Had time for lunch with friends

Stage two finished.  Got the path between the blackberries and blueberries mulched.  Now to get the blackberries mulched and the third and final stage of that project will be completed.  Maybe tomorrow, it is suppose to another nice day.

Found some potatoes in the basement the other day that had sprouted.  Filled a couple tires and planted them today.  Had to put a wire cage around the top of the tires so the ducks and chickens won't eat the sprouts.  

Added some more blocks to the center raised bed in the garden.  Only 15 blocks short of having enough.  Going to use the bed for green beans.  My customers at the farmer's market really like dilly beans.  I like canned green beans for the winter so hope to get a lot of them. 

Dream come true.  One stove in the basement to make jelly on and another one (a gas one at that) for upstairs. I have cooked on a gas stove for over 50 years and the electric stove was real challenge.  Was getting real used to eating burned food till Lisa moved in.  She took over the cooking detail real fast. She doesn't like burned food.  Told her she would get used to it but she didn't agree.    The gas one was finally installed this afternoon.  So I can good food again.  

Seems like I got a lot done today and even had time to go out to lunch with some friends.  

Did you know? What is called a french kiss in English speaking world is known an English kiss in France.

Where does the day go?

Seems like I have been busy all day but don't seem to have accomplished much.

Did get the chickens and ducks out of their coop on time.  Came back in the house to have my second cup of coffee. When I heard a knock on the door.  Not a loud knock but definitely a knock.  When I got to the door here stands a chicken on the front porch.  Guess she decided she needed to visit in the house. She did it a couple of times.  Silly girl.

Went grocery shopping while the kids were in Sunday School  so I thought that was a completed project.  Oh no, got home and realized that I had forgotten some of the ingredients for supper.

The kids sung at a local assisted living this afternoon with their Sunday School class.  So after the performance we stopped at the store again.

Made Ham and Cheese Frittatas for supper. Two out of three kids liked them.
When I make them again, I will add a little butter to the potatoes before I bake them the first time also I will bake them 15 minutes instead of 10.  They did not get crisp enough.  I did eliminate the peppers.

Make-Ahead Individual Ham, Cheese & Veggie Frittatas.

 

Print

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Weight Watchers Info: 3 PointsPlus per frittata

Author: Weight Watchers

Recipe type: Breakfast

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 2 spray(s) cooking spray
• 1 pound(s) frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed and drained
• 4 large egg(s), beaten
• 1 Tbsp fat-free skim milk
• ⅛ tsp table salt, or to taste
• ⅛ tsp black pepper, or to taste
• 2 oz cooked lean ham, finely chopped
• ⅛ cup(s) sweet red pepper(s), finely chopped (2 Tbsp)
• ⅛ cup(s) green pepper(s), finely chopped (2 Tbsp)
• 2 Tbsp onion(s), finely chopped
• ½ cup(s) low-fat shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 8 muffin tin holes with cooking spray. Spread potatoes around bottom and press potato up sides of each muffin hole; place in oven and cook for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, beat eggs and milk together in a medium bowl; season with salt and pepper. Add ham, peppers, onion and cheese to bowl; mix to combine.
3. Remove potatoes from oven (after cooking for 10 minutes) and press potatoes down firmly with a spoon so that they are spread out like mini piecrusts (potatoes should cover bottom and sides of each hole). Pour about ¼ cup of egg mixture into the center of each muffin hole.
4. Return pan to oven and cook until potatoes are crisp and golden, and the egg mixture is set, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit about 5 minutes before serving. Yields 1 frittata per serving.
5. Frittatas can be made ahead of time and frozen in a plastic container. Remove one each evening and allow it to thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Microwave for 30 seconds in the morning.

Hope you had a wonderful day.  

Do you know?  A bolt of lighting is 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun. 

Stage 1 complete

Blueberries are all mulched for the year.  The wood chip pile is a lot smaller.  Was going to post pictures but it was almost dark so no pictures today.  Took all day.  Had to take a lot of breaks.  Bright spot is the daffodils I planted along the edge last fall are coming up.  Spring must be close.  The robins were back today also.

Next is the path between the blueberries and the blackberries.  After that it is the blackberries.  Hopefully will have all three projects will be done next week.

Had a nice surprise today.  My grandson stopped by for a hug on his way back to college from visiting his father.

Gave his a couple of dozen eggs.  Went out to the hen house right afterwards and brought in a dozen.  That is the most I have ever got in one day.

Overall it has been a real good day.  It is so nice to be able to get out of the house and not freeze to dead.  Supposedly the next few days are suppose to be nice.

Do you know?  Do are more likely to die from a falling coconuts that from a shark attack.

Nesting boxes installed

Moving in day finally arrived.  We put up the nesting boxes today in the hen house.  Had a lot of help and instructions.

 One of the hens finally sat in an old nest to lay her egg because we were not getting the new ones up fast enough.  Before she finally gave up, she yelled at us for a good 15 minutes. 

Have to check it out before bed time.

Did you know: The largest recorded egg weighted 12 ounces and had 2 yolks. 

Had to wear a lot of different hats today

Busy, busy day.  Started the day cleaning house and doing some laundry.  Then there were errands to run.  Cleaning lady's hat.

Still fighting with the loom but did get a chance to work on it for about 45 min. today.  Think I got it figured out but didn't get to weave on it long enough to be sure.  Weaver's had.

Next came getting the chicken nesting box from my daughter's old house.  Had to take it out of the old hen house and bring it to my house.  Other daughter washed it up while I started moving the pile of wood chips to the blueberry patch.  Farmer hat.



Went to Master Gardener lab next.  The topic was propagation.  We planted seeds, made leaf cuttings, wood cuttings, and root cuttings.  Really enjoyed it, learnt a lot, and brought home samples of each type.  There is so much knowledge in the organization and everyone is willing to share the knowledge which makes it so nice. Student hat.

As soon as I got home, I was handed a plate of food and told I could eat supper in the car.  The cub scouts went to the fire station tonight and the twins wanted to go so of course Grandma had to go also.  It was real interesting.  One of the firemen actually put on all his gear and the boys were told he was the same man as they had seen before and not to be frightened of him if he was trying to help them in a fire.  One boy still wasn't too sure he liked him even though he had seen the man putting on the equipment.  Grandma hat.

One of the hens were missing when I went out to shut up the chicken coop after we got home.  So had to go searching for the missing hen. Got to put back on the farmer hat.

It has been a full day but I enjoyed it alot.  Hope your day was as nice.

Did you know? 25% of your bones are in your feet.

Full Moon

I know some people discount the effects of a full moon.  As a former teacher and as a grandmother living with three small children, I sure don't discount it.  I know that scientist discount the connection but most of the studies have been done using adults not children.

Ran into a deal today.  On Craigslist, there was an ad for free wood chips.  So I called.  The first load arrived today.  Have another load coming soon.  The tree cutting company is working in the area and wanted someplace to dump the wood chips.  I want the wood chips to mulch my orchard, berry patches and between the raised beds in my garden.  So a win win situation.  Last year I paid $15 a scoop for mulch.  There is at least 3 scoops in the pile of wood chips I got today. I know it isn't all one type of wood like you are suppose to get when you purchase mulch but the price is sure right.

Ran into another deal at Walmart.  The end of March, I am giving a bridal shower for my great nefew's bride to be.  Walmart had their Valentine items on sale for 75% off.  Had to be careful what I choose so it didn't say Happy Valentine's Day but was able to get some decorations for the shower.

Hope you had a good day.

Did you know? Cats sleep 16 to 18 hours a day.

Peace in the backyard

Things have been real peaceful in the backyard today.  My son-in-law and I eliminated the five roosters that were ganging up on one hen at a time.  Hated to do it as life is real precious but if we allowed it to go one at least one or more hens would have lost their lives.

Rainy afternoon and full moon has made a very noisy and restless afternoon for the three children in the house.  The poor cat even went and found a hiding place. It was so nice to have the three of them outside playing yesterday.  The weather forecast isn't favorable for that to happen this week.  As long as it doesn't snow and they can all go to school.  Have a lot of plans for this week and they will be a lot easier if the children are not underfoot fighting.

Did you know? More than 50% of the water applied to lawns is lost in evaporation or run-off due to over watering.

Blue and Gold Dinner

Wonderful afternoon.  Went to the cub scout blue and gold banquet this afternoon. The blue and gold banquet celebrates the birthday of cub scouting.

Along with food, they also had the pinewood derby car races.  That is where the cub scout and parents build a small wooden car and race them against the other scouts.

My grandchildren did very well
Logan got a trophy for 2nd place in design.  
Aiden got a trophy for his car being the 3rd fastest.






They also had a Guy's Cake baking contest.  The dad's and scout had to bake and decorate a cake.  Aiden got a prize for his cake being the tallest.




It was a gorgeous day outside so took advantage of it and washed the truck and the car after I got home.  Seemed so nice to be able to be outside without a coat.  Even had the time and energy to clean up the pinewood derby car mess in the garage.

Did you know? Bamboo can grow up to 3.4 feet in 24 hours.

Busy day

Finally got an estimate for putting propane gas into the house today.  Gas stove should be installed a week from Monday.  Hooray, maybe I can cook something other than burnt food.  Electric stoves for everyday cooking and I do not get along. I burn everything.

The new electric stove finally got delivered.  It is temporarily in the kitchen then it is going downstairs to the jelly kitchen.  It will be nice not to have to cook my jellies and dinner in the same small kitchen.  Jelly season is upon me and I need to get the jelly process started.

We started gearing up today for the new Master Foods class through the County Extension office.  My classmates and myself from last year are helping Susan train additional volunteers.  I have met several of the new volunteers and am real excited to get to know them better.  The Master Foods volunteers help get the information from the land grant colleges (in our case, Virginia Tech. and UVA) out to the general public.  We do demonstrations at the farmers markets, community meetings, schools, etc. We are very much like the Master Gardeners except we deal with food and family living.

Did you know? In Utah, it is illegal to swear in front of a dead person.

Mission accomplished

First there was one black hen that refused to stay in the fence.  Then there were two.  Now we had to chase three back in.  Must be time to clip some wings or I will be spending my days chasing chicken back into the fence. 

The kids went back to school for a short day but went back to school. We actually got something done. 

We build a support system for the blackberries.  Should have had one last year but we have one now and that is all that counts.  Blueberry fencing is tomorrow.  Have to get some additional fence poles.  Then plan to wrap fishing line around the whole areas.  Worried about the deer coming in at night and eating the plants.  The fishing line around the young fruit trees seem to be halping so will try to protect the blueberries the same way. 

The white shawl came off the loom last night and a multicolored one was started.  Going to crochet a scalloped edge around the white shawl.  Think it would make a beautiful wedding shawl.  

Did you know? Mosquitoes prefer blood type "O" to any other. 

No School again today.

Think the kids (there are three of them) are tired of each other.  Two hour delay tomorrow so at least they will get to see other faces.  They had the cutest video on Facebook today.  Check it out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw1ZDWa4YsU Will definitely put a smile on your face.

Chickens and ducks are happier.  Yesterday they didn't hardily venture out of the coop.  Today the yard was filled with little footprints.  It got up to the high 40's so most of the snow is gone.  Driveway is clear after 5" of snow on it yesterday.  And I didn't even get the snow shovel out.

Did you know? Movie popcorn costs more per ounce than filet mignon in USA.

Snowy and cold day

Had another snow storm today.  Which if you are not familiar with southwest Virginia is a big deal.  Everything shuts down and you are expected to stay off the roads.  We don't have the road equipment to handle snow.  Of course, the ice that followed the 9" of snow made the situation even worst.   Needless to say No School tomorrow.

I took advantage of the whole situation and taught myself a weaving technique.  Was suppose to go to a workshop last Saturday to learn the technique but that did not happen.  So yesterday when I went the weaver's guild meeting I picked up the class notes and today I taught it to myself.  Hopefully you will be seeing an item using huck weaving in the near future.

Did you know? When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.

Another cold day

Okay once was cute but......

They came to visit again.  Can't blame them it is really cold outside.

The fun begins tonight.  First snow then sleet.  They have already closed school for tomorrow.  Good day to escape to the basement and weave.  The kids will be home and wild because they have been cooped up in the house for too long.  Two days is about their limit.

Don't mind going down and weaving as I went to my weaver's guild meeting today and saw a lot of things I want to try.  Saw the cutest shawl/jacket.  Have to finish the holiday towels on my wide loom so I can make one.  

Got  a lot of pretty flowers for Valentine's Day.

Did you know:  That Canada has fewer people than the metropolitan area of Tokyo

Quiet Day

The day seemed real quiet even with lots of people in the house.  The kids played video games and watched a movie.  My daughter and husband, son and wife all had plans for a valentine evening and grandma got all four kids.  Can't complain they have been good and they are all in bed.

