{ Blog 365 #112 - How the garden is doing }

 

We've had some rain, the past 2 days, and as always, the plants seem to come alive when that happens.  It's so sweet seeing nature and the way it reacts to a good rain storm.  Everything looks greener, flowers immediately open up, even the birds seem happier.

 

I started our seeds, finally, or rather, I started some of our seeds.  Still have quite a few left to plant, but will do that this week.  

 

I honestly can not wait, to get my garden area set up and going.  

 

The garden we had before, has been turned into our big chicken coop area, so now we have to plan where the actual veggie garden will go.   We have an idea, but it's a matter of setting down some raised beds, or dividers, and making sure the soil is ready for these new seedlings as soon as they are big enough to go in the ground.

 

 

In the meantime, I am left admiring the growth all around me.  Our fruit trees are doing really well, although I don't think we will have fruit yet this year, probably next year or the next.  

 

We still want to add an apple tree to the little orchard as well, so thinking of doing that within the next few weeks.

 

But here's a little peek at some of the beautiful greenery in our yard.

 

{ When your body says stop....just listen }

A very non productive Saturday.

I had all these plans, these things I wanted to get done.  Then my body got in the way.  More specifically my hands.  

 

I am pretty sure I am getting arthritis in my fingers.  It's been about a year since I first noticed it, it started with one finger, and now I have 4 affected.

It's not too bad for the most part, but there are days that I overwork my hands, and then have to stop, so a lot of what I wanted to get done outside, just didn't work today.

And that's ok.  As we get older, we learn to listen to our body, and take cues of when to stop or when to slow down.  Our bodies are our best friends, but often times we ignore them because we think we know better.

Let's just say I got a non requested crash course in listening.  Hahah

I got out into the garden early this morning, to water it.  We had cool temperatures and rain two weeks ago, but we are back to high temps, hitting 100 and really hot weather, which leaves our garden parched for water.

Even still, we are enjoying seeing our harvest come to life.

We have a ton of tiny pumpkins, but this is the only big baseball size one, we have.  I'm pretty sure we probably have a few more hidden beneath the jungle of big leaves, but I haven't ventured in to take a look, for fear that I'll accidentally step on a vine.

 

We also have a few golf ball sized watermelons running through the ground.  I am so beyond excited, but I don't know if they will grow fully before the frost season starts.  I think they will only, because we are still seeing such hot temperatures, but we will see.

 

While in the garden I came across this plant on the ground.  I have no idea what it is, so if you do, please let me know.  I don't know if it's poisonous or not, and really don't want anything around that Kaia can get into.

The little flowers look like bells.

Then I stopped for a moment to watch the ants at my feet.  Have you ever stopped to watch them?  They're quite fascinating.  They have this methodical way of moving, like they all know where to go, what to do, and what to grab.  I just love watching them.

 

I watered my roses, took a moment to inhale their wonderful aroma, and then came back inside where I proceeded to read a bit more, and also watch the coverage of the Queen lying in State.

I have found this all so fascinating as well.  For a huge history buff such as myself, I feel like I am part of history, watching a truly historic moment before my eyes.  

From the changing of the guards around her majesty's coffin, to her children standing vigil, and then her 8 grandchildren standing vigil, as well.  It's quite touching to see.

I fully intend to watch her funeral on Monday.  I just keep thinking, I will never again witness something as this, and how blessed are we to be here in this moment in time, to be a part of history?

Count your blessings friends, every day.  There is always something to be thankful and grateful for.

{ The past few days in homemaking }

Every day is a gift from God, make the best of it.

 

I've done so much the past few days, and I've been very good about taking my camera along to show you.  I haven't been posting as much as I said I would, but that's because the past few days were filled with organization and homemaking, as well as a funeral for Curt's aunt.

That's life.  

I used to be a planner and wanted my whole day planned out and scheduled.  As I've drawn closer to God, I've learned that I can make all the plans I want but ultimately, what He has planned for me, is the what will actually happen.  What does that mean?

Well, it means some days I plan one thing and something completely different happens.  The key is to not freak out, get upset, and angry.  Just go with it.

It also means that I've learned to live a life with purpose, making use of every day that I have.

I went grocery shopping on Friday, at the base commissary.  It used to be that the commissary was cheaper than anywhere else, and that we also had a lot of products at our disposal.  Lately, it's been declining.

