Sunday night again!

Well here we are again another weekend just gone, I think we need to switch around the work week and weekends, have 5 day weekends and 2 day work weeks,  anybody with me on that one?  Well we have pictures of the chicks, not really of the girls with the chicks which we might just do this week sometime cuz I would really like some of those, also made our first loafs of bread yesterday out of the Artisan bread in five minutes a day, that is an amazing book!  and so easy to follow, turned out pretty good for first time bread makers, also made me some honeysuckle laundry detergent and softener oh my it smells so good, actually I have a load of wash in there now to be put in the dryer.  Did get more raking done yesterday and this afternoon, as long as it doesn't rain hopefully the next couple days I can get more done after I get home from work.  Steve has started the chicken coop, grabbed a couple of pictures of that too. Well this week isn't as busy as last week, only thing I have going is Bible study on tuesday evening, my daughter and I are going to do a garage sale the first weekend in May so I am trying to get stuff all in one place for that, ha wish me luck there.. Well here are a few pictures from the weekend, and I'll be blogging at ya soon!  Have a wonderful week.  Hope you got out and went to worship your Heavenly Father today! 

Good saturday morning!

Good saturday morning everyone, well I just had most of my post done went to get a link and closed out the wrong session, so know of course I am starting over, lets see what did I say 3 minutes ago?   It's going to be a beautiful (but cold) day here hoping to maybe get some raking in, we will have to see on that one it's only supposed to be in the 30's today but if the sun will unthaw the grass I could get some more raking done I'm sure.  The girls are coming out today for a  "photo shoot" with the (not as little as they were on wednesday) chicks.  My sister is coming out with her camera and taking pic's for me so stay tuned for those.  We made bread dough last night from the (here's the link that cost me my last post) http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/  I got the book from the library and have since ordered it along with a dough whisk that we got yesterday  (LOVE IT) with this dough you can have fresh bread anytime in just a couple minutes a day and it stays in your fridge (the dough) for up to 2 weeks, pretty cool actually and you can make all sorts of different breads just from a master recipe. I'll try and post a picture of the bread today I'm sure we will make at least one. It was very very easy to make no kneading kinda cool!  I remember when I was a little girl my dad would make bread every saturday night a few loaves too and we would have bread rising on all the heater vents in the house, funny how things trigger memories isn't it?  and ohhhhh the smell it was fabulous !  Sure miss my dad, but I WILL see him again one day along with my Heavenly Father!!  sometimes you can hardly wait ya know?  
Well I guess I had better get up and get a few things done,  I am cutting up old jeans, saw a really cool quilt made out of old jean squares so that will take me a while but I am amazed at how many squares you can get out of a pair of jeans!  amazing. 
So I will be blogging at you again soon!   Go out and enjoy your day!
Val

Well today was the day!

 Happy mid-week everyone!  Well today is the day we are no longer empty nesters...  why you ask?  we picked up our 15 little chicks this afternoon, they are all safely upstairs in their brooder, eating and drinking and pooping contently. We have them under an ultra red light to keep them from picking on each other.  Our oldest dog is just a momma hen I think every time I go upstairs Allie is right behind me,  I hope our Mr. Mac feels the same way, he doesn't even know we have them yet..  neither does the cat! What he doesn't know won't hurt the chicks , put they can't get into the room either so I'm not to concerned.  My sister is coming out this weekend with her fancy camera to take pictures of my grand daughters and the chicks so I'll post more then.  The other things I'm working on, lets see, I finally bought fabric last night to make some heating pads with field corn, I picked up some yummy smelling essential oils,  Jasmine, Honeysuckle, and Lilac, I am going to make another batch of lotion which I LOVE by the way.. and I also have some Almond extract a brewing!! and I almost forgot I am in the process of making some little knitted teddy bears.  I'll post pic's of those later too.  It feels good to just be home for a night it's been a busy week.  Hope your week is going well and thanks for stopping by!
Talk to you soon, or should I say blog at you soon?
Val

 

Sunday night already!

I knew the weekend was going to go fast but gee wiz!! It was a busy weekend for sure.  I did get my hand lotion made today and it only took maybe 5 minutes to do, I made it with lavender scent essential oils but it doesn't smell like lavender to me, so I'm thinking maybe it does depend on where you get your essential oils and what you pay for them?  I got mine at hobby lobby,  I LOVE the lotion the way it feels it's really really nice, the smell won't kill me but I won't do that flavor again until maybe I get some different oil, but I could just make the lotion without smell. Any ideas on my theory about the oil? 

This is all it takes plus water and scent.

Before it goes into the microwave for 1 minute.

after you add the water it turns real creamy looking.

The finished product. 

I found this recipe here : http://asonomagarden.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/how-to-make-handmade-handlotion-w-label-download/

Check out her website she has some really cool stuff on it! She is one of the blogs I follow and if I must say so myself I think I follow some pretty cool ones, well cool to me anyways.

