Snow Emergency ~ Easy Farro Chili

Our county remained in a snow emergency yesterday morning, and our school district ended up closing by 5:30am. Daughter's career school also closed.  Hubby messaged me that he made it to work safely (he had a 1 hour drive north into worse weather).

This morning schools have a 2 hour delay, due to snow.  We are also under a road level 1 emergency (cars will be towed on snow streets and roads are bad etc).

The force from the snow plow, blew every single one of our pole solar lights, right off the poles.  We just installed them brand new last summer.  I hope they still work, and will just need re-installed a bit tighter.

Romeo decided to steal a log off the hearth and tear it into itty bitty pieces, all over the living room floor and sofa.  Sigh.  How in the world he managed to do that without me seeing it.  What a mess!  Guess who had to clean it up?  Yep.  She had no school, so I put daughter to work.   I guess his toy box needs a re-fill real soon.

The egg basket is filling up thankfully!

Russell Crowe is at it again.  However, I did manage to get away with the eggs.  Dang rooster.  We got a whopping 5 eggs yesterday despite his shenanigans.  Hubby went out later in the evening and he didn't even bother him.  Hmpf.

It was a good day for a slow cooker chili, so I made a new recipe - Easy Farro Chili.  I found this recipe online, which swaps the beef with farro.  It was our first time trying farro and we do like it.  It made a nice chili too.  In fact, we caught our daughter eating it with quinoa/chia chips later in the evening for a snack (ha ha!)

Deep clean progress . . .
Pulled the fridge out from the wall, swept and mopped.  Wiped down utility room  bottom of half door.   The cat jumps over it and it had paw prints.

Cleaned up my writing nook, which hasn't been getting used because the room is not heated.  Found 2 more UFO's that I stashed in there over the past holidays and totally forgot.  I had also (gulp) stashed crafting supplies I used to make wine cork trees and wine cork ornaments (put it all away). 

I spot cleaned my  writing nook's carpet, vacuumed, knocked down cobwebs, and dusted.  I just need to clean some floor trim and wipe the wooden desk and chair a bit and that room will be completely done.


Me time?  I did a bit of crochet work, and read a few chapters in a book from the library. I finished my Feb. reading challenge book, so I borrowed another one for to read.

Random Tidbits

Nothing wakes you up faster than a cold house, because you both fell asleep and forgot to stoke the fire.  It's going again now, but it's 4am.  Every school is either delayed or closed but our district.  Roads are ice covered and there is a level 1 road emergency out.  It's 27°F this morning, but we had sleet, and you could hear it pelting the house.

I had planned a one night getaway for a late Anniversary/early Valentine's sneak away, but canceled it to work on the car this coming weekend.  It's probably a good thing, as more snow (2-4 inches in the area we would have been going) is coming and roads may not be that great.  We need the car fixed anyway.  It was the only thing I could come up with that wasn't a sweet treat, considering he can't have sugar right now.  I'll re-book it when I can, as we do need to get out of the house for fun.

Along with regular housework (dishes, laundry, watering plants, cleaning the fridge out etc.), I finished up washing down the kitchen cabinets, purged and organized the medicinal cabinet, and washed a flour sack towel curtain.

Luckily, I had some pineapple juice on hand, so I made homemade teriyaki sauce for dinner.  I had not thought ahead on ingredients when I meal planned (as far as the sauce), but it worked out.  I had most of the veggies already in the freezer thankfully.  The sauce contains honey and corn syrup, but a small amount (organic/non gmo), and it's so flavorful with fresh garlic and ginger root, that we only need a tiny bit to flavor the dish.  

We'll be moving stuff around in the garage, but not necessarily "cleaning it."  We need room to pull in the car, but man oh man it's cold out there.  Or, if we are lucky, we'll find extended family with an available garage.

We officially have zero home canned tomato sauce left in the pantry.  Unless I incorrectly kept track in my canning journal, we are out.  Poo.  Carrots are gone in the freezer too.

