Bread Baking

 Please accept my apology in advance. Can you really apologize for something before you do it?  :)  I have a tendency to think everyone should like the same things I like and I know that isn't true so if you have zero interest in making bread - don't waste your time. This post is solely me trying to convince everyone to make bread.

First, if you've never made bread, you probably think it's hard. It is NOT! There is a bit of a learning curve but once you learn what your dough should feel like, it's so easy. 

I have two stories for you that I hope will get at least those of you who have been thinking about making bread to do it.

First, when our area was waiting for the snow to arrive, all the usual suspects disappeared from the grocery store. No bread, no bottled water, no hot dogs . . really, it's the same thing whether it's a snow storm in the north or a hurricane in the areas that get those. As you might guess, we did not go to the store for supplies but there was much complaining and serious panic about no bread in the stores. I kept thinking . . it's flour, water and yeast or starter! Many recipes require oil. It can butter, olive oil, canola oil, shortening . . oil . . most any oil and if we're talking about no food in the house and you're snowed it . . ANY oil will do.

Second, I feel like I'm a decent experienced bread maker. This morning I needed to make baguette type rolls and I had a million things going on in the kitchen. The recipe called for 1 kg of flour. I should have known that was not a project for the Kitchen Aid so don't ask me why I used that mixer. It ended up ok. 

The next thing I did - totally forgot to add the salt. I always put everything in little prep bowls. It was there . . I just didn't dump it into the mix. I already had the dough out of the mixer and into the bowl to rise. In fact, I had already washed the mixer bowl and had to mess it up again. I put the dough back in the mixer bowl, added the salt, kneaded it a bit more with the mixer. Dumped it onto the counter to do a bit of hand kneading and realized it was way too dry. I had measured everything but sometimes, the exact same weight of water and flour creates a dough that needs more water or more flour. I poured a bit of water in and it was too wet. Dang it! How many times can I screw this up.

I dumped it onto the countertop, kneaded in a bit more flour and let it rise.

You can see the dough in the background. It was seriously needing attention.

I wanted fairly skinny baguette type rolls so I divided the dough into 12 pieces that were about 160 grams each.

I shaped those and let them rise on the counter.

They rose and baked up perfectly and were some of the best rolls I've made in a long time and yet, I messed up in so many ways!

This made 12 buns. Vince and I split one for dinner and had a sandwich and a salad.

Is that not a gorgeous salad? It's just lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers along with fried chicken "nuggets". I coated the chicken pieces in cornstarch, fried them in palm fruit shortening, then drizzled Frank's Hot Wing Sauce over them, added them to the salad, along with blue cheese dressing. Yum!

This is the recipe I use for rolls. I can make dinner rolls, larger or small or medium baguettes, hamburger buns, hot dog buns . . most anything. You could even use this recipe to make cinnamon rolls. We used one roll tonight, I kept out three more for sandwiches tomorrow and into the next week. I stuck the rest of them, still on the tray in the freezer. In the morning I'll take them out and vacuum seal them and put them back in the freezer. I like to keep baguettes for sandwiches, hamburger buns and a variety of rolls (sizes and added herbs) in the freezer. We were out of baguettes and we're out of hamburger buns so maybe in the next day or so, I'll make more of those. We use them for sloppy joes too.

Really, please think about learning to make bread if you aren't already a confident bread maker. You don't have to make all your own bread but if you have flour, salt, water, oil, sugar (or not) and yeast, you can make bread and if you divide a large recipe in half and it's a failure, you can usually turn it into croutons or bread crumbs so all isn't lost. Each time you make bread, you will get better at it. Having the knowledge to make bread can keep you from worrying if there is a time when you can't get the food you need.

Yeast keeps well in the freezer. The yeast I'm using is some I bought when I got here in 2020 and kept in the freezer. I figured I needed enough for myself and for Chad but, thankfully, yeast has not been in short supply. If there ever is a time when there's no power, and you have a gas stove, there are breads that can be cooked in a skillet - tortillas, English muffins, biscuits and I would imagine with a bit of patience, a small loaf of bread (mini loaf pans) could be baked on top of the stove in a Dutch oven.

As always, if you have questions, while I don't know everything about breadmaking, I'm glad to help out any way I can.

Butter Testing

This morning I cooked breakfast. At our Azure pickup Thursday, we got three different brands of butter so I wanted to have a taste test. 

The third one is not shown. It was Kerrygold. I was using it to cook the eggs and we started taste testing with that one before I took the picture. Sorry!  

I got the first three in the Azure order and the other two I already had in the fridge.

1. Sierra Nevada VAT cultured European butter, salted (82% butter fat)
2. Minerva Dairy Amish Butter, Sea Salt  (85% butter fat)
3. Mother's Choice rBST free, salted (78.57% butter fat)
4. Kerrigold Grass-Fed, Salted (82% butter fat)
5.  Countryside Sweet Creamery Butter (Aldi) (80% butter fat)

The list above is in the order of our favorites.

The butterfat numbers mostly came from the internet so take those numbers with a grain of salt.

Up until a couple of years ago, I used whatever butter was on sale and, while I will admit some taste better than others, we never had a problem eating any of the butter and for what I use butter for, whether it's cookies, biscuits, buttering toast  .  . I've never had failures that I blamed on the butter and I can't say the "quality" of butter I use has made much difference in the foods I cook but lately I've been paying more attention to the butter I buy and trying to use butter that is made from milk from cows without added hormones, that have not been vaccinated with any mRNA vaccines. This is not meant to start a debate or say one something is wrong or not . . we all have to make our own decisions.

There's also the issue of which cows produce A1 or A2. That's enough for me to want butter from a Jersey cow. The only butter that Azure sells that is from a Jersey cow is the Rumiano and it is very hard to get - always out of stock. They get it in and sell out almost immediately.

