Canning tamales, a bit of mulching and Christmas cards.

Got out of the house early to meet with farmgirls to can tamales. It is so good to be with our "tribe", those who understand what you love and want to learn more and more about. Today it was canning tamales. 

Masa on the corn husks.

Add the pork. 

Roll and jar them up.

Ready for the canner.

I came home after lunch and fun morning of being with the sisterhood to work in the garden. I did bring in some more spaghetti squash for another week or two. I have it coming out of my ears!

I worked the compost. I have two of them...well, really three. One in the barrel, one with chicken manure and scraps, and one finishing curing. 

Mr Buttons came over to be with me for a bit. 

I put compost and leaves around most of the plants and trees today. Even though it was 40* it felt very warm and it was nice to be out with out any harsh wind. 

Went to the front yard and Mr Buttons met me there too. 

This made me laugh. The high winds yesterday caused tumbleweeds to get trapped in the front corner fence. 

It was nice to be outside in the sunshine but I needed to get going on Christmas cards. Here are some I have made. I have a Cricut which is a die cut machine that I love and helps me cut multiple images at one time to hurry the process along.  

I started cutting out some dear from some beautiful silver card stock. 

They are so delicate and intricate I had to be careful removing them from the mat. 

But I had to stop there to go see our new grandson and deliver those curtains I hemmed up last night. 

I would do anything for my grandkids... just like most grandparents.

Tomorrow it's back to work. I won't be able to blog again until the weekend. 

Take care of each other. 

peace

Rest, crafts, sewing and wind

I took three days off work to do Homesteady stuff.  The skinny weather girl on the morning news in a sleeveless dress said the week will have "down right frigid weather" ....okay below zero is frigid but not 40*.  Skinny weather chick put on some clothes!

Okay we started the week with religion class.  Good enough.  Came home and started a big fire in the wood stove because  we are suppose to have  "down right frigid weather" .  I managed to get some letters mail and a few boxes and then bam!  I went down for a big fat hairy nap!  The warm house and the urgency to do nothing for once in my life over came me. I must have needed it.  So much for starting out the mini vacation with a bang! The rest of the day was folding laundry and watching movies. Total bust but sometimes you need a day where you totally relax!

Day 2  is windy and chilly, again around 40*. The wind is blowing so hard.  It is the swirly howling kind. It was blowing so hard it blew my earrings out of my ears!  It was a more productive day. Got up, showered and headed to Denver to spend the morning with my grandson.  A smart whipper-snapper at three and a very fun morning.  
Came home later to clean and put on some music to keep moving. The farmgirls are meeting tomorrow to make canned tamales.  I put a pork shoulder in the crock-pot with taco seasonings. Plus I had leftover masa made from the last time we made them that I needed to get out of the freezer.   I found corn husks in the pantry. Just need to get the jars prepped in the morning before heading over there in the morning. 

Then brought in a load of wood and set a fire to warm up the joint. Music was still keeping me moving. On to the next project!

I had to get curtains  hemmed up for our newest grandson's room. Okay, whenever anyone asks me to hem curtains I quickly say, "I don't do that."  But this is for my new grandson, so for someone I had not yet met... I said yes.  And by some miracle they got done and quickly... with some help (she is very proud that she helps me sewing. She approves of the dinosaur theme.). 

 

Then I needed to get caught up on crafting.  I had been on Pinterest over the weekend or as I say... I was trapped and couldn't get out.  
I was motivated and looked around the house for things I had and what I could transform. Here is what I found....  ... some pots, paints, stickers, bling, spice jars....

I have so many baby aloe plants I want to give them as gifts. They are wonderful plants and we use them a lot. 

Someone at work ask if I wanted the leftovers on this paper. I figure, sure, I could do something with them! I used the inner circles as dots. 

Spice jars.  I think these need more and could be used as ornaments. I saw some pretty ones on pinterest. I wish I had a link to them to give them credit but I was just scrolling through fast for ideas.  Theirs were much prettier. I remember lace and ribbon on them too. 

That's it for now. Time to sit with Dude and crochet or read. 

Tomorrow is my last day off and hope to make the most of it. 

peace!

First Day of Advent and other new things.

Started the day early with mass at 7:30am.  I love Advent and the preparing for Christmas. The weather changed from yesterday's 60's to cold and drizzling rain. 

