Im moving

If any of you still follow my blog, I have moved on to weebly.  I like its format much better and it has given me a more streamlined look.. so please if you wish, follow me over to...
Tales from a Misfithousewife
I will likely be deleting this one at some point.  There are a few posts I would like to move over to the new one so I will keep it active for now.  Thanks for following and please look for more posts to come!
-Jessica

Social Media?

I posted last year about how I quit Facebook and those that know me well know how anti-social media I have become.  I don't understand twitter.. AT ALL and  MySpace is pretty much non-existent I think.  I was on  Fitocracy for a while and actually liked it and it motivated me a lot, but I find myself getting sucked into the social aspect of these sites.  I do have Google + set up right now, but I am already getting frustrated with it because I do not know how to manipulate it so I don't keep getting added to peoples circles and getting random messages from people I don't know.  And then there is Facebook.  The king of social media.  Its getting to the point now where you can't even view some companies sites because they replaced them with a Facebook page,  or they offer certain deals, but only if you "like" their page.  My kids were watching an episode of Scooby-doo today and there was a reference on there of "friend-ing and poking".  You can't escape it because it truly is everywhere.

I have personal reasons for wanting to avoid Facebook   I don't feel like getting sucked into the social media hype.  I think it can be detrimental to some people and relationships.  It allows emotions and behaviors to surface among people that under normal circumstances would be a non-issue.  I know this is not true with all people but for some I know it can cause problems.  It also frightens me knowing my kids are growing up in a social media age.  I can't keep them from it forever and there will be a time where they will engage in it and I cannot stop them.  I want them to be able to use the internet responsibly and understand the dangers that are present.  I am not about to let my pre-teens get a page of their own, but even the schools are utilizing sites that allow kids to converse with each other in social media type settings, although they are heavily monitored and only for school-related conversations.  I have seen the sites they are using and they resemble Facebook a lot.

When I started making aprons last winter I was trying to think of ways to promote them.  My friend suggested I use Facebook and immediately I said no way!.  I know I could reach a lot of people through there, and ever since I quit my job, I could really use the extra money.  I have made a few sales through etsy, and I have sold some aprons to family, and even though the craft show was successful, they are too few and far between to become profitable.  I have some displayed in a local shop and have only sold one there, plus I lose a lot on commissions there so it isn't really worth my time.

Brent has been thinking of rejoining Facebook also and is trying to convince me that it's just a tool.  I told him I'd be a hypocrite if I signed up again after I posted how proud I was to have quit.  I would love to sell some more aprons.  I am working on some new designs and I'd like to have a website for them but I am so technologically challenged.  I can't even get a proper blog set up.  I am relying on a standard Google template which is so boring and I don't want to shell out the $$ for someone to do it for me.

What do you think? If I opened up a Facebook page to promote my aprons, would I be a hypocrite?  Is it possible to utilize Facebook as a tool only for promotion without getting all caught up in the drama and hype that comes with it? I value any input that comes my way.

Garden Progress

It has been really tough to resist planting the rest of the garden early and it looks as if it is finally time to get the rest of the plants in the ground.  There is just a sliver of snow left on the peak of Shafer Butte, and the days are getting warmer.  We might hit 90 this weekend.  I probably could have planted a couple of weeks ago and covered them when we had that one night of frost, but I wanted to be safe.  My early season seeds that I planted back in April are really taking off.  The snow peas did not all germinate so I am going to replant some after soaking them.

Yesterday I picked up the tomatoes and peppers.  I still need to buy cucumbers and a zucchini plant, plant my dill and basil seeds and we will be set.  I was able to plant the tomatoes and the green beans yesterday afternoon but it got hot out there fast so I will plant the peppers today.  Here is how the garden is faring so far.

The potato planter

Radishes and carrots, lettuce and scallions

Tomatoes

I have been slowly taking out all of the grass from around the garden beds.  They were a real pain to mow around last year and I thought it would look nice if we landscaped it a little by putting in some edging and mulch so it is more like a designated garden area.  It is a s...l...o...w process but I think it is starting to look great.  You can see in the tomato picture where I have taken the sod out from that area.  I looked all over for a sod cutter and couldn't find one, so I went to Lowe's and found this knife.  Its used for linoleum, but it works perfectly for cutting sod.

