Enjoying the Last Days of February

 

It's hard to believe that we are approaching the last day of February 2025 this coming Friday.  The weather was definitely much more "winter" this year, but February is the month we tend to get the most snow.  

There has been some beautiful sunrises this month.  I'm blessed be able to capture a few.  We even squeezed an adventure in this month.  

We have also driven around, and located some new hiking/walking trails to enjoy nature and get exercise (maybe even a few picnics).  

Although we had much of the month in freezing and subzero temperatures, this week it warmed up to a wonderful 53°F.

Seen during the day recently.  Even the deer are enjoying the warmer weather this week.

I had the chance to read a new book on the porch this week, before the month ends.  Oh my gosh, the sun felt so good.

The ground is a very mushy mess this week, so there is no work progressing on the new chicken coop, but we have not forgotten about it either.  However, I did ask my husband where the new wire cutters were for this project.  We both have no idea, but I surely hope we find them.

I did however, take a walk out to the fall planted garlic, and all but a few are up already.   I did not walk on the garden, due to the thawing out here, but will check it again soon. 

Our bunching onions look pretty good for being February too.  I may be harvesting some to go in tonight's dinner.

I finally got all of my medical appointments off the calendar too.  I had to change one twice due to icy roads.  I've been bringing a book along with any travel friendly crochet/knit projects to any appointments or any longer drives, and have finished another book.  More granny squares for the book blanket are in progress (insert happy face).

I rescued our lost roll of shelf liner.  The clerk indeed must of put it down behind the counter, because they had it at the customer service counter.  I had to sign to get it back.  Literally.  Anyway, I took advantage of the store visit, and purchased a few zipper storage bags to help organize the current closet.

Only about 950 pieces to go on this puzzle, ha ha!  It's been too nice outside to work on it.

Here is the newly tried frittata recipe (29.4 grams of protein, cut in 4 servings).  It called for sun dried tomatoes and fresh spinach.  I think feta cheese and cottage too, but we finish it off today. We loved it, but  I felt the fresh spinach added too much moisture to the frittata, so I will wilt it and squeeze it dry next time we make it.   I may be topping mine with home canned cowboy candy too.  Oh, I did add a pinch of homemade "fire powder" to it.  

Recipe:  Cottage Cheese Egg Bake (Frittata in a pie dish)

From:  Sweet as honey online

I also made the homemade chicken breakfast "sausage" patties, but used organic ground turkey.  I left half of the brown sugar out this time, and may even leave it all out next time.  It's basically to carnalize it while making them.

I'll be posting the red lentil hummus recipe and an update on handiwork soon.  I plan to enjoy every minute of the last days of February.

Enjoying the Last Days of February  © February 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

This and That

 

Yesterday's sunrise.  It was snowing all day, but it was one of those big, soft, slow falling snowflake days.  Beautiful, despite the freezing temperatures and lack of full sunshine.

Check out these photos.  I had to take them thru the window, because of the snow outside, but loved what I photographed (cannot wait to upgrade my camera soon).  There was a woodpecker enjoying the bird feeder later in the day, but the bugger was playing with me, and kept flying off before I could snap one photo, ha ha!

Look at the top of the photo.

A blog follower asked for the hamstring stretches that I was given by one of my daughters.  Here they are, but check out anything on Youtube too.  There are exercises on there that were also helpful.

I also did floor stretches in addition, and ate a well balanced diet etc.  Good advice I was given one day, is 80% of maintaining your health (good weight, or weight loss) happens in the kitchen.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Although I did some bits of deep cleaning yesterday, I realized my pile of paperwork that needs shredded is growing.  Our paper shredder broke down, and we do not have a burn barrel here.  If you have suggestions for a good quality paper shredder to buy, please let me know.  Otherwise, I will be looking for community shredding events (if they still have them).

I whipped up a batch of red lentil hummus for us to enjoy.  I do think, so far, it's our favorite of all the hummus recipes I have made, and I have made a lot of different ones (pumpkin, black bean, beet, roasted red pepper, green pepper, other white bean, butternut). I adapted a recipe I located online, but added more garlic and a can of chickpeas.  I will have to see if I shared the recipe on my blog.  If anyone is interested.

We have warmed up to 12°F this morning.  I am hoping the icy driveway melts away soon.

I have some new recipes lined up to try.  One I thought would be "new" to us, is not really.  It's basically a frittata with added spinach to it.

