Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I've been terrible at meal planning, but we brought home some tomatoes from our recent trip, and sliced them up. We made BLT's.  I have no idea for the rest of the week yet.  Other than I boiled eggs for egg salad. I managed to get that air mattress into the bag it came with.  It's not shutting all the way, but it's in the bag ha ha! I think my husband and I decided we need a complete day off.  It may happen this weekend.  We'll see, but that would be nice.  I feel like we've been working on the house for the last two years now.  There are so many people jealous of our updates, but it all started because it needed to be done, not by random choice. I'll admit, I am exhausted daily lately.  I don't even have energy to read a book, let alone crochet our blanket.  I was excited about garden season, but lately?  Not.  We do deserve a break now and then.

  I was told this is the best urine odor/stain remover for carpets, and other flooring.  I have been using it on the upstairs flooring, but you have to wait 24 hours to re-treat spots.  Our daughter was terrible at taking her dogs out.  Anyway, it's working, but we still plan to paint kilz on the flooring after I have the spots treated well.  We removed all of the carpet, so I cannot give a  review using it on carpet, but you can go to their website and read them from others. I'm so busy downstairs, I often forget to go up there and treat spots.  Hopefully, we will wind down and get things in order, but this week is a whirlwind of activity.   Yesterday was the perfect weather day to work out in the garden, but the ground is still too wet.  It's never been a problem, but has been the last few years.

  Although it is super foggy this morning, the sun is trying to shine.  Yesterday was a very dreary, dark and misty day. I managed to accomplish a breakfast.  I'm still painting trim, so I get to multi-tasking and list writing.  I scrambled a dozen eggs, made sausage patties, and Einkorn waffles.  I used a random recipe online, but want to try the recipe Jovial has next time. I just didn't have yogurt on hand. I boiled a half dozen eggs for egg salad.  I guess that will be tonight's dinner (egg salad), while I work on the menu plan.  I also put another dozen eggs in the fridge for future boiled eggs. Daughter K's waffle iron, which I didn't like, and the recipe wasn't that great.  The recipe also said 1/3 cup of batter, and it was not enough.  I have to double the recipe.  I am reading reviews to look for a waffle maker for myself now.  Our state has a law, that says you must purchase a minimum of 6 chicks.  It was created to a...

  Everything is at a stand still today.  I cannot do anything, other than paint the door trim, and I'm even limited to that due to space and the amount of saw horses.  I'm okay with that, as my back is very sore. Rain is in the forecast today, and we'll see much more of it this week sadly.  It's warmer, but the rain is keeping us out of the garden to prep it for a new garden season.  The ground is soaked. The new closet door was cut and framed.  We do need to install the door yet. Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. I'll link up when she posts. The weather. . . 46°F/29°F for today, and rain.  Rain about every other day this week. As I look outside my window. . . Dreary and cloudy. Right now I am . . . Brewing coffee, because I forgot to pre-set it last night. Thinking and pondering . . . Going to town for one errand or adding it to a list.  Hm. On my bedside table . . . Nothing!  It's still in the master bathroom, while ...

  Saturday was a challenge.  We had to drive one hour to get some supplies that were sold out in stores near us.  The weather was an issue. It was cold and the wind was recorded up to 74 mph in the area.  Power went out in many cities nearby, but thankfully not ours. Hauling supplies in the back of a truck was not fun.  When we got home, the trim had been blown downward and was almost out of the bed of the truck.  We got it home and in the garage thankfully.  Yes, it was tightly strapped in, but like I said, high wind warning. One ceiling fan is down, and not because we wanted it down.  You can see the original wall paint color of "country white."  Ceiling is painted. New paint color for the walls.  We put 3 paint samples up to figure this out, and we did not go back to Home Depot.  We went to a local store, where we could get a more professional assistance on getting the right color.  The problem with Home Depot etc. is t...

  I'll admit, I have been terrible at cleaning the ceiling fans in the bedroom.  After dusting with the swiffer duster, I had to wash them with soap/water.  You can see the dust left on them after dusting them.  I'm also going thru to many duster refills, so I invested in this... The blue cover slides off, and is washable.  The unit can be attached to your extender handle you use for painting ceilings with (if you have one).  Works great for weekly dusting on these types of ceiling fans. My hands are cracked, dry and sore.  My back is sore by most evenings.  My fingernails are worn, torn and look terrible.   I'm climbing ladders unsupervised most days, but progress on the bedroom is starting to happen.   In order to paint, I had to climb into our walk-in closet like a monkey holding a flashlight.  I had to get our "paint" clothes.  Mission accomplished.  Oh, the reason for the flashlight?  Well, the switch i...

