Pioneer Woman at Heart

  It's been crazy busy around here.  I cooked a meal and delivered it to a family friend who had foot surgery, and we had to drive 3 hours to go pick up our truck keys.  Just strange all around, but we have the keys.  I just don't have the truck ha ha! It is still in the body shop getting fixed from the deer hitting it.  I however, have not run out things to do. Our hot peppers are doing exceptionally well this year.  The bell peppers however are still small and a small harvest. I canned some sweet chili sauce - new recipe.  I cannot wait to taste it. Canned hot pepper jelly.  Taco sauce got canned. I purchased Meyer lemon seeds from someone on Etsy.  I tried to sprout one all summer.  Every single seed was a dud.  Guess I'm spending a fortune next year on a plant. It's getting difficult to not only budget other food we need, but to even find what we need.  Daughter E cannot find her cat's cat food anywhere.  I could ...

  Although we had a good amount of sunshine, it was still cold yesterday.  I donned my full body winter wear and headed to the coop with treats to beg for eggs, fresh water and headed out to get the mail. Hubby was in the barn fetching firewood.  It didn't take long to get a "nasty" gram from the post office, with a visual drawing of the 30 foot area (yes, that is right, 15 feet clear to the mailbox and 15 past the mailbox) they demand be shoveled/cleared of snow. The post delivery person drives a jeep.  Sigh.  We have lost 2 of the 3 shovels.  Daughter K shoveled some of it, and my husband some of it.  I hope we can find the shovel, but darn it all.  I'm not going to cough up a lung, only for the plow to bury the mailbox again.  I am praying the snow is done for a while.  We are all not up to shoveling snow, and too far out to have some of the boys come plow it out for us. Our current morning weather is -1°F with a wind chill of -14°F....

My husband has not had the energy to return to work, so today I will be brewing up some medicinal teas, and making sure we get outside for fresh air (even if it's to get the mail and tend the hens).  We are wanting this crud to be gone, gone, gone.  My husband works outside, climbs towers, and has a one hour drive to work.  We are greatly saddened he cannot go get the antibody therapy, but will continue to do what we can from home to get over this. I, however, have not gotten over the cough.  I just got online and ordered a cool-mist humidifier.  I dug our ancient one out of the garage, and nope (dinosaur of a humidifier, we haven't used it in that many years).  I am sure, with the increase in cases, we would not find a humidifier in stores right now.  It is due to arrive tomorrow (not quick enough).  It was my last resort.  We don't have to energy for the 55 minute round trip, let alone the walking in and out and searching.  Thank you A...

  A big thank you to Vicki at Mom's Scribbles .  Your help was much needed.  We are in the works getting meals delivered from the local hospital (specifically designed for Mom's health), and she'll be getting a home health aide to come help with her legs and do blood draws in her own home.   Mom's memory is not that great, so the extra "eyes" on her and medical help will be great!  Update on my husband's sister.  Not good.  She has covid pneumonia as of yesterday. Sorry for the short post.  I baked English Muffins yesterday to distract my brain, but they didn't turn out that great.  I should have been cleaning and prepping again for the floor project instead.  Anyway, I'm working on perfecting those buggers the next baking day.  I'll update on that when it happens. I didn't want to deal with yet another strainer full of hot peppers either.  I sent them with my husband and he gave them to a co-worker.  We saved a small...

My husband surprised me by getting off work early.  We took the hot rod out and visited Mom and took her dinner. My younger brother was there too.  Mom is doing better, and walking more.  It'll be a while before she is completely back to herself. We visited Patty too.  We went around her house and waved in the window.  I guess we are allowed to go in with a mask, but we did not want to with her having covid.  She was happy to see us, especially her brother.  We didn't stay long.  The excitement of seeing us gave her a coughing fit.  She is doing okay though, so thank you all for your prayers.  I believe my husband said she is 74 years old. Oh, and Michael?  He is doing very well now.  He had to get those antibody injections, but is recovering very well, so thank you for all of your prayers.  Their baby is doing well too.  Unfortunately, he was not paid while home sick.  So sad to hear this when they are a newly m...

  I dehydrated more rosemary, froze more mad hatter hot peppers, cleaned up the kitchen, and other housework.  My husband finally mounted the new solar post lights for the driveway (the old ones were broken and knocked off by the snow plow last winter).  The new lights are screwed into the poles, so nothing can be blown off this winter. Hubby also fixed a toilet that was running.  We have one that has those buttons to flush on the tank.  After helping him, I told him I'd rather replace it with a handle flush, when we need to replace it in the future.  It was not fun to work on. Daughter E is back to work and feeling much better.  She now, after having us deliver food when she was sick, wants to learn how to cook (ha ha!).   Several friends and family have either just gotten over covid or have it currently (including a baby that had to be rushed to a hospital for oxygen). Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. I'll link up w...

