Friday, December 31, 2010

The Gift Baskets are Done..... and Remember Those Taters?

Today I got the last dish rag knitted up and the gift baskets all put together. 

Each basket has a soup in a jar, chocolate chip banana bread in a jar, a mini candle, a dish towel, and of course both jar gifts are topped with a knitted dish rag.  They also have a can of tomatoes because the soup in a jar calls for tomatoes.

We are having a brunch for Christmas with The In-Laws, so I baked a Blueberry Crunch Coffee Cake and still have to make up a cheeseball.  I'll post the recipe for the cake next week.  It's really good!

Remember this post?  In that post I talked about canning taters.  It was the first time I'd canned them and I wasn't too sure how they would turn out.  I was concerned that they might get starchy tasting or turn dark.  I used a jar of them last night.  The Man loves fried 'taters and onions with polish sausage.  I needed to get supper in a hurry so I decided to use a jar of those canned 'taters.  I put a dab of lard in my biggest cast iron skillet, sliced up the sausage and tossed it in, dumped those taters in and then added some sliced onion.  A little seasoned salt and we were good to go.  They were delish and oh so easy. 
 
Our 'tater crop wasn't very good this past year and we used up all our spuds without needing to can any.  I'm hopeful for a better crop this year so I can can some more 'taters!

Things are good 'round here.  I'm planning my chicken order and the seed catalogs are coming.  Tomorrow is January 1st, that means spring is right around the corner!  ;0)  A girl can dream right? 




God Bless......................



Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Fellow Blogger Contest...........and My Current Projects......

My fellow blogger Jennifer over at Our Little Farm is havin' a contest.  She's got the cutest little pot belly pig named Porkchop and she's havin' a Guess Porkchop's Weight contest. 

You all should go check it out!  The only rules are that you must be a follower of her blog (which you should be anyway, cuz she's super cool) and you can only enter once. 

Now on to my current project news......

Right  now I'm working on a skinny scarf.........
The picture above shows the texture really well, and the picture below is a better representation of the actual color.

The pattern for this scarf is textured stripes and I like it a lot.  I'll be adding some nice fringe to it when it's done, but I had to stop working on it to work on these.........

Jar gifts for Christmas with The Man's family which is this coming weekend. 

I've still got to get two dish rags knitted up for it, and this is the one I'm working on now.  It's the little shells pattern, the first time I'm using it for a dishrag. 

I've got 8 jar gifts to make, 2 for each family.  One is a soup in a jar, and the other will be a quick bread in a jar.  The soups will have the dishrag toppers and I'm thinking I'll just do a fabric topper for the bread jars, unless I have time to knit rags for them as well.  I'm going to have to run to Salvation Army to find 4 baskets to put the jars in.  S/A is a GREAT place to buy baskets.  They are only a buck a piece and you can find some really cute ones.

Anywho, go on over there and follow Jennifer's blog and enter the contest!  WAIT!!  Don't....... cuz I really want to win!  ;0)


God Bless..............




Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas Recap............

We had a lovely Christmas here at Goodwife Farm.  Every year my folks come stay with us on Christmas Eve, waking up here Christmas morning, but this year we had heavy snowfall predicted so they arrrived the afternoon of the 23rd.

After opening gifts and stockings on Christmas morning my dad made up some biscuits and I made some sausage gravy and we had a nice breakfast.  The Man got The Three Stooges for Christmas so after breakfast and washing up, Mom and I played Yatzee while everybody else watched The Stooges. 

The Youngun checking out her Santa leavings.............

The Youngun with Mr. Stuffy, her best friend.
Christmas Day afternoon my folks headed for home, taking The Youngun with them.  My mom gets the week between Christmas and New Years off so The Youngun always goes to stay several days with them.  My sister's kid is staying as well, so she and The Youngun are having lots of fun with Pop Pop and Granny Bob.  The Man and I then un-decorated the house.  We do this every year on Christmas day.  We aren't really scrooges or anything, we just like to have the house back in order.  LOL!

In other news, my two little hussies came in on Christmas Eve.  I heard some Barry White, Can't Get Enough of Your Love Babe coming from the direction of the barn, so I'm hopeful that The Longhaired Lothario got the job done and I'll be expecting kids in late May.

Also, please keep my fellow blogger Tonia from The Simple Life in your prayers. 

It's cold here right now, but supposed to warm up into the high 50's with thunderstorms by Friday, then back down into the 30 with snow showers by Saturday.  Illinois weather always keeps you guessing!

