"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Monday, December 19, 2022

Happy Homemaker Monday


Busy weekend....we met up with Daughter E (hair stylist) and she gave us hair cuts on her day off at the salon.  It was nice to be there without other people, and we re-stocked her groceries.  She was very happy about that.


Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.
Will link up later when she posts.

The weather . . .
31/23°F today, and we dip down to 5°F by the weekend.  Snow moves in just before Christmas.

As I look outside my window . . .
It's cloudy and dreary.

Right now I am . . .
Getting ready to make a breakfast, brewing more coffee, as Daughter E is coming over to do laundry.


Thinking and pondering . . .
An antique store we often visit has those shade for oil lamps.  They suggested I bring my glass piece in to be properly fitted for one.  I guess I thought they were all standard size.  I'm thinking of doing that for the one on the kitchen table.


How I am feeling . . .
Frustrated - see "from the camera"

Listening to. . .
Rock station on the radio.


On the breakfast plate . . .
Working on that.


What I am wearing . . .
Sweatshirt, sweatpants and slippers.


On my reading pile . . .
It's been halted for now.


On the TV . . .
Mystery channel.


On the menu . . .
-chicken with a home canned sauce, veggie
-literally have no idea yet.


Looking around the house. . .
Still a hot mess.


To-do list . . .
-make breakfast
-put dinner in the crock pot
-pay bills
-unload dishwasher
-do other dishes
-write up menu
-mail in another rebate
-work on crocheted blanket.





From the camera . . .



We had a very, very busy weekend, and we didn't see this until we got home Saturday, could not sleep and woke up Sunday with another busy day intended on taking out this flooring (again).  It is hard to show you with out a close up, but our handy man apparently doesn't know how to do flooring.  He literally lined up the seams with full planks in between.  It looks terrible.  The seams need to be staggered (he did all 6 inches), looking like a real wood floor.  The more we looked at it over the weekend, the more we hated it, and with the cost of flooring we were not going to leave it that way.

Our handyman declared more money to take it out and do it right.  Guess who got fired and guess who is putting the floor in every night my husband is home from work?  Yeah, us.  


Out with the old....it came with the house about 14 years about, globe missing, just ugly and hangs low....lights didn't work right...


In with the new....remote control too.  Simple, farmstead style, and we can control the fan for winter or summer (will work either direction).  My husband and I took the old one out, put together the new one, and he re-wired it. The top still needs hooked to the ceiling, but it's in working order.

There is much work to do yet in the living room, and now we are behind getting the heat hooked up, but spending that much on flooring we want to enjoy the new room as well.  It's a head shaker for sure.

What I am creating . . .

Devotional, Bible Verse, Prayers . . .
-prayers for Jim, a brother to a good friend of ours with MS.  He was life flighted to a hospital due to half his body not functioning.  No update on if it was a stroke or not yet.



 

Saturday, December 17, 2022

Homemade Lip Balm

 

Homemade lip balm has been made.  I originally made it with calendula infused oil, but now make it with lemon balm infused oil, plus essential oils.




Instead of buying the holder to hold up the tubes, I just wrap a few with rubber bands, and it works great.  I save the rubber bands from any mail delivery.  I also use a can, washed and dried (from chickpeas/beans etc.).  I bend a "spout" for easy pouring.

I did not write down the source for my recipe, but there is one on Mountain Rose Herbs online, and many other recipes to use online.  Trust me, it took some work to get the binder out of my office, ha ha!  I'm just glad this is done.  I use the lip balm all the time.

I try to keep notes on my recipes.  I had written this makes 10, but I got 9 tubes.  I guess it will depend on tube size.  Anyway, the benefits of growing medicinal herbs.