Baby it's Cold Outside

We have been subjected to cold, cold, cold weather the past few days. Today, the windchill was -18. Now, I know that in the far northern states this is not cold. However, I am a cold-hater and it is COLD!

Along with the cold we have SNOW (yay) this is the only good thing that comes from the cold in my opinion. Snow makes the whole world feel look clean, fresh, and new. I love that about snow. There is a down side to every good thing it seems, and that is the fact that our energetic, rambunctious 18 month old LOVES to play outside. She would stay out there for EVER if I allowed it. But her fun has been put on hold to the the below zero temps and snow that is as deep as half her height. So, what is a Mommy to do on a freezing cold day when the wind is blowing, and the snow is flying? Turn to pinterest of course! I have a board of pins for a "rainy day" or "snowy day" or "extra, really whiny day" if ya know what I mean.

Yesterday was a combo, snowy and an extra, really whiny day. I love E, and she is so sharp, and knows so many words....just not enough. Mommy can only listen to so many "uhnnn, uhhh, uhhh" grunts referring to one or one hundred different things, that she knows very well she is not supposed to have. Thanks to Pinterest our afternoon was saved! I had found this link for a recipe on homemade finger paints! These paints are all made with ingredients in my kitchen, and I was not afraid to let E use just in case she decided to lick it off her fingers. Which would be no surprise if she did. (Now I know they have artificial food coloring, and it is recently more widely thought that these are bad for the health and a cause for behavior problems. I personally have not done a lot of research on this. E did not end up eating any, so no worries there. But if she had I figure that was better than eating actual PAINT chemicals!)

These paints were easy to whip up.  The mix thickens up quire a lot, and I chose to thin it down some more just for ease of use for E. The original post clarifies all of that. Over all we were VERY happy.E wanted to use the paint brush because she does NOT like to have gunky hands. Where she gets this from, I have NO idea! I plan to thin the paints out even more as it turned out goopy on the papers. The activity kept E entertained for a good QUIET 15-20 mins. That is a feat! Mommy got the dishes done in peace, another feat!

Here are the paints in containers. 

So for you mommies out there, try it, totally worth the 10 mins it takes to whip up. E gave one picture to MeMa (she was so excited to show it to her!) and we have one on the fridge, and several that are "all gone" to put in 1 1/2 year old terms! :)

So intent! Maybe she will be an artist! 

Maybe, it's too soon to tell....

It's that time of Month again...

Now, if you are a woman, or someone married to a woman, I know what your thinking! But don't be alarmed, there will not be any "too much information", or biology ed here!

I am talking grocery time! If you are not familiar with what it is like to live 1 to 1 1/2 hours from a Walmart, Sams Club, Target, Dillions, or what have you, then let me explain. EVERY trip is a BIG deal. We live in rural Kansas, we don't get to the "big city" all that often. Therefore, we have settled on a once a month shopping trip. It's what works best for us.

Now, I'm not saying its perfect, or enjoyable, or easy by any means. It is stressful, draining, exhausting, and frustrating at times. Especially when you've had several comments on how full your cart is, when the cashier asks you to repeat again" You have EIGHT gallons of Milk?" Yes, eight, I buy eight gallons of milk every month. I also buy 4 pounds of butter, at least that in cheese, and 48 eggs. How about that!

Now I know a lot of folks think Walmart and the "big chains" are bad and we should all avoid giving them our business, because they are running the small guy out. And I agree with that, I wish I could shop locally. I want to support the local grocer. However, the difference in buying milk for $1.99 vs. almost $6? Big chain is gonna win every time.  Now some would say, you should sacrifice something else you don't need to make it fit the budget. For us, we already have done that. I don't buy my husband his favorite potato chips because I buy our daughter fresh fruit. I only buy two cartons of the deliriously delicious caramel macchiato creamer so that I can buy toothpaste, or mouthwash. It's hard to be the person in the middle, and unfortunately the middle class is growing, quickly. Which means the big guys are gonna rake in the dough.

Wow, that was a tangent, a real rant if you will. My thoughts lead to this.

• What do you do to stay in budget? 
• What do you sacrifice to make the cut?
• How many DIYers do we have out there who do it to make the dough stretch a little farther?
• Anyone else shop by the month? Share some tips with us if you do!! (I'm always eager to find and easier way to complete this task!)

