I have really good news. I have been working on my curtains for days & I am happy to say I have them all finished & put up. The windows we have here that we bought....ha ha hah are 5 inches longer than the curtain, so I ripped the seams out. The hard part it the thread was the same color as the lace & it was a boooger to get that job done. I think I put two little holes in the lace. That is pretty good considering I ripped 6 of them. They needed more length plus a casing. I used bleached muslin & tore it into 4 1/2 inch strips. I sewed that to the top of the lace & folded it over for a casing. They fit perfect. These curtains I bought 18 years ago. The valance I made 20 years ago when we lived at Ft. Polk, Louisiana. I am so happy to have them up. I told Larry I feel like I am closer to home all the time.

My next job will be clearing out my dining room. When you build a house or remodel....I feel like there is always building clutter. I work at it constant to keep it at a minimum.

About the only regret about building this house & it is our fault is we do not sit at the table any more for meals. I really have missed that. That is my goal....to be able to sit at the table.

After I got my curtains hung I worked on my nine patch quilt I am making. I am waiting for an order of fabric before I start sewing....hopefully the fabric will be here by Monday. I can not wait.

We are gradually getting warmer out side.  Near 40 some in the day time & at night 22-28 deg. I can see the snow starting to condense & it wont be long & we will not have any snow.

Finally for the first time in 3 weeks I feel like living again.  I love that feeling....to want to live. Life can be pretty tough....I can not believe it sometimes.

I am cheered up.

Larry has Sunday Monday off from work.

Saturday morning was beautiful...then it turned to crap(that is my Mom's word...but it fits here well.)

The good part is Larry came home at my urgent request, as I needed to just get away from here....When Larry got home he said, well...where do you want to go? I told him I wanted to go out to eat. He smiled really big & asked me where do you want to go out to eat? I told him....my twin sisters...HA HA H AHHAHAHAHA H Larry told me yes, that is about what it would cost us to eat out. So off we went.

I sent Dawn a message telling her not to tell anyone...but we would be there for dinner. She was making Indian Taco's for her daughter Kandace & her class mates from the college. 10 kids in all...plus Dawn & her husband, our niece Amanda, Larry & I.

We got there just in time for me to help her cook the fry bread. Oh, it was good for my soul. The kids were all joyful & college students...so they were not crazy hyper...just FUN!

Larry ran off to visit with his brother & family & I was so happy to think we could both enjoy our family.

The next morning at 5:30am we were up & ate at the D & B bed & breakfast...although Brenden informed me it was really the B & D bed & breakfast. We enjoyed coffee...then toured the farm & animals. I kissed Amanda & we said good bye to Dawn & Brenden & Larry & I went home.

Sunday we had a relaxing day of doing nothing...I enjoyed a nap on the couch. Monday Larry, Bessie, Brent & I went to Wenatchee for a fun day out & about. I thought my Gramma would say we are leading the butterfly life...ha ha haha We did some shopping for all of us...went out to the Olive Garden & came home. For not being a shopper...we were out for 12 hours!

Today is back to the grind for me. Laundry, curtains & what ever else comes to mind.

Hope your day feels peace like mine does.
Love

Yay!!!! it is Saturday, that means Larry gets off work 2 hours early. Bessie is gone to town every Saturday...so today is like the other days as far as being here & finding things to think about & work on.

I am going to finish ripping seams today. I got one & a half of the three curtains seams ripped. I just can not wait to get them finished. The seams I am ripping, the thread is so close to the curtain that it is really hard to tell a seam from the curtain...but all & all I have done pretty well.

We got so much snow & more drifting. I will be breaking trails again for chores. I can not say I am tired of the snow...but it is hard to work in...hard to walk in. We NEED the moisture in the ground. I hope for a wet spring.

Larry bought me the biggest bouquet of flowers I have ever seen. He came home & told me they were not even as nice as he imagined. He loves me so much & I am so thankful for him. Bessie & Larry gave me what for this morning...when I asked them to pray for me that I will take care of things & be responsible....sometimes I feel guilty for not doing enough. They told me how important those curtains are to them & told me to work on them again today...they reminded me when the weather is nicer & it is garden season I will not have a moment inside for curtains nor reading books.

Love,
Dianne

This day I am going to take it easy.

I plan on doing dishes, chores, cleaning barns & taking new straw....if I can I am going to rip a few seams on the last three curtains, but in the mean time I plan on reading Julia Child, My Life in France.