Daughter's report card arrives - GPA 4.250 right now.  So proud of her.  Out of 6 kids, she is the last to graduate/move out.  I doubt she'll move out too quickly, as she's seen her siblings struggle with the reality of expenses.  Anyway, we are so proud.  She's in the school musical, so she's practicing at night, and still maintaining grades.  We learned early, that we'd not let our kids get jobs during high school - grades plummeted with all of them that did get jobs.

The last of the clothespins are getting painted, but I will need a trip to town for supplies to finish them (ornaments).  It's my "on-going" project right now.

I put in the last 6 rows in the XL hot pad and finished it.  Now, the question is, will she still buy it or not?  It's overcast, which was meant to match the hot pad set, but this one is edged in white.  

Cold and Snow

Our weather went quickly from reading on the porch at 60°F to curling up under a blanket, and in the 30's.  This morning it's actually 19°F.  We also have snow on the ground.  Not much, but more is coming.

Mornings are now back to dark and dreary.  Typical winter weather.

Deep Clean Progress . . . 

I seem to never run out of something on this list.  We have white painted kitchen cabinets and cupboards (and drawers), so I have been wiping them all down.  I'll finish them up today, and start on wiping down the tops of our floor wall heaters that have collected dust. 

Beautiful Monday ~ Tidbits

First, I need to apologize for the super long post yesterday.  Sorry about that.  I guess I was just on a roll with writing.

Although a bit cloudy, we had a warmer and mostly sunny day.  I still ran the wood stove.  Otherwise there would be a chill in the air.

Chores were done early, so I could have a Mom Power Hour by myself.  I finished my book, while sipping a homemade organic peppermint mocha.  

The afternoon coffee is probably why I was up at 3am to 5am, fell back asleep for 20 minutes and back up.  I'm may need a nap today.


Deep clean progress . . .
Washed hot pads.  Organized a tiny bit in one bathroom (I love those 3M hooks!).  You can see I didn't get far on this yesterday, ha ha!

Happy Homemaker Monday

(area where the new coop will go, so we are "getting two birds with one stone - wood cut and clearing it off as we go, but we have a lot of work to clean it all up).

Saturday morning started off with car and truck repairs.  We'll, an attempt anyway.  We needed a new alternator for the truck and the car was leaking antifreeze.  We just can't catch a break.  As for the car, it's the intake, which will require an entire weekend to repair.

We were completely out of wood, so that also needed done.  We had one day to do it all too.  Or so we thought.  Saturday night (late), Hubby got the call that Sunday overtime was canceled.  

We got up early and him-hawed over our to-do list.  We decided to take a look-see at the larger pellet stove and assess what repairs would get it running vs. trying to remove it and install the smaller one (requiring many hands to move the very heavy large one).  

We worked on the larger pellet stove, need one part, and have plans to fire it up in a few days.  We decided to repair the big stove, since it burns corn as well as pellets.

The humane society is closed for renovations, so I have no one to trap the two stray cats.  They are driving Romeo nuts.

On a good note, with a combination of medicinal teas, tinctures, rest and four thieves vinegar, I am feeling a bit better.

I shopped from the garage again.  One of the kids left a small, flat bottom lined basket.  It went to the kitchen to hold bottles of club soda (that don't stand alone on the wire shelving).  We keep a few bottles year round for homemade ginger-ale.

If you were looking to buy a heart bookmark from my other blog, the light blue one is sold now.

I am taking advantage of a semi-sunny day, but warmer than yesterday.  I had laundry out on the line at the crack of dawn.

Today I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom, although this Monday, my post lacks photos.  

It's not very often I pull a hand towel with the right day of the week on it.  I do need to make new ones this summer.


The weather outside is . . .
We may get up to 55°F today, but cloudy.  Yesterday we had a wonderful day of sun!  Snow is to return tonight.


How I am feeling this morning . . .
A bit on the mend, but up and at 'em this morning.


On my mind . . .
The garden and vacations.


On the breakfast plate . . .

Another round of coconut waffles and homemade blueberry syrup.  Coffee too.


On the reading pile . . .

