Good Week So Far

So far this week has been good. I have had a good time making memories with my grandbabies.

I have gotten a few sewing projects done and they have wanted to be involved.

I sewed 8 new bibs for them and a blouse for me.

I had to go buy Caroline her own spray bottle so she could help spray plants too. I was able to find some small bottles that is just perfect for their little hands.

We had some more of our rainbow pancakes with sprinkles on top. Hey, whatever works right?

This weekend some of our kids that are in FFA will be competing in a local rodeo for a calf roping competition.  Dallas is one of them. We are going Saturday night because that is the night he is competing.  I can't wait to watch his next adventure.

Nap time is always special with these two. When you are sleepy and they need you.

Well, it's off to bed with me.

Missing In Action

I am so sorry that I have been missing in action for so long. I have been bound and determined to get things checked off of my to do list that I have been loading up for a long time. 

This post is gonna be all mixed up because my pics did not upload in the order that I clicked on them. So, I will explain each one. 

These girls love their Poppie. 

This was taken Valentines Day. We double dated with Dallas and his girlfriend. 

My momma came up to spend a day with me. We were having cabin fever and had to get out. It was kind of misting and chilly out but we covered up and got inside one of our out buildings and got to work. 

One night we had pizza and movie night for the girls. We got in the kitchen and we made three different kinds of pizzas. We love to make our own pizzas. The girl absolutely love helping cook. I'm so glad we are teaching them and they can learn so much. So many kids these days do not know how to do some of these things for themselves.  Well, if I have anything to do with it, my grandkids will. We made a sausage, pepperoni, supreme, buffalo chicken, and one with tomatoes, spinach and bacon. They were so yummy. Then we just dug into our movie library in our entertainment center and picked out a movie for the girls. 

Some days this is what my view looks like. These girls go everywhere I go. I have no personal space. 😃

Somedays we lock Uncle Dallas in a dog kennel. He is such a good sport. 

I have got to buy me a bigger stool for these girls. They fight over who is going to get up and help G maw in the kitchen. 

They help me fix things in the house. 

They help Poppie do things. 

These girls love their corn on the cob. 

They love to help Gmaw look oh so pretty. 

I set her free one day just letting her cut up some cheese for our supper. That was a butter knife for safety. 

One night I got their help again and they made home made bread sticks. 

At the end of January we celebrated Dallas' 17th bday. We took him to a rodeo. We are rodeo and bull riding fans. We have been since our oldest was a little boy. It has been a while since we have been to one. 

He got some things to go in his truck. His truck is an older model and he wanted a better radio and speaker system. 

A boy and his dog. 

When you have an argument with a 17 yr old, strong willed, stubborn, hardheaded young man and then the next day you see this on your fridge. These teenage boys, well, young men, are something else. These years get a little hard because they are maturing and getting  ready for the real world and think THEY KNOW EVERYTHING AND YOU CAN'T TELL THEM ANY DIFFERENT!!!!!!! I got him and his girlfriend together in his bedroom and had a long talk with them.  They have this attitude that N0 ONE UNDERSTANDS THEM. Well, I assured them that yes, we as parents do understand them because we were once teenagers. However, they do not understand us because they have never been parents. That gave them something to think about. One more thing I had to make Dallas realize is, no one understand him more than ME. He is my mini me and we are exactly alike. I was that (cough cough) strong willed, hardheaded, stubborn teenager. Times are so different these days. These kids have so much more to deal with these days. School and teenage drama, peer pressure, adult pressure, don't get me started on social media and internet. No wonder more kids are struggling with Stress, Anxiety and Depression. We as parents have to step up our game. I spend alot of time in prayer for him and his girlfriend. 

This is naptime. We have a story and then get comfortable.

Some days we build forts. 

We've had some crazy weather this winter. A little winter here and there mixed in with some springy days, then just all out raining and flooding. One night I built a fire and made some homemade broccoli and cheese soup and homemade biscuits. Over all these years of trying to make biscuits, I have to say this was it. FINALLY!! 

Caroline was helping me pic out some recipes one night. 

This is our oldest son and some of his coworkers for our local electric company. This was 30 minutes from us. There were two houses upon a cliff above the TN river that collapsed down the cliff due to all the flooding on the river. Power lines were ripped off the houses and lying in the road. Power poles were jerked down and broken. They had to get the lines up and replace poles and restring the lines to the other side of the road. The dangerous part was, the road they are all walking on later collapsed and fell into a sinkhole only a few hrs after they left the worksite. This is why I pray over my kids safety everyday. 

