My popcorn is not doing that great this year. I may have planted it too late. I hope I did not waste garden space with a fail crop.
Here is what's going on in some of the flower beds.
The weekend went fast. Thursday night tornados hit northeast of us. One daughter's family and several friends were in it's path. All are okay, but there was a lot of damage done.
The weather . . .
Mostly 80's for high's this week, with possible rain this weekend.
As I look outside my window . . .
It's cloudy.
Right now I am . . .
Drinking coffee.
Thinking and pondering . . .
Canning this season. It's been on my mind. What is the most favorite condiment you like to can for gifting? Not sure it'll happen, but thinking about it.
Did I mention our handy-man quit on us? He won't even come tend the hens anymore either. We even have unfinished work from him, and have no idea what's going on. I have chicken people to contact, but we may be doing everything else, from here on out, ourselves now. It means it could take longer with my husband working so many hours.
I have a lot of unfinished crochet/knit projects right now. I'm considering frogging them all and storing the yarn for now. I do need to finish a few, but some were for craft shows, and that is just now on the homefront right now. Maybe not even for a few years. Anyway...those unfinished projects are in the boxes I need to move.
A chaotic home is a chaotic mind (for me anyway), so my focus is to really tidy up/purge etc so we can wake up to a happy home (happy mind).
Listening to . . .
The birds outside.
How I am feeling . . .
Somewhat better, but my throat is still scratchy dry. The stress of my husband's work hours can really weigh a person down. Garden work is full swing this week. The rain brought weeds.
On the breakfast plate . . .
Not sure just yet.
On the lunch plate . . .
Leftovers.
On the dinner plate . . .
Not sure yet.
On my reading pile . . .
On my TV this week . . .
Nothing special.
On the menu . . .
Looking around the house . . .
The living room is a hot mess. There is so much that needs to go upstairs yet, but I've put it off until the gym flooring is installed. I'm thinking I'll move it up there anyway. It could be a while for flooring.
To-do list . . .
From the camera . . .
Devotional, verse, thoughts . . .
Prayers for those who lost their homes/were hurt due to the recent tornadoes.
I'm living on ginger/lemon tea, doses of mullein tincture and what not. I normally drink a nettle tea concoction for allergies, but did not get started on that early enough apparently. The recent smoke haze in the air did not help either. The air is much better now.
I have been doing a ridiculous amount of internet surfing, working on a color scheme for the next blanket (to use up yarn in my stash). I guess you can call it a stash. It is really yarn that was leftover from other projects, which I over bought I believe. Anyway, the one color scheme I really like, involves (gulp) buying yarn of a color I am out of.
So...I've been doing more searching for a color scheme of which I already have. So far, nothing is coming to mind. A large blanket project won't be started on until cooler weather, so I have all summer to work on that. I still have the other blanket to finish as well.
Anywho, it is hard for me to "not" be busy, but I can write lists, meal plan, read a book, sit and shred paperwork, and do low-energy jobs around here. It definitely is something I have to teach myself - rest. Like I said, the rain is helping me with that today.
The herb garden is springing back to life, other than my green onion. I am hoping with today's rain it will. Yesterday I noticed all the seeds I planted are starting to come up thankfully - basil, cilantro, parsley and dill.
Now, to go find an unfinished eye pillow project I started several years ago....it's around here somewhere.
Once again my Sunday was my "Monday" so the list on the to-do's around here are short. One day off for my husband is not enough. He is so tired on his day off, he doesn't have the energy to tackle anything around here. I get it, so I don't complain.
In lieu of possibly strong winds with rain yesterday, I was out early to till where needed, and tie up any tomato plants. Just for kicks, and because I bought them, I planted Glady bulbs and a few others. I had not planted them due to the drought we were having. I also dropped some tall zinnia seeds, white daisy seed, and a mixed pink daisy seed. If they come up they come up, if not, we tried.
We still need to install our second mole chasing windmill. The rain should help get that job done, as we need to bury a grounding rod for it. The rain will soften the ground for us.
I did a quick inventory on my canned goods, and made notes on what needs canned in the way of condiments this garden season.
My full blown allergies turned quick on me, so most work was tidied up quick for some afternoon rest.
The weather . . .
Rain! We got rain yesterday later in the evening! We cooled down the high 60's today, but will be in the 70's with several days of possible rain.
As I look outside my window . . .
Everything is wet out there. The birds are singing. It's slightly windy, and very cloudy.
Right now I am . . .
Brewing a pot of coffee, getting ready to eat breakfast (maybe), then maybe do dishes.
