Reading Books

 

It was about the time Mom started to get worse, and rotated from Emergency room to the nursing home, to home and back around again, that I completely lost my reading mojo (2021)

I think more than half of the books Mom had, were from me.  I used to read so often.

I am just starting to get back to reading.  However, with all of the home repairs and renovations going on, I often put it off or completely off for the day.  I often feel guilty for sitting down to read, when I know there is a window trim that needs painted, or a counter full of dishes that need put away, or laundry that needs folded (but more so the home repairs/renovations).

How do you not feel guilty to sit and read on a daily basis?

I am currently reading a book I started back in December.  Seriously.

So....in light of all of that....

Ha!  Trying to squeeze in a few pages when I can.  I was waiting for the blanch water to boil.  

We shall see how this goes.  My one Grandma (Mom's Mom) used to have a book with her all of the time, and I was told she'd even read a book while standing in line (say at the bank or wherever).

We hit a high of 64°F yesterday, and it was warm enough to read on the porch for once.  Getting some fresh air was just a bonus.  We are to hit another 60-ish degree day today (winds as much as  35mph), but it will return to cold again.

Reading Books © Feb 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Just the Bits

The fog that rolled in recently.  We have been, and are still getting rain.

The chickens are loving this warmer weather, and the eggs are rolling in again.  However, it's "mud" season here, and the coop run is a mess of mushy mud.

My husband requested more sausage/egg/cheese cups with sage sausage.  One pound of sausage, makes approximately 3 dozen of these egg cups.  It helps make the most of your money with the sausage vs. making sausage patties to go with scrambled eggs.  I cook up a pound, use 1 cup and freeze the rest for future egg cups for breakfast.  They re-heat well too.

Winter Project Progress:

~Hallway~

Window curtains washed, window blinds cleaned, and windows cleaned.

Door to garage painted, but it will need a second coat.

 

Just the Bits © Jan 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Back on Track ~ This and That ~ Cashew Brittle

I hope you are enjoying the recipes lately.  I am sorry I am posting them after the holidays, but maybe it will spark motivation for next Christmas season.  Or for that matter, any time of the year.

No, I am not turning my blog into a cooking blog ha ha!  It's winter, and there is not much going on that is "news" worthy, so you get to see some new or older recipe posts.

(Before a weeding day, and they grew almost 6 feet tall!!)

...... and yes I do miss my garden shenanigans.  Oh man, this last season was a good one, and I will not forget how I would start my day with a good laugh.  Every time I went out to work in the garden, I would just laugh and laugh about the enormous squash plants we had.  Not to mention the enormous bounty we got from them.

Something ate the tops off of a few of my bunching onions, that are in my herb garden.  Hm?  I will have to put a deer camera on it if it continues to come back.  The herb garden is very close to the house too.  

 * * * * * 

The outside Christmas lights are all taken down, and put away.  The tree decorations are off, the holiday bedding washed, dried and put away, and other decorations collected to be boxed up as well.  Another Christmas all wrapped up and put away for a year.  The tree will be put away this weekend.  Believe it or not, my husband is the one pushing me to keep it up longer (it only has lights on it right now).

Lists are back in action.  I have a goal for each winter month.  Trust me, when I say we will not be running out of things that need done around here.   I've already cleaned out one shelf in my refrigerator.  The holiday season baking/cooking really put a toll on my organization.  The fridge is a hot mess, so the plan is to finish that job first.

The warmer days have spiked the egg production here at the homestead.  I guess we can't complain about that.  

We had some leftover "innards" from omelet making, and I did not want to waste them.  I decided to whisk up 9 eggs, and make a small-ish sheet pan egg dish using all the leftover omelet bacon/bell pepper mixture.  

I harvested some bunching onions from the herb garden for this too.  I cooked up some sausage patties and made it into a sandwich.  I'll be doing this again, but adding some greens too.  Gosh, you could eat it without the bread, jazz it up with flavor etc.  

Tip:  I save my bacon grease, and greased my pan with the bacon grease.

The weather otherwise, is still damp.  However, we are starting to cool down again.  The current chicken coop run is a muddy mess.  

Detox for the win!  

I'll admit the holidays get us off track of every day meals, and life in general.  By the way, I am still waiting on my holy basil to arrive.  In the mean time, we are using what tea we have on hand.  

I forgot about our traditional Christmas Cashew Brittle recipe.  I did not make it this year, only due to the lack of time.   I do have the recipe already posted on my blog, and it makes a small batch (I use my metal round baking sheets for this).

You can get the recipe HERE.

Back on Track ~ This and That ~ Cashew Brittle © Dec 2023 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Sunset ~ Sunrise

I had a rather long day yesterday, and I was outside later than usual.  I had to snap photos of the sunset.  I'm glad I did.  Right after I took these, the beautiful colors disappeared.

I  opened the kitchen blinds early this morning, and before I had the time to post this, I got the chance to view the most beautiful sunrise this morning.  I was tempted to get my thick robe, put my coffee in my yeti cup and go out and sit to enjoy the entire sunrise.  I may be doing that in the future.  It was rather nice to be out there, with complete silence.  Not even a rooster from afar, nor a bird chirping.  It was rather nice.

I do have to clean up my porch yet, so there is that reason to be out there.   We've had some rather warmer days lately too.  In the 50's which is rare for December.  It's definitely not sending any Christmas vibes, but I'll take the warmer weather.  We have more work to do on the chicken coop and other area clean ups.

This and That

 

Detoxing after the holidays, as well as mentally. 

Not what I expected to show up, but shoveling for the first time of the winter season was therapeutic.  Not just the physical activity, but getting outside for a while.

It's "shot gun" week here in our state for deer season.  So far, it's been pretty quiet.  It has also been very cold too.

The dreaded moment - hand pricing all of the jewelry I made.  It's done.  Those are just the crocheted bracelets, and the beaded crocheted bracelets.  I organized the keychains, and priced them too, along with earrings and necklaces.  Pricing stuff continues....

A funny for you all.  I just found out that that piece on the top is magnetic for a reason.  It's so you can remove it to clean the lid.  I have wanted to find out why the lid was magnetic for a long time.  Every time I washed it, things stuck to the lid.  My husband got this Yeti from work, and gave it to me a while ago.  Oh boy, so did you know about this?

Thanksgiving Cactus ~ This and That ~ Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal (new recipe tried) ~ More Roasted Pumpkins and Seeds

 The weather is all over the map.  We recently dipped to 35°F, and yesterday we hit 80°, but then rain moves back in later this week.  They predicted the next weekend to be very cold, and that changed quickly.  Friday they are saying we may hit the 80's in our area.  It's literally crazy weather.

The Thanksgiving Cactus is blooming more blooms right now.  I will definitely be re-potting the plant.  It has more blooms this year than last year.

We have been so busy with just about everything here lately.  The AC units have been put in in storage for winter, and we started back on the new coop (very slow going, always running into an issue).

Heck, I still have to take down the hanging porch plants that have died off.   

I am contemplating putting any Christmas lights outside this year.  They are sitting in the kitchen awaiting my decision.  I'm just not into it this year (yet), and I believe it's due to all the unfinished projects around here.

I tried a new recipe and we love it!!  I used home roasted garden pumpkin of course, and made homemade pumpkin pie spice.  I had some GA pecans left, so I used those, and this recipe is a keeper!  It's online with The Real Food Dietitians - Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal.  

I roasted two smaller pie pumpkins at the same time, so I have extra pumpkin to bake/cook with now.  I put two more pints in the freezer.  I roasted the seeds, and saved some seeds (drying on a screen).

I have more pumpkins to roast, but gaining on that task.  I don't have a proper storage area for them, so it is how I put them up for the winter.

Just when I think I will have some free time, I do not, ha ha!  I took advantage of our Indian Summer, and washed up all of the camper bedding, and put it on the clothesline.  However, the bugs were terrible.  I could not even sit on the porch, the bugs were that bad.