Stuff

We've been rolling along here. Still have some more outside stuff to do. Than hopefully we'll be good until spring..... well besides shoveling snow lol. We still have to get to the last 10 Cornish rocks but we're thinking about only doing a couple at a time . It gets to be to much when we do a bunch at once.

In the kitchen
I've been drying a ton of fruit. Mostly apples and pears but I have found some mango's and bananas on sale so in they went. Been using the bread machine but the bread seems to get moldy faster than the other bread. I have to come up with something to keep that from happening. I'm starting to prep for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure who's going to be here besides Hubby , Bear and me, but I'm going to be ready lol. We're going to have cheese and crackers, veggies and drip, chips, pumpkin and apple pie. As far as the kind of bird.....well lol it could be go old turkey, a 10 pound Cornish rock or duck. I guess it depends on what hits the freezer last lol.

Craftiness,
I'm still working away . I have a good start on Mr. C 's blanket I'm just hoping that I have enough yarn . All of the yarn I've used has been from the tons of free yarn that M's mom gave me. ( and I still have a ton lol ) I think I have some more of that type of yard in storage I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed. Dear MIL asked me to make some dollies for her to give to my sister in law for Christmas. HAHAHAHA I've never made dollies so after some trial and error I think I have some thing they'll both like. I did get Bear's curtains done, just have to get our done. The softies are coming along, they're not perfect, but they look OK. I have to finish closing them up , tossed them in the washer and dryer, than add the faces. I really want to make gift bags out of the fabric I got after Christmas last year. I'm hoping to find the time.... I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Homeschooling
We've had to move Bear from 3rd grade work to 4th grade. Now he seems to be more challenged. I guess we'll just keep shifting stuff around until he hits his groove. We're starting lap books next week. The first set will be on the 50 states. I feel that the lap books cover alot of subjects all at once. And gives him the creative side of things too. We still need to find something he likes for science.

Christmas
You all know that I've been cranking out gifts for months but there are still some things I need to buy . Now we're only buying for the kids and a couple of things each for Hubby and I. Well Hubby is done hahahaha, I'm picking up books and small stuff for me ( it is much easier on all of us if I just pick up my books other wise the kids and poor Hubby stand in the book store looking lost lol) So it's started. I picked up alot of stuff on sale or clearance. Bear and I where out shopping and he wanted to show me what Bakugan he wanted.... OK so we look. They where on sale $5.00 a set instead of $ 12.00 so ...... well I grabbed them. I know , I know that its terrible but it was one of those things ...... do I grab the ones he wants now ... with him here or do I wait. I figured if I waited they would all be gone and I was right. What was funny was that he got it lol "Mom at this price we can get 2 for one" Thankfully Santa can pick up the slack . Bear has been out growing he's clothes at a super fast rate. So again I took him with me and he picked out what he wanted good thing too because I was going to buy 8's and go figure he wears a 10 lol. But he didn't see the cool shirts I got him for a $1.00 each :). Bear even picked out a set of books he wanted. Books ....Books.... you want books for Christmas.... sure Honey grab what you want lol. So yes he knows about a couple of things he's getting but at least I know he'll like them.
So as it stands now , I have to do some more shopping but I'm thinking about doing it when I have the tires done on the van . Just me !!!!!!

OK enough about how cheap I am . I swear there must be a support group for the cheapskates lol. I've written a book and you guys must be bored lol. I'm off for now .Til next time have a great day and stay safe.

Weekend plans

I'm hoping to get some crafty stuff done this weekend. First I want to do Bears robe. I finally found craft paper so I can make my own pattern. Next I want to make new covers for the heating pads. I have a ton of old towels that I can use. Plus I have a list of other crafts that I want to do but I'll play those by ear. Than the cooking , short bread cookies, 2 loaves of raisin bread, maybe some brownies. Bear wants french toast sticks lol and regular french toast to put in the freezer. Silly boy lol .