I have some new crochet patterns lined up to use up some crochet thread.  We'll see if it all happens or not.  I want to finish the current baby blanket too.

This and That  © February 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Happy New Year!

 

Happy New Year!  

I'm excited about a new crochet project, and it is a sort of a motivation tool for something else.  I'll be posting later about it.  Overall, it will reduce my time wasting internet scrolling, pointless social media scrolling (looking for recipes, patterns, exercises are all good scrolling minutes, he he!), procrastination station, and endless him-hawing.  Not to change the subject, but I mean some scrolling is needed to avoid endless days of shopping in stores looking for something my husband suggested we buy.

I found one close to what he feels we need at Harbor Freight, but it's wall mounted, and runs on batteries.

Does it even exist?  I'll be searching for it, but we may have to buy battery charged or a rechargeable light.  He wants a solar chargeable, motion sensor, small table light (sort of the brightness of a nightlight) for the bathrooms.  We lack outlets by the toilet, and do not want to put in a floor strip light, or wall mount solar lights.  Most motion sensor lights for indoors run on batteries or or rechargeable.  We want the motion sensor, so the light only comes on at night if needed.  I'll update later on this, after we have located and made a decision.

Okay, back to the post....

(sunrise 12-26-2024)

Sunday it rained all day long.  Last year we had warm enough weather the same time in December, that I was washing bedding and putting it on the clothesline.  We are pretty much flooded this year.

We decided together, that it was a good weekend to take down our Christmas tree.  Normally, we would leave it up for New Year's Eve.  The holidays this year hit mid-week, and I would much rather have help with it, than wait for an entire week to take it down and put it all back in storage.  

Well, the tree is still up, ha ha!  We had a few returns to take care of, some grocery shopping for fresh vegetables and fruit, and other errands.  I forgot to look for a plant for my planter, but we are also very limited with selections in the winter time.  I may be planting an herb for indoor winter cooking. 

Before decorations get packed back up, I decided it was time to toss out some very very old Christmas decorations, and donate others.  I added one book to the newest donation box, as my husband gifted me a new book too.

My husband gifted me a new bathrobe, so the old one was literally tossed out (not even worth donating ha ha!).  Sort of feels good to go into a new year with so many completed home projects, and a more organized homestead.

It's been a year since we have baked cookie cut-outs, so when I dug out the container, I purged those before returning them to storage. Good gravy!  I had cutters from when the kids had birthday parties in elementary school.  Whew!  Someone will be enjoying those, as they are being donated.

 

January is my month to focus on my health even more than ever.  It will be a long wait to see the doctor, but I thought about that too. It gives me a month to do specific exercises.  I really did a number on myself when I tripped twice later, after my stairway fall back in April of this year.  Anyway, every day I work on myself, is one day closer to back to normal or even better than normal.  Per a conversation on the phone with the doc's nurse, I am to avoid "heavy lifting" and have been the last two weeks.  It's a tough one, as a bag of chicken feed is not light weight.  I have learned how to lift more properly, so there is that.

I am already feeling signs of muscle improvement, less pain, and more flexibility, so doing these stretches may be a permanent addition to my daily/weekly fitness routine.

I need this body in good working condition, as I have ordered a tool to help start the next home repair project.  The kids left tape, those 3M sticky tapes, and other adhesives on the walls upstairs, and some in the higher to reach walls in the stairway.

It'll be a project for sure, but needs to happen before it's painted. After seeking advice, we need to buy some drywall mud, as the kids (and past hired help) put large gouges in the plaster walls.  It would be great to get this job knocked off the list by the end of January, so we can start working on the stair project (stair project is an entirely new project of it's own).

Speaking of health . . .

Hummus people, I have a quick question.  Do you ever add turmeric to your hummus for added health benefits?  I'm wondering if it tastes good in it, and how much to add?  We love the garlic in ours, so I'm not sure about adding it to our hummus just yet.

I'm already planning some new ideas for next Christmas, as we were so delayed by home repairs/renovations that had to happen.  I follow Betsy on Simple Lift of a Queen blogspot and, she mentioned exchanging advent gifts with her grand daughter.  Betsy, if you are reading this, I would love to know how to prepare the advent gifts.  Do you just wrap each one and place them all in a bag or box with numbers for the day of the month?  Or do you prepare them another way.  My brain is already chugging away at creating new traditions next year.

Also, Betsy where can I find the "Every which way filet" baby blanket pattern?  Thanks!

