Teabag Tidbits and other randomness

We had a plethora of cardinals yesterday.  Sorry for the dirty window, and lawn furniture in the way of your view.

There were over a dozen.  I was taking photos quickly, so sorry they are out of focus too.  I couldn't believe there were so many of them in one place.


One of my daughters came out for a visit yesterday.  I was just thinking about her too.  She typically is the only daughter (that's moved out) that comes to visit anymore.  I do enjoy her company.

I had so much to do yesterday, that reading time was very limited.  I hope I can finish my book, but I do have a crochet order as well.  

We have a long week of no sunshine this week.  I have had all the lights on, which I know won't shrink my inflated electric bill, but man.

I managed to make a trip to the library, just to get out of the house for a short spell.

Seed catalogs have arrived.  I am trying to make a conscious effort to downsize, just in case we have a rotten spring.  I can't go in debt with spending and no bounty from it.  It's tough to figure out what to continue to grow and what to cut out of the list.  I miss my popcorn, but I can buy non-gmo about 3 hours from here, which lasts for us.  I know I will order more garlic.  I doubt what I planted (so late too) in the grow bags last fall will amount to much of anything.

We have officially run out of wood.  We got zero cut last night.  Hubby took had overtime.

Feel Good Moments

Seeds are sprouting.

Sold 2 more dish scrubbies.

Have enough cut barn beams to last the season.

Rainy Days ~ Popcorn "pop" test #2 ~ Radish Seeds

I'm starting to think I need to get the canoe out to get around outside.  It's raining so often, the puddles are now like pools of water (which are frozen today).  We are going through many towels to wipe dog paws this week.

Popcorn "pop" test #2

It's taking much longer to dry out the popcorn this year.  We haven't used our pellet stove all winter (which heats the other end of the house), on account of it needing parts (and we all know about the medical bills).  In the past, I would put the ears of corn in front of the pellet stove, and it would be ready by December.  Not this time.  

I started tackling the first type of radish seeds.  It will take many more days to complete this chore.  It took almost an hour for that little bowl of seeds, and it doesn't look like much, right?  I'll be asking for some help this next weekend.

Goals

I've made great strides in my goals of self-sufficient meals, even though I have to purchase real lard at this point.

Breakfast the other day, happened to be one of those happy moments. 

I pulled blanched garden kale from the freezer.

Getting Back in my Groove ~ Garden Planning

Tuesday was my first day back to regular exercise and back to a full day of house chores.  Did I want to exercise?  Nope, but I did, and I actually felt great while doing it.

The weather here has been cold, and frozen.  We continue to get more snow, which melts, and re-freezes.  It makes driving anywhere a true challenge.  We had very bright sunshine early in the day, but by dinner time it was all cloud cover.

I dug out all my seeds, seed catalogs, and my "garden list" for this year.  Then it dawned on me.  Where are my radish seeds I saved?

Well, little ol' me, accidentally forgot about them.  I left them in the pods (on the dead plants), in baskets in the garage all winter.  Oops.  I'm told that if they are not moldy, they should be good, so that's what I'm doing today.  However, I don't remember which basket is which type (ha ha ha!).  I guess I'll just mark them radish #1 and radish #2 and find out after I plant them.  I have a good guess though.

Popcorn Test #2

I checked the popcorn for the second time.  I took 6 kernels and used coconut oil.

The results?

Rest and Relaxation (kind of) ~ Whiskey Butterscotch Sauce

Sunday we finally sat around and simply enjoyed ourselves.  We tossed around the idea of going bowling, but the more we relaxed and took time for ourselves, the more we wanted to simply hang out (in pajamas no less).

It's hard for me to sit around and do nothing, which was what we told Mom to do (she had another ER visit) for the next few days. 

I was reading through a library book, on handmade gifts and decided to not let the year end without a "bang." 

I went to the kitchen and made Whiskey Butterscotch Sauce.