Homemaking on the Homestead

    Well even though winter is just starting I am so happy to say we are finally thawing out!   The temps went above 32 and now everything is beginning to melt into one big soupy mess..   But hey at least we can get out and about now.   Emily and Leanne dug out her car yesterday..   no easy feat.   Today I think she is dying for a shopping and Starbucks fix with her sisters.   Cabin fever is alive and thriving around here!   LOL..      Today I will be at home.   I have soap business stuff to catch up on and a house to clean and food to make.   We feasted on Christmas Eve dinner and then leftovers for a few days.   My son was thrilled to enjoy lots of homemade food..   and lots of food is what I made.   But now it is time to make some more.   I did make a pot of navy bean soup yesterday with my leftover ham bone. Today I think spaghetti or lasagna will be on the menu too.      I typ...

Well the last snow pictures I showed you were just the beginning of this storm!   LOL..   well maybe not really..   but pretty close! We got a break from the snow for a few hours but it is back again.   I will share some updated pics in this post.   My hubby was finally able to come home on Monday night!   Yea!!   I kept watching the DOT website waiting to see when the highway would be open and finally about 4:30pm Jacob refreshed the webpage and came to me saying..   Mom I think it’s open now.   So I checked and sure enough.   I called Tobin’s cell and told him the good news and he was so happy.    He had worked Saturday night as usual, slept at work in a chair for a few hours and worked another shift on Sunday plus overtime.   By Monday morning the highway was still closed. His company paid for a hotel room for him so he could get some sleep which was a real blessing. But by Monday evening things were open a...

We have been hit by a big snow storm.   We have spent the last couple of days dealing with lots of snow fall and blizzard like conditions.   So far thankfully we have not lost power.   To give you and idea of how much snow has fallen here is a picture I took last week that showed the dusting of snow we got on our picnic table..   And here is what it looks like today:   Tobin had to get out his tractor on Saturday to clear the driveway so he could get out of the drive way to make it to work Saturday night.   He put chains on the car and left early to make the drive.   We live in an area that can be somewhat treacherous with the winter weather.   The interstate on the other side of the Columbia River had already been closed down by the time he left.   A drive that normally  takes him about 40 minutes took him 2 hours with blizzard like conditions and his wipers freezing at time. Shortly after he left for work the state closed our hig...

  I played around with the idea of making lasagna for dinner.   It is one of Tobin’s most favorite dinners and he has been working 6 to 7 days a week lately so I figured he would enjoy it.   But then I looked in my fridge and saw leftover pot roast and leftover cranberry chicken and leftover rice..   so the lasagna will wait until tomorrow night (and Tobin will appreciate it then too!  ) and tonight will be stir fry with my leftovers.   As I type right now I have 6 loaves of bread rising in my oven and Isaac is mopping the kitchen floor.   When he is done I will start working on my dinner preps.    The weather is crisp and cold out!   Last night was in the teens and with the wind chill it was down in the single digits..   pretty cold for these parts.    The snow that fell never amounted to much on Sunday and yesterday the sun came out in time for me to snap these pictures…   Tomorrow they are pr...

    Woo Hoo.. my US Army soldier son Richard Miller is now officially back in the USA . He landed in Ft. Bragg on Sunday afternoon after a 17 hour flight. His 15 month deployment in Iraq is done!   He will be home to us in a week! 

  Well “old man winter” is here.. the temp is 25 and we are currently having the first snow of the year. So far it’s just a dusting which I am happy about..  but since it is still falling and the weather man is predicting more we will see how it all ends.  Right now I have a fire going and the house is toasty and I suspect I will be keeping that going all day and through the night. Jacob brought in LOTS of wood ( guess he deiced to make sure I was very well stocked.. no heading out into the snow and cold at 4am for him! )       We finally got our Christmas tree up and the house decorated! Yea! It looks so festive in here now. Yesterday I got my daughter’s Christmas package all wrapped and packed up so tomorrow when Tobin and I head into town for our date night we will drop it off at the post office. I have all my Christmas shopping done (I admit that I only went out once to shop.. all the re...

  She did it! She passed her Biology CLEP test on Wednesday and now has officially completed two years of college! She is on track and so excited. She joined College Plus! in April, took her first test in May and is now done with two years worth of college credits by December!  Way to go Emily !! We are extremely proud of her . Once again I just have to say how satisfied we are with College Plus! and I recommend them to anyone looking for a cost and time effective way to earn a degree… all from home. 

  Today’s Me nu   Breakfast Oatmeal Apple slices Whole wheat toast and homemade peach jam   Lunch Split pea soup (leftovers) Corn potato chowder (leftovers) Peanut butter toast (if not enough leftovers to go around) Apple slices   Dinner Chili bean soup over brown rice Green salad Dinner rolls     Baking/cooking/preparations in the kitchen to do today: Make dinner rolls Make pumpkin muffins – (now they will b e leftover oatmeal muffins instead.. we had a couple cups of oatmeal left from breakfast) Make double batch of homemade ranch dressing Make chili bean soup this afternoon   ~Soak brown rice (done) ~cook 3 cups red beans (cooking right now) ~cook 1 pound hamburger with onions, divide and use ½ for tonight’s chili and put other half in the freezer for another meal   The rest of my to-do list: Package recent orders from my country store and get them in the mailbox Bag and label laundry soap Finish grocery list for ...

  Today I have more sewing on my list. I spent my weekend sewing Christmas gifts and made great progress.  So today I hope to make even more! Leanne and Sierra plan to bake cookies this afternoon when they finish chores and school. The two of them made a bunch of cookies over the weekend and actually got them into the freezer before they were eaten up! LOL… Leanne made gingerbread men (and ladies ). Isaac helped her cut those out. Then she made strawberry bar cookies and finally topped the afternoon off by making peanut butter kiss cookies (the one where you put a Hershey kiss in the center of each cookie). Yesterday Sierra made sugar cookies. Today they want to make more sugar cookies and decorate them and Leanne wants to make Russian Tea Cakes . I need to make fudge this week and try and get that in the freezer and then we may just be done with our Christmas cookie baking.    I have been working hard to really cut t...

The cold and flu season is here and we have had a cold running its course through our home lately.  A few of us were coughing and congested so this morning I decided to make up a batch of horehound cough drops.  I took pictures along the way....  To make these cough drops you will need the bulk herb, horehound, honey and a little cream of tartar. I bought my horehound from Mountain Rose Herbs http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ .  You can find my recipe on this page: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/herbsrecipescommoncold.htm Begin by making a strong tea out of the herbs and water. Use ¾ to 1 cup of dried horehound for each cup of water. In the batch you see here I used 4 cups of dried herbs and 4 cups of water. Put the herbs and water in a stock pot ..       Bring to a boil and let boil for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let sit for about ½ hour.   Now it is time to strain the herbs. I use a juice pitcher, cheese...