Laundry soap and alfalfa

Today I made laundry soap. The directions and recipe are from Mooberry Farms. Mooberry Farms Laundry Soap It was simple and easy to do. I've done three loads of laundry so far. It smells nice, set thick. So far the clothes look clean. I'm very happy with this. I took pictures, but Scotty's computer blew a fuse, and the little old laptop won't read the stick in my camera.

Last year's garden was off to a great start. The neighbor came over and disced, and tilled. Scott got my furrow in. And then I ended up in the hospital twice. All the little started plants I had died. I was in no condition to work the seeds in that needed direct sow, or take care of things once they started growing. The weeds loved it though. They took over like gangbusters. And the ALFALFA is the bane of my excistence. Where the garden is was just pasture way back when before the house went in. There was a mix of mostly grass and a little alfalfa. Do you know what happens when you cut up a root from an alfalfa plant? Each peice grows a new plant. Do you have any idea how far down or how big around these roots are? They are like carrots that go two feet into the ground. So when my nice neighbor came over last year to disc everything, he chopped up the roots of the few plants in the pasture. Now it's everywhere. I was out fro two hours today with Scotty's claw head hammer working on weeds and alfalfa. Two hours, and I got through two rows. Now in my defense these rows are 75 ft long, and the garden is 35 ft wide. Two rows out of like 12.... This is gonna take me a while.

No pics, but the birds think spring is on the way

Driving to work yesterday morning I saw my first Red-winged Blackbird of the year. Made the left to go out to the highway and there he was sitting on a fencepost, chest all puffed up, and warbling to the world. This put a smile on my face most of the morning. Taking the road between Gooding and Wendle, I looked out into a cornfield full of black cows and noticed an extra bright white clump on the ground. The clump was stuck to a darker clump. Turns out out it was a Bald Eagle sitting on the ground, and as I drove by I saw it's mate hanging out a few feet way. They were being harassed by crows and it made me wonder what they had down on the ground. This morning driving Teh Spawn to church, black birds were everywhere. I was excited to have seen one, and today they are all over.

The weather is beautiful this afternoon, and I even have the windows in the house open for the fresh air. It's still long sleeve tee shirt weather outside, but no jacket.  The sun is shining, the wind has died down. /happydance is all I have to say.

Still waiting on spring

The tulips think it should be spring. I looked down Monday and realized I had new green stuff in my flower garden, among all the dead brown stuff I hadn't pulled out from last year. I bought a lot of bulbs last year from Walmart that were on clearance. Ones that had flowered and the flowers were gone, or that had flowers sprung upon before they got tall. I stuck them in the dirt and forgot about them. Looks like they are starting to do their thing. Of course we had a snow storm blow through this morning. Couldn't see a darn thing past 100 ft in front of you. Last about two hours. Dumped three inches of snow (the forecast was for light snow, not accumulating more than half and inch). By mid afternoon it had all melted away.

Scott has decided wood carving sounds like a good hobby. I'm all for it. It makes a mess of shaving on the floor, but they sweep up so easily. He got a set of carving thingies when he was in Boise a few weekends ago, a box of wood chunks, and has been going to town with it. I even tried it a little bit.

Meanwhile I sat on the couch and worked on the hat I've been doing forever, and never seem to get finished.

Jeff made an amazing contribution to the little homestead this weekend. I was just out of the shower, upstairs checking on Facebook, and I hear Jess talking to someone downstairs. I figured Scott must be up, so I bounced down the stairs, and it was Jeff. He'd been to Poccatello, and brought back a welder he'd had in storage for Scott.

Scott used to make a living as a welder, so now we can build anything he need here. Very exciting stuff.

I fell off the wagon, vanity was my downfall

Here's the No Poo update from the last week. *Spoiler* At the end, I did fall off the wagon...

Day 4: Didn't get the apple cider vinegar yet. Today was a day off for me, so I took nice long bath. Relaxed and read my Kindle. I just rinsed out my hair and added a little bit of conditioner, diluted, to the ends of my hair. I really expected it to be a greasy mess. I've read that folks have that problem as their scalp naturalizes out. I also get a lank, string, greasy mess if I go more than a day without shampooing. Even if I shampoo the night before, by mid morning, it's starting to get ucky. I actually don't look like I've been a week without a shower. that's how I feel I look if I don't wash it every day. I didn't do the baking soda today.