  I dehydrated more sage and rosemary, and started a sage tincture. Daughter K did a door dash for her sister.  We sent a lawn chair (fresh air and sunshine), a box of tissues, immune boost vitamins, and a bottle of tea tree oil.  She still has a bad cough and congestion.  She did a steam inhalation with eucalyptus oil the other day. I did a check-in with Mom.  I took her a piece of breakfast frittata, some bandages and wound tape.  Her legs are so swollen from water retention (they even upped her meds) that her legs are leaking.  I'm very concerned about it, and may see if her insurance will cover an aide (to put her compression stockings on) and/or for her wound supplies. 

Monday was a busy day for sure.  I called Daughter E to ask if the homemade ginger-ale I delivered was helping with her nausea.  She has lost her smell, but not her taste.  She is moving around to keep her from getting worse, and getting sun and fresh air.  She's basically bored stuck there all by herself.  She has dug out her craft box and made some friendship bracelets. I called Mom to check in and see if her 14 free meals arrived.  Unfortunately, she is not seeing any improvements and said she'll call her doctor. Oh, and no meals.   Breakfast - sweet potato, onion, sausage, mad hatter and jalapeno peppers, collards and kale, and eggs. Dandelion greens were blanched and frozen.  I dug into the jungle of our potato patch.  Zero.  Well, not really zero, but a teensy one on each plant.  Lack for and too many super hot days was the problem this year. I submitted a vendor request form to a business that is similar to one in the "B...

  We had a beautiful sunrise Sunday morning.  After shopping for Mom and Daughter E (and door dashing), we retired at the house with playing cards on the porch.  We have been exhausted, so I'm hoping we both revived after last night's good sleep.   I should have taken a photo of the cat food at Meijer yesterday.  Both Kroger and our Meijer in the "Big City" are bare.  There wasn't much to choose from, to buy for Mom's cats. We stopped at 3 stores yesterday, and the shelves at Dollar Tree were bare as well.  We were able to buy Mom 5 boxes of tissues though. The big "Bash" held in the "Big City" had 30 vendors not show up.  I haven't participated in the event in the last two years, but may next year if covid is not spreading as bad as it is this year. Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. I will link up when she posts.  As you can see below, I have a lot on my to-do list. On the breakfast plate . . .  I'm thi...

  I spent Friday cleaning, washing laundry, tidying up, and sanitizing. It was a great day to dry laundry outside on the line.  Pretty windy too. I also spent my day making calls to check in on Mom and Daughter E.  Daughter E sounds like she is doing okay, and well supplied with anything to help her heal faster.   Saturday we had two weddings.  One was outside, and we took camping chairs and sat way away from everyone.  The other one was way under way by the time we arrived, and hardly anyone there.  We literally spent 15 minutes are less there and went home.  We were exhausted, because we did a door dash for Daughter E, and did a check in on Mom. We plan to do two door dashes today and then we plan on being back home to have a day of relaxation.   Other than checking in on Mom and Daughter E, we plan on staying in our hidey hole from now on and working on things at the house.  No kids birthday parties, gatherings etc.  Ou...

  Conversation with my husband.... "Hey, Mom gave me her set of red glass dishes to put in the glass door hutch.  In order to do that we have to jack up the floor first." Well, that was followed by an entire day of trying to access under the kitchen with two accesses we already have.  Didn't happen.  We created a 3rd.  Got in a few feet, and dug out some dirt to get to the beam.   Jacked up the floor only after an entire day of work, to find we have dry rot. Guess who is ripping out their kitchen floor?  Yep.  We can't do sister joists from the access.  No room for anyone to get in.  Seriously old house problems.  Guess I'm gonna get new kitchen flooring out of this now.  Just what we don't need.  I may live with a wood floor until next year, and put new flooring in the kitchen. On the same day, after all that bad news, we went to town to pick up a new recliner we bought for Mom.  We picked it up, delivered it, a...

I found a recipe I lost once, but lost it again before trying it.  Urgh.  All I can remember is that it contained tomatoes, was baked and had kelp powder in the recipe.  I swear I had it in a recipe book I had, but so far I have not found it (again).  Story of my life, ha ha!   I have gone through the pile of un-tried recipes, my scanned recipes, recipes in my document folder etc.  However, I believe I have figured out what cookbook the recipe was in.  Stay tuned.  Hope I am right. Brought in our first harvested bell pepper.  Golly, I love the smell of freshly sliced bell pepper.  I grew them from seed as well.  First one to go in the freezer. No rain here for a few days.  Hot and humid again. Mom is still in the hospital.  No changes since Wednesday.  She will be going home today if all goes okay. Daughter E left a lot of boxes, so I spent much time breaking them down for the garden and recycling.  Much of ...

