Ramblings - Mother's Day Weekend

It's hard to get into Mother's Day when none of my kids are in the area.  I did get a wonderful phone call from my youngest son.  I'm sure my oldest son was with his mother-in-law celebrating.  Otherwise it was pretty much another Sunday.

It's been a wet and rainy weekend.  I had hoped to take the dogs for a short hike but the weather wasn't cooperating.  Yesterday I sat curled up in my chair wrapped in a blanket most of the day.  I just couldn't seem to get the chill out of my bones.  For supper I made up a batch of my Sausage Tortellini Chowder and we ate the last of the french bread with it.  Wednesday I was in the mood for some fresh bread so I baked 2 loafs of French bread.  We've been munching on the first loaf since.  I used the second loaf yesterday to make Italian sandwiches for lunch.  We finished off the last of the chowder today for a late lunch.

Saturday I did manage to get a few things done.  I ripped up 2 more sheets for the next rug project.  I also started cleaning out the fridge.  I took out the fruit and veggie drawers and let them soak in the bathtub while I washed down the inside of the fridge.  Hopefully I'll get to the shelves this week.  I plan on ordering a lazy Susan for the top shelve that we keep a lot of jarred items on so it will be easier to find things. I was out of laundry soap so I made a double batch this time.  The house smelled wonderfully peppermint-y afterwards.  I also took the Jeep through the car wash and gave her a bath!

Matt finally decided to upgrade his phone and get a smart phone.  We decided to bundle our phones instead of keeping separate accounts.  I guess it's about time.  Hopefully we'll have our new phones by Wednesday.  I've been needing to switch phone carriers but hadn't decided on which one or what type of phone I wanted.  Sprint service in our area is horrible!  Verizon and AT&T are considered the best in the area.  Matt has AT&T already so we just added me and upgraded him.  As much as I liked the idea of downgrading my phone and saving money, the reality is I'm use to all those extras and they do come in handy when we go into the larger cities.  Coming back from Minnesota last weekend I used the internet search to find a home brewing store to stop at to pick up supplies.

To end our evening we made up 2 batches of mead, a 6 gallon carboy and a 3 gallon carboy.  Matt had been able to get some local honey recently for us to use.  We're excited to see how this batch turns out but won't know for months.  We used a different yeast for these batches and I'm a bit concerned how it's going to work.  It didn't seem to activate like I thought it would.  If it's not performing like I want I'll order another type and add it in.  We will wait until we rack it to add anything to it.  We plan to do the 3 gallon as a blackberry mead from the blackberries I got from the Bountiful Basket and froze several months ago.  I'll probably buy some more from the store to give it a nice flavor.  I may get some vanilla beans and do a vanilla mead with the 6 gallon.  I have a couple months to figure it out though.

Cold and Windy Weekend Ramblings

Friday night I went to bed singing "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas".  When I let the dogs out before heading for bed it had started snowing and the song popped into my head.  Needless to say I don't think Matt was too impressed when I walked into the bedroom singing it.  With forecasts of plunging temps, blizzard conditions, and just plain nasty weather I decided I wasn't leaving the house this weekend unless it was an emergency and fortunately none occurred.

After watching the news Thursday night I decided to go grocery shopping Friday after work so it would be done.  When I got home Friday I was amazed to find a box from Amazon with my soap bars in it I'd ordered. They said it would be here Friday but rarely does anything arrive when they tell me it will especially in this type of weather.  My first project for Saturday was laundry soap making.

Matt and I both sort of agreed it was a kick back and read type of day so that's what we did along with watching a Harry Potter marathon.  Sometimes you need to take a vacation even at home for mental health.  I did manage to get some cleaning and vacuuming done along with several loads of laundry and I baked cookies in between chapters.   

Lazy Day Menu for Saturday:
Breakfast:  Donuts - Matt had a craving for some so he did a store trip to get some
Lunch: Turkey and Bacon with Provolone on ciabatta bread and chips and dip
Supper:  Chicken stir-fry and rice

These cookies I found on Pinterest and they are wonderful.  I used 1 cup M&M's and 1 cup mini chocolate chips.

My reading choices this weekend have been Amish based.  I've been reading 50 Shades of Gray and I think I needed a mental cleansing.  I grew up near the large Bremen / Nappanee Amish community and they've always fascinated me.  Amish Acres was one of my favorite places to visit.  There use to be several Amish run family style restaurants that were my absolute favorite place to eat but they've unfortunately closed.  I've always said I was born in the wrong era.  I get angry with all the Amish bashing shows on of late.  Just like any religious community it has it's good and bad eggs in it.  From my experience with the Amish they are a good group of people. 

Today I read Almost Amish by Nancy Sleeth.  Her and her husband have a ministry called Blessed Earth  and speak about living more simply.  During one of their discussions someone asked "What, are you Amish?" which sparked thought for her and ultimately the book.  It's all about living more simply and she uses the examples of the Amish to show it can be done.  This is a Christian book so she also uses lots of biblical references to go along with the Amish examples.  It's an interesting book.  I doubt they would have been able to have done all they did if her husband hadn't been a doctor making a nice income before he decided to leave medicine to focus on their simple living ministry.  Granted they were wise with the money he made but they probably would not have been able to do many of the things they've done if they hadn't been able to build up that nest egg.  There are a lot of good ideas though and it's a good book to get ideas from. I will reread this again.