants.  They fly fast, so you don't see them until they land.  Man, you never saw someone freak out and grab the fly swatter to get it off then kill it.  Then a few minutes later another one showed up on the side of the house.  We have never seen these at our place, other than a few years ago we saw one.  It was two too many for me in one day.  Not sure why we are getting more of them, but I was told they hitch to semi-tractor trailers.  Ugh. My main cleaning job was to clean off my night stand.  I put away all the crochet hooks (ha ha!) that collected there, cleaned it with wood cleaner,...

  That's not all that I put on the clothesline, but I was thankful for good weather and got it out early and back down early.  Beautiful weather!  There was a good wind, so things dried pretty quickly too. I also took advantage of the weather and put up our minimal Christmas lights.  I don't put many up, but they do make me happy.  It's way better to get them up on a warm day vs. freezing weather.  I had to laugh though.  We took the motorcycle out, as it may be the last best weather day to take it out, and when we got back home, the Christmas lights were on, ha ha ha ha!  I forgot the timer was set the same it was last year.  My husband laughed but quickly said, "Hurry! Turn those off so people don't think we are weirdo's!" Ha ha ha ha! Not sure what today will bring.  They are calling for rain, thunderstorms, and a lot of wind.  I had plans to pull the last few plants out of the garden, but I may be inside working on the livi...

  There are a few zinnias that I missed and survived the cold nights.  I'll have to make sure I have those too.  Today may be the last best weather day we'll have.  They say it'll get up to around 77°F today. I am still moving furniture from here to there, cleaning up and getting ideas for hiring help for the living room project.  In order to move some furniture, I have to clear out space in another room.  I decided to let go of my 37 book collection of Janette Oke books.  I put them up for sale, but like I told my husband, everyone is selling and no one has the money to buy. I just found out that Daughter E's booth rent is not just a whopping $500.00/month, but she has to pay another $100.00/month for the booth to do nails as well.  Horrible rent, so I hope it all works out for her.

  Our weekend was busy, busy, busy, but we did have time to relax later on Sunday.  We had three events to attend, all in different towns, and one being a funeral. We didn't get home until 9pm. We got one AC unit taken out and put in storage.  The smaller one fritzed out on us (14 years old), and will be scraped at a later date.   My husband wanted more mums for the flower beds, so we added 6 plants.   We had to replace the shower head in the camper, as it was leaking, and the RV store told us it was put together (took the old one there) using a home shower head, sigh.   Today I am finally back to joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. The weather. . . We will heat up to the mid 70's this week for a few days and then we go back to he 50's during the day. As I look outside my window. . . The trees out front of the property are getting trimmed.  We are at a halt as the chainsaw broke down. Right now I am . . . Brewing another pot o...

Our weather is now in it's persnickety season, where you put on a thick sweatshirt in the morning, and a t-shirt in the afternoons.  You all know me, and I'm a die hard put-it-on-the-clothesline woman.  Some days are great for drying, and others take much more time. We got some rain, which is great for my fall garlic, but keeps me from weeding flower beds. Our weather dropped down to 31°F last night, so I spent the day putting up more green onion and chives.  I also cut all the zinnia heads and brought them in, as well as flowers that were about to bloom.   We also canceled camping and winterized the camper. Daughter E is getting bookings, but has had to drop some prices to do that, so I hope she is still earning enough to set sail with her being her own boss.  She asked me to bring in some ear warmer headbands to sell at her chair. I've been working on some headbands in fall colors.  It's been a while since I pulled the pattern out too. ...

  While cleaning off our breakfast bar, I found the jars my Aunt J packaged up for me (later sent by my Uncle after she passed).  They were tucked behind photos.  I kept them all the way packaged them except for the one that had candy in it, which of course I ate.  The other jars have teabags, popcorn and buttons. In conversation with my daughter K, she advised me that we can't keep everything, and sometimes we need to change things.   The story about the jar, is that I sent her jars of jam.  She packaged and intended to return my jars filled with goodies.  She was the best snail mail buddy I ever had. I used to send her the funniest stuff around Halloween for her grand kids.  So....the jars will be emptied and the buttons saved for something.  The jars will go back into rotation for canning again, but Aunt J will not be forgotten.

  It was high time to refresh the flower beds, however I am not done.  We are talking about possibly adding more mums, as some of ours have died over the years.  I just depends on if I can get them all looking spiffy.  The mowing is being done today, so I can't exactly do any weeding, but they do look much better. We had a beautiful 70 degree day yesterday, but boy did that weather wake up the stink bugs, bees and wasps. I was so excited to find a craft show in November, only to decide it won't happen.  Instead of the usual $20 a table and $10 for a second one, they want a whopping $30 per table this year.  As of now, it won't happen this year. Paying $60 to participate is outrageous.  I don't have high priced items, and even if I did, they would not sell.   Gas prices are soaring as well.  Everyone is selling and no one is buying, so there is that too. I hate mowing days.  It puts me out of outdoor work, putting anything on the clo...