Day 5: Baking soda again today. I diluted it a lot, and didn't use a paste. My head itches. It feels like a grodey mess when it's wet. Surprisingly, my fingers don't feel all greasy after running them through my hair as I'm "washing" it. I did a little conditioner to the ends again so I could brush it. The static was horrible after it dried. It took a ling time to dry. I don't get that cool, soft, fluffy feeling as it's almost dry and still almost damp. It almost feels like there is a powder coating it. People who have used ear powder in dogs, or quick stop will know what I'm talking about. It feels like that in my hair. I'll be stopping at Wally World on the way home for apple cider vinegar, and 10 mule team borax.

Day 6: Just a light soda/water rinse today. Hot water as I could stand it under the shower. The itching is going away. I've always had a flaky greasy scalp when I don't wash every day. The first inch or so of hair off my scalp feels almost normal. It doesn't feel like some sort of rough powder is coating it. It's not staticky. It sticks to it's self though when I wind it up in a bun.


I have really long hair. Down past the waist band of my jeans. As I joke though, it's only all five strands of it that long. It's also thin. My hair tend to lay lank, and flat to my head by the end of the day. No body, no lift at the roots. I have to keep it wound up in a bun most of the time. I really don't know why I don't cut it short. At work it's up, or it'll get in the way of the scissors, fall into the bath while I'm washing dogs. Outside the wind blows it all over my face and I hate that. Working in the yard it tangles in everything, is in my face. At night it becomes this giant tangle that like to try and choke me in my sleep. When I drive it's pinning my head in place as I lean back on it. So pretty much all the time, I have to keep it up out of my way. I don't know why I don't cut it. when I ride I leave it long down my back. When I go out with Scott I leave it long and fight with it till we get home and I put it up. Leaving it down right now is not an option. It's ugly.


Day 7: No work today. Just a leisurely start to my morning. Coffee... Computer... Shower later, just a light soda/water rinse to my hair. I just wish I could get a brush through it easier. The first inch or so is ok, and the last two inches with the light conditioner through them are ok. It's just the giant snarled mess in the middle. As fast as I brush it all out, as soon as I move, or a puff of air crosses it, it's all tangled again. Those of you with Barbies, or My Little Ponies as kids will understand this reference. Remember when you brushed their hair so much it made this frizzy nasty mess at the end, and no brush would ever go through it again? Well that's how my hair feels. Ugh.


Day 8: I fell off the No Poo wagon. Vanity was my downfall. Today was Valentines day. Every day I fought with my hair saying to myself, it's only been so many days, I promised to give it two weeks.... Every day I swore this was the last day. Then I'd get out of the shower, let my hair air dry, and twist it in a bun as soon as I got ready to leave for work. I came home today, and realized I had to go out in PUBLIC looking like gak. At work I don't care. Bun, wisps sticking out all over are the norm. It's VALENTINES DAY and I'm trying to look nice fore my hubby. I don't want to wear my hair in a bun looking like I forgot to brush it before I twisted it up. I want to leave ti down, all the way down my back. So I caved. I stuck my head under the spigot in the tub, and used commercial shampoo and conditioner. I even blow dried it. I haven't used a blow drier on my hair in years. *GASP* I had lift though. I had a little bit of body to my hair. I had the light fluffy want to run my fingers through my hair feeling back. It was shiny. I prolly won't get back on the wagon. I don't have what it takes to wait for the natural oils to work all the way through the length of hair I have. Maybe one day if I ever cut it. I will use the soda/water combo occasionally to strip the build up out of my hair.

Such a slacker

I've gotten caught up in my game. The Star Wars game. It doesn't consume every waking moment of my day, but I find myself less going through other blogs, or updating this one. Last Wed I did Patches and Apache's feet. Patches actually have decent, almost normal looking hooves now, instead of the under slung, flared out messes she had when were got her two years ago. I've been trying to to the barefoot trim on her, and do it myself. The results are really good. I wheeled 15 wheelbarrow loads full of wood from the wood stack next to the driveway, into the garage, and filled two shelves so I don't have to tromp outside, fight with a tarp and/or wind, rain, snow, dogs, cats etc, just to get a few logs for the fire.

