Something I learned ~ Randomness

Something I learned . . .

You can roast pie pumpkins whole!  I never thought of this until I saw it on the cooking channel.

We have plans to do work over the long weekend.  Although I'll be cooking a few dishes for the family Thanksgiving, there is much to do around here.  Thankfully, the leak under my sink has been fixed.

Our personal Thanksgiving meal will be tacos and black bean dip.  Seriously.  We are taking it easy, and do not want 3 big Thanksgiving meals.

I decided not to bake the delicious rolls this year.  There is less food being brought, so I may be adding a third dish to my list.

The camper is on the to-do list.  We would like to get one barn cleaned out and a cement slab poured, but not sure if we'll have the time.  The camper cover was not given to us.  They are telling us it had a rip in it, but I could have repaired it (so that is frustrating).

My good friend from high school, her husband, one of their daughter's and the daughter's husband all tested positive for covid this week.  It's getting bad again in that town.  I hope I have convinced Mom to allow us to shop for her vs. taking her into store.  Her memory is not good and she forgets what we tell her.

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

We had a long and busy weekend.  One day I took Mom to one of her appointments (and forgot to bring chicken food home), one day Hubby worked and I worked outside, and we had a family Thanksgiving Sunday (my husband's side of the family).  

I still had garden hoses that needed put away, garden stakes to put away, and other stuff.  I just couldn't get it done earlier with everything going on.  I got the camping coolers put away, dug out the leaf blower, because everyone was dragging leaves into the house.

My mind has been a whirlwind lately.  I literally brewed a pot of coffee without putting grounds in the filter.

Sorry for the lack of posts.  It's been a crazy schedule.

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

I will link up when she posts today.

The weather . . .

Sunday it rained all day long. Today it's 38°/25°F, Sunny

How I am feeling this morning . . .

Tired.  Woke up to dirty dishes in the sink and the dishwasher is next to the sink.  My husband hogged the covers, so I couldn't sleep and was up at 5:30am.

On my mind . . .

One list at a time, one task at a time....focus woman, focus.

On the breakfast plate . . .

Not sure.  I have to bake something.  Coffee so far.

Right now I am . . .

Posting this and sipping hot coffee in hopes to gain energy.

What I am wearing this morning . . .

Right now?  PJ's, robe and slippers.

On my TV . . .

Create TV (cooking channel), anything that looks good on netflix.

What I am listening to . . .

Radio station.

On the menu this week . . .

-Ham and navy bean soup
-Chicken Tortilla Soup
-Enchilada Soup

-Spiced Cod or Walleye

(all crockpot meals)

New recipe I tried . . .

Banana cake ( Sally's Baking Addiction).  I, however, swapped out the granulated sugar (cut it in half too) with monkfruit, cut 1/2 cup of the butter and used home canned unsweetened applesauce, used homemade vanilla, and sprinkled mini chocolate chips over the top vs. the cream cheese frosting.  I mainly tried this due to having bananas that needed used up.

It turned out delicious, but if I was gifting it to someone, I would definitely make the cream cheese frosting for it. I'd also add another 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon, walnuts (unless they have a nut allergy), and some nutmeg.

I'm trying new dessert recipes, so I can have good recipes on hand for when a friend or family could use help with meals.  A good friend of ours, suddenly lost her husband (very un-expectantly).  My go-to dessert has been my Mom's Cherry Delight.  However, the price of store bought pie filling is horrible right now.

From the camera . . .

(nothing sadly)

Looking around the house . . .

It's a hot mess.  

To relax this week I will . . .

Probably take a nap, ha ha!

On my prayer list . . .

Mom (her surgery is Tuesday to remove cancer from her leg), our good friend Becky who just lost her husband and has two boys.

Lap Afghan ~ Ramblings

The finished lap afghan for Mom.  Now I can focus on finishing Daughter K's cardigan.  

Speaking of Mom, she has  5 appointments this week.  it's been stressful and a bit of a strain on life at home.  To take her, it's a 50 minute round trip, and some appointments last 1 1/2 hours.

If I ever win the lottery, I'm going to create a charity that has transport vans and give free service to families at least once a week. Including shopping. Yesterday she wanted more boxes of tissues (her closet is bursting with them already).  I'm thankful I have a good friend from high school (who went through the same thing) to talk to, get advice, etc.