I did get the rest of the shopping done or so I thought. I forgot to grab dried cranberries for the granola I made for Hubby. But I did score some clothes for Bear at walmart. All of it was on clearance, two pants and shirt sets and a camo shirt $ 3.00, a pair of camo pants , hulk t-shirt, and 3 pairs of fleece pj pant for $ 5.00. All but the t-shirt and camo pants are getting put away , they are to big. But now I have a jump on school clothes shopping.

Ok that's it for now it's time to get dinner on the table. Til next time have a great weekend.

Chilly

Woke up this morning to see it was a whopping 3 degrees . I really look forward to going to let the chickens out ... not lol . I end up wearing 3 coats, Hubby's balaclava, and a heavy pair of gloves and hope I don't freeze : ). Than it's off to walk the dog..... yep we're dog sitting for "C" while he's working out of town . She's a pointer, super cute and every well behaved . Once the kids are all off to school I can hide in the house until Bear gets home.

So today is house cleaning day lol. I've let things slide a bit so.... I'm starting to feel a bit better now that we replaced the humidifier. Guess the house was to dry. I want to get everything done before the weekend cause we have big plans lol. I got most of the shopping done. Tomorrow I'm going to finish up and hit the 1 and only thrift store in town. They're having a 50% off sale so I figured what the hell. I need a thrift fix.

Tons of cooking happening here. Hubby likes short bread cookies so after some searching I found a really simple cookie recipe that with a bit of tweaking is perfect. I also found a really great raisin bread recipe. Than ( hahaha) I found a crock pot recipe of yogurt. Bear loves yogurt so I figured why not. It is great everyone loves it so no more buying yogurt and no more plastic cups going into the land fill.

Well thats about it I'm off for now . Til next time .

Santa's coming, Santa's coming.

That was Bear's chant this morning. He's really ready . Looks like I got everything done , at least I hope so lol . Gifts are wrapped. I picked up the veggies, chestnuts and wine yesterday. Oops...brb. It helps if I take out the duck for tomorrow's dinner uh . Took out the Christmas movies, got out Bear's Christmas pj's. Made the cookies for Santa. I remembered Santa's plate and mug.Cut the tags off the kids new ornaments. Double checked to make sure I have all of the stocking stuffers together. I even put together our menu for the big day, duck , shrimp cocktail, fresh veggies, deviled eggs, mashed taters, and pie ( just not sure what kind).

We're just gonna hang out and putter around to get ready for Santa's big arrival. Sissy is working today, Buddy is going with his dad and step mom to see her family . Than they are heading here. Of course we'll head to bed early cause little Bear likes to get up at 4 lol.Those are the plans any way you know what they say about the best layed plans. Good thing I can roll with things lol .
Ok I'm off for now . Til next time have a great day

Ta Da lol some pics

Yahoo Pictures finally lol lol

Scarf for C's wife

Scarf for Dear sister in law




Tote bag for mother in law

Picture frame and cross for our friends new baby

Buddy's blanket Big enough to cover his full size bed lol

Stockings I made for the little kids

Looks like Bear is trying to tell us something( hopefully you can see where the ribbon is lol)

The kids have a 2 hour delay so I'm running around getting stuff done. I tried to let out the chickens but I can't find my boots (gone don't know where Bear wants to know how boots can walk away on their own lol) It's way to icy to use my sneakers. So now I'm going to try hubby's boots , and try not to break any thing brb. OK I'm back and no broken bones lol . That hill is way icy . But the chickens are free lol . Today's plans are cooking and canning. I'm off to make sure everyone is ready for school. Stay safe .Til next time have a great day .

Rollin with it

Did you miss me lol lol lol ?!?! It's been too long . But I'm back now lol . Ok grab a cup of coffee( or tea if that's your poison lol ) and we'll catch up :)


I'm feeling better, thanks to everyone who asked. It took a week but the pain is gone. Than I ended up with a cold . It's slow going ( lots of cold meds) but it looks like the end is near. I really don't want to be sick for Christmas. Buddy was cleared to play so he's back on the court, so he's happy. Hubby got 2 deer so the beginning of last week was spend processing them.