Thinking and pondering . . .
I need a cleaning supply caddy. I hand carry supplies from bathroom to bathroom, and room to room. I looked at reviews online, but will go check in stores when I am out and about. I need one to carry wipes, gloves, brushes, box of borax, spray bottle of homemade cleaner and whatnot.
Listening to . . .
80's rock, or nothing today
How I am feeling . . .
Sinus pressure is the worst. I will be doing more rest and self care this week than any extra work for sure. I slept in today, and felt I needed it too.
On the breakfast plate . . .
Egg/bacon/cheese sandwiches if I get hungry, coffee, herbal teas later.
On the lunch plate . . .
Maybe soup.
On the dinner plate . . .
Have no idea. Depends on my energy level.
On my reading pile . . .
On my TV this week . . .
Mick on Netflix
On the menu . . .
Looking around the house . . .
I've moved my paper shredder to my living room. I can sit on the floor and shred up what needs to be taken care of (that was boxed and moved for floor repairs).
To-do list . . .
From the camera . . .
Devotional, verse, thoughts . . .
Could you all pray I get over this, whatever it is? Please send good mojo, prayers and good thoughts. I plan to do some essential oil inhalations today, and hope it will clear my sinuses a bit. I have mullein and ginger tea, lemons, and 4 thieves, but out of organic oil of oregano gel caps (those have been ordered).
A few of you have mentioned that purging/organizing/tossing seems a bit overwhelming. Well, this is how I do it.
I do have a ton of paperwork, that got taken out of a file cabinet 1 year ago (and 2 months to be precise). The boxes were shoved into the office when the kitchen was boxed up to repair the flooring.
I found my hand crank coffee grinder, and my apple peeler/corer. I honestly never had a chance to use the peeler. How many of you have a peeler/corer combo and use it?
Decisions are to be made here. That fan was left upstairs by one of the kids, and it's on it's last leg, but I think we used it for one of the rooms we repaired and renovated. It may be getting scrapped.
I hope that helps motivate you, if you need motivation. We were just so overdue to purge/extreme clean/re-organize.
Camping Tip (with a camper with water/grey water tank): Wash your dishes with dawn powerwash (any environmentally safe dish soap) only, then over a dish tub run water over dishes to rinse, then dump the rinse water outside (or some campgrounds have a grey water dump near by). This helps you keep your grey water tank from filling too fast while camping. It is easier to get fresh water, than to dump your grey water tank.
When we had our pop up camper, it had a water tank, but for some reason we never used it. We would heat water on the campfire, and fill two dish tubs to wash and rinse our dishes.
We are on day 21 of no rain, but that may change later today. Crossing fingers, saying a prayer, and sending out that good mojo.
I apologize in advance. I printed this recipe from a blog I follow, but failed to write down which blog. It was a while ago too. You know me, I'm a sucker to try a new recipe.
I gave the recipe a try, and here is how mine turned out. These baked pretty well, considering my baking powder was expired (gulp). I haven't been doing much baking around here lately.
These were delicious freshly baked, but next day very dense. Good, but the white flour is not good on our meal plan.
So....
I played around with einkorn flour the other day. Einkorn will not spike my husband's blood sugar levels. I see that Jovial has a drop biscuit recipe, but it calls for a full TBSP of baking powder (?) and maple syrup.
If you make einkorn biscuits without any sugar, please tell me how you make yours and if I need to change anything.
I prefer to use recipes directly from Jovial, but they only have two biscuit recipes on their site.
Here is what I did:
Einkorn Biscuit Trial #1
2 1/2 cups all-purpose einkorn flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp butter (see note below), cold (organic)
3/4 cup milk, cold (I used organic whole milk)
Baked at 400°F for about 17-18 minutes.
They came out crispy on the bottom and a teensy crispy on the sides/top, but the center was soft.
Should I make any changes? Add more milk, cut back on flour, change the baking powder amount? The Jovial recipe for their drop biscuits calls for 2 cups flour and 1 Tbsp baking powder and some cream of tartar.
Also, is there a way to still get a nice biscuit without baking powder? Another healthier way to get that rise in the biscuit?
Baking soda and cream of tartar?
Buttermilk and baking soda?
Any ideas?
Note: I either cube my butter and put in the fridge to keep cold, or put the butter in the freezer, then grate it for biscuits. I have also grated it first (which does make a greasy mess on your hands, but works too), then froze the grated bits.
Results: My husband said, "well, their biscuits" ha ha! Not the best tasting, but a healthy alternative for when we have biscuits and sausage gravy (which is not very often).