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!



God Bless................. 




Monday, December 27, 2010

The Birthday Report.............

The Youngun wanted a Redwall cake for her birthday so she drew me a picture and away I went.

First I baked and cooled the cake of course.  It's homemade chocolate fudge and is yummy!  Then made up some buttercream frosting and colored some blue and some green.  Then I frosted the sky and the grass......

I don't have any more progress pictures because I was too involved with decorating the cake.  Be kind........I did it all freehand with just that drawing to the left of the cake pan to go off of!

So without further ado.........here it is!

She loved it!

As you can see I added in some longer grass and some flowers.  My icing wasn't stiff enough to make proper roses so we just made flowers out of them. 

I really enjoy making these types of character cakes. 

Here is the cake from her 10th birthday.


I used a Wilton gumball machine pan and made a fish bowl out of it.  I think it turned out really cute.


I've made many over the years, but can't find pictures of them all. 

Today we went out for her movie matinee and birthday lunch.  The Youngun wanted to wait until today so that her cousin could come with us, and then they both went to stay with Granny Bob and Pop Pop for a few days. 
We saw the movie Tangled and it was really cute!  Then we went and had lunch at Arby's because that is where The Youngun wanted to go.  It was a very nice day and she had a good time which is all that matters to me. 

Christmas recap and other news coming soon!



God Bless.................. 

ps.........I want to thank all of you who extended birthday wishes to my girl.  Thank you so much, she loved hearing from all of you!  ;0)



Friday, December 24, 2010

Happy Birthday To Our Baby Girl............

It's so hard for me to believe my little girl is 12 years old.  When you are a kid, the adults all around you are constantly saying "Time goes by so quickly, don't rush it, you'll want the years back" and so on.  I don't think I ever understood that until my daughter was born.  It wasn't so bad until she got in school and then boy oh boy the time just flew by.  Looking at pictures of her as a baby and a toddler bring tears to my eyes.  It all went by so fast!!  I'm not one of those parents who wants her child to stay young forever, but I do at times wish I could have slowed things down. 

Here are some photo collages of her first year. 

Proud Daddy and proud Pop Pop minutes after she was born........

The first few months.  She's always wanted to be a puppy hence carrying the shoe around in her mouth, and fishing sure tires a girl out!

She's been a beauty since the day she was born.........

Always loved animals and Granny Bob made her a squirrel for her first Halloween.......

Her first birthday with the puppy cake I made her.  That's the back of my head and The Man laying down next to her.

Here is last year's post about her birthday if you are interested.  This year our movie matinee will be "Tangled" but we are waiting until next week to go because she wants her Darling Cousin to come and she lives 2 hours away so can't come on Christmas Eve.  Pop and Granny will be here and we plan to make Christmas cookies and candy all day, as well as her birthday cake.  For her birthday supper, The Youngun has requested Liver 'N Onions, mashed taters and gravy, peas, and fruit.  

God surely blessed us in choosing to send us this wonderful child.  I love her and best of all I'd love her even if she wasn't mine.  That is saying a lot because as some of you may remember, I'm not much of a kid person!  LOL!

God Bless on this lovely Christmas Eve.  I pray that you all are safe and snug in the bosom of the ones you love and that we will all remember to be thankful to the One who is the Reason for the Season!  



God Bless................... 


 


Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Confessions of a Goodwife...............Again!

Alrighty dear readers.  It's that lovely time again.  Time for the Goodwife to bare more of the shameful secrets that lurk in the corridors of her mind.

I am a compulsive confessor.  It's true.  I cannot lie and I can't even omit details because it feels like lying.  When I do blog posts I have to include details that probably aren't necessary because I feel like I'm lying if I don't put them in.  It's a real problem.  Anyway, something about one of my recent posts has been bothering me...........I won't rest until I've set the record straight.

Remember this handsome fella?

Well today's confession involves him. 

Are you ready?........................

I didn't lease Tommy, or even borrow him.

Are you ready??..................... 

I bought him.........

There I said it.  Whew, I feel sooo much better!  Such a load off my mind.  See I leased a buck that was pretty much worthless.  I was a nervous wreck the entire time he was here.  I was so afraid something would happen to him and I'd be liable.  Not to mention my girls were both in a raging heat while he was here and he simply ran away from them.  I kept him for about 3 days and took him back.

