View from the porch . . .

The weekend went way too fast, but I'm happy to say my husband is home today.  However, we'll be doing early garden work to start this day off.  We'll heat up to the 90's today, so our time will be short out there.

Happy 4th of July!
 

Easy Pickled Carrots

 We are not going to get a lot of carrots this year.  Sadly, the derecho we had washed out the seeds.

I picked up some organic carrots and decided to try something new - pickled carrots.

We'll toss these in salads, on sandwiches and even on tacos.  I'll let you know how they taste when we do taste them.

I spent about 3 hours cleaning the upstairs.  Some items went to the roadside for free, some were donated and I filled the trash, cleaned one closet out completely, and shampooed most of the carpet.

It Rained!

 We finally got our much needed rain.  I won't be able to weed today, but I do need to go out and check stakes and make sure the thunderstorms and wind didn't blow any down.  So thankful for the rain.  Everything, including trees were wilting, despite watering everything myself.

I actually got crochet time in yesterday.  The water had to be shut off for replacing some parts, so I got some relaxing time in.  Thankful for that too.

I don't know what was going on, but when I went to the grocery store, it was crazy busy.  There was at least 12 people in every line.  I'm guessing the holiday shopping for the 4th, but who knows.  It could be people going to a different store to find things they can't find elsewhere.  I went for fresh jalapenos, and they were completely out.

Slippers to the Garden and other Tidbits

 The other day I came inside to do something, and realized on my way back out I still had my slippers on.  I take my muck boots off at the door.  So funny.  My brain is on overdrive I swear.

My living room is a mess and now the bathroom door is in there getting primed.  I painted one side yesterday.  Half of the bathroom floor is in, but they had 4 layers of flooring, so it's lower than the kitchen floor.  There is more work to do, and more supplies, to get the floor even with the kitchen.

I've taken care of the peaches now.  I canned 8 half-pints of reduced sugar jam, and baked a peach crumble.  I left the rest for us to snack on.  Not sure if I will get any into the freezer or not.

I started water-glassing eggs.  I figured if I fill that bucket up, I can start dehydrating, but this will reduce using canning jars right now.

We are going on more than two weeks of zero rain.  We had thunderstorms in the forecast for today, but those left just disappeared off the radar.

I've been doing pretty well keeping up with weeding the garden, but not the flower beds.  I got the green beans weeded finally.

Daughter E never made it out to help clean the upstairs.  She took her car in for a new tire at Midas and they told her that her wheel bearing was so bad that her car was not safe to drive.  I got on my phone and with the help of my husband, (our go-to man is doing our bathroom) he found a friend to change it. Cost of part was $104, he asked for $70 for the labor, and she paid him $100.  Midas wanted $500.00 for the job, and it's a fairly easy job to do.

Just lots of work in a day . . .

 I was out of the garden by 8am.  It's mostly tilled, but today I need to weed and till.  Grass is up around some plants, but other than that, I'm keeping up with it.  I had to run to "the big" city" again.  I needed a new rack for my canner pot.  I searched for hours online, and only found them on ebay for $20.00.  I ended up going to Wal-mart and getting the pot and rack for $24.00.   

I moseyed over to the meat to pick up something to grill, and wasn't shocked to see there was nearly nothing in the way of chicken.  Two packages literally (should have taken a photo), and thankfully all organic was available.  Same with the ground beef as well.

I went to the hardware store and picked up paint for the living room and bathroom door and bathroom cabinet.

Not the greatest photo, but I finally painted the beam in the kitchen ceiling.  It was truly a balancing act on the ladder, to avoid using a ton of paint tape.  My husband is tall enough to do it without a ladder, but he is overly, completely, and utterly exhausted from work.  He was thankful I did it, but I did have our handy-man working in the bathroom, so using a ladder was okay.

I still have half of the ceiling to paint, and the trim around the bathroom door, but once the bathroom is done, we can (gulp) take a look-see at the damage of the living room floor.

As for the bathroom, the entire floor was removed yesterday.  I'm frustrated, as the people who put the last floor and drywall in, just left debris under the house.  It's been a lot of work, but our handy-man is still at it.

