Farmhouse Friday - February 24, 2023

 How is it the last Friday of February already?!?

What has been going on here at our little hobby farm this week?

Well, still working on bathroom remodel.  

Snow days, Gramma Bird lunch day, voting, $10 Tuesday and working at my little office just about rounds out this week.  It sounds like I'm on repeat from last week.  However, it is winter in Wisconsin not much else to do...ahaha!

I read something this week that really resonated with me.  It was part of my Noom lessons.   "When you let things fester in your mind, you're feeding it.  When you let it out on paper, you're freeing it."  I told my friend Lisa this and she came up with:  "write it up, light it up" and it evolved into "talk it out, toss it out."  All good....so I started out today with "accountability Friday."  I sent out 2 messages....(clap, clap!)  More for "Free in '23."

Well, I am going to empty this cupboard.  I've enjoyed the cozy soft lights, wool blankets, antique snowshoes and teddy bears....but, I'm ready for some spring decor.  

Here is what I did for February.

I made roasted cornish hens this week.  I was laughing thinking about when my dad had my mom make him some.  We had a large family, a small chicken wouldn't feed anyone.  I must have been like 8 or 10 and I never saw such a tiny bird before.  I remember thinking it was a "baby" chicken and my dad was so mean to eat it.  Now that I am a chicken lady, I know the difference between breeds.  They were so good!

What's up for the weekend?

I hope to go snowshoeing in all this fresh snow.  Supposed to be nice Saturday.  It's too cold this morning!  

Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.  

Silly Things Thursday

 Well, this Thursday, it's a snow day!  Nothing silly about, I'm going to guess 15" snow in past 2 days and still coming down.  

I guess the "silly" thing about it would be - "virtual learning day" - poor kids don't even get "snow days" anymore.  

Here are some "dad" jokes for you.....

Why are winter days great?  They're snow much fun

What do you call a snowman's dog?  A slush puppy

What did the icy road say to the car?  Wanna take a spin

What do snowmen call their kids?  Chill-dren

What falls in winter, but never gets hurt?  Snow

I plan on a snow day, I'm staying in my PJ's all day. 

Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.  

Farmhouse Friday, February 17, 2023

 Good Friday Morning!

Well, that week went by fast!

We are still in the thick of remodeling the bath, entry and laundry area of our house.  We "had" to take a few days off this week.  Which allowed me some time to do laundry, attempt to clean up the "dirt/dust" and think about what I want to actually take back into that space.  Not all that was in there!!!!

In my theme for the year "free in '23" I've been working on managing my time better.  There are many reasons that I could say here as to why I can't do this, but truth is, they all sound like excuses.  So, I will move forward and say, I have been getting back on schedule this week.  I started in January really and have been adding 1 thing a week to my morning schedule to do instead of looking at my phone.  I now have 7 things I try to do first thing in the morning.  I feel so productive!  They are things that are for me...not anyone else...or my business...things I do to make my day go better.

I came across that quote this week.  Boy, if that ain't the truth!  

Speaking of "free '23" - I also had a friend through 4H send me a dozen or more pictures and wanted my opinion on value.  Now, you know, I like to help people....but, I do this for a business.  So, I called her and told her I would be happy to list those items for her in my business group for this %.  Well, she said "of course!  Let's do it!"  I also had consignees, that I had picked up items from over the years to sell, contact me this week.  I told them that I now rent an office, gave them the address and told them my hours.  Guess what, they delivered!  That is how I want to do this, pick up and delivery at my office.  

Do you watch any YouTube channels?  I do...  Have you seen the ones "what a family of 8 eats in a day?"  Well, I thought I would do...."what I eat on Noom in a day."  I happen to think about this the other day, that I've lost and gained these same 30-50 pounds at least 6 times in my married life.  Granted 2 were pregnancies, but still!  So, I'm on to the 7th time....I hope I can find a happy, healthy place and not focus on a number! 

Oh, before I share photos of my day....I was involved in a discussion recently with some experts in their field (farming).  Anyway, the topic of "sharing what you know" came up.  Of course, I was already thinking of a future blog post (still working on it - haha) and I was thinking about all the Insta sham and Fake book posts .... I don't know why, but those things drive me batty.... NO ONE can do all that!  Any who.....if there is one thing I do know about, it's how to lose and gain weight....I laughed and laughed thinking about it.  So, I shared some of my meals on Insta...with tips.  So here goes.....