I'm working in wool for the very first time. Scott and I went to Michaels and I did the unthinkable. I payed way too much for mass produced wool. I know I could have gotten it off the net, and prolly from someone over on the Homesteading Today forums, but I was there, and I "Had to have it NOW." Scott picked out the color. Brown and white twist. He requested a hat. This stuff is not as easy to work with as the acrylic. It's not twisted as tight, so I end up snagging with my crochet hook. It's smaller diameter. I'm using a tiny hook compared to what I'm using on the blankets. I get discouraged easily because I don't see me making as much progress as the blankets from the smaller hook. I'll keep at it though. It doesn't stop me from wanting to do eight more projects in wool. I'm also working on the blanket for my nephew. I'll have to get pics.

The "No Poo" experiment

I read a little about not using shampoo being healthier for you hair. Here is some info I found quickly on the internet. http://www.naturemoms.com/no-shampoo-alternative.html.
And here is my experiment so far...


So I've been reading about not using shampoo and using baking soda instead, on the majik interwebs... I thought I'd give it a try. I didn't read up on it, I just read that a few gals were doing it, and loved the results.

Day one: I hate it. I think I did something wrong. My hair feels awful as I rinsed it out. I thought for sure it was going to be this nasty greasy mess when it dried. I didn't read how much baking soda to water, if they added anything, rinsed with anything. I just know that my hair feels gross. It feels like I'd been swimming in sea water, or a public pool with way too many chemicals, let my hair dry while on a jet ski, and didn't rinse or brush it out. I couldn't get a brush through it. I also decided to try this the very first day of the work week. I just manhandled it enough to get it into a bun and ignore the bumps sticking out.

 Day two: Today I used the baking soda like a paste. I added about two tablespoonfuls of baking soda, and dribbled just enough water to make a paste. I scrubbed this into the front and sides of my scalp at the hair line, then dribbled the rest out of the cup and worked it into my hair. I feel like my hair is still coated in baking soda after it dries. Then brush will not go through smoothly, it wants to snarl and tangle. This can't be right.

 I looked up the No Poo method briefly, when I got home from work today. Prolly would have been better if I did this before I started. Lots of people have the problem I'm going through. Straw feeling hair, not smooth... I'm stripping out all the shampoo residue that makes the hair "feel" smooth, but is really wrecking my hair. The baking soda method will eventually let the natural oils in my scalp even out, and my hair will be nice... In theory anyhow.

I had to take another shower when I got home today. I shaved an Australian Shepherd today, and it's hair made me feel like I was covered in fiberglass. And so I baking soda-ed my head again. I read where some people were using a light bit of olive oil on the ends of their hair. Well I have canola oil...

 Day three: More research on the baking soda last night. It shouldn't be a paste. Too much will irritate my scalp. I shouldn't be doing it ever day. Just rise my hair with water as I'm in the shower. So of course I had to wash my hair again this morning because of the canola oil I put in it last night. Can you say dried out, gooey sticky mess. I also didn't get a smaller container to put the mixture in, so I have paste in a cup still. Rinsing with Apple cider vinegar will help seal the cuticle of the hair and make it healthier and feel better. I need to get that. I did cheat this morning and rubbed a very small amount of regular shampoo into my hair before the paste, and a tiny bit of regular conditioner into just the ends of my hair. I didn't leave it wrapped up in a towel as it dried. We'll see.

Sunday mornings are my favorite

http://www.marestare.com/

I'm addicted to Mare Stare. Every night I load up my computer, go to this site, hit the message boards and read up on all the pregnant mares. I open up to 12 windows with webcams right in their stalls and watch with a hawk eye for every twitch, every lifted tail, and every kick to the belly. Is this it? Is she ready? I join the other wackies like me in the chat room, and we gossip about life and, "Oh man, Mai just layed down, did you see Fanny glare at here belly?" And every now and then I get to feel like I'm right there in the stall with the mare and the owners while she delivers her foal. We all wait with our breath held for the owner to hold up the, "It's a filly", or the "It's a colt," sign. And then we all cheer when that little one takes it's first wobbly attempt at standing. I'm hopelessly addicted.