We got hit with that storm last week. What a mess. Thursday night the power went out and we didn't get it back til Friday night. Thank god for the wood stove. M and C's brother T came here . I made coffee on the stove and Bears oat meal ( Bear thought that was way cool lol ) but they opened school.The town closed the main road so it took an extra 20 minutes to get any where so no bus for Bear. The big kids where at their dads and there where so many trees down the bus couldn't get to them. We had a huge tree down across the drive way and we couldn't get out. So needless to say the kids had a day off. We spent the weekend playing catch up. Did alot of cleaning. Still some to do but thankfully thing are in some kind of order.


This week will be crazy lol . We're having our annual family Christmas party here at the funny farm this weekend. Today I'll go grab the last minute stuff and start the cooking. Nothing fancy just pasta , meatballs and sausage. My mil is making sausage and peppers and yummy brownies. Just about all of the wrapping is done. All of the gifts are done but the totes. We just have to can the apple butter.I decided to make cranberry sauce ( Yep I'm nuts lol ) so that has to be canned too.Than add to all of that we're supposed to get another ice storm. Yuck and double yuck. Looks like I'm going to spend some time today getting stuff ready just in case.

So today looks like this . I'll go play free the chickens lol . Get the kids off to school , pick up the mail. Make the meat balls and sausage, toss in the fridge. Can the first run of apple butter. Whip up the cranberry sauce. Make the last of the apple butter. Start dinner. Pin the totes. Knock some stuff off of my ever growing to do list. Clean , do laundry lol .Post some pics to this blog if it kills me lol lol . That's it I hope lol . So I'm off . Talk to you soon . Til next time have a great day.

****** As you can see I started this post yesterday lol lol 24 hours to get a post done . Have mercy lol lol *****

This morning

First some pics

The cheapo (lol) Halloween fabric

Fabric for the totes I'm making( soon hopefully ; )


Some glass ornaments I found at the $ store

I wanted new beaded garland but I couldn't find any thing I liked so I dug out the beads and made these.

These are the ornaments that I picked up over the summer . All they need now is glitter

And last but not least lol lol my new clothes drying spot :o lol lol lol

Bear was up at 4 this morning. No clue why lol. He beat Hubby out of bed this morning. Hubby's hunting, Bear is cleaning his room ( at least he'd better be), the big kids are at school, and I sit here typing and cleaning lol. We have a bit of snow on the ground. When I let the chickens out you would think I was trying to kill them.I tried to coax them out of the coop but they didn't fall for it lol lol . So I tossed their food and they are slowly coming out.

OK I'm back . The Bear is off to school and I ran to get milk and pick up the mail. Now I have til 12 ( Bear has a half a day )to get the rest of the house work done. Dinner is in the crock pot , I hung a load of clothes, cleaned the sink and fed the birds. Than I have to get Sissy from school and take her to work, and at 4 I have to get Buddy from basketball practice.

I'm putting the finishing touches on our thanksgiving menu. So far turkey of course, apple and pumpkin pies, veggie platter with dip, shrimp cocktail , biscuits and herb mashed potatoes. I'm going to try my hand at making french fried sweet potatoes. Since it's just us I won't go all out. We tend to keep the holidays pretty mellow.

Ok I'm off for now. Til next time have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good morning.

Wow the week just flew by. Let's see..... "M's" mom was giving away her upright freezer and you know that we jumped on it lol . Hubby picked it up . We cleaned out the chest freezer and it is over at "M's" waiting if we need it. I stopped at the farmers market and they where selling pumpkins for a dollar. Ha I grabbed 6 and now we have 13 bags of pumpkin in the freezer yum. Apples are in season so I've been drying them and making pie filling in the crock pot. I had some extra lasagna fixin's so I whipped up a pan , cooked it than cut it and froze. Not a lot of work and we get at least 3 meals out of it.

