Homemaking on the Homestead

I love the New Year. A fresh start, time to think, God's story of your life ready to unfold day by day.  Last year was a good year. After a few discouraging years in a row it was a much needed blessing for us. The birth of 3 grandson's was the highlight!    I'm excited for the year to begin. I have my word for the year picked out (you can find info on this HERE if you are not familiar with this).  My word last year was “intent”. It was a perfect word for me. My desire was to be intent on all that I pursued. To be focused on the areas of my life that were important to me. This year my word is “purpose”. I desire to live my life with purpose, to live it purposefully.  This year I have goals and desires, plans and direction. I need to live my days with purpose in order to see accomplishments. I hope to share more about these topics throughout the month of January. Also, as I start my 11th (or is it 12th :) year of blogging I wan...

Wednesday Snap Shot is a quick peek into my week. If you'd like to join in on my Wednesday Snap Shot.. copy and paste my post, add your answers (you can also copy the pic).. link your post to my blog and then come back and let me know you shared your week. I'll come and visit you and read about your homemaking week!! :) So Far This Week This year was probably the most relaxed Christmas I've had in years. :) Mostly because the big family celebration was the prior week. So Christmas day was just my hubby, youngest daughter, her boyfriend and my sons. Hubby had worked the night before and slept until 3:00 and we opened gifts after he got up. I had cooked the day before and just set out food and everyone just ate as they got hungry, we enjoyed coffee, hot cocoa and goodies. And we visited a lot. As the week the started it was time for me to do a little clean up around the house. Usually I put Christmas away the day after. But on Monday I just picked up t...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Ours was relaxed and enjoyable. We did not open gifts until about 3:00 in the afternoon. We waited for my hubby to wake up for the day (he works the night shift). It's nice that my kids are adults and can handle the wait, ha, ha! :) That would never have worked when they were younger. On Christmas Eve day I baked a ham and made a potato casserole and a salad and had the leftovers from that on Christmas day. Meal planning this week won't be to difficult. I'll use the leftover ham that I have and add it into a couple other meals. In fact tonight I'm making mac & cheese w/ham mixed in it. I'll add a salad on the side. After a few days of rich, sweet foods I've had my fill and am desiring some fresh veggies. Also  after tonight I'll be ready for a few nights of something other than ham! :) So I have a couple good looking chicken recipes to try out. Here is what I have planned for the rest of t...

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!!  

I wanted to share the Christmas socks I made for my grandchildren. I've always loved Christmas socks and it was my tradition to fill socks for my children every Christmas and they have fun memories of this. I wanted to do something similar for my grandchildren, but on a smaller bases. I wanted my own children to be able to carry on the tradition they had for their children. So I had this idea. How about using childrens socks and fill them with a few goodies? So I purchased the socks... I rolled the mate of each sock and put them in the bottom of the other sock. Then I assembled the goodies... I filled the socks.. And hung them on the tree... My grandchildren loved them..  

Wednesday Snap Shot is a quick peek into my week. If you'd like to join in on my Wednesday Snap Shot.. copy and paste my post, add your answers (you can also copy the pic).. link your post to my blog and then come back and let me know you shared your week. I'll come and visit you and read about your homemaking week!! :) So Far This Week We had our family Christmas celebration on Saturday. My hubby and my son's girlfriend have to work on Christmas Eve so we decided to celebrate early. It was so much fun to have my house full of family. Lots of laughter and lots of grandchildren noise. Sierra took a family photo of everyone. And it was a big group even though we were missing some of children who live out of state and out of the country. One of these days when everyone is here I don't think we are all going to fit in the living room! :) After that it was major house clean up. But our time together was well worth the mess. On My To-Do List ...

My family had our Christmas dinner on Saturday and we had a LOT of food. And I swear I still feel stuffed, ha, ha!! :) So I'm going to attempt to figure out what to eat when nothing is sounding particularly good. Tonight will be easy. I still have some leftovers from our dinner to serve. So we'll be having a buffet of kaula pork, meatballs, macaroni salad and I'll make a green salad to go with this. I have more leftovers to use up but after a few days we've pretty much had our fill. So I'm going to freeze the rest for a couple future meals as well as a meal or two for my husband's work lunches. The rest of the week is looking like this.. Chicken Soup I love making chicken soup in my Instant Pot. So easy, so good. I'll serve biscuits and a salad along side. Tacos Basic hamburger tacos with all the trimmings. I'll serve tortilla chips and salsa along with the tacos. Pizza I'll probably not be making it, but picking up a...

Wednesday Snap Shot is a quick peek into my week. If you'd like to join in on my Wednesday Snap Shot.. copy and paste my post, add your answers (you can also copy the pic).. link your post to my blog and then come back and let me know you shared your week. I'll come and visit you and read about your homemaking week!! :) So Far This Week What a weekend it was! We don't get a lot of snow over the winter. But when a snowstorm does hit, sometimes it can be a big one. It started Wednesday afternoon but only left a dusting and I thought that might be all. But no, it began snowing again on Thursday and all day Friday and well into the night. By the time I got up on Saturday morning we were in a winter wonderland. I might appreciate snow more if it was not such a challenge here. And if I did not have children out driving in it. My husband grew up in the Midwest so he seems to manage well in adverse winter conditions. But here in the Northwest we never seem t...

We had an eventful weekend with the weather (which I'll share more about on Wednesday) and I had extra people in my house waiting for the storm to end. I ended up doing a lot of cooking to keep tummies fed. I made chili and soup, breakfast foods and more. This week my attention is focused on our family dinner and shopping and making final plans for that. We we'll be having our meal on Saturday. I'll be doing easy meals for the rest of the week. My plans for this week... Roasted Chicken in the Instant Pot I'm hoping to make a video of the roasted chicken in the IP. We'll see how my week goes and if I have time for that. In any case I'll be serving my chicken with stuffing and a salad Spaghetti Basic, quick and simple. I'll serve it with french bread and green beans. Pan Fried Petite Sirloin Steaks I'll make garlic roasted potatoes and a veggie of some sort to go with this. Christmas Dinner I'm making kalua pork in the I...

Oh this was good!! I just kind of put this together as I was going along. I had about 3# of potatoes that needed to be used up and about 3/4# bacon in my fridge. The measurements are simply based on what I had. The end result was eaten up in no time at all! I peeled and cut up my potatoes, fried up the bacon and then put everything in my IP...   I let this cook on "manual" for 10 minutes and did a natural pressure release for about 10 minutes and then did a quick release of the pressure after that.  I used a potato masher to mash up some of the potatoes to thicken the soup. Then added the cream and it was ready to serve... If the chowder is to thick for your preference, add more cream.  If it is to thin, mash up a few more of the potatoes.  Perfect meal for cold winter evening.   Potato, Corn & Bacon Chowder for the Instant Pot This recipe could easily be made on the stove top as well or the crockpot. The IP ...

Wednesday Snap Shot is a quick peek into my week. If you'd like to join in on my Wednesday Snap Shot.. copy and paste my post, add your answers (you can also copy the pic).. link your post to my blog and then come back and let me know you shared your week. I'll come and visit you and read about your homemaking week!! :) So Far This Week I was still in vacation mode for the end of last week. My hubby had 2 weeks off and then went back to work for 2 nights and then back on his weekend. The break was so nice. With him being home we did more things together and that kept me busy. This week so far I've got the groceries in the house and have been focused on finishing up my Christmas shopping and planning our family Christmas. My husband and my son's girlfriend have to work on Christmas Eve (our traditional time to get together) so I'm planning on the 17th (the weekend before) for our family time. On My To-Do List Laundry Vacuum carpets Swee...

I survived last week without a menu.. :) but I've been doing menu's for so long now that I don't like the feeling of having no idea what I'm cooking every day. But, it was a good opportunity to be creative! I had about 3#'s of potatoes that needed to be used up. They were starting to grow eyes and few felt slightly soft. I also had about ¾ of a pound of bacon in the fridge that was an open package and thought potato soup sounded good. I used my IP to make it and it was delish. I have pics I took and will try and get it posted with my super easy recipe later this week. I also took a 2# pork roast and sliced into thick slices, layed it in my IP and liberaly sprinkled it with Cajun seasonings (Tony Chaceries brand) a little salt, pepper and garlic. I added about 1 ½ cups of water and pressure cooked it for about 10 minutes. When it was done I shred it into chunky pieces. We used this to make pork sandwiches and wraps and used it to top salads. ...

Oh where do I begin. The birth of my grandson was amazing in so many ways. Birth.. in today's society we've stripped women of the spiritual experience that it really is. God has something to show us, to take us through, to accomplish in each and every baby that is born. We walk through more than we had thought we would and we deal with more than we ever, ever thought we'd deal with. To know you have a God that loves you and is there for you is how you grow. The answer today from the medical community is simple.. epidural.. take the pain away.. take the suffering away. But it comes at a cost for so many. Not for everyone, but it is known that induction, epidurals, and such lead to C section for many women. And more importantly it takes away from the growth that God has for you through the process of birth. It is an incredible time in life to see the hand of God and to walk away feeling empowered and see growth in so many ways you never thought were possib...

Wednesday Snap Shot is a quick peek into my week. If you'd like to join in on my Wednesday Snap Shot.. copy and paste my post, add your answers (you can also copy the pic).. link your post to my blog and then come back and let me know you shared your week. I'll come and visit you and read about your homemaking week!! :) So Far This Week As I shared on Monday our grandson made his arrival! Last week we had a wonderful week in Sacramento with my daughter, her husband, his family and the birth of our new grandson, Raylan. Next blog post on Friday will be his birth story. After getting home it has been all about regrouping and getting into the flow of things again. Laundry and grocery shopping were done and of course getting ready now to think ahead to Christmas. The tree is up and will be decorated this weekend. It is feeling very festive in my home. On My To-Do List Menu planning! :) I've kind of been working “on the fly” as they say. At these ti...

Well here it is folks.. I have NO idea what we are eating this week!! Ha, ha!! :D .. Seriously. We got home last night from a week in California and I have a beautiful new grandbaby boy and we are so in love!!! I can not wait to post all about our trip and her birth. It was an experience and it was amazing to watch God's plan. I told my daughter.. This is your birth story, and God is in control. We live in a society that wants to take control of situations like this. We don't like this open ended, we don't know where this ends, or how this goes, type situations. We want to see the end, be comforted in the future. The Bible says.. there is a time to be born. Not often today, if you go beyond the doctors and hospitals dates, you are able to experience this. But this is just a preview of the story I'll share later this week. So stay tuned. In the meantime today I'm going grocery shopping to see what kind of deals I can find and what I can pull...

We are heading to my daughter's and awaiting the arrival of baby boy grandson.  I'll be back to blogging soon!  :)  

I love this stuff. So easy to make and what a great way to stretch my homemade soaps. You can make this with homemade soap or store bought soap. Either way it is a great money saver. You know those slivers of soap that you either smoosh into the new bar of soap or toss because they are just to small to use? Well now you can save them and get extra miles from them. The measurements for making liquid soap are simple..  1oz of soap to 1 cup of water.  You will have to weigh your soap bits or you can buy a bar of soap and the weight will be on it and add the water accordingly.  I started by making liquid hand soap. I took the slivers of soap I had and chopped them into bits... Added water and heated it up on the stove until the soap bits melted. I had purchased a liquid soap bottle because I did not have any. This one I got at IKEA for $2.99. If you use liquid hand soap you can just save the bottle and reuse it. I poured my soap into the...