Happy birthday to me & Canning day

Saturday, March 1, was my 57th birthday.  Where did the time go.  I am now in my upper 50's.  I'm not sure I even qualify for middle aged any more.  I am kind of in between middle age and old age right not.  This seems pretty close to 60 to me.  I still do not feel like I am old enough (grown up enough) to get married or have children.  Maybe that 'grown up' feeling is more emotional than physical.  Physically the time for having children is long past for me.  I have 19 wonderful nieces and nephews who are not getting married and having families of their own.  I have 16 great nieces and nephews now also.  These are my kids.  I had many wonderful birthday wishes from them.  Maybe one day I will be 'grown up' enough to find that special man to share my life with.


Now for how I spend my birthday---
I bought a 25 pound bag of flour when in Wichita since I brought home some sourdough starter and a bread machine.  Remember, I live on a farm and you never know what kind of critters may get into this old farmhouse.  I have been reading about oven canning dry goods for long term storage so decided to try it.  I went to the barn to find some of the old canning jars that I got at Aunt Agnes's auction. I have blue and green tinted jars, square jars, a 1/2 gallon jar and a couple that must be 1 1/2 quarts.  Aren't these cute jars?

I filled the cleaned and sterilized jars with the flour and placed them in the oven at 200 degrees for one hour.  During the last 10 minutes I laid the canning flats on the pan in the oven to warm them up.  Taking one jar and flat at a time out of the oven, I placed the ring on the jar, hand tightened it down, and placed the jar on a folded towel to cool.  Within a half hour or so I heard each jar 'ping' as it sealed.  Who-hoo!! It worked!  This is how I did it. I had some flour left over so placed it in a Mylar bag that I had from some other food storage project.  I purchased a vacuum sealer food saver and wondered if it would work on the bag.  I gave it a try and it worked also. 

While the vacuum sealer was out I wondered if it really would seal a canning jar with a flat.  I had the attachments for it so decided to try it with chocolate chips.  Oh, my goodness, it worked too.  Here explains how I did this.


While I had a mess in my kitchen, (o.k. I admit my kitchen is always a mess) I decided to clean out my freezer some and took out 5 quart bags of home butchered and ground hamburger.  I browned this all up, added some salt and pepper, chopped some onions and ended up with a 6 quart dutch oven full of browned hamburger ready to can.  I drained the meat, packed it in jars, put on flats and rings then pressure canned it at 10 pounds for 90 minutes.  I did not cover the meat with juice but some do.  I like the texture better this was.  I really like this video and this blog post.
Here's the day's conquests.

I really had fun doing this.  Now I suppose I should clean up my kitchen. Ugg.
 Rose

Visit with Karen

January 30 I went to Wichita to stay with my sister, Karen, for a while.  On Jan. 31 she had surgery on her foot.  I wanted to be with her and help her out till she was better able to do more.  The surgery was intense and the recovery will be slow.  She had a lot of pain and walked with a brace on that leg and foot just to be able to walk.  When I brought her home from the hospital after surgery, she was in a huge wrap and can not put any pressure on the foot.  It was so hard for her to get up and down from the chair and bed, to the bathroom and to change clothes.  Showering is still the most difficult activity of all.  After 10 days, she had the stitches removed and is now in a cast but still could not put any pressure on the foot.  An accident or two with pressure have sent her pain level sky rocketing.  She is back in school using a knee scooter to get around and that makes it so much easier than if she would have had to use crutches.  Today she can now begin to put a little pressure on the foot and on March 18 she is to get a walking boot.  She hopes then it will get easier. 


Besides spending time with her and her family, I was there to help her.  I really do not know how much help I am since cooking and cleaning are not my best chores.  But I drove her around, helped her get around, fetched and took orders.  Karen and I always enjoy spending time together.  We have many common interests and can visit for hours and hours.  Usually when I spend time there, we sew and sew, working on a quilt for one or the other of us.  Not this time.  Her sewing room is in the basement and it is her right foot (the sewing foot) that is casted.  She did work on a hand quilting project and some crocheted edges on baby blankets as she sat in her chair.  I worked on a hand embroidery project that is on my list of goals to do this year.  We sat and did hand work as we watched 5 seasons on Mad Men on Netflix.  We also watched several movies.  Poor Ron, her husband, was mostly kicked from his chair as I sat in it all day.  I'd offer to move my little next of computer and sewing in the evenings when he got home so he could have his own chair in the living room but he said no.  He watched TV in the bedroom since he did not want to watch the same thing Karen and I did. 