Kiss the Girls, James Patterson.  Definitely not passing this book on to my daughter.  The book definitely has more details than the movie, and it'll be recycled when I'm done.  I have printed out the series in order for Joanne Fluke and one other author.  I'll tote it along to any book sales and thrift store visits now.  I'm already 1/2 way through this 400-some page book.

On the TV . . .
Movies on Netflix, Movies from the library



On the menu this week . . .
-Chicken teriyaki, wild rice
-Spaghetti Squash Casserole
-Crock pot pork chops, sweet potatoes
-Leftovers

On the to-do list . . .
-Laundry
-sweep/mop kitchen
-dishes
-dinner prep
-breakfast for the next few days
-master bath
-work in garage for a bit
-Making lotions and lip balm (still on the list)

What I am creating . . .
Slowly finishing an overcast colored XL hot pad, and starting a different bookmark.  

From the camera . . .
I almost had a picture of a red headed wood pecker, but he was too fast for me.

We had some beautiful colors in this morning's sunrise.  


Looking around the house . . .
It all needs a good dusting.  Again.

Chore I am not looking forward to this week . . .
No chore really.


To relax this week I will . . .
Read, write, crochet.

Prayers . . .
Mom, personal requests, our own family.

Clarification on the Garlic

I think I have everyone confused about spring garlic.  Here's what happened last year.

We had a terrible year.  Very wet in spring and we could not keep up with weeding, and had no place to plant the garlic in Sept.  I can't even remember if Sept. was good weather or not anymore, but for some reason, we couldn't plant until October.  I think it was shipped late (we had zero, so I had to order).

I planted them in the grow pots, and they did not have enough time to grow tops at all.  The weather turned cold too fast for them to start.  

So, with all that said, I have zero to plant, most companies ship too late in fall to start over, and if mine doesn't produce in the grow pots, I wanted to spring plant (then fall plant with some of them).

I hope that explains it better.  My first year I spring planted and for 10 years I was able to fall plant some of them.  Like I said our weather in Oct. is never guaranteed for a good start on fall anything here.  

Thanks for all the tips on where to get it.  One year I didn't get a good yield, bought organic at a farmer's market (for making ground garlic) and it cost me $1.00/head of garlic.  Total cost to make half the amount of garlic was $10.00.  

I do not like buying organic in the store.  They are so old, the flavor is half of what home grown produces, not to mention the medicinal values of it homegrown.

With all your tips and recommendations, I am surely to have a crop of garlic if the spring weather Gods are nice to us this year.

February Reading Challenge Book Pick ~James Patterson ~ Homemade Meatballs ~ Garlic ?

It continued.

Blog post in January with the most views - This and That ~ Finishes

Kiss the Girls, by James Patterson.  The book is off my own bookshelf (discarded library book, and not in that great of shape), and when it's done, will be passed on to another person.  Most likely my daughter first.  Or recycled if it falls apart while reading it, ha ha!

Considering the weekend, with a possible chance to cut wood, I took Friday off.  Sort of.  They are predicting a "lot" of sunshine on Sunday, but Hubby has to work.

I did the dishes, and made a batch of meatballs (made with ground organic oats vs. bread crumbs).   Three trays went into the freezer. 

Recently, I was able to buy an organic spaghetti squash and made "spaghetti" and meatballs, with home canned tomato sauce for dinner.  Although our daughter wanted pasta, I still used the squash this time around.

I also finished my January book, on January 31st, for the reading challenge.  There are so many good recipes in this book too (I wish I could find more of her books at the library books sales).  Too many that have sweets, but I may save a few of the recipes to try this summer - Blackberry cookies or Blackberry pie perhaps.  By the way, this was the first book I have completely finished since 2017.  Yikes!

I have zero homegrown garlic to plant this spring.  I have searched the internet and have only found one resource that will ship for spring planting, and it's by one bulb per order.  Does anyone know of any online resource (or catalog resource) for spring garlic bulbs?  Organic of course.  Thanks in advance.  All other sources I use ship in October and that is too late to plant for fall anyway for us.