Sunday morning are my favorite day of the week. Especially Sunday morning when Scotty has worked the night before. He gets home between 7:30 and 8:00 am. I see his headlight shine over the bedroom window. Hear his truck door shut, and bless his heart, his boots clumping up and down the hall as he comes in the house, and pulls on his Carharts so I don't have to go outside and feed, and water the horses. Out he thumps to throw hay to our horses, and to Dave's out back. The water trough the horse share gets filled, the hose unhooked and thrown over a tree limb to be drained so it doesn't freeze, and I'm still in my warm bed dozing on and off till chores are done.

I don't have to get up for work. Teh Spawn doesn't have to be up early anywhere. And I have a wonderful husband who does the morning chores so I can laze around. He comes in and builds the fire back up in the wood stove or splits kindling to start a new one if I let it go out over night. The cats are fed, the dogs and cats have water. He's taken care of the bunnies I have waiting to get butchered today. Then I can get up at my leisure to putter around. We works again tonight, so he's gone to bed for the day.

The house is quiet. The dogs have gone out and established they aren't scared of the neighbors dogs by barking furiously through the field fence before coming back to the porch, peeing on everything the can find on the way. Teh Spawn is still asleep in her bed, hopefully for another hour or so before she want the computer from me. I have a nice big cup of coffee as I view trough everyone's blogs I follow, and compose any thoughts I have for mine. Sunday mornings are perfect.

My blanket is finally finished. I'll have to get a pic of it all done, but Teh Spawn promptly appropriated it for her bed before I had a chance to even cut the loose ends of string from it. My Mom and sisters did see it from Arizona and Arkansas from the blog. I now have two orders for more.  :)  Heather wants one for her son Mark. He's little still, so I don't have make it quite as big. Amye wants one for her bed. Our Mommom used to make them for us kids, and for the first few grand kids before she passed away. I still have the one she made for Teh Spawn, complete with a cigaret burn and all. So I guess the job is mine now. I already have a color scheme in mind for Mark's blanket. I have some cream, a changing blue/brown/tan/cream, and a light grey fleck left over from various odds and ends I played with last year. For Amye I told her to pick some colors and send me some yarn. I now have to remember how many rolls it took me though to do mine. If need be she can send me the colors she wants to get me started and I can go from there.

Vacuum Sealers

I am the proud new owner of a FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer for food storage. While in Boise over the weekend we were admiring my Father-in-laws unit he just got from Costco. There was a $20 off deal at the register. Scotty was talking to him about how we were wanting one, and had been researching different brands and models. So off to Costco we went. We'd let our card expire last year, but Grampa has one. We picked up the unit, and a box of rolled create your own bags, with a set of pre-cut ones. The best part, my amazing Father-in-Law paid for it when we got to the register. We had just enough money to get it from the extra money from Scott working Xmas day. Grampa put it all on his card though and told us not to worry about it. How stinkin great is that.

I promptly went to Winco Mon after work and grabbed some meats on sale. Hamburger in 1.5 pound packages that were so many $ off, to be used to froze that day, a large package of chiccken breasts that got divided into three breasts each, a three pack of pork roasts. The sealer was easy to use. Worked just great.

I also got a use or freeze $'s off tri tip roast that I made into beef stew lastnight.

2 lbs cubed beef

Half a can of diced tomatoes with onion and garlic

1/2 c flour and 3 tbs

2 tsp seasoned salt

2 tsp black pepper

5 med potatos

5 lrg carrots

2 minced cloves of garlic

2-1/2 cups chicken stock
2 dashes papricka
1/2 med onion diced
4 tbsp oil

Heat half the oil in a pan on med high. Sift 1/2 cup flour and seasoned salt together. Dredge the beef in flour and brown in pan in lots. Add more oil as the beef and flour soak it up. Toss the beef in the crockpot as it browns. Add remaining ingredints minus the 3 tbs flour to the crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours. After 6 hours mix the 3 tbs of flour and enough water to disolve it. Set the crockpot to high and add the flour/water mixture. This will thicken your stew. After 15 mins, you're done.

Don't forget to add the onion and carrot ends to the ziplock baggie in your freezer for stock later. The carrot and potatoe peeling go into the worm box. My left overs I set in plastic containers in the freezer. This afternoon I'll fill the sink with hot water, set the containers in for about 5 mins to loosen the contents, then vcuum seal them. I freeze them in protions small enough to send with Scott for work lunches.

