Was Not Ready For This!

 I'm not at all happy about it, But this was my weekend....

Usually it holds off until close to the last week of the month, but not this year. Possibly more for the coming weekend with temps in the teens and low 20's-30's.

We were not ready for this fluffy white crap and had to scramble to winterize the 5th wheel, get all the freezable stuff from the storage compartments and inside. Took a couple hours for that, then on to the outbuildings and making sure the vehicles were good on the anti-freeze and the sand bags were in the back of the truck.  We still need to cover the Rhino, but the hubs has the keys to the shed with him 40 miles away, oh well, maybe after he gets home tonight.

We wanted to get in a couple of weekend camping trips, but so far it's not looking to promising. Oh well, we'll settle for a few day trips if we have to when the snow melts here and there.

That's for today, so until next post....

Take Care & Stay Safe Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

Using the Dehydrator

Hello Friends; Hope you all are safe & well.

Decided on Tuesday to use our dehydrator & take care of a few left over Red Delicious apples that were getting a bit soft and grainy. So I pulled out the mandolin slicer & made Cinnamon Sugar Apple Slices.

So yummy with just the right amount of sweetness.

Sliced about a 1/4" thick & dipped in lemon juice & water (couldn't find my Fruit Fresh), laid out on the trays and sprinkled with a cinnamon and sugar mix. Into the dehydrator at 145 degrees for roughly 8 hours until dry but pliable.

Working on sewing a few masks to keep in our vehicles for when we have to go to the store to get necessaries. Made two of the pleated style yesterday and will work on a couple of the contoured type and Olson Masks today.

That's it for today, so until next time..... 

Take Care of Yourselves & Be Safe

Hugs, Sandy 

Canning Some Make-Do Supplies

 Hello Friends; I hope and pray you are all stating safe & well. 

My hubs stopped by our semi local CVS pharmacy to pick up some meds a couple weeks back and came across 4-packs of Charmin toilet paper for.....hold on to you knickers.....$10.49!!! 

Good thing we've been stocked up on toilet paper here at the cabin for years. When ever we buy a different brand and don't really care for it, it goes into a plastic storage container with a lid and into the basement.

Needing to clean out the pantry of dried bread heels, I decided to make bread crumbs. I won't have to buy regular bread crumbs from the store for years.

Then I noticed we were out of brown sugar, so I whipped of a batch.

bread crumbs (left) & brown sugar (right)

For the bread crumbs I break the slice apart and put into the food processor and pulse until fine crumbs. I store in mason jars and vacuum seal until needed. My user jar just has a plastic lid. This will make three 1/2 gallon jars stored on the pantry shelf. You can also make the bread crumbs by using a plastic bag or zip-loc and a mallet or rolling pin.

The brown sugar is made using my Kitchen Aid stand mixer, but you can use any stand or handheld mixer you have. I use setting 1 or 2 and my wire whip attachment.

Put sugar into bowl and add molasses while it is running 1 T. at a time.

4 - 6 cups of white sugar and 1 T. Molasses per cup of sugar then stop, taste, and add more molasses until you get the flavor you want.

This should be stored in an air tight container and will stay soft for 3-6 months.

I keep a using jar and vacuum seal the rest. If it does start to harden up just add a slice of bread or a few crackers and it will soften up in a day or two.

I have sliced apples with cinnamon & sugar in the dehydrator. Better to use it up rather than throw it out.

Take Care Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

More Canning

It snowed this weekend so we added a few more jars of goodness to the pantry by doing some pressure canning on Saturday.

I was going through our freezer and found 3 years worth of leftover Thanksgiving turkey down in the bottom. 

I think I need to go through the freezer more often.

Batch #1

Batch #2

14 quarts in chicken stock just waiting to be made into hot comforting soup, just need to add veggies and noodles.

 

Hope you all had a Blessed Easter if you celebrate or just an amazing weekend if you don't. Stay safe everyone.

 

Hugs, Sandy

Did Some Canning

Added to my pantry by doing some canning yesterday. 

Picked up a couple of bags of peeled garlic at Costco last month and a bag of baby carrots and didn't want them to go bad, so this is the result.

