Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I thought we were going to have a very dreary, dark day yesterday, but the sun came out, and I got some fresh air.  It was a bit cooler and breezy, but we are to warm back up thankfully.  Getting outside this time of year is good for the soul. Later, I went into my office for something, and found that I buried my crochet hooks in there.   I quickly got those back in their proper home, but I realized that I have more "stuff" in there to put away.  By "stuff" I mean stuff shoved in there from ripping up the entire flooring in the living.  I unpacked two more boxes I found from the bedroom project. I am also filling another box for donations. Just pack up an entire room in a hurry, and then unpack it all.  You'd be surprised on what you really need or use vs. what you have.   I found a cookbook I didn't even know I had.  I may try a few, but it is old and falling apart. I have used my "hidden" screwdriver several times already, and h...

Nothing real exciting to post today.  First thing I did yesterday morning was check laundry, run the dishwasher and wash any remaining pots and pans.  If the storms took out the power, we have no running water. Cell phones were charged, and water was put up for the animals.  Just in case.  Oil  lamps- check,  lamp oil - check, candles and matches - check, emergency lamp/radio - check. I also decided not to do more freezer cleaning, and to not use both dehydrators.  I didn't want to risk a freezer that wasn't shut and cold, nor have any electrical issues with any outages.  Those jobs remain on the to-do list. Early morning a steady rainfall began, followed by wind and thunderstorms.   The temperature dropped and it was too chilly (and not safe) to read on the porch.  Soon, around noon the rain stopped and the sun came out.  Two o'clock arrived and guess what?  No rain nor a bad storm.  In fact, no rain the rest of the ...

We enjoyed the weekend weather.  Gosh it was so nice out.  Sweatpants and sweatshirt weather.  Oh my. The sunrise Monday morning had so much color to it.  Just beautiful! We got more checked off the to-do list - installed another dead blot and two more new door knobs, replaced all the broken drawer brackets, cleaned up two kitchen drawers and reorganized, cleaned one upper cabinet and reorganized, cleaned up a ton of recycling in the garage and delivered it to recycling, got laundry done a day early since rain is due, Hubby fixed our car, installed a new window switch in one daughter's car, got one hour of mowing done and cleaned down all the cobwebs in the chicken coop. Here is my new thermometer I was telling you about.  It's made by Thermoworks, and is called the ThermoPop.  It can check temps up to 572°F (not that I need that), but this will make grilling steaks so much easier than my non-instant read thermometer.  The Th...

(Today's rain) We've had a few dry days, but planting hasn't happened.  Hubby is over worked and sick, and tilling wasn't going to get done.  I may have to hire someone for some work around the outside of the house as well.  It's frustrating, but I can't change his work schedule.  We have lost one jalapeno plant to the last storm, and maybe one tomato, but all others still look good. Saturday I ran errands all over the "big city." Picked up chicken feed, stopped at the bank, visited Mom and took her some lasagna, stopped at the grocery store and finally found organic fresh broccoli, and picked up another 453# of mulch.  Had to load the darn bags myself, since they only had one guy helping and it was too hot to just sit and wait for him.  ....when I'm unsupervised.  I also picked up some solar lights for what little garden I have planted.  I am trying to deter the deer, coyote and other critters now. Jesse stopped eating his f...

We are still unpacking, a week after our trip, ha ha!  It was our first "vacation" in almost or over 20 years.  I guess I deserve more time to unpack.  The nice part of it, is that what's still in our bags, is clean clothes we packed extra. We are getting boat loads of rain, so there is no garden work going on, and we are to get rain for about the next 7 days.  It'll take a while for things to dry out.  We are down to the lows in the 30's again. Jesse, eye balling my carrots.  I made roasted carrots to go with dinner and he had to have a few bites.  Crazy dog! The other day Youngest Daughter got home from school.  I said I needed to put the hens in from the run.  She said, "I'll do it."  I was totally shocked.  When she didn't come right back in, I wandered out to see if she had trouble.  I heard voices in the barn.  I popped my head in, and she was not only standing inside the coop with the littles, but hold...

Asparagus is up, and I have wanted to try pickling some for several years.  We are getting more each year, so this year the new canning recipe is..... ...Pickled Asparagus. I'll be tasting i t in a week .  I used the recipe found in the above borrowed cookbook titles "Pickled ." I have a ton of sticky notes marking many more to try.   Ho wever, there is a n error in the recipe .