So bit by bit, I have been clearing it all out.  It's a decent workout also!  I am thrilled that the potatoes are growing.  Its always a little intimidating when trying to grow anything new.  It will be a while before we add the next level of boards but all three planters have leaves growing and they seem to double in size daily.  I have realized that I love gardening! I had to give the tomatoes more space this year because last year they overtook the beds and were too close together.  It limited how many things I can grow this year and I was pretty upset that I couldn't grow everything I wanted to.  I would love to have a huge garden to plant things.  Even if I just gave some of the veggies away, I just enjoy gardening.  I think it can be therapeutic in a way.

Tomorrow is the Race for the Cure and we decided not to do it.  Instead I am going to take the older girls out for a hike Sunday to somewhere new.  It should be a good time.

Race Day

Last year, I ran my first 5K with my two oldest daughters.  At that point, my life was in a totally different place than it is now.  I had been jogging regularly for a while, my feet weren't hurting as much and I had already dropped around 20 pounds.  I had committed to losing weight and was finally succeeding for the first time.  I really felt the best I had ever felt in years.  When I ran last year my goal was to make it in less than 45 minutes and I made it in 42.  I was so excited.  Then in May, Taylor and I ran the Race for the Cure.  I beat my time by one minute.

It was right after this race that my mom fell really ill.  I kept up with my diet and exercise all the way through June, when she passed away, and then I just lost all motivation.  I went back to old eating habits.  My feet were a wreck so I quit doing any exercise.  I very slowly, over the course of a year, put those 20 pounds right back on and despite trying to lose it again from time to time, I just wasn't committed.  By now I was a yo-yo dieter which is one of the worst things to do for weight loss.  My metabolism was all screwed up.

This spring, Taylor told me she wants to do the races again and I got really scared.  I have been going back to the gym, and tweaking my diet to find out what my triggers are. However, when she told me she wanted to run again, I was really scared.  Thankfully I had remedied my foot problem.  For the last several years, I had been wearing Asics and my feet just kept getting worse.  I talked to a person that has the same problem that I do with her feet and she recommended some (very spendy) Nikes to me.  Boy, that has made all the difference in the world.  I have very little foot pain anymore.  I can jog, jump, walk in stores (that used to really trigger foot pain), with no problems at all.  I have not been able to shed a single pound despide my toughest efforts.  I am trying to push through this and keep doing the things I need to do without getting discouraged.  Some days are better than others.

Middleton Fun Run 2013

I am elated that my kids want to be a part of these races and go hiking and just be outside.  So I decided to go ahead and do this local race with my girls.  At this point, my goal was to just finish without dying.  I managed to make it through to the end in 46.5 minutes.  Twelve minutes longer than it took Taylor and 10 longer than Bridget.  BUT, I finished.  And it felt really good!  I remembered how much I loved doing it and have decided to go ahead with the Race for the Cure again this year.  It is the day before Mothers Day.  Almost exactly a year from the last time I had a "normal" conversation with my mom.  This Mother's day will be tough, but I think the best way to celebrate it, is by doing this with my daughters.  I am ever grateful that Taylor dragged me out there this last Saturday morning.

Spring Planting

We had some rain roll in over the weekend so I decided to get some planting done.  Things are getting busy around here so I wanted to get this early planting out of the way.  We are not out of danger of frost yet, but there are some things that can tolerate the early spring cold.  I planted some of the same things last year but am trying a few new things also.

Last year I mentioned I wanted to try growing potatoes, but we never got around to getting the planters built.  Since we have the beds for the rest of the garden ready to go, I put Brent to work on the potato beds.

 Cutting the boards

The idea behind the potato towers, is that you can grow a large amount of potatoes in a small space.  Since a potato is a tuber, it will shoot off potatoes where there is dirt and room to grow.  We found these plans and used them as a base for building them.  Potatoes can be grown just about anywhere.  Some people use tires, others garbage cans or buckets.  They can be grown in the ground and in towers like ours.