Personally, I have resorted back to the ol' colored sharpies on notebook paper for our grocery list. (This is master copy though) I keep a white board on the fridge for easy access when I use the last of something, it's right there for me to write it down. The on the eve of the "big day" I sit down and copy all the items from the white board on to paper. I color code into sections. (ie. Dry goods, Cold, Misc, Health and beauty, baby, etc.) This makes for easy reference at the store, things are separated enough that I can find them easily. I also go through all my coupons, and mark each item on the list with a star if I have an associated coupon. For additional savings, I hop on the computer to one of the great coupon websites and print any that coincide with my list.

That is the easy part. On to lessons when shopping with a toddler. It is absolutely necessary to rush immediately to the chip aisle and pick up one bag of cheddar puff corn. ( If your lucky you will make it out of the store with a) some puffs still in the bag and b) not covered in orange powder.) the purpose of the puff corn you ask? Why to bribe your whiny, a hem angelic baby into sweet behavior for the following 2 to 2 1/2 hours. ( And yes you read right, TWO or more hours) I can't remember the last time we made it out in under 2 hours and without multiple carts. I digress, now I shop in shifts. First, dry goods, non perishables, etc. This will most likely take the longest at around 1 1/2. When I've collected all on my list I hop up to the check out spend what seems like and ungodly amount of money and jaunt out to the car and unload. (all while trying to remember to hand the appropriate coupons, remind the cashier of the items on the bottom of the cart and cajoling your now screaming toddler that she can have her puffs back as soon as the nice, however annoyed looking, lady rings it up.)

Second shift is cold items. This takes a little less time to pick up all the items as for one you don't have to run from one end of the store to the other and back again, you already have the cheese puffs :). This time however you are explaining constantly that no, it is not time to go home, and no daddy is not here with us. When all the items are gathered, I run through check out again, praise God I made it under budget and head outta there.

Using coupons I probably save somewhere between $8-12 each trip. Of course sometimes more, and sometimes less. I just remind myself that even the small amounts help!

I'm tired now just thinking about the next grocery trip! Time to snuggle in with a good book and forget the worries!

Note: This picture has nothing to do with groceries....I just think this kid is adorable.
Worth every whine and minutes lost to grandma's in the store fawning over her!

Farm Girl Birthday!

Well I fell off the blogging wagon, life happened over the past few months and things got put to the side. Focusing on family and what needs to happen to keep the really truly important things in place.However, a recent trip to YF&R 2014 has encouraged me to pick it back up so.....

To play catch up, since the last post, I have gone back to work, we have moved to a larger home, with a larger "lot" if you will and about a million other little things have happened as well.
But to just pick up where we left off, I'm gonna share our daughter's first birthday photos. We had so much fun!

 I found this cute idea on pinterest for a tractor cake from cupcakes. I do recommend making all the cupcakes yourself!! I split the difference with my sis-in-law, and our cupcakes were different heights. But over all, a great success!

The decorations were simple, I'll admit most of it I threw together the morning of. (Shame on me, made the day too stressful!)

I had on hand some multi colored silk daisy's that I threw in some vases with a little filler, and wrapped burlap ribbon around them. (There is on showing in the picture below, of course I was too busy to remember a close up picture!)

Of course balloons are a must have at any birthday party!

The greatest part of the day was having the whole family together, to celebrate the life of the little girl who made me a Mommy!

Happy Birthday!

DIY Dog Food Storage

I recently saw a pin on Pinterest where some one took an old popcorn tin, painted it and used it to store their dog food.
I had already been using an old kitty litter bucket to store ours. (Gotta use something when it comes in a 50lb bag)

This is what I started out with.

At first I just painted it, but the purple started to peel since I was painting on plastic, so I ended up spray painting it later. (still a fun purple)

I used chalkboard paint for the lid. And wrapped a ribbon around the handle and top part of bucket, using hot glue to attach.

Here is the finished product. Not perfect but much better than the ugly bucket from before!

Couldn't have done it with out my little helper! 

Home made Swiffer clothes

I love my swiffer. And I mean LOVE! It gets used multiple times in a day. Our dog, as much as we love her, is a shedder....I HATE having dog hair everywhere, on the baby on the floor. She walks and hair just falls off of her! That means that I went through many of the swiffer pads, they started to add up. SO after taking some inspiration from One Good Thing by Jillie, I made my own. I spent NOTHING on this project. Just my time.