The prices are much higher (which is happening everywhere), a lot of shelves are empty, some items are very close to their expiration date, and shopping has just become a bit of a frustrating situation.

 

Nonetheless, I managed to get our groceries, and am doing pretty cheap and easy meals, the next two weeks.  The more time goes by, and the more expensive things get, the more I start looking at my big 1 acre field and planning some planting in the next few months.  Living off the land is looking very appealing.

Our garden is coming to an end, though I'm surprised I'm still getting some goodies.  The pumpkins I've managed to process and freeze, and I have one more on the vine that is almost ready to be harvested, then we can pull it all out and get ready for next Spring.

I wanted so much to do a fall and winter garden, but I'm not sure I'll succeed this year.  I may just pull out my notebooks and get planning for 2022.

Our fruit trees are doing so well.  I sit and look at them and am just in awe,  that we've been growing them from small saplings.  Honestly can't wait until they start producing fruit, it will be at least another two years or so, but that's ok.

 

I've been on an organizing and cleaning mission around here.  As we head into Fall, I like to do a big cleaning along the lines of spring cleaning.  

 

Yesterday, I decided to tackle our linen closet.  I pulled everything out, divided it into piles, one to donate, one to wash and repackage, and the other to throw out.

Our closet shares a wall with Nick's bathroom and it has a tendency to get a bit moldy, if I'm not constantly on top of it.  I've managed to keep in control, but I still like to wash everything in there every few months, and I've also switched to space saver bag to help with the humidity too.

So I spent the morning, wiping down shelves, organizing, and washing, hanging outside to dry, packing and so forth.  It didn't take as long as I thought it would and I'm so glad that I did it.

I have 2 big bags for donation, one is mainly lines and comforters etc., the other is crafting stuff that I was gifted last year, in a big storage tub and it had just been sitting in that closet.  I pulled everything out, kept what I knew I would use and am donating the rest.  

I'm also using that tub now to hold extra comforters and blankets.

I should have taken the photo AFTER I folded the sheets and packed them nicely, but hey ho, sometimes I get so carried away that it is what it is.  Those sheets were folded, and stacked nicely.  I even ended up with extra space and am empty shelf.  

Folks, seriously, if you have a big project like this to tackle, just do it.  I couldn't even get in that closet, it was so full, so overfilled, it used to give me anxiety just going in there for something.  Very happy with the result.

I made some dulce de leche in my instant pot, for a cake recipe.  It was my first time using the pressure cooker, to cook a can of condensed milk, and I won't lie and say it didn't make me a bit scared, but it was fine and so easy.  I'll share that on the food blog as well.

I've been spending more time in the kitchen too, making delicious meals and desserts, making sure to get photos and updating the food blog.  

It can't tell you just how much I've been loving getting back to my routine.  I feel such a sense of contentment right now, and that sounds a bit weird because life has been hard for us, we've had a lot of sadness around us and it would have been easy to just fall deeper into a dark place.

But my Lord is so amazing and so kind and loving and forgiving.  I get through my days because HE gives me the strength and the focus.  All I had to do was ask, for help, for comfort, for peace and for motivation to do what I need to do and be who I need to be......who I love being.

Suddenly everything seems brighter and happier, I take so much pleasure in reading a good book, in working a row of crochet, in cleaning, in decorating, and taking care of my family and home.

Funny enough, you don't always notice the things you stop doing around the house.

 

For example, decorating for different seasons or holidays.  It's something I always did, and I didn't even realize I had stopped doing it, until I started pulling things out and couldn't remember the last time I used them.

 

A quick look through my blog and my photos, gave me the answer.  It's been at least 2 or 3 years.  Wow!

 

I AM decorating again, well, if you can call it that.  I am not a decorator and I don't even think my home has a theme.  I tend to just use whatever I like, and hope it looks ok.  Haha

 

I'll have another post tomorrow showing how Fall is starting to show up in my home and around our property, so if that's something you enjoy, come back tomorrow.

 

I am going to finish off this post, take my allergy pill *again* because it's very windy here today, which means I am feeling it.  Also going to do a little more cleaning and organizing, and then it will be time to get into the kitchen and work on dinner and a delicious cake using that yummy dulce de leche that I made yesterday afternoon. 

Dinner tonight is Fish Sticks, Scalloped Potatoes and some Mixed Veggies.

And on the TV, I'm watching some homemaking vlogs and trying to finish a really sweet movie on Amazon Prime, called Cider with Rosie.

