My crazy 48 hour adventure!

Hey All,

I'm kinda weirded out because I had 2 days off in a row!  What!?!  That might not be a big deal to most, but for a business owner, yeah, it's kind of a big deal.  How did I spend my 48 hours of pure bliss you ask? 

Working around the house of course.... yeah, exciting.  I know.

So exciting that I'll share it with you!  Oh I bet you're pumped for this aren't you!?  Wooohoo!  Let's get this crazy train started!

Well, the first day I did my normal cleaning up after kitty's and breakfast for everybody thing... then when it was peaceful, I mowed the back yard.... Crazy times I tell ya.... crazy!

I did take time to check on the peas that have started to sprout and put up supports for them.

I checked on my strawberry plants and I learned a gardening lesson.... Never put manure down that hasn't been aged because then you end up with this....

Actually the weeds don't look that bad in this picture, but I assure you, they are bad. Really. Bad.

I also planted our hop rhizomes that we were gifted.  These grow fast and vine so we decided to plant them like a wall on either side of our backyard so it will give us some privacy.  We hope to put up posts and train these to go across the top like a trellis. Nothing like a living awning!

By the time I finished all that it was time to scurry around the house cooking dinner and making the place presentable for hubby.  The next day I lived life like a rock star and did......

Laundry.  See I told you it was exciting!  I spent time writing out some bills and working the budget before moving on to my next crazy adventure....

Cleaning out the spare bedroom closet.  I know you're excited to see that but you'll just have to wait for its very own post.  I promise that it will be worth the wait... there's drama involved with this decluttering. 

This picture is just for fun, and wasn't even taken recently.  This was back in November when we celebrated Ashton's birthday.  I chose it, because I'm doing what I love most.  Spending time with my little man.  Even though my days off weren't the most exciting, it was perfect for me.  I stay so busy running a business that I LOVE doing simple things like working in the yard and doing laundry. It gives me a time to regroup and just be. 

What simple things do you enjoy doing when life gets hectic? 

Until Next Time Friends....

Roasting Green Coffee Beans

Hey there All,

I had the pleasure of having a customer bring us some green coffee beans and what made it even better was that he roasted them for us on the spot.  Well, he didn't roast them for me, since I can't drink coffee.  Between my rosacea and my heart doing a flip flop if I drink caffeine, I had to break up with one of my favorite things in the world.... *sniff*  Now, I still drink decaf occasionally, but every body knows that it just isn't the same. Anyway, lets get back to the torture of watching fresh beans being roasted knowing I can't have any fun!

I don't know what I expected the green beans to smell like, but they smelled like nuts to me... earthy but slightly sweet. 

You can buy roasters online, but they are very pricey.  He made his own roaster with a modified popcorn popper and rotisserie parts.  He needs to do his roasting outside since it creates quite a bit of smoke.  It was a chilly windy day, so for a medium roast it took about 15 minutes. 

After it was done, he put it in a large pot tossing it in the air to blow away the chaff.  It continues to roast after being taken off the roaster, so it was important to cool it down quickly.  The smell was INCREDIBLE.  After it was cool, you could see the oils on them and looked like gourmet coffee.  It is definitely cheaper to roast your own.  He buys his beans from a website called www.u-roast-em.com  I don't get paid by these folks for mentioning them, but if I were to buy green beans, these guys I hear are great!  Eric enjoyed those beans for the next week of morning pots of coffee, while I just looked longingly..... it smelled so good..... I took a very small quick sip and I think I saw angels for a split second...

Until Next Time Friends

80/20 Rosacea Maintenance

My body has a way of telling me to knock it off if I get too far off balance.  Too much stress will usually mean a cold sore will be making an appearance, not eating enough fruits and vegetables will be told by the train slowly coming down the tracks if you know what I mean and if I reaaalllly don't pay attention to any of those signs and knock it off, my face will tell me every time I look in the mirror. 

What am I talking about? 

Rosacea.

I went to the dermatologist a couple years ago and found that I, along with 16 million other Americans, have this weird skin thing.... I look like I'm forever a little flushed and pimply on my cheeks.  I can usually hold it off by being gentle to my skin.  No harsh soaps, stay out of the sun, no weird chemical filled lotions or moisturizers, heck, I can't even use a washrag to wash my face.  It's a gentle wisp of cool water daily and a light wash in the shower with sensitive skin soap weekly.  That's it. I use witchhazel to cleanse and top with coconut oil.  It can't take any more. 

But as of late, my skin has been rebelling like a teenager... my skin is red, bumpy, dry and prickly.  It feels hot, making me want to put my cool glass to my face.  I did some research and found that your eyes can even burn a bit during a flare up.  I thought my eye makeup was making my eyes burn... nope.... it's the rosacea. 

 

 

So I surrendered and said OK, OK,  I get it..... too much pizza, coffee and sweets.  Too much worrying and working and eating very little of the veggie and fruit groups.  I GET IT.  I give! 

