Extreme Clean ~ Blanket Progress

Thanks to another wintery blistery day, the bedroom extreme clean made great headway.  The bed was moved, everything cleaned underneath and put back (and some removed). Cough, cough.   The woodwork on the bed and night stands wiped down, the decor on the wall taken down and dusted, spider webs knocked down...talk about dust.  

I found a container of yarn I didn't even know I had, books, magazines, and a container full of tote bags.  Some bags had store tags on them (ha ha!).  They'll be spread out to the girls or used for projects and this year's trips.

I also found my collapsible travel tote, I've had since I went to Spain and Africa while in high school.  It's in very good condition.  It's out from under the bed to be put to use now.

We cleaned off the tops of our nightstands and got the other matching lamp working.  We bought them at an antique store years ago, and love them.  We both have some more cleaning, but not much thankfully.  So happy that big job is almost done.

Thanks to "Old Man Winter" I have made a bit of progress on this baby blanket.  I love it so far, and did not have a kit for this, I just put it together with some colors I liked.

Oldest daughter stopped in.  We fed her of course, and she devoured it.  She'll be taking a look at her apartment today, so here's hoping it all looks nice.  It wasn't ready to even view until today.

It's a wonderfully warm 35° this morning and will continue to rise today.  It's nice to see everything melted outside.

Pizza Sauce ~ Sheet Pan Dinner

Yesterday's sunrise.

We had a beautiful, sunshiny day. 

Yesterday I tackled this - 25# of tomatoes I froze.  I still have more, but not much.  These  took forrrrrrever to slice.  Last year we got very little harvest.  The tomatoes were also small and didn't ripen at the same time.  In desperate measure, I started freezing them, but this takes a lot of space in the freezer.  When all was said and done, my back was pretty sore.  I have forgotten the hard work this takes, but so worth it.

I canned 8 glorious pints of this goodness.  Now Hubby wants to have pizza for dinner, ha ha!  Boy, it felt good to actually get something from last year's garden.

Last night's dinner.   Sheet pan dinner night, and Hubby was very happy and surprised with it.

Youngest Daughter, drove to the school last night.  She politely departed from the musical, but we know it hurts emotionally.  We'll be supporting her, and guiding her along the way.  She was just too worn out and sick from not getting any rest at all.  

The snow is coming down, but no school delay for us yet.  The roads will be bad again with more freezing rain.  Maybe it's a good day to clean under my bed.  Thanks to Mama Pea and her cleaning bug, it may just get done lol!

Tuesday Tidbits

What's on the breakfast plate this morning?

Cauliflower/potato/pea frittata with dandelion greens and other garden goodies.  It was my turn to spoil Hubby and Daughter.  That, and a side of toast with homemade pumpkin butter made with our pumpkins.

Diagnosis for Youngest Daughter? She didn't have strep, but a cold.  She's being dosed with elderberry elixir, and she even took the 4 thieves vinegar.  She is exhausted to the max, and we even convinced her to stay home from rehearsal yesterday.  She is downright worn out from school and rehearsal.  She may drop out, due to it infringing on her sleep, rest and health.  She's taking difficult classes related to math and science and has much homework too.

We are not sure of her decision to drop the musical, but we've shown her our support.  Her health is more important than the musical, and it is truly wearing her down badly.  She can still try out next year if she wants to.

Thanks to watching some cooking shows (again), I have more recipes to try.  It'll require a trip to the grocery store though.  Next week, you may see some updates on those.  I have this week planned out already.

As for the daughter who asked to move back in?  She reneged in the move and decided to stay with her boyfriend.  We are all disappointed.  This guy is the worst guy ever, no job, no car, no license and a user.  We realize she feels she is in love with him, but for the entire family not liking him?  This speaks.  As parents we can only do so much, but it's one of those situations where you wish you could drive there, pull her out, wiggle the shame on you finger to him and save her from being used and lied to.  Parenting is such a difficult job.  She is 21, but still we worry and have that natural instinct to protect.

As for our oldest?  She finally landed her own apartment that will allow large dogs.  She moves in this week.  So proud of her getting into another college as well.  Now I need to wash all my blankets in the living room - white dog hair everywhere after watching her dog.

There may be good news regarding union negotiations.  The employees voted no on the new contract.  This could be good.  The new contract had regarded to concessions, meaning they wanted to take away from them vs. offer new and better deals.