The rains have subsided for a bit and the river is receeding. Some people on the river have water and flooding damage. We are beginning to dry out here. The sun has actually been shining a few days and we are reveling in it. 

I have been soooooooo busy getting things crossed off my to do list. I have cleaned out two outbuildings outside and organized them. Just have to buy some more storage tubs to put some things in and it will be all done. Then I started on the inside. First of all, I  finished scrubbing my house from top to bottom, cleaned out and organized my kitchen cabinets. Got rid of some stuff, Cleaned out some more cabinets in the house and a book case. I went through all my recipe books and got rid of some duplicate recipes that I don't use and shared them with my sisters. I put new recipes in and organized my books. Cleaned out some drawers in the house. Been working on my blog and backing up old pics from my Wordpress blog that Photobucket has messed up. I have gave them a piece of my mind and closed my acct with them. They changed their terms of service policy and all the sudden told me I was over my storage limit for my media for the free plan and I needed to upgrade to a paid plan. Well, funny thing is, I have not used Photobucket in years and have not uploaded any pics in years and Bam, all the sudden I'm over my limit. I don't think so. So, some of my pics will be water marked on old posts over the years and I can't do anything about those. I am still in the process of transferring alot of my pages over to Blogger from WordPress. So, you will be able to enjoy those soon. I will have a page for Sewing, Cooking, Homemaking, Homeschooling, Self Suffecient Living, Hunting, Cheesemaking, Canning/Preserving.......and oh so much more. This is just taking me a while but this is one thing that has been on my to do list. 

I work on alot of things on days when I don't have the girls so that way on the days I do have them we just play and have fun. 

I have more to do and today is no exception. I am going to hit out utility room closet in our laundry room. I have such a feeling of accomplishment especially after I just got over being sick for 2 1/2 weeks. I don't know exactly what I had but I ran fever for 4 days and sweet hubby locked me in the bed room for 4 days. He had to go out of town and could not get sick. He took such good care of me. I mostly had trouble with my chest. I felt it coming on and felt like my chest was closing up and having  trouble breathing. I coughed my head off for two weeks. Finally, it broke and I was able to get rid of it. I'm slowly getting back to my old self. So, I am taking advantage of it. 

Well, I have to get busy. The sun is shining through the windows. Its cold out but the sun looks so refreshing coming in. I hope I have caught everyone up. Thank you all for being so patient with me. I hope every one enjoys their day. 

Slowly Getting Things Done

I’m trying to stay on track with getting things done on my to do list.

I started in my kitchen. After all the Thanksgiving and Christmas cooking and baking I did, I felt like my kitchen was just nasty and grungy.  Not to mention, one night I was cleaning the fireplace and vacuuming all the ashes out of the bottom with the shop vac. Well, dear hubby came yelling in the living room for me to stop. I cut it off and turned around and looked at him through a cloud of smoke.  Obviously, the last time I used the shop vac I didn’t replace the bag. So, now my kitchen really needed scrubbing and so did my living room. 

My momma and daddy came to spend a day with us and my momma wanted something to do so…… we got busy in my kitchen.  I spent the day before scrubbing it down, walls, blinds, windows, crown molding,  baseboards,  cabinets, counters,  light fixtures, and appliances. Then my momma helped me organize my cabinets and drawers which was something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I parted with alot and packed up some to go into our camper when we get one in a few years.

Next came, cleaning out the grand kids closet of clothes. Getting out clothes they have outgrown and hanging up clothes they are growing into. Then going through toys they have out grown.

Then I finally got my living room scrubbed down. I am feeling accomplished.

It’s rained on and off for three days so inside work it was.  Next week is suppose to be cold but ok.  Maybe next week  will be some outside work. We will see.

I’m so ready to start planting some seeds indoors to get ready for gardening season.

Getting Back In The Groove

We're getting back into the swing of things.
Deer season has ended and we got the opportunity to put two deer in our freezer. Deer hubby processed them all by his self. He made is some breakfast deer sausage that is to die for.

Brunch. Butter fried biscuit, ham, egg, cheese,omelet,  and the best part......🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁
Deer sausage that my sweetheart killed, processed,  and grinded all by himself. See what you can do when you teach yourself?

One dish, microwave breakfast casserole. Good way to finish up leftover  breakfast items.  Spray a casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk eggs, milk, seasonings, and anything you want to throw in like spinach,  peppers, onions, cheese...etc. Crumble up left over biscuits, toast, stale bread, dinner rolls, bagels, english muffins etc. Make sure it is soaked in the egg mixture.
Next, crumble left over meats like sausage, bacon, ham, bologna, spam, etc. Stir to make sure all is combined and soaked. Cover with shredded cheese.
Cover and place in microwave and cook til eggs are set. Wholah. Sorry, not sorry about the two bites already taken.  😂😂

Homemade Pizzas and Soda Stream

So I got a Soda Stream for Christmas.  Tonight was homemade pizzas and our own A W root beer and orange crush sodas. 😁😁😁🍕🍕🍕

Here is how I make our pizzas. 

I use the West Ladies recipe for pizza dough.  They have a blog called Homestead Blessings. They are also on Facebook,  Instagram and YouTube.  

I make my dough in my Kitch Aid Mixer while my pizza stones are preheating in the oven.  Then I  roll out the dough on parchment paper.  I then use our home made pasta sauce from our summer tomatoes and spread on the dough. I then spread all of our fixings on. I take my pizza peel and slide it under the paper and then take to the oven and slide it right off onto the pizza stone. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and wholah! 

I take my pizza peel and slide right back under the paper and place on a cutting board onto counter.

Gmaw Hacks For Us Grandmas

 I shared all these on Facebook  with alot of my friends who are grandmas and have their grandchildren alot with them. They loved them. It has even helped Jossie with the girls in her vehicle.

The first is:

Gmaw Hack:
Never, ever, ever, under any circumstances leave your house without a diaper bag. I don't care if you’re just going down the road. In case you forget, have a spare diaper bag with just the essentials. You never know when you will have car trouble or something or one has an exploding diaper. Just saying. 

Gmaw Hack:
Portable folding 5 point harness high chair. I had to do alot of research on this one to find the one I wanted.
When we have family cookouts, it is hard for the girls to sit in a big ole chair that does not fit them. We stack pillows or a blanket just for them to sit on but they wind up slipping out. Atleigh tries to sit on her knees but it starts to get uncomfortable after a bit.
These work great in restaurants. They clip onto the backs and bottoms of the chairs. This saves from having to get a high chair and take up floor space around the table. Caroline has got to where she will not stay in a high chair at a restaurant and climbs out. So…..that’s where the 5 point harness comes in. Keep that little booger in.  Some high chairs at restaurants are so low they cant reach the table.
It folds up for easy storage in the trunk and has a strap and handles for carrying.

Gmaw Hack:
Of course, an outing would not be complete without my Gmaw Mobile. Yes, it’s big, but there is no way I’m gonna try to hold or chase two babies. Especially in crowded areas. I do not have all the pieces on it. I just took it out of the back because I was cleaning and organizing my truck. I will do a whole tutorial on stroller hacks to create extra room. 

This is Atleighs carseat.
There is a reason for the puppy pads. Potty training.
I use one to cover the carseat in case of an accident. It has a plastic liner so the wetness want get to the carseat cushion. Those things are boogers to take out and wash.
I also have an extra set of clothes in spare diaper bag in the truck.

This is Carolines  car seat. When she starts potty training,  I will use the puppy pads too on hers.

Gmaw Hack:

I would like to go on record as saying I am a genius. I don't care what anyone says.
Caroline is still rear facing and cant watch movies in the truck sooo…
I took her back seat mirror and a command hook and stuck it on my light fixture in the very back. It is facing toward her and it reflects the DVD monitor.

Gmaw Hack:

DVD organizer for movies

Gmaw Hack:
Snack caddies for day trips.

Gmaw Hack:
Back seat hanging organizer. I have little prepackaged nonperishable snacks, wipes, puppy pads, packets of water flavoring for grab and go, sunblock, and some extra batteries for fans.

Gmaw Hack:
For stroller on hot days for outings. Mini battery operated fans for stroller. I use a binder clip and clip it onto the canopy.

Gmaw Hack:
Lap activity/food tray, and neck pillow. Gotta get one more of each for Caroline. Her seat is still kind of reclining so her head doesn't go forward as much when she sleeps. She can't draw or anything at this moment either.

Gmaw Hack:
Atleigh and Carolines backseat hanging organizer.
Toys, sunshades, hat, extra emergency cup, coloring book, coloring pencils and crayons. Carolines  has almost the same except for the coloring book and pencils. She is younger.

I hope y’all enjoyed my Gmaw Hacks for the day. The only time I’m helpless is if we are in Poppies truck. There is no way he can fit all that stuff in his and his attitude is:
“If we’re out with the girls and they need something, I’ll just stop and buy it.” 

David has always made fun of me me for having so much in my truck. My motto is:
“I’d rather have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it!!!” Cause that’s how I roll baby.