I also got busy on making things for breakfasts so I don't keep stopping at Maverick every morning and spending a fortune every morning on coffee and breakfast sandwiches. I got giant croisants, cooked a bunch of eggs and put together sandwiches with ham and cheese for me. Scott got breakfast burritoes with diced potatoes, sausage, scrambled eggs, and cheese.

Horses got wormed Mon. I brought home two rabbitts from a co-worker. They are two bucks, 15 weeks old. I figure I should see if I can slaughter, process, and cook them into something edible before I get a bunch of rabbitts to raise. And they were free. Can't beat that with a stick.

I'm working on a blanket. My first crocheted blanket. It's my first big project ever. It's from the yarn Scott's mom sent home to me. It's almost done. I had to make it beig enough to fit Scott. First it started as a rug. Just a rug to put in front of the fireplace. I already have a hand woven rug there from Peru. And then I realized the one I have is natural fiber, and does't burn. The yarn I have is acrylic and will melt and go up like dry grass. So It decided it wanted to be a throw blanket. I was getting somewhere on it finally and Scott really liked it. He liked the colors and remarked how nice it would look on the bed. Our Queen sized bed. And how he's 6ft plus. So off we went with round and round and round crochetting. It may now lay over the sides like a queen sized comforter, but it wil cover the whole top of the bed when finished. I have one more row of double crochets around three and a half sides, and I'm DONE!

And just because I love this little pot. I keep water in it as a stemer to add some humidity to the house in the winter.

I promise pictures tomorrow

My game finally came today!!!  SQUEE!! /happydance. I was out in the front yard tearing into the vaccuume. I sucked up so many danged pine needles from the xmas tree. I literally sweept up the carpet after I took everything off and set it out side. I got two Heaping dustpans completly, can't get anything more in, Full of needles before I went after it with the sucker. And... ever since then, the vaccuume doesn't want to suck very hard. I knew it needed cleaning out at any rate, but that requires going outside and tearing it all appart. I got the hoses all off, got all the needles, and small twigs out that were stuck inside. Teh Spawn likes to just run over the carpet in ftont of the wood stove without sweeping up all the peices of bark first, and they get lodged in the hoses. The pre filters and the filters were filled with super fine dust. Everything got a thorough cleaning.

While I was sitting out in the dead grass I saw a UPS truck slow down out at the end of the road. Excitement!! And then no. The turned into the enighbors drive. Excitement again as they backed out and turned around. Then no as it looked like they were stopping at Roger's across the street. Then THEY CAME DOWN MY DRIVEWAY!! Yay. They had my game. It's the collectors edition with all the goodies. The statue is already unpacked and sitting on my dresser with the rest of the Star Wars sillyness I already have. I was able to load into the game relatively easy since I'd already done whe down load previously, and had just a minor patch from the other day. Rick had saved my name for me, so he logged in, deleted the toon with the name Rhaige, and I got to play with the character creation page. There is never enough options for me. But she looks ok. I got into the guild in game. Everyone was excited to finally see me. I played here and there for a bit through the night, and I think I'm lv 5 when I logged out.

I started my worm bin today. I've been reading about vermicomposting for a while now. I have lots of paper products like used old phone books, junk mail. We make at least a pot of coffee a day, and I can use all the grounds and filters. And Leaves, do I have leaves out under the trees. We had an old plastic box that the kids were using in their forts. I just need to find the lid. So I put a carboard down in the bottom, added my leaves, a few chunks of horse poo, shreded paper, coffee grounds that I've been saving, the top to the jack o lantern from the compost pile, and a old orange that was going flat in the fridge. Leave it set damp for a week, and then add the worms. Only I don't have worms, nor have I ordered them. Red wrigglers are what they sell for bair right? We're gonna try a few. If not, I will order a pound of worms with my next check. My flower bed is going to love me. DH protested, loudly about having worms in his kitchen. He's worried about the smell. So the bin is in the laundry room, and if it become a problem, I'll move it out to the garage.

I spent the rest of the day looking at goats for sale online, and working on my blanket. I AM going to finish it. It will be the first big project I finish. I did scraves and hats lastyear. I started about a billion granny squares, and promptly lost where I left the bag before I got to put them together.

