Happy Homemaker Monday

 Do you ever notice how it's hard to be around people who are negative about "Monday" and the start of the week?  

Monday gets a bad name all around.  I used to tackle so much around the house, but I have since then created a cleaning/housework schedule, and it's been working out fantastically.  Monday's are not bombarded with overwhelming to-do lists any longer.

My husband had a recent conversation about how his co-workers complain on and on about "Monday" and how terrible it is.  Is it?  

Every year I look forward to learn something new.  A new trail to walk, new herbal remedy to make, new handiwork to learn, or just about anything.  It's not only rewarding in most cases, but fun.

My "firsts" this month:

-dehydrating wild violets, and leaves

-dehydrating dandelion flowers 

-read a new author, picked up another at the library (yet to read - gulp!)

-reading a new devotional

-learned the words to a song, and inadvertently learned words (memorized) to two other songs.

-went to our first Bingo "purse" raffle (had fishing poles for the men) and fundraiser benefit.

-saw Moe Bandy in concert (now 82 years old).

-walked one out of 15 new walking trails (new to us).

(possible new salves using the above dehydrated items later).

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom (will link up when she posts).

Hard to believe I was picking dandelions, wild violets and even chickweed a few days ago.  

We've been seeing a lot of lily of the valley, wild geraniums, and mayapples on our trail walks.

Planted rosemary and spearmint.  Weeded another smaller rose bed, and asparagus patch.  Planted 9 more Mary Washington asparagus starts, and dug a tree out of the berry bush area.  Trimmed two rose bushes, and weeded half the herb garden.

The Weather . . .

Last week started with hard freeze warnings.  31°F with a windchill of 27°F.    We will get thunderstorms again tonight and possible 50 mph winds.

Right now I am . . .

Sipping coffee and writing this post fairly quickly.

How I am feeling . . .

Tired of the weather fluctuation, but otherwise revived over the weekend.  We found another trail walk and loved it. (In our new personal challenge) One walking trail visited, and 14 more to go on our list.  Despite a sprained toe, walking was fine (more on that in another post).

On the breakfast plate . . .

Eggs, and real Canadian bacon.

On the menu . . .

-crock pot Four Beans and Sausage

-leftovers, Kidney bean salad (new recipe

- not sure on the rest just yet

On my reading pile . . .

I'll have to get back my current/finished books.  Forgot to take photos.  However......

Finished this one.  First time to read this author.  I laughed to my husband, as I only had this book, and realized it is part of a series.  Sigh.  I had no intentions of buying more books.  I liked this book.

On my TV . . .

Elvis movies - King Creole, Blue Hawaii

Doc - Netflix

Sarah's Oil, Netflix

Looking around the house . . .

-Good!  Took a trunk full of clothing to donate.  Clothes that were too big, not worn, etc.   Decluttered more areas and re-organized.

To-do list . . .

-make breakfast
-laundry

-make tick repellant oil

-dehydrate all of the volunteer herbs I yanked (anything growing in areas where it spread)

-Weed the rest of the herb garden, and flower beds (maybe)

-I'll be honest, I have yet to figure out the to-do's for the week.  The weather may change my list.  

What I am creating . . .

I finished the purple/white shell stitch blanket.  Delivered four crocheted baby blankets to an area pregnancy center.

Sharing . . .

Salve with wild violets, comfrey and plantain.

Watching videos like these to possibly start learning to quilt (small things right now ha ha!)

From my camera . . .

Devotional, prayer, Bible verses . . .

No prayer requests asked of me currently.

My newest devotional to share.

Happy Homemaker Monday ©  April 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Spring Blooms

 

A few tulips are starting to bloom.  

Tulips are not the only spring life coming to life right now.  Although most people would yank these and toss them (as weeds), I see cleavers, purple dead nettle and some chickweed. 

The spring herbs and flowers are working my creative mind.  I've been dehydrating, infusing and such.  I'm also doing more reading (herbal books).  There is much to learn yet.  I am learning of two new salves I may make and try, and have been learning more with creative herbal seasoning mixes.

I keep forgetting to get a photo of the purple shell blanket progress, but it's the slowest going project yet. The photo is an earlier photo of the beginning of the blanket.

It's not time consuming because of the stitch, but because the weather outside is nicer (so much we can do now, and jobs to work on), and I am spending a lot less time with the crochet hook.  

The yarn was in the mass amount of yarn given to me last year.  I know the variegated yarn in this blanket is discontinued, so I dug through the stash she gave me, and came up with a rotation to use up 4 of the colors (using up all of the variegated, and darker purple I added in with a few rows).  I am using the shell stitch and a "J" hook for the blanket. It's a bit too large and thick for a baby blanket, so I will donate this one to an area assisted living facility per a request.  I'll get a finished photo as soon as it's finished.  

We are getting more 80 degree days, but we are also getting more rain.  Our tornado warning alarm went off due to an area spotted tornado last night.  We are getting more rain, which will put a damper in my herb collecting, garden clean up, and garden prep work.  

Spring Blooms ©  April 2026 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

This and That ~ Welcome March

The new sprouts for the chickens.  These are organic peas.  I am sprouting a small amount to introduce them to the ladies (chickens) and see if they like them or not.  They love sprouted lentils.  They should be ready to treat the ladies in a few days now.  

 Welcoming March!  We already had our first adventure day trip on March 1st.  We drove a few hours to visit one of the kids and their new house.  The weather was back to freezing cold here, so what a better way to spend a Saturday in winter.

I surely gave me a break from lining closet shelves and purging clothing.

My goodness, it was so nice to see the kids and their pets again.  We haven't seen their pets in many years, and Jasper (cat), bless his heart at 16 years old, sniffed my face, put his nose to my nose and rubbed his head on my forehead.  He remembered me.  He did the same with my husband.  Such a sweet moment.

Of course we stopped at a pet store and picked up toys and treats for all three of them.  We had a meal with the kids, got a tour of the house, and it snowed the entire time.  Loved every minute of it, and this particular daughter is crocheting!  Ha!  She is crocheting a blanket. She has a stack of books she read, and I shared with her my crochet "book" blanket.  She is just a beginner, but I will still offer ideas to her.

On the drive home, I convinced my husband to make a pit stop at a JoAnn Fabrics (on the route home), and check out the yarn.  Sadly, the yarn was already picked over and very limited.  What I did find, was 25% off.  They had a ton of #10 cotton thread, but hardly anything left of Caron, Redheart and Lion brand yarns.  We only have one JoAnn Fabrics within a 30 minute drive from our home.  I did find another one this morning, about a 33 minute drive.  

Do you have anything exciting planned this month?  I do not, but every day brings us an "open book" so to speak.  I have already sent a few emails, to inquire about some walking trails/parking etc.  We also visited a book store and purchased a guide book with trails in our state.  There is no local bookstore close to our homestead.  Everything here is a bit of a drive.

I do plan to get outside this month more than we did last month, now that we are approaching better weather. Ha, or we hope to anyway.  

My first goal this month, is to locate some inexpensive tulip bulbs.  I want to experiment in planting them again.  The first year we lived here moles ate every single one.  I read one idea in a recent book, so hence "inexpensive" bulbs to try it with.  I absolutely love Breck's bulbs, but want to be sure the moles will leave the bulbs alone (otherwise I'll pot them in pots and insert the pots into the gardens).  I love tulips, and really, really, miss having them in our spring flower beds.  We do have two mole chasing windmills up too (and I still see mole hills some days).

This and That ~ Welcome March  ©  March 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart