Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I admit it.  I'm  am so ready for winter to be over with this year. Between ice storms, icy roads, more snow, and now another deep freeze, it's getting old real fast.  Not to be one complaining, but it's been rough this winter.  I have had to change my last appointment twice now.  Plus, I really need to get into town for a haircut soon.  Boring news for sure. As for our mini water leak, I shut off the water softener until my husband can access the line in the wall.  We are pretty sure that is what needs repaired.  I'm hoping that "fix" will be done today (finally). I did reach out to a family friend, but he was either busy, or did not want to help out with it.  Nothing exciting to share on the home front right now.  I may have a new recipe to share soon, but that's about it.  I'm still working on the current crocheted baby blanket, but finished a few books.  I put a halt on my utility room purge until we figure out the l...

  The photo pretty much depicts the recent snow storm.  We did get a slight bit of sunshine yesterday.  I think we got about 3 inches.  My husband finally got to use his drivable mini snowplow (he bought it from an auction a few years ago and never needed it).  He walked in the door that day giggling that he was happy to finally try it out on snow.  Ha!  I have to say it worked perfectly.  All those years I joked he was a collector of such do-hickies, but it sure came in handy for us. However, I did hand shovel the side patio to get out to tend the hens (there is a side story to this) and get the mail that particular day.  There was 2 foot drifts to get to the coop, and I slipped slightly on the underlying ice (which I didn't see until I shoveled).  Anyway, when I put my right foot down to catch myself, it shot pain right up that already beat up leg.   I put in a call to our main doctor, and the nurse called me back.  I, a...

Yesterday I started out strong with cleaning, but fizzled out fast.  I got some kitchen cleaning done, and bedding washed and back on. Today, we are dealing with the water line from the water softener to the utility sink - busted and flooded floor this morning. On top of replacing the wood stove grate (fit like a glove) and getting the stove back to heating, we are dealing with not feeling good on top of it all. It's a battle daily, but we are gaining I think. It didn't take long for me to get text messages after Mom was back in her home (alone).  First, it was my sister asking if I had an extra blender for Mom to have her wanted chipped ice (that she freely got while in the nursing home).  I told her to order one online and ship it to Mom's or go buy one in town.  I was no help. I got another text from Mom at 10pm.  Asking for help. We were in bed.  We tire out very quickly, and are in bed early (with 12-13 hours of sleep, that tired).  I texted back ...

It's still very cold here.  Woke up to -9°F.  We are really not likely it either (who would?).  I got everything marked off my to-do list yesterday except for one thing - wash bedding.  If the water is flowing today, I'll get it done.  I'm thankful for leftovers and pre-cooked breakfast. Hubby is not feeling 100% himself, and found out that some co-workers have been out the entire month of January, and one was out 17 days.  He felt he should have stayed home a few more days to get his body feeling better.  I agreed, but he is back to work anyway.   Yesterday, I felt off.  Just weird.  Can't explain it, other than I'm not my 100% just yet.  Daughter K can't get rid of a bad cough.  My cough is a bit better.  My cool-mist humidifier arrived and was set up and running before bedtime.  I also sipped some sage tea, and made ginger tea (freshly grated) for my husband.  Thanks for all your support and encouragement...

Monday was truly a bad day for me mentally.  Dealing with young adults in today's world is not only a challenge, but one big fat headache (when it shouldn't be).  I raced through my work to keep my mind from exploding into teeny tiny bits. The wind here has been truly terrible.  However, it's been very helpful in drying all my laundry, rugs (yes rugs in March), and bedding.  I was praying it didn't land out in the pasture by afternoon. In fact the wind was so bad, raking the pine cones didn't happen.  I managed to get my rake out though. Instead, I finished up box #1 of our ears of black dakota popcorn.  It was a good day for winnowing.  It literally only took a few minutes this time. Tuesday the wind sounded like winter.  It was a brisk 29°F out, and very unexpected.  The wind was worse.  We will need to buy two new large tarps now.  Ours are torn to bits.  It was freezing in the house, and we were out of cut wood...

I always try to call work fun, so I don't get down and out about doing it.  Actually, it was Hubby who said he's glad we had to go out and cut wood yesterday.  He said it's good to get fresh air in winter.   Then again, he's the first to say, "why do we do this?" when we run out of wood and we haven't planned early for it, ha ha! The last few times we split wood, I found beauty all around us and went back out with my camera.  Hubby laughs at this, and calls me "crazy." Here are the photos I took:

(garden before we tilled it)   The garden is getting back into shape.  We secured the pea fence again, dug out the plastic and stakes, and mowed down weeds.  We started to till it, and get it ready for next year.  We battled tons of mutant lady bugs though.  Just standing to take the photo, I ended up covered in them.  I moved back pretty far to take the photo, and even then, you can't see all of it.

Alias is enjoying the outdoors, and I think he has more energy than the other two dogs. The house is a mess today (go figure), and the chimney sweep is coming this week.  I'm about a month late in getting it taken care of.  The kids will be working overtime to get this place "ship shape" today.  I like my kitchen "company ready" when I get up in the morning, and I have not been successful at getting the kids on board with this.  Where there's a will, there is a way, so I'm not giving up yet.

Sunday we officially started to use the wood stove and corn/pellet bu rner.  I t's taking time g etting used to the routine of st acking wood and loading s toves again. Ye ster da y the kids helped me put all of the front porch furniture in t he barn and cover it up.  However, in our hurry, we for got the back p orch furniture.  Hm pf.  That's one of the pieces in the photo, co vered with morning sleet.  It looks like snow, but it's really icy sleet. Yesterday morning I fought the r ain, at getting my laundry dried. I ended up bring ing it in and drying i t on racks in fro nt of the stoves (including the bed she ets). The school had a scheduled 2 hour delay for a teacher work day, but we wou ld have had one anyway.  The slee t continues to come down.  I'm so glad my son helped me re-stock the wood on t he front porch. I hope we get anot her break in the weather soon.  We have much more winter prep to do on the ch icken barn....