Breakfast: "green eggs" (1 egg, 2 whites, spinach, scallons, peppers), bagel thin, with a smear of pesto, 2 pinches of grated cheese.  A glass of ice water with splash of orange juice.  

Tip:  Add flavor without all the extras, pesto was amazing and I only needed a tiny taste.  Use the bagel thin it's 1/2 the bread.  Make your plate look special.  We eat with our eyes as well. 

(BTW, look at my hen's cute eggs!)

Get the taste of the juice while drinking more water.  

Mid Morning Snack:  warm, honey, nut pears

Spray a pan with cooking spray, add sliced pears (fruit) sprinkle with cinnamon and pinch of salt.  Flip and reapeat.  When soft, add some finely chopped nuts (smaller makes it seem like more) a drizzle of honey and 1 small pat of butter, yes eat butter it's better.    Tip:  When you want a treat, but don't want to cheat.

Lunch:  Plan, plan, plan.  I picked up my granddaughter so I packed a lunch to eat while I waited.  Now, I would rather have ran to a drive thru, but what was that quote....what we don't change....

I used a high fiber wrap, filled with a chopped veggies, 5 black olives, 1 baby bell cheese, sprinkle with italian seasoning and drizzle with dressing....I didn't miss the "meat" - so good!  

Supper:  I had a round steak cooking in the crock all day with homemade mushroom gravy.  I added 1/2 a jalapeno pepper diced so small it just melted into the gravy.  So good.  Served over rice and tossed side salad.  My tip here would be, don't skimp on flavor and measure what you eat.  A 1/2 c rice is satisfying.  I also used my salad plate instead of my dinner plate - made it look like more.  I save my milk for meals like this and I add ice so it also looks like more.  

Treat after....

These 3 ingredient cupcakes Lauren (she is 5) made all by herself.  It's 3 mashed bananas, 2 eggs and 1 box of any cake mix.  The frosting she wanted and it had chocolate chips in.  

Tip:  when you stick on program, you can have a little treat and still stay on track.  I ate all of this and was still within my caloric "safe" zone for the day.  

My meal and food choices on weekends are more free range, but I am mindful of what it is I am eating.  I still track it even if it is an awful big calorie number. 

O.k. off to work today at my office.  I added a Saturday morning pick up for the next 2 weeks.  My plan is to devote 1 whole Saturday to that soon.  Have a great weekend.  

Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.  

Farmhouse Friday February 10, 2023

 Welcome to Farmhouse Friday and my blog!

This week, we continue the remodel project in the bathroom.  You never know all the things that come up, until you take down drywall.  So, Reggie and Ethan did lots work, behind the scenes...or walls....these most important things to make everything correct for their finish work.  

Al and I have been picking out fixtures, flooring, tiles and paint.  I like the color I picked for the bathroom and I bought it already.  I went back to look at colors for the entry and laundry.   I picked colors in the warm palette tones.  After I got home and looked at my walls....they were almost the same colors that they are and have been for a long time.  I wanted something "different."  Good thing, I didn't buy them.  So, off I go to look at different colors again.  I guess I know what I like and I stick to it.

I grew up, for lack of a better description, in the "picking business."  I know (knew) many of the "old timers" as in antique dealers from when they would come to my mom's sales.  That generation of pickers are getting up there and many are no longer with us.  One such lady was Marlene.  She passed on now and her daughter is working on selling her inventory.   Lisa and I are doing the antique show in March and our theme is "paging through the decades."  We want to have almost all ephemera, post cards, paper, books, art and other memorabilia related to that.  Heidi let us look at what her mom had.  I only picked out the "cute" stuff.  After the first tub, I said "better add me up, I may already be at my limit."  I did buy a huge binder of awesome Valentines.  

Oh boy, I found so many that I like...eeek!

Well, hopefully I can prime the drywall and paint the bathroom this weekend.  I also want to sand down the old original shiny paint on this old built in cabinet we installed nearly 30 years ago in my laundry room.  I don't really want to paint it, I just want to knock it down a bit and do a gel stain finish or something.  If that doesn't look good, then I'll paint it.  

