Weekly Productivity

 

We have been working since 7:00 this morning.  We have done 25 one cup packages of cheese from 2lb blocks of cheese on sale that we brought home and shredded.  2 10lb bags of potatoes that was on sale for $4.99 a bag, made probably another 17 to 18 qts of potatoes. I turned a 10lb bag into 4 bags of French fries, and 4 bags of scalloped potatoes. That's 25 meals with just potatoes. Then we worked on two more pineapples that were one sale and I got 2 more qts of pineapple, some fresh pineapple to eat for breakfast and lunch and 2 more jars of juice to use in anything I want to. 😋 

Then we turned a chub of Bologna that was on sale and made several days worth of Bologna slices for lunches. 

Not to mention rotating 3 loads of laundry and letting Caroline wash dishes. Now we are taking a much needed break.

After our break, we had some reading time and then it was time for Daddy and Sissy to come home from school. We had an after school snack and talked with oldest son for a bit before they had to go home. 

After they left, I fixed our supper and we ate. Cleaned everything up so we could process onions. I could not do those while little sissy was here because those things are strong and they kill my eyes. I didn't want them hurting her eyes.  We made the process fast and out of 2 3lb bags of onions that were on sale, I got        1 cup portion bags out of them and vacuum sealed them and put them into freezer for future meals. 

We finally got recleaned and I got to take a shower. We rested the rest of the night and watched baking championships on Food Network and yep, I see alot of things I want to try. Lol. 

Tuesday:

It's time to start canning 20 lbs of potatoes that soaked overnight. I have a video of that on our YouTube channel if you want to see how. I will also start processing some of the 100 lbs of sweet potatoes I have too. Little sister is arriving now so I better be ready to start reading books. 📚 

We read some books and then she started getting hungry so it was breakfast time. 😋 We had some chaffles that we batch cooked last week.  I have a video on that too. You can see it here. 

Batch Cooking Chaffles and Waffles

Then it was time to get started with the potatoes. 

Got breakfast ate, supper in the crock pot, and working on canning these potatoes they peeled yesterday. And he got laundry started, all before 9:30 am. That man said  "Not today, I'm not in the mood for all that!" when I tried to video him so I just snapped a pic smarty pants. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Next, we have to start tackling sweet potatoes. 😋

We got the potatoes finished and added 14 more qts to the pantry.  By then it was time to eat lunch.  We ate, read some books and took a much needed nap. We didn't get to sleep long because storms rolled in and every time it thundered, she got scared. We got up, had some coffee and snacks. We played until it was time for her daddy to come pick her up. They were going to go get big sissy. 

Me and dear hubby ate supper and cleaned the kitchen and we set down to start peeling sweet potatoes and watched a Christmas movie. It was stormy still most of the night and the wind was blowing so hard all night, I barely got any sleep. 

Wednesday:

Kind of sleep deprived this morning but there is still work to be done. I am so sore from peeling so many potatoes last night. I'm trying to drink my coffee this morning and the wind is still blowing so hard outside. My little helper will be here in a bit, so I gotta down the coffee. 😆 

My little buddy arrived and we sit for a few minutes playing a school game on her tablet. Then we ate a bit and I got ready and got busy with the sweet potatoes while she wanted to play. 

She wanted to help peel but they were a little too big for her hands. Poppie wound up helping me and we wound up getting 18 bags of meals for French fried sweet potatoes and 14 qts canned so far. We got those done before it was nap time. 

We read some books and Bible stories and then took a nap. 

After nap we played baby dolls and read some books. Poppie went and picked up sissy from school.  They got back here and I gave them a snack before daddy came to get them. 

Thursday:

No work today. It is a girls day out today. 

We need to head to town and buy ingredients to make my late Mother in Laws Christmas candy. 

Caroline: "I want to be like Gmaw!"

😁😁

Chicky nuggets and French fries makes her happy and since she was such a good helper, I will choke down some rubber fries. 😒🍟

When you're little and everything is a blast. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

We came home exhausted and took a nap. Then it was time to go get sissy from school. We picked her up and got home and got her started with home work. Little sissy wanted to do some too. 

While she was doing her homework, I got lunches fixed for the next day, little sissy didn't want to feel left out. And I got their breakfast fixed for the next morning.  Home lunchables are nutritional, easy and affordable. 

This was their breakfast 

We ate, got kitchen cleaned, played, took showers and got ready for bed. They get to have a sleepover with us. 

Friday:

Had to wake them up to get her ready for school. Those make ahead, easy traveling breakfasts comes in handy for a morning commute,

Business in the front, party in the back. Breakfast of champions and Curious George on the TV. School mornings do not have to be chaotic. Make ahead breakfasts make it easier. It's about planning, organization and time management.

