Happy Homemaker Monday

 The weekend went by pretty fast.  Gardening continues daily, as well as yard work. We are planting less than usual, and making some changes.  We have yet to get the raised beds built, and that is due to life in general.

The weather has been nice in the 50's at night and 70's in the day time.  We won't see rain for a week or so however.

The new chicks have finally figured out the ramp into the coop.  Getting them all inside at night is going much smoother.

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

I will link up when she posts.

The weather . . .

As I said above, nights are about the 50's, with days in the 70's. 

As I look outside my window . . .

The sun is up.

Right now I am . . .

Making coffee, and getting this post up.

Thinking and pondering . . .

So, I am thinking we need a garden bed, or raised bed just for potatoes.  They don't grown well with so many other vegetable plants.  I have some to plant, but they may go in grow bags this year.  

Listening to . . .

Rock and Roll station

How I am feeling . . .

Tired.  I need to get back to my regular work out routine.  Garden work is exercise, but I need my routine back.

On the breakfast plate . . .

Leftover bacon/bell pepper/onion and cheese omelet

On the reading pile . . .

I haven't had time to read.  Between garden work and inside work, it's just not happening.

On the TV . . .

Honestly?  Whatever looks interesting.

On the menu . . .

-Sloppy Joes, Sweet potato baked fries

-Sheet pan chicken and veggies

-Leftovers with roasted rosemary asparagus

Looking around the house . . .

I have a pile of donations to take, but I may be adding to the pile.  There are things that still need finished from renovations, but like I said, life is pretty hectic at the moment, so those jobs remain on a to-do list.  

I'm pretty sure the flower bed expansion job will remain on the list until spring.  We just have too many interruptions, complications, and happenings going on.

On the to-do list . . .

-unload dishwasher, wash and dry dishes

-bake a breakfast (French Toast and Sausage links)

-laundry

-garden work (all week on the to-do list)

-make a call for a free estimate 

-tear down garden start stand, and disassemble lights, and put everything back in storage.

-water porch flowers

-sweep/mop floors

-dust

(this list may be the "all week" to-do list ha ha!)

From the camera . . .

Nothing.  I've been pretty busy with the garden, so no photos.  I did see our finches the other day, but didn't have my camera.  I also had a visit from a red-throated hummingbird, and didn't get a photo either.

 
Prayers . . .

A co-worker of one of my brothers who is battling stage 4 cancer.  He went through 6 months of chemotherapy, and was doing great, and some tumors where completely gone.  However, he has suddenly gotten sick, and has a rapidly growing tumor on his liver.  Please pray for Jerry.

Whew! Crazy Hours End! ~ Extreme Clean/Renovations Update ~ Garden

 

We made it through it!  My husband had to work 14 days straight, with a switch to 2nd shift, and that was hard for the both of us.  It has finally come to an end.  Now we can get back to our home projects and have the evenings to ourselves. 

I literally have several lists going right now.  I figured, when this schedule is back to normal, I have options on what we do next, ha ha!

I have been painting the upstairs sub flooring with odor killer paint, and have one room more than half done.  We are super excited to get this job done, so we can install flooring.  I should the larger room's flooring painted in 3 days, 4 tops.

We have purged many boxes in the last two weeks, donated quite a bit, and our trash bin filled up as fast as it was emptied.

I have just a few more boxes to go through, but they are larger boxes.  The bedroom/closet are almost done.    We haven't talked much about door paint color yet.  We'll pick up paint swatches next trip to town.

On the garden updates:

- planted 16 new asparagus root starts, put short fencing in around to hold straw in place (for now)

-planted about 10 new rhubarb (temporarily in a grow bag)

We are to get 5-6 days of rain starting today.  I wanted to get these planted before the rain.  

What needs done in the garden:

-dig randomly growing red raspberry sprouts and re-home them, they are coming up in over in the vegetable garden where I have the original asparagus bed.

Gardening indoors:

-planted a basil and cilantro plant, because I have been terrible with seed starts with everything going on here lately.

Happy Homemaker Monday

 I've mentioned that we make Four Thieves Vinegar for the year, and especially for winter months, and now I am making a Four Thieves Spray to clean the house with.