Sorry for the long boring post to start out this new week.  My kitchen is once again a hot mess from lack of being home, but it'll be spic and span clean this week.

I hope your weekend was good.  I may not be back to post, until the New Year, so Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! © December 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Sunrise ~ Tidbits

I had a slow start to yesterday's chores, and was able to capture the sunrise, despite the fact it rained the entire day.  I'm glad I got to see it.  Although my front porch was covered in rain too, thanks to the wind.

Using homemade infused oregano oil is somewhat different for a sinus infection.  Instead of simply taking the oil itself by a dropper, my Dad taught me to drop a few drops onto a teabag, and heat a cup of medicinal tea.  It got me thinking, because this is the 2nd or 3rd time I was reminded oregano can be used to make a tincture too.  There have been some other herbs I ran across this winter, that I will be making tinctures with next spring.  So thank you to all of you for suggestions.  I know I will be dehydrating more goldenrod (some of my adult kids drink the teas too).

Three days now, and our handy-man has still had car repairs to delay is ability to work here.  If he can't commit, I plan to finish it all by myself.  Hopefully, I feel 100% better in a day or two.

In the meantime, my husband has gotten another baseboard heater removed (they are all in bad shape). He's installed a new heater.  He has replaced another outlet (most have already been replaced). 

I have not been into town (very small town) lately, and I am told that due to vandalism, they are removing the town's Blessing Box.  There have been problems in town with people's kids running a-muck, and being unattended causing trouble.  It's really sad, because I have been placing food and non-food items in the box.  

Sunrise ~ Tidbits © December 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

 

This and That ~ Roasted Spaghetti Squash Seeds

 

I enjoyed yet another spectacular sunrise, and this particular day the temperture got up to 80°F.  I don't remember November ever getting that warm before.

I'm am enjoying the "down" time here lately too.  I spent more time searching the local library catalog, and have ordered a few books via their interloan borrowing system.

I even have had some "me" time, and finished another lap afghan.  It is the right width at the bottom.  It looks weird due to the angle I was holding the camera.  Anyway, another one done.

I cook from scratch, so most days here involve some sort of  kitchen duty, so I relish leftover days.  I tried a new recipe for pumpkin oat pancakes.  The chickens are still on hiatus, so I switch to oatmeal bakes, steel cut oats, pancakes, waffles, or anything using less eggs.  Bacon is very expensive now, so we have been swapping it with Canadian bacon.

(one of the recipes - Tahini Date cookies, recipe from Thrive Market)

I had a day with dates, and made us two recipes to enjoy for the week.  These medjool dates are also getting expensive, but are so healthy.

I also did something new this year - roasted spaghetti squash seeds (waste nothing).  The chickens got their fair share, but we are enjoying these for the first time.  We typically only roast the pumpkin seeds.

We woke up to rain this morning.  Humidity is 86%.  I'm also taking care of my over stressed husband, who woke up abruptly sick today (people at his work place are sick).  His temperature was 104.2° so he's being cared for, and sipping some feverfew tea.  I'm hoping he can keep it down.  

The up and down weather can play a part in fall sicknesses unfortunately.  It's another warm day here, but there may be some homemade chicken and rice soup, or chicken and noodle soup getting made.

I thought I shared a recipe for a soup starter in a jar gift type recipe, but cannot find it.  I think it was for a chicken and rice soup starter.  I'll be looking around for that, as it sounds like it may be useful.

This and That ~ Roasted Spaghetti Squash Seeds © November 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Reset ~ Recharge

It wasn't really planned, but the first day of November was dedicated to resetting my home and health, and recharging for the fall/winter chores.

The travel coffee maker (single, but cheap brand) was cleaned up and put away.  The cooler we traveled often with, was also put away.  Counters completely cleaned off and sanitized (I like my homemade 4 Thieves cleaner), extra purchased dry goods were canned and vacuumed sealed, travel totes with paper plates etc. were put back in storage, and the suitcase put back in storage.

I have two absorbant coffee pot/grinder mats.  While one is being washed the other is put out.  It really helps keep the coffee pot area tidy.  We like coffee.

I double checked canning supplies, expiration dates on pectin, and so forth.  Checked the winter tea supply, and even dehydrated more sage.

I had a half bag of sugar sitting on the counter for a few weeks, and finally put it canning jars, and vacuum sealed them.  I did not can a lot of my regular condiments this year, due to lack of garden harvest, and it needed to be stored for future use.

I did the same with some extra oats I purchased as well.  I am, however, running out of wide-mouth canning jars.

