Day Interrupted ~ Tiger the Tomato Thief

My big "to do" list was interrupted on Monday.  School called.  The nurse.  Sigh.  After an hour round trip ride, I had her home sipping medicinal teas.

I managed to get some dishes washed, only to dirty more.  I am happy to say we are still enjoying sweet potatoes from the garden - sweet potato and beet green frittata.  I got that done too.  Along with some laundry.  I also managed to get the homemade sausage made too.

I am so glad spring is around the corner.  My supply of thyme and sage are running low, and so are the greens in the freezer.

Got the very last bag of frozen, garden snap peas, to make this side dish with organic asparagus from the store.  

Today is another day I have an "interrupted" day.  Hubby announced he ordered propane.  I have to be home for that, and of course no set time.  However, it's another "big ticket" job that will be done and out of the way.

Last night after a short trip to the grocery, I came home to discover the tomato plants and green onions half destroyed.  Tiger had a hay day and ate most of them.  Grrr.  There goes my plants.  Some how he got in there.  I'll try and save the rest, but I am super mad.  He threw it up too, so I'm sure he won't be back. Guess we will buy tomato plants and green onion this spring.  

Happy Homemaker Monday

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

I'm so glad I am taking advantage of every "good weather" day this spring.  I expected snow, and it can all the way into May.  Saturday we had our "Christmas" gathering with my family.  I gifted wild violet jelly and corn relish.  Not sure what'll come up with next holiday.   My oldest brother gifted us more MI salmon - yum!   Sunday Hubby and I went to the range to get some target practice in with friends from his work.  I met a new friend and we'll make plans again.  We had a really good time.


On the breakfast plate . . .
Eggs, toast with plum jam and coffee


The weather outside is . . .

We woke up to this on Sunday.  It's to be a high of 44°F today and up to 58° by Wed.


On the to do list . . .
For the week and in no particular order
-work out
-master bathroom
-dishes
-bake a frittata with beet greens
-laundry
-make homemade sausage
-call propane
-dig septic cap
-take stuff to the thrift
-make granola bars
-make a trip to the grocery store
-make a trip to recycling
-weed/clean up flower beds
-take trash out (Oldest daughter filled it to the brim)
-water plants



On the TV. . .
Whatever looks good on Amazon


On the menu . . .
Ham/pea pasta, asparagus
Flounder, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli
Sweet and Sour chicken, wild rice, corn
Salmon Romanoff, glazed root veggies or pickled beets
Leftovers



What I am creating. . .
Just working on a knitted dishcloth.  Not much time right now for handiwork.


Looking forward to . . .
Two trips to Amish country this month for restocking health store goods, a trip to TN, our party in May, another short trip in May, Bike Week, gardening....getting the bathroom remodel done.


Looking around the house . . .
I see remnants from our oldest daughter.  She came out to go through totes in the garage and left things here and there she didn't want.  Grr.  Hence the trip to the thrift store.  She has more to clean out of the garage, and we are making progress on the clean up, but it's when we have time.


From the camera . . .
Nothing.  Ha.  I've been busy lately.


Praying . . .
No special requests at this time, us, the kids

Burger-Potato Slow Cooker Dinner

(the start of cooking it)

Brown 1 lb. of organic ground beef and drain.

In a bowl, mix 1 cup of water and 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar.  Slice 6 potatoes thinly and toss in the water mixture and drain.

In another bowl mix:
1 onion diced
1/4 cup organic all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 cup shredded organic cheddar cheese

In a crock pot place browned ground beef and top with a potatoes, then top with onion mixture.  Dot the top with bits of organic butter.

Top with one "can" of homemade mushroom soup (or 1 can organic mushroom soup).

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours.  Sprinkle 1/2 cup organic shredded cheddar cheese about 30 minutes prior to serving.

Preparing and Restocking

I've been spending rainy/cold days on theter putting orders in to restock and preparing for canning season.  Brazil nuts help my hair and nails stay healthy.  These are not sold in our stores, and I haven't found them at the health store 40 minutes from home either.

I use this for a few canned items, but I also use Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar for many other canned items.  The organic white is not sold in stores (non-gmo).

This corn syrup was in very limited supply last year.  Two years ago the grocery store carried it.  I'll probably order more to be prepared for the holidays, without worries of limited supply.  I also use it to make homemade teriyaki sauce.

Restocked the einkron flour as well too.

I also made a batch of homemade dinner rolls for our "Christmas" gathering with my side of the family. It's more like an Easter get together now.

I love bread making days.  It's sort of relaxing.

I am writing up a few recipes that I'll post soon.

Surprise Mail and other tidbits

I was shocked to get this in the mail the other day!  So happy!  I also received a bag of yarn, left tied up in a bag on my door handle from another person.  Yay!