  Tiger when he was a baby.  He is under emergency vet care until possibly Saturday, depending on his prognosis.   He had an emergency ultra sound, which found crystals in his bladder, causing a blockage.  He was in miserable pain.  He is not being treated, but there is the possibility for kidney damage.  We are in touch with daughter E for updates. The painting progress on the bedroom is slow going for now.  It takes two people to just do the ceiling edging.  Our ceiling is 8 foot, 9 inches tall, so a tall ladder is required, as well as someone to hold the paint tray, and yes we will be needing to cover the entire bedroom floor with plastic.  There are two ceiling fans in the bedroom that need spring cleaned before we cover them with plastic to paint the ceiling as well.  I feel like this room is the one that will make me lose my marbles. I just want my bed back, so I'm hoping for at least the paint work done this weekend, in ...

  Renovations gone wrong.....so many variables to deal with this time around. My husband thought it would be grand to just take a short vacation while the bedroom carpet was removed and new flooring installed.  We went, we returned, and we are so frustrated right now. First, we hired the same person who did our living room and kitchen bathroom.  Second, we hire him for chicken duty, and watering seedlings, so we do know him. Came home to find the flooring installed in the wrong direction, and he knocked a large hole in one wall (we are still waiting for him to explain, but he will be fixing it on his dollar not ours, which also delays painting, which should have been done before new flooring....see what I mean about stress?). He also did not water my seedlings.  It appears that he watered one time while we were done.  He literally was here every single day and asked me and I explained how to water them (he's watered them before).  98% of my seedlings most l...

.....tomorrow morning. We have not only carpet, but tile to remove (hard to explain what they did, like I said built for someone in a wheelchair), before the flooring goes in. Oh, and my husband said, picking out the paint was on me.  Hm.  He wasn't that thrilled with the living room color until it was all done.  Not sure how this will turn out ha ha!  I will get samples before buying it. Blog posts should resume after we are done or close to being done.  Hopefully some photos to share some time next week.

Grab a cup of coffee and let's have a short chat. Not many "homesteading" things going on right now.  I'm mostly doing the purge/pack/donate motions.  There may be more take out dinners than home cooked for a few weeks.  We have however picked up seed potatoes for the garden. Chicken's watering units got a good scrubbing.  The sun has been shining again, and a bit warmer, so they are laying pretty well right now.  Rain returns this weekend. We are a bit frustrated with the company buy out.  We are in limbo with health insurance and he just had a check up.  I got a nice big bill of $210.00.  Hopefully the new cards will show up ASAP and I can get this mess taken care of.   I got one camper ornament completely finished.  I forgot how much work goes into just one.  I have the pieces already made, but have a dozen or so to actually assemble.  I'd like to have them done for the craft show next month.  I've been so busy wit...

  I went to our small town post office last weekend to mail a package to a friend.  There was a hand written note on the door that they were closed "due to staffing issues."  How is this happening?  Anyway, we didn't get mail delivered either. Finished!  A 17th set of pot holders ha ha!  I had to finish them, so that is done, but I won't be starting a new set any time soon.  Hopefully I will sell them next month, and I do have to deliver a set soon. Another unfinished crochet project - doll afghan, but it's getting ripped out and yarn put away.  I think I was just looking for something new to sell.  Anyway, more yarn found, ha ha! I pulled the totes out from under our bed.  One went upstairs, one had yarn, and one had a lot of stationary.  I pitched the envelopes (gone bad, discolored etc) and kept the paper for lists at my desk.  The last tote is my husband's college stuff.  He'll have to go thru that on his own.  Oh...

  We are approaching the count down on starting the carpet removal.  It's been a process for this room.  It's funny how fast (or slow) a job can go, when it involves where you sleep at night.  Anyway, expect blurps in my blog posts.  We plan to start this Friday.  It will become crazy busy, as I try and figure out how to survive with things a hot mess again. I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom (although all our kids have moved out) The weather . . . Cold, in the 30's but will warm up to the 50's this weekend. As I look outside my window . . . There is more snow. Right now I am . . . Brewing coffee.  The time change has me all messed up. Thinking and pondering . . . We thought about it, and and pondered, and decided to sell our record player and vinyl.  We used it twice since we've had it over the last 14 years. On my TV . . . Anything that looks interesting. Listening to . . . Country. On my lunch plate. . . Have no idea. On my dinn...

  By "few" in this post, I really do mean a few.  There isn't much going on, as it is winter.  We got more snow last night too.  I managed to box up a bookshelf, dust it off and move it all out of the bedroom.   I found books to a series I donated, and books to a series I am reading.  I really should just start using the library again ha ha! I got after my husband for his willy nilly decisions/plans for the bedroom.  First, the best time to paint is when the carpet is out, and before flooring goes down.  He is really driving me nuts, so I just try to stick to the fact everything has to be moved out to get that stinky 14 plus year old carpet out.  The  one thing we have to figure out is where to sleep for a few days if we can't just slide the bed back and forth as the work is done.  We'll figure it out. Although we dropped off donations, I now have more, and it just gets easier as we do this extreme clean. I purchased a deep fry...

  I'll admit, if I was my husband, I would not want to do a thing in the mornings with his schedule.  By the way, that crazy schedule has now ended as of today. However, baking him peanut butter cookies got him motivated. We cleaned in the bedroom for almost 2 hours, purged, tossed stuff, vacuumed, dusted.....still not done.  The one fall back with a large bedroom, is more "stuff."   The bedroom has a tall ceiling, and is approximately 21 x 15 feet.  Yeah, that large, and originally built for a person in a wheel chair.   It has really made me realize how much crafting stuff I still own.  I'm on the fence with getting rid of things like macramé, as I may feel like making some hanging plant holders.  Anyway, just lots of "stuff."  I found an entire container filled with all sorts of sequins.  I thought I gave that away, but one of the daughter's must have snuck that back into our closet.  Hmpf.  It's being don...

T he worst thing for me to do on a whack-a-doodle schedule, is to sit at the procrastination station (computer) too long.  I tend to browse crochet patterns, and have already printed one to crochet another item for the living room (a summer project that is much smaller).  My husband gets up late in the morning, due to his later work hours, so I'm totally thrown off with my own early morning routine.  Plus!!!  I'm not sleeping well with this schedule. I also have about 98 draft posts I am going thru.  Most are getting deleted, but I try and read a few every day to work those out of my blog. I got a visit with one daughter, and I totally forgot to pull meat from the freezer to go with yesterday's leftover veggies.   I roasted a lot to save us time over the next few days, in hope to clear more out of the master bedroom. Anyway, this is what happens when I browse patterns.....it's not like I can purge and pack up the bedroom if he's sleeping. What do you t...

  I have stored ginger root in my freezer for years.  I simply wash and dry it on a vegetable drying mat. I wrap each piece in plastic wrap, and tuck into a freezer bag.  I simply take it out when I need it, and re-wrap it and put it back in the freezer. Recently, I have learned of a second way to store it.  Thanks to the cooking channel and learning new tips and tricks in the kitchen. Cut and peel the ginger root.  Place in an air tight glass jar with sherry or brandy, and place in your refrigerator.  Hm.  It will be nice to have it already peeled. I've dubbed my home "loony lane" for this month.  My husband is putting down the hammer, added with a time limit, to get the bedroom packed up and off the carpet.  The problem is, he doesn't understand I can't do it all by myself with that amount of time. I swear, he is going to make me lose my mind.  I had to drag him into the walk-in closet and explain that everything on two shelving units ...

I started a tray of beets indoors this year for the first time ever. After they sprouted they started to get leggy.  I wasn't sure if they were under watered or over watered or what.  I did what most people do.  I asked Google.  It said to put more light on them.  I did that, and nothing changed. ...they look like this.  Too much water or not enough?  Not enough light?  I've tried it all, but that tray doesn't hold much soil either.  

  The first few days of start up hours, for my husband's work can be crazy.  It's a time of feeling whack-a-doodle, as far as routine goes.  He's either working 2nd or 3rd or who knows what shift, and it throws me off completely. It takes us a good few days to try and get flow to our daily routine, mornings, evenings, all of it.  I took the day off from purging and organizing and moving stuff, but it has been overwhelming for me.  I love to create crafty items, but it's sort of at the point, where I don't need to create so many items anymore.  I have to come to a point of deciding what to get rid of what to keep, in that area. I used to make homemade gifts, that required bottles, or jars or whatnot.  Not anymore.  The kids are all grown, and do not put up Christmas trees, so I'm not making ornaments like I used to.  By the way, the "starbucks" ornaments in the making, made their way to the trash. I took off what could be useable, and tossed t...

  I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. I will link up when she posts. The weather . . . Today high is 54 degrees, but all week we'll mostly be in the 40's and more rain possibly today. As I look outside my window . . . Somewhat cloudy. Right now I am. . . Making coffee. Thinking and pondering . . . Trying to make plans on when and what we need from the hardware store - flooring, trim, supplies for the chicken coop, hallway flooring etc. On my TV today . . . Nothing. Listening to . . . Possibly country later today. On my lunch plate . . . Have no idea yet. On my dinner plate . . . Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Home canned tomato basil soup. On the menu . . . I will be working on this early today.  The only down fall on going away for the weekend, but I did wash the bedding and had the bed made before we left, so that is off the to-do list this week. What I have so far: Breakfast:  Fritatta, Sweet potato egg cups Dinners: -crock pot pork chops, oven roasted veggie...