 

 

I started doing some research and found that folks with rosacea need to stick to a mainly alkaline diet... meaning things that don't cause your pH to go too far to acid.  By acid, I mean alllll the fun stuff.... coffee, caffeine, hot drinks, (people you know how much I love my tea!) spicy foods,  chocolate, cakes, sugar... meats, breads, grains, dairy... the list goes on.  Now, you can have these things, but you gotta keep it at a 80/20 ratio.  80% veggies and fruits 20% acidic foods.  Makes sense though.  Not fun, but hey, makes sense.  I also found that rosacea is tied in with your digestive health, so if your train is having trouble getting down the track, or does, but is a slow sluggish train... you are helping your rosacea to flare up.  Again, makes sense right? 

 

So here I am.... keeping it 80/20 y'all! 

 

Now you're probably saying "Now Kim, didn't your doctor prescribe something for you to put on your face?"  and the answer is yes.  I tried it for a little while, but it didn't help and it actually burned worse.  I also didn't feel like committing myself and face to a prescription (equals $)  for the sake of trying to have a clearer face.  I'm going the natural (equals cheap) route.  Things are going nicely so far....

 

 *whispering* and just so ya know, my train is starting to move down the track a little quicker....   

Until Next Time Friends....

How to make Choco Crispies.....

Hey there everyone,

Today will be a quick little post about a new favorite dessert that I have discovered.  I saw this on Tricia Yearwood's cooking show on the food network.   It seemed easy and the combination of salty and sweet is to die for!  We even gave this to Ashton's Papaw for his birthday.  Let's get started. 

First, lay out saltine crackers on a cookie sheet. 

Next, melt butter and brown sugar on medium low.  I think I used about half a stick of butter to 1/3 cup of brown sugar. You are creating a kind of caramel, so you may need to play with it a bit to get the consistency right.  You don't want it too thick or too runny nor do you want it too sugary or too buttery.   

Once the caramel is ready, spread this alllllll over the saltines..... yummmmm!  Next take a bag of chocolate chips or bakers chocolate and melt them in the microwave.  I start with 1 minute then stir and then microwave for 30 seconds between stirs.  Do this until its nice and melted.  By now the caramel has probably set up nicely on the crackers.  Spread the chocolate on top of this.  Oh yea, now we're talkin'!

Now set this in your freezer (if you have impatient little ones )  or in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.  You want this to set up nice and firm.  Now you can break this up kind of like a brittle or candy bark. 

I hope you try this .... it's crazy good, easy to make and not expensive at all to make! 

Until next time friends!

YouTube Maybe?

Thinking about starting a Homemaker Kim You Tube Channel:

What do you think?  Could you stand watching goofy videos with this mug?

Making a one gallon batch of beer..... enough said.

Hey All, 

Thanks for hanging in there while I took a bit of a break... I had about a week where I was just in a funk trying to find my new normal with not having my DiDi kitty around.... These pictures are from a few weeks back, but it was fun.... so I thought I'd share.....

Beer.  Making Beer.  Now, I have to admit that I'm not a huge beer fan.... but I love the process of making it.... so what did I do when I had some extra time on my hands?  Of course, make beer. 

Here goes.....

Here's a picture of everything I needed to brew.  It includes 1 1/2 - 2 gallons of water, 1 lb of Dry Malt Extract, about 5 oz of steeping grains, hops and 1/4 tsp Irish moss.  I'm waiting for the water to come to a temp at this point.... about 165 degrees Fahrenheit.  Once I was able to get to that temp, I moved the pot to the sink and placed the bag on the plate in the pot and put on the lid.  Those are the steeping grains.  I steeped them for 30 minutes.  Once that was done I took out the bag ( let it drip, but DO NOT squeeze!)  Now it's boil time.  Wait, Wait WAIT for the water to come to a nice rolling boil....  

I think I should mention that brewer's are a lot like gardeners.... ask 10 the same question and you will get 10 different answers.... so, in other words, if you're a brewer and don't like my style... don't hate! 

Once I had a boil going, I added in my first hop (for bittering) and half of my dry malt extract.  It's best to do this off the heat so it doesn't scorch.  Set a timer for 60 minutes... yep, I let this bad boy boil for 60 minutes... At 30 minutes left of my boil I added in the rest of the dry malt extract. 

While I was waiting for the boil to finish, I started sanitizing my fermenter, airlock and anything that will come in contact with the wort once it is finished boiling.  Bacteria/yuckiness is the devil after you have boiled.... and is prime time for infection.  I used Star San to sanitize.  It's a no rinse sanitizer and is easy to use. 

At 10 minutes before the end of the boil I added the Irish moss.  It helps the beer clarify.  I also added a touch more hops at the end of the boil for aroma.  Now it's time to get that thing cooled down as quickly as possible. I guess that I should mention that now that "thing" has a proper name of "wort" now that it has been boiled.  It doesn't become beer until after it is fermented.  I wanted to get it down to around 70 degrees.  I used a cold water bath.  For bigger batches someone could use an ice bath or a wort chiller. 

Once you have it cooled down, it's time to aerate.  Using my sanitized paddle I stirred and swooshed that thing until it had a nice foamy froth going.  I poured my yeast on top and capped it using an airlock. CO2 comes out, but no bad buggers getting in.  Done!  Uh-oh!  I forgot to mention that I took a hydrometer reading to see where it is sitting.  It was good at 1.060.... its going to be a stronger beer...

Now I wait about 7 days for it to finish fermenting.... so fun to watch! 

Until Next Time Friends!