Pioneer Woman at Heart

  We are finishing up the wall decor in the living room (see photos below), and moving onto the next painting/repair/remodel project soon.   I'm still dealing with laryngitis.  I'm told there is a virus that causes this for 3 weeks.  If that it true, I'm rounding week 3, and still sipping hot teas - ginger, sage, thyme, lemon and honey.  Today switching it up with 4 thieves vinegar. We were invited to trailer our bike again to FL for Daytona bike week.  We declined.  Personally, I do not want to go on trips where there are babysitters and kids (that was a recent disaster).  I'd rather hunker in and get this house in order (greatly needed and deserved), as garden season will sneak up on us.  Plus, there is the cost to go.  We spent too much on the last trip.  We also want to save vacation days for camping this year. I have to call ODOT today.  Someone hit a deer in front of our house yesterday.  We called the Sheriff a...

  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 lam...

  I wasn't even going to paint the trim in the living room, but after we talked about it, we decided it would brighten up the room.  I have started to prime the trim, which is slow going.  I decided to use a tool to paint edges vs. using expensive paint tape.  It is slower, but works for the job.  You can see the room is already brighter with the trim white vs. dark wood. Good news!  I got an email and a text.  The flooring will be in this week, and the gas heater is ready to be picked up.  I guess that means I better get these windows done, so we can get the walls painted next.  I never expected to do that either, but since we had to replace the entire floor, and it hasn't been painted in 14 years, we decided to do it. I have been a bit depressed, and not feeling like it's even Christmas time right now, but glad this project is keeping my mind busy.  I'm just used to baking, and making homemade gifts this time of year, and I am not....

  Long, but busy weekend.  While our handy-man had the weekend off, I was working hard to paint bathroom door trim, and juggle the laundry, put things back where I painted another smaller area of a kitchen wall, do dishes, cook, garden, and stock up. The bathroom repairs continue.  The floor is in.  He had to make some changes with the new sub-floor.  The new shower base drain hole was about 1 inch off of where the original drain was. The kids, when they lived here, took long hot showers, so the paint on the ceiling was literally coming off.  It's been cleared, sanded, and areas filled.  It could be another 3 days before the drywall can be put in.  The ceiling will be painted with kilz, then re-textured, and painted with ceiling paint.  Each step taking a day to dry, so I'm trying to be patient. The garden is starting to roll in bounty.  I pulled the last of the lettuce plants and made us a big salad for these humid and hot days.  I...

Our hummingbird came to the porch for a very long visit.  It was about 5 feet from me enjoying our porch hanging flowers.  Visit from Mom? Woke up to no water pressure in my kitchen sink, and a ton of dirty dishes to wash.  I left the water on to clear air and painted. Before The other side of the bathroom door got primed.  I will be picking up paint samples soon for the other bathroom. I also painted the last wall in the kitchen.  I just have to paint some trim and the kitchen will be done completely. We got a lot of rain yesterday, so the garden should be popping with bounty soon. We were on the porch eating dinner, and heard a gun shot.  He pulled into our drive and we talked for hours.  He was taking care of rodents in the field north of us, so we gave him permission to park in our north drive to take care of ground hogs that took over our barn rubble, and were also causing havoc in the same field. I put 8 # of onions in the dehydrator.  We di...

  The other day I came inside to do something, and realized on my way back out I still had my slippers on.  I take my muck boots off at the door.  So funny.  My brain is on overdrive I swear. My living room is a mess and now the bathroom door is in there getting primed.  I painted one side yesterday.  Half of the bathroom floor is in, but they had 4 layers of flooring, so it's lower than the kitchen floor.  There is more work to do, and more supplies, to get the floor even with the kitchen. I've taken care of the peaches now.  I canned 8 half-pints of reduced sugar jam, and baked a peach crumble.  I left the rest for us to snack on.  Not sure if I will get any into the freezer or not. I started water-glassing eggs.  I figured if I fill that bucket up, I can start dehydrating, but this will reduce using canning jars right now. We are going on more than two weeks of zero rain.  We had thunderstorms in the forecast for today, but ...

  I was out of the garden by 8am.  It's mostly tilled, but today I need to weed and till.  Grass is up around some plants, but other than that, I'm keeping up with it.  I had to run to "the big" city" again.  I needed a new rack for my canner pot.  I searched for hours online, and only found them on ebay for $20.00.  I ended up going to Wal-mart and getting the pot and rack for $24.00.    I moseyed over to the meat to pick up something to grill, and wasn't shocked to see there was nearly nothing in the way of chicken.  Two packages literally (should have taken a photo), and thankfully all organic was available.  Same with the ground beef as well. I went to the hardware store and picked up paint for the living room and bathroom door and bathroom cabinet. Not the greatest photo, but I finally painted the beam in the kitchen ceiling.  It was truly a balancing act on the ladder, to avoid using a ton of paint tape.  My hus...

