Pioneer Woman at Heart

We paid our handy-man a partial payment the other day, and low and behold, he never showed up yesterday.  I did get some rest however.  One the of kids wanted to deliver something late, and they didn't show up until almost 8:30pm.  It may sound early to you, but when you are under the weather, it's early. I've been drinking goldenrod tea, and taking our homemade Four Thieves Vinegar.  The Four Thieves seems to help the annoying cough that developed after everything else.  Thankfully, I have kombucha and other probiotics in stock too. After speaking with someone who works for a hospital, if your "what feels like" a sinus infection is viral, they do not prescribe antibitiotics.  I'm watching my symptoms closely.   I also talked to someone locally who has the same symptoms, and they too, thought it was a sinus infection (from the severe early on miserable pressure).  It was not.  Again, watching myself closely, but things seem to be better ...

I keep a binder for printed recipes, that we make often, and I just don't have the room to hand write them on recipe cards.  I have had it open and sitting out for months now. I have been working on removing any recipes we don't make any longer, and adding ones we currently do, and it's (yay!) back in it's proper place. If feels good to get more done around here.  Here is more updates on home projects. Window project :  The new window is installed, siding back up, window trimmed on the inside, drywall replaced, mudded/sanded and painted.  We still have one outlet to replace, but very happy with the progress. In the process of this project, 3 flooring transition pieces were finally installed (after a year of the last guy not coming back to finish them).  Yay! Office project:   The old desk was completely emptied, items sorted, some thrown out, some donated, and some given away.  An old lamp removed, and some wall hangings taken down. An old broken books...

The start of August regarding rain. . . I do not have a rain gauge here, but I will be getting one for next garden season.  The news finally called it a drought, but said lots of rain was coming.  We had a tornado warning, and a boat load of rain with it, but that has been all we've gotten this month (so far as of today August 14, 2024). The squash bugs were infesting all of our squash.   Do you have a sure fire solution to organic pest control for squash bugs?  We have tried Captain Jack's organic garden dust, and we have tried organic neem oil spray.   We may not plant squash next year, in hopes to eradicate the nasty varmits (squash bugs).  It will mean no squash at all. I don't know what continued to eat the greens, but the neem spray did not keep it away.  Just when it was looking great, it started looking like this.   Frustrating for sure. (2 1/2# that I had planned to can into hot pepper mustard sauce, and I still had another...

  I dropped my readers, while looking up at the ceiling for some reason, and they fell off my head. Ha!  I've been using them this way for a few days now.  I hope to replace them soon. I feel like the hallway repairs/renovations are one step forward, and two back lately.  First, we are painstakingly painting a second coat of paint to all of the trim in the hallway.  The hall gets a lot of light, and I'll be honest, the second coat does look a lot better.  It will take some time to complete that job now.   Next up, we discovered that one outlet is not working at all, and another is on the fritz.  We will be replacing both of those in the hallway too. I am a journal junkie, and yes we have a home journal.  I have been good at taking notes, and stapling/or taping the paint chips on appropriate room pages.  I log the store, the cost, and sometimes include the receipt.  If we need to touch up paint or buy new anything, it's been wri...

We were out pricing a new AC, so we stopped at JoAnn's to check on a crochet hook price.  Wow!  Their prices were much higher than Wal-mart (who was sold out of what I was looking for).  I found that our area Meijer had them, and less expensive than Wal-mart.  No big news, but I was shocked at the high prices at JoAnn's (also much higher than on Amazon). I am always saying I wish they would put a store back in our hometown, but I'm not sure.  Hobby Lobby was built at one point, putting JoAnn's out of business, then later the Hobby Lobby closed. Cute bags at store!  I didn't check the price.  We had plans to actually eat breakfast out at a diner, but found them closed for the holiday.  Apparently, many places are closed this weekend to celebrate the holiday. We are getting lots of rain right now.  If it's dry enough this morning, I'll head out to tie up more tomato plants.  My husband is already asking about zucchini meals ha ha!  So...