We will use all the butter we have here, even those that didn't have as much flavor (in our opinions) as the others. I will watch Azure Standard's sales and stock up if I see it on sale.

For now, I've vacuum sealed it with enough for a week or so in each vacuum sealed bags, then put those in ziplock bags and they're in the freezer. 

You might notice a bowl of bread dough in the back that's about to escape its container. The next post will be about making bread.

Speaking of breakfast, check out these layers on the biscuits this morning.

I love . . really love biscuits!

Another Jackpot Day in Town

 It was a week yesterday since I had left the house. Vince went to town for something on Thursday. Then Friday evening the snow began and it was just yesterday that our road was plowed and Vince finished shoveling the driveway. A friend asked where was our tractor . . Vince sold it when he left Texas. Not much need for a tractor on one acre in town. We're not really in town but it seems like town - we have neighbors. People probably already think we're crazy but they would have for sure if we had a tractor.

Yesterday afternoon Vince asked if I wanted to go out and see how the roads were. Nope . . don't need to do that. I had planned to go stitch with Debbie today but then last night the weather lady said we would possibly have frozen fog early this morning that would make the roads slick in patches so I decided not to risk it. That gave me some brownie points with Vince, which I always seem to need <G> because he thinks I have no self control when it comes to going to stitch with Debbie. He thinks I should stay home if it MIGHT rain or that I should leave 2 hours before dark just to be sure I get home by dark and it's only 50 minutes from my house to where we stitch. So, I proved to him that I can make good choices.  :)

About noon, Vince asked if I wanted to go to town. The roads were pretty much safe, though school was canceled again today. I think early this morning, when the buses would have been out, the roads were icy from the melting snow having frozen overnight but by noon, the sun was shining and everything not in the shade was melting nicely so I told him if I could go to Hobby Lobby and order some frames, I would be happy to go to town.

We first went to Hobby Lobby - Vince dropped me off and he went to Walmart which is real close. He needed a couple of new sweatshirts and he got those.

I found all three frames that I needed and I was pretty quick about it. 

 First was Christmas in my Heart. These are just pictures from their computer/camera. When I first saw the one at the top right, before it was next to the piece, I thought that might be what I chose. Then I saw the red one (top left) and knew that was it but when I saw the green one on the bottom right (sorry it's so blown out), that was the one I wanted. It kinda looks like old barn wood but it's green so it goes well with the trees.

Next was this piece by Teresa Kogut. I'm not sure of the name of the chart - maybe Hope Never Ends.

This frame actually looks very nice. The background in the scroll area has a greenish tint and it goes well with the leaves. I think this is the same frame or very similar that I used for my dad's memorial stitch.

When we started pulling out the frame samples, I told the lady that I wanted to stay away from gold frames and black frames because those are the ones I use so much but when she put that one next to the Hope Never Fails piece, I knew that was it. Our Hobby Lobby doesn't have a huge selection but it has enough for me to be happy with what I find there and they get in new pieces and take out older pieces pretty often.

Yep, same frame I think. Dad's may be more gold and the new one may have more greenish tint but it also may just be the light. Hard to believe it's been over a year since my dad passed away! 

Last project to be framed was Mary Bovee.

This frame is shiny black. I knew that was the one when I first saw it but we tried several others just in case but went back to this one. The lady, who did an excellent job helping and was so sweet, said they should be in the week of February 10. As we put each stitched piece down, I looked over the samples. I told her I had an idea but wanted to see what she chose before I said what I liked and on two of them, the first one she picked was the one I had in my head. On the Christmas piece, she didn't pick the yellow one first but she picked the green one first. I wanted to try the red one so we did but when she put the green one down, I knew that was it. I went ahead and got the foam core so I can get them laced and ready to pop into the frames. These will be on a basement wall without much sunlight and no cooking fumes/grease so I didn't get glass for them.

Hobby Lobby had their in stock (not custom type) frames half off. I found this one that I thought might fit the snowman.

It's a little bit tall so I will add a few extra snowflakes around his head and bottom and make it fit perfectly.

The back can easily be slipped off and the piece removed so I'm thinking I could have a Santa, something patriotic, or something for spring or fall and pop those in and out. I decided for $8, I would order a few extras in case I want to paint some other colors. This one is 5" x 7" thought the actual opening is about 5" x 6". They also had 8" x 10" for $14 so I ordered a couple of those. 

Last, they had these. Obviously, they're 4" x 4" and will be great for some Christmas ornaments or any small round piece. Again, the back side is easily removed so I could use the frames for other pieces if I wanted to.

Since I already have these and know the sizes of them, when I start to stitch a small, I can stitch it on larger or smaller count to get a good fit.

Next, we went by Natural Grocer. How lucky were we that they had everything in stock!

We got a gallon of milk, two quarts of chocolate milk, two quarts of buttermilk, 2 - 32 oz. containers of Nancy's yogurt. We got parsnips, poblano peppers, a head of purple cabbage and three protein bars. That's all the groceries we need for the next week or so.

We stopped on the way home, filled the car up with gas and went home.

I'm going to stitch, hopefully, the rest of the evening. I really want to get that snowman finished so I can put him in the frame and display him while there's still snow on the ground!

Christmas in my Heart 1843

Chart: Christmas in my Heart 1843 by Samplers Not Forgotten
Linen: 40 count Tropical Stitches Biscotti
Stitched 1 over 2
Floss: Colour & Cotton (colors used are listed below)
Date Started: 1/1/26
Date Finished: 1/23/26

My Color Substitions:

Called for:            Colour & Cotton Colors Used:

Barn Grey               Winterland
Cranberry                Merlot
Grecian Gold           Curry
Onxy                        Featherweight
Pecan Pie                 Murky
Piney Woods            Seaweed
Eggshell                   Shortbread (Limited Edition)
Honeycomb              King's Signet 

  

          

Keep Christmas in my Heart - Finish #1 for 2026

 The "Blessing Sampler" that isn't really a sampler is finished! Started January 1 and finished January 23.