I had some old pink yarn on hand, and just did a regular knit stitch until I came up with this:

Works great, but I did discover that it works better if I spritz it with a little of my favorite home made floor cleaner (vinegar with a little water and Dawn). Picks up that dog hair like no bodies business! Plus they are reusable and best of all FREE :)

Some days my favorite craft projects are the simple no fireworks needed type!

Late Planting!

Who was good and got their potatoes in the ground yesterday?? We didn't unfortunately. Of course we had a good excuse, we had been to Colorado for my twin niece and nephew's 8th birthday! They grow too fast!

Hubby did get the ground all tilled up and little one and I are headed out to the farm this afternoon to get them in the ground with the help of MeMaw and Papa, since Daddy has to work...This will be my first garden! I am excited, overwhelmed  and nervous. Hopefully all will go well!

Since we are headed that way MeMaw said she would fry up that chicken that Papa has been asking about and feed us supper! I never object if it keeps me from having to cook :) I did decide that I would whip up an easy dessert to take with us. My original plan was to make some peach cobbler, however hubby "cooked" and ate the peaches I had saved back.

Plan B: Slow cooker Apple Crisp. I searched through some cook books I had on hand and couldn't find the type of recipe I was wanting. So I took this one from allrecipes.com. I used some oatmeal instead of walnuts. One because I had none on hand and two hubby would have had a fit! I didn't measure my oats, just threw in a handful or so...and I used half a lemon squeezed over the apples. I did this because I just had sweet apples on hand and wanted to add in a little more tart.

apples ready for crock pot

here is the topping

every kid needs to play in the Tupperware cabinet right?

ready to go

Easy to put together and even easier to cook! Although it is a bit harder now with our little mischief maker :)

Birthdays and Pie

My husbands birthday is the last day in February. (When there are only 28 days) Anyway, on his side of the family there are a million of them that have birthdays in February. Ok, not a million but 5 of them all of a birthday....GEEZE. So, they just  have a big joint party, with a giant ice cream cake (yumm). Now, ice cream cake is great, but not my favorite, and its not my birthday so I just should keep my mouth shut!!

I have always wanted to make an ice cream cake for hubby's birthday, but I have always been shut down because I can't find the crunchy part. And according to the birthday boy, with out the crunchies and fudge, I should just forget the entire thing. ONE DAY, I will find the perfect way to do the crunchies and fudge....I just hate to pay that ridiculous amount for an ice cream cake!!

Anyway, all of the ranting just to lead up to the fact that my hubby, being the baby got two parties! He wanted home made ice cream. My mother in law reluctantly but willingly made him  some the next weekend, and of course you need cake to go with ice cream. I never thought getting a man to decide what cake he wants would be an ordeal. So we went with pie. I made home made apple pie and a lemon meringue. Hubby LOVES lemon meringue. All I have heard since we have been together, is that his Grandma Maureen made the best lemon meringue pie ever. Therefore I have never tried to make such a pie, figuring I could never compete. But this year I relented and decided I would try  my hand at lemon and meringue, from scratch.....(enter panic here)

*forgive lack of pictures, I seem to always get caught up in the process and forget.*

I used a recipe from Food.com called "The Ultimate Lemon Meringue Pie" and it was...for sure. I tweaked the recipe here and there, adding more cornstarch to the meringue and to the filling. I also used 6 egg whites for the meringue.

For the crust I used Pioneer Woman's perfect pie crust recipe. (its true, perfection every time!)

And this is what I ended up with:

 

I have only had lemon meringue pie once in my whole life before this one. It was a concoction a roommate made once, and was well edible I guess, because we ate it. But this pie was tartness and sweet married together in sweet unity that can never be broken. AMAZING! I am now a huge fan of lemon.

 

It got the winning review from my hubby, who said it was almost exactly like he remembered is Grandma Maureen's. Now the real winner was that my father in law, whose mother was Grandma Maureen even loved it! Success is sweet, and tart in this case :)

 

Of course this could not have been done with out the help of our lovely daughter!

 

 

I now intend to overwhelm you with cuteness

 7 months old and she is a poser....

