"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Monday, December 30, 2024

Happy New Year!

 

Happy New Year!  

I'm excited about a new crochet project, and it is a sort of a motivation tool for something else.  I'll be posting later about it.  Overall, it will reduce my time wasting internet scrolling, pointless social media scrolling (looking for recipes, patterns, exercises are all good scrolling minutes, he he!), procrastination station, and endless him-hawing.  Not to change the subject, but I mean some scrolling is needed to avoid endless days of shopping in stores looking for something my husband suggested we buy.

I found one close to what he feels we need at Harbor Freight, but it's wall mounted, and runs on batteries.

Does it even exist?  I'll be searching for it, but we may have to buy battery charged or a rechargeable light.  He wants a solar chargeable, motion sensor, small table light (sort of the brightness of a nightlight) for the bathrooms.  We lack outlets by the toilet, and do not want to put in a floor strip light, or wall mount solar lights.  Most motion sensor lights for indoors run on batteries or or rechargeable.  We want the motion sensor, so the light only comes on at night if needed.  I'll update later on this, after we have located and made a decision.

Okay, back to the post....



(sunrise 12-26-2024)

Sunday it rained all day long.  Last year we had warm enough weather the same time in December, that I was washing bedding and putting it on the clothesline.  We are pretty much flooded this year.

We decided together, that it was a good weekend to take down our Christmas tree.  Normally, we would leave it up for New Year's Eve.  The holidays this year hit mid-week, and I would much rather have help with it, than wait for an entire week to take it down and put it all back in storage.  

Well, the tree is still up, ha ha!  We had a few returns to take care of, some grocery shopping for fresh vegetables and fruit, and other errands.  I forgot to look for a plant for my planter, but we are also very limited with selections in the winter time.  I may be planting an herb for indoor winter cooking. 

Before decorations get packed back up, I decided it was time to toss out some very very old Christmas decorations, and donate others.  I added one book to the newest donation box, as my husband gifted me a new book too.

My husband gifted me a new bathrobe, so the old one was literally tossed out (not even worth donating ha ha!).  Sort of feels good to go into a new year with so many completed home projects, and a more organized homestead.



It's been a year since we have baked cookie cut-outs, so when I dug out the container, I purged those before returning them to storage. Good gravy!  I had cutters from when the kids had birthday parties in elementary school.  Whew!  Someone will be enjoying those, as they are being donated.

 



January is my month to focus on my health even more than ever.  It will be a long wait to see the doctor, but I thought about that too. It gives me a month to do specific exercises.  I really did a number on myself when I tripped twice later, after my stairway fall back in April of this year.  Anyway, every day I work on myself, is one day closer to back to normal or even better than normal.  Per a conversation on the phone with the doc's nurse, I am to avoid "heavy lifting" and have been the last two weeks.  It's a tough one, as a bag of chicken feed is not light weight.  I have learned how to lift more properly, so there is that.

I am already feeling signs of muscle improvement, less pain, and more flexibility, so doing these stretches may be a permanent addition to my daily/weekly fitness routine.

I need this body in good working condition, as I have ordered a tool to help start the next home repair project.  The kids left tape, those 3M sticky tapes, and other adhesives on the walls upstairs, and some in the higher to reach walls in the stairway.
It'll be a project for sure, but needs to happen before it's painted. After seeking advice, we need to buy some drywall mud, as the kids (and past hired help) put large gouges in the plaster walls.  It would be great to get this job knocked off the list by the end of January, so we can start working on the stair project (stair project is an entirely new project of it's own).


Speaking of health . . .

Hummus people, I have a quick question.  Do you ever add turmeric to your hummus for added health benefits?  I'm wondering if it tastes good in it, and how much to add?  We love the garlic in ours, so I'm not sure about adding it to our hummus just yet.


I'm already planning some new ideas for next Christmas, as we were so delayed by home repairs/renovations that had to happen.  I follow Betsy on Simple Lift of a Queen blogspot and, she mentioned exchanging advent gifts with her grand daughter.  Betsy, if you are reading this, I would love to know how to prepare the advent gifts.  Do you just wrap each one and place them all in a bag or box with numbers for the day of the month?  Or do you prepare them another way.  My brain is already chugging away at creating new traditions next year.

Also, Betsy where can I find the "Every which way filet" baby blanket pattern?  Thanks!

Sorry for the long boring post to start out this new week.  My kitchen is once again a hot mess from lack of being home, but it'll be spic and span clean this week.

I hope your weekend was good.  I may not be back to post, until the New Year, so Happy New Year!

6 comments:

Mother Em said...

Re Advent, I want to mention what I did this year for my 30 year old granddaughter, going on 13! Her brother got engaged earlier in the year and married a couple days before her 30th birthday! Disappointment to say the least, 'how dare he spoil My Birthday!' So, I came up with the idea of getting 25 different Christmas cards, putting in a little decoration for her small Christmas tree and numbering the cards to be opened going forward to Christmas. They are glitter-freaks (I hate glitter to no end! It gets all over everything!) and put some cards in there to make her happy. But, she really enjoyed the surprises and decorating. So, that's just my input. I hope you have a Blessed New Years ahead. (Kinda been not reading all the blogs I follow since a couple of vacations in Georgia and Florida this fall.) Happy New Year.

Betsy said...

Not a boring post at all! Okay, first the pattern. If you google "Every Which Way Filet" it will take you right to a choice of options. When I learned I watched the Fiber Spider's tutorial on YouTube. It's also a free pattern on Ravelry where you can go to as a guest right on that google page. Let me know if you have any trouble getting it.
For the advent gifts, because I was silly and made the countdown containers 25 knitted baby socks pinned to twine, they aren't vey big. Some days there are actually gifts small enough to fit, like a chapstick, etc. Other days the gift is too big so it's wrapped and in a basket just below the advent string. Those days there is a piece of candy in the stocking too. Some days there is no actual "gift", it's just the candy in the stocking. We do have a lot of fun with it. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Blessings and hugs,
Betsy

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Thanks Mother Em, Great idea! I need a vacation too. I hope your trips are fun and relaxing.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Betsy, thanks for the input on the advent gifts and the pattern location. I hope to have some "scroll" time this week to find it.

Faith said...

Kristina, I have a long time ago went to the Christmas store in Amish. There was an antique mall near there which was a go to for many years, and now it is closed and has become a church. My go to now is the one in Berlin, 2 story near the water tower, this is where I found my latest pretty. I have not been to alot of other antique stores there, when I find one I like I stick with it. That little 2 story one is just right. I do not/have not put tumeric in hummus, so I can't tell you whether it is good or not. Happy New Year!

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Faith, I saw that they closed that one by the Bistro and that was the one I went to for good finds. I will have to look into the other ones next trip.