I'm sure some of that will come back on the shelf as I like all of it.  I may switch it up a bit.  We will see....

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.  

In the Lull of Winter

 Well here we are in the lull of winter.   That is how it is for us in northern areas anyway.  The time between when the groundhog spoils our anticipation for spring and the emerging bulbs from the ground.  

Every year, I tell myself, this is a time for cleaning, organizing, doing the things inside so that when we can, we can be outside.  I even wrote in my calendar last year things like this:  "remember to clean the pantry, you enjoyed using up what was in there" and "take the time to dust off your cabinets, that made you very happy."  Oh, I did things like this too:  "don't waste too much time watching netflix - you felt sad about that" or "count backwards the correct amount of days to start your seeds your's were to laggy last time."  I have enjoyed my little references to self.

So, how can we overcome the lull of winter?   Here are a few ideas:  

1.  Embrace the weather.  Just today, I stood on the porch, just as the sun was coming up and did several minutes of breathing and stretches.  Wow, that cold air in my lungs, the trees moving in the wind, the sounds of my roosters crowing...I soaked it all in.  Winter is magical.

2.  Read.  I was never great at reading, but I enjoy my daily devotional reading.  I like to read things with purpose, how to or self help type books.  I do enjoy magazine articles and still pick up a Mary Jane's Farm now and again.  I have challenged myself to read something for fun even if it is a "kid's book."  My attention span can't do more than that some days.  

3.  Send a card or letter.  I know messaging and emails have all but eliminated this.  It made me happy to spread some cheer to someone by doing this.  I will continue .... 

4.  Go for a car ride.  If the weather is nice, hop in the car and just go explore a different area.  We went to Iron Mountain, MI Saturday and it was a fun little day trip.  My grandpa and grandma would say "let's go for a little ride" now I know why.

5.  Do something you enjoy.  Pick up your knitting needles, embroidery hoop or felting needle.  Make time for creativity.  Grab the fry pan, sauce kettle, baking sheet and try a new recipe.

These are just a few little things I have been doing to get me through the lull of winter.  What kinds of things can you think of to do?  Please share, so we call can benefit from it.  

Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.  

Farmhouse Friday February 3, 2023

 Well, this has been a week!  

We are starting a bathroom remodel, which leads to new flooring throughout the front 3 rooms so also a laundry and entry remodel.   

We bought and remodeled our farmhouse the fall of 1994 -spring of 1995.  We moved in April 1995 - Anna had her 1st birthday here.  It's time to do some things over again - mostly the bathroom.

This is the before picture I will use.  I forgot to take one at the beginning when it had stuff in it.  Our main thing we are doing is closing that door off and moving it to where the shower is to come into the bathroom from the laundry.  It's like an old farmhouse to put your bathroom right next to the kitchen...why??  The wall to the right is where my stove is...we have hated that door there forever!  

In moving that door, we are taking away Ginger's hiding spot.  Oh, look at those walls, she was trying to help....for the past 2 years!!  She may be part of the reason why we are doing the laundry room too....eeeekkk!

That wall is now a door into the bathroom and I can not tell you how many times she has tried to figure out where here little spot went.  It's still there to an extent.  She is so confused.  

This project will be going on for a while, I'll do updates.

So we also finished our January estate sale.  We met and settled with our client, she was very pleased.  This week, was a bit crazy with meeting for additional pick ups of sold items, but, it's in the past now.  I am so thankful for the selling group I created as part of my business page - facebook marketplace sucks!  When something isn't selling on the business group, I post it on there.  Awful....scammers, no shows, zillion questions....for nothing!  

We are going to Iron Mountian, MI....Al must love me...I want something for our bathroom remodel, none in stock anywhere - the store checked all of Wisconsin.  There is one in Iron Mountain, which is only 2.5 hours north, which is close enough to us to save on shipping and waiting.....it's the waiting that was going to be hard to do...we want to finish the project.  I hope this turns out how I have it in my head.  Thing is, I NEVER would have thought about this idea, but my great-nephew, Ethan said something and off I went - dreaming - Al wasn't on board, he is now though!  (wink, wink)

Well, I hope you all have a great weekend.  

Blessings from Ringle, Wisconsin.