My new truck. It's really for the both of us, but it'll be my daily set of "wheels" so I don't have to keep asking the kids to rescue me to get out of the house anymore.   Remember I said we had "big ticket" jobs/purchases this year?  Well, this one is one of them. Tinted windows and 4 wheel drive.  No massage seats though, ha ha!  Oh my gosh, the gadgets in this thing?  Oye.  Big Red (the old truck) will be sold.  

Something funny to share about the truck.  We took it out to dinner the night Hubby brought it home.  Daughter was in the back and wasn't getting out.  She told us she couldn't get out, it was locked.  Later Hubby left to get in the truck first to let her drive.  He headed out before us.  When we got out there, he was yelling at us to open his back door, ha ha!  He was locked in too.  We need to deactivate the child lock, ha ha!

Good Weather Day!

My husband found the truck he wanted.  It was 3 hours away from home.


Luckily, my step-daughter drove him there for me.  Youngest was home sick.  She had donated blood at school and came home very tired and feeling sickly.  I knew she wasn't going to school when she got up and asked for "tea" yesterday morning.  

First tea I made was a ginger/thyme tea.  Her throat hurt, she had a nasty cough now and then, and she was dealing with fatigue from giving blood.  Second, I made a nettle tea infusion, cooled it and gave it to her over ice (good for blood circulation and fatigue).  As the day went on though, she lost her voice a bit, so it was some sage tincture followed by more medicinal teas.  Poor thing.

Meanwhile, while he went to check out the truck, the weather was good enough to work outside.  I spent 2 hours on another flower bed - only 7 more to go.  The garlic bed has to wait.  Some are not up enough to fix what the wind damage did to my plastic.  We are to get loads of rain for the next 3 days here.  I got myself a good dose of vitamin D and boy it felt great.

I also made the call to check on that propane.  More money to spend, but decision is needed.  We'll now decide what we'll do.   We are told that if you have a buried tank, they have to now do a soil test that costs $250.00.  Not sure if that is per year, but they already started doing it for some, so it would be best to have it dug up and removed.  Updates on that later.

I embroidered a kitchen hand towel for us.  I've been so busy crafting for others lately, it was nice to take time for myself.  We need new towels in the kitchen, so I'll be making more.

Random Tidbits

All of my seeds are up but my peppers. Sigh.  They should be up by now.  I am getting concerned.  I saved hot banana pepper seeds too and even those are not up.  I can't find organic hot banana pepper seeds either.  Only Hungarian Wax.  Those are much hotter, so my question is are they (hot banana) even a real pepper?  A hybrid? Hm.  I may be using Hungarian if these don't come up and I have to resort to buying plants (which will cost me dearly).


We are late on buying seed potatoes too, but I am on the hunt this week.  We should have had them by now.


We are considering replacing our pellet stove with a propane heater for next winter.  Two years there has been a shortage of wood pellets (this year included).  We had plans to buy up all they had on sale, but they are either sold out or sold by a limited amount, and $5 a bag.  I much higher cost than previous years.  It's been a concern for years now, and I would never rely on a pellet stove for a heat source.  Even finding dry corn has been an issue.  Either way, we like to have 2 sources to rely on considering how cold it got this winter.  Solar panels are an option, but not in the near future.


Also in preparing for changes, I've called around to propane companies.  We are looking to change businesses.  Our current supplier quoted 199.9/gallon.  What a rip off.  I called another that services our area and was quoted 145.9/gallon. Updates on that to come soon.  If I also purchase a double oven in the future, the stove will be run on propane (not like the current electric), so that is kept as an option too, as to what size of tank we'd want.


Speaking of propane, our tank is a buried tank (previous owners did this).  I was told by one propane company that people with buried tanks will soon be charged a $250 test.  They are doing away with buried tanks.  So, we plan to have it dug up and replaced with an above ground tank with a new company.  We also heard that you cannot own your own tank anymore.  Not sure if that is true yet, but a tank with the new company is just $1.00/year, but you can only buy from them, so we are smart is asking if the quote to fill it now is a "new customer" rate and if next time the rate will be hiked like our current propane company (which has always been high).

I got an order for another "f" bomb.  I'm putting the final touch on it now.

Yesterday and today are crock pot meal days - love those!  Organic roast, potatoes, carrots and onion one day, and two crock pots today - Burger Slow Cooker dinner in one, Glazed veggies (carrots, turnips, parsnips) in the other.

The "big city" has been doing road construction for a year now, and last year busted a water line closing stores and restaurants.  Two days ago they busted another water line and there is a boil advisory until Thursday.  I had to call the kids and let them know.  Yesterday, the workers busted a gas line and downtown was evacuated.  Geeze.  They will also be closing the Interstate overpass at the main exit for a month soon.  Yeah, we avoid that area as much as possible for now.