You can get the instructions with Mountain Rose Herbs online (there is a video).

It's been rough lately, when it comes to daily chores.  In the process of going through every single box/tote/bag for the closet, there are daily chores to do first.  It's been a bit overwhelming, but I know it will all be worth the work.

I decided to mix up some herbal tea mix for my version of "calm the fluff" down tea.  There are so many recipes for this online.  I used what I had on hand.

Asparagus is up a few weeks early and we are expected to have a frost tonight.

If you were asking about the recent afghan pattern, for the granny/double crochet ripple with a straight edge, I posted it yesterday:  HERE

Question:

Forget The Pharmacy - Grow Your Own Medicine: The Homesteader's Ultimate Self-Sufficient Guide to Grow Herbs, Craft Natural Remedies, and Treat Common ... Proactively (The Homesteader Herbs Series)

Do any of you have this book?  I tried to get it from the library, and they do not have it.  I'm wondering if it is worth the purchase?

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

I will link up after she posts this morning.   Grab some cuppa, as it's sort of a long post today ha ha!

The weather. . .

49°/30° today, heading up to the 60's later this week, but lots of rain.

As I look outside my window . . .

Calm, a bit sunny.

Right now I am . . .

Brewing coffee late.

Thinking and pondering .  . .

Wondering if there is a difference in using licorice root for tea making or licorice root slices?  Does anyone know?  I tried googling it and it just kept giving me uses etc.

So, I came across this in a tote from the closet.  I am told that my Grandmother on my Dad's side made one for me and my siblings.  I am also told Mom stored them in her cedar chest and we were never allowed to play with them.  So, now I'm a grown older adult, and have no idea what to do with it.  The leg is also falling apart.

Our historical museum is closed due to water damage last winter, and we have no idea when they will open (if they even re-open).  Also, the head on this doll is barely holding on.  What would you do?   Storing it seems impractical.  My kids would not want it either.

On my bedside table. . .

Water, two crochet hooks, clock, remote, and heater remote.

On my TV this week . . .

I'll be honest, I'm not finding anything interesting on Netflix.  I may look at our movie stash this week.

Listening to . . .

Rock, 70's.  A girl's gotta have something to motivate this extreme clean, take back the house, get it organized stuff.

On my lunch  plate . . .

I boiled eggs, so eggs or egg salad.  Or sliced egg on a cracker with a spread.

On my dinner plate . . .

Not sure yet.

On the menu this week . . .

-Leftover sheet pan dinner (chicken sausage/carrots/potatoes), leftover asparagus and broccoli

-Chicken Spaghetti, garden green beans

-not sure on the rest just yet

Breakfast(s):

-Sweet potato hash with eggs
-Scrambled pesto eggs, bacon
-Chili Cheddar Egg Bake, sausage

On my reading pile . . .

I'm still reading Atomic Habits.  I am really enjoying this book, but not much time to read lately.

On the to-do list . . .

-dishes
-laundry
-dust

-clean roosts

-sweep/mop

-work more on the big purge

Plans for the week . . .

1. Start painting odor sealant on upstairs wood flooring

2. Get garden fencing up, or at least get it purchased

3. Gather all the donation items and deliver them (two places)

4. Gather all the trash (from the big purge) and get it out of the house (trash bin outside is FULL!)

What I am creating . . .

This is the afghan I mentioned at the top of this post.  I'm still working on it.

Also, a new tincture was made, and I will post tomorrow.

My simple pleasure . . .

Yogurt/peanut butter dip and apple slices.  I prefer organic greek plain yogurt mixed with just some organic peanut butter.  You can add honey for added flavor, but the peanut butter is enough for me.  

Looking around the house . . .

I have a lot to go through, before I move any craft supplies to the upstairs.  

From the Camera. . .

I inherited a knit pattern from one of my Grandmothers.  I found it in the box of beads.  However, she did not write down the size of knitting needle.  I have tucked this away for now.  It appears she used worsted weight yarn for it though.  Anyway, getting tucked away until I have more free time.  My focus is to get this house back in order.

