Random Chit Chat ~ Post Office Closed ~ Finished and Unfinished and other tidbits

 I went to our small town post office last weekend to mail a package to a friend.  There was a hand written note on the door that they were closed "due to staffing issues."  How is this happening?  Anyway, we didn't get mail delivered either.

Finished!  A 17th set of pot holders ha ha!  I had to finish them, so that is done, but I won't be starting a new set any time soon.  Hopefully I will sell them next month, and I do have to deliver a set soon.

Another unfinished crochet project - doll afghan, but it's getting ripped out and yarn put away.  I think I was just looking for something new to sell.  Anyway, more yarn found, ha ha!

I pulled the totes out from under our bed.  One went upstairs, one had yarn, and one had a lot of stationary.  I pitched the envelopes (gone bad, discolored etc) and kept the paper for lists at my desk.  The last tote is my husband's college stuff.  He'll have to go thru that on his own.  Oh, and I found printer paper and matching envelopes. 

New rule for me:  Do not store anything under the bed!!  We just forget it's there, and collects dust, and makes it hard to clean under there.  Having carpet made it worse, but it's one bad habit to break this year.

I purged more clothing, and dusted a lot more. I started another box for donations.  Anyway, getting a lot more done, but I feel busier and busier, and boy the lists are going mad with reminders and what not.

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

We are approaching the count down on starting the carpet removal.  It's been a process for this room.  It's funny how fast (or slow) a job can go, when it involves where you sleep at night. 

Anyway, expect blurps in my blog posts.  We plan to start this Friday.  It will become crazy busy, as I try and figure out how to survive with things a hot mess again.

I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom (although all our kids have moved out)

The weather . . .

Cold, in the 30's but will warm up to the 50's this weekend.

As I look outside my window . . .

There is more snow.

Right now I am . . .

Brewing coffee.  The time change has me all messed up.

Thinking and pondering . . .

We thought about it, and and pondered, and decided to sell our record player and vinyl.  We used it twice since we've had it over the last 14 years.

On my TV . . .

Anything that looks interesting.

Listening to . . .

Country.

On my lunch plate. . .

Have no idea.

On my dinner plate . . .

Have no idea.

On the menu. . .

-grilled cheese, home canned tomato-basil soup

-enchilada soup

-leftovers

On my reading pile. . .

No reading as I am clearing the bedroom.

On the to-do list . . .

-Dust
-laundry
-plan meals
-work on bedroom

Plans for the week . . .

Take all the wall decor down in the master bedroom, box it up, remove any furniture other than the bed (still making a plan).  I finally convinced my husband to work on the bedroom first, then the closet (not all at once as he wanted).  I still have a lot of work to purge the closet (craft related supplies, purge shoes/boots, more clothing etc etc).

What I am creating . . .

I'm down to the last two color sections on our blanket, but need to check my yarn stash for gray.  I was incorrect on how much I needed, and may need to get more.

My simple pleasure . . .

Journaling.

Looking around the house . . .

Well, it looks as it would if you emptied an entire room into another room.  Again.

From the camera . . .

One of the many 45's I have. I have many from the 80's, and bought them in our home town at a record store that is still in business.

Bible Verse, Devotional . . .

Prayers for Hope, as she struggles daily with the loss of her husband.

A Few of my Favorite Things . . .

 

By "few" in this post, I really do mean a few.  There isn't much going on, as it is winter.  We got more snow last night too.  I managed to box up a bookshelf, dust it off and move it all out of the bedroom.  

I found books to a series I donated, and books to a series I am reading.  I really should just start using the library again ha ha!

I got after my husband for his willy nilly decisions/plans for the bedroom.  First, the best time to paint is when the carpet is out, and before flooring goes down.  He is really driving me nuts, so I just try to stick to the fact everything has to be moved out to get that stinky 14 plus year old carpet out.  The  one thing we have to figure out is where to sleep for a few days if we can't just slide the bed back and forth as the work is done.  We'll figure it out.

Although we dropped off donations, I now have more, and it just gets easier as we do this extreme clean.

I purchased a deep fryer strainer (not sure what the proper name of this is) to blanch vegetables with.  I can easily strain off the hot water, and place the entire basket into my ice bath, then drain and freeze.  It makes my life much easier.

I love this chef's knife, but wish I had an 8 inch one as well.  It is a 10 inch Victorinox chef's knife.  It's on the wish list for now.  The 8 inch sells for $50 some dollars right now.  I'm hoping the prices drop.  This knife works the best for slicing up harder squash like spaghetti squash, pumpkins, and butternut.

Bedroom Purge/Pack ~ Where's the Crust Pizza ~ Einkorn Peanut Butter Cookies

 I'll admit, if I was my husband, I would not want to do a thing in the mornings with his schedule.  By the way, that crazy schedule has now ended as of today.

However, baking him peanut butter cookies got him motivated.

We cleaned in the bedroom for almost 2 hours, purged, tossed stuff, vacuumed, dusted.....still not done.  The one fall back with a large bedroom, is more "stuff."   The bedroom has a tall ceiling, and is approximately 21 x 15 feet.  Yeah, that large, and originally built for a person in a wheel chair.  

It has really made me realize how much crafting stuff I still own.  I'm on the fence with getting rid of things like macramé, as I may feel like making some hanging plant holders.  Anyway, just lots of "stuff."  I found an entire container filled with all sorts of sequins.  I thought I gave that away, but one of the daughter's must have snuck that back into our closet.  Hmpf.  It's being donated.

My husband stood up and said, "there we are all ready"  and I had to laugh.  There are totes under the bed, a bookshelf I have to pack up and move out, and make decisions on keeping some other stuff still in there.  Oh, and pack up our night stands, move them out.

I'm on the fence with this new recipe.  It tasted good, but I think I would make changes.  First, the crust is too thin I think.  I would maybe double it.  I also think my home canned pizza sauce was not cooked thick enough this time.  I would like to try it with Italian sausage too.  Good, a bit messy, as it is not finger food and definitely fork food.  The crust is basically cheeses, egg, pepper and garlic powder.

Recipe is Where's the Crust Pizza, by Plain Chicken online.

The pan looks messy, because I had to scoop some out quickly, for my husband to take to work.  I didn't have time to let it cool for him.  Anyway, a gluten free, but not calorie free crust.

Sort of a boring post, but it's winter here and there is still snow on the ground, so not much going on homestead-wise.

Procrastination Station (aka computer)

The worst thing for me to do on a whack-a-doodle schedule, is to sit at the procrastination station (computer) too long.  I tend to browse crochet patterns, and have already printed one to crochet another item for the living room (a summer project that is much smaller).  My husband gets up late in the morning, due to his later work hours, so I'm totally thrown off with my own early morning routine.  Plus!!!  I'm not sleeping well with this schedule.

I also have about 98 draft posts I am going thru.  Most are getting deleted, but I try and read a few every day to work those out of my blog.

I got a visit with one daughter, and I totally forgot to pull meat from the freezer to go with yesterday's leftover veggies.  

I roasted a lot to save us time over the next few days, in hope to clear more out of the master bedroom.

Anyway, this is what happens when I browse patterns.....it's not like I can purge and pack up the bedroom if he's sleeping.

What do you think of this pattern?  The original pattern called for changing yarn color differently, but I am not a fan of sewing in a hundred or two hundred ends either.

Another reason why my own blanket is not done yet, ha ha!

Although, I blame my brain for this other blanket getting started.  I went upstairs to take yarn up, and to look for more black for my own blanket.  I came down with 4 colors not even related to my blanket, and well, my brain said to make it and put it up for sale eventually.....back to my blanket now....

I found more soft white, grey heather, and black, so I'm back to finishing it up.  It is almost done.  Oh speaking of this blanket, both my husband and one daughter agree that the sofa needs another blanket just like this.  Sigh.  Oh, I had to frog a few rows, because I left my crochet hook out and thought it was the correct size, and it was not. It was larger.  Another sigh.

Painting of course will not resume until the end of the month.  I'm have started to purge clothing so that is a start.  I already have piles to pass on to the girls, and piles to donate, but a lot more to clean/purge etc.  I have a lot more craft related items to deal with, and time is a tickin'!

I found another mini clipboard project (sigh) in our bedroom closet, but almost completely done.  I just had to glue the magnets onto the back.  These make great gifts by the way.  You can see the how-do on my other blog using scrap fabric as an option to decorate the front of it (Click Here).

The forecast was correct.  Snow today.  

Tiger, daughter E's cat is not doing well.  She is keeping me updated, but all we can do is wait.  He is about 13-14 years old.

Storing Ginger Root ~ Loony Lane ~ Peaches

 I have stored ginger root in my freezer for years.  I simply wash and dry it on a vegetable drying mat.

I wrap each piece in plastic wrap, and tuck into a freezer bag.  I simply take it out when I need it, and re-wrap it and put it back in the freezer.

Recently, I have learned of a second way to store it.  Thanks to the cooking channel and learning new tips and tricks in the kitchen.

Cut and peel the ginger root.  Place in an air tight glass jar with sherry or brandy, and place in your refrigerator.  Hm.  It will be nice to have it already peeled.

I've dubbed my home "loony lane" for this month.  My husband is putting down the hammer, added with a time limit, to get the bedroom packed up and off the carpet.  The problem is, he doesn't understand I can't do it all by myself with that amount of time.

I swear, he is going to make me lose my mind.  I had to drag him into the walk-in closet and explain that everything on two shelving units has to be packed up and those shelves, that sit on the carpet have to move too.  This next renovation is gonna get the best of me.

Despite trying to get him to do anything before he goes to work, I am trying to get stuff done.  He felt guilty the other day and got off the sofa and installed two electrical boxes.  His wacky schedule causes him to want to sit around and do nothing before work.

I had almost forgot, that I thawed peaches from the freezer, but thankfully got the peach crumble baked.  You can see someone couldn't help himself before it cooled enough.

Oh, and every day I spray the pet pee areas on the upstairs wood floor, let it sit, then wipe it.  I will have to do a few more applications, and then I think we'll be ready to put the gym foam flooring down.  So far, it's working on removing the odor from the flooring.  I have the spare bedroom to do yet though.

It's a wee bit cold here but all the hens are laying daily thankfully.  The weather forecast is for snow tomorrow.  Snow.  yes I said snow.  Looking outside the window, you would never now.

Leggy Beet Seedlings

I started a tray of beets indoors this year for the first time ever.

After they sprouted they started to get leggy.  I wasn't sure if they were under watered or over watered or what. 

I did what most people do.  I asked Google.  It said to put more light on them.  I did that, and nothing changed.

...they look like this.  Too much water or not enough?  Not enough light?  I've tried it all, but that tray doesn't hold much soil either.