 

There is just something about tiny baby feet that are so sweet!

 

A house with a kitchen!

It has been awhile since posting, but I have a good excuse. My husband and I have been working to get old cabinets out of the kitchen and the new ones in! And now they are!! To show you the full extent of my excitement I would like to show you what the kitchen was like when we moved in.

 

So little counter space....so little cabinet space, and you can't see it in the picture but the upper cabinets are actually pulling away from the wall. When we took them down we discovered they were actually pulled out over an inch from the wall!! Which is extra scary because we used these cabinets for about 2 years before removing them!

 

We did a little sprucing up like painting cabinets and walls and trim to make things a little more bearable.

 

And then we took it all out this past month.

 

And put in new floor:

 

And of course new counter tops and cabinets!

 

 

Everything looks fabulous. So much more work space! In the past 2 days I have made 2 loaves of bread my husband's favorite cupcakes and meatloaf with garlic/rosemary roasted potatoes.

 

Couldn't have completed it all with out my little helper :)

 

I have to end my ramble with a shout out to my  in laws. We had a massive winter storm which left us with 17 inches of snow!! During this time they were taking care of our mama cows and babies. Unfortunately we lost one calf to the snow and my generous mother in law housed one in her mud room. Thankfully there was only one lost. But it is still hard. None of us like to see our animals suffer.

Ohhhh Saturday....

Well today is Saturday, and for me just about like any other day really. I stay home home with Emma and hubby is off to the farm. I did get a few things accomplished. I caught up on some much needed cleaning. ( Since Morgan was gone 3 days this week, I felt like I deserved a vacation from the housework too!!) And then I was craving s'mores. I love them, if it was possible to have one for dessert everyday I would. So I thought, I have a pin on pinterest that is a S'more cookie. And it was CALLING my name, saying please make me! So I started. And I only remembered to take a couple of pics with my phone half way through...so forgive me.

Here is the start, so far so good!

And then it all goes horribly wrong.

I don't know about you, but have you ever had a yummy food, cute craft, or other pinterest idea that completely lets you down? Well if I didn't before, I have now....

 

Its a bad picture anyway, but they are NOT supposed to look like that. This is what they are supposed to look like:

Picture from: Baked Perfection

 

I decided that since they spread too much and looked so flat I'd add extra flour not called for, that helped some.

 

 

Still don't look so great, but better than the first pan of cookies for sure.

 

 

Hubby commented: "Well they still taste good babe!" Which I suppose is all that matters.

Now I want to defend myself a little. As I was baking these, husband comes home, decides NOW is the time to take the doors off the kitchen cabinets. Not later, but NOW while I am trying to bake cookies, feed the baby and prep dinner.

 

But I can't complain too much, that means we are one step closer to getting the OLD cabinets out, and the new ones in!! YAY!!

 

Well to end my rambling, I have to say, first attempt at S'more Cookies....FAILED! (by my standard at least!!)

 

When Old becomes....Somewhat new

Rarely do I have the time to do many "crafty" things these days. However there has been one project hanging over my head for quite some time now. There is a dated, awful gold framed mirror that has been at the end of our hall since the house was in the family.( And that is a long time before we owned it) When my husbands Grandma Maureen passed away, all of her 8 of her children came to claim what they wanted and the odds and ends were left here. So when we bought the house a year and a half ago we naturally inherited all of those odds and ends. As ugly as I think that mirror is, I love it. I love it for it's sentimental value. I love it for what it means. I love it becomes it means something to my husband, since it was his grandmothers. So to now try and shorten a long story, I revamped said mirror for FREE! I had everything on hand, easy peasy.

 

Here you see the the beautiful,  err retro gold in full

 

 

And a close up. This mirror has such beautiful detail, another reason I couldn't bear to throw it out. AND it is a solid wood frame. To buy a mirror comparable to this one in the time? Outrageous!!

So I just slapped a  little black paint on it and boom pretty, and at least more modern than it once was.

 

And here it is back at home at the end of our hall. Please excuse the flash, its a dark hall!

 

 

Not much skill required, but still a successful and fulfilling project.