Bible Verse, Devotional, Quote. . .

Prayers for Daughter E.  Her cat Tiger is in Kitty Heaven now.  He was 14 years old.  I will miss that turd.  He was a wonderful cat with a very lovely personality. 

Garden Clean Up Day ~ Wild Violets

 

I had a full day out in the garden.  It is a hot mess of weeds.  The asparagus bed is going to need TLC this year, or we'll just till the new part again, and buy plants this year.  We dropped seeds last year, and with everything going on called life, I neglected it.   Our wild violets are starting to come up, but I doubt we'll get enough by today.  Monday the weather forecast is snow.  Yes, I said snow.  Ugh.  I'm hoping the rhubarb and asparagus harvest is not affected.  I can live without violet jelly, but this weather is "all over the map."

It is a bit on the early side for all three of these to be starting to come up.

I managed to pull the long 30 some foot pea fence and t-posts all by my little ol' self.  Compost is being added today, so I am in a hurry to get 6 foot foxtail and other stuff pulled first.  I didn't get my other bean fence pulled.  It was already late in the afternoon, and the ground was drying up making it too hard of a job to do it myself.

Today?  It will be the mid-70's and rain moves in.

First Day in the Garden ~ My To-Do List Got more To-do-ey ~ Solar Electric Fence Suggestions?

 I was up and outside early to beat the 86°F heat yesterday.  I first got the chicken coop mucked, and washed the watering unit.  Why oh why do the chickens seem to dirty it up in one day?  

Anyway, I spent the rest of the morning out in the gardens, pulling plastic, stakes, and anything I missed last fall.  I have more to do, and I need to move all the grow bags out before the rain arrives.  We are hiring a person to come till both gardens, so we need the pea fence and the bean fence pulled.   He is a friend, and doesn't charge a lot, and can get it all done nicely and quickly for us. We keep up after that with the smaller tiller. 

Oh, and for 14 some years we've been growing gardens here, we've not had too much to deal with, in the way of critters.  We did very well actually.

The last two years have been a headache.  Not sure if it's due to not having dogs here or what, but the rabbits and squirrels have been the biggest nuisance.  We are installing an electric solar fence this year.  

We have never done this, and if you have, and have suggestions for the solar part, I would to hear them.

My green onion is going ba-zonkers, and I am so happy.  Last year it had a rough time.  I wasn't sure I'd get much this year. 

Also, some of my rhubarb survived.  What's the best way to dig and move it, without killing it, and would it do well in a grow bag?  We are going to dig out the bed it's in.

Update on Upstairs Flooring

 

I was told this is the best urine odor/stain remover for carpets, and other flooring.  I have been using it on the upstairs flooring, but you have to wait 24 hours to re-treat spots.  Our daughter was terrible at taking her dogs out.  Anyway, it's working, but we still plan to paint kilz on the flooring after I have the spots treated well.  We removed all of the carpet, so I cannot give a  review using it on carpet, but you can go to their website and read them from others.

I'm so busy downstairs, I often forget to go up there and treat spots.  Hopefully, we will wind down and get things in order, but this week is a whirlwind of activity.  

Yesterday was the perfect weather day to work out in the garden, but the ground is still too wet.  It's never been a problem, but has been the last few years.

Transition Days ~ Chickens ~ Seedlings

 The first few days of start up hours, for my husband's work can be crazy.  It's a time of feeling whack-a-doodle, as far as routine goes.  He's either working 2nd or 3rd or who knows what shift, and it throws me off completely.

It takes us a good few days to try and get flow to our daily routine, mornings, evenings, all of it.  I took the day off from purging and organizing and moving stuff, but it has been overwhelming for me.  I love to create crafty items, but it's sort of at the point, where I don't need to create so many items anymore.  I have to come to a point of deciding what to get rid of what to keep, in that area.

I used to make homemade gifts, that required bottles, or jars or whatnot.  Not anymore.  The kids are all grown, and do not put up Christmas trees, so I'm not making ornaments like I used to.  By the way, the "starbucks" ornaments in the making, made their way to the trash. I took off what could be useable, and tossed the rest.  The kids did not want one for their homes/apt.

