A Year of Slow Cooking Blog Try Out

 

Life has been busy, like always.  Delsin got married a year and a half ago. Kai graduated college last weekend.I have been taking classes at Nashville State Community College, this past Fall and Spring.  Lenore just graduated elementary school. And Enoch is graduating middle school this week. Carolina has a Lenore just graduated elementary school. And Enoch is graduating middle school this week. Carolina has a summer full of camp counselor plans. She was at an All-Star conference this weekend. Our nutrition has suffered.  Always trying to get caught up.  Always "almost there!" I have to take back control of our lives, in this manner.   I'm also ready to come back to blogging and pull away from social media so much.  I long to miss people again.  And I need to retain memories in a place that feels more safe. My photos have been hacked and lost a time or two.  Coming here isn't necessarily permanent, but it is another place that maybe we can find pictures, when they are lost in a fire, divorce, or hacked online. ?   

                 

 I'm not challenging myself to a year of slow cooking, but I was trying to remember where I used to store recipes I wanted to comment on.  I'm guessing it was our family blog page.  I'm coming back .  to it to store this recipe.  I started the slow cooker at 5:30 and threw in some thighs with this recipe.  Trying to get back to good meals, I know that the slow cooker is going to be my main tool in getting us back to good home cooking.  I was looking for recipe ideas when I remembered this famous blog page about using a slow cooker for a year.  Turns out that was in 2008.  We were living in Stone Mountain at that time.  It's still available, so I am going to put Stephanie's hard work to more good use.  I bet she gets tons of visits a day, still. We thought this was a great easy chicken meal and not too garlicky for us. 

 

Lenore chose to make a Vidialia Onion Bake, that we had a recipe card for since being on WIC, back in Georgia.  (Lenore wasn't around for those years.)  She declared that "it's not that bad!" She's only beginning to allow onions into her menu.  She had a lot of giggles trying to trick Enoch into eating it. He's not as adventurous with the onions. She also wanted green beans & cookies. She made chocolate chip cookie dough, that we are happy to indulge in, for dessert. Here is the recipe https://www.ayearofslowcooking.com/2009/04/crockpot-20-to-40-clove-garlic-chicken.html 

 

I'm going to follow her lead and use the leftovers for fried rice, here in a minute.

  

OMGOSH!  While writing this Denise just texted me and told me that Olivia has dilated to 3 or 4 cm.  She is going into labor with her first baby!  <3  

Learning how to crochet again ❤️

Years ago, when I was like 8 years old, Granny Eileen (my mother’s mother) taught me how to crochet and knit.  I only learned how to crochet a chain in the short vacation time she was visiting.  I lost interest and thankfully never lost my hook that she gave me.  Kai did that when she learned how to crochet, via Aunt Mandy.  The knitting was a much bigger hit, with me, but I eventually broke my needles and forgot how to knit before I finished making anything.  

Recently Carolina’s best friend taught her how to make a chain.  She, in turn, taught Enoch, and we’ve all received several Friendship bracelets as a result.  Sadly, all of mine have fallen off and gotten lost.  Maybe I can get a picture of someone else’s tomorrow. 

I have been happy to watch them with nostalgia, and a little longing to carry on the family tradition of crocheting.  In addition to Granny Eileen,  her mother in law Marie crocheted.  Marie made dainty things like doilies and table runners.  I have several of her pieces, sadly most of them are damaged.  

They came to me in such shape.  Granny kept them, I believe with plans to repair them.  She also kept Marie’s tiny crochet hooks.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to make those repairs one day.  I received these pieces when Granny passed away, from my Aunt Sarah, thankfully. 

This is one of Marie’s doilies, in great shape.

When I went to the drawer to get the doily I came across this coffee koozie that I had completely forgotten about. My good friend Julie Thomas held a crochet meeting at the church and taught us all how to make these, and I believe I actually made a post on this blog page about it!  LOL!  I put a link if you click on coffee koozie, above.

Ok, back to what’s going on now:

Our local library, Fred A. Vaught library of Hartsville, Tn, has started up a crochet club.

The kids wanted to go to it.  They met last night.  They have been meeting for a while now.  And I had forgotten, but now I remember that Kai wanted to go back when I first started meeting.  But, just like then, they do not allow kids to come to these meetings. Kids can come to the library and hang out in the kids area, but this was one of the few events that they wanted to try to reserve just for adults. I cannot say that I blame them at all.  I did say that they would be excited to start a kids crochet club if I can get other kids interested in it. So, I need to talk to my friends.

I didn’t wanna leave though. My favorite skirt was made by my Granny Eileen. 

This is the skirt Granny made.

Recently, I saw this dress when I was looking through my Elle fashion magazine.

It says it’s from My Beachy Side.  They must be sold out, because I can’t find it on their site.  

Enoch declared that he would make it for me! Sweet boy of mine.  So, thankfully a good friend at the Crochet Club showed me how to make a Granny Square.  And that’s what I am working on learning now.  I know mine looks rough at the beginning (the center), but I am proud.  I hope to show the kids how tomorrow.  And I guess that means I will be buying some yarn in the next few days.  This granny square will become a Christmas trivet.  We need several as it is.  

What are some of your favorite crocheted items?

Do you crochet?  If so, what are some of your favorite projects?