Three potato towers

We had enough lumber for three towers so I decided to experiment and plant three varieties and see which grew the best in this environment.  Many websites say that you can grow 100 lbs of potatoes in this type of set-up.  I plan on weighing them at harvest and see what yield we actually get.  I planted Little Reds in the first tower, Idaho Russets in the second, and Yukon Golds in the last one.  It will be interesting to see which variety does the best.

Idaho Russett potatoes

After I placed the 12 pieces of potato with eyes that were sprouting into the tower, I covered them with dirt.  Once they are about 6-12 inches tall, I will fill in dirt until there is 3-6 inches of leaves above ground and we will add another board.  This will be repeated until there are 6 layers.  Some people wait and do a harvest at the end of the season, or you can harvest throughout the season as well by removing the bottom board and harvesting some potatoes and then putting the dirt back in.  I have had little luck storing the big bags of potatoes we get in the fall so I think I will do the harvest as you go method.

Along with the potatoes, I planted some sugar pod peas this year.  I only planted one row because I will probably be the only one eating them, but I wanted to try something different.  I planted a different variety of carrots and radishes than I did last year.  The carrots from last year failed to grow very big.  I think they were a different variety than what was supposed to be in the package.  Then, like last year, I planted lettuce and scallions.  I will have to wait until May to plant anything else.  We still will get frost and there is still snow on Schafer Butte so I cant plant anything that will not tolerate the cold.

I'm excited for this year's growing season.  Everything did so well last year and I am hoping it will do good this year as well.

The girls enjoying the dirt from the grass we dug up

Better Bread

I have been trying for years to make a decent loaf of bread.  It has taken a lot of experimenting and failed attempts, dense rolls, and loaves that didn't rise.  I learned to make a decent pizza crust and had been making that for a long time.  My family eats a lot of rolls and french bread.  I have at least a dozen roll recipes stashed away.. some that were better than others but none that were great.  Many times I would have Brent stop into our local grocery store on his way home and grab a loaf of freshly baked french bread to go with dinner.  It was quick and easy and not too terribly expensive.

The problem with stopping at the store for one thing.. is you usually end up buying at least 3 or 4 things and that can really add up.  I was on Pinterest one day and came across this recipe.  It looked simple enough so I thought I would try it.  After making this french bread half a dozen times, I don't think I will ever buy it again.

Here is how mine turned out.  I usually make it into two large loaves using one the day I make it and saving the other for either kids' lunches, or another nights meal.

 

Shaped into loaves

Slicing and doing an egg wash

Baked to perfection

These got a tad bit darker than I would have liked, but I am still learning the ins and outs of my new double oven.  This french bread turns out so soft and airy.  Spencer (4) gets so excited when I make the "squishy bread"!  It is perfect for eating hot out of the oven, turning it into garlic bread, or as leftovers for sandwiches. It is so incredibly fast to make.  I can make a batch in about 2 hours from start to finish with little babysitting. I wish I had known how easy this was a very long time ago.

I recently got a Wondermill grain mill so I will be making much more bread in the near future.  It really is an art but nothing beats a fresh loaf of bread.

Knee Deep

I didn't fall off the face of the earth, I have just been... preoccupied.  Since we have come to the realization that we will be living in this house for a while, or at least someday sell and hopefully profit on it, we decided to start working on some home improvement projects.  We bought this house after the owners foreclosed on it and put it on the market at a steal of deal.  It was too good to pass up so we took advantage of what started out as a bad situation.

Since this was a rental for so long, many things had been neglected.  It was fairly dirty, there are chunks of drywall missing in places and bad patch jobs in others.  There is no color on the walls, the carpet has been well worn, and the appliances were overused and not very efficient.  The first goal was to paint.. everything.  However plans changed and we started to do a mini kitchen renovation.  After some quotes, we decided we would do most of it ourselves other than the counter top refinishing.

I will have some before/after pictures eventually, once I locate the befores.  It is finally starting to come together nicely although it was sketchy at first.  I was without a sink and dishwasher for about 2 weeks and I have since come to truly appreciate their presence in my kitchen.  Washing dishes in my bathtub was getting really tiring.  I realize this is a first world problem  but most of the problems in America are.  Sometimes we just don't realize how good we have it.