There is nothing better, than to wake up to a spic n' span cleaned up kitchen.  It was then, that I could light a candle, relax, re-write my to-do lists, and really recharge physically and mentally.

 Kitchen Tip:  Did you know that if you are out of baking soda, you can substitute 3 teaspoons of baking powder for 1 teaspoon of baking soda?  

I just learned this, but typically we have more baking soda on hand than powder.  I thought I would share this tip, but I have not needed to try it.

The first Sunday morning (time change for us), despite it being 36°F out, I took my coffee to the porch to watch the sunrise.  There were 4 deer that came out for viewing.  There were 3 bucks and a doe grazing in a harvested corn field. You can see the bigger buck the very right.  We saw two more later in the mid-morning (doe and a buck).

We finally did a garage clean out.  Whew!  I could not believe how much we were able to donate, give away and toss out.  It really was a big mess in there.  I even moved all of my empty plastic drawers (used to store yarn) out there to organize things.  

No menu plan yet this week, but I came up with the most delicous breakfast burrito with leftovers.  You could eat this as a scramble too.

(husband added hot sauce to his, but you could also add jalapeno if you froze any, or even fire powder)

I used leftover scrambled eggs from my husband's to-go breakfast, diced up leftover brisket, cooked half of a butternut squash that was already cubed, added bell pepper, onion, garlic, rosemary and sage.  We added just a bit of shredded cheddar cheese.  It turned out so good, and we wasted zero leftovers

The to-do list is pretty much the typical list for November, although much of it was done in October last year.  We are finally getting rain this morning, and we are expecting a warmer month.  I'm still waiting on cooler days to roast and preserve pumpkins, spaghetti squash, acron squash, etc.  I have tinctures in the making, and oils infusing for salve making, so the month will not be idle (but yet a much slower pace).

Until next time.  Toodles.

Reset ~ Recharge © November 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Happy Homemaker Monday

 We broke out the mower for the first time this spring.  It needed it, but we didn't quite finish it.  

After traveling to two post offices, I finally got a box shipped off to my sister.  The first Post Office, had their internet down, the second one is only open 2 hours a day.  Life is a bit challenging living in a small country town.

The herb garden needs some weeding done, but it's springing back to life, and the green onions are looking great. I will be snipping some for this weeks meals.  The sage is looking like it's coming back to life as well.

Today I will join Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

I will link up when she posts.

The weather . . .

High today is to be about 73°F, but it's cloudy and it rained (ugh) again last night.  Today is the eclipse.  There is hardly any traffic either.  I'm guessing that many places closed.  I am told that in our hometown, many businesses closed for the day, and schools closed as well.

Right now I am . . .

Sipping coffee, posting this a bit later than usual

Thinking and pondering . . .

It's very wet out yet, so my day may be a bit off the to-do list.

How I am feeling . . .

Honestly, a bit tired.  We ran around and got errands done, and we had to buy a new coffee pot (it broke down over the weekend).

On the breakfast plate . . .

Not sure yet.

On the lunch plate . . .

I have discovered that organic snack bell peppers make a wonderful bread replacement for chicken salad.  We love it on cucumber slices, but this is good too.

I also made granola bars for our weekly snack.  I used date syrup in place of honey and they turned out delicious.  According to what I read so far, it does not spike sugar levels, and has a lower glycemic index.  I used a combination of walnuts, unsweetened coconut and pumpkin seeds this time around.

I also made us some homemade hummus.  It's good on veggies, so I made myself one when I was slicing up bell peppers.

On the menu . . .

-grilled sirloin burgers, broccoli salad (minus the bacon this time around).

-crock pot pork loins, roasted mixed vegetables

-leftovers

On the reading pile . . .

Still reading this book.

On the TV . . .

Whatever looks good.  The most recent was Dateline and NCIS.

Looking around the house . . .

We picked up the last bit of materials to finish the steps in the hallway.  

On the to-do list . . .

-not sure quite yet, which is very odd for me

From the camera . . .

October of 2014 - homemade Lamancha goat's millk cream cheese.  The very best cream cheese too. A "blast" from the past photo.

What I am crocheting . . .

Progress on the current baby blanket.  I worked a bit on the baby washcloths as well.

Devotional, Bible Verse, Prayers . . .

A friend's niece is in an induced coma, with possible brain injuries from a car accident.  I do not have a name just yet.  When I do I will let you know.

Happy Homemaker Monday © April 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart