Wednesday on the Homestead

-



Good Morning!

I woke up this morning and felt the need to get out and take a short walk. Despite my 7-ish hours of sleep (7 to 8 is my norm) I felt foggy in the brain. Before even having a cup of coffee I got a quick 1 mile walk in.  It felt good to get out and move and get my blood flowing and now, no more foggy morning brain! I made my coffee and feel ready to roll with my day. I know I'll get out and walk again later on, but it was a nice way to get moving this morning.

How is your week going? Mine was busy! I had my son here over the weekend which was so nice. We took him to the airport on Monday morning and that was the reason there was no Monday Menu posted.  I just had to much going on. 

He is temporarily working in Ohio right now for his company. It's only a 6 month stint.  His company provides him a flight home each month or he can use it to fly someone out to see him.  This was the first time he had come home since he left in February.  It was great to see him and catch up with all he has going on. We keep up by text and phone calls but nothing beats an in person weekend :). 

My youngest son also came on Sunday and spent the day.  I heard from all the rest of my children as well and had a nice relaxing Mother's Day. 

Of course Mother's Day always has me thinking of my own mother. She died almost 23 years ago. As the years have gone by there are those times in life that come and I think of her more so. This holiday is one of them. My mom had the kindest heart, the most beautiful personality, and lots of love for all those around her. Everyone that met her, loved her. She was just that type of person.

As I spent my 22nd Mother's Day without her, I can say, I do miss her..

 

This week we also had several very summer like days that we enjoyed. My hubby had his first swim in the pond. It's still too cold for me! But I had a good time sitting in the warm sunshine and Ping was thrilled to have us back down at the pond again..


 





Goals
Today I have a few different goals I want to accomplish....

~call and make an appointment for my yearly eye exam
~get my Roomba doing its job around here! :)
~clean out and clear out a couple more cupboards in my kitchen. Aside from downsizing I'm also rearranging things to better work for me 
~mop my kitchen floor


Dinner tonight is finishing off a few leftovers so no cooking today. 



For the Love of Books!
I'm still reading Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. It's enjoyable. I didn't realize that the book was a collection of several animal stories (with the well known story of Mowgli the man cub being the most famous). I'm over half way done with it. I had so much going on over the weekend I didn't get a lot of time to read. I'm planning on finishing it this week. 

My next book will be Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island


Projects
Part of my cupboard cleaning also involves moving a few things into the kitchen that I currently store in my laundry room/pantry.  Items such as my crockpot, Bosch mixer, Instant Pot, air fryer and so on. They are not in easy to reach areas and it makes it a hassle each time I want to use them. I don't want to store them on my counter top as my ideal counter top is one that is as clear and empty as I can get it.  I'm planning on getting that all done today. 


Fitness and Health
Last week was an awesome walking week for me. I did 4 to 5 mile walks several times and was feeling great. Over the weekend with all I had going on, I didn't get out and walk. And then it always seems like more of an effort to get back in the swing of things again. Does that happen to you? 

That was another reason I wanted to get out and do a quick walk this morning. It helps me to get motivated and back on track. 


View from my Deck
This morning view isn't from my deck, but my front yard. I took the picture as I was getting back from my morning walk.  The sky looks a bit threatening and rain is in the forecast. But it's not cold out and actually made for perfect walking weather..

 



Today's weather: High: 66   Low: 51



That's all for this week my friends,
Crystal

Comments

Post a Comment

All messages are moderated. After approval your message will be posted. Thank you for your comments!! Crystal :)

Popular posts from this blog

Canning Chicken Noodle-less Soup

-
Image
Today was one of those busy days that it seemed I was moving from the time my feet hit the floor until this evening.. But, I got so much done and that is a great feeling! :) One of my accomplishments today was canning 14 jars of chicken noodle-less soup. I call it “noodle-less” because you can’t can noodles. They end up falling apart. So I canned the chicken, veggies and broth. When I go to use the soup I will bring it to a boil and then add a handful of noodles (any type of pasta will work) and cook it until the noodles are done. Because I plan to add the pasta after the fact I wanted to make sure there was enough chicken broth to do this. So I only filled my jars about half to two thirds with chicken and veggies and then filled with chicken broth. Here is how I did this…. I started off with 2 chickens that were a total weight of about 10lbs. I put them in my 14 quart stock pot… I then added 2 gallons of water.. And 3 tablespoons salt.. I brought this ...
Read more

Canning Cabbage

-
Image
I had 4 large heads of cabbage that weighted about 25 pounds. We had some really hot days and I figured I better get the last of them picked soon. My daughter Sierra and I ended up processing 3 of them yesterday and I have one left for a meal on my menu this week. I made pickled cabbage and then canned up the last of the cabbage. Here is the recipe for the pickled cabbage (according to how I made it)… 8 pounds cabbage 1 large onion 1 ½ red peppers 1 lb carrots ¾ cup salt 9 cups water 12 cups white vinegar 10 cups sugar 1t mustard seed 1t celery seed Slice cabbage thinly. Slice onion and peppers. Grate carrots. Mix all veggies together in a very large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and mix in well. Let sit for 2 hours to soften veggies. Rinse veggies well.  In a large stock pot (mine was 14 quarts) combine water, vinegar, sugar, spices. Bring to a boil. Add cabbage/veggies. Bring to a boil. Fill hot pint jars with veggies using a slotted spoon. Fill jar with brine...
Read more

Canning Beef Stew

-
Image
In my last blog post I shared that I had bought 10 pounds of beef roast. I cut it all up and used 4 pounds in 2 crockpot freezer meals ( http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/02/two-more-crockpot-meals-for-freezer.html ) . I used the other 6 pounds of meat along with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery to can beef stew. Here were the general proportions I used in canning 7 quarts of beef stew.. 6# beef 2# potatoes 2# carrots 1# onions 1# celery After I cut up the meat and got the freezer meals done I moved to the beef stew. I peeled and cut up the potatoes and carrots. I chopped up the onions and sliced the celery. I pulled out 3 quarts of veggie stock from my freezer to use for liquid in the stew. You can use beef or chicken stock or you can use water. I did not add anything to thicken the liquid as usually thickeners don’t hold up in canning. You can thicken the broth after it is opened if you would like. I added 1 teaspoon salt to each of my ...
Read more