I've been looking for a complete book on herbs, medicinal and culinary for a long time now.  I am pret ty sure there is n't a "compl ete" book prin ted, but this comes closer than some others I've read through.  It's pret ty thick too. Our library only has a 1996 edition of this book, but it's pretty close (but not yet complete) to a good resource.

A short while ago, I mixed up a recipe for homemade bubble bath.  Just you so know, there are so many different recipes out there to try.   I got bubbles, but I have well water too.  The water turned a milky white due to the ingredients too. The bubbles were not real big, but the clove oil really stood out.  I think any good essential oil will work. It just depends on what you want. 

I survived the weekend without making a trip to the ER after I hit a patch of ice, and did the chicken dance to keep myself upright.   My hip, to say the least, does not like that sort of dancing. Driving out of the homestead on S aturday , I survived getting to the "big city" without sliding all the way out into the highway. I wasn't going very fast , but our drive is all ice right now. It rained all night Friday, then froze, then snowed on Sunday.  Our one daughter drove back to college just before the majority of snow fell and blew with the wind.  She texted she wanted to be home right after she arrived back.  It was hard to go back aft er a long break.

This time of year I get to itchin' for that crazy, run-around, busyness I'm so acclimated to over the summer.  Sounds crazy in itself, right? There are days where I just have to do something new.  What's new?  A recipe.  A recipe from the stash pile. Dark Rum Truffles.  I have never, in my life, made a truffle.  Now I can say I have. However, I'm looking for a different recipe now. Were they good? 

I woke up to the downpour of rain yesterday morning, which as you saw in yesterday's post, quickly turned to snow.  I for once, was glad to see it.  It was my excuse to hunker in for the entire day and do something I do not normally have the time to do - read a book.  Our 16 year-old was up making us all omelets for breakfast, which started our day out great - potatoes, bacon, green peppers, etc.  Mmmm.

Some days I don't look up an herbal/medicinal tea recipe.  I simply open my encyclopedia on herbs and pick a few I harvest, and brew the tea.   I think I picked this one up at a book sale years ago.  Not sure.  It contains a good amount of information on all herbs, but I noticed if I looked up "Stinging Nettle" it only mentions the medicinal use for asthma and regrowth of hair. No mention of allergies, poor circulation or other ailments. Yesterday's tea was nettle/peppermint.  Nettle grows here wild and the peppermint I grow from organic seeds.

Porch time was a bit cooler yesterday, but I had it no less. I honestly wanted one last moment out there before we put furniture away for winter (which is today).   I had most of my chores done, but decided to sneak it in early.  Just in case. I wasn't sure what dinner time would bring, and I did not want to miss out on "5 minutes for me." It was another good day to

If you are wondering how the garden is going, I do have to replant a few seeds.  I have already replanted some cucumber seeds.  I only had one pie pumpkin seed come up, so I'll be buying different seeds next season (and if they do well, will save those seeds).  Gardening comes with mishaps, guess work and many prayers. I made a batch of homemade cream cheese, but forgot to photograph it for you.  I think you've all seen it made anyway.  It's the best cream cheese I ever tasted.  The kids devoured it.

Unfinished. Maybe it's two words - unfinished projects . I've gotten too many irons in the fire lately, and need to stop myself and regroup.  And I'm only talking about the fun stuff, not the daily to-do list.

I finally finished The Sun Also Rises, and now I'm onto the next one.   I think the most enjoyable part of this one, was reading his descriptions of the bullfighting.  I, as a youngin' got to see a real life bullfight in Madrid.   I have a photo album with photos somewhere around this place.

The birds are singing this morning.  What a nice thing to wake up too.  It sounds so peaceful out there.  It's a good day to let the ladies out and clean the coop too.  They will be so happy to be out and about today.  My 15 year-old opened the door and smiled, "it sounds like spring out there."   Yesterday, I was just finishing up my lunch, when a van pulled in.  My Hubby surprised me with red roses.  

The last few mornings, we've has some beautiful sunrise skies.

Are you ready to talk over coffee today?  Mom gifted me this recent mug in a bag of odds and ends she sent home with our 17 year-old last week.