The animals have been slow moving also.  Maybe the cold weather. It was 9 degrees last time I checked.  They were so funny.  After feeding and watering them, they followed LK and I back to the house and into the breezeway.  Guess they thought they would just spend the day with us.

Cat doesn't like the cold weather either.  Did I say the kids are in bed.  Well one just came to me and complained about the cat.  Seems she was playing in the plant on the nightstand and making lots of noise.  Went into the bedroom and sure enough here is the cat in the plant.Didn't want to be taken out either.

Do you know?  In 1913 milk cost 36 cents a gallon in 2013 it cost $3.53.

Just one of those days

Ever have one of those days where you get nothing done but you planned to get a lot done.  Got up had a long list of things to get done and most of them didn't happen.  Think the last straw was when I opened the dishwasher after supper.  I was going to unload it then load it and have a clean kitchen in the morning.  One of my favorite glass cups had explosed in the dishwasher.  Glass everywhere.  So my son-in=law helped me clean it out as best as we could and then ran the dishwasher empty to get the rest.  So I loaded the old dishes back in the dishwasher and washed them again to get the glass off them.  No clean kitchen.  And the project I planned to do after dinner didn't get done eithe.

Will leave you on a happy note.  My daughter came in from the grocery store with a beautiful plant for Valentines Day the later m y son-in-law brought me candy and roses for Valentine Day.  So there was a bright spots in the day.

On Order

Got a new stove on order today.  Should be delivered on Monday, weather permitting.  Saw a post on facebook today of a ground hog holding a sign that said "I lied".  From the sounds of the current weather report he sure did.  Either Sunday or Monday we are suppose to be getting frozen stuff.  Either ice or snow or a mixture.  Spring temperatures in the high 60's and low 70's is what I am looking forward to.  Keep seeing robins in the yard so one of these days soon I should get my wish.

Four year olds can be so cute (I have two currently living with me).  They decided that they needed measure to see if they had grown.  The first one was measured and she had grown about 1/2 inch. When the second one was measured she had not grown since the last time.  She said, "that is because I go to the bathroom alot."  Where that came from we have no idea.

All three kids are eagerly looking forward to their valentine parties at school tomorrow.  The oldest who is in the second grade has a dance.  He isn't real sure about that part as he has never been to a dance.  He is looking forward to the treats that follow the dance.

Have a day.

Got the shelves us

We got the shelves in the laundryroom up.  Next comes the painting part.

That has to wait until Thursday.  Tomorrow is booked full.  Master Foods through the county extension office is giving a presentation at Bedford Library in the morning.

Heart Healthy Valentine Treats

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Name: Heart Healthy Valentine Treats

Date: February 10, 2016

Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST

Event Description:

Discover how to surprise your special Valentine with
Heart‐healthy treats.
The Virginia  Cooperative Extension (VCE) is hosting a  valentine‐themed cooking demonstration: Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 @ 10:00a.m. Location: Community Room of the Bedford Central Library.

VCE Extension Agent Susan Prillaman will lead the demonstration with  help from her Master Food Volunteers.  Prillaman, a Family Consumer  Services specialist, will show how to create Valentine treats that anyone  can make and enjoy. 

This event, in recognition of American Heart  Month, is being co-sponsored by the Bedford Community Health  Foundation.
 To register, please email info@healthybedford.org 
or call  540‐586‐5292.
The event is free and open to the public.

Then the afternoon is going to be spent getting ready for Grow the Good Life sponsored by the Bedford Master Gardeners.

GROW THE GOOD LIFE: Day of Outstanding Gardening Seminars

This Spring’s featured event in Bedford, VA is scheduled for Saturday, March 12th at the Bedford Campus of Central Virginia Community College (CVCC) from 8:30am- 4:00pm. Bedford Area Master Gardeners Association (BAMGA) and Virginia Cooperative Extension are pleased to announce Grow the Good Life, a day of outstanding gardening seminars. The daylong program promises valuable information and interest for all area gardeners. Link to our informational flyer here:  Grow The Good Life Flyer (registration form included)  And for your convenience, we offer a GTGL Printer-friendly Registration Form

Everyone Welcome!

Just a few things to do tomorrow. Hope you have a good day.