I did laundry, dishes, changed bedding, cooked and tried to clean up the messes I made.  I actually had a lot of fun cooking since I actually had someone to cook for.  It is not so fun to cook for myself, cooking for one.  The thing I had the most fun making was bread.  I have never been able to make good bread.  Karen has a sourdough starter and a Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook.  I wanted to try to use them while having someone to try it.  I made a loaf of regular sourdough bread first.  Then I made cinnamon rolls which were really good.  Then I made a rosemary Parmesan bread followed by two loaves of french sourdough bread.  I made one french loaf the regular long way and the second one I made round.  We took the round loaf and made the bacon cheddar ranch bread (Crack Bread) from it.  That was SO wonderful.  I also made pizza dough and soft pretzels.  Karen and I made pizza pockets (made like bierocks) for the freezer.  The soft pretzels turned out really good also. 


I found out a few things from my experimenting with bread at Karen's.  I like the bread machine much better than the Kitchen Aid.  I would just use the dough cycle so I could make what I wanted from there.  Emily had two bread machines she had gotten really cheap at garage sales.  She gave me one that needed the kneading paddle.  I got that ordered right away and now have it.  I am excited to begin making bread at home.


I also spend one day making Chicken Cordon Bleu.  I had never made it before but have always really liked it.  Judy had made some for Christmas dinner.  I looked at a lot of recipes on the Internet and made a combination of a couple of them.  It was actually pretty easy and turned out great.  That and the Crack Bread were two recipes Ron said were keepers. 
I stayed 3 1/2 weeks with her.  She is back in school full time.  Ron takes her and picks her up on his way to work since I left on Tuesday.  One evening she had him run her around to run errands.  He asked how much longer this was going to last.  I'm not sure which one of them is more anxious for her to be able to drive again. 


It was great to spend time with my sister.  It is also nice to be back home again.  I get the feeling that maybe I was a little bit missed here as well.  It is always nice to feel needed and wanted.


Recipes I used:
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Sourdough Soft Pretzels
Rosemary-Parmesan Sourdough Bread
Cheddar Bacon Ranch Bread-aka-Crack Bread
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Sourdough Pizza Crust


Rose

Embroidery work

I learned to hand embroidery when I was in high school.  I worked at Velma Harper's Fabric Shop in Hill City.  I made a lot of the window display garments.  One day Velma gave me a pattern for a western style shirt with embroidery work on the yolk panels.  Sewing the shirt was no problem but I did not know how to embroidery.  She gave me a book with instructions for embroidery stitches.  I picked out the embroidery floss and began.  I studied and stitched, ripped and stitched again until I felt good about the look.   I quickly grew to love the handwork.  After that I did more embroidery, some with floss and some with yarn.  In college I worked on embroidered quilt blocks that Mom had started.  When I finished the blocks I eventually made the quilt top and my Grandma & Grandpa Schwarz quilted it for me. 

Later I did a lot of counted cross stitch and not so much regular hand embroidery.  Now that I am getting older my eyes have been changing and it is so hard to follow the counted cross stitch patterns.  I have begun to hand embroidery again.  I have made a couple sets of blocks - one for a baby quilt and one for a quilted wall hanging.  These are in my unfinished quilt project goals for this year. 

This year, so far, I have been working on hand embroidered flowers for a new quilt project in my goals for 2014.  I have finished two of the embroidered flowers.  Here are pictures of them.  The blocks are hot assembled but only the embroidery work laid on the fabric that will be used for the finished block.

I have a start on 2014 goals.  Now to keep working towards completing them.

