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.

Adopted Motto

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

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

New Crocheted Blanket - In Progress


This one is for my 8 year-old's Hope Chest. The other kids could not make up their minds. This is an "in progress" photo, but you can get an idea of the the pattern. This is a ripple pattern from a very old library book that was discarded. I think the older patterns are much easier to read and follow.
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Still not finished with "spring" cleaning and night time uninvited guests

What a mouth full that title is.

Yesterday my clothesline got a workout.  From early morning until almost 7:00pm it dried clothes, winter coats, zip-up jackets, scarves, gloves, mittens and anything else I found on the girl's floor (or under the bed....long sigh).

It will be nice to pack away the winter clothing - clean.  Everything that was washed and dried, and did not fit anyone went straight into the Goodwill pile.

As for the part about the uninvited night time guests?  The one dog I call the "couch potato" was the one to alert us.  We aren't sure if they were scoping out the barns, trying to steal gas, or peeping in the windows, but the dog's barking ran them off pretty quickly.  I'm sure this is sign of the times and hooligans back in the area.  Times, like they are, bring hooligans through the woods into back doors, stealing what the can, then selling them to whoever for whatever cash they can get.  We were already warned by a neighbor that certain neighbor's older kids were in the area, and to "watch out." 

Friday, May 21, 2010

I made it to the upstairs bedrooms

Stand by, because this spring clean project may take me a lot longer than I anticipated.  I remember now why I never wanted a two-story house.  Now we have one, so I better get in shape so I can climb the teensy stairs daily.  There is always a "treasure" hidden somewhere causing a foul odor.  Like today.

I have dropped all the dirty clothes and sheets to the bottom of the stairs, washed 3 loads of it, scrubbed mattresses, and put a reused shower curtain up for a closet door.  The upstairs is one main area, like in most old farm houses.  Someone, over the years, built a bedroom wall and door in the opposite end, creating a second bedroom.  Both have long closets, but no doors.  Luckily I still has a tension curtain rod, an old plain cotton white shower curtain, and believe it or not, still had hooks.  In no time I had the closet covered. 

Now I need to replace all the tiny kids clothes hangers with adult sized, vacuum and shampoo the carpet, clean the windows, and put up a curtain rod for one of the windows.  They destroyed the tension rod I had in the window, so this time a different one is going up.  I may have fabric to avoid buying curtains also.

It's been several hours and I am bone tired.  I even washed out dresser drawers.  Phew!  I think an iced tea is in order.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Recipe updates

The steel cut oat recipe, my mother e-mailed me, was a huge hit!  It cooked up in less than 7 hours, so I won't be making in at night, as the recipe suggests.  The kids ate it as an after-school snack and said it tasted like Apple Crumble!  We are keeping this recipe, as well as the squash muffin recipe.

The recipe came from the Kroger coupon magazine that gets mailed out.  I'll see if I can locate which one and post it later.

Today I am trying a new Crock pot beef stew recipe, however I am jazzing it up.  I added frozen tomatoes and corn from last years garden, which were the last two bags we had.  I am going to jazz it up with dried and fresh herbs from my garden in place of using beef broth (which is full of sodium).  I'll probably bake the squash muffins and make a salad too.

I am amazed at how little goes into the trash while I cook.  The styrofoam trays are washed and dried for crafting, and what doesn't go in the compost gets fed to the chickens (carrot peelings).  The onion peelings went into the trash.  From what I have researched, onions in the compost will deter worms.

Speaking of compost, I have found it interesting to hear that composting and gardening is too much work to some people.  More often than not.  The pioneers had no choice but to live off the land.  I am so glad we moved to the country so we can raise meat animals as well as grow a large garden and raise dairy animals. It may be work, but it's work that makes us happy to be living our lives.  We wouldn't want it any other way.

Afternoon update:
After seeing that our bounty of eggs is filling the fridge this afternoon, I decided to make Cheese and Chili Egg Casserole for the kids after school snack.  After that, the squash muffins are going in.  My tummy is growling for food.

Movies from the library

I love the library, but I never thought I would have to wait for 1466 people to view a copy of The Blind Side!  You would think, that your local library would place holds for local library patrons first, then send it out to inter loan libraries, but that doesn't appear to be happening.  I've already had 2 movie requests, that held for six months or longer, expire.  I had to place the holds a second time.  I am guessing that most people are simply renting it on account of this wait. 

It appears, by how hard it is to see a library move, that more and more people are visiting and using the library during this recession.  

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Hot pads from beer/pop caps and crocheted covers


My next venture in crocheting. 

I found this pattern by searching the Farmgirl Connection board and my first one (one of several for the first hot pad) didn't turn out too bad. For the pattern you do have to register with
FaveCrafts Quick and Crafty is published by Prime Publishing, Llc. 
 

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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Another finished hope chest project


I finally finished my son's blanket. He asked for these colors, so I alternated with a spike stitch. I egdged it with 2 rows of single crochet. Phew! I can't believe I finished it prior to his graduation!
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