Pioneer Woman at Heart

  We warmed up from an 8°F wind-chill to 18°F.  I had the brainy idea it was great weather to muck the coop.  It was a bit windy, but half the coop was cleaned anyway.  Nothing like fetching one frozen egg in this frigid weather.   Although the sun was out, the chickens wanted no part of the outside world.  They wanted to huddle inside. I have been lazy with cooking, so it was a recipe to try from this cookbook. Chicken Chickpea Tortilla Soup I love my crock pot, but I'm not a big fan on "soups" for dinner.  It typically is not a substantial meal, and my brain immediately associates it served with some sort of bread.  Then I think a side sandwich.  What do you serve with your soups?  Another vegetable side sounds good too. The recipe suggestions for serving it, say try yogurt, cheese, crunchy blue tortilla chips.  By the way, the nutritional information is included with the recipes in this book. Anyway, the above recipe wa...

  Detoxing after the holidays, as well as mentally.  Not what I expected to show up, but shoveling for the first time of the winter season was therapeutic.  Not just the physical activity, but getting outside for a while. It's "shot gun" week here in our state for deer season.  So far, it's been pretty quiet.  It has also been very cold too. The dreaded moment - hand pricing all of the jewelry I made.  It's done.  Those are just the crocheted bracelets, and the beaded crocheted bracelets.  I organized the keychains, and priced them too, along with earrings and necklaces.  Pricing stuff continues.... A funny for you all.  I just found out that that piece on the top is magnetic for a reason.  It's so you can remove it to clean the lid.  I have wanted to find out why the lid was magnetic for a long time.  Every time I washed it, things stuck to the lid.  My husband got this Yeti from work, and gave it to me a while ago....

  We are into cold weather now, and it's been snowing off and on here lately.  Woke up to a wind chill of 8 degrees.  Yep, that cold (and more snow). Still not in the mood to decorate for Christmas.  I have yet to turn on the porch Christmas lights. A morning moon.   I got frustrated with the chicken watering units sold in our stores.  They are either too big, or I can't hang them, or they don't let the water out as they should.  I ordered a new one online.  I am hoping it does the job. We have hit another hiccup with the coop build. All I can say, is I am thankful that Thanksgiving is over with.  I've been experimenting with different ingredients for beef and bean breakfast burritos.  Eggs are far and few this time of year, so it's been sort of fun to take it slower in the kitchen. Sugar alert!  There is cane sugar in your Randall's cooked and ready to eat pinto beans.  I keep these on hand for when I cook for a large gro...

  The very popular "grocery" item during the holidays contains "bioengineered" ingredients. It's a new word for "gmo" (genetically modified) on so called food products now. You can make this homemade. Find the recipe for it HERE .

  This is the first year I did not make the rolls.   These are very good, and I passed the recipe on to a grand niece.  She is made them this year, and forgot how many I told her they make ha ha!  They freeze pretty good too.  The recipe comes from another blog I follow. Refrigerator Rolls Recipe .

  We are on the hunt for a wider ridge cap for the chicken coop.  We will need to be creative and resourceful, if we cannot locate one. We have another leak in the kitchen, but it's under the floor, so yay us.  We may have to cut out the bottom of the cupboard and check under it.  Not what we need right now at the holidays.  It could be another issue.   The  weather turned much colder and brought rain.  Lots of rain.   Has anyone who crochets, noticed that the "I" hooks are getting made now with new handles, but the measurements are not the same as the original hooks?  Top one says 5.50mm and the newer one says 5.25mm.  Both say they are an "I" hook. Yay!  The photo upload function works again on blogger! The kids were over for Thanksgiving, and two mentioned that medical workers would buy "boot" cuffs for their 40oz. Quencher Stanley cups.  It keeps the tumbler from scratching surfaces, but I do not own one to m...

  Top yarn is 4 ply cotton yarn, the bottom is the Honeysuckle cotton yarn. Tucked away in one of my yarn totes is yarn from a store closeout.  I think I bought it, thinking I was buying cotton yarn the thickness of a 4 yarn.  It is very thin cotton yarn, and about a thin 2 maybe?  the label doesn't even say what hook size to use or even the thickness.  It is USA made, and I think the company closed back around 2011.  I've had the yarn that long. Not that I need another project right now, as we have so many going on, but I wanted to find a use of this yarn.  I'm trying very hard to get stuff made for the last craft show. By the way, I was invited to another craft show, and once again the cost would be $50.00.  This particular show was $20.00 for a 2-table space the last time I participated.  Crazy high prices, unless you sell high priced items.  It just takes the "fun" out of fun. Anyway, back to the subject of this post, which I apologi...

I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.   The weather . . . We went from 60-70's to 50's and rain, and this week we'll barely see 50°F with lows in the 30's.  I was successful at crossing off "wash rugs" and they dried outside before the weather turned. Right now I am . . . Posting this blog post and sipping coffee. Thinking and pondering . . . Well for starters, I'm searching to see if they sell metal ridge caps that are wider than 10 x 10 inches, and possibly covering the coop with a tarp until we figure things out. We have another set back with the chicken coop roofing.  He hand built the rafters, and the roofing he cut is too short for the ridge cap by about 2 inches.   Not what we needed with the holidays and such.  Otherwise the ridge cap would have been up last night.   How I am feeling . . . Tired.  However, I taught my granddaughter how to crochet.  In the amount of time she was here, she learned to chain stitch and ...

  The recent days have been in the high 60's and low 70's, up until Friday.  We dipped just a hair, and the rain moved in.  The rain did not stop me from working on the new coop.  I've dubbed it the "Hillbilly" hen house, ha ha!  We've had to do some crazy work in order to make things work with what we have.  Nothing seems to come together straight, nor level, but it's getting done. I decided to do things a big backwards, but it's a race against the clock with painting trim.  Instead of waiting for a day to measure and cut the trim, then paint it, I just painted what we had.  I can touch up later, but it's painted now, before the weather gets too cold.  The weather is quickly changing here. I bought my husband that wrist wrap that is on his wrist. It is magnetic and holds the screws for him.  Now he needs a carpenters apron and/or a tool belt.

  You'll need a sprayer bottle to make the homemade cleaner.  I just picked one up at our Dollar Tree to try this cleaner out.   In the sprayer (24 oz) add 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol, and fill with water. Leave room to add only 3 drops of Doctor Bronner's Pure-Castile Soap.  Shake and spray to clean surfaces. Note:  We have well water, so I filled the sprayer with distilled water. Money Savings Tip:   SOS pads - where ever you buy these at a low price, lower that cost more by cutting them into smaller pieces.  It's a one time use item, and will last a lot longer for scrubbing your sink or whatever you use them for. I last purchased a box of 10 at Ollies for $1.99.  Cut those in half or in 3rds and you get a better bang for your buck.

Just when I was getting the scissors to cut my under-the-sink mat, I opened the cupboard to eye-spy another leak on the other side of the sink.  I'm awaiting a new gasket for that side, before I can clean up my kitchen floor (again).  I am starting to bring my craft totes downstairs.  The inventory is being packaged and priced.  There is a lot to sort, so this is taking over the living room, while I try and take advantage of the outdoor weather for those projects.  Anxiety at is best, ha ha! Not sure if I mentioned this, but the store on the island that sold my crocheted camper Christmas ornaments closed it's business recently.  The museum that was selling my dish scrubbies, jar openers and soap saver bags had a major flood last Christmas, closed for repairs, and asked me to pick up my items.   I have called local market stores where you rent a space, and they are no longer taking new vendors.  The general store about 20 minutes away also tol...

  I was intrigued to try a new pea recipe, but did not want to use the canned condensed soup it required.  In the end, I think I did too much over thinking with this dish. I did a little research, and whipped up my own condensed soup in it's place.  I will be tweaking it as we try my homemade condensed golden mushroom soup.  I basically used the directions for homemade condensed mushroom soup, but changed the broth from chicken to beef and added other ingredients, still using the shallots and mushrooms. As for the pea casserole, here are the 3 ingredients to make it... 2 - 12 oz bags of organic (or home grown) frozen peas, cooked 1 can of golden mushroom soup (hence the homemade "can") 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese Once the peas are cooked, mix in other ingredients, pour into a baking dish and bake at 350°F My opinion?  I didn't think it was absolutely out of this world good, but it wasn't bad either.  It lacked flavor.  I think I need to conti...

  We know that what you read for measurements at the hardware stores are not actually the real measurement when buying lumber.  We were so consumed in just getting what we needed and getting back home, neither of us realized what he was basing the coop door on. He bought 10 inch wide boards, and the actual width is smaller.  Always shop with a measuring tape.  We knew this, and like I said, I think the stress of just getting it done was upon our brains. When they built the door, it came short of what we intended it to be.  Another eye roller moment, and another set back to get it all just right. Measure and measure twice when buying materials while building something.   Any who, the door was taken back down to paint, and I spent almost 4 hours painting the coop.  I ran out of paint, but the only areas left to paint are the very top front and back, where I need a partner present to climb our tallest ladder. I took advantage of our 60°F day, and wil...

All of my plant cuttings from the herb garden did not produce roots.  I had sage, basil, two cuttings of parsley, and one of spearmint, and they all died off.  I'm wondering if it was too late in the season.  I really want an indoor sage plant, so I may be looking for seeds or a plant soon. Our weekend went way too fast.  Saturday was a wash for a work day, due to an event that pretty much took over the entire day.  We worked on the chicken coop Sunday, but we both agreed that we do need help with the roofing.   Today I will be joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  The weather . . . We will be running about in the lower 60's for the high this week. Right now I am . . . Sipping coffee, posting this. Thinking and pondering . . .   I have a bottle of coconut syrup I need to use up.  Any suggestions other than topping pancakes/waffles? Oh!  I might be good on yogurt and granola.  Mmm. How I am feeling . . . I am really no...