Rose

 

Weekly Home Routine

     Now that I have set some goals for 2014, how do I plan to accomplish them?  I want to start with my home.  I have followed (or maybe I should say 'observed' instead) flylady.net for years.  I have set up elaborate routines and schedules.  I have set up a wonderful control journal.  I have even purchased some of her products.  I have gone back through those routines and simplified them.  I have gone through them again and broken them down to make them even less detailed in order to reduce some stress and feelings of failure for me.  I'd love to have a clean, uncluttered, organized home.  That has never been a super priority for me.  I would think, "It is just me so it is not so important.  I'll clean when I have company."  Maybe there are some self esteem issues I should take a look at--maybe later.
     When I was working full time I seemed to only be able to be organized one place at a time, work or home.  Guess which one won out there.  Now I have moved from a 2600 square foot, four bedroom, three bathroom home to an 850 square foot, one bedroom, one bathroom old farm house.  I have had to downsize.  I would have thought it would be easier to keep a smaller house clean but you still have to clean.  Floors still need vacuumed (there are just not as big of an area).  Toilets still need scrubbed (not there is only one instead of three).  Kitchen still needs cleaned, laundry still needs done, and the bed still needs made. My problem is that I just do not make myself do it regularly and only do the bare minimum until I can't stand it any more.  Then I do something.

Daily Household Schedule

Sunday                                 The Lord’s Day
Monday                               Bedroom Focus
                                              Laundry-Bedding
                                              Vacuum                                         
Tuesday                               Bathroom Focus
                                              Laundry-Towels
                                              Sweep& Scrub Floors
Wednesday                         Kitchen Focus
                                              Laundry-Colors
                                              Water Plants
Thursday                             Living room Focus
                                             Laundry-Whites
                                             Dust      
Friday                                  Office Focus
                                             Laundry-Extras
                                             Update Bookwork
                                             Entry/Laundry Room Focus
Saturday                             Family Time


I also have set some daily basic (should be no-brainer) routines for different times of the day.

Morning Routine	Afternoon Routine	Evening Routine	Before Bed Routine		Zones--
Make Bed	Eat Lunch	Eat Dinner	Make a to do list		1 - Entrance, Front Porch, Laundry Room
Shower & Dress	Lay out for Supper	Clean up Kitchen	Run Dishwasher		2 - Kitchen
Personal Care	Quick Pickup	Check Calendar	Lay out clothes		3 - Bathroom,Sewing Room, Office
Empty Dishwasher	Exercise	Scripture Study	Personal Care		4 - Bedroom
Eat Breakfast	Check mail	Quick Pickup	Take Meds		5 - Living Room

    
     New year, new start.  I want to begin to follow those routines I have set up or rework them to work better for me.  So here is my Weekly Home Routines.
      Now let me tell you I am not OCD about any of this.  I can go with the flow of life and let these things be pushed into the background--so far back that I completely ignore them.  I'd rather do other things-like sewing, quilting, and helping around the farm-than work on cleaning house.  I want to focus more on this in 2014 without becoming OCD and without stressing about it.  I want to enjoy the process of becoming better.


Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God. 
          (D&C 109:8)


Rose 

2014 goals

Now it is 2014.  I hope to do better with keeping up with this blog.  I hope that this can make me more accountable in how I spend my time.  Goals:


--Unfinished Quilting & Sewing Projects--
1.  Quilt Off-Set Blocks quilt
2.  Frame Welcome Embroidery piece (Done)
3.  Finish tiny wall hangings (Done)
4.  Quilt Storm at Sea quilt
5.  Quilt Double Irish Chain quilt (Done)
6.  Quilt Garden quilt
7.  Quilt Garden quilt wall hanging
8.  Finish Embroidered Baskets wall hanging
9.  Finish Embroidered Baby Sun Bonnet Sue baby quilt (Done)

--New Quilting and Sewing Projects--
1.  Embroidered Flowers Quilt
2.  Island Sunset Paper Pieced Quilt
3.  Camping Appliqué wall hanging
4.  Harvest Moon wall hanging
5.  Baby Broeckelman Quilt x 2 (New project added)  (Done)

 --Household--
1.  Clean and organize storage in basement
2.  Clean and organize bedroom & closet  (Bedroom Done)
3.  Clean and organize laundry room (Done)
4.  Clean and organize mud room
5.  Clean and organize kitchen cabinets  (Done)
6.  Clean and organize sewing room/office
7.  Clean and caulk bathtub  (Note 10-14-14: Shower surround is cracking and the entire thing needs replaced)
8.  Seal bathroom window
9.  Vacuum or wash curtains (Done)
10.  Wash windows inside and outside
11.  Install rain gutter down spouts (Done)