12 Half Pints of Pickled Garlic.

7 Pints of Pickled Baby Carrots & Garlic Mix.

 

5 Pints of Pickled Garlic.

Pickled Garlic

(for 12 half pints)

2 1/4 c. Vinegar

2 1/4 c. Water

1/4 c. pickling salt

1 T. Pickling Spice

 

1 inch head space. Water bath for 10 min.

You can add 1 t. red pepper flakes for a spicier flavor.

 

For 6 pints increase vinegar & water to 2 3/4 c. each 

and water bath for 15 min.

 

I would like to try the Bread & Butter pickle mix & the Kosher Pickle mix at some point but only for a couple of jars to see if I like it.  

 

That's all for this post, so until next time....

 

Take Care, Stay Safe & Be Well

Hugs, Sandy 

It's Been A While...

It has been a while since my last post, life sure does pass by quickly.

We're staying warm and safe as humanly possible in our small spot in Montana.

 They have closed all bars, breweries, wine tasting houses, and casinos in Yellowstone County and other counties are following suit (glad I don't drink or gamble) and they are limiting restaurants to take out and delivery orders only. All K-12 schools are closed in Montana as of Monday 3/16 until April 26th or longer if needed, on-line classes are sure to follow, all colleges are already going on-line for the rest of the school year. 

I have a doctors appt. on Thursday for a blood draw to check my new new BP meds. It's a small office with far fewer patients than the bigger places.

We're going to do a stock up trip this weekend to add a few necessary items to our pantry stores. Luckily TP is not one of those items, I've had plenty stored in plastic totes for years for just such an occasion. People have gone crazy even here, with the hording of items.

I do plan to sew up a couple of masks before these trips and a few for the hubs to take to work and I also have a large aloe plant and a few bottles of rubbing alcohol on hand if I need to make hand sanitizer, any type of protection is better than none. 

I thank God for our pantry at times like this and after all is done I know there will be quite a bit that will need to be restocked. I'll be taking inventory of our freezer today to see how much is there and what is needed.

Praying you all stay safe and healthy and that this Virus is over soon so our lives can go back to a somewhat normal state. Until next post....

Take Care Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

 

Oh What A Difference A Day Makes

Hello Everyone, Hope you all are well and staying safe and crafty.

Isn't it supposed  to be Fall right now, the leaves have just barely begun to change color and are still clinging to the branches of our many trees. So why oh why is my entire yard WHITE!!

Just yesterday I was outside in 70 degree temps & short sleeves taking pictures of hoof and paw prints in a shaded damp area, collecting a few apples and pears and just enjoying the fall weather.

Doe & Fawn tracks.

We have two doe's who frequent our yard with their fawns. This year both of them have twins and they use our yard as their daycare area.

We also have Raccoons & Squirrels.

Not sure which these belong to, but I'm thinking Squirrel (only four front toes).

Woke up today to 28-30 degrees so I had to turn up the furnace put on my Sorrels and jacket and deal with this crap.

At least 6" to 7" of heavy wet white crap. 

Sorry, beautiful, magical, fluffy white snow.

Who am I kidding, you all know I hate this stuff. 

I've cleaned of the sat. dish and porch steps and will do it again before the hubs gets home.

 

It's not done yet and is still coming down. Unfortunately the hubs had to drive from Billings to Bozeman today to take an extra load for work a 3-4 hour drive. 

 

This won't be going away anytime soon as the temps are going to stay in the 20's & 30's for the next few days. 

This is our second snow this October but the one on the 1st or 2nd melted as soon as it hit the ground. 

 

Hope it's warmer where your at.

Take Care & Happy Fall

Hugs, Sandy

ORT Report and Other Happenings

Hello Everyone: Hope this finds you safe and well.

I've started to clear out some of the things I've made and will never use, so in the process I've changed my blog a bit and will be adding items for sale as I take pictures and get them posted. I'm also going to slowly re-add my free charts so they will all be in one place, eventually.

So check back every now and then to see what I'm offering. I'll try to post when I add something for sale.

On to the ORT Report.

All from sewing, not even one little x was stitched.😢

 Thread doesn't take up much space, but the fabric scraps do.