It snowed pretty hard for a couple hours & the wind blew near fierce...but then the wind died down & we had snow flurries the rest of the day. I think we are lucky to have got 2 inches of new snow. They say more snow today...we will see. Reminds me of last years January Blizzard we had in February. I lost 4 goat babies to that one storm.

I am yearning for spring...starting my garden seedlings in the house will be a sweet time. Working with soil, putting my hand in the warm moist earthy soil will be a reminder of the garden season starting. I love new life....even in plant form.

Good morning!

Pet peeves....what is yours?
Mine...someone using the kitchen counter or cutting board & leaving crumbs on it. I like clean. As soon as I clean it, I have peace...I am not angry at the person leaving it that way...but I will tell them ha ha hah ah. Clean it up next time would ya....

The other is not getting a plate when eating a cookie or sandwich...ha ha hahcrumbs again....

Good morning,
I am working on my curtains. I need to find my fabric upstairs & add on a casing to them to lengthen them.

Putting my new cheese in the fridge on clean plates sprinkled with salt...salt is a preserver also it adds flavor.

I am starting to read My life in France from Julia Child. I have been wanting to read it for a year now.

We had a January blizzard this morning...well...sort of....it snowed & blowed hard for a couple hours. Now the sky is clearer with little snow flurries. Fun to see out the window. The blizzard was the whole chore time...ha ha hahah

Happy day...Love, Dianne

Today I got a lot done!
I skimmed the cream off the milk, made 1/2 gallon of cream into butter, set two cheeses,  made cottage cheese as well. When the cottage cheese was done, I salted & poured cream on it.

I am so glad I was able to rip seams on 3 curtains!!! YAY!!!! I have 3 curtains left. I am hoping to have them ripped tomorrow.

All this & I washed a LOT of dishes....I am happy to say I found a book at the library. It is called Bound Like Grass. It is about a girl that grew up on homesteaded land. Her grandparents on both sides homesteaded. She wondered why they worked so hard & kept trying to farm when it did not make enough money to live on. It was a great book & the whole book talked about my passions & I did a LOT of thinking though it.

Life is sad. It has a lot of sadness in it. Most of the sadness is not even caused or has anything to do with me or us.....this book made me think about others actions & how to displace myself from them....I am not sure it is possible for me....I like thinking books & books that are real & really happened.

This past weekend Larry's cousin's wife & kids were murdered in their home in Spokane. It is unimaginable & unbelievable.....Pray for our family please...the Aders.

Tonight we ate most of the rest of the black beans, left over pork roast, homemade just made today cottage cheese & Bessie's Mousse. YUM...that is what I have lingering in my tummy! 

We had a wonderful weekend! Full of rest.

I cut into that cheese. It is one of the best cheeses I have ever made, I believe it has more flavor too. I am so glad Bessie loves the home made cheese...as long as it is made with cows milk I am ok...she does not like anything made with goats milk.

I was able to hang curtains & valances in our bedroom, a shear curtain in the front entry that is fitted at the top & bottom of the glass for the double glass door, also I took another shear curtain & cut it in half, ironed & hemmed it for my garden door that closes off the kitchen from the rest of the house...it is ready to hang, I started ripping seams on my lace curtains(what a job that is...I will be praying as I am ripping the seams or I would be cussing....you can not see lace from seams) all this I did  Saturday afternoon.

Larry & I together cleaned out his pickup that will be going to town to have the tranny worked on. Larry started unbolting the cab as you can not drop the tranny with normal tools...so he bolted the cab back on the little pickup. It is ready to be towed to town. I am really excited about having a car to drive. It has been a year since I had a car I could drive off our place! We live about an hour from town & it will be so nice to be free!!!! even though I did not choose to leave only but once every couple weeks....

Tuesday is always laundry day. Today I will be doing laundry. It is so rewarding to do laundry. I am thankful for my clothes that are clean & doing the laundry, washing, hanging them on the line & taking the dry clothes off the line, I remember when we wore them & the fun times we had. It is a sweet time.

I am continuing to spring clean...still in my room...after today I should be able to move on to another room...to spring clean.

Fun thing to share....we are getting ready for a baby shower. If we don't end up having the baby shower...my neighbor & I have planned on a heifer shower for my heifer that will calve in April. After that shower we will have a heifer shower for a neighbor that just got her very first milk cow. I love life....dreaming of happy times to come.