Yep I'm on a major frugal run lately . Trying to stretch our money lol . I was bad before now... hell it's like a sickness. The kids try to pick on me but all 3 are just as bad lol lol . I hit walmart and scored a bunch of Halloween stuff . I'll take pics this week ( really lol ) . Than I ran back to grab fabric for some totes ( Christmas gifts) I was talking to the woman that works in crafts and she told me that the Halloween fabric was 50 cents a yard ( I was feeling giddy lol ) I picked 4 yards. But when she rang it up it came out to 2.oo $ a yard well I'm not having that so she went into the computer to fix the screw up and it was only 25 cents a yard . Hot dog lol lol . See a sickness :). I'm itching for the thanksgiving sales. Black Friday here I come.

This weekend I rearranged the living room. I was feeling closed in and Hubby pointed out that all of the front windows had big pieces in front of them . So with abit of shuffling I was able to open them up and the room feels so much better. Now I'm working on decluttering the house yet again lol . The weekend after thanksgiving I put out the Christmas stuff and I want to be ready. Specking of Christmas I have a bunch of projects lined up and hopefully I'll get them started this week.I just need to remember to take pic's lol .

No school today , Bear had a bad head cold. Not sure if he's going to school tomorrow or not. Hubby is out hunting. I'm making a cup of tea than I'm off to get my to do list done. That damn list gets bigger every day lol . Til next time . Have a great day.

Yikes!!!!

Damn I did it again. Took another break..... didn't want too . Might be a good thing. I've been pissy lately. I've been trying to shake this cold. All of the crap with the economy has me a little freaked out. It is what it is. I know this but lol I'm still worried. I know we are lucky to have the things we have . We're blessed to have a good stock pile of food. But what about people who aren't as lucky as us???

Ok enough of that . How have you been????? Me you ask??? Busy lol lol .

Cooking:

I've been drying fruit all week. 10 pound of papaya and another 15 pound of apples and pears. I'm going to pick up more soon . We're still getting some tomatoes. Looks like I'll be making more salsa soon. We do have some pumpkins in the garden. So as soon as they ripen up I'll freeze them.
For dinner tonight I'm going to try another recipe in the crock pot... bean soup .

Around the house.
I've been working on the shopping list. I re worked our budget yet again. My goal is to lower our food budget. I have gotten some Xmas shopping done , mostly for Bear. The big kids are working on a list of what they want. Kids are busy with school , sports and work. I'm making head way on the fall cleaning. I just love when the clutter leaves and things are really clean. The next things to do are hang the winter curtains, drag out the heavy blankets and all of the winter clothes.

Crafting.
I made a new fall center piece. Still working on buddy's blanket . I've been cranking out dish clothes. I have a bunch of stuff to paint. I'm thinking about glittering some of the glass ornaments I picked up . So of them have really worn. I really need to get pics on here.


So thats it for now . Til next time have a great day.

Looks like a rainy weekend.

So we're planning to stay in . We are going to make monkey munch. We saw it on Jon and Kate plus 8 ( which we love ) and found the recipe here . Because of all of the tummy troubles Bear has been having I have been looking for stuff to make him . I really want to have control of what is in the stuff he eats. The recipe looks easy and the ingredients are simple . I want him to be able to have some sweet stuff with out all of the extra stuff that I see in pre packaged stuff. The diet ( and I use that term loosely) that we have him on seems to be working. We'll hopefully know more next week when he goes for his video scope. He's not happy about it but he understands that it needs to be done.

I plan to make some french toast sticks, more zucchini bread, and a patch of salsa.I have goose soup in the crock pot .... yes goose lol . Hubby went hunting and I had to figure out what to do with goose. It's really good . I just tossed in the goose , some french onion soup mix, garlic, tomatoes, sweet peppers, rice , salt and pepper. Along with the housework that should keep me busy. As I type I have the salsa bubbling away on the stove it smells so good( the neighbors what to know whats cooking lol ).

I've been sorting and cleaning . The new fall cleaning plan seems to be working. I'm taking one area at a time. We moved the living room around. I cleaned all of the baseboards. Took care of the computer desk( a lot of stuff seems to pile up there). This weekend I want to get to the plant stand and maybe the TV stand. I have to sort out our "sick box" . I really don't like when we find ourselves sick and out of stuff.