That's one big pile of fabric scraps. 

Until next post.....

Take Care & Happy Stitchin' and Sewing

Hugs, Sandy

A Bit of Crabbing & TUSAL Update

Hello Friends & Followers

It's still cold and snow covered here in south central Montana. 

We have around a foot of that fluffy white crap covering everything and with the high temps only occasionally going up to 20 degrees F. and lows in the single digits or below zero it's going to stick around. The bright side is that the highway's the hubs drives to work are clear, that is until the next storm rolls through.

Went to a new doctor Tuesday and all is good, need to loose weight but I always seem to need to do that. 

Changed from my original doctor, because she had the attitude that her word was law, and your opinion didn't matter. 

I'm 55 and when I saw her 2 years back she informed me that I needed to stop taking Estroven hot flashes since they only last for a year and that the Estroven can raise your blood pressure. 

Thought that was odd since everything I had read and all I heard from family and friends is that they could last up to ten years right along with all the other crap that comes with being meno positive. Even now I still have one every now and then, but thankfully not every frickin 15-20 minutes like when they first started. Sometimes being a woman can suck, first it's PMS then it's Menopause, both equally irritating in their own ways.

Now I have to stop by my old doctors office on Friday so I can sign a release form so they will transfer my records to my new doctor. Wish I knew that when I had my appointment and I would have stopped on Tuesday.

Think I've done enough bitchin' and moanin' for one post, now on to the TULSA part.

Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long click the link to see what it's about if you don't already know.

Floss & Thread ORT's

Fabric ORT's

Been working on some hanging organizer's for Tents, Pop-Up Trailer's and RV's to sell in the near future. I'll let everyone know when I do in case your interested. 

Haven't decided if I want to sell on my blog or open an Etsy store. If any of you have an Etsy store I'd love to know how you like using it. Is it easy to use and how are the fee's overall?

 

Well that's it for this post, so until next post.....

 

Take Care Everyone

Hugs, Sandy 

  

Small Town Happenings

Hello Dear Friends, 

It has been snowing here, again, and will continue for the next couple of days as well as cold, cold, cold. Tomorrows high will be 20F and that will be the warm day for the week.

We were without water for around 8 hours today, I guess a neighbor had a water line break, because the town crew was over there with their little backhoe digging at the front of their yard next to the road.

You would think that since this is a very small town that they would say something to the nearby neighbors, but nope, you just go to get some water or flush and nothing. 

Water had leaked and ran down the road and in front of our drive way, the hubs said that all of the tire ruts were full of water. So the hubs will take the Jeep to work tomorrow since we should have nice ice slick out there after it gets down into the single digits tonight. The town crew did come by with their truck with the plow on the front, but I don't know what good it may have done.

I'll be sure to fill some extra jugs for the toilet just in case they do it again tomorrow.

Birdies look so graceful when they are flying along don't they, but let them try to land in the snow and these are the imprints left behind.

Crash landing then walking away.

Another crash landing with wing imprints.

Just the beautiful wing imprint.

They were going after some over ripe grapes I had put out in a dish and some lunch-meat a little past it's prime I had put in another.

I could never catch them out there, every time I went to look they were gone.

Until next post.....

Take Care & Stay Safe

Hugs, Sandy

2018 Smalls SAL for December

Hello Dear Friends & Followers;

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season and are doing well. 

I thought we were going to get away without having a white Christmas this year, but at 4:30 pm on Christmas Eve it started to snow and left with a dusting for a powdered sugar landscape. It did the same thing on Christmas and left us with around 2 inches of snow. We've been here for 35 years and it would have been a first if it didn't snow.

Here is my final Smalls SAL update. 

Not sure if I will participate next year.

I stitched up two of my mini Quaker Snowflakes.

I will finish these with a ribbon for hanging and blue or white felt backing.

I plan to stitch a lot more of them and turn them into mini ornaments to add to a pine wreath to hag by the front door during the winter season and maybe a few magnets to add a little winter to the kitchen.

I finished off two other smalls that I stitched earlier.