I used an old bookshelf to store craft items in my closet, so that is the focus, but now I'm trying to decide if I want to paint the bookshelf and put it in the upstairs bedroom.  It is a solid wood bookshelf, so I will think a bit longer on that decision.

His schedule also throws off my meal plans.  I managed to clean a large amount of fresh spinach, blanch and freeze it.  I may be using some to make a breakfast frittata.  I do sort the spinach, because the last few times, I have found weeds, and sometimes grass it in.  I also lift it out of the soak water, and rinse again, before blanching it.

Our weather was a bit warmer yesterday, but we are still drying out from the recent downpour of rain.  We are back to cooler weather again.  

The chickens are back to regular egg laying, but their coop door is falling apart.  We'll need to start thinking about the new coop now.  For now, we will have to rig it, so the door shuts properly.

My saved hot banana pepper seeds have not sprouted as of today.  I saved them from pepper plants we purchased, and planted, so I'm not sure what's going on .  I may need to purchase Hungarian wax pepper plants and try saving those seeds this year (or buy seeds from my regular sources).  Also, the Cherry Bomb pepper seeds I purchased from someone on Etsy (I should learn my lesson after twice), did not sprout.  Only one did.  I can live without the cherry bomb, but I do use quite a bit of the hot banana peppers for a few canning recipes.

Speaking of canning.  I can confess, the first year I started growing a garden, I went nut-so with canning.  Boy, can you dive right into all those interesting recipes and end up with way too many condiments the first few years.  I have been very careful now, on only canning some "interesting" and delicious condiments for gift giving.  I decided not to can corn relish the last few years, after realizing we did not use it as much as we thought we would.

I have been discussing canning and the garden with my husband lately, and I may can some jalapenos to compare with freezing this year.  I'm not talking more cowboy candy, but just canning them.

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

The hot pepper seeds have arrived, and are now started in seed trays.  I am still waiting on my carrot seeds (back ordered for some reason).  I have limited space to start seeds, hence why I have asked for a greenhouse in the future, but these two are new to the garden.  The Datil are similar to a habanero, but more of a "sweet" taste, according to my research.  Seeds for Datil were sent free too.

Replacement part has been ordered for our stove. I will update on that once we see if that was the issue.  My husband almost burned down the stove Sunday at breakfast.  He forgot and used the burner.  I have removed the knob, so neither of us use that burner until the part arrives.

I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom today.

I will link up when she posts.

The weather . . .

Warmer that usual, and possibly in the lower 60's mid-week (crazy).

As I look outside my window . . .

It's still pitch dark.

Right now I am . . .

Sipping coffee, deciding on what to bake for breakfast today.

Thinking and pondering . . .

Trying to find a way to sell off my crochet/knit, craft inventory.  I have more than I thought.  I have 16 sets of crocheted pot holder sets alone.  I am just trying to make more room upstairs.

On my bedside table . . .

I cleaned it off!  Just my clock, photos, water and throat lozenges (yeah, still dealing with that).

On  my TV . . .

The Secret: Dare to Dream

Listening to . . .

80's

On the lunch plate . . .

-have no idea yet

On the dinner plate . . .

Four beans and sausage (crock pot meal)

On the menu . . .

-Four beans and sausage, recipe is:  HERE
-Chicken, veggie sheet pan dinner
-leftovers

On my reading pile . . .

Nothing this week.

On the To-Do List. . .

-check paypal, order pet urine solution (will update if it works on the wood floors when it arrives).  They only take paypal, so it has delayed cleaning upstairs floors 
-laundry
-make a breakfast, do dishes
-clean roosts

-run dishwasher
-work on another box of paperwork left from last room move
-make a phone call (if my voice is up to it)
-pay bills

Plans for this week . . .

Start cleaning up the mess we left in the hallway downstairs.  The shoe/boot pile has a mess of tools, gloves and what not.  It's been driving me nuts.  If successful, I may be painting trim in that hallway.  Plant Swiss Chard indoors.

What I am sewing, knitting, crocheting or creating. . .