Again, sorry for the bad photo, but I realized yesterday, that the paint on the beam matches the praying hands from Mom.  I'm still cleaning the cubbies and adding new items to them.

I thought I had bought seeds to plant tarragon, and could not find them.  I had searched the stores for a plant or even seeds and found zero.  Frustrated, I came back home and went thru my seeds again, and found them.  Those got planted, although late.

Errand Day ~ Bathroom Project Starts!

 

This was my fitbit at 7pm  last night.  It was errand day, and not by choice.  I had to go to the "big city" for an estimate on the truck.  We may be getting a second estimate, because the first will not fix paint chips on the hood from the deer encounter.  

Anyway, I took all my lists with me and landed at 5 stores!  I loaded online digital coupons before leaving the house.  Meijer had 20% off all ball canning supplies (you can check, but not sure how many days it's good for).  I picked up more canning lids for a great price, as things are not going well in this country, and wanted to be prepared.  Also, our Wal-mart had higher prices on canning lids than Meijer.  The 20% off was a great deal considering the times we are dealing with.

At Home Depot (my last stop), I had to wait forever at the paint counter due to lack of employees.  It was a very long day.

Meanwhile, our handy-man was gutting the entire smaller bathroom.  We ran into many unhappy surprises.  First, after the shower was removed on the other side in this photo, we discovered there was a leak in the back of the shower that disintegrated about 2 feet of drywall.  AND!  They did not use the proper drywall for behind a shower. 

The toilet was removed, only to discover that the metal fixture under the seal had completely rotted, and the flooring around the toilet was rotted.  So.....half the floor was removed, only to discover we'll need to replace the entire bathroom floor.  Oh joy for us. 

However, while the floor is out, we are having our handy-man (adding more costly dollars, but worth it), add heat tape to all the pipes under there.

Happy Homemaker Monday

 I am constantly forgetting what day it is, with this miserable work schedule my husband has.  

I'm definitely not running out of things to get done around here either.  I finally got some cabbage fermenting.

By the way, have any of you canned sauerkraut? I just looked up one recipe in one canning book that requires 25# of cabbage.  I would cut that down, but would like anyone's feedback on how it tasted after canning it.  Any other small batch recipes too.

I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom. I will link up later when she posts.

The weather . . . 

-hot, humid and no rain in sight

As I look outside my window. . .

-grass is dying and the yards look terrible, but garden has been watered consistently.  I have another maple tree to plant, but have it in a bucket of water until we see we'll get some rain.

Right now I am . . .

Drinking coffee, trying to get enough energy to get my power shower.

Thinking and pondering . . .

I want to plan a camping trip or something when this work week schedule is over, but there is no end in sight just yet.  I need to start boxing up stuff in the living room to prepare for that project, but have to make room somewhere to put it.

How I am feeling . . .

Tired, exhausted, run down, the whole sha-bang.  I'm up super early today due to help arriving to gut the bathroom.

On the breakfast plate. . . 

A veggie dump with dandelion greens and bacon.

What I am wearing . . .

Depends on the time of day. Early am - gardening clothes (jeans, tank top, muck boots), out of the garden clothes (sweat pants, t-shirt).  By 4pm?  Pajamas and I'm not kidding.  Have to go to town clothes?  That would be jeans, and a nice top or t-shirt.

On my reading pile . . .

-no time to read right now, did some tilling in the garden yesterday

On my TV this week . . .

Mystery channel

On the menu . . .

-turkey, veggie

-Reuben's

-Philly, either in a bell pepper or on a bun

-leftovers

Looking around the house . . .

-as I told my husband, "Rome wasn't built in a day" 

I still have some painting to do in the kitchen, then the bathroom gets painted, then we move to the living room.....

To-do list . . .

-wash bedding

-paint bathroom door

-put away dishes, wash crock pots

-water grow bags

-get estimate on truck damage

-mail in rebate

From the camera. . . 

Damage done from the deer.

Prayers . . .

...for workers to get the machines repaired and back up and running so my husband can go back to normal work hours and we can finally have time with each other.