I think it turned out very pretty and I love it! I changed all the colors. The floss is all Colour & Cotton. One of my goals this year is for all the new starts, to try to change the colors and use a conversion I come up with. If there's something I want to stitch and I love the called for colors, I will use it but I want to play more with using what I want to use.

Tomorrow I will search through frames I have here and see if I can find one and, if so, get this piece framed. Even though it's Christmas, I think I may keep it up all year because who doesn't need to be reminded to keep Christ and the spirit of giving in our hearts all year?

There is something to be said for starting a project and sticking with it all the way to the end. I would like to become a monogamous stitcher but I'm not sure I have it in me. My plan for 2026 was to work on WIPS and I had planned to grab the first one that had all the "parts" together and that would be Noel Sampler BUT . . we have this much anticipated, much talked about snow storm starting any minute now (the weatherman says it's been snowing for a while but because the atmosphere is so dry, the snow isn't hitting the ground - he said something like that), I decided I wanted to stitch something snow related  . . something small.

I chose Wynter Snowman Pinkeep by AsberysEchoes on Etsy.

If I finish him and we still have snow on the ground, I'm going to stitch Square Snowman Pinkeep so they can be friends and live in my winter dough bowl. As much trouble as it is to get the dogs to go out with the snow out there, I sure would like for it to stick around long enough for me to get both of these stitched and I could end January with THREE finishes. Who am I kidding?  :)

Snow and Ice

 For a few days, it looked like this snow/ice storm was going to miss us completely. Our local weather guy, who is great, kept saying he couldn't really give us a definite forecast because the storm was looking like it was going to go south of us, with the northern line being just south of Missouri into Arkansas but he said over and over again . . if the storm ended up just a tiny bit north, we could have a lot of snow.

Yep, as of tonight, it looks like we're going to get a lot of of snow. I'm not complaining because I love snow but it surely looks like a lot of people are going to have serious problems due to ice.

Chad left a little over a week ago to go up north a bit to work and they're leaving there and headed down to central Arkansas to help down there. I'm glad he will be helping others but when there's a bad storm, they sometimes are stuck sleeping in their trucks. If there's no power, that means hotels don't have heat or hot water, warm food is hard to find . . this mom worries about her young man!

I'm not expecting us to lose power but if I'm quiet for a few days, you'll know we did lose power. If you hear anything about Joplin in the news, that will pretty much mean we're affected too.

We have food, generators, gas stove, a gas "safe for indoor use" heater - but we do have carbon monoxide detectors, water for brushing teeth and drinking, as well as water for flushing toilets, for heating on the stove and bathing.

I'm going to get a pot of vegetable soup simmering today. We have the bread I made earlier this week. I'm going to make white sandwich bread tomorrow and I took frozen cinnamon rolls out of the freezer last night, put them in the fridge and will bake those tomorrow. Always nice to have something yummy.

Yesterday I charged all the small battery packs I have for running tablets so I can use Markup so I can stitch; I charged a couple of lights I can use with the magnifying light, though I doubt I will try to keep the light part of it operating.

I think we're good and ready for whatever comes out way. If you're one who prays, please pray for those who are going to be affected by this storm and pray for those who are leaving their families behind to go to the areas hit the hardest and help with whatever they can do - power, medical, food trucks, etc.

Baking With Fresh Milled Flour

 For anyone who has tried or is planning to try milling wheat to make flour, I read a post on Facebook this morning that I wish I had read when I first started with milling. If you're on Facebook and if you're interested, look for Two Paws Farmhouse. The post starts off "If you're new to fresh milled flour . . "

Everything mentioned in that post are things that gave me trouble. So many people buy mills, and mixers and grain (LOTS of grain!) <G> and give up before they "get it". It's very different from making bread with store bought flour. 

When I first started, it was in in 2004 and I don't even remember why I thought that was a good idea but there weren't nearly the resources that we have today. I seriously almost gave up. My bread was crumbly and sometimes just . . not good!

I'm so glad I stuck with it.

Looking back, my biggest problems after having made bread for so many years were (1) to add so much more water/liquid because the dough needed more hydration (2) deal with the stickiness of the wet dough.

The early struggles were so worth it but it would have been nice to have had the resources available that we have today.

I don't want to turn anyone off from doing this but two things I wish I had known . . two things that had more to do with spending more $$ and not with my bread baking abilities:

    1. Buy the best mill you can afford. On one hand, I understand why I bought a less expensive mill. It's a BIG investment and I didn't know if it was something I was going to stick with nor did I know if Vince would love the bread. I started out with the Family Grain Mill. It isn't nearly as easy to use nor does it grind the flour as fine. A coarser flour and going to create a coarser texture. It is NOT impossible to get a great loaf of bread with a less expensive mill but it's so much easier with a mill that has more options. In 2015 I bought the KoMo Fidibus Classic. You know how much I've used that mill and I've never had a problem with it. In 2024 I bought new stone burrs just in case I ever needed them. Chad has this same mill so I bought two sets and am glad I did. I paid $45 per set and now, they're $89/set.

Pleasant Hill Grain has a very informative "buying guide" everyone should read before deciding to buy a mill.