 

 

Passion of our lives

This past weekend my husband and I attended the Young Farmers and Ranchers leadership conference hosted by Farm Bureau. This was my first year to attend, and Morgan's fifth time. I was eager and nervous to attend. I am still adjusting to being a farm wife. I wasn't raised on a farm, my uncles and grandfather did farm but I paid little attention. I feel like I have learned a lot from Morgamn but understand that I have barely scratched the surface.

The purpose of this conference isn't really to teach  new farming practices. It's a leadership conference. It encourages all of us to stand up for our way of life, to educate people who don't understand what we do. There are members of society that attack agriculture. When they do this I have begun to understand that they aren't attacking just those who aren't us. We are subject to their accusations and stereotypes. It was encouraging to see all of us together working for the good of what is not just our occupation, but our lives, our families, our communities.

For a litte background to help explain why this confernce was especially rewarding for me I have to tell you that, we have recently moved to a small town of 300 or less in north central kansas. My family is from eastern kansas. I have defended my decision many times to family, friends,  and strangers on the street. They see that I have essentially put my life on hold, stepped back into the 1950's. Those people that I defend my home to do not see what I see. They see a small town, in which half of the homes are inhabitable. They see that our closet major super store is around 45 mins from our home. They see that our mall, also 45 mins away, only has a handful of stores, that the closest grocery store is almost 20 mins. They see a desolate highway that has a hole in the wall town just beside it. They see pot holes and cracked sidewalks, closed store fronts and lonely streets. I don't see any of that when I look at our town. Now I will admit I was not impressed the first time that I saw our small town. But I will never look at a small community the same again.

Our town is not just what outsiders see. They don't see that the local gas station is also the coffee shop, the last minute ingredient shop, the tire shop, the mechanic, the hardware store. They dont' see that if you go up town to the post office that more than likely your going to see someone you know, or meet someone new. They don't see that when you go to the bank that the ladies that work there take the baby for you so that you can get your business taken care of. They don't see when the community comes together for a holiday celebration. They don't see the sense of family, community, acceptance, saftey and peace that this town provides. Meeting the young people at this conference was like meeting old friends. They know exactly how we feel. They come from the forgotten towns, the rural areas that our government leaders have written off as useless.

These young families, individuals, business owners, employees of ag powered businesses are our support system. They are a part of our community as well. Statistics say that farmers/ranchers make up only 2% of our population. We just don't fit in with the rest of society. The modern human does not understand us. I think that in a way we scare the other 98%. Mostly because they just do not understand what truely is happening on the farm, or on the ranch.

The Kansas Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers conference gives us in ag a chance to unite and put our heads together on how to change the ag stereotype. I am excited to and proud to now represent my husbands passion of farming/ranching. I am excited and pround to be a part of what he does, to help him grow things, to nurture and care for our animals and crops so that we can not only feed our own family but to help feed our neighbors, friends and the 98% that takes care of other things for us.

I have new passion to really accurately represent our farm, our life, and our passion for agriculture.

I want to share the link for the conference http://www.kfb.org/getinvolved/yfr/index.html for those in ag that haven't heard or for those who just want to learn more.

New Year, New Commitments...

It has been oh so long since I have posted. Almost 2 months! I feel though that I should be forgiven, the last 2 months are the busiest time of year right!?!

Well even if I'm not forgiven then I suppose you don't have to bother following.

Quick updates on the last two months:


Christmas with the family, always good times. Lots of goodies recieved and given, and of course wonderful quality time!

Little one is now sitting all on her own!! They grow up too fast for me, some days I wonder what happened to my sweet little cuddlebug. She no longer exists, cuddling is for babies evidently, and my little girl no longer feels like she is a baby. I suppose though that they have to grow up eventually.

 

We are headed to the Young Farmers and Ranchers conference in Manhattan this weekend. Will be my first time. I will share when we return!

 

Cold All Around

It has been down right cold the past few days, in and out of the house! Little one has started working on her first teeth, so it is a constant race to keep cool toys and frozen paci's on hand.

Here she is enjoying one of her frozen paci's.

While she did this I decided to whip up a batch of Grandma Sheryl's Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies.

 

 

 

Unfortunately it is a "Super Top Secret Recipe" so I can't post how to make it. Just imagine how heavenly cookies can taste and multiply that by 1000. Then you are in the range  of how great these are! Perfectly soft and chewy.

 

Now the day is a little warmer.