I was cleaning clutter, and got distracted by leftover balls of yarn.  There is a pile of it at the base of the stairs to go back up now.  Any, I sat at the computer and whipped up one of these.   I have no idea why, other than I was curious and it was over loaded cuteness!

 I noticed that when I sew in the first black line, then go over to start a second (up and down), you can see the black yarn behind it.  I may work up another and work on hiding more of that, but they turn out super cute just using what ever worsted weight yarn I had (her suggestion of yarn does look better).  I used a smaller hook for the hearts.  The link again for the pattern is:  HERE.

Yes, I got distracted, but it was a nice break.  I got back to work, and then later found more unfinished projects.

I worked a bit on this scarf, while my blanket continued to air dry (see story on that in Saturday's post, ha ha!).  To stay on task, I have a dedicated bin for "unfinished" projects.  I am working on balancing declutter, repairs, renovations etc with crochet time.

My simple pleasure . . .

I'm stumped on this one today.  Maybe I need more coffee to think this morning, ha ha!

I got one now....going to the library for random books.  I have not been to the library since Feb. 2020.

Looking around the house . . .

I had good intentions on clearing another area of the house, but we sort of took a break from stuff on Sunday.

From the camera. . .

I finally looked over my items I brought back home from the museum gift shop.  It's no wonder nothing was selling this year.  They marked up the prices way too high.  Sigh.

Bible Verse, Devotional . . .

Continued prayers for our friend Hope and her family, as she lost her husband.

Making Garlic Powder Day

 I finally got around to dehydrating garlic.  I typically do this when I can open my windows, but saved this job for this winter.

You put your cloves into the rubber tube, roll gently pressing to remove garlic skins.  My tools are from Pampered Chef, but I am sure Amazon sells something similar.  I got mine free, and love them!  It is so much faster than hand peeling/slicing.

Put the cloves in the slicer compartments, and press and turn to slice garlic.  Not real easy to clean, but works great.

I first started doing this all by hand - hand peeling, hand slicing then grinding.  I sliced my cloves onto parchment paper this time.  It just makes it easier to get it all into my coffee grinder to grind up.

I am dehydrating the garlic on 125°F in my Excalibur for 8 - 12 hours.  I store garlic powder in an air tight jar in my pantry.  Unlike onion powder, it will not collect moisture (best way to store  my onion powder is in an airtight jar in the freezer).  I use garlic powder in a lot of recipes.

Now, if you want minced garlic (which I need when I can Cowboy Candy), I chop it up in my smaller food processor.  They have other tools for mincing, but that's what I have on hand.

I'm finishing up the last few hours of drying this morning, and will put them into a coffee grinder to grind down into a powder. One more job off the winter project list.

Taking back the house continues and other ramblings....

 

Woke up to fog.  The weather today is high of 51°F.  No rain until tomorrow, so the chicken coop just might get cleaned today.  As you can see in the upper part of the photo, the Christmas lights are still up (but off).  I may just get those down and put away as the weather is nicer.

The living room floor has been cleared of boxes, styrofoam, window screens, and whatnot.  The breakfast bar has finally been moved from kitchen to living room, and the new plant stands have been put together for Mom's plants.  It's early, so hence the dark photo, but will try and get a day time photo for you.

The stands hold all but Mom's cactus.  It is blooming again.  I need to figure out a place for that.  I also need to re-pot it.  The cactus is still in the container that it came in (how it was at Mom's house).  I will need to contact a friend to make sure I get the correct soil, and I will need a new pot for it.

We have no end tables or lamps just yet.  The kids broke the last lamps we had (most likely the help of their dogs).  It's on the to-do list.  

I still have to clear up my yarn stash in my bedroom, now that the living room is done (and I can access the upstairs).  I need to find the last tie back for the curtains.  I didn't feel like doing it yesterday, so it's back on the weekly to-do list.

I also pulled the new wall decor from the closet to the living room.  We have not decided on where to hang the decor.  We may put up a shelf to match the white wash theme, but we have not found a board for our white wash barnwood shelf brackets just yet.