"Merry Solstice" by The Primitive Hare

This is a free chart and can be found HERE 

 I stitched this one on 28 count Mocha/Beige evenweave using DMC Gold metallic 1 strand over 2 threads. I added a 1/4" gold ribbon hanger, two corded trims in rust, gold, and cream and a scattering of plastic crystal snowflakes. 

This one was stitched on the same 28 count only over one thread using my own hand-dyed thread. I finished it off with a 1/4" silver ribbon hanger, a silver ribbon bow, blue and silver corded trim, and a scattering of mini plastic crystal snowflakes.

And Finally 

They got arms !!!

I found a wrapped wire that resembles wood and shaped it into arms. It will do for now, I just need to bend/shape them a bit so they don't look like their being held up at gun point. I may make arms from the same batting later on but I'm not sure just yet. I'll live with them the way they are for a while and see how I feel later on.

Well, that's it for 2018, so until next time.....

Take Care & Happy New Year

Hugs, Sandy

 

Meet Belle

Hello Dear Friends & Followers;

Hope this post finds you well.

After I finished making "Jingles" for my winter decorating I decided that he needed a friend, a lady friend.

So let me introduce "Belle" 

"Belle"

She might get the rosy cheeks treatment as soon as I buy some blusher.

She is made from the same natural cotton batting and stuffed with fiber fill from an old pillow. She wears dark red felt earmuffs with a braided jute band adorned with smalls snowflakes, a dark red felt scarf with fringed ends and a snowflake, and a dark red felt apron with lace overlay that ties in the back. She has a handmade orange felt carrot nose and sewn on dark blue button eyes. She is 8" tall and 6" across the bottom.

 

I still haven't decided on the arms yet, I have some twigs that would work, but would have to be very careful when packing them away so they don't get broken. We're going to town next weekend and will hit up the craft stores to see if they have any alternatives for arms. If nothing else maybe I can use brown pipe cleaners or something similar. Maybe some heavy wire or pipe cleaner wrapped in a single strand of jute.

"Jingles & Belle"

I think they make a perfect couple.

I call these "make-do" crafts since I had everything for them right in my craft room except the arms. I'll have to try a pipe cleaner wrapped in jute to see what that would look like, I have that in my craft room too.

Since I worked in a House of Fabrics for 2 years and a Ben Franklin's for 4-5 years I acquired a lot of stash.  

Thank you so much for stopping by today and maybe leaving your thoughts behind, I really appreciate each and every comment.

Take Care Everyone &

Have a great day.

 Hugs, Sandy

And so it begins.....

Hello Friends; I hope all is well with you.

If you have been reading my blog for a bit you know that there is one thing on this earth that I have a huge LOVE / HATE relationship with, and it is this.......

Yes, it's that beautiful fluffy wet cold white crap. 

2" worth at 9:30 AM when I took the pictures and it has been falling all day long. It shouldn't hang around long as it is supposed to warm back up into the 50's and 60's this coming week.

These were all taken from my backyard and in the last picture you can see two deer laying under the trees in a dry area. I never knew they were there since I just pointed the camera over the gate and clicked the button.

Take Care Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

Smalls SAL August 2018

Hello Friends, Hope you are all doing well. 

Well our truck cost us $405. He had to drop the fuel tank twice and replace the roll over shutoff and there was something loose in the filler neck that had to be fixed. At least now we can fill up the tank normally.

Here is my stitchin' for the August edition of the 2018 Smalls SAL....

"If You Sprinkle"

Done in DMC and Caron Wildflowers floss on 14 count rustic Aida.

I winged this piece and made changes on the go while we were up in the Big Horns. 

The pine boughs and lettering are all different than my original design.

I'm going to finish the framing and then hang above the potty in the trailer bathroom.

I showed it to the Hubs and he asked if I was trying to tell him something, said nope, just thought it would be a cute addition in my attempt to add some rustic cabin flavor.

That's it for this post, so until next time.......

Take Care and Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

 

Sweet Deer Family

I spotted this sweet little family on Tuesday while looking out of my craft room window.

Mama was very lovingly cleaning her two wee fawns.

They have been hanging around our yard and the field behind the cabin for the last few weeks.