I got her to school and had to paint her nose before she went inside. 

Rockin' Rockin' Rudolph. ♥️

Little sissy wanted one too

Me and Caroline got back home and we did some school and just  playing.  Before we knew it, it was naptime.  After naptime, we employed some more and I started taking down Fall decorations. Sissy came home with Daddy. They all went to feed the cows. 

We started decorating for Christmas 🎄 

This is their favorite thing to do. My little Christmas village. 

That night we watched some Christmas movies with them. 

Deer horns, Rudolph horns, and unicorns kind of night.

Christmas sprinkles on our waffles kind of morning

These girls woke up at 6am on a NON SCHOOL morning 🙄 because they were so excited that today was the day we get to bake Christmas treats and Nannys Christmas candy. 🎄 🍪🎂🍰🧁🍭🍬. They were raring and ready to go and I needed coffee ☕️, lots of coffee and a sugar rush. I think I nailed it. 🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤 That girl took my microphone away from me not just once but twice. 🤣🤣🤣

They didn't even give me time to get ready so you will see bed head. So it's a pj, messy hair don't care, rocking out to Christmas music, dancing, singing, jamming kind of morning.  My living room is a mess and then we cut snowflakes and painted pictures. 🎨 It will get cleaned later. It's the memories and the fun that counts.

Well, we partied til we dropped.

We got to squeeze in a tea party before it was time to go home 

We had such a fun day. They cried because they weren't ready to go home. 😭 But they were going to get to decorate their Christmas tree at home too. 

The rest of the night I just relaxed and rested. This Gmaw was wore out. 

Sunday:

I was suppose to go to church this morning but was having trouble with my RA and was just feeling under the weather. I know I should have just toughed it out and went because I know I would have received a blessing. I was extremely lazy and barely got supper done but I did it. It was an easy supper because we had already slow cooked a pork butt and we had some left overs. I made:

I guess canning all week and then the weekend with the grands wore me out. Time for this ole gal to rest I guess. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading about our week. I hope I didn't bore you. 

Until next week, have a blessed day and week. 

Wonderful Weekend

 We have had a wonderful weekend with family and just relaxing and enjoying what we do. 

We had a great Thanksgiving meal with all my family and my momma and daddy. So thankful everyone was off work. After everyone left, we cleaned up and just rested. More like passed out. Lol. 

I was looking back through pics of the day and saw that I was missing a pic of me and my sweetheart. I was so busy getting pics of everyone else especially Caroline before she jerked her hair down, that I didn't get anyone to take a pic of us. So, I make him put back on his shirt and I put back on mine and we took a quick one. 

Guys, just take the picture ok? Trust me, just take the pictures. 

The next day, I made a trip to local grocery store and bought some meat while it was on sale and I picked up some more pineapples,  potatoes and more sweet potatoes and onions before the sale went off. Needless to say our storage room is a mess but I've got work to do next week. We got all the meat separated and packaged and I uploaded two videos of that. You can see them here.  I break down what I bought,  price and how we put it up. 

Shop The Sales Part 1 

Shop The Sales Part 2

Dear hubby got the gutters all cleaned out and our flough cleaned out to get ready for our first fire 🔥  of the season in the fireplace. 

That evening I got to go hunting while dear hubby made us supper. It was my turn to go. I only saw young ones and a mature doe but they were all together. 

Saturday, we both hunted. I had activity all around me all morning. It was the same group of does. 

Then I had activity behind me. I had some nosey visitors. They finally got tired of waiting so they just layed down in the pasture. Lol. 

He didn't have any activity. 

We came in, ate lunch, took a well deserved nap and just relaxed and enjoyed our evening. I went and got us some supper and he took care of the cows. We ate and watched football the rest of the night. 

Sunday was church and then, we had date day and went to Lowes and out to eat. I picked up 160 bulbs to plant some onions. I have never planted any in the fall but we will see. Dear hubby got to pick up his Christmas present early because they were on sale and didn't want to miss it. 

They've Had A Workout

 My canners have literally got a work out today. Finishing up now. Here is the break down:

20 lbs of potatoes for $11.08 on sale yielded 17 qts of meals. I see fried potatoes, roasted potatoes, potato soup, mashed potatoes, throw in Soups and stews, and potato salad.

16 to 18 lbs of carrots at $1.48 for a 2 lb bag yielded 17 qts and one pint of meals. 

Glazed carrots, steamed carrots, Soups, stews and roasts, roasted carrots. 

One stalk celery for $.98, 2 qts. Stuffing, potatoe salad, cream of celery soup. 

Before the inflation, I have paid better prices. 

I'll show yall later what I did with the rest of the celery. I'm tired.