Looks like we all have colds ( yuck) . It's that time of year. As soon as school starts some one gets sick. So that's about it . I'm off to get some stuff done. Til next time, HAVE A GREAT DAY

Around the house

We serviced the furnace ( we meaning Hubby did the work and I handed him the tools lol ), repaired a broken boiler valve , caulked everything in sight, cleaned around the house. Fixed the pickup, started hauling the wood from the lower part of the yard and stacking it by the house. We cleaned out the coop and put in nesting boxes. Hubby and "C" got 3 Cornish game hen's and about 20 babies over the weekend ( yes we need more birds like we need a hole in our heads lol ) so we've had to get them used to being in the coops. And with all of that going on the house looks like a hoard of 6 year olds hopped up on sugar have run a muck ha ha ha ha . So when I get do here I'm off to get myself a shovel and try to get things cleaned up lol .

I cleaned and sorted out Bear's drawers. Now he's ready for school next week. The big kids have finished their school shopping and we sorted and cleaned out their rooms. Where did the summer go?????? I can't believe that school is right around the corner.On the flip side of that fall is coming YIPEE!!!! I love the fall . I 'm so ready for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I can't wait to get out all of my fall stuff. I was hoping to find some really great vintage Halloween stuff this year but it just wasn't out there. Well at least not here maybe I'll try my luck on eBay.

Sissy and I went to thrift sale this morning. Not as good as the ad said but Sissy was able to find some clothes . I found a pair of pj bottoms and a pair of pants, a small sewing box, and 26 glass xmas ornament's. The ornaments aren't vintage . I don't want to use the vintage ones my mil gave me until Bear is a little older. This way I can have the look of the glass with out the freaking out if they get broken.

I'm still cooking up a storm. The zucchini is still coming( I've been seeing it in my sleep lol) looks like more bread in my future . I did get 5 pounds of green beans frozen this weekend and will do more in the coming weeks.I didn't do my normal big shop last month . I wanted to get the kitchen organized . Now that it kinda is lol lol lol I've been working on the list for next month.

Well that's it for now.I'm off to shovel ..... I mean clean ; ) Til next time . Take care.

Cooking

Yep lot's of that going on this week. We have been over run by zucchini. We did get some from our garden but our neighbor "C" is zucchini rich lol and he has been dropping them off at a record rate. Thankfully everyone love zucchini bread and muffins cause by the time I'm done both houses will be swimming them lol . Looks like I'll have some bread to freeze for xmas gifts.
We ( by we I mean Hubby and "C" ha ha ha) have been slowly butchering chickens. We have about 50 between the 2 houses and are planning to keep about 2 dozen hens and a couple of roosters. So I've been cookin me some chicken lol . 1 we had for dinner than made a pot of stock. The stock is headed for the freezer,and what meat is left will be chicken salad. I'm roasting the last one ( for now any way lol) now and I'll put some of the meat up for a couple of crock pot meals with the remaining meat and stock frozen for soup . There is some left over ham that I going to toss in the crock pot to make a casserole and half a pork roast to make pork fried rice. Looks like we'll have enough food made for a couple of meals .

I love to have stuff in the freezer . I will cook up 10 pounds of chop meat. Toss it in the freezer in meal size portions. I do the same with sausage. I keep chili, meat loaf, lasagna , all kinds of stock on hand . There are days when I just don't feel like cooking so I can just raid the freezer and whip some thing up in record time. I've been cleaning out the freezers. I need to make room . With all of the cooking, the chickens and hunting season looming we'll need the room .


So I'm gonna cook, cook and cook some more . Til next time. Have a great day.

Crockpotting ,crafting and Christmas gifts

Our aunt gave us a new Crockpot, a box of Crockpot liners, and the Fix it and Forget it cookbook. The cookbook is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!.Recipes are simple and made with stuff I normally keep in the house. I've been trying new recipes out weekly . I can't wait til the cooler weather comes so I can try out the soups and stews.

