There are so many things that happen around here that remind me of the book, If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. Yesterday . . all day, I was thinking about that mouse! My main chore to get done yesterday was to juice the elderberries from the freezer. When I harvest the elderberries, I cut them in clumps, put them in grocery sacks, put those in the freezer for a day or two and that makes them much ...
Farmhouse Christmas
Near the end of 2023, I said something like . . the first project I'm going to finish in 2024 is Farmhouse Christmas. It was one of the first projects I started (in early 2021) after getting back to stitching in 2020 after about 30 or more years of not stitching. Obviously, that is not what happened! I had good intentions and that counts for something, right? Not long after Christmas, 2023, I ...
Canning & Pricing Beans
I don't pay a lot of attention to prices - probably more than some but less than Vince would like. We eat a lot of beans because we like them, they have a lot of fiber and with pressure cookers, they're fairly easy and quick to cook. I will almost always cook more than we will use in one meal and have them with another meal a few days later or make a totally different casserole or soup type dish ...
Cross Stitching – Plans
Cross stitchers, in general, have plans. I want to have plans but I know I'm not sticking with a cross stitching plan. How is it that I can stick with plans in other areas of my life but not so much with cross stitching. I thought about stitching Christmas in July and I thought about Sampler September but read on and you'll see what I've decided to do and I'm thinking this is a very "adult" ...
Oscar
It's hard to believe Oscar will be 3 years old in December. As bad as the puppy stage is, or maybe I should say - as bad as it was with Oscar, it goes by fast and sometimes I wish he was still a baby. He still acts somewhat like a puppy. He can reach the pages that print in the new printer and the minute he hears it getting ready to start printing, he runs to wait to grab the paper and shred it. ...
Savings in the Kitchen
Here are two things that came to mind the past few days that I thought were worth sharing. Heavy Cream: We don't use as much heavy cream as you would think after reading this paragraph. Vince doesn't drink coffee every day but when he does, he puts just a bit of heavy cream in it. When I make ice cream in the Ninja Creami, I use a bit of cream. I almost always use less heavy cream than the ...