 --Spiritual--
1.  Read scriptures daily (Note: I have not missed a day in 2 years now)
2.  Pray daily
3.  Old Testament Seminary Study
4.  Attend church services and meetings weekly
5.  Attend temple 2 times (if not more)  (Done-attended 3 times)
6.  Journal in a jar topics
7.  Work of family history
8.  Family search indexing


OK.  I know.  This is a long list of goals.  At the pace I go, maybe this should be my 5 year plan instead of 2014 goals.  I am not unrealistic to think that I will get everything done.  I doubt I get half of it done.  I think this is mainly a listing of the things that I'd like to work on.  If I will organize my time better, set up some routines and follow those routines, apply myself more and stay focused; I could get all this accomplished.  Maybe I will set a new 2014 goal--try to work on this list and mark off at least one thing in each category before the end of the year. 

Rose

New Year

As you can tell I did not blog last year.  Where did it go?  I babysat with Macie & Layne 3 days a week after pre-school.  We had so much fun together.  When school was out I thought I'd have more time.  Evidently not.  The twins are in kindergarten now and are so busy that I hardly see them even though they live across the road from me.  Right now I can't even tell you what I did.

I bought a new car in March.  In September I went on a little road trip for the first time in the new car.  It took me 6 months to go more than 30 miles from home. 


In June my mother and her sisters had a "Sisters Quilt Week" here at the farm.  The sewing was set up at my house and Aunt Sis taught us how to do a paper piecing project.  They included me in their activities.  It was so fun and I love the quilted wall hanging.  I have purchased a pattern and fabric to make another paper pieced project. 
I am on the library board and work a few shifts at the library per month.  I also get the rotation books ready for pickup and then get the new rotation books logged in and shelved.  I also helped with the Summer Reading Program at the library in June.  Our theme was 'Dig into Reading'.  Our big event with the older children was a trip to the Fick Fossil Museum in Oakley then to Monument Rocks south of Oakley to look for our own fossils.  It was a very hot day but a nice trip with the kids. 
I went to a Family History Expo in Kearney, NE then drove through Iowa to Nauvoo, IL to visit church history sites.  The middle of September and the temperature was  99 - 103 degrees the whole time I was there.  HOT!  I did enjoy my 3 days there and loved the Nauvoo Temple.   I then went to the Carthage jail.  I tried to make short travel days to try to prevent growing anxiety and would stop early and sleep late in the mornings. On the way home I went to Hannibal, MO with the plan to take a river boat trip.  There was so much road construction that I could not figure out how to get to the place.  I got lost in the construction and then got frustrated.  It was time to go home.  I was gone a week and was glad to be home. 
We made two trips to Loveland to take Dad to the cardiologist.  All is going well.  The medications are doing their job and his heart functions have greatly improved.


I made three trips to Denver with my mother and aunts.  None of them want to drive in Denver any more so I am the driver. I enjoy it.  Aunt Dorothy broke her leg and was put in an Alzheimer rehab unit.  Her leg healed but her condition deteriorated greatly.  I am blessed to be able to spend time with my mother and with my aunts. 
I have never been to Colorado so many times and not at least drive into the mountains for a day trip let alone go camping.  Maybe this year I will get to camp in the mountains again.  That is something I love.


The end of October I went with Mom & Dad to Arkansas to see my brother, Allen.  We were gone 2 weeks.  That was enough time away from home for Dad.  It was so nice to see Allen's home and all the work he is doing on it.  It was even nicer to spend time with him and to catch up again.  He has finished his RN schooling and is working in a phych hospital and loves his work.  We were able to spend a weekend on our way home with Karen and Ron in Wichita.  It did not work out for me to go down and spend a week with Karen this summer like I usually do. 
I have worked on several small quilting and sewing projects through out the year.  Besides the paper pieced project in June, I designed a 6" block with a square offset center in a square.  I made over 325 blocks then made a king sized quilt top.  I want to get that quilted this year.  I also helped piece together blocks that my sister, Cathy, hand pieced over the years as she listened to her kids read 15 minutes a night for school.  She has 8 kids so that is a lot of listening and hand sewing time.  Since she hand pieced the blocks, I also hand pieced them together with background blocks.  I have done a couple embroidery projects that need finished as well as a couple little wall hangings to quilt and bind. 


