Pioneer Woman at Heart

We have had many fun and memorable Christmas traditions in our home.  First, I loved (loved!) being classroom Mom for the class Christmas parties.  I would literally try to sign up for them when school started.  I loved it!  I always made some sort of treat bag/treat container that was filled with fun.  By fun I mean a handmade ornament for each student, candy, and fun activities or toys.  Here are a few treat bags I made for Christmas.  Also, most years I hand wrapped each handmade ornament so the kids had something to unwrap. Classroom treats were also made.  One year I dipped large marshmallows into melted butterscotch chips on a stick. Link to this on my S.C.R.A.P. Blogspot I had so much fun coming up with creative treat holders.  The one above was made from a toilet paper roll (bottom piece), and the top was an ornament that sat into the top. Link to this on my S.C.R.A.P. Blogspot Long time blog followers already know that I have a passi...

I can't believe November is already here.  I rolled in with a bang of cold weather. Sunday, we were up super early due to the dogs on regular time and us on daylight savings. We could have used that extra our of sleep.  My husband and I started back up on purging the garage.  We got a lot done.  There is much to do yet, but it is much better now. Rehomed the king box spring to our good friends, dog bed steps will go to humane society or Goodwill, sent photos of some wall lights to family to see if they could use them (new in boxes), threw stuff out until our bin was full (more to put in it after trash day).  Some will be burned.   Found tools we thought were lost, found a home for the horse feed bucket left behind by one daughter, found a brand new wheel for my garden cart, will be rehoming a child's rocker to our grand kids, toys my son left behind are going to my nephew...such a good feeling to get that much done in just half the day.  We were d...

Has anyone else had problems with the font on their blog changing to a different size after you post it?  I sometimes catch it prior to posting, but I noticed it is happening again. I don't think they have all the "bugs" worked out of this new format. I bought these new ornaments for our kitchen Christmas tree!  Aren't they adorable?  I love them!  And no, I have not put up anything else for Christmas.  I've been too busy ha ha! Youngest had a day off work, so we carpooled to the "Big City" and I picked up some more items I needed.  I stocked up on dried fruits too, just in case our state gets shut down again.  I needed them for winter prep anyway. Cold weather is here to stay I think.  Yesterday high of 77 degrees and today woke up to 42 with a high of 47 and now we dip to the 30's at night his coming week. Time to put porch furniture in storage and get back to splitting wood.

Sam I Am (at farmgirlSam blogspot ) shared an ornament that reminded me of one I made for gift giving years ago.  The crocheted edging is different, but wanted to share. I found wooden rings at the thrift store and used canning lids (old ones) for the backs.  The directions can be found on my S.C.R.A.P. Blogspot if you are interested. I will be digging through my crafting supplies to see if I have more rings to make the ones she posted.  They are beautiful! Not much going on at our homestead right now.   I got a few organic celery cubes frozen for winter soups.  Speaking of soups, I will be bagging my corn off the cob into smaller bags more so than the 3 cup bags, so I can use it for soups (but in smaller amounts). I made crock pot leftover ham/veggie soup yesterday.  I left out the corn and added white beans and a small amount of lentils (shockingly high in carbs), leftover green beans etc.  I did some reading, and couldn't b...