I finished 2 more baby blankets (yipee lol) and started a scarf for Sissy. Buddy asked for another blanket this time in orange and lime green :0. I have a small pile of dish clothes done , one started and God knows how many more to go lol lol . I still have to figure out who's getting them and how many each. I'm thinking about tossing together a couple of more scarves. Just have to dig in my yard stash and see what I have. I've been whipping up zucchini bread I might freeze some and give them as gifts. If the crew doesn't eat it all first lol.

Ok I'm off . Til next time . Have a great day.

Goodies

Lookie what I got !!! My mother in law found these in her night stand drawer. They are from 1964-65. Only one has a cover but I love them . Now if only I could hook up my new all in one printer( I'm trying to use the ink in the old printer first ), I can scan them both into the computer. She also gave me 2 1960's Singer sewing library books, and a bag full of her old clutch pocket books , and 2 ceramic bowls that she got as wedding gifts in the 50's. All of it (well maybe not the 2 McCall mags lol lol) are going on eBay this week. Than a piece of Pyrex or 2 and some really old cookbooks. I also have 5 cases of stuff to sort and get ready to get listed too.

I did finish Bear's poncho . It looks ok for my first try lol lol . Now he wants a hood . I started the new rocking chair cushions and covers. Not perfect( and I'm so anal lol ) but they work . I do need to do some tweaking and the foot stool maybe later today.

My mil gave me a new lasagna pan for Christmas, (I've been using foil ones for years) so yep you guessed it lasagna for dinner tonight. I found bags of cheese ( you know the 4 cheese kind) on sale for $1.74 a bag so I grabbed 4 ( to per pan we love cheese) and tossed them in the freezer. I have some pre-made burgers that I can use , already have the pasta and sauce. So a pretty cheap meal with what I already have in the house . Today is bill paying day ( gag gag gag lol lol ) So I'm off to get that done.

Til next time. Have an awesome day.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Pumpkins, Pumpkins every where and other weird stuff

Right before Halloween I picked up 3 small pumpkins. Why 3 you ask ? Well the kids already craved their pumpkin and well pumpkin is cheap this time of year. Maybe I had a weak moment lol lol . So there sat 3 perfectly good pumpkins. What to do???? Why make pie of course . One problem you see I've never made a real pumpkin pie . Mrs. Smith and I are really good friends . So I looked around on the net and found an awesome pie recipe on cooks.com . I figured why not . I took those pumpkins and clean , peeled and boiled those poor lonely pumpkins. We even roasted the seeds ( the kids and Hubby sucked them down lol ) . OK now what do you do with 3 pumpkins worth of cooked pulp???? Why you freeze it of course. Now mind you I didn't know if freezing would work. So at 8 pm Thursday night I decide I better make a pie and see how it turns out . ( I could picture myself trying to make pie for thanksgiving and with my luck it turns out like crap). I had planned on doing this over the weekend so the pulp was defrosted. I did over do it with the pumpkin pie spice lol but it was so good that it's already gone lol lol . The only thing I recommend is to drain off an extra liquid before you mix everything together . So my next experiment ???? Apple pie filling . I want to mix everything together and cook it in the crock pot than freeze it. I have no clue if it will work so keep your fingers crossed .

Now for some crafty stuff. I finally got the scarfs done yippee . So now on the the ornaments. I'm going to paint the wood ornaments than maybe burn stuff like Joy , Peace , Love on them The dollars trees around here have had some awesome stuff this year . I got wooden stars and wreaths 12 for a $1 ( I'm not sure how many I have lol maybe 4 dozen lol ) , glitter glue , pre cut and pre glued foams shapes in all kinds of designs , pipe cleaners, those old round top clothes pins, paint, plus a ton of other stuff. So with all of that and the great deals I got on craft lots on eBay this summer we'll be as Bear says some crafting fools . Than Sissy said she wants a tote bag ( that I still have to make ) full of craft stuff. So back to the dollar tree lol.

Ok I'm off to get stuff done .Have a great day .TTYS