  To offset my worries I determined to buy a buck, use him, then sell him on down the road once the "deed" was done.  I found Tommy on craigslist, he was a wonderful deal, fit, healthy, and handsome.  He didn't have a name so we decided to call him Tommy Twotone cause of his face being split in color.  

He is fitting in nicely around here although the first day he wouldn't stay in.  See my girls are broke, broke, broke to hot wire.  Tommy, not so much.  He would hop right through the 4 strands and his hair is so long he wasn't getting hit with it.  We put up a 5th strand and he still got through it, so he had to be locked up in the buck barn.  The next day I took him on a walk down in the back to get a feel for the place, then that night I locked him up in the main barn with the girls.  Next day I let him out and he got shocked about 4 times, but has stayed in ever since.  I suppose he's figured out this is home and that wire hurts! 

Will I sell him after the girls are bred?  Probably, but with me you just never know!  Those horns really bother me, even though they make him look like a mountain goat and very virile, so that will probably be a factor in my selling him.  However long he's here with us, we'll take good care of him and show him the love that only a true goat-girl can show a rutting buck..............


God Bless.................



Tuesday, December 21, 2010

My Latest Projects..........

After finishing up my felted purses, I started this Basketweave baby afghan


This photo shows the texture really well..........

But this picture shows the color more accurately.

It measures 39.5"x26" and is made of Red Heart worsted acrylic yarn in country blue.  The accent color is a blue multi, but I don't remember what it is called.

I've no clue what I'm going to do with it.  Perhaps I'll just put it in the trunk until I find a recipient for it!

Then I knitted up this scarf.  It's made with wool ease thick and quick yarn in two lovely shades of blue and I used the little shells pattern, although about halfway through the scarf I figured out I messed up the pattern!  I forgot an entire row in the pattern sequence but figured as long as I did the whole thing that way I'd be good and it worked out ok.  LOL!

I'm going to give it to one of my Darling Aunties, Darling Youngest Auntie to be exact.  I was working on it at her house on Saturday and she said it would match her school colors (she's a teacher).  So I'm going to get it in the mail to her tomorrow.  I just finished it last night.

Now I've got to go through the yarn stash and figure out my next project!




God Bless................



Monday, December 20, 2010

Sunday Snow..........

We woke up to some nice fat snowflakes falling on Sunday morning.  Here are some pics I got, hope you enjoy!







God Bless..................


Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Goat Pod................


This fine piece of hillbilly craftsmanship is, of course, a Goat Pod.  What is a Goat Pod? you ask?  Well, a Goat Pod is the way the Goodwife Farm clan hauls goats. 

Hmm?  What's that?  Oh, you'd like to know why the Goodwife Farm clan is hauling goats on a snowy Sunday?  Well, I've found a temporary husband for my girls so we are going to get him today.  Whoo hoo! 
So without further ado.......let us present............

Tommy Two Tone!

Isn't he handsome?  He is a nice big Pygmy buck and hopefully he will get my girls in a family way whippity quick! 

I'll keep you all posted on the nuptials and the honeymoon.........



God Bless..............

 

Friday, December 17, 2010

Christmas Giveaway Winners!

Well we had a whopping 7 entries for the contest!  Makes your odds of winning pretty darned good huh?  ;)

Here were the questions again, answers are in red.

1.What breed of goats do we have here at Goodwife Farm?
We have Kinder goats here.  Kinders are a dairy breed, originally a cross between a Nubian and a Pygmy.  Tulip and her daughter Star can feed triplet kids and still have enough milk to give me 3 qts each milking once a day.


2.What is my darling yellow dog's name?
My darling yellow dog is Ellie, or Ellie-Girl

3.How many dogs do we have?
At the time of the contest we had 4 dogs, but we lost Brandy on Wednesday.  The three dogs we have left are Annie, Ginger, and Ellie.

4.What is the name of our cat?
Yup, we do have a cat.  A lovely barn cat named Willow.  The latest post I did about her can be found here.

5.What style of horseback riding do I do?
I ride English and that's the only way I ever want to go.  Started out riding western and it just wasn't for me.

6.What kind of hot rod does The Paintiff drive?
The Paintiff's baby is a 1966 Dodge Coronet that we restored together.

7.What is the name of our truck?
Our truck is named Black Betty, after the Ram Jam song!

8.When is The Youngun's birthday?
The Youngun exited my body and entered this world on December 24, 1998 at 3:47 AM

9.What is the name of my sewing machine?
My sewing machine is Steve the Sewing Machine

10.How long did The Paintiff and I date before getting married?
Our first date was January 30, 1996 and we were married March 30, 1996.  We got married exactly 2 months from our first date.