Then came the holidays and now 2013 is over and 2014 has begun. 
2014 goals to come.


Rose

Favorite Nature Pictures

I have loved these two pictures for years.  I first found these on Webshots.  They were a one day free download to be used in their own screen saver program.  I had not found them that I could download them to my computer to be used as I wished until this evening.  This site, Hiren & Pankaj, has many, many pictures that I have really liked for a very long time and states that they are public domain.

 

Quaking Aspens,Mount Moran, Grand Tetons, Wyoming

 

Wildflowers, Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Finally - My first time!

People say you never forget your first time - first time for anything.  Well, I had my first time for a special event this morning.  I must admit that I am a little disappointed.  I thought it would be a much more grand event when it finally happened.  It was wet and slick.  I debated about doing it and decided to go for it.  After doing it, I feel a little foolish.  I did it - or should I say I did not do it.  I did not make it to town for church because I got stuck in the mud for my very first time.  I have lived on the farm for 5 years now.  Usually I just stay home but have decided this past year that I just need to do it in order to learn.  I will only try to drive the mud roads when I know Dad is home to rescue me if I need the help.

It has been a very hot and dry summer so far.  Finally, we got an inch of rain during the night.  I have driven before when we got that much but it must have come more slowly this time.  Because it was so dry and the rain came so nicely and it was still raining, the road was very slick.  I got out of the driveway and into the road and past the corner just fine.  Then I came to the corn field.  The road there was very slick and I began to slide around and came close to the north edge of the road but kept the van in the road and kept going.  I thought of turning around but was afraid to even try it so I kept going.  I made it to the hill and past the pasture gate by the Rogers' house.  OK so far.  But just past their house the road became even slicker and there was a little more of the hill and the van just stopped moving forward.  I could not go any more.  I backed up and tried again to go forward with little progress.  I kept trying until I made it far enough to turn into the driveway on the north side of the road into my cousin's old trailer house where nobody lives at this time.  I got the van turned sideways towards the driveway and got as far as the edge of the road where the grader leaves a bit of a ditch for water to run down the hill.  I could not get past that.  I tried and tried but was not going anywhere.  Seven minutes had elapsed since I left home and I was only 1/2 mile from home.  Stuck.  Time to call in reinforcements.

I planned ahead and took jeans and tennis shoes with me just in case I needed them.  I was wearing a white dress with sweater and heeled sandals.  I called Dad for help and began changing my clothes.  I pulled off my sandals, sweater then the dress.  I pulled on jeans and the sweater again hoping that nobody would come down the road while I was standing up and bent over with my rear sticking up by the window.  As I was putting on my socks and shoes, my cousin came down the road.  He tried to go around my but that put him at the edge of the south ditch and he got stuck.  He has 4-wheel drive and backed up and finally got around me and stopped.  I told him that Dad was on his way to help me.  Rescue arrived on the Polaris Ranger wearing shorts, slippers and a coat. Dad was going to pull the van off the road and further into the drive but decided to try to drive it himself first.  After a few attempts he got it out of the rut and into the driveway.  As he was doing this he kicked mud from the tires and splattered me with mud.  I gathered my purse and mug and we headed for home.  What a morning!  All this was before 9:30 a.m.  I put my sweater in the washer as soon as I got home and I am still rubbing dried mud specks from my scalp.

Later this afternoon, we went back and got the van.  The roads are dry and dust flew behind the van as Dad drove it home. 

I will try again to drive the mud roads.  I have to learn to do it or just stay home when it is muddy.  I need to learn when more rain faster means less muddy roads.  I need to learn when the road conditions prior to the rain makes the roads more muddy.  I need to learn to drive faster so the vehicle will not just stop because of slow speed as today.  Maybe driving faster will give me a more impressive experience getting stuck in the mud.  Maybe I will just stay home when it is muddy.

I am so grateful for the rain and the cooler day today.

