Month: December 2009

Did we make it?  Well the short answer is almost.  I just went through the entire list and am happy to say that what we didn’t accomplish fit on the back of an envelope.  It just figures that there are one or two things in each place that we didn’t get to.  That’s what lack of focus does I guess.  The one room I completely finished was the kitchen, until we had the new front door installed.  Now I have to redo the trim on that wall.  The living room is all done too except for needing 2 more curtains.  The basement didn’t get much attention at all, that will have to do done in 2010. Here’s the complete list of what’s left: Bedroom:  new trim, curtain on closet, paint window frames. Bathroom: new trim.  I think we’re going to have this room drywalled (currently paneled) so I’ve been waiting. Office: Paint, decorate, new curtains. Kitchen: trim around new door. Back Room: finish trim, put cabinet door back on. Living Room: finish curtains. Spare Bedroom: Touch up paint on trim.  I organized this room and it so nice to have more usable space. Basement: Install laundry tub, install shower, paint,

Well, I did it.  After literally HOURS of online research I went ahead and ordered an incubator!  I am so excited.  We got a Christmas bonus at work at the very last minute so I didn’t use it to buy gifts for anyone else.  I have been thinking a lot about chickens the last few days and making plans for the upcoming year.  I had hoped we would have enough eggs to sell by now but since we had to cull our first flock for egg eating right before the heritage birds starting laying we haven’t had enough.  I really didn’t want to order a bunch more heritage chicks.  They are so expensive and of course are straight run so we end up butchering most of the roos.  The other option is to go to the feed store in the spring and buy Rhode Island Red pullets.  I do really like my heritage breeds though, so what”s a girl to do? I guess I’m going to try to hatch my own!  I won’t have anything invested in the chicks except the cost of the incubator and running it.  We can have the roosters butchered for our own use since we

Pictures of special loved ones get Santa hats around here! Our poor tree, I never did get around to decorating it! My sister and my family’s foreign exchange student, Nana. Isn’t my Mom’s tree beautiful!? My mama. This needs no explanation. 😉 Tresa, Mom, Me Us. Hope  you had a great one!

So there was a good sale… I got: 2 gallons milk 24 chicken patties (yes, gasp, these are one of the few convenience foods I still buy) 2 packages smoky links 1 package ham slices (to freeze in case I am asked to take ham rollups to a party again) 10#s Koegel’s hot dogs whipping cream (for pistachio fluff, I’m a little hesitant to feed Brian’s 93 year old Grandpa the raw cream kind we like 😉 ) 12#s unsalted butter 2 of Brian’s deodorant wheat gluten jar of yeast 2 bags Bear Creek chili mix 10 bags marshmallows (for cheerio bars, yum) 1 big bottle of ketchup to restock pantry 2 pistachio pudding mixes flour tortillas (why don’t I make these?) 5 big cans of crushed tomatoes (for baked rotini) 2 cans pineapple 1 bag white chocolate chips 1 bag butterscotch chips 18 bags semi-sweet chocolate chips Another boneless ham Basically we’re covered on ham and hot dogs for about 6 months, chocolate chips for the year, store bought tomato products for quite awhile, marshmallows for the year (I hope), deodorant and yeast for quite awhile, and chicken patties for the occasional quick dinner now and then. If you

These were one of my new favorites this year. Why? Well because I love chocolate, I love mint, they were super easy, and they stand out in a crowd. First you need a good chocolate cookie base. I used Kate’ Chocolate Crinkle cookie dough. She has a great post on it over at Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op so I won’t repost here. Go see the recipe, make the dough, and come back when you’ve chilled it in your fridge for 1-3 hours or longer. You won’t need the powdered sugar for topping. Instead, you need about a cup of Andes mint baking chips. The red and white peppermint chips or the traditional chocolate and green mint pieces will both work great. Run the chip through your food processor for 30 seconds to a minute, just enough to cut the chips up smaller but not enough that they are completely powdered. Scoop the dough out about a tablespoon at a time and roll into a ball. Try not to eat too many raw, they’re pretty irresistible. Instead, roll them around a bowl or the processed baking chips. The chips won’t coat them all over but if you press a little you’ll