I have pulled several boxes of "office" stuff that was shoved into the office from the computer area (kitchen) when the kitchen floor was done first.  Lets just say, I have a lot of boxes to go thru and purge, re-organize and put back where it needs to be (or find it a new home).

I still need a file folder for the computer desk area in the kitchen.  I better write that down before I forget.  The last one I tried to order from Amazon, had to be returned due to damage.

Our paper shredder died on us, so I have asked my husband to get us a burn barrel.  We'll see if he remembers. 

Most importantly, today I will be getting out my garden planner and getting a plan in place.  Possibly some new chicken coop plans as well.

Loofah Seeds ~ Life of a Loofah Plant

 

The to-do list(s) are staying continuous, and in doing so, I found a small flower pot with loofah seeds that some how ended up at my house (from Mom's house).  They are from my Aunt J, from Florida.  I know many (many) years ago, Mom gave me some, and I could not get them to grow here.

I decided to humor myself, and put some seeds in a bag with a wet paper towel, to see if any were even good.  I put them in the bag June 27th (although late in our growing season), and on July 12th, I noticed one sprouted.  I planted it out where it would get a good amount of heat and sunshine, and marked it with glady posts (and to give it something to climb). 

July 19, 2022 (very late to plant in our zone, but I did)

July 21, 2022

July 22, 2022 (new leaf)

 

July 24, 2022

July 26, 2022

August 4, 2022 (very hot and humid, just got rain)

August 10th, 2022.  It's now about 2 feet tall.   Just ignore those weeds.  It's not getting pulled until the garden dries out.

 These plants can grow up to 30 feet.  Anyway, our humidity and hot weather just changed to being nice, so I don't know that I'll get a loofah on it.  I guess we shall see what happens over the next 6-8 weeks.  I'm going to put a much larger trellis behind it.  These plants need something to climb, and it's outgrowing the smaller trellis.  I can also run lines from the trellis to the fence behind it.  Time will tell if I get any loofah's, but what a fun experience so far.

Sunday Chit-Chat

I got my plant start trays ordered yesterday, and they should arrive today.   

It's still freezing cold here.  No change in the weather just yet.

Dinner was a 2-crock pot meal last night.  Turkey in one with a paprika rub (homemade), and sweet potatoes in another with garden garlic, thyme, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper.  It was all I could muster up at the time, but well accepted.

The flooded utility room is mopped up, and with heat, pipes thawed and repaired (he's still mad he didn't listen to me and wrap the pipes last summer). 

In between getting around and moving/cleaning/etc. I have been resting by watching Cook's Country.  There is nothing like motivation to get you to think up an easy meal.

Using the sled, I brought my plant stand inside for seed planting.  It's way to heavy to carry in by myself.  I think I may order one more heat/grow light, but we'll see I guess.  

My husband hurt his back trying to start the wood splitter.  He spent the afternoon with a heating pad on his back.  No wood was split.  We only have enough for about an hour.  He's too humble to ask the boys for help either.  He'll try again this morning, but with my help (between coughing spasms).  He thinks the sub zero temperature has to do with the temperament of the splitter.

I keep hearing of a bad storm moving thru our area next Wed./Thursday.  Not sure if we'll get what they are calling for, but for what we are seeing, possible in the rain belt of it.  I still haven't located the other two shovels, so it better not be a foot of snow.

Today is the big day for the football game.  My husband is super excited and hopeful for the Bengals.  They are making history this year for sure either way this turns out.

Garden ~ Daffodils ~ New Recipe Tried

 

While out fetching firewood I walked out to check on the garlic.  All of the grow bags but one is doing great.

I brought in some daffodils to enjoy indoors.  It will drop to the 20's tonight.

Tried a new recipe.  Baked  buffalo chicken nuggets (The Stay at Home Chef).   I have to say I didn't follow it completely.  It said to use Frank's Buffalo wing sauce, and I made my own  wing sauce and bread crumbs.  It was not as crunchy as they said it would be, but had great flavor.  I think if I had an air fryer these would be very good.  Now....where would I store an air fryer in this place?  Hm.  Not sure I want to add more appliances, but....