One of the fawns had a limp the first time I saw them, but it seems to have healed up since neither one was limping as I watched them walking around the yard.

Take Care &

Have A Great Weekend

Hugs, Sandy

 

Summer of the TREE

Hello Everyone;  Hope you all are safe and well.

What the heck is wrong with the tree's around our house ? 

 We have lived here for 25 years and have never had this much breakage. And all in four months time.

We just got back from a four day camping trip on Sunday 8/06 and found this in our side yard.

RIP Black Walnut

Our decades old Black Walnut tree had split right down the trunk. Luckily that dilapidated old blue single wide trailer house that a renter abandoned here caught the tree and kept it from blocking the dirt alley way on that side of the property. 

 

In the last 25 years it has only dropped one or two branches. So sorry it gave way it was such a big beautiful tree and a major source of food for our pudgy squirrel population. We still have two much smaller Black Walnuts on the same side of the property right where we currently park the Vacation Home.

 

The Hubs got the large cottonwood branch on the ground with the help of our Jeep and just needs to get it cut into sections for splitting, but this Black Walnut is going to be a major undertaking. 

We would like to try and save the little Rubbermaid storage container that is right under it, but if we can't it was just a freebie from the Hubs work. He'll have to get on top of the trailer and see how the tree is braced before cutting anything.

Again, feeling so very Blessed that nothing was damaged and no one was hurt.

With all of these trees dropping branches and just plain giving up their all, I don't think we will have to get firewood for a few years.

That's it for today, I'll post about our camping trip to the Big Horn Mountains tomorrow. 

Take Care Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

Thunder, Lightning, Rain, & Hail

The weather has been weird the last three days. 

On Thursday we had lots thunder, I never saw any lightning just heard a constant roll of thunder for over an hour and then the skies just opened up with pouring rain and hail from pea size to 1/2 - 3/4 inch balls. We've never had hail quite that large at the house.

Then Friday it was back again with lightning, thunder, heavy rains, and hail.

 Just look at it coming down. 

There was so much rain the water barrel couldn't keep up.

  Here is one of the many 1/2" hail balls and a few smaller ones that managed to end up on the front porch.

  Saturday we only got rain and were able to get most of the bags in the house before it started coming down.

So far today there hasn't been any rain just scattered clouds and a nice breeze. 

Oh wait,I just heard a couple claps of thunder off in the distance so I better keep an eye out in case I have to run out and close trailer windows and gather laundry.

I got to take a trip to Hobby Lobby on Saturday and came home with.......

The 35 newest colors from DMC.

I have been looking at them online and didn't want to pay $30+ even without the tin, so I checked Joann's and Michael's with no luck. DMC themselves said they were at Michael's. 

So I called Hobby Lobby and Eureka! they had them all. 

The lady I spoke with was surprised that they were the only store in town that had them. 

It's a pain in the tush that you have to run all over town just to get the threads you want, you would think that if you have a Needlework section and sell DMC that you would carry all the DMC.

Oh well, there mine now and when they have a sale I'll get get more just to have a backup skein of each.

That's all for today, so until next time......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

OMG !! Another Branch Broke !

HOLY CRAP ! A HUGE limb broke on our Cottonless Cottonwood on Monday. 

That thing has to be over 40 feet long!

And it just barely missed hitting the truck, the end of the branch is under the truck just in front of the front tire. It took a couple of small Elm trees and many branches in it's wake.

 The Break

Here's a close up of the break.

This tree has been on the property since before we bought it. We moved here in 1993 and it was already a huge tree. 

We have only had two big branches break from the tree since we have lived here. 

The first was one winter when we had a really heavy snow fall and that on missed me by a couple feet, if I hadn't run into the shed when I heard the crack I would have been right under it.

This one I never even heard it break, it happened sometime between 5am and 3 pm. It kinda gave me the creeps as I had just been walking in that part of the the yard the day before.

It always sheds smaller branches up to 3-4 feet long in heavy winds, but there were no heavy winds on Monday, but the huge branches do reach out 30-40 feet long, so it's only a matter of time I guess. 

On the bright side, it will provide a bunch of firewood for next winter.

