{ The nitty gritty of daily homemaking and her DNA Ancestry Results }

You ever stop what you're doing and think "I've done this a million times, and I'm sure I'll do it a million times more?".

It's how I feel every day of my life, there are chores around the house that are never ending, and just when you think you've caught up, it all piles up again and there you are, back at the kitchen stove scrubbing, or throwing the millionth load into the washer.

Sometimes I want to throw my hands up in the air and claim defeat, just let it be.  I can't though, it would drive me completely insane.  As it is, my kids say I'm always cleaning.  LOL

Anyway, good morning everyone, how are you today?



I've just finished a second cup of steaming hot coffee, which is a must in these cold bitter mornings, and cold and bitter they are for our area.  14 degrees?!?!?!?   Why????

I've also had some Air Fryer toast which is absolutely divine and seems to be my go to when it comes to breakfast lately.  Truly, as much as I like oatmeal and some cereals, I am a simple hot coffee and buttered toast kinda gal, especially when I get to dip that bread in the coffee.  I think I just heard a moan come from one of you, probably grossed out at the thought, but it's something I've done since I was a wee little one and the habit has just stuck.  Or it may be a Portuguese thing?  I don't know.

Speaking of Portuguese things, it reminded me that my daughter got her DNA Ancestry results yesterday and WOW, well......it went something like this:

51%  England, Wales and Northwestern Europe
17%  Portugal (no surprise there since I'm Portuguese)
15%  France (no surprise either, it's from my side because my maiden name Bettencourt, is French)
8%   Ireland and Scotland
5%  Germanic Europe (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden)
3%  Norway
1%  Cameroon, Congo and Southern Bantu Peoples (WHAT?!?!?!)

I'm a bit surprised with some of these, and I'm assuming they are from my husband's side.  He is adopted and we don't know his biological family at all, so it must be from there.  On my side, like I said, the Portugal and France make total sense.

Now I'm eager to get mine done, but it will have to wait, I can't justify $99 in my budget right now for an ancestry DNA test.  Oh adult life is a bummer at times isn't it?  Hahaha

I had a bit of a kitchen day on Sunday, it was really cold and icy and no one needed to go anywhere, so I pottered around and cooked and baked to my heart's delight.

First thing was a slow cooker split pea and ham soup.  I had a ham bone in the freezer, from Christmas specifically for this soup but hadn't yet gotten around to making it.  Truthfully, I probably wouldn't have made it on Sunday either but Jasmine asked me for some soup, and so there it was.

I put in the split peas, 6 cups of water, the ham bone and then seasoned it with whatever I had on hand.  In this case, I put in paprika, chicken stock, salt, pepper, garlic and a bay leaf.  It was SO good!!!!

I also got our bread baked for the week, two beautiful loaves fresh out of the oven.  If you're wondering which recipe I used, it is up on the food blog and called The Best Homemade Sandwich Bread.

I also tossed laundry back and forth, that's one of the never ending jobs I was talking about in the beginning of the post.  But I do love smelling and seeing all the freshly washed clothes, I don't even mind the folding......it's the putting away that gets me EVERY.TIME. 

I took a little break while writing this post up, to quickly drive Jasmine into work, but now I'm back home, nice and warm.  It is so cold outside, I just can't deal anymore, I am ready for Spring and Summer.  I know, I know, I say that all the time lately, but I really and I mean reallyyyyy could use some warm weather.

I also left my computer downloading all my Google photos while I was gone.  I am not quite sure what is happening with Google, but I've gotten a few notices on the blog about it, and so I've downloaded all my photos off there just in case it all goes bonkers.

I am going to get some recipes up on the food blog real quick, one is for the yummy beans I man, and the other is for a Beef and Cheese Stuffed Bread Rolls.  We had those for dinner and it's a family favorite.

Then, I need to start working on my new menu plan.  I swear I feel like I just got this done for this two week period, and here I am again.  Time needs to slow down.

It's also that time of the year where I switch my dining table and couches around, so I'll probably do that this afternoon, or I may leave it for this weekend and have Curt help me with them.

For now though, I'm off to watch the new When Calls the Heart episode from Sunday and get warmed up under the blankets.

Have a wonderful blessed Tuesday!!!