Thursday and Friday.. . eletrical is fixed, jam and getting ready for St Patrick's Day

Thursday was a full day on the homestead but not of homesteading stuff.  Since we are on a well, we have filters all over the place . Today we had the reverse osmosis filters replaced today.  Then the electrician showed up to figure out why the kitchen had no power. Dude thought he may have done something while remodeling. I told him I doubted that.  He is a master carpenter and he would have made that type of a move.  I was right . The electrician found the problem over where our alarm system had been installed. The wiring was not connected and only working because every once in a while would hit each other and go on...weird . Anywhooo, it is working now.

I did go out and got some spinach.  As you can see I need to clean out all the dead stuff now.

I went through some of the seeds.  Typically in our area we plant greens, radishes, beets, etc on St Patrick's Day. 

Speaking of St Patrick's Day I decided to try and make as many things as I could for that day. 

March 1st 

I started with a simple card. 

March 2nd

Friday, I also made jam.  Strawberries are on sale right now. It's a great time to make jam.

Jam is fun to make and basically sugar and fruit. I do a pectin to mine. 

Turned out good. I like that there is just enough to taste in the bowl every time... even if Dude ate it all. 

peace

Some days are like that.

Do you ever have one of those days...yeah, those days. Kind of like today where nothing really gets done. I overslept to 730am.  Not bad but when you want to get things done before hitting the road and commuting to work , it's late. 

Just hanging out with the old man tonight.  I hope to post pictures of the new ceiling but Dude said the power went out on the wall of the kitchen and needs to figure it out. 

We were to get our cow today but not sure what happened there.

I did get pasta in the crockpot. It turned out well. 

I didn't cook the pasta completely before putting it in the crockpot so it wouldn't turn out mushy. 

I lined the crockpot and simply layered pasta, cooked sausage, onion, pasta sauce and three kinds of leftover cheese.

But just like today... I hoped to post a finish product but Dude ate it all before I got home from work. sigh

Plus my to do list grows longer. 

Yep, some days are like that but you just power on. (There was a wee bit of a silver lining today. I did get a small raise at work)

peace

2nd Sunday of Lent - service to others(we got the help), sewing and dinner...oh and what is on the bookshelf this week.

Last week was extremely rough and I am happy to begin a whole new week!

The kitchen remodel and lighting is still coming along. That's the thing about homesteading, you do things when you can. This is where it was this morning. 

Dude began trimming all the frame.  We left some of it to build a shelf. 

His son drove the almost two hour trip to help us with the lighting. It was so wonderful to get the help. Dude says he wouldn't have been able to do all the options that were done without him. We are lucky, one son is a plumber and  another is an electrician. All six of the kids are extremely talented...

Even our granddaughter jumped in and began to work putting in the cans for the lighting. 

What a difference!  It is sure nice to have light in the kitchen.  They are adjusted by two switches. One can go on alone, or six or all of them at once.  I love it!

I knew there would be no chance to get dinner ready and the kitchen would be a mess. So I put roast beef in the crockpot in another room this morning with this  phenomenal recipe! So easy and actually good. I don't usually like beef because I don't like the way it tastes.  This was awesome. 

My granddaughter did get time to ride the horse.  So, keeping tally, she helped put in the lighting, she rode the horse for a good while and she made a wall hanging from start to finish in one day. 

Tracing the pattern onto applique paper. 

I started one too. 

I introduced her to musicals while we sew! Plus Fiddler on the Roof is a good Lenten movie. Check out how many times there is prayer in the movie then think about how many times a day you pray. (I am severely lacking!) Or how do you treat others who may not be like you?

It definitely helps the time fly by. 

Working hard. 

....and Wa-la!  Finished.

 Books for reading during Lent.  A little of everything but not near all the books we have to study our faith. 

A few of the books we have been referencing this week for the homestead.  Soon they will be swapped out with other we have, probably about gardening.

OH and Norman ended up in the ER for animals. Seems he ate twine and hay he found out by the barn.  All is well though... $250 later but it is always well worth the peace of mind. 

Something about Norman... he LOVES the vet and at eight months he is now 60 pounds.

Back to Normal Norman (as wacky as ever)

peace