    2. The mixer. A Kitchen Aid or other heavy duty mixer will work . . for a while. Not something you need to buy right away. But, this dough has to knead for 10 - 15 minutes. It's a thick, heavy dough. I knew it wasn't going to last and I wanted to keep it for all the other things I mix so I researched and thought about it and researched more and ended up getting the Bosch Universal Plus. A lot of people use the Ankarsrum and love it too. There are newer brands on the market and most of them cost less but I don't know much about those.

I bought the mixer in 2012, have used it a lot and have not had any problems with it. I do have the plastic bowl and will probably upgrade to the stainless bowl if ever I catch them in stock.

The last of my sage advice <G> is: The mills are hard to get. There's a long wait list. From what I've heard, the date they tell you often gets pushed back. These KoMo mills are made in Austria and I don't think they're mass produced as are many of the "things" we are used to buying.

And, when I bought my mills and mixer, there were no wait lists. If you want one, get on that list and get the one you want. I have a friend who did her research, ordered a KoMo, got frustrated that the wait time kept getting extended; cancelled her order and planned to order something else; went back and ordered the KoMo and I think she got frustrated and cancelled again but ended up re-ordering it and eventually got it.

I am passionate about the quality and supposed health benefits of whole wheat bread made from fresh milled flour. I think EVERYONE should do it so I'm not going to apologize for this very long post. I figure anyone not interested never got past the first sentence.

As always, if you want a mill and have questions or if you want to try making bread from fresh milled flour, which you will also see as FMF, and you have questions, I'm always willing to share what I can to help.

NOT Finishing Today!

 If you look at this picture and think I haven't gotten much accomplished, you would be correct!

Last night I finished the gold door, stitched the shutters on the windows and that's it!

Today I thought I would be home alone almost all day. Nope . . didn't happen.

Two weeks ago I got the final work done on getting a tooth implant. Over the weekend, when I was brushing my teeth, it was sore near that tooth. I felt it and it felt little a little hard pimple. I googled it and found that it could be just a little sliver of bone or it could be infection. I called the dentist this morning and they wanted to look at it so I went with Vince to his appointments. By 1 p.m., between us, we had been to three appointments. We ended up eating Mexican out but not at the place we had intended to eat. Then we went home, got my car, took it to the mechanic we use, thankfully fairly close to home, left my car for new brakes. We'll go back and get it when he calls and says it's ready.

Since I've been using the Lowery stand for stitching (thanks to Oscar!), I didn't have a great setup for it. I had it wedged on the right side of my chair between a chair and a metal shelf unit so I couldn't move it farther away if I needed to. I have the extended arm but sometimes that wasn't great either. On the left side of my chair, I have a tiered table that I keep "supplies" on, including a small notebook, different eye glasses that I use for stitching, rulers, markers, etc. I cleaned all around that, moved everything around and now I have one Lowery stand on the left and one on the right and whichever one puts my frame where I need it to be - that's what I'll use. Don't ask me why I have two stands. I think before we got Oscar, I was stitching upstairs but if I went downstairs to spend time with Vince while he was watching TV, I needed a second stand. Then we got Oscar and the dogs don't go up the stairs or on the hardwood floors or good carpet so I had never even opened the second stand. But, I'm glad I had it. We'll see who's this works. There's a sofa I could sit on and use it but from the sofa, my magnifying light kinda glares in Vince's eyes.

Soon we'll go get my car and hopefully I can at least get in my 400 stitches tonight. I kinda halfway counted up last night and I believe there are about 800 stitches left to finish Christmas in my Heart.

By the way, the dentist did an x-ray and it's a little sliver of bone. He said it may expel itself and if not, he'll have to dead it, make a little cut and file it down or pull it out. 

Jars in the Pantry

 This morning I read a comment from a reader - someone I met through quilting and have known for many years (Pam!) and she mentioned how quickly she goes through the beans she's canned.

I understand (maybe) <G> how some people have no interest in canning. Today we have four appointments in town - quick dentist check for my new tooth, a couple of things for Vince and dropping my car off for new brakes. I knew it was going to be eat out or eat from a jar because we finished up the leftovers yesterday. Vince asked if I wanted to eat out and I told him I would prefer to open a jar. Right off the top of my head I thought about roast beef with potatoes and carrots but we finished off the roast beef leftovers yesterday so probably didn't want that again. We have Chipotle Beef Stew; Split Pea Soup with a sandwich, red beans with sausage. There are at least 20 varieties of meals in a jar all I have to do is open and heat.

We have a chance for ice Monday and I asked Vince last night if we have need to charge a generator. We're fine - probably all we would need to use a for us to keep a fridge going and one for the thermostat on the propane heater. As far as cooking, with a gas stove, I can heat up anything in a jar - really, I could cook anything I want to cook but I don't want to be having a big mess to clean up.

When I can beans, I will see what we're getting low on (or how many jars I have) and I try to can at least 2 pounds of each type bean at a time. That will give me 10 - 14 jars of that particular bean. Vince likes black beans, we both like small red, cannellini, pinto, chickpeas, Lima, cranberry. We also love anasazi beans but they've gotten too hard to get. I've found that the 100 year old cave beans are almost exactly the same so I've been growing them and can them fresh.

We try to eat some kind of bean every day! I'll open a jar, season them and they're a side dish. I add them to soups. I add them to salads. They're healthy. They're inexpensive. They're filling . . what's not to love about beans?  Well, there's that one little pesky problem for some people but we've found that if you eat them often, that problem kinda just gives up and goes away. I'm sure that's not the case for everyone but we do love our beans!

Might Finish Christmas in my Heart Tonight!

There's a good chance I could finish Christmas in my Heart tomorrow (Monday).

All that needs to be done on the top part is to fill in a couple of stitches on each flower, stitch two more of those square snowflake looking motifs and put the trunks on the trees.