  I like to dice up jalapenos I freeze from the garden, but the tip below is an idea to keep fresh peppers fresh, after harvesting.  Anyway, this breakfast had a lot going on in it.  I had a red bell pepper, bacon, a few sweet potatoes, onion, leftover pesto, eggs, jalapeno, and fresh green onions from the herb garden.  Delicious.  No recipe.  I just tossed it together. As we near garden season, here is another tip I learned (America's Test Kitchen): (source:  America's Test Kitchen) I did not know this.  Typically, we either eat, can or freeze as we harvest, but at the end of the season this could be useful. My husband has not had a day off for 2 weeks now.  Not even weekends.  We cannot wait for that schedule to end. I have switched gears, and started to go through all the crafting supplies that were moved out of the bedroom closet.  There is a lot to go through.   Tough decisions on what stays and what goes. There is no...

Here are some random items I found during the start of my bedroom closet purge.... Pop can from my trip to Spain, along with a toy bull, and an antique glass insulator.  I've had the insulator since childhood, but the rest is leaving the house. I'm not sure why these were not in the "Halloween" totes (which were passed down a few years ago).  I found these purses and sunglasses meant for Halloween costumes.  They are leaving the house. I'm on the fence with this beaded tea ball.  One of my Grandmother's made it.  It's been in storage.  My husband said, "lets find a place for it" and I'm thinking "um, not so sure about that."  I love it.  It's pretty.  Grandma made it.  Just not sure it fits anywhere.  Maybe pack it up with Christmas stuff and get it out for Christmas as a decoration?  Or discreetly and secretly leaving it one of the kids places during a visit.  It is vintage....hmm? I found one camera from my tee...

  Yesterday I woke up to beautiful weather in the 60's and sunny.  I took advantage of it and washed a white bed cover and bed skirt.  I put more laundry out after that, but just my husband's.   Rain was still in the forecast off and on, but it all dried thankfully.  Next good day I will get more dried outside. Spring Daffodils are up and more starting to bloom.  I wish I didn't have moles, or I'd have a ton of tulips as well.   It's been a trying cycle of, move this to get that done or do that to get this done, and where did I put that or those? It took me a while to find these felt pieces I bought to put under the bedroom dresser and night stands.  I still need to put some square ones under the bed as well. More door trim was primed, and hopefully will be painted today.  I've unpacked the suitcase and we are getting moved back into the bedroom nicely.  The dresser has moved out of the master bath, we can clean in there and st...

  Old ceiling fan.  The room has two of these, so this one still needs to come down.  It will be sent to scrap as it does not work correctly.  The other will be donated. One ceiling fan went up, but after we painted the ceiling, so we'll need to pull the top metal piece down and touch up the paint.   The old ceiling fans were both about 16-17 years old, and they were used (not new) when the builders installed them.  The newer ones now have a hook on them, making it much much easier to wire in.  The new fans have reversible blades, so if we decide we don't like them this color, we can flip the blades to make them all white. Although we got one completely installed, we got no where after that. He got the painted trim up around one door, and the battery on the nail gun died.  Our handy man had borrowed 3 batteries and a saw on Friday, and they were not returned until later yesterday. We ran to town to beat the storm, and to get a few items ...

  I've been terrible at meal planning, but we brought home some tomatoes from our recent trip, and sliced them up. We made BLT's.  I have no idea for the rest of the week yet.  Other than I boiled eggs for egg salad. I managed to get that air mattress into the bag it came with.  It's not shutting all the way, but it's in the bag ha ha! I think my husband and I decided we need a complete day off.  It may happen this weekend.  We'll see, but that would be nice.  I feel like we've been working on the house for the last two years now.  There are so many people jealous of our updates, but it all started because it needed to be done, not by random choice. I'll admit, I am exhausted daily lately.  I don't even have energy to read a book, let alone crochet our blanket.  I was excited about garden season, but lately?  Not.  We do deserve a break now and then.

  Although it is super foggy this morning, the sun is trying to shine.  Yesterday was a very dreary, dark and misty day. I managed to accomplish a breakfast.  I'm still painting trim, so I get to multi-tasking and list writing.  I scrambled a dozen eggs, made sausage patties, and Einkorn waffles.  I used a random recipe online, but want to try the recipe Jovial has next time. I just didn't have yogurt on hand. I boiled a half dozen eggs for egg salad.  I guess that will be tonight's dinner (egg salad), while I work on the menu plan.  I also put another dozen eggs in the fridge for future boiled eggs. Daughter K's waffle iron, which I didn't like, and the recipe wasn't that great.  The recipe also said 1/3 cup of batter, and it was not enough.  I have to double the recipe.  I am reading reviews to look for a waffle maker for myself now.  Our state has a law, that says you must purchase a minimum of 6 chicks.  It was created to a...

  Saturday was a challenge.  We had to drive one hour to get some supplies that were sold out in stores near us.  The weather was an issue. It was cold and the wind was recorded up to 74 mph in the area.  Power went out in many cities nearby, but thankfully not ours. Hauling supplies in the back of a truck was not fun.  When we got home, the trim had been blown downward and was almost out of the bed of the truck.  We got it home and in the garage thankfully.  Yes, it was tightly strapped in, but like I said, high wind warning. One ceiling fan is down, and not because we wanted it down.  You can see the original wall paint color of "country white."  Ceiling is painted. New paint color for the walls.  We put 3 paint samples up to figure this out, and we did not go back to Home Depot.  We went to a local store, where we could get a more professional assistance on getting the right color.  The problem with Home Depot etc. is t...

  I'll admit, I have been terrible at cleaning the ceiling fans in the bedroom.  After dusting with the swiffer duster, I had to wash them with soap/water.  You can see the dust left on them after dusting them.  I'm also going thru to many duster refills, so I invested in this... The blue cover slides off, and is washable.  The unit can be attached to your extender handle you use for painting ceilings with (if you have one).  Works great for weekly dusting on these types of ceiling fans. My hands are cracked, dry and sore.  My back is sore by most evenings.  My fingernails are worn, torn and look terrible.   I'm climbing ladders unsupervised most days, but progress on the bedroom is starting to happen.   In order to paint, I had to climb into our walk-in closet like a monkey holding a flashlight.  I had to get our "paint" clothes.  Mission accomplished.  Oh, the reason for the flashlight?  Well, the switch i...

  Tiger when he was a baby.  He is under emergency vet care until possibly Saturday, depending on his prognosis.   He had an emergency ultra sound, which found crystals in his bladder, causing a blockage.  He was in miserable pain.  He is not being treated, but there is the possibility for kidney damage.  We are in touch with daughter E for updates. The painting progress on the bedroom is slow going for now.  It takes two people to just do the ceiling edging.  Our ceiling is 8 foot, 9 inches tall, so a tall ladder is required, as well as someone to hold the paint tray, and yes we will be needing to cover the entire bedroom floor with plastic.  There are two ceiling fans in the bedroom that need spring cleaned before we cover them with plastic to paint the ceiling as well.  I feel like this room is the one that will make me lose my marbles. I just want my bed back, so I'm hoping for at least the paint work done this weekend, in ...

  Renovations gone wrong.....so many variables to deal with this time around. My husband thought it would be grand to just take a short vacation while the bedroom carpet was removed and new flooring installed.  We went, we returned, and we are so frustrated right now. First, we hired the same person who did our living room and kitchen bathroom.  Second, we hire him for chicken duty, and watering seedlings, so we do know him. Came home to find the flooring installed in the wrong direction, and he knocked a large hole in one wall (we are still waiting for him to explain, but he will be fixing it on his dollar not ours, which also delays painting, which should have been done before new flooring....see what I mean about stress?). He also did not water my seedlings.  It appears that he watered one time while we were done.  He literally was here every single day and asked me and I explained how to water them (he's watered them before).  98% of my seedlings most l...

.....tomorrow morning. We have not only carpet, but tile to remove (hard to explain what they did, like I said built for someone in a wheelchair), before the flooring goes in. Oh, and my husband said, picking out the paint was on me.  Hm.  He wasn't that thrilled with the living room color until it was all done.  Not sure how this will turn out ha ha!  I will get samples before buying it. Blog posts should resume after we are done or close to being done.  Hopefully some photos to share some time next week.

Grab a cup of coffee and let's have a short chat. Not many "homesteading" things going on right now.  I'm mostly doing the purge/pack/donate motions.  There may be more take out dinners than home cooked for a few weeks.  We have however picked up seed potatoes for the garden. Chicken's watering units got a good scrubbing.  The sun has been shining again, and a bit warmer, so they are laying pretty well right now.  Rain returns this weekend. We are a bit frustrated with the company buy out.  We are in limbo with health insurance and he just had a check up.  I got a nice big bill of $210.00.  Hopefully the new cards will show up ASAP and I can get this mess taken care of.   I got one camper ornament completely finished.  I forgot how much work goes into just one.  I have the pieces already made, but have a dozen or so to actually assemble.  I'd like to have them done for the craft show next month.  I've been so busy wit...