You can catch our Canning Carrots video and Canning Potatoes Two Ways on our channel. 

Keeper of the Home at 4D Farms

He Outdid Himself

 This man out did himself tonight. Ole Curly's back strap sure was delicious. This is how you make a 5 yr old buck in rutt taste good. 👌 And yall remember those caramelized onions in the gravy I canned? Well that liquid gold made an awesome addition to supper. Along with Nanny's green beans fried in bacon, glazed carrots and baked sweet potatoes. 😋

My sweetheart knows I live to can and preserve. If it can be canned, it's gonna get canned. If it can be froze, it's gonna get frozen. I haven't tried dehydrating yet, but give me time, I just might. 

With his help tonight, we made light work of 20# of potatoes to prep for canning. We have 20 more lbs to go. I will keep a tally and let you know. 

If you want to know how I can my potatoes, check out our video on our YouTube channel 

Canning Potatoes

Finally Home

 Well, we finally made it home. It feels so nice. 

I absolutely cannot wait to share this with my little buddies. Why, yes, I did go to an antique store in AR and put us together a China tea set.  Yes, I will teach them some etiquette and how to be gentle and careful.  It's the memory making I love best. And I may share them with my big girls too. Jordan Ryan and Brylee Dixon I may even let Dallas Dixon join in. 😁

We had the opportunity of surprising some little girls. 

When your Marine Veteran Poppie suprises you and shows up at your school for your Veterans Day program, this is what you get. Look at that child's face then look at her Poppies. She could not contain her emotions and excitement. She waved and blew him kisses the whole time. She cried, Poppie cried, I cried, we all cried. She held in her emotions to be so brave to sing her songs but after it was over and they were dismissed, she ran to her Poppie and just let it all out. Bless her gentle heart. She loves her Poppie. 

When Caroline saw us, she came running into our arms and laps. We got the best kisses ever. 

We got to check her out and their mommy let us have them for the weekend.  We took them to lunch and a treat. 

Later that evening, I finally got to have my tea party with my girls. They loved their cups and saucers. 

After our tea party we went outside to feed the cows and check them out.  We finally got them onto our pasture. 

It feels strange hearing moos all the time now. Now, I get free fertilizer for my garden. We have two that will be calving this season. The girls love to help feed them. 

We got up the next morning and we needed to go grocery shopping. They were a big help. We had to bundle up because it has turned cold here. 

That evening we had another tea party. 

A nice day for another tea party. I even found a use for some of my grandmother and great Grandmothers handkerchiefs. These are Atleigh and Caroline's Great Great Grandmothers and Great Great Great Grandmothers handkerchiefs. They were delighted. Less slurping and notice Caroline's pinky. 🥰 We're getting there.

We are supper and then I had great helpers prepping some groceries we bought and cleaning the kitchen.  I let each pick what they wanted to do. 

I pulled out some things from our pantry and threw together deer chilli for supper. 

The peaches and green beans were for the girls because they love them. 

Somebody else loves their Poppie too. 

We read stories at bedtime and went to bed. The next morning we went to church. After church, I let them decorate a cabinet for us for Thanksgiving 

Neither one of them wanted to go home that night so we let them spend another night. I got Atleigh up the next morning and got her ready for school and packed her lunch. Got her down to daddys so they could get her to school.  I let Caroline sleep in and Poppie stayed with her. She got up when I got back. 

Poppie helped fix her hair. No, he's not performing an exorcism,  he's just brushing her hair.  He is getting good at messy buns. 

Me and Caroline had work to do that day. We needed to get restocked on them some freezer breakfasts.  We made batches of waffles and chaffles. She did a really good job. And we had fun. We might have made a video 😁😁

As usual,  big Sissy is a little jealous that little sissy gets to stay with me. She's already asking to spend the night again.  Bless her. I am so glad we are loved so much and they are so comfortable with us. We have a great bond. 

While I was cleaning up, I noticed it got quiet. Sometimes they just want to read a good book, in a cabinet. Don't worry, they don't lock. She is safe. 

We did a little school too. 

Poppie had gone hunting that afternoon and he told us he would try to get us a deer and he did not disappoint.  He got one he has been chasing for three years. They have a history.  

He had to take it to a friend of ours to hang in his deer cooler. We let ours hang for 5 days before processing which will come soon. 

The next day, me and little sissy was at it again.  We made some balsamic strawberry vinegarette using the cut off tops from strawberries. I let her practice cutting. 

Yes, I got the idea off YouTube.  It is delicious.  You just use your tops of strawberries instead of landing them into the trash. You cover with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sugar,  pepper and a pinch salt. Muse down a bit and let sit at room temp overnight. The next, strain and get remaining liquid out of strawberries.  Change seasonings and oils to taste. The recipe gave no measurements so I had to play around. You can also make vinegar from the scraps. You can check out videos of what to do with fruit scraps and oh my, the videos that pop up. 