The great goat debate

I want a goat. Actually I want like two or three goats. Goats do better if they have friends. We had goats when I was a kid. Toggenburgs. They were big goats. My Aunt raised pygmys when we lived in Arizona. The pros and cons that just keep running through my mind though. I don't mind sending bucklings to freezer camp. I just have to make sure I can cook them so my family will eat them.  I really want dairy goats. The minis need less feed and produce more milk per pound of food. But I want a Big goat. Nubians. But do I want to be tied to the house every day she's being milked? I can separate the kids at night and milk only in the mornings, but it's Every day without fail. I have to be here, have to be awake the same time every morning. Before I go to work, good weather or bad. Can I find a friend that is willing to come over, milk, and turn every one out together, then separate at night?  When we were kids, I'm pretty sure we just threw the goats hay, and whatever grass they ate from the yard. Now I'm looking at grains, and free choice minerals for a milking goat. Pens, and fencing, and shelter, and a milking stand, and ..... But I really like the idea of having goats. I have scenes and scenarios running through my head, and have feelings attached to the pictures, and I don't even have a goat yet. I would put them out under the stand of trees. Add another strand of hot fence to what is already out there along the short pasture. Have to run three strands across the front next to the round pen, reinforce over by Rebecca's property. And Scott want to put the pig pen over there. The goats could browse to their hearts content on the grasses, and trees growing there. Eat down all the new starts of cottonwoods I go out and haul up by the roots every year. Take over a corner of Scots garage for my milking stand. But then I have to be committed to sweeping out the goat berries every day. If they get out they will decimate the garden I have planned for the new year. I don't want to have a buck on my property so I will have to find one that belongs to a disease free herd that I can borrow on a moments notice. Goats are noisy. They like to talk to you, to each other, to the birds flying over heard. They are so entertaining to watch though. Especially the kids, jumping and butting, and bouncing around sideways. I already have horses I'm tied to the property with. I can always have the neighbor zip over, throw some hay in the winter, or just make sure the water tanks are full in the summer. I can still go away over night, or even up to a week I've had Andrea keep an eye on them for me.Goats I think are going to take a little more attention. This isn't even close to the thoughts I chase around inside my head about the chickens though.  :)

The gamer geek is restless.

So the other side of me, the side that isn't dreaming of chicken coops, and canning stuff out of my very own garden, thinks all day long about Star Wars. The new Star Wars game out by Bioware.

http://www.swtor.com/

Me and a bunch of my geek friends from SWG

I knew I was eventually getting the game. Prolly not till after the first of the year. DH surprised me with the Collector's Edition Xmas morning. Rather he surprised me with an envelope with a printout of the copy of the order for it at Best Buy. YAY /happyDance. Then I realized I have to wait for it to ship. I live at least 45 mins from town, out in the boonies. Still.... I should have called and told them to cancel the shipping, and driven all the way to Twin falls and back to pick it up. On the print out it says it should be here between 12-29, and 1-3-12. I had three perfectly good days off in a row over xmas. Couldn't play. I started to Down load the game from the ToR site, cause I know with updates, it's gonna take me three -four days to download it all. Yesterday morning it's finally finished. I'm upstairs trolling the interwebs, and the door bell rings. My heart speeds up and I have a silly grin on my face. Never mind that I'm in a thermal shirt, no bra, and star wars jammie pants, I throw open the door to the see the mail lady... And in her hands is not my game. /sadFace. It's books DH ordered from CSI for some ongoing education for work. Did I mention I'm off all day yesterday, and Dh had to work last night, so I could have had the computer all night too? ARGH. It wasn't here when I got home today either. I am going through some serious withdraws. I played Star Wars Galaxies for many many years. I was drug into World of Warcraft. I could go on for pages about the fun I had, how we geeked out talking to each other with the head sets on, or the amazing friends I met and lives that touched mine through this crazy online interaction. Right now I just want my damned game. I know it's on it's way, and I'm like an impatient three old who wants the prize RIGHT NOW.

Under the scene of perfect domestic bliss

/snerk.../gigglesnort...

It' a Wed evening. Dinner is done. Icecream had been had. I'm sitting on the couch working on a blanket I'm crocheting. Pa is at the kitchen table working on a jigsaw. Teh Spawn is her room reading her Kindle. Son is upstars with friends watching a movie. There are kitties curled up on the cushions of the kitchen chairs. I have a dog at my feet chewing on a bone and one on the back of the couch behind me. The living room is so cozy warm from the woodstove.