I digress... so far, we have a new stove, dishwasher and microwave (that still needs to be installed), and new sink and faucet (that yours truly installed herself).  The counters are refinished and I am about 80% sure of a paint color.  I need to find some curtain fabric so I can take down the horrid faux wood blinds.  It will be nice when things get spruced up with some new paint.  We are also hoping to paint all the cabinets and trim.  We have learned so much about each other and home improvement in these last few weeks.  I also appreciate the people who do this sort of work for a living as it really is an art form.

I am trying to do a little more reading lately.  We went to the book store to look at some books the other day and I found this little gem in the bargain shelves.

Now I know most of you won't appreciate the all kinds of wonderful this little book holds, but for my fellow lefties, trust me when I say how great it is.  I would never have thought to read books on being left-handed but growing up as a lefty in a right-handed world, I can honestly find the humor and truth within these pages.

My kids are all on Spring Break this week so that in itself has presented many challenges.  Thankfully we have had good weather compared to some that are experiencing snow storms in March.  I think Punxsutawny Phil better run for cover because I know a few people who would like to have his hide!  I, on the other hand will be enjoying almost 70 degree weather in the upcoming days where I will be planning the final layout for my 2013 garden.

Happy Spring y'all!

For the Birds

We had an unusually cold winter this year.  For a few weeks it was below freezing constantly.  We have had a few warm days since that cold spell but the last few days it has been really windy and chilly.  I can't wait for some warmer weather when I can get my garden going and spend time outside.

This winter we decided to put up a bird feeder.  When I was young, we had one in our backyard that my dad built.  I loved identifying all the different birds and seeing the same ones come back time and time again. I have wanted one here for a long time and a couple weeks ago Brent thought we needed one too.

My childhood cat, Patches, waiting in the birdfeeder

I have really enjoyed having birds around.  Our dog, Kati, who happens to be a bird dog, happens to think its pretty great to have all the tweeties in the yard.  She has long since ignored the chickens but is enticed by the little ones.  Part of what makes having a bird feeder around is the fact that many of the birds found in Idaho, were not found in Tennessee.  I have my handy little bird identification books around so I can look them up.

Some of the things we discovered is how many hawks are around here.  We see hawks flying around all the time but usually not in our backyard.  Last summer a Robin built its nest in our tree and hatched five little babies.  The kids were excited.  Then one day one of the kids went to check on the babies and the nest was totally empty.  Someone said it might have been a Magpie, but we don't usually see those either. After we put up the feeders, there were a lot of hawks hanging around.  So we thought maybe it was a hawk that plucked those featherless babies from the safety of their nest.

Kati is not enthused with the chickens

We have watched some hawks nose dive the little house sparrows and goldfinches.  We have even found some feathers on the ground.  One day there was a young Cooper's hawk on our fence eating what appeared to be a little bird.  This just proved that they are around in full force.  I know next time I have baby chickens I will be really careful to keep them safe.  It would be horrible to have one plucked from the pen by a hawk.

Some of the other birds we have seen are various finches, a downy woodpecker, several Northern flickers, and many doves, starlings, and robins.  I am hoping spring will bring back some of the migrating birds and we will see some different species.  I also want to put up a hummingbird feeder.  I am really glad we decided to put up the feeders this year and hopefully we will enjoy them for many seasons to come.

Open for business

Back in December, I mentioned my first craft show.  It went really well and I decided to try and sell my little aprons online and had to get a shop up and going.  I'm not one to really put myself out there much and I know the competition is stiff but everyone has to start somewhere right?

When my girls were little, my mother-in-law gifted me her old sewing machine.  I toyed with my mothers when I was a teenager, making hair scrunchies for my hair.  I always liked the idea of sewing because my mom made us some nice dresses from time to time.  My mother-in-law taught me the basics and then I was pretty much on my own. Thankfully kids clothes are forgiving so I was able to practice on my kids clothes. I still have a lot to learn but for now I am having fun.