Rose

Great Babies

My sisters have 13 grand children.  Cathy has 10 grandchildren plus 3 new babies on the way by the end of the year.  Karen has 3.  Since I am single and have no children of my own, I have always claimed my 19 nieces and nephews as my special babies.  Now they are all grown-ages 32-17.  8 of them are married.  Since I will never have grandchildren of my own, I claim my nieces and nephews children as my Great Babies since I am the great aunt.  I am fortunate to be able to take care of another one for the first year of his life and now to live across the road from two of these special kids. I wish I was able to live close to all of them and to spend more time with them.  Thank you my brothers & sisters for sharing your children with me and to Cathy and Karen for sharing your grand children with me as well.  I love you all!

Aunt Rose

(Back)Isaiah, Andrea, Gabrial, Andrea, Jeremiah, Ernie

(Front) Janessa, Joe, Kayden, Emelyn

Braedan, Macie and Layne

Megan, Alisha, and Valerie are expecting babies before the end of the year.  They are holding their 3 babies that were born in February 2011.

Murphy Quilt

Last August my sister's sister-in-law contacted me asking if I'd make a quilt for her.  She had 24 beautiful hand embroidered rose blocks that she had done and did not know what to do with them from there.  We agreed on price and terms.  She left it entirely up to me to design the quilt top, purchase fabric and supplies, machine quilt, and finish a queen size quilt from her blocks.  I have slowly worked on it and finally got it finished last week.  I ended up spending 8 hours sewing the quilt top, 3 hours making 2 throw pillows from the extra blocks and 2 pillow cases, 7 1/2 hours quilting, and 8 hours hand sewing the binding.  Over all, I really like how it all turned out.  I have called Mrs. M to let her know her quilt is completed.  I hope she will like it.  This is the first quilt I have been hired to make and am a little nervous about her reaction.

 

Rose



Leap Year

Happy Leap Year!  The day was more than half over when I realized what today was.  I had a computer crash almost two weeks ago and have been really working to get the computer restored.  I have completely formatted the hard drive, reinstalled the Windows 7 operating system, restored data files, pictures, accounting and some programs.  I now have a computer that works for the most part.  I'm still struggling with a few issues but it is so much better than I had originally thought it would be at this time.  I do not have all the games downloaded now that I had before the crash but that is a blessing in disguise.  I had been wasting a lot of mindless time there and now am sewing on a new quilt top.  I am still not getting the house cleaned but the desk is cleaned off and all that stuff is stuffed in a laundry basket for now.  Next-clean out the basket.  Thanks, Mom, for the cleaning tips.

Rose

Snow Day

This past weekend I had planned to take Mom and two of her sisters to Denver to see another Aunt of mine.  Mid week the weather forecast changed to a winter storm watch and we were expecting 8-14" of snow with 50 mph wind gusts.  We cancelled the trip in anticipation of the big storm.  Friday as we were to get the snow, we got this instead. Nothing. Just some drizzly rain. That's o.k. I have two days unexpectedly at home. So what is a girl to do? Clean house should have been at the top of the list but it was not.

Spending time at the sewing machine was my choice. But what to make? I went through my UFO (unfinished objects) tub and looked through patterns and my fabric stash. I had started a small quilt or wall hanging many years ago using two colors of green and making pinwheels. I had the half square blocks sewn so decided to put them together into a quilt top. I think I'll keep it and use it for a baby gift.

Then on Saturday we did get a couple inches of snow.  I wanted to sew some more.  I chose a pattern I wanted to try and decided to make one sample block to see how I really liked it.  The results-I made 21 of these blocks from my scraps.  I will need to make around 400 blocks to make a king sized quilt but I think this will be a good project to work on in between times of other projects.  A girl can't have too many projects going at one time, can she?  It would get boring if she only had one project at a time and finished it completely before starting another. At least that is my humble opinion. Here is a picture of the experiment results. 

I think I am beginning to like snow days or should I say I love "Sew Days". 

      Rose     

Piping

I have never used piping around a pillow or cushion before let alone make my own piping.  I did so tonight.  I am working on the Murphy quilt and made two throw pillows from the left over embroidered blocks.  I wanted to add some of the green that is used in the quilt in these pillows.  I bought the cording and cut my fabric strips.  I used the wonderful directions from Sew, Mama, Sew Blog.  It turned out nice.  I have a tendency to sew everything very tight and did that here also.  I would suggest next time that I give myself a little more room when sewing the piping and also sewing the piping onto the front of the pillow.  This would make sewing the pillow back on and getting a smoother look a little easier.  Over all I like the way they turned out.