Gonna be a busy week, tomorrow night I am helping out in a friends nursery at her church, I have a good friend whose sister passed away very unexpectedly this weekend, so  will have to fit a visitation in, Bible study on tuesday night,  Wednesday afternoon we get our new babies  CHICKENS  very excited, I will post some pictures we went to TSC today for chick starter and they had a variety of different age chicks there, wow what a difference  between a week old chick and 2 week old chicks,  wow.  Ours will be a day old when we get them but it won't be long and they aren't quite as cute.  Thursday night meeting my BFF's for coffee and chat I think that is what I am looking forward to the most and then it's friday again   YAY!!!  So all I will be posting again soon so keep in touch and have a great week, don't forget your time with your Heavenly Father. 

A beautiful saturday.

Well it's a beautiful saturday here.  The sun is shining and I got another section of lawn raked this morning, a little at a time before it gets hot out cuz I don't do well working in the heat.  Got lots done last night, vacuumed, dusted, made 4 loafs of Amish freindship bread, used banana instant pudding in two of them, oh my very very good, they probably won't be going to church tomorrow, keeping one and bringing the other one to my daughters house this afternoon!  I'll  make another desert to take along tomorrow with the other two loafs which I used vanilla instant pudding those are usually pretty yummy too.  I used my last Almond extract last night and thought to myself, hmmmm wonder if I couldn't make my own Almond extract, worked for the Vanilla and that turned out good, actually on my second batch of that, Christmas wiped me out there, got smart though made a bigger batch this time, so next on to Almond, I did find out that "bitter" almonds are illegal in the U.S. so I guess I will just use normal ones,  heaven forbid I do anything illegal.  I am really going to try and make my homemade hand lotion too some time this weekend, it's a busy one though. I have to start getting ready to go to my daughters we are going to see a musical this afternoon  it is Seussical the musical .  The first nanny job my daughter had, it's the oldest girl  that is in it, and I believe she has a lead role in it, so kinda excited to see that whole family. So into the shower I am headed and out the door.  I'll try and post later with pictures of the yummy Amish bread and hopefully instructions and pictures of the hand lotion.  Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to go to church!!  It does a "soul" good! 

Wow it's wednesday already!

I can't believe it's wednesday already and I still really don't have this figured out, I guess I go with what I have for now.  I did do my sneak peek project today after work though the picture doesn't do it justice but I don't have a fancy camera just the one on my phone, so this is where I got the idea from their picture  is much prettier than mine
http://rhythmofthehome.com/spring-2011/seasonal-cooking-preserved-lemons/


I also did some raking after work today, it was just so nice out I had to just be outside and yuck our yard is a mess this time of year so every little bit helps, what I do now I don't have to do later. 


Well I have told myself I am not spending more than an hour or so on this blog after work, and I think I'm already over my allotted time , tried figuring out some stuff and it just didn't work.  I am getting very excited for spring this year, not sure if it's because we have a new tractor and that opens up a whole lot of new things we can grow, or maybe just the fact our baby chicks will be here next wednesday, we are all ready for them, Steve is working on the coop, but we have the brooder all set up and ready for babes. I told Kamilah and Jazzy to start thinking of names for them, gee I guess I should have a few names ready too huh?  Well I hope you enjoy the rest of your week,  and please remember to pray for the country of Japan.


See you soon! 

So I think I might have a problem.

Well it appears that with the template I downloaded I can not add to my recipe page seperately so it's posted on the main page., sorry about that, well I'm still under construction here and I'm thinking I might be for a while  :)  even with help.. LOL 


The crock pot chicken was pretty yummy too, and my broth is in the fridge waiting for all the fat to come to the top so I can remove that and then I will store and freeze the broth in mason jars..  rather anxious to use it now, maybe some home made chicken soup should be on the menu in the next few days.... 


We had a wonderful weekend with our crazy little girls.. they are so much fun to have here and mommy and papi get a break too! and we love being able to have them in church with us too it's just a win, win situation. 


Well here we are at sunday night again, how does it get her so fast it was just friday! 




I do have another project I am working on though.  Here is a sneak peek...

Doggie treats

	½ cups water(add more water later if required) ½ cup oil 2 eggs 3 tablespoons peanut butter 2 tsp. vanilla 2 cups flour ½ cup cornmeal ½ cup oats Blend wet ingredients together. Whisk dry ingredients together and mix into wet mixture to form a ball of dough. Roll out and shape. Put onto a non-stick cookie tray or lightly greased one. Cook 20 minutes at 400 F. Turn off oven and allow the biscuits to cool in oven until crisp and hard. Store in airtight container.

Doggie treats

Well as I promised I did make doggie treats yesterday, I will post the recipe in the recipe section. It's so easy and your furry friends will love your forever, I made a double batch and never thought it would end... here are some pictures for you too.

Saturday morning!