I decided to use the ever popular Etsy to sell my little aprons.  I still have to get some more inventory in there and it would be great if I had a little girl model but for now it will do.  I am also in the process of fancy-ing up the girls style and I want to design a teen one.  One of my "little" girls isn't so little anymore and I will need to design something more appropriate for her.

These aprons would be great for baking, gardening, art, or whatever ones heart desires.  So hop on over to my little shop and take a peek!  I have aprons for girl and boy children and toddlers and am willing to discuss custom fabric requests.

www.etsy.com/shop/LandofMisfits

Eating wild

When I was little, we had neighbors that would host a huge 4th of July bar-b-que and all the neighbors were invited.  I looked forward to it every year.  They had a huge pit in their backyard where they smoked an entire pig for a few days before the event and it was delicious.  One of those years they had a huge spread of different food to eat.  When I asked them what some of it was, They responded with venison and goat.  There was NO WAY I would have touched it.  Then I grew up and married a hunter.

My oldest daughter turned 12 this year and bagged her first buck.  It was very exciting for all of us.  It was right before Thanksgiving and my father-in-law was coming down for the holiday anyways but ended up coming a few days early to help process it.  It was so nice of him to help out as Brent had to work and I was clueless.  The weather was too warm to let it hang any longer so it needed to be done.  I did watch though and tried taking mental notes on how it was quartered and skinned.

Taylor's buck

Some of my first posts on this blog over 2 years ago were about my misadventures with wild game.  I have struggled with birds and fish and this was my first time dealing with venison.  We didn't really have time over Thanksgiving to deal with the trimming of the venison so we threw it all in the freezer until we had time to grind it up and make sausage.  Since Brent had so much time off over the Christmas holiday we decided to tackle it then.  On Christmas day, while the kids all toyed with their new goodies, we went at it.  We were up until midnight grinding and packaging up pounds and pounds of breakfast sausage. It turned out really good.  The kids haven't developed a taste for it yet but hopefully they will.  Brent and I really like it though.

Deer steak in my Gramma's old cast iron skillet

Throughout the season Brent has been bagging some various birds.  Chukar, quail, Hungarian partridge, ruffed grouse and sometimes a pheasant.  We decided to thaw these out and make a meal out of them. The birds are delicious but it takes quite a few to feed this family.  Thankfully all of my kids love them.  I have not had a lot of success with pheasant in the past.  It is really lean and cooks pretty quickly.  Today, in order to make the cooking process a little faster I decided to just cut the breasts off all of them and fry them up.

Fried quail breasts

I just used a flour breading on the quail and a Panko breading on the larger birds.  I wish I had taken note of the different birds I cooked because they all had their own unique taste.  The quail is the biggest hit around these parts though. Too bad it takes so many to get a decent batch.  There were 7 quail this time around, enough for each person to have one whole quail.  

Quail, Panko crusted pheasant and others

The pheasant was much better this time around than previous times but I still think there is a better way.  I was surprised how quickly I got the hang of taking the meat off.  There ended up being very little waste once I got the technique down.  I had never really messed with anything like that before.  I am used to prepackaged chicken breasts and tenders.  Other than the Thanksgiving turkey I am pretty inexperienced with bone-in meat.

To round off the day, I made some venison stew.  I wish I had more of the stew meat.  It was a little potato heavy but tasted good nonetheless.  I  have been trying to get away from prepackaged seasonings and making my own.  It is surprisingly easy.  I make my own taco, chili and stew seasoning now and so far there are little complaints.  The biggest complaint is that I go heavy on the amount I cook with because it isnt measured out for me.  It is still so much better than MSG laden seasonings.  In fact when we were making the deer sausage, we looked all over for a prepackaged seasoning and all of them had MSG as the first ingredient, so we resorted to a recipe and it turned out great.

Venison stew

I am just really happy that I am getting the hang of cooking this meat.  It would be a shame to waste any of it.  It is so tasty and healthy (except when fried in a ton of butter!) and I get excited each time my husband and his bird dog bring home some more birds, and hope someone is able to get a deer (or elk) each season as well.