The first Advent candle was lit today.  (Did you know that only two writers of the Gospels address the birth of Christ? Matthew and Luke)

On the way home I notice some cattle running after something.  Can you see it in the center? A fox. He was chasing a hawk that was chasing it's next meal. I think the fox was hoping for a freebie.

After mass we headed to town to return the nonworking log splitter that turned Dude into a cussing machine. The feed store had a new one ready for us.  Before we loaded it up we made sure it was in FULL working order. 

The goats were very curious. 

Dude set to unloading it.  I was going to help when I got a text my daughter-in-law was in labor. She was at a hospital in the foothills over an hour away. I left Dude to his new machine and headed west. 

No pictures yet of the new little guy (yes a baby boy) or a name.  He arrived just as I got to the hospital. Of course, he is adorable, huggable and loveable!   The Brothers suggested a few names ... LOL, Ajax, and Noname.  What are your suggestions - smile. 

Kindness of the Day

I stopped to get a hotdog and drink since I hadn't eaten since this morning. I went to pay and realized I had no cash with me. I was embarrassed and said I couldn't get it and apologized. The cashier told me to take the Coke... it was only a Coke after all. Then the manager came over and said, "it's the season of Thanksgiving... here's your hotdog on us." I was so grateful and tired, I cried. Their kindness was what I needed today. 

I got home around dinner time. Dude couldn't wait to try out his new log splitter. Needless to say we are warm and toasty on this chilly night. 

The coyotes sound very close tonight. We made sure all the animals were locked up tight tonight. This morning we watched as a hawk tried to snatch up one of our hens! The horse thwarted its endeavors. 

Letting the dog out for a run , Gracie the cat came in and very proud of her catch. Ohjoy. Yes, good job Gracie but I don't need the gift right now. 

I still have a little bit of time left in the day to get a crochet project done and lay out our new grandson's curtains to hem and hope to deliver tomorrow. 

peace. 

Rough day, Pho, and a Cute Game

Today was the forecasted to be the only warm day for a while at 61*. We rushed out to run two errands - the library and pick up a new log splitter.  We have been saving our money for a while.  Wood is our primary source of heat and we need to get our wood cut fast. We drove to a farm and feed store after stopping at the library for a new splitter.  We went to three stores to compare prices and brands. After finally deciding on one, we headed home. We decided to take the back roads. Halfway home Dude decided to stop and make sure all was well.  Hmmm... it wasn't ... the bearings were broken on one of  wheels holding the splitter up.  We had to figure out how to get it home. We were stranded in the middle of nowhere.  The game warden stopped to see if we were okay.  We were .  While Dude thought of what to do, I was glad to have a book and something to crochet. We are so extremely blessed to have friends to call, understand homesteading , who we could call and stop to help us.  We drove the back roads at 20-30 mph praying the wheel did not totally fall off. Our friend Jamin and his son drove behind us with blinkers flashing to protect us. 

I told you it was in the middle of nowhere. 

Dude rode in the back of the truck watching the tire while I drove until we got to the highway (an over glorified country road) 

When we finally did get home the men tried to fire up our brand new log splitter. Nothing. It wouldn't fire up.  Crud! We did call the store and they will have a new one waiting for us tomorrow fresh out of the crate. 

Things we were thankful for  - 

It was a nice day, warm and sunny.

We were together.

We had water and snacks.

The wheel never came off. 

We have awesome, amazing friends.

And as someone pointed out... we were safe. 

And we were planning on going to New Mexico today to pick up a horse trailer...so thankful we didn't have these problems doing that -5 hours away!

I came in the house and opened one of our cans of grape juice.  Ahhh. 

Next up was a hearty dinner of PHO.  If you never had it... it is delightful !

I used this recipe HERE .  We used many of the fresh veggies from the garden plus a few from the store. 

It hit the spot and filled us up.

Game for the holidays

Fun game over Thanksgiving was with plastic candy canes from the Dollar Store. It is played like barrel of monkeys and with two people playing against each other , with the winner playing the next person.  We had a pile of  plastic candy canes. You put one in your mouth and try to pick up as many as you can and put them in the bucket. Put on the timer  for 3 minutes.  The one with the most in the bucket when the timer goes off wins. It was harder than it looked. Fun and full of laughs, even my mom got into it! 

~smile~ 

Yes, there were crafts afterwards :-) 

peace