  Our weather continues to swelter us.  The storms continue, so weeding is not happening yet again today. The world has gone mad (again).  Daughter K was forced to once again don a face mask at work.   Daughter K's job involved loading and unloading heavy furniture in our 102°F heat index heat.    Although she found this very nice, rechargeable neck fan, she continues to struggle to breathe in the heat and of course out breath from her work.  Within a week however, she is sick.  Congested, runny nose, cough, etc.  It breaks my heart that this is happening again.  She does have the possibility to get a new job, but she plans to move in about 4-5 months too. I have no new updates on the garden today.  I'll be out to check it today though.   My husband's best friend's father's funeral was yesterday, and when we got home it was late and we were pretty tired. He's having issues with one eye contac and one eye, so I'm ...

  Daughter E moved out.  She will be back next week to clean up the remainder of what she left (but I'm insisting it all goes with her).  I've already started to clean the carpet on one side of her room, and in the same process, purging the garage. Our workout equipment may get moved to her old room.  I guess we'll see.  We got rid of a lot of stuff in the garage, put some things out for free by the road, and took a huge truck load of stuff to recycling.  Thankfully, recycling is still open. I'll be back out to water all the gardens this morning.  Once again, the rain did not arrive.  I may check out some road side produce stands today.  Our zucchini and yellow squash is doing terrible.  If they are bad (because they grow like weeds), you can tell how bad it is this year for us. I purged a large storage cupboard in my utility room, and sanitized it, washed up everything (dust), and have it all ready for the canning/freezing (if that happ...

The bad: I heard that Hobby Lobby is closing all their stores for good, due to government mandate involving health insurance and their beliefs.  Has anyone else heard this?  Or is this just rumor? The good: My dehydrator replacement door was back in stock and has been ordered.  Woohoo to that. Something I learned:  I watched a show on Create TV (cooking), and found out it's healthy to add garlic powder to your chicken feed occasionally.  I caught the 1/4 cup part, but missed per what amount of feed.  I'm trying to find the show online to re-watch it.  I think I found the show, but the station is operating on reduced power, so I'll have to check back later. Something I learned: You can make jelly from the red buds on the red bud tree.  I most likely won't get to try it this spring (the freeze), but will try it next year. My Mom has a tree.  It's also medicinal.  Fun and good to know. I had a request for the recipe for homemade lip ba...

  I saw this at the store and thought, why not give it a try.  I mean it can't hurt to try.  Not sure if it will really elevate my mood and energy, but I could use it.   Sweet Tangerine Positive Energy Cookies ( found on Yogi online ). These are buttery and a hint of citrus flavor.  The tea itself smells amazing.  Great way to use up teabags if they are needing used up. I also ordered a copy of this book.  I just gave up on the library for now.  I can always pass on one book to make room for this one.  Also giving it a try to lift my spirits.  I'll let you know if it's any good. Bringing fresh cut flowers indoors helps boost my spirit. So glad I have an abundance to cut from. Having something "good" to look forward to lifts my spirits.  Tending my seedlings give me something to look forward to - growing the garden.  My thyme has sprouted. Taking affordable, spontaneous getaway trips has really helped boost our spirits....

About mid-morning yesterday, it snowed. Yes, that's right.  Snow.  Cold and snow.   I found out yesterday, that due to the restrictions still forced upon us in our state, Ohio Bike Week 2021 has been canceled.  Two years in a row now.  They instead are holding a spring rally at the Harley dealer.  We are all so tired of the restrictions in our state.  Just so tired of it all.  It's really wearing us all down mentally. Daughter K went to town to get a hair cut from her sister, so I joined along.  I pampered myself with a conditioning treatment - coconut and tea tree oil. Getting out of the house is fun, but sick of the mask mandate.  My hometown extended their own mandate until late June.   Speaking of mandates, our Gov. has said he doesn't plan to free us until end of April or in May.  It's getting ridiculous.  I also feel that the longer he locks us down, the more families are not getting together, and the lack ...

I sent an email to Ball canning supplies.  It was pretty much a generic answer.  It listed all the stores they sell them in, which I already checked, and no answer as to when they will have more. They did say they were having a "shortage" so there is that. I've checked 9 Target store within 50 miles - out of stock.  Same with Kroger, Walmart, and Meijer, Ace Hardware, Menard's, Lehman's Hardware, and other stores.  I'll keep trying.  I see they are selling some regular lids on Amazon, but a box of 12 for almost $14.00.  The mentioned sending supplies to Michael's crafts, but they only sell jars with lids not just lids. Talked with a friend and she tried to find some in TN while on vacation and an Amish store.  Nada.  Zero.  I also checked while in FL.  Nada. Extreme clean - magazines are gone. I sort of went down "memory" lane after coming across a notebook of mine.  My Dad used to ask me if it was "tea time in Tanganyika?" when I w...