 

The hubs joked it was probably our big fat squirrels running back and forth all day long that did it. I feed them all the time all year so they do get a bit plump. ; } And when I took the pictures today I just missed catching one of them running up the limb.

Feel so lucky and Blessed that no damage was done, except to the trees.

Stay Safe Everyone

Hugs, Sandy

TUSAL for July

Hello Everyone, I can't believe it's already July it always seems that the year passes quicker and quicker. 

It's been in the upper 90's so far this month but still going down into the upper 50's and mid 60's for over night so at least it cools down some. Yes, the air conditioner has been a good friend of mine.

Thank you all so much for your kind and healing comments, we both really appreciated them. 

I'm healing up fine just have bruises to fade away and the spot on my elbow is getting smaller. The hubs will be 4-6 weeks for the bruised ribs to heal and since he is back at work I'm leaning more towards the 6 weeks. He starts spending quality time with the heating pad as soon as he walks in the door. 

Now on to the TUSAL update for July.....

You can find a link on my sidebar, just scroll down.

My little jar got over half full this time around. I think I need to pop it in the dishwasher, it's starting to look a bit grubby.

Lots of greens and browns, but also some from the new DMC Coloris threads that I picked up at Michael's. I found a list on line that gives you the corresponding DMC solids for Coloris and Color Variations at www.needlenthread.com
 

I found the large jar with around 10 years of ort's in the back of a cabinet in my craft room, so I thought I would share a picture of it along side my total for 2018. That is a whole lot of threads. Eventually I know I will either throw them out or ..... maybe I will get one of those gallon sized Ball mason jars and keep them in there. I love the mason jar idea.

I'm still trying to decide on the scissor fob design to share. I love the patchwork heart with the saying Stitchin' is in my Heart, but the bee's are so cute and I also have one with stitched buttons all over and one with an antique sewing machine, so many choices. Maybe if I quit playing with the designs I'll come up with a decision. 

Well, that's it for today everyone, thank you so much for stoppin' by and maybe leaving a thought or two behind. Until next time.......

Take Care & Happy Stitchin'

Hugs, Sandy

What A Week !

When your just going along mindin' your own business and along comes Murphy times 2.

We were supposed to camping last week, but the hubs falling four feet from the doorway of a semi truck cab on Tuesday at work put a stop to that. He had to help a window up that didn't want to go then turned around and lost his footing.

He came home with a badly swollen bruised right knee, bruised ribs on the left side and an inch round piece of skin missing from his left elbow and the resulting bruises and swelling from that. He landed with his face only an inch or two from the pavement. His place was on the couch alternating between ice packs and the heating pad.

He didn't want give up on the camping trip though and when I mentioned unloading the fridge and freezer on Wednesday he told me not to be to hasty he could be fine in the morning (keep dreaming hun), so to humor him I left everything as it was. By Thursday night he finally gave up the idea of camping as we reasoned out the things he couldn't do because of the injuries. So very happy that nothing was broken. He's back to work today, but on limited duty.

So, Friday afternoon I started to unload the fridge and freezer, remove the bread and any thing else that would spoil or get melted from the heat, my stitchin' stuff that I planned on doing while out camping, my handgun and some of the clothes.

 It took three trips just for the food and then it was my turn for the GOD of clumsiness to show up and smack me around. I missed a step coming out of the trailer on the last trip and that was all it took. Luckily I hit back against the door slamming it into the the outside wall of the trailer and then fell sliding down the door and landing on my feet. I ended up with a skinned and bruised left elbow a pulled muscle in my left hip and a big bruise on the under side of my upper right arm. I was glad that was all I did and that I landed on my feet, but pissed I dropped my gun, at least it was in the holster and unloaded. If I had fallen forward instead of back I had a pile of big rocks to the left of the doorway and a black walnut tree and 8x8 fence post right in front of the doorway. It could have been much worse for both of us last week.

On a happier note I have another scissor fob chart to share with you all. I just need to decide between a patchwork heart or bee's on a honeycomb. So until next time, thank you so much for stopping by.

Take Care & Be Safe

Hugs, Sandy