Bessie made Chocolate Mousse completely from scratch. I am going to be making Spaghetti & meat balls for dinner. I can hardly wait...we hardly ever have spaghetti & we will have Chocolate Mouse for dessert.

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

I am making a Valentine cake. It is a white butter cake...the recipe is from King Arthur Flour company.  It is for two reasons...one for Valentine's Day...the other is for a practice cake for a future shower we are going to be having. I am also making bon bons, Chocolate covered cherries & a few sugar cookies.

This morning I am going to cut into the cheese! I will post a comment on the bottom of this post to tell you how I like the cheese!

I have a confession to make. I not only made black bean soup...Cuban beans & fresh wheat bread....but I fried some fresh ham steaks....ha ha haha WE NEVER ate any of the beans cause I made gravy with the ham steaks & it was so yummy....we did not get to the beans! I laugh at things like this....well, beans & soups are better the next day anyway...so we will be eating them sooner or later.

I have great ambitions today....Lace curtains....I bought years ago....they have worked in every house we have lived in even Army housing....but the windows we bought....crazy....are just a bit to long...so I am going to be ripping seams today & sewing a casing for the curtain rod. I also have valances I made in Ft Polk LA....they will also work for our bedroom & dining room & front room. HURRAY I will have curtains...beautiful scalloped curtains....there is a right time for everything & I am DESPERATE for curtains in our rooms! Helps with privacy & beauty both so important to me!

I have LOADS of dishes to put away....I had a funny thought I wanted to share with you yesterday...I made my self wait till this morning to post it....

My Aunt called...she also milks & makes cheese...this info is very important when I tell the rest of the story.

My Aunt called....she said Dianne what are you doing today? I said well, I made cheese...she said that is nice....I told her you know I have ALL those dishes now to do...my Aunt cussed. ha ha ha ha ha ha hahahahhahahahahahhahahah!!!! ha  ah ha!

I still laugh

This morning I unwrapped the cheese! The cheese looks great! I salted it & put it in the fridge. I will be so excited to taste it. This cheese made using animal rennet instead of vegetable rennet. The big difference that I noticed when making this is...when I stirred the animal rennet diluted in water in to my milk...the milk thickened like butter milk. It did not curdle or stay thin. With the vegetable rennet, when I stir that in the milk even after stirring for 30 seconds it does not change the milk. When I cut the curd this time, the cheese curds seemed less like rubber....I am really hoping for a great cheese! I have high expectations!

I am going to spring clean another area today. This morning I cleaned my salt & pepper shakers to make them look like new. My twin sister told me what ever bugs you...clean that....so today I am going to spring clean my bedroom.

I put on a pot of black beans...I am thinking of making Cuban beans to go with dinner...I cooked enough beans to add to future dishes like layered enchiladas....also a loaf of whole wheat bread with wheat berries in it. YUM! Wishing I had some sourdough started...but you can not keep sourdough & make cheese....or the wild yeast will get in your cheese & ruin it!...can not say we are settling for whole wheat bread cause I love fresh bread with butter melting off it as you are eating it....

It was 33 deg this morning & now is 35. It was raining a light mist.

It is February.
In my thought all the time I am wondering about our weather. We have not had much of a winter, nor much snow.
I am really really really looking forward to spring though....starting my seedlings, digging in that warm, moist soil...that smells so yummy!
Today
I am making cheese. I am really excited!!!! As this is the first time since I have been making cheese that I am using animal rennet. I am hoping for better results & better flavor. A big part of my hope is that this rennet will have a longer shelf life & be consistent until I am at the end of the bottle.
I also need to put clean straw in the barns & water all big troughs.
Chicken soup for dinner tonight. I love the smell of chicken stock simmering...it is comforting somehow.
In the middle of this my goal is to spring clean one area everyday.
Started my nine patch today. When I am free of the other tasks I am sewing sewing sewing.

My cheese was amazing...I haven't seen it finished yet...but the difference with the animal rennet I can tell during the cheese making process that it is WAY different.

A friend of mine came over & hugged & hugged me! So nice!!! She brought me a cake & told me I was a really great friend. So nice to have great conversations....talking about cows, chickens, kids....the best in the world! As she was leaving we went out to inspect my heifers baby udder....ha ha hah LOVING this life!

I sewed 7 blocks together. Made two pressed cheeses & two bag herbed cheeses, took fresh straw to the barn, watered the big troughs, really cleaned my stove top, & made brown roasted chicken stock & the yummiest chicken soup. Helped my Mom tonight with a felting project. It was a beautiful day!