Happy Homemaker Monday

 

We have been blessed with free calendars from our very small local library every year. The top one is last year's with January of this year included, and the second one is this year's new calendar.

I do have some goals for this month, but I do not make resolutions per say.  

Goals for this year so far:

• Re-create a few photos.
• Get a photo shot day for just us with hired photographer.  This may not happen until fall for better outdoor scenery.
• Read more.
• Reduce hours on social media (I only have facebook)
• Travel more.
• Have the entire downstairs repaired, renovated, updated, purged and completely organized (will need help from the husband to complete this goal).
• Stay on task with regular exercise (this was interrupted so many times last year).  Including staying on task while traveling of any sort as well.
• Hike more.
• Take evening walks with my husband more.
• Go camping more.
• Talk with friends more often.  

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

The weather in my neck of the woods . . .

This past Saturday we woke up to a chilly 9°F windchill and more snow.  It was the kind of beautiful, slow falling snow.

It's 12°F this morning and the snow is coming down.  There is enough coming down, there are school delays and closings.  My husband may get to use his gizmo he bought a few years ago to "plow" the driveway this year.  Traffic is moving very slowly, and I have yet to see a plow pass by our homestead.

Things that make me happy . . .

-my first cup of coffee in the morning

-looking forward to making travel plans

Book I am reading . . .

I started reading this last year, but forgot all about it.  I am keeping up with the daily quotes, but I have to say that not all of them are really that good or positive.

I bought both of these two last year as well, and started back with reading them each day.  One is 180 days, the other is 365 days.  I am enjoying both and have plans to pass them on to one of the kids when I am done reading them.  The last two are perfect travel size too.

I finished this one last week, and loved it.  I thought it was going to be just stories about the donkey, but it was more than that.  It was more like a book of devotions that came to the author with her experience with the stray donkey.  The story basically is her life lessons, relationship with God, but taught to her by the taking in of a the stray donkey that showed up out of no where.  I also learned about donkeys.  I had no idea they lived 40 years, and that if you want a protector donkey, the females do a better job.  Overall a very good book.

I started reading this book next.  It was a gift from my husband for Christmas.  He said it was on the best selling list.  Looks like a murder mystery. 

What's on my TV today . . .

Sea Patrol

Landman (Sunday night)

On my breakfast plate . . .

See to-do list.

On my lunch plate . . .

Probably tuna salad and cucumber slices with hummus.  Fresh fruit.

On my dinner plate . . .

See menu plan below.

On the menu . . .

-Crockpot turkey stroganoff, mashed potatoes, and roasted garlic green beans

-Crockpot black eyed peas, ham and collards

-Crockpot Sausage and Ditalini soup

-leftovers

On the to-do list . . .

-bake a breakfast casserole of some sort, or pancakes for the next few days (have not decided yet)

-clean bathtub and master bath shower, put cleaning supplies away

-dust master bedroom, master bathroom

-pay a few bills

-do laundry

-make homemade hair detangler

-put the Christmas stuff away (yes most of it's still out, as we had errands this past weekend, and just didn't have the ambition at the end of each day)

-make and freeze homemade condensed mushroom soup (goal is to get this done by the end of the week), I make it this way, because we do not use it very often (1),  it is healthier than organic from the store (2), and it tastes so much better (3)

-start a new shopping list, as I need more quart canning jars to organize more of our dried herbs, herbal tea ingredients etc.  Some new ones I just got, do not come with re-sealable bags.

Month of January Deep Clean/Purge/Re-organize List:

-start removing tape and adhesive from stairway walls.  It is a bigger job than I anticipated.  I took a closer look when I went upstairs the other day.  The kids really did a number on the walls all over the upstairs (grr!).

-fix shelf in freezer than fell into the next shelf.  I will have to remove everything and fix shelf and re-organize while meal planning based on what's on that shelf.

-continue purging utility room (a lot is stored in that room, and I have all winter to work on it).

-install under sink shelf liners in the master bath

-check dates on all of our dried herbals for tea infusions, tea making and other medicinal makings, and re-organize.

-clean one corner upper cupboard in the kitchen, install new shelf liner, check dates on all spices/herbs/homemade mixes, and re-organize

New recipe I tried or want to try . . .

All three recipes on the menu plan are "try-it" recipes.  Homemade "Velveeta" was successful, other than the cheese flavor using the mild.  I do have plans to make it again, but with medium cheddar for a trial #2.

What I am creating . . .

New project for 2025 (possibly longer ha ha ha!)  I detest (well I detest the final stage of sewing them all together) granny square projects, so I have no idea what is going on with my brain right now!  I'll be back soon to share a post about this new 2025 project. The goal is a combination of two ideas, with two successful goals by the end of the year.  I guess you could also say it's a self-motivational goal.

No words needed (favorite photo or picture) . . .

We have loved the recent slow falling, big snowflakes lately.  However, this is much more out there as of this morning. 

Devotional, Prayers, or Bible Verses . . .

Prayers request from one of our kids - house shopping, and for them to acquire a house they can afford.

Prayers for my own health, and for an earlier opening for my doctor appointment.  I am thankful for Arnica cream for sore muscles.  We want this off the calendar (best answers would be simply physical therapy, or better yet the current exercises at home) before we start making any travel plans this year. 

"A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired." Proverbs 17:22 MSG 

If you are still reading (sorry this is a long post for a Monday, ha ha!), if you drink purple passion flower tea, what is a good organic brand to buy and resource?  I see Frontier Co-Op has it with our sister online grocery store, and see that Amazon has a few brands.  We would like to try it for our evening tea or add it to the current tea we drink (for better sleep, stress reducer, un-wind in the evening tea).

Happy Homemaker Monday  © January 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Winter Homestead Activities

My first post for 2025.

January 2025 started with a clean washing machine, clean oven mitts, and a clean dishwasher.   I got all three cleaned by the afternoon of the last day of 2024.  It rained the entire day, and the temperature was in the 30's.  Awful weather, but the right kind to make it much easier to sit and crochet for a bit. January 1st it snowed.  We got more snow last night, and there is a possibly snow storm later this weekend, but our temperature may be too cold for snow here.

Winter time is a time to rest and re-set.   I do try to embrace the slow down, because those busy garden days will arrive soon enough. 

Winter time pick me ups - smelling the orange or clementine as I peel it (really boosts the mood).  Also, painting my fingernails.  I buy the chemical free brand, and winter is the only time I get to pamper my fingernails.  The rest of the year, I'm busy playing with dirt.

On the home repair front . . .

Hubby replaced some door weather stripping (just in time for cold weather).  I plan to check the other doors this week.  He also installed an adjustable clothing rod for our winter coats.  We have no closets for coats here in this farmhouse.  We have what they installed called "cubbies" that are open with a  few hooks inside each one.  We have a door installed to cover our coats for now.  It's temporary until we completely purge that room, and made decisions prior to painting, installing new lights and flooring.  We were literally using shorter shower rods, but they do not last long, so hence the type that is installed with supports with screws on each side (for now anyway).

I have a small list of indoor home updates to keep myself somewhat "busy" and the goal is to have them done before Spring arrives.

The chickens are patiently waiting for their new home, but the weather has been quite finicky.  Eggs are in low production again.  Our last hired help is leaving on long vacation, so things are a bit delayed in other build it/repair it projects.

                      

I have been utilizing the Blue Jarrahdale pumpkin puree (we grew last summer, roasted it, pureed it and froze it) in our breakfast and in muffins.  The above photo is a pumpkin oat bake for breakfast.

I made hummus differently recently, using part navy beans and part chickpeas.  I added 1/4 tsp. of turmeric this time, and may add more the next them.  It does have a different flavor, but it's delicious.

Meals are being planned by utilizing what we harvested, canned, dried or froze last year.  Tonight's dinner is thawed (previously roasted and frozen) spaghetti squash, topped with home canned tomato sauce, homemade meatballs, quinoa and asparagus.  We'll be eating more garden green beans this weekend as well (blanched and froze from last year's garden).

The next room to purge is our utility room.  The room is larger than most, and also serves for storage of certain items.

I am currently (yes, I'm still reading it) reading this book.  I bought it last year, as my husband joked that I needed to buy it.  Even if it's 2 pages in a day, I'm working on getting over that guilty feeling of "I should be doing this or that" feeling.  Maybe that's just how I am wired?  Anyway.....

When I finish this current book, I will share my new activity for the year.

Garden plans are underway.  I'm checking seeds, flipping thru new seed catalogs, and writing list for new seeds (it's a short list this year).  We will need to buy fencing for the other garden area, and we still need to remove the old raised beds.  Every time we had help arrive, they had the wrong equipment or got side tracked with another job around here. 

Update regarding uses for chickweed - it's great for burns.  I am just learning this.  My husband got sprayed with hot steam, causing a burn. We use chickweed for mosquito bites, rashes and poison ivy as well.  If I don't get more made this coming summer, I do know where I can buy it.  He should have a jar to keep at work.

Update on my homemade yarrow salve - I love this stuff!  My husband used it on a stubbed bleeding toe, and said it really helped.  He said it even felt better later.  If you are like some people, and get bloody noses in the dry heat of winter, it came in handy for that too.  It stopped the bleeding and moisturized the inside of the nose.

There is some handiwork taking place this month, but in short snippets for now.  I'll be back with an update hopefully.  Winter time doesn't usually have anything exciting to post about.

Winter Homestead Activities © January 2025 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart