March Madness

March was fun..cold and busy! I always say March madness and never seems to fail me!

I did spend a Saturday playing, doodling with some abstracts, Bored, but wanted to create! and trying to use some supplies and clear some space :)  Seems to always be an issue with me! 

I opened a shopify store, planning ahead for retirement as I build it up slowly, This is one of the totes I created through a print on demand shop, I wanted to see how their quality was! I must say I am quite impressed, the bag is a thicker canvas, and I plan to Definity use for farmers markets.

I also applied for and got my Minnesota Food Cottage Certificate, Been busy making and selling homemade granola and homemade oatmeal cream pies!

One thing I started working on at the new year, is researching some good ways to lower my blood pressure, this is one of my favorite breakfasts now, I was on the verge of medication last October at my physical, So I started doing some very low impact strength training sessions off of you tube! And incorporating more oats and berries in my diet three times a week and the days I do not eat oats I do eggs, as I always seem to crave protein foods.  I went to do a follow up yesterday with my dr, my blood pressure is back to normal, and I am down 12 # Mercy I call that a win win!!!

 

 Last Weekend was Easter, As always, the church was beautiful! Our youngest daughter hosted the meal. we all brought a dish to share and was a fun filled quiet day with family.  I call that definite Blessings and should never be taken for granted!

I have a crochet item I hope to finish soon and can share with you, a new pattern of a bag I tried! 

Garden seedlings I got the basil just peeking through and the marigolds are approx. 2 inches tall! Won't be long and the ground will be ready!!

Hope everyone out in blog land  has had a wonderful Spring so far!! See you back here in a few weeks!!

End of Winter Or??

 February just keeps on ticking by! This is the final week and for myself personally, it has gone fast!

Although, not too sure about all of this cold we have had, and WIND! My goodness out here on the prairie the winds have been awful! 

But I am very grateful, thus far, we have been healthy and not too much shoveling!

I finally finished with my Physical Therapy sessions after  six weeks of going, that feels like a major accomplishment in itself! To make along story short, last fall I started having what I referred to as contractions in both legs, usually in middle of the night, not like cramps, but the legs would be just super tight and hard, more annoying than anything else, Then Dec 19, I woke up to a contracted right leg that I could not straighten, could not even get the toes to touch the ground, needless to say did not walk much for approx. two weeks, x-rays showed an anterior pelvic tip along with some vertebrae fractures, which I was told  "age" WHAT!? I am so healthy otherwise this can not be happening! Well, 5 fractures and tipped pelvic region  PT gave me and worked with me on strengthening the core, which weakened for me over years of how I sit and do my hobbies and  how I sit with clients for my job. Needless to say, now I am very grateful I can walk, still have leg tremors, but hope that in time as I strengthen this will subside! DO NOT take for granted  EVER being able to rise and shine  in your form!!

I just ordered some garden seeds! Anticipation and hopeful :)

I have been crocheting, made a few preemie baby hats along with some some blankets to match, when I get bored with those  I create a scrunchie or two and then go back to the blankets. Anyone else  have multiple projects going at the same time? Something I have always done I guess. But I do eventually finish them!!

The hats appear bigger in photos  but only measure approx 4 inches, I did not realize how much need there was in the hospitals and NICU units for such but happy I can do such!!

Oh! Another thing in February I accomplished, Sourdough English Muffins! Oh my gosh  sooo good!

One less thing I have to buy at grocery store, and not hard to do!   WINNER WINNER~

Well until next time~  Stay warm and Healthy and enjoy each day as it  comes!!!

Time: Friend Or Foe

 I can not deicide for the life of me, if time is a friend or a foe! Anyone else ever feel like BAM a year gone by! 

 Sadly, I can not even tell you what I was busy with, other than just work and life!

 We are still in a battle with our so called new  home, still not finished out, windows leak, seems to a be a revolving issue in this area with multiple contractors and  it is absolutely draining me! I reached a point this last year,  I do not even care, just let it be! I am tired and exhausted from their lies and excuses and no shows for the job site. So with that out of the way that's likely been our largest hurdle in life as recent!

We now have our fifth and final so they say, grandchild :)   A little girl born Jan 13, so this daughter now  has 3 little girls, ages 3 weeks,  soon 2, and soon 8.  Our oldest daughter has two boys, ages 9 and 4! So fun to watch them all grow and evolve... Ya again, I simply do not know where time went!!

As for me, We still farm, I still work doing my in home practice  of Reiki and Trigger point therapy, Hope to retire in next 2 years! I have cut back, allowing for old lady to have more time to get her own stuff done!  My plan is to be able to retire and then create full time in arts and craft!

I recently finished  three baby (Preemie) hats and a small blanket to match. Hope by end of this week to get them listed in my etsy store and then create more! My new found love is making felt food for my soon to be 2 yr old grand daughter. So far I have created some eggs, and a chocolate chip cookie and a donut. I will try  in next post to get some decent photos of all the said above!

Tis the time of year too I find myself in a lot of  daydreaming in the garden seed catalogs! Soon!!!

Soon ...the day will be longer and will be more to do and still time will be  either  friend  or foe,  regardless, I hope to get better at taking you with me~  Until next time~  Stay warm and healthy!!

Another Year Ending

Some of the garden maters!

The farmer and his dogs!

A few evening hours pushing in Oct to get the crops in!

Sunrise

Roasting tomatoes

 Where on earth does time go!?? Am I that bad at time management!? My goodness! I need to get better at this, and I know I keep saying this!

It was a super busy fall, Harvest is always long, but no major breakdowns, which is always a plus!  I kept busy running meals to the fields, and giving rides as the guys needed, as well as putting the gardens to sleep and preserving what I grew!

In spite of the crazy weather, we had my gardens all did wonderful! I managed to do a lot of canning! Tomatoes totally blew up for me, so it became a lot of sauces! as well as roasted tomatoes!  Out of 20 Potatoe plants I harvested close to 90 #....

The holidays have come and gone except for New Years!  We do not do much for New year, when we were younger, we would go out and celebrate at whatever local bar was serving good food and music! Of course, would always sit and watch the ball drop and go home... Fast forward now 40 years later we tend to stay in and the ball drops if we are awake or not! I usually do enjoy party finger foods and do a meat and cheese tray as well as BBQ wieners, and a veggie tray, so rather than a large meal we graze all day!

I have my two books from the library to begin my new year's reading for the book club.... always fun to do!

I have embarked a new journey, well sort of) As most grandkids do, they tell stories and conversations from their perspectives, and one in particular from my oldest grandson who is soon to be8 but 4 at this time was trying to explain to me the life cycle of sunflowers! He was assisting me in dandelion picking for oil! So I decided to make that a kid's story and hired an illustrator to do the .... I am working now publisher, and it was my hopes to have it published by Christmas but didn't make those deadlines, and I have had to make few revisions as I go along, It has definitely been a steep learning curve!

Other than harvest and work and the book writing, not much has happened on our end which at this age I consider a blessing in life!

Wishing you all a very wonderful safe New Years!

Summers End

 So hard to believe that summer is just ticking away!

Gardening came in with full vengeance with so much rain. I still cannot keep ahead of the weeds. They have overtaken my plot, but I am harvesting what I can as I go.

Right now, the house has a wonderful smell of tomatoes, roasting in the oven, covered with olive oil, garlic salt and pepper and rosemary. The dehydrator is full of zucchini and the process of making chips. I only planted one cucumber plant this year and it is bearing more than I can eat, so I have been donating to clients and to a local small restaurant . 

The house is still underway. Still not finished, but we have made progress. The patio is built. The only thing left on there to do is the epoxy on the cement. We just finished the garage Floor yesterday it has a second coating on it and was also epoxied so we have to wait and let that dry. The laundry room will be the next one to get the epoxy. Then once we trim out and put the door frames in those rooms will be done.!I never knew that building a home would take this long. I feel like we have been living in this mess forever. I just want to get things in place and get rid of the dust and the boxes.

The grandkids are getting ready to go back to school. The oldest boy will be in second grade and his little brother starts preschool this year exciting times for their household daughter her oldest little girls gonna be in first grade and then they have a six month old baby girl as well who is in daycare, so fun to watch the grandkids grow and talk to them about their days

This past weekend we had our county fair one of the better ones around the region. I asked my grandson what the highlight of the fair was for him and he said he got to eat a snowcone. lol  I asked what flavor and he said cherry!  :)  I guess it just goes to show. It is always the simple things that mean the most.!

I did get in a quick trip a few weeks ago with a girlfriend we loaded up and took off for Medora North Dakota went to the musicalAnd to the pitchfork steak, fondue supper, we stopped in Dickinson on the way back at one other city campgrounds enjoy the day just sitting near the water, watching nature we both packed some art stuff to work on some water color and just relaxed!It is always nice to get away, but it is also nice to come home!

Camp cooking in Dickinson ND

Medora ND muscial

Petrified Forest in Lemon SD

Below is an image I am working on for a small children's

 book

Spring Catch Up

Crazy how time flies!   Is this how it going to be as I age lol!?   

We are working endlessly it seems to get the house and yard and she shed all at least done enough to take a breath!

We had done some landscaping in the back by the patio and with all the rain we have had it just washed the grass away! Soooo we replanted and  drowned out a second time so now we will wait on that until a different gutter system is in!

The vegetable garden is in and quite muddy and soon the weeds will be out of control! 

The photo of the small bush above is one we put out in front of our house. I love how the leaves are variegated !

My flowers are doing really good! Planted a few new ones in front of my craft shop! Hope by end of summer I can have some photos of that progress! It is getting there, just a slow process and I never knew how much stuff I had errr have !

May need to do some serious cleaning out again!