How To Make A Dog Bed Tutorial Upcycling Materials Around the House

It's been a long time since I've posted anything to this blog.  Life has gotten really busy homeschooling 5 kids, and homesteading too.  But it was time to make a new dog bed, and someone asked me how to do it.  So, that is why I am making this tutorial.  I hope it is helpful to anyone looking to make a dog bed from upcycled materials you may already have.

Materials:

-I used a piece of foam taken from my baby diaper changing table.  Sized 35"x19"x2"

-An old throw blanket (a corner was ripped) 48"x60"

-40lb chicken feed bag

-50lb dog food bag

-3" wide duct tape

With 5 kids it seems like I always have a good amount of supplies to work with.  Each time I do laundry I look for t-shirts with stains or holes that I can cut into rags.  Sometimes those rags have been used to stuff a dog bed, when my rag drawer is overfilled.  Usually I use an old foam mattress topper.  I believe the last one I made was 3 years ago. You can see a photo of that dog bed at the very end of this post.  It was not an outdoor bed.  That bed just got tossed out last year when Nella used it for her 2nd year in a row.  Smitty passed away 3 years ago next month.  We miss him very much.  There are links to two other posts I made regarding homemade dog beds at the bottom of this post.

Hidey wants to keep it for her own.

This is the piece of foam my husband bought to go in the diaper changing table he built for our babies.  He made it several years ago.  I had made a waterproof fitted sheet for it, that is lost.  But I did still have a fitted cover for it that I decided to put on it.  Since I made it specifically for this, so no sense in trying to keep it for something else.  Might as well let them stay together.

Hidey really does not want to let Nella have it. 

The first thing I did was cover it in old feed sacks.  I keep them for trash bags, when we clean up the yard or workshop, and other various uses such as this.  I like using the feed sacks that are made from tarp like material, because overtime it gets "broken in".  Meaning, it gets less crinkly sounding and more pliable, and more like fabric.  While retaining the ability to keep stinky moisture out of the foam.  This way, at the end of the winter season I can simply remove the cloth outer layer, wipe the bed down and store it in the shed until next winter.  Then I will recover it with whatever old blanket or towels we are ready to get rid of at the time.  

First I put the chicken feed bag on because it is smaller.  It still fits well enough, but a little snug.

Next I used the 50lb dog food bag.  I just happened to have this bag due to someone donating this food to us because we take in a lot of stray dogs until we can find their owner or a new home.  We do not use this food though.  There are a lot of scary reviews for this food on the Consumer Reports website, so we try to steer clear of it if we can.  However, I am grateful to have this bag today.

In an effort to add a little extra layer of moisture protection I sealed the bags together with 3" wide duct tape.  

Now I fold the blanket in half and sew it together leaving one of the short ends open to make it like a pillowcase.

I used this stitch.  A wide zig zag stitch will suffice if you don't have this particular one on your machine.

I used about 5/8 inch seam allowance because I have plenty of room in this cover to spare.  A wide seam allowance will be a little more secure than trying to keep it close to the edge.

Finally, slide the bed inside of the cover and sew up the open end.

Here is the finished product, inside of her dog house.  It will be more flat when she gets in there.  I have no desire to crawl in there and pat it down. lol

 I tried to get a picture of her in it, but it's only 26 degrees tonight and she would much rather play in the snow and bark at the coyotes and other farm dogs in the distance.  But it's in there waiting for her when she's ready.  It's supposed to get down to 17 degrees tomorrow night, so she'll probably use it then.  Tonight she's just hanging out on the top of the dog house and running around her kennel. 

 We keep our Great Pyrenees kenneled next to the chicken coop because she is dedicated strictly to watching over the chickens. If she has too much area to patrol, on her own, the chicken coop might get infiltrated.  We hope to get more livestock and another livestock guardian dog this spring.

Thank you for checking out my blog page. 

Please leave a comment and share your own dog bed pictures or links.

Sincerely, Steph

Other dog bed tutorials I've done:

http://bymamawithlove.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-dog-beds.html

http://bymamawithlove.blogspot.com/2009/12/lalehs-new-bed.html

This was my favorite dog bed that I've made so far.  I made Delsin and Enoch Cowboy bedding and curtains and this bed to match for Smitty, because he became an inside dog during his last days.  He slept in the boys room the most.  I made a great tutorial for it, but blogger's phone app was having problems and kept deleting it.  They no longer have a phone app, and I no longer have this tutorial to share.  But if I ever make another one similar to it I will make a tutorial again.

Apple Crazy

     We bought a bushel of Gayla apples from Big Chief Apple Orchard recently.  I also picked up this cookbook on apples by Patricia Mitchell.  

 I really enjoy her cookbooks.  They are an excellent read, and this one turned into a lesson on Johnny Appleseed, for us.  I've probably made half of the recipes by now.  Here are a couple of pictures.  We've liked everything, so far.

A Dozen Years Already?

I can't believe it's been 12 years already since we got married.

It's been a lot of everything.  

I'm glad we are still together.

I'm having a great life.

I think everyone else here is too. 

Thank you Jesus for my family and our many blessings. 

We celebrated by going to Chattanooga and seeing Ruby Falls.  We had a picnic at Point PRk on top of Lookout Mountain.  Then we went swimming at our campsite.  We are staying in a sweet little cabin.  

We are about to grill burgers, roast s'mores on a campfire, and tomorrow we are going to the Tennessee Aquarium and moon pie general store.