It was time for sissy to get home from school and I had to start helping her count down the days until she gets to spend the night. It makes her feel better. They helped Poppie feed the cows and then they had to go home. 

The next day, once again a project for me and Caroline. I'll explain. When we went grocery shopping it wasn't just for groceries. I purposely bought things that were on sale so I could can and preserve them. This is what I do in the winter.  Things that I don't grow, I buy on sale and then process. This is a good way to stock your freezers and pantries. I do the vegetables, and dear hubby gets the meats. 

So this day was pineapple. 

Mine and Caroline's work from yesterday. I will break it down. These are all the things you can get from pineapples. 

1- From the stem, you can replant and possibly get another pineapple 🍍 

2- fresh pineapple rings, chunks or crushed pineapple. We got 4 pints. Can be eaten fresh or in baking. 

3- from the scraps (rinds and cores), I boiled them down and got the extra juice extracted which contains Bromalaine(sp) which is an anti inflammatory property found in pineapples. I used this juice to make syrup which can be used for pancakes, waffles, French toast, ice cream, yogurt, smoothies, teas, anything you want, even in baking goods. We got 4 jelly jars and 5 mini jelly jars full. 

4- after juicing down all the scraps, they can be used to feed wildlife or compost for your garden. 

5- you can also use the scraps to make pineapple vinegar which is extremely rich in probiotics. 

So, all those things from 2 $1.98 pineapples. Not bad. So many uses.

While they were processing,  we did some school.

When daddy and sissy go there from school, they didn't get to stay long. They had to go get some supper to eat for that night and get back so she could do homework.  To be honest, I don't like school. 😞 No offense to any of you awesome school teachers. It's just that I've been with them since the day they were born and then all the sudden they get whisked off to school.  We barely get to see them when they get home before they have to go to bed. It breaks my heart to see little ones have to get out of bed before the crack of dawn. I homeschooled our boys until Jr High and they became more independent. This is all new to me, well, not that I wouldn't know what to do, because this is not my first rodeo. 

Yesterday all I did was let Caroline play and I was trying to get one room clean and straightened and file papers. Uncle Dallas came by for a visit and played with her a minute. 

Dakota went on call and Poppie had to go get big sissy from school.  That made her day, especially when Poppie took her to the candy store on the way home. 🤣 

They got home and fed the cows and had to go home. 

I had a project to do but it had to be done when they went home because:

No, I'm not crying, you're crying. No, I'm crying 😭 😢. These onions tore me up. I knew I couldn't do them while they were here because it would burn their eyes. 

Last night, I cut up 12 lbs of onions and put them in my roasting pan to caramelize them. 

Then:

Our project today, (while also tending to a sick one that Poppie had to go pick up). Y'all remember those onions I did last night? Well, we turned those into caramelized onions and canned them in beef broth and Lipton Onion Soup mix. These are all the things you can do with them. 

1- French Onion Soup

2- Cream of Onion Soup 

3- Caramelized onions over Hamburger steaks, fried deer minute steaks, country fried steaks, pork chops. 

4- use the broth and make a gravy to pour over the onions or mashed potatoes. 

5- roasts and stews

6- French dip for roast beef sandwiches 

7- use the scraps to put with other vegetable scraps to make vegetable broth.

8- plant the root end of the Onion and you can grow another one.  

The possibilities are endless. Price break down:

4- 3lb bags for $2 each. That's 12 lbs for $8.00. I got 10 qt jars. Look at all the meals I can do with this. It pays to buy things on sale, get more, and preserve it some way. You're Welcome.

Big sister started feeling a little better after I got her fever down. Then it was nap time and story time. A little bit into nap and her fever started rising again. She slept for 3 hours.  When she woke up her Daddy was here to check on her. 

She rested for a bit and she felt just good enough to have a tea party and drink some warm tea. This time they learned how to steep their tea bags and stir their sugar cubes. 

We ate supper,  I cleaned the kitchen while they colored some pictures for Thanksgiving.  We got baths and I made some popcorn and we watched Charlie Browns The Great Pumpkin and Thanksgiving movies. We will save the Christmas one for closer to Christmas.  Then it was bedtime. 

Today, they slept in late. So did I. We all needed it. It's just been a lazy pj day. Big sister is still running a low fever. It is mostly allergies. Little sister is all but hanging from the ceiling. Lol. It's all about balance. Daddy came and got them when he got off call. So me and dear hubby are just chilling. He is about froze to death from hunting all morning. The deer were not moving like they were the past few days. Different moon phase. 

It has been a good week.