At the bottom, I still have to add stems to the trees, a few stitches to the flowers, finish the door, stitch the windows and finish filling in the house. 

According to Markup, I'm now 58% done but according to Judy, I'm about 95% done. I think this isn't a problem with the app but it's a problem with the way the number of stitches in the project is picked up. Not sure if that's an issue with how the chart is written but the only charts I've had this happen with are older charts. It doesn't matter . . I'm not complaining. I figured pretty early that there were some issues with the percentage.

Next time you see this, it will be done!!

Canning Beans

 Someone, please! Lock me out of the kitchen!  :)  I'm really blessed that I have so many hobbies. I do wish housekeeping was one of them but it isn't.  :(  

Today's kitchen chore, besides fixing breakfast and lunch, was getting the beans canned. They turned out so pretty!

I used every single pint jar I could find. I had to pour about half a jar of salad dressing into a half pint jar, and dump half a jar of black pepper into a half pint jar. That gave me two more pints and those filled up the canner. I had a few more cannellini beans but I stuck them in the slower cooker, cooked til they were tender and stuck them in the fridge to add to a meal later this week.

There it is - 11 pints of black beans and 14 pints of cannellini beans.

Some Time in the Kitchen

 The cross stitch piece is far enough along that I'm certain, barring anything wild and crazy, the Blessing Sampler will be finished either Sunday or Monday . . well by the January 31 deadline so I was able to spend some time in the kitchen.

I made Sourdough Discard Pretzels. They are super easy and so good. There's a little place on the other side of Carthage and any time we go out that way, I want to stop and get a pretzel. They're good but homemade is better!

Dinner was the chili I had started a few days ago, along with a Chopped Thai-Inspired Salad.

Tuesday we bought two rotisserie chickens from Sam's Club. I had taken the meat off the bones, divided it up to use in several recipes and froze it. I also froze the two sets of bones, skin, etc. from the chickens. Today I put them both into the stock pot with simmering water, celery, onions, garlic, peppercorns and salt. That simmered pretty much all day, then I strained the broth and got 7 quarts of broth.

Can you see how rich that broth is? It looks so good. I see some chicken noodle soup in our future.  :)

From two chickens, which were $4.99 each, I made the Thai Salad today and there's enough of that left for another meal and I plan to make the following.

Meal 1: Vince had a thigh, and part of a breast. I had the other part of the breast and a wing.

Meal 2: Half a recipe of Chicken Enchiladas.

Meal 3: Broccoli, Chicken & Rice.

Meal 4: I think we'll have enough chicken left over to make Chicken & Red Lentil Soup.

We will get three meals for sure, maybe four, as well as a salad for each of us for two nights, AND 7 quarts of chicken broth from $10 of rotisserie chicken! Can't beat that, right?

I have black beans beans soaking to can tomorrow and cannellini beans that I will can without soaking first. I'm hoping to get 10 pints each from the beans but I may not. Considering I don't like black beans, it's weird that we always run out of those first. My favorite beans are cannellini so it's no surprise that those jars get emptied quickly. For anyone wondering, I've found that black beans need to be soaked in order to be tender but the cannellini beans are really mushy if soaked before being canned. The no-soaking method is not one of the "approved" methods so . . don't do it unless you're comfortable using a non-approved method.

For our meal tomorrow, we'll have leftover roast beef, rice and steamed broccoli. Way less time in the kitchen tomorrow!

A Delivery Order Stolen!

 We get a lot of deliveries - not just from Amazon, USPS, UPS, etc. but also groceries and Sam's Club orders. I do think about porch pirates and try to be sure we'll be home if something is being delivered but that just isn't always possible. We have never had anything stolen off our porch though we did have the crazy guy who tried to get inside twice. I'm guessing theft was on his mind but lucky for us, we were home.

Tuesday Vince wanted to go to Sam's Club. You all know that Vince is an extreme shopper. I'm perfectly happy to get online, order what we need. I really don't even enjoy shopping for cross stitching in a store - I'm happy to order that too.

One of the reasons I don't like going into the stores is we always buy more than we need. Everything looks like something we MIGHT need when we're in the store. I asked Vince what he needed from Sam's. We get our oil changed at a little mechanic shop near us and we bring our own oil and filters. Vince wanted to get oil. He had enough for one car but needed oil for his car and the pickup. I suggested he order it and have it delivered. I'm guessing Sam's is 15 miles from our house - not far but just not something I wanted to do. He looked online and it would be delivered that afternoon so he ordered it but then he decided he wanted rotisserie chicken so we ended up going to Sam's anyway. He said he would just leave the order to be delivered and not bother with trying to change it.

About 5:00 p.m., he looked at his phone and saw a message that the Sam's Club order had been delivered.  He opened the front door. Nothing. He went out to the garage where they sometimes leave heavy stuff. Nothing. 

I checked the cameras and no one had been here since we got back from Sam's about 1 p.m.

Here's where I fault Sam's. Their customer service just seemed non-existent. Vince called the local store. It rang for probably 5 minutes. No one answered. He called back and it rang longer. No one answered. He was getting frustrated so I said I would call. Someone answered finally and the lady was very nice but dropped the ball somewhere along the line. I asked her if what they had would show a picture of the delivery location and she said yes. She looked it all up and my guess is at this point, she realized something was wrong. She said "I have the driver's phone number. Let me call them and one of us will call you back." I asked what the front of the house looked like and she said "I'll get back with you." She didn't. No one called. I waited over an hour and called back and then I got "Mr. Rude". He said "None of that can be handled through the local store. You have to call the toll free number and they will take care of it." I asked him if they could see the pictures where the box was delivered. No. That is not available to them. I said I just talked to "name" and she said y'all could see it. He had no idea why she would have told me that.

