Chair do over

So our kitty and puppy love to chase each other.

A lot.

They usually end up under my vintage chair and consequently have torn the underneath to shreds.

Well not to shreds exactly, but did a good enough job on it that I just decided to jump in, gimp finger and all, and disassemble it so I can reupholster it.

So I grabbed the closest butter knife and went to work. Now I know that there are tools made just for the disassembling of a chair, and I have one...somewhere, but a butter knife and a pair of needle nose pliers work just fine.

This is the point I'm at and I'm struggling whether or not to use a patterned fabric or just go neutral.

Leaning toward this little yellow and grey/taupe number.

Whaddaya think?

*To see the chair before, click here*

Fences-to keep some things in and some things out

So we let our chickens free range during the day and it's wonderful. They are fun, and funny and friendly and they roam around our ranch (hubby disagrees with the title hobby farm) and eat stuff. They come running when someone throws veggie scraps to them (except asparagus- they won't eat that) and they eat bugs and worms after it rains. They really eat everything (except asparagus) that we feed them, but that's also a problem because they would eat the garden if we let them. IMO there's no reason to go to all the work of planting if our lovely chickens just think our garden is there very own personal smorgasbord.

So I went all trump and built a fence.

Coconut Chicken Curry

This chicken curry dish has been added into our dinner rotation.

My hubby could eat Chinese every night and I could eat Indian every night. (Okay, for like three nights.)

Here's the link to the recipe that our whole family loves, gobbles up and asks for more.

I heart curry. 

This recipe could be converted into a slow cooker recipe, buuuuuuttt

not if you're in a hurry...

...for curry.  :)

processing wild game - tutorial

Moose!  It's what's for dinner...

So if you have wild game meat to process, here is one way to preserve it.

Bottle it!

homemade pickled beets

Gardening in Swan Valley is turning out to be more challenging than either me or the hubs thought. BUT, the beets are doing GREAT!

magnetic storm

Ok, so in our new place, double wide haven--yes, I'm queen of my double wide trailer, we have a small kitchen. When I say small, I mean small. Really small.

So I've been all over the internet trying to come up with ideas to make it all work. I mean, we're kitchen people! Have you seen my blog?! I have canning equipment up the wazoo, Dutch Ovens and cast iron pans galore. Two slow cookers, an electric griddle and frying pan. Mixers and blenders and choppers oh my!  I have three boxes of spices people. And I'm talking full size boxes. Full size. Did I tell you that I have five (5) different kinds of choppers? Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head! I might have more somewhere. In a box that hasn't been unpacked yet--BECAUSE THERE IS NO ROOM TO PUT THEM IN MY KITCHEN.

So. In my realization that I have five different kinds of choppers, I thought to myself, "ya know, all I really need is a knife and a cutting board." "I don't have the room for five different kinds of choppers." "Well, at least not four." "Downsizing is GOOD."

Enter, fridge knife magnet. Excellent idea! Free up counter space from my knife crock AND cupboard space from my three choppers!

Where does my mind go always? DIY. Do-it-yourself. Always.

*sigh*

Pretty good idea in theory, but in my naivete, this is what happened...

And then this happened...

dining room before and after

So the home on our property is a 1976 Mobile Home.  In the spirit of "Come what may and LOVE it", we are putting up our plastic pink flamingos and flying our trailer park flag high! Loud and proud baby! Loud. And. Proud.

Strawberry Crisp

For the two of you who wanted the recipe to this delicious Strawberry Crisp, I give you--- 

Fruit Crisp:

Wheat Grinder Life Hack

Taking a break from the Cedar Chest Makeover because, well, I have to.  I don't have the hardware to press on so I'm baking bread today.

Because I'm a good 30 minutes--in good driving conditions--away from a grocery store and 45 minutes away from a decently priced grocery store, I decided to make bread.  Not a foreign thing for me to do, I mean, I've posted it on here how many times?  But this time I am grinding my own wheat.  Have wheat, don't have whole wheat (WW) flour.  Have white, not WW.  Also what I don't have is a room that I want covered in a fine dusting of flour.

So I had an idea.  I don't know if this qualifies as a "life hack", but it sure made my life easier.

I put a XL Space Bag over my grinder and let it roar.  I left the zip lock open partially because it needs air to work, but it worked like a charm.  A clean-kitchen-after-grinding-wheat charm.

Now you must know that I LOVE my wheat grinder and it is quiet for a grinder and it is clean for a grinder, but it still spews some fine flour dust in a two feet radius and today I just didn't want to deal with it.  My creative side of my brain has been working on ideas how to create a "space" where I can grind and not leave a Mt. St. Helen's kinda mess* because my lazy side of my brain didn't want to deal with the mess anymore...


Voila!

homemade chocolate chip cookies

The term "chocolate chip" cookie doesn't quite do this cookie justice.

They're more like "everything but the kitchen sink" cookies.

But that's just the way we like 'em!

Now if you're the kind of person who likes to throw everything into a mixer then this is not the cookie for you. But if you're the kind of person who loves a delicious cookie then you'll need to get your hands dirty.

 But BONUS you can lick them. But don't tell the kids.  I won't let them "because of the eggs..."

I didn't believe the hubby when he said you need to mix the dough with your hands and I tried a batch in my mixer a while back. I don't know the science behind it, but they did not turn out. "SO Yeah", I mix them "by hand" now.

If you're "jones'n" for a "kitchen sink" kinda cookie, then roll up your sleeves.

Brian's Cookies

2 1/4 Cups (all purpose) flour
2 Sticks (1 cup) butter (softened)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup Brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 bag (11.5 oz bag) butterscotch chips
1/2 bag (11.5 oz bag) chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
2 cups oatmeal