Not sure what's even on my agenda for the day.  Oddly.  The weather looks pretty good, so I hope we get a warm up soon.

Happy Homemaker Monday

I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  Oldest Daughter brought Mia for a day so she could go snow boarding with friends.  She ended up staying the night due to her falling and hitting her head and the lateness of her return.  She plopped an ice pack on her head and relaxed.  

Sunday morning we had another relaxing day other than doing dishes.  I literally hung out in my PJ's until the mood hit me.  Guess what?  I found more beets in my freezer - waahhooo!  So happy to find them.  Who knows what else I will dig out as we empty it throughout the winter and spring.


On the breakfast plate. . .

Hubby made this for breakfast for all of us yesterday morning.  Yum.  Candy apple jelly on the toast too.  We both got a chuckle Sunday morning.  Oldest stayed the night, and the girls usually sleep in very late.  Both were up by 9am, with the smell of bacon and coffee in the air.

Today's breakfast?

I'm getting spoiled by Hubby's breakfast creations.  Mmm good.


The weather outside . . .
Snowing and cold.


Right now I am. . .
Still in my PJ's and loving it.


Thinking . . .
I'm thinking the people running the school musical are very thoughtless to make the kids drive in the weather today, for a rehearsal.  There are reports of flipped over cars, cars in ditches, semi's jack knifed, and more.  Roads are slick and they still haven't canceled it.  I think this is just wrong putting young kids in danger.


Reading. . .
Nothing right now, but library crafting books

On the TV . . .
Library movie - Ocean's 8


On the menu . . .
Monday: Sheet pan dinner, smoked sausage, potato, carrots etc.
Tues: Baked flounder, home canned corn relish, green beans
Wed: Chili (never made it last week), corn bread
Thurs: Meatballs with homemade mushroom sauce, quinoa and beets
Fri:  leftovers
Sat and Sunday?  Who knows yet. Possibly creamed peas and toast.


On the to-do list . . .
-canning
-sweep and mop kitchen
-clean master bath
-vacuum carpets
-dust
-make 4 thieves vinegar
-make nettle hair tonic
-clean bedroom
-laundry
-fold dried towels



What I am creating . . .

A baby blanket.

Recipe I tried. . .

Thanks to Susan, I was able to try this new recipe.  Super easy to make, but it takes ingredients that most people may not have on hand.  If you eat healthy and from scratch you will have the ingredients.  With vegetarians in the family, we have nutritional yeast on hand too.  The recipe is online - Super Savoury Veggie Millet and Hemp Nuggets with a cashew butter/maple syrup/garlic dip.  It was very good and I will be sure to make this again.  I have many more new recipes to try too.


From the camera . . .

 The snow is beautiful, but very dangerous to be out in today.


Praying . . .
Us and the kids

Saturday

Speaking of long waits, the line at Basspro yesterday was horribly long.  They finally opened new registers, but even those lines filled quickly.  The store was packed full of people

After a long exhausting Friday, we let Youngest Daughter sleep in.  Hubby made us french toast and bacon for breakfast.

We had no plans on Saturday, but to make a quick trip into our own little town.  We went to the post office, library, dropped off my Tupperware to be replaced, and visited the gas station.

Back home, we took care of the animals, did the dishes, laundry and stoked the fire.  Then we relaxed the rest of the day.  It was a pretty chilly day.

I Do Not like Waiting.....

Whew!  Wedding is over.  Daughter's contest is over.  She had won first place to be sent to this competition to compete with many other schools, but did not place.  We are very proud of her to even get to the competition, but it was a long, long day.

We had to have her there by 8am, and it's a 35 minute drive.  Too far from home, we stayed in the area.  We first visited a local coffee chop.

Best Mocha ever.  Not too sweet and the sweets were freshly baked before 8am.  We will be back for sure.  They also make their own kombucha, which I plan to try next time.

Oh, we had lots of time to kill, so we did a lot of looking and shopping.  We also had $200 in gift cards for BassPro shop.  If you don't have that store, it's an outdoor supply type store - hunting, camping, fishing, boating, clothing, guns and ammo, food etc.  

It didn't take long to spend our $200.00.  Especially if you are buying ammo.  We were lucky to pick up a cast iron griddle for the camper.  The other side is flat.  I think to keep the underside from getting scorched from the campfire, we'll line it with foil to see if that works, but we are eager to use it now.  

We visited the Harley store and had a $20 credit, so Hubby let me get a top and new headband.  It was a fun day.  I even got some jeans on sale for $12 (normally $24) at another store.

The school kids were taken from the school to a large church, where the competitions were done.  We entered as soon as the doors opened for the awards ceremony, but we had to wait 45 minutes only for them to announce it'd be another 15 minutes, and then another.  I was so frustrated.  If she goes to this competition next year, I'll be sure to bring a crochet bag of projects.  It drove me nuts waiting there doing absolutely nothing.

After the ceremony we took Daughter to where ever she wanted to eat.  I ordered quickly as I had the dog at home to let out and was so worried about him.  Oh, at the restaurant we were so lucky (not) to get a new waitress.  Food took forever, adding to my worry about Jesse at home, and then she nearly dropped Daughter's grits into my lap.  I caught it before it landed.  Good save.  Oh what a long, long day.

Add to that, on the way home there was an accident, which backed up traffic for miles.  After a half an hour, I convinced Hubby to turn around and take another route.  Whew.  Home again, home again, and after taking care of all the animals, I was immediately in my PJ's.  

Then...yes there is more.  Oldest daughter dropped in to have us watch her dog for the night.  She had a good reason, so we have Mia for the day today.  

What's on our agenda today?  Maybe one errand and other than that we deserve a day of rest.  Our wood splitter was loaned out, so we can't split wood anyway.   My seeds are arriving, so I'm getting spring fever.

I have come to realize, I do not like waiting without anything to occupy myself.  I'm so used to crocheting or knitting, or even reading a book while waiting, I'll be sure to never leave the house empty handed again.

And to top off a long few days.....the rotating door may be rotating again.  Another daughter has asked to move back in.  We'll see what happens.  Until then, have an awesome weekend!

Busy Bee this Week

It's been a crazy week, and more to do yet.  Oye.  In the midst of it crazy weather.

I made sure there were no hanging icicles on the barn when I went out the other day.  I didn't want one falling on me, and it sounded like an avalanche with all the ice dropping to the ground.  There is flooding now everywhere and many people without power (we are talking thousands and it won't be on until Friday) due to downed lines.  Thankfully we were not one of them, although I was prepared for it.

We were bee-bopping around the kitchen getting breakfast, coffee started, animals tended, fire stoked, and Youngest went off to school.  Not long after that I got a message she was sick.  I got on the phone and finally found a daughter to pick her up for me.  I'm worried it's strep, and her speech contest is this week, so I wanted to get her checked out ASAP.  Right after I gave her tincture and teas of course.  I then wiped down the house with anti-ill oil.

I had to dig through my craft show stash, to get myself a scrubbie for the kitchen.  I do love these the best, but there is a request to make them thinner, so I'm on the hunt for a pattern.  If you know of one, I'd be delighted if you would share it or it's location.  These are super thick, but those with arthritic hands prefer a thinner one.  

I finally got contact with the business who wanted to sell my soap saver bags on consignment.  She asked for a smaller top on them, so I changed the pattern.

They now close up much tighter at the top.  I hope she likes them.  I have more to make before delivering them.

I had to laugh when our daughter was over for her birthday dinner.  She was doing college homework afterwards and it was a religion class.  She had to write a 2 page paper on meditation and her experience. 

I laughed because to earn points for our insurance program (pain in my rump), one way to earn them is to meditate 14 days of a 21 day program.  Yawn.

I literally, turn the ten minute session on, and do the dishes, ha ha!  Oh, and I helped daughter with her 2 page paper.

Union negotiations are over now, but the final draw is not clear.  The bonuses were taken away for the first time in 10 years.  Such a disappointment with this company.  However, they did vote out one thing - they wanted it mandatory for employees to come in on a call out.  Hubby is so stressed right now.

I can't wait for this busy week to be over.  I have so much to get done that I had on my to-do list, like make my lip balm, and can a few things.

I told Hubby that "Rooster's Crow Farm" is now rooster-less.  We will be looking for anyone getting rid of them this spring.  We really don't want to add more hens, so buying straight run is not on the plan.