And then I realize I'm sweating. My cozy living room isn't too warm because of the blanket I'm working on, laying across my lap. The damper on the stove got left open a little too far and its 78 degrees in here all of a sudden. The blanket should be done already but I got 3/4 done and realized I'd messed up the pattern, and had to take it apart to the half way mark to redo it.

The kitties aren't supposed to be in the house let alone curled up in the kitchen. They are outdoor cats. Barn cats who live in my garage in the winter because I dont have a barn yet. I don't have a littler box in the house, and they tear up my curtains, drink out of the base of the Christmas tree, and bat the ornaments onto the ground. 

Pa is at the table working on the jigsaw because the children who should be in town hanging out with their friends, have a friend over at home instead because Teh Spawn got in trouble, and are monopolizing the dvd player. They got there first. The cable has been shut off and my TV is too old to pick up regular stations on it's own. So Pa had to find something to do to occupy himself downstairs. 

Dinner is over, which means the sink is full of dishes, the leftovers are still on the the counter. I worked all day while the family sat at home, I cooked the dinner, but since I haven't put away the leftovers, no one will clean the kitchen. People just keep walking in and out, grabbing other goodies to eat, and adding to the mess. 

Teh Spawn is Stuck in her room. Grounded to her room for the duration of the night. She should be cleaning it. In protest she's sitting on her bed, surround by crap on the floor, checking her facebook, while she's supposed to be grounded. 

The dogs? The chihuahua behind me needs help to climb his fat butt up there. He's too fat to get up by himself, and I indulge him every time he looks up at me with those fat wrinkles around his eyes, and whines. The dog at my feet? She's chewing on the  the bone from the piece of steak the cats drug out of the trashcan while I wasn't looking. She chewed on that greasy thing right in the middle of my kitchen floor. I didn't have to the heart to take it from her after she stole it from the cats.

The nitty gritty view of my perfect picture of domestic bliss.

Am I stuck up for wanting pretty goats?

I finally got the hubby talked into letting me have a goat. That sounds a little scheming, but it's not like that. He just knows I really really want to get into goats again, and has come around on the the idea of the project. I want big goats. Big dairy goats. Big floppy eared, roman nosed, Nubian goats. They are all beautiful, and I know I should be looking at function over style, but I want a pretty one. Just hitting Google images, I found these.

 From http://www.luckyhit.net/goats.htm

From http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/charlemont_farmers_cheese_gain.html

From http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/178270/view

From http://www.freewebs.com/cartref589/natiroat5months.htm

I don't want just a solid black, or just all brown. I want one with some color. Am I wrong? I won't be getting one anytime soon, so I have some time to look around. I plan on this spring. I need to set up a shelter and an enclosure. I don't want to have to be milking a goat through the winter, getting used to her, her getting used to a new place. I haven't told Hubby yet, I might have to take over a corner of the garage to set up a milking stand. And I'm slowly getting him used to the idea, that goats do better with friends than alone. I was asked the other day, "Realistically, how many goats do you plan on having on the property at any given time?" My answer was three. Of course that doesn't count babies.

The lolerskate is back on the road

It's been about a month and a half that I've been driving Engine 9 (The Big Red Truck). My little white truck has been dead in the yard with a flat tire, and me with no spare. This is it in the drive after Scott changed the oil.

Before

Why on earth would you change the oil on a yard ornament? Well he bought the stuff for it the day before, and the tire wasn't flat then. And we never planned to let it sit as long as it did, but, well, like everyone else, we're broke. After driving the Big Red Beast for so long, getting in my little truck last night felt like driving a roller skate, hence, the Lolerskating. Grampa Gene was going to buy me one new tire for Xmas, and somehow, I ended up with four, top of the line, all terrain, Cooper Tires. Grampa Gene is freaking AMAZING, and I can't thank him enough for doing this for me. The other tires were about shot as well, and with snow coming on, I was dreading driving it. It's already like trying to steer an ice cube around on a wet floor. The old tires weren't even tires anymore, they were like slicks. The tire was flatter than this when we moved it over in front of the round pen. Right down on the rim. 

After, lastnight in the dark

We maintenanced the lolerskate while it was a yard ornament too. The battery went dead after only setting a week. The truck is an '04, and had the same battery as when I bought it. Dead battery, and single digits = piece 'o crap sitting under the hood. The heater was only working when you went over 40/mph, and that turned out to be a low on fluids issue. It's gotten new brakes and rotors in the last six months. Scott replaced the right rear main seal when he did the brakes too. Come spring it'll prolly need new struts since it's starting to sway like a drunken hooker as you go down the road.