Who says sugar cookies have to be boring? These aren’t! First you need a good sugar cookie recipe. I wanted something pretty plain to start with. This one fits the bill perfectly, I found it at allrecipes.com. Ingredients * 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour * 1 teaspoon baking soda * 1/2 teaspoon baking powder * 1 cup butter, softened * 1 1/2 cups white sugar * 1 egg * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Now here are the two variations we made… Snickerdoodles: Roll dough in to small balls. Roll balls in a bowl of equal parts cinnamon and white sugar. Cover completely with the mixture and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at directed above. Sugar swirls: Roll out a piece of dough into a rope approximately 4″ long and maybe 1/2″ across. Gently press one long side of the rope in

These are pictured on the left below. These great if want to add an everyday cookie with a little more substance to your cookie tins. Taken from Farm Journal’s Best-Ever Cookies. 3/4 c. flour 3/4 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. cinnamon 1/8 tsp. salt 1/2 c. shortening 1/2 c. brown sugar, packed 1/2 c. sugar 1 egg 1 c. quick-cooking oats Preheat over to 325 degrees F. Cream together shortening, brown sugar, and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. I used a hand mixer at medium to high speed. Add egg; beat well. Gradually add dry ingredients, blending well. Stir in oats. Drop mixture by rounded teaspoonfuls, about 3″ apart, on greased baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to cooling racks. When cool, freeze or bundle up immediately to share at Christmas get togethers. Makes 2 1/2 dozen. I’m sharing this recipe as part of Abbie’s Christmas Cookie Recipe Swap. Click on over for other recipe ideas.

I’m home and still alive. 🙂  My mouth doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as I figured it would, at least not so far.  What I hate is that my entire bottom lip and chin are still completely numb.  I’ve had some ice cream and macaroni and cheese to eat without a problem but the water is what hurt.  My Mom stayed with me today and took really good care of me.  She even did some dishes and made some pie crusts for me.  Then Brian came home and made me oatmeal and peaches.  I can’t wait until it cools, it smells soooo good. Thank you all for your very kind words of reassurement.  I enjoyed hearing what was on your minds last night.  It super comforting to wake up this morning, anxious, and have such nice comments.  Thanks for the voice mail too. I don’t think I’m being a wimp about this but it is very inconvenient.  I was thinking that parts of this must be similar to when woman have babies.  Of course that would be a much bigger ordeal and last many, many more days.  Just the whole relying on other people and having certain life functions (in

Yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing.  Avoiding the thought.  You see, tomorrow I have the day off work… so I can have my wisdom teeth extracted.  I’ve heard about great experiences and horrible ones.  I’m just hoping I don’t blab to the Dr. too much since I’ll be heavily sedated but not out.  Oh, and I hope I live through it.  😉 So that’s what on my mind, at least every few minutes when it wins out over thinking about more useful things.  What’ s on your mind tonight?

This is the second (or third?) year in a row that my cousin, Carrie, and I have got together to bake cookies.  We make several different kinds and bundle them up to give away at Christmas.  We make some for each aunt and uncle’s family.  Its saves us from buying presents for everyone but we avoid that feeling of not having given anything. It was a fun day.  We got quite a bit done, especially considering that we didn’t start until around noon and Carrie had to feed the baby several times throughout the day.  He was fun to have around and seemed to like the Christmas music we were playing.  She had dressed him in the sweater I knitted for her shower gift.  It looked so cute on him! Carrie had a great idea and grabbed some of those ready to bake cookies out of her fridge before coming over.  We rolled them out and cut them in to shapes!  Of course they were just for us to eat now, not for Christmas.  We had to get warmed up, ya know. As part of Abbie’s Christmas Cookie Recipe Swap I’m going to post our other cookie creations one by