Pioneer Woman at Heart

During my last trip to the store (2nd attempt at another store), I bought the very last bottle of classic pectin.  However, I am still unable to find a vegetable brush for the camper (3 attempts).   As far as produce?  I have not found what I need other than I found a half dozen ears of corn to grill.   Although I have no photos to share today, I have a funny story to share. We went out with friends to our first cruise in.  It is where the town has all older cars drive up and down main street.  People park along the roads and sit and watch.  Well, we decided to eat out before that.   It's sort of funny, yet frustrating.  First we asked for silverware while we were ordering drinks.  Didn't get them.  I got my crowne royal served without the "rocks" so I fished them out of my ice water and added them.  We ordered 2 appetizers.  One arrived cold.  The other never arrived at all. We asked for silverware aga...

  The first thing I needed to do was bake a breakfast for us. I used the teeny tomatoes from the garden, asparagus and fresh basil for this one.  Oh, and sausage on the bottom layer. Next?  I put up shelves upstairs and started the process of moving totes of yarn and getting that organized.  It may be a week long job (or more due to carpet cleaning, which we do plan to replace when the last kid is out), but so excited to get started. . . . meanwhile, in the garden. We finally got some glorious rain, so I sure hope it gives the garden what it needs to give us a bounty this summer. My husband, Daughter K and myself went to the last day of the fair to watch the demolition derby.  We had 4 family/friends in the derby this year.  The best part is we bought pit passes and drove the truck right into the arena area and sat on the tool box to watch.  We didn't have to sit in the crowded stadium.  It was great.  My husband's Godson won 1st place and $6...

Daughter K and I made another trip to a small town to finish up our Easter Baskets.   I bought myself a few treats of a different kind . . . I honestly had no plans to buy anything, but decided to treat myself.  I bought a motorcycle garden stone for the flower bed, and a few pairs of new socks - camping and wine bottles/glasses.  I am now officially on their frequent buyer system.  After so many dollars spent, you get $5 off your next visit, and the points to not expire.  They are locally operated, and have lots of neat items for gift giving. Oddly, the antique stores were all closed, so we ventured onto another larger city.  I, for some reason, thought they had a JoAnn's Fabric, but did not.  They had Michael's and Hobby Lobby.  We ventured into Michael's.  I haven't been to one in a long, long time. The prices on items were so high, I did not know they didn't sell fabric, and their yarn section was small and over priced.  They al...

  January 1st was a day to catch back up on things.  Laundry was caught up, Hubby finished replacing the brakes on the truck, I mended a shirt, and cleaned up "party central" in the kitchen.  We started the new year by trying a new recipe.  Had to laugh though.  It was a crock pot recipe, and all day I thought it was not.  I had to make a few changes and wha-la, black eyed pea casserole baked in the oven.  It tasted good too.  Original recipe is online with Food.com.  I used fire roasted tomatoes and added my own jalapeno's that I froze (and cooked along with the ground beef and onions first).  Healthy and delicious.  Will it bring us good luck all year?  I guess we'll find out.  I've never been one to believe in such things, but after last year it was worth a try. My new 2021 planner is being filled up with plans of travel, and a bright shining year of possibilities.  The weather was absolutely miserable ye...

We had a Father's Day cookout to go to yesterday.  It was nice to see family, but there were people there I didn't even know and we all sort of didn't mingle that much.  I talked to some, but not all.  It was also very hot outside. I also took a cold fruit salad (homemade, not store bought), but when I went inside it wasn't put out. When I asked about it, I was told that there was more dessert so mine wasn't needed basically.  So why bother making something I thought?   Why ask us to all bring a side dish?  I put it out anyway, and it was basically gone by the time we left.   We later went to test drive a car. My car is toast.  It will require a new engine.  So tired of the car situation, but hopefully it will change if we find one (need 2 more vehicles). Today I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. The weather . . . Well, it was to rain all day yesterday.  We got a 10 second rain shower.  Rain is in...