Good morning,  lots to do today as it's saturday, my day to do all those things that lots of people have all week to do... plus I have the oven heating for the "doggie" treats, I will be posting the recipe in my recipe section, so if you have a special someone that likes peanut butter my guess is they will love these.  I think this is the 3rd batch I have made and will be making a double batch today they seem to go through them and they only get them at night after they come in from being outside for potty breaks,  funny thing is they have it figured out if they take turns going out they get double the treats, and who said dogs can't think?  Ha!! I'm here to tell you different. Also have a few other things I'm reading up on and going to try over the next couple of days.  I have the girls for a sleepover tonight, community group tomorrow, lesson to correct tomorrow afternoon, so not sure how much I'll get done this weekend.  Good thing we have the TIME CHANGE this weekend, at least when it's light outside you feel as though you should be awake...  you know the feeling :-) 
Ok off to do my devotions to get this day a rolling!  only way to start it is in God's Word, do you have a time set aside for your Heavenly Father everyday, if not oh I highly recommend it, just try it for a week and see how much closer you are, you know it is a relationship and those are two way streets! 
I would also like to thank my dear friend Karla for making my blog look so cute and for my blinkie button go ahead take one!  I WILL learn the in's and out's of this designing my own blog, it's a goal I have.  Well I hope everyone has a nice weekend, and don't forget to go worship your Heavenly Father sometime tomorrow, or today if that's how you do it,  JUST DO IT!!  

Happy Friday Eve

Well it's finally friday eve,  went grocery shopping that is a big chore done! all put away, I love the feeling of full cupboards, fresh fruit on the counter, veggies in the fridge.  Tomorrow I am going to try a whole chicken in the crockpot, and then make my own broth from that found a really cool website that tells you exactly how to do it.

http://thehappyhousewife.com/cooking/whole-chicken-in-a-crock-pot/ super cool and super easy! Well I am happy to say the Zicam worked, woot woot!!  I am feeling alot better,  I still feel like I'm fighting a cold but I know I would feel a lot worse if it weren't for the zicam. This weekend we have our two granddaughters for a sleepover, we LOVE that! Grandma has a surprise for them, bought them both new throws for their beds, Kamilah's is a princess throw, and Jazzy's is tinkerbell.  They will be excited!!  I will also be making dog treats again I will be posting the recipe over the weekend so check out the recipes tab for that, I also want to make my lotion but that might not be happening I will have to wait and see. 

Back up and running!

Well what do you think I really like my new blog template, my friend Karla came out and helped me set it up, and I learned a few things tonight.  Not much to say I'm really tired tonight, coming down with a cold I'm afraid, picked up some Zicam at noon been taking that faithfully every 3 hours, I'll let ya know how it works, I have taken it before and it did help, just hoping I caught it in time, well at least maybe it will cut down the cold time.
Hopefully I'll have a little more work done on my blog in the next few days, still a few things I want to work on.
Hope everyone has a great week!

Another week started!

Well how was your Monday? Mine was ok must admit glad it’s over!  Got my goodies from mountain rose herbs today, going to make my own hand lotion and also lip balm  excited about that!!  also got some yummy loose tea from there too, stay tuned for the lotion making I am going to change up this page a bit first, have a good friend coming over on wednesday night to help me , so I really want to get my page the way I want it before I do a whole lot to it,  so be patient God isn’t finished with me yet… Steve helped a friend move today and again tomorrow, we are getting a new kitchen set out of the deal so thats a plus for us!   Waiting for payday so we can order our chicks, oh how much fun this will be and adventure, something different for us.  Well stay tuned and we will talk again so, I so want to remain faithful to this blog!

Our favorite book lately.

We will be ordering our baby chicks within the next week or so, kinda excited actually, but first we need to prepare a brooder  (place for baby chicks) and once the snow is gone Steve can begin on the “Coop”.  Our chickens will not be free range as I don’t care to have them all over the deck and around the pool etc, but we do plan on giving them a good size pen outside, the bigger the happier they will be.  We are going to get just hens (layers)  no roosters for this chick, had one of them once and never again!  It’s been about 13-14 years since we had chickens but I am so sick of paying the high price for eggs and then you see and read the conditions the chickens are raised under and it just makes me ill.  So we have the land so we are going to go for it, and we can always sells extra eggs too.  We are getting chickens that will lay brown eggs, and also the Araucanas  which lay different shades of bluish eggs.  An excellent website for info is backyardchickens check it out!  We should be authentic dummies by the time we are finished with the book.

Do you have chickens, ever thought about it?  If so what kind do you have?

A first time for everything.

Well I certainly wouldn't have believed you if you had told me I would actually have a blog, but I have been reading so many lately and have learned so much, and I think I could probably contribute to blogland. This site is certainly under construction as I have no idea what I am doing but I will learn soon enough I guess, so stop back soon and hopefully I will have something fun, or maybe even interesting for you to read or look at.