Thank you to everybody who participated!  Now on to the good stuff.............finding out if you won!

Tonia over at The Simple Life was our first entrant and she got the most answers correct.  The only question that stumped her was the name of our cat.  Congrats Tonia, you won the little pink purse!  Please let me know your mailing address and I'll get it out to you.  It may not be until Monday, depending on how easily I can get out with the ice, but you should have it before Christmas!

Now for the random drawing for the multi colored purse..........We had 6 other contestants, listed as follows


  1. Jennifer
  2. Nezzy
  3. fernvally01
  4. Nicole
  5. tberry29
  6. Growing Up a Country Girl
And the winner by random generator is.................

tberry29!!  So Trish, send me your mailing address and I'll get your purse out to you!

Thanks again everybody for playing along!


God Bless................



A Sad Day at Goodwife Farm..........

I didn't feel like blogging this until now, but............

We lost our little Brandy on Wednesday.  She has suffered from seizures for a couple years now and one took her that she just couldn't fight.  I'm glad she isn't suffering any more and that we were able to be here to ease her suffering instead of prolong it. 

I miss her.  She always lay between my legs in the recliner of an evening.  I keep thinking I hear her little bark and find myself looking for her.  I dreamed about her last night, that she ran into the living room, but I was the only one that could see her.

We'll miss you little girl...............you gave us 8 years of love and devotion and I'm thankful that you picked me.





God Bless...................



Thursday, December 16, 2010

Sherriff Ed Earl Dodd....................

Do you know Ed Earl?  He's the character played by Burt Reynolds, opposite Dolly Parton's Miss Mona in that most wonderful of movies, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.  In that movie Ed Earl is trying to keep the Chicken Ranch open and he gives this impassioned speech to the governor......

"I've been fightin' crime all my life but let's not confuse crime with committing a sin. You can't legislate morality. Those girls out there have never caused any trouble to anybody. They're healthy, tax-paying, law-abiding citizens who supply a demand and provide an economic asset to the community."  
Now at the risk of whackin' a hornets nest, I've got to say I wholeheartedly agree.  You simply cannot legislate morality.  You cannot force people to be good.  The idea of a "law" regarding a moral issue in my opinion is ridiculous.  A moral person would never do it, and an immoral person isn't going to care one whit that it's illegal.  For example, I, as a sane person, would never murder my neighbor for walking his dog on my lawn.  Does it piss me off?  Sure, but I'm not going to kill the guy over it.  That would be immoral.  Now lets say that murdering my lousy neighbor for letting his dog pinch a loaf on my yard was suddenly made legal.  Am I going to sit on my porch with the 12 gauge loaded with deer slugs and just wait for that sucker to come by?  I should hope not because even if it was legal, it would still be immoral.  Killing somebody over a little dog poop is just plain wrong.  Now if he is coming into my home uninvited with the intent to harm me or my family, that is another ball of wax all together.  Is it still illegal to kill him??  You bet.  There will be an inquest and all sorts of investigations and whatnot.  If I live in the right state I'll probably get off with no charges, but it's still illegal.  However, in that case, is it immoral?  Not to me it isn't. 

There is a headline in St. Louis right now that says.........

"Belleville woman sold kids' Christmas gifts for crack"

Hmm..........isn't crack illegal?  I'm pretty sure it is, last time I checked anyway.  Now, if the use of crack were legal, would a moral person steal their kids' Christmas gifts to get money to buy said crack?  In my honest opinion, drugs are a moral issue and illegality certainly hasn't stopped the use of them.  I'm not saying all drugs should be made legal, but making them illegal has surely not helped the people who are addicted.  If the pull of drugs is so strong that you would steal from your own children, then you need serious help, not necessarily jail time.

Laws were/should be created to protect people from others.  They should protect children and animals.  I don't need a law to protect me from myself.  Murder is, of course, wrong, rape, child abuse, animal abuse, of course all wrong.  Gay marriage............polygamy.......smoking, alcohol, drugs................the use of seat belts............purchasing raw food products..............what I can and can't buy at the store?  None of this has any business being legislated by our government in my opinion.  If you are an adult or two consenting adults it is nobody's business what you are doing as long as you aren't harming anyone else.  How do I feel about all these issues I just mentioned?  Well that doesn't matter because they are moral issues and something you must decide on for yourself.  For the record, I really don't care what you do as long as you leave me alone to live my life the way I want to live it.  How I choose to live my life is between God and I and quite frankly it's no-one else's business.  I'm an intelligent adult.  I have the capabilities to make decisions for myself and I respect the abilities of other adults to do the same.