Then Vince called the 800 number. All they could do was re-send the oil and it would be here Wednesday, which was fine.

I told the Sam's people that no one came to our house and told them that the cameras would have picked up something. When the delivery was made yesterday, there are SEVEN pictures of the delivery. Turning in our driveway. Driving down our driveway. Getting out. Walking to the front porch, setting the package down, taking a picture of the package at the door, walking back to his car and backing out of the driveway.

I had assumed the delivery had been made to the wrong house and Sam's wasn't going to give us the address where it said it was delivered. I understand that. They probably don't want people going to someone else's house and grabbing a package, even if it's their own that was left there.

Wednesday morning, Vince said "None of this makes sense. I'm going to call and see if I can talk to a manager." Apparently what happened is the driver just took the oil and never even tried to deliver it. They explained that they contract with another entity that supplies their drivers. They assured Vince this person would not be delivering for them again. 

I understand that most thieves probably aren't thinking like we think but does this person think they can pick up a delivery for Sam's, take it home and never deliver $150 worth of oil to the purchaser and no one is going to notice?  Who orders oil if they don't need oil?  It's not like floss or linen!  <G> To me, this all seems very "trackable". When a Sam's package is being delivered, I can watch it on my screen and see exactly where it is. If the customer can track their every move (really, I suppose I'm tracking the package and NOT the driver but it's the same thing!), I feel certain Sam's can too. I can see each stop they make along the way - what street they're on, when they leave one house and go to another.  

I would like to think the person is trying to make a living by delivering items; maybe his car is leaking oil and he desperately needed it but whatever his rationale, it wasn't a good thing to do. I kinda feel a bit nervous now because (1) He has a package with our name and address and (2) He has to know we complained to Sam's. 

I've explained to Oscar and Cooper if they hear any noises . . even if it's just a leaf falling a mile away, they need to bark like crazy for several hours. They've been practicing for this moment all their lives so I think we're good!  :)

Christmas in My heart - Week 2 Progress

 When I made my report for last week, these were the goals I had set for this week:

• Finish the top half of the house
• Finish the third and fourth tree on the right side of the house
• Finish the top border.

Let's see how I did:

Thursday, January 8:

• Top half of the house is halfway done but so is the bottom of the border so two halves equal a whole, right?  <G>
• Stitches made: 830

Friday, January 9:

• Worked more on the house
• Stitches made: 713

Saturday, January 10:

• Worked more on the house
• Stitches made: 476

Sunday, January 11:

• Finished the top left side of the border
• Worked more on the house
• Stitches made: 728

Monday, January 12:

• Worked more on the house
• Started on the left side border
• Stitches made: 574

Tuesday, January 13:

• Worked on the left border
• Stitches made: 603

Wednesday, January 14:

• Worked on the border, got all the way to the bottom - still have work to do on it.
• Stitches made - 662.

Here's where I am. According to Markup, I've now completed 47.86%.

The border doesn't cave in on the sides . . that's just how I have it draped over the rollers. Probably won't get a good picture until it's finished and off the frame.

January 2026 Grocery Shopping

 Today was our first real grocery shopping trip. Yes, we bought all the hams on January 6. The bill was $93.72 but there was pasta shells for Addie, several other things besides food so the total food portion of the bill was $68.72. That was two bottles of avocado oil and 7 hams. The avocado oil came to about $13 so for the hams, it was $55.72 or, about $8 per ham.

So, I'm counting that grocery visit as $68.72.

My car needed gas. I was going to run down to Walmart and get it but Vince wanted to get a rotisserie chicken and I had gift cards from Panera that expire at the end of January so we went to town.

Here's what we bought:

• 2 rotisserie chickens
• 20 pound bag of Russet potatoes
• Bananas
• 2 - 6 pound bags of Sweet Italian red onions
• 2 pounds Medjool dates
• 1-1/2 pounds Flavor Bomb Cherry tomatoes
• 2 bags of avocados - 5 per bag
• 3 pound bag of limes
• 1 gallon apple cider
• 2 pounds strawberries
• 2 pound bag of brussels sprouts
• 20 pound bag of basmatti rice
• Palmetto pimento & cheese
• 2 pounds feta cheese
• Tandoori style Naan bites
• 2 dozen cage free eggs
• 1 pound Stilton white cheese wedge with cranberries
• 1.75 Parmesan cheese wedge
• 2 - 34 oz. bottles of avocado oil
• 40 oz. bag of Starbucks coffee
• 2 pounds walnuts (shelled)
• Jamie Oliver Super Grains (to try)
• Members' Mark Green Goddess Dressing Mix

The total was $263.70.

As far as an explanation, though I know this isn't needed:

Rotisserie Chickens - I will be gone tomorrow so Vince will eat part of one. By the time I get home, I'll be hungry (and will be too) so I'll probably stir up some chicken salad with a bit of it, have that with cheese and the Naan Bread bites - these are more like crackers. We will either make chicken and spaghetti or gumbo or something else with the other chicken. Whatever we make, it will be something we get several meals from.

Red Onions - Sometime over the next few days I will make and can pickled red onions. It's time to start thinking about all the things I need to can to replenish the supplies so that when it's time to can food from the garden, I'm not having to can other things that could have already been canned.

Avocado Oil - At Aldi, this is $6.50 for 17 ounces. At Sam's, it's $11.98 for 34 ounces. Not a lot of difference in price so wherever we are, I'll pick it up if I'm getting low. I use a lot of avocado oil - salad dressings, making mayo, and baking.

Walnuts - We each try to eat a handful of walnuts every day. I don't really love them but I hear they're good for you.

Coffee - Vince drinks the coffee and that's the brand he likes. 

Jamie Oliver Super Greens - I've never tried those but it looks interesting and looks like something we would like.