We took a hiatus from life and went to the island for the weekend.  Where we are off grid most of the time (love it that way too), and where it was the most normal of normal life.  Peaceful, no protesting,  no rioting, stores open, campground open, beaches open, golf cart rentals going, winery was absolutely packed (they put outside tables all over the property), live music at all our favorite stops, and beautiful scenery. It's not cheap to eat and drink over there however.  One glass of sangria at the winery is $7.00 and a pitcher $21.00.  We went out for Breakfast one morning and it cost us $70 for the 4 of us.  We packed a lot of food, so we ate at our rental and grilled.  We also brought our own adult beverage.  Breakfast out was biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs and a slice of watermelon (and the biscuits and gravy sadly were the worst we have ever had). We got to stay an extra night.  Oh darn, lol!  Winds wer...

Quarantine Day 24 Monday evening we let the kids roast weenies (non-gmo/beef) over a backyard campfire.  They were in heaven and I'm glad we could give them a bit of normalcy in all of this. Finally found one bag of whole wheat flour, but it cost me dearly for shipping.  I'll go without after this, unless the stores restock here. We got a text this morning from our friend who has parents on ventilators (confirmed cases of the virus).  Her father passed away early this morning. Our youngest daughter has been having bad headaches, I have been dealing with a cough, and yesterday my husband got a phone call that he had been reported having been around someone with the virus at his work.  I had a mental breakdown last night, so I'm praying for a better day today. We had bad storms last night, so everything is soaked outside.  Otherwise it would be a good day to do some garden work, cut wood or other work. We picked up our masks and they are...

I was so tired Thursday morning I just took the day off.  I literally did dishes and made dinner.  Oh and froze more jalapenos.  Thursday evening it was predicted to reach close to freezing temps in the evening, so I went out to check the garden (because I've not had time to be outside right now with the condition of the inside of my house).  I saw a few green bell peppers and jalapenos, so those will be eaten with meals vs. frozen. Small, but not wasted either.  Time needs to slow down so I can actually pull the garden and be done with that. I've been promising biscuits and gravy for days now, so I baked biscuits and made it for dinner, along with scrambled eggs and fried potatoes with onion. Friday I canned tomato sauce (happy dance). The weekend was more of a "stay-cation" for us, and well worth doing too.  (that wasn't even all of the bikes) Saturday we joined up with a biker benefit/memorial ride with some friends....

Got back from our first camping trip last night.  Puppy spent the weekend with his buddies Zuri and King, and with the kids. We really needed a weekend of camping too.  I took along some home canned hot pepper relish too.  We had guests Friday night, so I made some foil packet dinners to cook over the campfire with sausage, potatoes and beans.  Breakfast was easy to pack, meats, eggs, potatoes and bread for french toast. What's your favorite "go-to" natural remedy to take in your "first aid" kit when traveling.  I take chickweed salve and homemade neosporin, and sometimes mullein tincture.  Would love to know what you suggest and why.  I'm considering digestive bitters next trip. Friday morning I also baked us some Einkorn peanut butter cookies to take with us.  Mmm! Before we left I made sure the bedding was already washed and back on the bed, Hubby's work clothes washed and dried, and so forth.  It really saves a he...

The rain took a day off, so that meant the spectacular event called laundry.  The lines were loaded.  Followed by lots of dish washing, vacuuming and other various house cleaning. Bedding washed, rugs washed, floors swept and mopped.  Sinks cleaned, toilets scrubbed....all so I could return home Sunday to a clean house.  Which by the way, didn't completely happen. Those beautiful jars I recently canned were all labeled and put away too.  Most of them anyway. Medicinal teas were brewed, essential oil steams were done, salt water "snorted".....all three of us caught the "creepy crud" and we were really wanting to feel 100% by Friday. The best event? Camping.  I wrote out a grocery list, with a meal plan, checked and rechecked the camping supplies, and we hit the road.  It happened to be the motivation Hubby had to get the new hitch put on the truck too.  It was a wedding reception/camp out. (during our set up, we had a bit of a roug...