I sold my 20 gauge shot gun to a guy at Scott's work. I've had it for over 6 years, only used it one dove season when I bought it, and then just plunked at some targets here and there. We used the money to head to Pocatello to pick up Scott's old Chevy s-10. It got maintenced too. New wipers, cap, rotor, wires, spark plugs. Scotty pulled the cover, and gave it a new seal since it was leaking oil. With diesel being over $4.00/gal, this little truck is a great beater to run back and forth to work with, and let the kids drive once they get their license and the sidewalks aren't safe anymore.

And the obligatory Christmas tree picture. We drove to Twin Falls last night, and grabbed a tree while we were there. Rearranged the living room so it would fit. Jess and I decorated it last night.

 

Google updated their maps. Now my house and all my stuff shows up.

Andrea and I were talking about this pic I took of Minnesota. I love this pic

Fuzzy toilet seats

 My first post from my Kindle since Teh Spawn has taken over the computer
 this morning. No spell check. This should be good. We've been doing great
with not using the heater and only the wood stove. I end up sleep on the couch
till around one or so and throwing more wood on the fire before going into the
bedroom. Most of the house stays warm. The livmgroom gets up to almost eighty
so the bedrooms still get heat. Upstairs is a little chilly. We have a small space heater
for when we are watching movies or on the computer. Jess has an elctric blanket
now for her bed. Scotty and I have had one for a while now. The only real big bitch I have is
the toilet seats. About freeze my ass to them in the middle of the night or early in
the mornings. They are so cold. Half the time I end up siding down my jammer
 pants just far enoug to cover my legs and not pee on them. Brrrr. I either need to
get heaed seas or those rediculous fuzzy seat covers. Hot pink maybe. Oh or zebra
stripes. Wouldnt that be a hoot. 

Wendy's Chilli

I found this recipe here. I don't like chilli, but I ate this fresh out of the pot, reheated the next day for lunch and three days later baked in the oven with a package of rolls on top.

Wendy's Chili

Author: CopyKat Recipes

Recipe Type: Wendy's, soup, chili recipe, copy cat recipe

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 1 hr 30 min

Total time: 1 hr 45 min

Serves: 1

Ingredients

• 2 pounds freshly ground beef
• 4 cups (1 quart) tomato juice
• 1 (29-ounce) can tomato purée
• 1 (15-ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, drained ** note new addition
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1½ cups)
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• 1/4 cup green bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup chili powder (you may want to use less)
• 1 teaspoon cumin (if you like real flavor, add more)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• In a frying pan, brown the ground

Instructions

In a frying pan, brown the ground beef, then drain off the fat. Put the beef and the remaining ingredients into a 6-quart pot. Cover the pot and let the chili simmer for 1 to 1½ hours, stirring every 15 minutes. You an also put this in the crock pot on low for 3 to 4 hours while the chili simmers.

Crock Pot Yogurt

Mom asked my to post how I made my yogurt the other day. Really is the easiest thing I've made so far. I don't remember where I got the recipe for it.

Crock Pot Yogurt

Recipe notes: This recipe uses a 2 quart crock. In using a 4 or 4 1/2 quart crock I found the yogurt to have a bit of a "springy" texture. I was able to alleviate this by heating the milk an additional 15 minutes for a total of 2 hours and 45 minutes.

    * Turn your crock pot to low and pour in 1/2 gallon of milk.
    * Heat on low for 2 hours and 30 minutes.
    * Once 2 hours and 30 minutes have elapsed turn your crock pot off and unplug it. Let the milk cool in the crock with the lid on for 3 hours.
    * After 3 hours remove 1-2 cups of the warmed milk and place in a bowl. To that add 1/2 cup of yogurt with live active cultures and mix very well.
    * Pour the yogurt-milk mixture back into the milk and whisk thoroughly.
    * Place the cover back on the crock and wrap the entire crock pot in a thick bath towel or two.
    * Let it culture overnight, 8-12 hours.
    * In the morning stir yogurt (if desired) and store in glass quart jars or a container of your choice.
    * For optimum texture, refrigerate for at least 8 hours before using