Happy Homemaker Monday

 On the home winter project list, we have decided to completely remove the hallway paneling.   When the carpet was removed a large wooden storage box was moved to the hallway (to get it out of the way of work).  I am now going through it, and hopefully passing it on to other family members.  The box itself will be donated if no one can find a use for it.  I have contacted our historical society in the past, and they were not taking any donations.   There are some old family items in this storage box, and I can no longer store them.  

After cleaning my Dad's place and Mom's after they passed, I have a different look on what I keep and do not keep.

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

I will link up when she posts.  I'm running behind today.

The weather . . . 

High 30's, low 40's, some weather moving in around towards the weekend, with rain/snow.

Right now I am . . .

Brewing a late pot of coffee, and posting this.

Thinking and pondering . . .

Looking through my seeds and working on a seed order if necessary.

How I am feeling . . .

I'm not liking the lack of sunshine right now.  I do believe it plays a part in how a person feels.  Did I mention the tea recipe I will be trying?  I posted a link for it.  It is said to help with seasonal stress.

On the breakfast plate . . .

Egg/sausage scramble, Coffee.

On the lunch plate . . .

Have no idea yet.

On the dinner plate . . .

Perch, and a vegetable

On the menu. . .

No idea yet.  However, I do look in the freezer/fridge and pantry before writing it up.  I will work on that later.

On my reading pile . . .

I have not had any time to read over the last week.  I'm okay with that, as I am making progress on the winter project list.

On the TV this week . . .

Fool me Once (series on netflix)

Looking around the house . . .

If you haven't read my recent post on our winter project list, I am working on painting interior doors and door trim.

The to-do list . . .

-muck coop
-catch up on any laundry
-dust
-make some calls, the truck just got new rotors, but now it needs new tires
-water plants
-sweep/mop floors

-purge a storage box we no longer have room for

From the camera . . .

We were lucky to have a few beautiful sunrises and sunsets, but with the rain and snow moving in, the skies have been cloudy the last few days.

Devotional, quote, prayers . . .

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

Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix (Question) ~ Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels

We are getting just a wee bit of snow this weekend.  We literally did not get a lick of work done Saturday (if you read our winter project list I posted recently).  We did a lot of "window" shopping to check prices on supplies for the winter project list.  Only one hardware store had an attachable ladder shelf, which required a half hour drive.  I can now paint with lot more ease.  The ladder we are using to paint and do work, does not have a shelf, nor the smaller ladder.  We also needed the odor killing primer, which only one store had in stock, and only on can left on the shelf.

The prices for anything right now are so over the top, it is mind boggling.  How can anyone afford to even buy groceries right now?  Due to the cost of paint, we will do a re-check on what paint is leftover from other rooms, re-calculate, and see if we can use any for the hallway.  We priced light fixtures, mirrors, and other items, and could not believe the price of mirrors for the bathroom.  We came home to look at ours, and we cannot take off the hardware and frame them either.  They were installed used, and the mirrors are scratching off the edges.  Anyway.  The cost of anything is crazy high right now.

On a good note:  one large box of donations and one huge bag of random baskets were all donated on our day road tripping for supplies.

Although it is so convenient to buy the ranch packet dip at the store, the ingredients are not healthy.  If you google the top two ingredients, they are basically of a form of some sort of sugar/flavoring.  The packet also contains bioengineered (gmo) ingredients.  They also just say "spices" so what is that?

 Back in the day, I found a recipe for homemade Ranch Dressing (Simply Scratch, online) making our own dry mix and using that for making the homemade dressing.

The post to the recipe link is HERE.  The recipe is very extensive, and I have to buy my dried chives, because the last time I tried to dehydrate my own from the herb garden, they blew all over in the dehydrator.  If you have a tip for this, please share.  

My question is, do any of you have a tried and true dry ranch mix (homemade) for using as a dip?  One that perhaps has less ingredients, but tastes good?  We like to add it to a container of blended cottage cheese to dip fresh vegetables in.

Living up to our motto, I had four opened bags of different (non-gmo) pretzels.  I wanted to try a new recipe, but I should have made a half batch of these, and used the other half for whiskey stix.  Anyway, I mixed them all up and tried Cinnamon sugar pretzels.  They are good, but I made too much lol.  I will need to gift some to the kids perhaps.  It's an easy recipe for a make and take food for gatherings (recipe is from The Southern Lady Cooks online).  Did you know that Snyder's now makes non-gmo pretzels?

Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix (Question) ~ Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels © Jan 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart