Month: December 2022

..And To All A Good Night!

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

Happy Holidays!

We had a pretty wonderful, low key holiday. It was a much needed calm for the whole weekend.

Christmas Eve we hung around and finished up the last minute things before heading to a family potluck and cookie exchange. We had all kinds of cookies, but also five different versions of peanut butter bars. Not that it was a competition at all, all peanut butter bars are delicious and deserve love, but mine were unanimously voted the best. To Be fair, however, I’ve also made mine the longest, everyone else was trying out new recipes so it makes sense that I’ve honed mine a little. I also got mine from a genuine church lady, I don’t know where she got it, but little old church ladies generally either have the best or worst recipes, there’s no in between. So, what I’m saying is, my peanut butter bars are bomb. Not that it was a competition. But if it was, they’re pretty great. But it wasn’t. At all. 

We also had gingersnaps, fudge, a couple kinds of sugar cookies, I made my maternal grandmother’s almond butter cookies, and my cousin made these super cute reindeer out of Graham crackers and melting chocolate. 

My sweet mama stood and helped with every part of the cookie baking this year, her help was invaluable

We had a lovely time singing carols, eating yummy potluck, and watching my 16 year old cousin try to show off by sliding an icy donut in his little truck only to be chewed out by his girlfriend and my grandma. His girlfriend fit in perfectly by the way, which is a pretty terrific trick considering we are all crazy. She was in on the jokes, helping with the cookies, and playing with the kids. Pretty brave for a little 16 year old, I don’t think I’d have been that poised at that age. 

I ended up leaving before the church service this year, it was too snowy and icy and I didn’t feel comfortable driving on all that after dark. But it worked out because it gave me some time to be Santa’s elf. I had some last minute things to finish up.

We did our usual tradition of “something cozy for Christmas Eve”. It used to be “jammies on Christmas Eve” but we changed it because some of us stopped growing in the 6th grade and simply did not need more jammie sets. So I got a cute sweatshirt, my dad got socks (he requested them), got my mama a cute jammie set, and Christopher got a hoodie.

The tradition of finding the most ridiculous socks I possibly can for Christopher for Christmas continues

I once again proved that I have no spatial awareness and my stocking stuffers mostly didn’t fit, but I swear that’s becoming family tradition. Christopher tried to stay up and help me but he’s been working long shifts starting at 2 am so he was being super helpful, and then not so much, and when I looked over, he had fallen asleep mid stocking. But points for the effort. I got him to bed and Pat Saget kept me company via reruns. 

Christmas day we got up, I made some cinnamon rolls, and then we slowly started opening presents while snacking on a Hickory Farms box my grandma gave us. We were meant to have a roast but yours truly remembered she didn’t defrost it until 6 pm so… we had it today (I’m writing this on the 26th, for the record).

We had a lovely afternoon watching movies and eating far too many cookies, and all the critters got some kind of special treat. Then I started working on the kiddos gifts. They were at their moms for the weekend, but I knew they were coming home in the evening, so I set out their newly stuffed stockings, set out their gifts, and made sure they had some “Christmas Eve cozies” even though they were getting them a little later than expected. We had also set them up with a bunch of the cookies from the exchange, and a local charity had helped their dad get them some gifts from him. If squeals of delight were any indication, I think we attained at least a little Christmas magic. Mission accomplished. 

Overall the holidays were lovely. I’ve been lucky to have a boss that let me burn my PTO before it expired so it’s been calmer than usual and I’ve been able to catch up on some of the crazy that’s been going on. It was a much needed low key holiday after burst pipes, long term guests, a haywire heater, an ice storm, and a broken water trough. It’s been a December folks, but the holidays were bright and the new year is looking brighter. 

Until we chat again my friends!

Look, Sometimes I Think I’m Funny…

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

Anyone else talk to themselves and the household appliances whilst they clean? No? Just me? Welp, Christopher thought it was funny too, so here’s the transcripts of a few snippets he recorded from my latest cleaning day, hope you laugh as hard as I did. Don’t worry, Christmas content will be next week.

Ode to the Kirby (or Cleaning Plaster Dust Out of EVERYTHING)

“Alright, it’s been a minute, vacuum”

“Look, all we gotta do is work together, neither of us wanna do this all day”

“Why aren’t you going?”

“ROLL D*MM*T”

“Why the h*ll do you weigh so much?”

“Why? aren’t. you… oh wait, neutral, got it”

“Down, down, down, down…”

*vacuum chokes on rug*

“Too much! Calm down, I didn’t mean to suffocate you with the rug”

*pops the head up a level so it can breathe*

“Freaking need a license to run the vacuum”

“Let go of the rug. Let. Go. Of the. Rug”

“Fine! Eat the rug, see if I care!”

*bangs wall* 

“Oops sorry.” 

*bangs it again* 

“Sorry, again.”

“How do I…”

“Ooh that spins”

“Does that move?” *clanking noise* “sh*t, yes it does”

“Hey Dad… no, no, house is fine, we’re fine… yea, no, hypothetically if I wanted to put the hose on the Kirby… *chorus of okays* …so the whole nose piece DOES come off…”

*waving the hose attachment wildly* “Come at me dust!”

*humming along to the vacuum* 

“rooms gonna be SO clean” 

*more humming* 

“let go of the rug. Unhelpful”

“Oooh I can reach the top of the mirror!!”

*humming*

“Oh. But how do I know when it’s clean?” 

*confused in 5 ft*

“Well that’s between God and the dust mites now”

*accidentally sucks up an earring* “welp…that might as well happen”

*aggressive mocking of the dust bunnies*

*accidentally sucks up pencil* “how even…”

*realizes why you don’t get plaster dust wet* “no it’s fine, I wanted to skim coat my entire floor”

*realizes I did the same thing to the desk* “…uuuhhhhmmm, welp….”

*panic kicks in and a mad dash is made to the kitchen for paper towels* “sh*t, sh*t, sh*t,sh*t…”

*aggressively mocks the plaster dust*

*bangs into wall* “okay, look, that one was partially on you” *bangs wall again* “okay, that one was me”

“I wonder…”

*pops Kirby into neutral whilst vacuuming and now can gently pull the body along while vacuuming with the hose*

“H*ll yes, just a genius over here”

*trips over rug the Kirby pulled along with it*

“Nope nevermind, just your garden variety idiot”

“Down, down, down, down…”

*vacuum chokes on the rug*

“Too much, I get it, I get it”

*accidentally sucks up earbud that mysteriously decided it didn’t wanna do its job anymore* “are you f****g serious?!”

“Hey Dad… no, no, house is still fine, we’re still fine… yea, no, hypothetically if i wanted to pull the bag off the Kirby…” *chorus of okays* “…no, no, gotcha, big mess, makes sense…”

*staring at giant pile of gross on the floor* 

“a smarter human would have put cardboard down”

*disappointed sighing*

“But, we are not the smarter humans”

“Seriously, stop eating my rugs, you’re a 22 year old vacuum, you know better.”

Okay, I know it’s not the normal content, but I really did laugh at the fact my brother was so amused at my conversation with the vacuum, and I wanted to share something a little lighthearted since this time of year can be stressful. I can’t share the actual recordings because my sweet brother is a little self conscious of his adorable laugh, and he’s laughing at me through the whole recording.

Second point to note, I absolutely adore the Kirby, not sponsored or anything, but that vacuum is a workhorse and very versatile, and almost as old as I am with a way better work ethic. It’s just a little big and unwieldy for someone of my size (remember I stopped growing in the seventh grade). 

Until we chat again my friends!

The Kirby in question

It’s a Busy Home…

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

My house smells so good right now! One of those rare moments when I wish the blog had smell-o-vision (although, etymologically speaking, shouldn’t it be tele-olfaction? …anyways). Usually you probably wouldn’t want to smell the blog, I’m guessing it smells a lot like horse manure, eau-de-farm-doggie, and diesel. Just a hunch. 

But, for real, we made almond butter cookies and my house smells like a hallmark movie. It literally smells like a good day in here. It smells like christmas! (It smells like warm vanilla, almond, and unsurprisingly, butter, but let’s be poetic for just a moment).

I generally don’t super enjoy baking, and admittedly Christmas cookies aren’t an exception, but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE eating Christmas cookies so I will do my part to get the reward. Love almond butter cookies. They are a bit involved so even though every year I say “I should make these more often”… I don’t. 

It’s been a crazy week on the farm. We had a water pipe go south on us that required digging up a part of the yard and calling a plumber. Then calling a diagnostic imaging company because they couldn’t find the pipe. THEN calling back the plumbers when we found the pipe four inches from where they dug the first giant hole. I’ll attach a photo of the yard now, because you can only dig a hole so many times before it turns into mud. I’m not exactly sure why it happened, something about a nylon joint going bad, but I’m just so grateful it wasn’t the septic system. It also put it on my radar that I should really have the septic system serviced in the spring. Added to the planner.

Here’s the hole, for context, I’d disappear if I walked into that quick sand. My 5′ self would have no chance
Here’s the pic I took a little while later, when the snow had frozen the mud and I was hiding in the barn before making a run back to teh house

Second thing that happened was two of my lovely cousins, who are skilled tradespeople (or skilled tradespeople in training) came over to put in an outlet for me. So my cloffice is official! I have power! Now to get shelves and such. I need to paint, because the wiring in this house, and the wall covering too, is a thing of its own. So we had to punch a few holes, and accidentally turned the power off on my dad mid shower, but it’s in and other than the color differences there’s no sign that plug in wasn’t always there. It was so cool seeing my cousins work, and my cousin who did the electrical is an apprentice, so she was really excited to do a solo job. I had to wash everything because I traded plaster for sheetrock in those holes, and both create just the most invasive dust. (Side note, there’s some potentially very dumb cleaning content headed your way, it made me laugh too hard to not share, so you’ll all have to cringe along with me next week).

My room is currently a pretty, but faded, green, and I like it a lot, so I might try to match it, BUT, I’ll add a couple pictures of the room as it is currently, and if yall have ideas I’m all ears. I’ve also, occasionally, had the urge to do some fun paint or wallpaper tricks, so I’m open to those, but wallpaper, even the peel and stick kind, is seemingly out of my price range for now. And honestly, paint feels a little less like a serious commitment, and I don’t know if I’m looking for a long term relationship with my decor choices. I don’t want to feel bad doing a refresh a couple years down the line, ya know?

Slightly older pic because it’s super stormy and dark this week and when I take new pics they keep looking grey
Slightly older pic because it’s super stormy and dark this week and when I take new pics they keep looking grey

The snow of course made both of these things a little harder, since windows couldn’t be opened and the ground was frozen. So obviously paint will be waiting for warmer weather. But thinking about it now will prepare us for spring. And it’s just kinda fun to day dream. I’m also minorly entertaining the idea of painting the cloffice a soft pink. Of course with that thought came my brain replaying that scene from steel magnolias on loop:

“My colors are blush and bashful”

“Her colors are pink and pink”

Might be fun though.

Until we chat again, my friend

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

I am once again calling on your expertise! It’s Christmas time officially and I need some no cost holiday fun ideas for little kids. We’ve been a house of busy working adults for so long that we sorta have our Christmas spirit in batches, and the kids are losing their minds about it.

I also need some very inexpensive but very fun Christmas gifts ideas for these kiddos. Santa is really broke this year because they’ve literally tripled my food and utilities costs and I wasn’t exactly pleased with the budget beforehand. Gotta love when a single tank of gas is your entire commute budget for the month. But I digress. 

The boys have been loving napping under the tree

I plan on making some reindeer snacks for Christmas eve (and the reindeer will enjoy them sometime after the kiddos go to bed). My parents always made it look like the reindeer were super messy eaters, and I think this year that sloppy reindeer might just make a comeback. Carrots and apples for sure, and cookies for Santa.

I was planning on involving them in the cookie making process if they wanted. We always make almond butter cookies instead of sugar cookies, they have a little bit of a deeper flavor and are just a little less sweet. I’ve never heard any complaints so I think the kiddos will like them, and they make up very similarly to a sugar cookie and can be decorated just the same. We usually make a batch of chocolate almond butter cookies too, as well as a couple specialty cookies. Although I learned my lesson a couple years ago with red velvet cookies. It’ll be a while before I try those again. Messy and gross to boot. I think I messed something up, but frankly you have to use so much dye there’s not really a second chance. 

I’ve added a new sweet treat to the mix since I’ve taken over the cookies portion of the holiday. We now also have no baking peanut butter chocolate bars, a recipe given to me by a friend of my grandma’s. They take about ten minutes to make and about an hour to chill (you melt and reset some chocolate) and then you have super cute little snack sized bars to eat. They are super rich but super addictive, so I always have to put them somewhere out of the way to help prevent calamity. I love little treats like that though, because for the most part, I almost always have the ingredients on hand and, other than the small scale crisis caused by attempting to measure peanut butter, they are really easy to make. Same principle as keeping premade cookie dough in the fridge, you literally never know when you might need a sweet treat.

Pretty sure we are going to have something akin to a white Christmas. I don’t know if it’ll snow or have a lot of accumulation specifically over those days but I definitely think that the conditions will be there and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. Last year it was -2 degrees Christmas morning, we had around a foot of snow, and it started snowing more that afternoon. Made it difficult to feed the animals but it was really quite beautiful. 

It was really funny though too, because, and I think I showed you guys in pictures, the little walkway that I throw food into the barn from was completely covered in snow. There was a large pile from the roof to be climbed every time we wanted to feed in the barn. I definitely fell off that pile several times and the horses definitely laughed at me several times, which…fair.

This year so far the snow has been… mushy? Not structures building snow so it doesn’t build into drifts or create those wind balls. Kinda just gets everything wet and muddy. I think the kiddos would like it a lot better if it was the fun fluffy stuff. 

I’m somewhere in the realm of 80% done with my Christmas shopping. I’m one of those weirdos that starts planning in October and as soon as we get Halloween squared away I start slowly enacting my plans. Doesn’t always work, I definitely still have to do the December 23rd quick trip. But I’m getting more organized each year. I have to, my holiday season is packed, have you seen the size of my family? I have events every weekend of November and December and lots of weekday craziness too! This year there’s a color-coded spreadsheet. You know I’ve hit full first born, obsessive planner mode when I bust out the excel formulas. Putting on our serious Santa hats.

(It’s really quite pleasant to see all those pretty little cells though, you gotta admit).

Until we chat again my friends!

Calling All Recipe Sharers!

Posted on by Farmers Blogger

Hello friends!

The weather is really starting to get to me. Anyone have any good tips for cabin fever? Bemoaning old man winter is becoming a hobby in its own right and I don’t think I like the person I am when I’m stuck inside haha. Grumpy is an understatement. People are crossing the street when they see me. My RBF is strong this time of year.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty, but I think it’s a textural thing for me, I despise being wet for no good reason. Swimming? Fine. Bathing the animals? Fine. Watching the rain from a  window or porch? lovely! But I despise being soaked because of the rain or snow. And I cannot deal with being cold. I’d flourish in the tropics…maybe.

The girls haven’t been loving it either. The blankets are heavy. While it’s better than shivering and being cold soaked, it’s still not ideal. They have a place to go and stay dry, but sometimes I think hell will freeze over before we get to that point. They would rather stand out in a blizzard than go into the warm barn, and I’m pretty sure if I forced it there would be a small scale mutiny. Nice, warm, cozy barn with multiple heat lamps? Nah, we have a random stretch of fence to guard tonight. Nellie sometimes decides she’s simply not having it and spends the evening, or overnight if she prefers, without a blanket because she is bigger than me and some battles are just too dangerous still. She’s got a pretty nice winter coat so I figure she’s old enough to know if she’s not interested. Doesn’t mean I don’t spend the whole night worrying about her. 

Joe is also a big blanket fan

Honey officially has all her initial shots and blood work and is properly spayed. She was such a good girl for the whole ordeal. She was pretty upset in the car and during the initial checkup understandably. I was really worried after being locked up for fasting, left at the vet, and then being on bedrest for a couple days (starting in the Joe sized travel kennel and then in the woodshop) that as soon as she got her freedom she’d take permanent leave of us. But she’s such a sweetie, she marched right up to Christopher and demanded some cuddles. She’s definitely his cat, or more accurately, he’s her person.

She might have a small meltdown when she realizes that she needs a booster shot very soon. But it’ll still be a lot less traumatic than the whole surgery thing. She’s a trooper.

In other news, I’m in need of cost friendly, large scale dinners if anyone wants to share. The kiddos that moved in with their dad are all growing like weeds and eating me out of house and home. I’m over here trying to not go broke and still make sure they are getting all they need, I’m trying to teach myself to coupon, and I’m upping my bulk buy game. 

I’ve been making some pretty wild leftover “casseroles”, which just sounds better than “threw things in a pot and hoped it worked”. I hit on a pretty good one yesterday, leftover taco chicken, garlic rice, frozen spinach, and some cream of mushroom soup, plus a little seasoning. Topped it with some fried onions and let me tell you, it sounds weird but was quite warm and tasty. It was a big hit in our house, and wasn’t hard at all. I’m pretty brain dead after work, so easy is the name of the game.

Haha so ya know, not a big ask, just super cheap, super tasty, super easy meals to feed 9 people. Simple! Easy! No biggie!

(If this suddenly turns into a cheap eats blog, you know I’ve officially lost my mind. Also, if you have a favorite cheap eats blog, send me links! This girls gone full on frugal).

We do have some very cute elementary school art projects on the fridge now, the littlest one came flying in from school yesterday to tell us all about it, so it’s all worth it. I’m a sucker for a happy little kiddo. And these are some ridiculously cute kids.

All in all, I think it’s going to be an interesting holiday season. I had planned my holidays this year around the idea of relaxing calm, since last year’s holiday season was crazy busy and stressful. I definitely don’t think it’ll be calm anymore, I don’t think my house will be calm for a while, but I think it’ll be fun!

Until we chat again my friends