Member's Mark Green Goddess Seasoning - My favorite salad at Panera has Green Goddess Dressing so I figured for $4.48, I would try the dressing mix.

That's it. The total bill was $263.70. We probably will not go back to Sam's for at least a month - my guess is about mid-March. I will buy milk, fruit, eggs and fresh veggies at Aldi or the Farmers' Market or wherever I can find eggs in the neighborhood but there shouldn't be any big shopping til we go back to Sam's.

Still Stitching on Christmas in my Heart

 About the only thing I've done the past few days is stitch on Christmas in my Heart. This is the first time I've worked diligently on one project at a time for more than a few days and paid attention to the progress shown on Markup and I'm kinda baffled and not sure how it's going to shake out. I'm typing this on the 10th so basically, I should be able to say three times everything I've done and whatever number I get, that should be about where I'll be when January ends. But . . tell me if this makes sense to you:

1. I've stitched 34.26% of the stitches so 3 x 34.26 = 102.78%. That means I would probably finish on January 29, right??
2. I've stitched 7040 stitches so 3 x 7040 = 21,120 stitches and, according to the app, there are 20,549 stitches total so, I should be finished by the end of January - probably on the 29th.
3. BUT, when I look at the "Other Information", it tells me that I have 25 days of stitching remaining and I should finish on February 4. Huh??

I'm not obsessed with finishing by the end of January. Then why am I talking about it so much?  <G> 

I will make a weekly report on Wednesday but here's where I am now.

When I look at this piece, I feel like I'm closer to 50% done . . maybe 40%. Most of the letters are done. A bit more than half of the top border is stitched and almost all of the right side border is done. There are five trees and I have two stitched (the bottom one is the biggest I think). I think I'm more interested to see how it all ends up (numbers from Markup) than I am to actually finish the project.

One thing that has surprised me is how much I like working on one project at a time. Could I become a monogamous stitcher? I think it would be a whole lot easier to work on one piece, start to finish, without putting it down. We'll see . . maybe . . definitely maybe.  :)  I've always jumped from one project to another and rarely did I work on something (quilting, knitting, cross stitching) start to finish. Discipline, Judy! Discipline!

On the days I stitch with my friend, Debbie, I'll probably always have a "Debbie Project" because I use 32 or 36 count linen since I don't take a magnifying lamp with me. It's easier to keep everything in the "Debbie Bag" so I don't have to search for it. If I don't take anything out from one week to the next, all I have to do is just grab it and go and not have to spend time making sure everything I need is in the bag. So, if I decide to try monogamous stitching, for me that would mean a home project for six days and a Debbie Project for one day. Some times after stitching with Debbie, if I'm not too tired or there's not too much to do at home, I will stitch on my other project. I just looked at Markup and last Wednesday after getting home from stitching with Debbie, I made 578 stitches on Christmas in my Heart. Crazy!

Time will tell . . 

January Week 1 Progress

 I will try to make reports on this project ... maybe just a weekly cross stitch report about everything but, at least this this one is finished, it's all I will be working on.  I had already reported on this project for Thursday and Friday's stitching to today's report will start with Saturday and not actually be for an entire week. Going forward, these reports will be posted on Wednesday.

Some days I didn't take pictures and I'll try to do better.

Saturday's Stitching:

• Top left - I stitched the top leaf.
• Right side - I had already stitched those two yellow flowers, the leaf and the two vines (that look like legs) so yesterday I stitched the yellow flower, the two leaves with the little red flower, the two vines and the bottom larger flower.

Sunday's Stitching:

My goal for Sunday was to get to the bottom on the right side of the border. I almost made it. There are about 10 stitches left to make and I will have reached the bottom. I still have to go back and fill in some center stitches on flowers but I'll wait till I have the left side of the border stitched and do that.  Most of them have 2 - 4 stitches (each flower) so it will be a lot of starting and stopping.

Stitches made Sunday: 604
% Completed as of Sunday evening: 18.28%

Monday Stitching:

I started on the bottom tree on the right side of the house and finished the little piece left on the bottom of the right side border.

Tuesday's Stitching:

A second tree was started and about 2/3rds completed and several rows were stitched on the roof.

Wednesday's Stitching:

The roof was finished, more blue stitching on the house. The second tree was finished and the third tree was started.

As of the close of Wednesday's stitching, I'm 25.76% done. According to my calculations, that should mean I finish by the end of January but Markup is saying I'll finish February 8. I must prove them wrong!

Plans for Next Week:

• Finish the top half of the house
• Finish the third and fourth tree on the right side of the house
• Finish the top border.

The Ham Jackpot

 Ham is one of those meats I feel like we can do so much with. Since Chad told me about making the salsa Macha, that seems to be the way Vince wants me to cook ham. We buy the spiral cut hams with the bone. I fixed a ham on New Year's Day. We ate it on the 1st and the 2nd. Then I boiled the bone and made 14 pints of ham broth. Then I boiled the bone some more, chopped about 4 cups of ham and cooked two pounds of split peas for soup. I divided that up in 8 containers, each with enough soup for us to have for dinner with a sandwich. I made omelettes with ham one morning for breakfast. I baked potatoes, chopped ham the potatoes with the ham, cheese, sour cream and butter for dinner tonight. That's enough ham for 11 dinners, one breakfast and the broth I canned. 

Yesterday (Monday), Vince went to Carthage for something and went by Aldi. They had hams marked down to .79/pound. The were regular $2.27/pound. He bought one and when he came home, he told me he would have bought more but he didn't know how much room we had in the freezer. I told him I thought we had room for several but one was ok .  I still had one in the freezer.