  This was my fitbit at 7pm  last night.  It was errand day, and not by choice.  I had to go to the "big city" for an estimate on the truck.  We may be getting a second estimate, because the first will not fix paint chips on the hood from the deer encounter.   Anyway, I took all my lists with me and landed at 5 stores!  I loaded online digital coupons before leaving the house.  Meijer had 20% off all ball canning supplies (you can check, but not sure how many days it's good for).  I picked up more canning lids for a great price, as things are not going well in this country, and wanted to be prepared.  Also, our Wal-mart had higher prices on canning lids than Meijer.  The 20% off was a great deal considering the times we are dealing with. At Home Depot (my last stop), I had to wait forever at the paint counter due to lack of employees.  It was a very long day. Meanwhile, our handy-man was gutting the entire smaller bathroom...

  I am constantly forgetting what day it is, with this miserable work schedule my husband has.   I'm definitely not running out of things to get done around here either.  I finally got some cabbage fermenting. By the way, have any of you canned sauerkraut? I just looked up one recipe in one canning book that requires 25# of cabbage.  I would cut that down, but would like anyone's feedback on how it tasted after canning it.  Any other small batch recipes too. I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. I will link up later when she posts. The weather . . .  -hot, humid and no rain in sight As I look outside my window. . . -grass is dying and the yards look terrible, but garden has been watered consistently.  I have another maple tree to plant, but have it in a bucket of water until we see we'll get some rain. Right now I am . . . Drinking coffee, trying to get enough energy to get my power shower. Thinking and pondering . . . I want to plan ...

I noticed when we stayed at the island the last time, she had black washcloths with the work "makeup" on them.  Genius.  I could just go to the store and buy black ones, but made one myself with cotton yarn to see if it would work well. I love this pattern, so we'll see how it goes and if the face makeup will stain on it or not.  I'm hoping it works vs. using my other lighter washcloths that do stain.  I don't wear makeup that often, but I am happy with this pattern, and they stitch up quickly. Thankfully my husband had Saturday off, however, he never took my bathroom door off the hinges for me.  It'll probably happen tonight.  We have a hired handy-man coming to help gut the bathroom (so happy for that). We finally picked up a new toilet for the bathroom, and wow the prices have really gone up.  $229.00 for one on sale!  Thankfully we had $140.00 in rebates from the kitchen floor repair. Three of the kids came over to have a lunch for Father's Da...

In conversation with a professional in the financial business, I was told we are already in a recession regardless of what the news is saying or not saying.  I'll be honest, I am wondering if people will even have money to spend on craft shows this coming Christmas time.   Last night I made this sheet pan dinner, and it was very good.  The only thing I would add is a dressing for the chicken once it comes out of the oven. I'm thinking cherry-bourbon BBQ sauce or something.  Other than that the bacon grease made this dish very tasty.  A good recipe for bad times as well.  You can raise your meat birds, grow your own sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts, and raise the pig to render the lard for the cooking process.  I do have cast iron pans in case of a black out, and can cook over a campfire. I'm ready to start gutting the smaller bathroom, but our handyman told us, "I don't do weekends."  I guess if it works out, I'll get doing that on my own....

  Just a look-see at the oven area.  I still have to paint that wooden beam in the ceiling and half the ceiling, but I'm super happy with the results.  It's so much brighter! The weather is much cooler this morning, and I am thankful for that.  It will be another full blown day in the garden.  The larger tomato patch was finished yesterday.  We actually have tomatoes on the very first plant I put banana peel water on.  That area has been fully weeded and tilled.  Today I have to water every thing, including flower bed, herb garden, newly planted trees and potted flowers.  Then it's back out to weed the other garden. I'll admit, I was not ready to do all of this solo.  Coming in from the garden, downing some Haymaker's punch, and painting.  I have really slacked in the cooking department due to the garden work that needs done.

It's been a whirlwind week!  First Derecho, then 105°F heat index, followed by a hot week with the 90's.  I am trying my best to get out to the garden early, and tie up tomatoes in the dryer portions of the garden.  One area will take a few days to dry up enough to even walk into. My ladies have been getting treated with chipped ice.  It's been miserable, but glad that the heat is drying up the garden too. I sort of feel like I've been tossed into the food processor and the pause button is broke.  The schedule here has been overwhelming.  There is so much to do, and yet the honey-do list never gets checked off on his only day off.   My clothesline broke, so it's off the honey-do list and on my list now.  I was not a happy camper either.  It takes multiple trips outside to hang it all up, and then take it all down before it even dried.   I'm still painting in the kitchen.  Rome wasn't built in a day.  I just got my hus...

I made this for Daughter K's birthday.  I'm not sure I'll get the other project done in time.  I'm heading out to the garden this morning early.  Anyway, it turned out super cute.  She is into a black and white theme in her apartment this year. I got two more made in other colors, but it takes quite a bit of time to make these mini campers. I got a strawberry crunch cake made yesterday evening.  I'm trying really hard to rotate out of the freezer, so I don't waste anything in there.  I forgot to take a photo, but my husband was pretty happy to come home to it. Found out my husband's boss is out sick with covid right now. All of the loose floor trim is painted but one piece.  The flooring guys broke one piece in half, and I didn't find out until the other day.  Frustrating for sure. I'm off the hook with making breakfast for my husband's crew.  However, he needs scrambled eggs now for the weekend burritos. I'm the queen of list making right no...