It's been touch and go with her as well.  She has refused to be admitted to the hospital 3 times now (when the doctor insisted).  The other issue now is that the local EMS is using a bypass system.  The hospital closest to Mom can refuse EMS patients if the hospital had full capacity of covid patients and lack of staff.  The send patients to other hospitals further away.

I've been so busy, I have been lacking on things that really need done before we are buried in snow outside.  I decided to make yet another list, but keep on it when I am home.

I've been so busy, I finally got around to wash the camper bedding.  Seriously.  I realized I put it to the side in my utility room.  Sheesh.

My husband is frustrated with the lack of time we have to split wood as well.  We need a weekend to say "no" to everything and focus on the homestead work.

Roaming thoughts ~ Question and other Ramblings

We have a couple of Thanksgiving meals planned, and I'm working on what I'm going to make and take.  We are actually having a meal with my side of the family this year.

Best and cheapest place (in store or online) place to buy Lion Brand 24/7 cotton yarn?  I'm currently looking at $4.99 a skein, but it'd be great to find it less than that.  I haven't been to our Wal-mart lately, so I haven't checked there in store yet.

I baked us a loaf of banana bread.  Kitchen smelled so good.

I found local pasture fed meat, and it is super close to the homestead.  I'm working up my order.  

. . . from the handiwork journal

 

I was tickled pink to get a message with an order for 8 of my hand crocheted dish scrubbies the other day.  Shipping, however, has gone up again.

(older photo)

I have about 15 more rows to finish this lap afghan for Mom.

Daughter E asked me to make her a handmade ornament for their salon.  I crocheted her a nail polish bottle.

Did anyone see yesterday's cooking show on Create TV?  They baked a pork shoulder, bake a side dish with red cabbage (in the oven) and homemade BBQ sauce?  I can't remember what they called the red cabbage dish and cannot find the episode or recipe.  If you watched can you help me find it?  I was crocheting Mom's blanket and my husband got home.  I missed the end and missed the name of the dish and BBQ sauce.  I missed the names of the people cooking them, so I have no idea how to find it all.  I checked the TV schedule, and it won't go backwards, only forwards on the schedule.  I even tried searching the recipes on Create TV.  I cannot find it.

Update:  It's Farmer and the Foodie episode 104, but I can't view the show anywhere nor find the recipes.

Update again!  I finally found it.  Now to find a local farmer with a pork shoulder.....

Tuesday Tidbits

We had our once a year craft show over the weekend.  It did poorly.  No one has the money to spend, or they just don't prefer homemade/handmade anymore.  I typically sell out of the dish scrubbies.  Not the case this time.  Most bought the $1.00 and $2.00 items or didn't buy anything.   Until our economy is in better shape I am pretty much out of business.  The cost of the space was higher, my cost to buy supplies is higher and it appeared more people were more interested in the china made stuff (jewelry, scentsy and things like that).

I had more people soliciting their business to me, and I saw one woman writing notes after looking at stuff.  Possibly getting ideas from my own items to sell herself?  Sheesh.  I was so greatly disappointed.

It didn't help that it was cold and snowing and there was football to watch at home either.  I had Daughter K helping, my husband helped for a bit after he got off work, then Daughter E came out.  We packed up an hour early and left.  Daughter E helped pack up.

We literally had less customers, and even the person selling the raffle tickets walked right past us.  I truly felt invisible.  Vendors were all asked to donate a raffle item. Since the raffle ticket person didn't come to our table, I didn't have to stick around for the end either.  What a joke of a show.

I came home to a mess of a house, because I focused on getting things in order, priced and extra made.  Monday was literally a sweatpants type of day, with cleaning up the house, figuring out a dinner, baking a breakfast and what not.  

R.I.P. Aurora

 

Aurora was named after the colors of her coat.  She was so pretty.  She was a great hunter.  She was so friendly.  We will miss her so much.  She came with the house when we moved here 13 years ago.  The last people who lived here left her here.  We fed her daily, but she hunted mouse and rabbits.  She loved my husband, and spent many hours in his arms.