Today I had to go to the dentist and there's another Aldi over just a mile or so from the dentist. Vince asked if I wanted to stop by and see if they had any hams marked down. They did! They were marked down to .49/pound.

There are six hams in the cart but Vince went back and got another one after I took the picture so I think we have enough ham to last us a while. 

I got two bottles of avocado oil, two containers that have a small colander that lifts out, then the container closes tightly with an air vent that can be opened or closed. I got two of those for berries. We eat a lot of blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. It will be nice to rinse those and have them in the fridge clean and safe. They had one of those big balls that I had used at physical therapy so I got that so I can do those exercises at home. and I got two bags of huge pasta shells to give to Addie.

What would have been $178.70 for ham ended up being $39.93. That's almost like free food. 

There was another lady in there filling her cart with hams and she said that she heard when they marked them down at another local store, two people bought ALL of them so she was surprised to find any at the store we were in. They had a lot of them but the guy checking us out said when they reduce them to that amount, they're usually all gone in less than 30 minutes. We were definitely there at the right time.

A Needy Dog!

 With trying to finish the Blessing Sampler by the end of the month, the one thing I wasn't expecting was a very needy dog. Not sure what's up with Oscar.  Normally he and Cooper will sleep down around my legs when I'm sitting in the recliner and stitching. Last month, Oscar got to where he wanted to sleep on the arm of my chair. I convinced him to sleep on the left arm so I could stitch easier but the past week, he has wanted to sleep in the chair with me.

Tonight I tried positioning a pillow on his back so I could use the lap stand. Nope, he didn't like that at all. I tried stitching with the frame in my lap. It isn't heavy so having it touching him wasn't a big deal. The stand is heavy and I know I wouldn't want it resting on my back. Some nights he will go sit with Vince for at least a while. Nope, not the past week or so.

He doesn't seem like he feels bad or anything. His ears look fine to me. He's eating. He's playing outside and playing with Cooper. I think he's just feeling like Cooper is getting too much attention. I have no idea. I love that he's wanting to snuggle with me. Oscar has not been much of a snuggler so this is new for us.

Tomorrow I will get the Lowery stand out; re-arrange the set up around my chair so the Lowery stand works and try to get used to using that again.

At least for now, Cooper is still happy sleeping down around my legs. If he decides he's going want to sleep on my lap, we'll probably have to move the stitching operation to the sofa. That's a problem because, with where the sofa is sitting, no matter where I put the magnifying lamp, it bothers Vince when he's watching TV. 

We'll figure it out but the month I'm trying to stitch the Blessing Sampler was not the month I would have wanted to be dealing with this new family dynamic.

Everything BUT Stitching

 Last night I stayed up way too late and got some good stitching done. I got tired of stitching the house so I moved up and started stitching on the letters and a bit of the border. This morning I was the first one awake so I got a bit more stitching done. 

This morning, before I started stitching, I removed the staples that were holding the top leader to the top roller and stapled it back a bit more straight. The bottom is still a big wonky but I'm going to wait and do it when I get this piece finished. I didn't have a screw driver or an easy way to get the staples out of the wooden dowel and I was afraid I was going to cut myself so I called it good once I got the top redone. I think I'll be ok with that for now.

It was funny because you probably all know I just load a fat quarter of linen and stitch on it til it's full. As I unrolled this piece of linen, I saw this and said "There you are!"

I knew that piece would show up one day! I think I have a frame for it. Funny that the house is almost the same color as what I'm using for the current project, the roof and window trims are black and I think I may use that light mustard color for my door. That's just weird.

From there, things went south and I got trapped in the kitchen!

A day or so ago, I made popovers. They weren't the best or, at least, they weren't how I remembered them. I didn't want to throw them out so I decided to slice them, heat them in a little butter, and make pancakes of sorts with them.

They were so good for breakfast. I think I'll make them again but not to have as rolls but to have for breakfast.

Next, Vince told me he was almost out of Ezekiel Bread. I knew that bread was getting low so I went ahead and got that made.

This uses four types of grains, three types of beans and lentils. It's always pretty to see the different colors the flours produce.

Next, I wanted pumpernickel bread because I love ham sandwiches with sauerkraut on pumpernickel so I made the bread.

I always add caraway seeds, black sesame seeds and sunflower seeds to this recipe.

Yesterday I made sandwich bread so I'm glad I had that already done!

The final big project was a ham bone from the freezer. I had it simmering most of the day so I put the broth in jars. I got 14 pints of ham broth.

I was using the small canner and I can only can 7 pints at a time so that's the first batch and there were 7 more in the canner. I also had a quart and I kept it out to make split pea soup.

While this last project wasn't terribly time consuming, I got next week's meal plan done.

As you can imagine, there will be very little stitching done this evening and I must get to bed early and get some sleep! It may be hard to read - a lot of light was coming through the windows. There's not a lot of cooking next week. The beef fricot is in the freezer. The split pea soup will be made in the slow cooker. I'll take a pizza crust out of the freezer and use a jar of my canned pizza sauce. The eggplant salsa is from a jar. Then on Saturday, I'll make orange cranberry bread, white bread and English muffins for our bread the next week.

You can see that we need very little in the way of groceries next week. Mostly it's just things I'll use next week. I had carrots delivered in a grocery order today but I used most all of those because I made enough split pea soup to have some for the freezer. I like carrots with cottage cheese so I munch on them a lot. 

I have to go to the dentist on Tuesday so I'll probably run by Aldi and get what I need from there. The milk and buttermilk will come from Natural Grocer. With the holidays, we haven't been able to get the raw milk we usually buy so I can get pasteurized but not homogenized from Natural Grocer and that's as close as I can get to raw milk when I can't get it from the farmer.

Now it's time for a couple of hours of stitching!

Anyone read this all the way to the bottom??  :)