In closing, I'd just like to say this...............

We are born with free will.  This is how God designed us.  He is the Supreme Creator.  He could have created us anyway He chose and He chose to give us free will.  God wants us to be good and moral, but He doesn't force us.  He wants us to choose right.  If our Creator and Savior gives us the right to choose, how in hell does our government think they know better?  How can they possibly think they can make the world a more moral place through the passage of laws?  Please don't misunderstand me.  I'm not saying we should throw all caution to the wind and have no laws.  That would be anarchy.  We need laws to keep the populace safe.  We don't need laws to keep the populace moral.  Morality must be taught at home.  We must teach our children right from wrong, and right from wrong can be subjective.  I'm sorry and I know that may really honk some folks off, but it's true.  I'm a very black and white person, but even I know that right to some is wrong to others.  We don't drink.  I have no use for alcohol and I hope that The Youngun doesn't drink.  Does that mean I think alcohol is immoral?  Of course not, it just isn't for us.  In our home, Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life.  I wouldn't want to live in a place where my right to that belief was taken from me.  If I want my rights preserved, then I have to fight for the rights of others to be preserved.  Is it wrong to not believe in God?..........well in my home it is wrong, but if I want to be able to believe how I wish, and raise my daughter to have those beliefs then I must respect the beliefs of others.  How could it be otherwise?

As always during my rants, I must give you my disclaimer.  I love a good debate and as long as you keep your comments polite, plenty of passion is ok!  ;)       

PS, The Man had to go into work at 1:15 AM because we are having an ice storm.  After getting him off to work and laying back in bed, my little pea brain was a swirl with these thoughts and I couldn't get back to sleep until getting them off my chest. 

I hope you are safe and snug this fine December morn!

God Bless....................





Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Horseradish.......How Do I Love Thee...........

Did somebody say Horse Radish?
I LOVE HORSERADISH!  I love the creamy texture, I love the pungent fumes, I love the way it wafts up the back of my nose and makes my eyes water. 

It's a mysterious sauce though, because it only wafts up the back of my nose once during my eating episode, and it never does it on the first bite.  It's usually about halfway through my s'mamich and I LOVE the eye watering burn as it travels up the back of my nose and throat to my eyes.  It hurts sooooo good! 

I've never eaten fresh horseradish and I've never grown it, but I plan to plant some next year.  I've heard it's really easy to grow and it's like rhubarb, once you plant it you've got it forever.  I've been reading up about how to make the roots really big and really hot, so I plan to experiment until I find the perfect temperature for my palate. 

Do you grow horseradish?  Do you like horseradish?  Do you think the Goodwife is crazier than you ever thought possible?  Did you enter my Christmas contest?  It ends at midnight tomorrow! 



God Bless............

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Cold Is a State of Mind...............And Don't Forget to Enter My Contest!

I just got off the phone with my good friend Darlin' Deb.  She said, Please tell me you turned your furnace on!  Well we did turn it on, but the thermostat is set below 60*.  It is currently 58* in my living room.  The current outside temp is 19*.  We've quit using the fireplace because the thermostat is in the same room as the fireplace and it will prevent the furnace from kicking on.  That makes the living room right around 45 or below, which is pretty chilly by all accounts.  So back to the current temps in my front room.  58*..........am I cold?  Not really.  Is The Youngun cold?  Not at all. 

Today's average American is a pretty spoiled creature.  My ancestors (and not too distant ancestors at that) had only a fireplace or an inefficient pot belly stove to warm their homes.  During a snow storm they would have to shake snow off the quilts when they woke up in the morning, and break ice out of the water pitcher to wash the sleep out of their eyes. 

The first few days of this cold snap I was a little chilly, but your body adjusts.  It really, truly does!  I'm thankful that we have a warm house, plenty of blankets, wool socks, and hot showers.  It also makes it a whole lot easier to go do chores when we keep the house cool.  If my house was 70*, going out to do chores would be miserable.  This way I don't notice the cold outside near as much!  

Stay warm and snug and please go enter my Christmas Giveaway if you want!  I've changed it to two winners, one that gets the most answers and one random, so please go enter!

God Bless................