I'll finish off the night with more Bible reading, and that will be my Tuesday.

If you've made it all the way to the bottom here, thank you for coming by and visiting.  I really appreciate all the visits and the sweet comments.  I promise I'm going to try very hard to start replying to your comments on the blog here, so that I can interact more with you.  

Have a blessed Tuesday, and I'll see you tomorrow!

xoxoxo

 

{ Winter Storm.....what?!?! }

 

Sunday, the weather started getting cold. Not the usual October in Texas cold, where it gets to the high 60s and 70s, but I mean cold as in 30 degrees. 

 

The rain started coming down, and I remember sitting back and thinking "Oh this is perfect Fall weather, rainy, dark, just perfect to stay in, watch movies and snuggle under a blanket." 

 

And then Monday morning rolled around, and the minute I stepped out of bed, I knew that it was not only cold but freezing cold. 

 

The temperature was 24, with a real feel of 18. WHAT?!?!?!? 

 

The weather warnings started coming in, but honestly I didn't think it would get that bad.  I know, I'm one of those who doesn't really believe the meteorologists and thinks they often get it wrong.

 

 It kept getting colder, the rain kept coming down, and then by Monday afternoon it had switched to freezing rain.

By Tuesday morning, we woke up to a winter wonderland.

Beautiful, but, wow, everything was iced over.  We have so many broken trees on our property, I guess the weight of the ice was too much for the branches.  We will be out there this weekend chopping wood for the fireplace.

 

One thing we weren't counting on was the damage to our veggie garden. I knew that we would eventually face frost, later in the year, and we had planned on winterizing the garden, covering the veggie beds and such, but this winter storm came out of nowhere. 

My tomato plants are now completely gone, and it's sad because I had so many tomatoes on there still. Curt went out yesterday afternoon and harvested all the tomatoes. Of course they're still green, but I wasn't about to let them go to waste. I made a Green Tomato Sauce this morning, in the pressure cooker. 

I got two pint jars out of it, one I will can later today or tomorrow, and the other I will use for dinner tonight, since I'm making pasta anyway. 

 

   

My husband's work got cancelled, and thankfully Jasmine wasn't working yesterday either, but I guess everything just shut down, including schools. 

The roads were really bad, so much so that even our driveway was impossible to drive in. 

 

   

I've been loving these days when my whole family is home. I know it can get a little crazy at times, but I really love having my whole family around. 

I lock the door, make yummy food, bake good stuff and we just relax all day long. 

 

 

So that is what happened yesterday. Did school with Nick, Jasmine did her own thing, Curt did his school work and I just pottered around the house, made some burgers for dinner and some Portuguese donuts, which are called Bollinhos de Chuva. 

 

If I had to translate exactly it would be Rain Cakes. But they're just Rainy Day Donuts. 

 

They are very easy to make, but boy are they delicious and very dangerous to have around. Guess that explains why we don't have many left. Hahah 

 

 

 I will have the recipe on the food blog today. 

 

By the way, I've been trying to keep the blog updated, I know I don't really get comments over there, but that's fine, I understand. If I'm not updating and keeping up with the recipes, it's normal that traffic will eventually disappear. So I'm trying, my life is so busy lately and nothing like it used to be a few years ago. 

 

 I think when Curt was still active duty and we were stationed in Arizona, things were easier, which is so strange if you think about it, because both kids were little and in school. Usually that means a busier life, and I kept thinking once they are older I'll have more time. Nope! 

 

Their needs just change, so in some ways I feel like I have less time now than I did back then, which also means all the time I had to blog and try new recipes, upload the and so forth, is just gone. Maybe one day I'll get back to it, but maybe not. Only God knows the future right? 

 

Anyway, Curt is off to work today, the ice is completely gone, we just have rain right now, and the temperatures have raised slightly. We are at 48 degrees, which is cold but not that bad. 

 

It is now almost 11:30 in the morning, so I'm going to make another cup of coffee and a cheese and ham sandwich for lunch.  Then back at the computer to reply to some emails, and work on the new menu plan for the next two weeks.

 

I got some new of home Fall recipe magazines, and there are tons of yummy meals in there I want to make.  I actually have a huge list that I wrote down when I first looked through the magazines.  

 

The rest of the day is just more homeschooling, oh and laundry, I'm busy with laundry as always.

 

I hope you all have a blessed Wednesday, stay safe and stay warm wherever you are.   

xoxoxoxo