It's December WHAT!

I am not sure where all the time has already gone in this month. I mean really by the second weekend of December my house looks like an army of elves lives here. The tree is up and decorated, the lights are strung, all the Christmas decorations are up in every room of the house.
This year, there is a tree in the living room, still not decorated and the only Christmas decorations that have made it out of the closet is one wreath hanging on the back door and my Nativity scene in the living room. I'm not looking at the calendar and seriously wondering if it would really be worth it to drag all the stuff out of the closet and decorate.
Okay, yes it would be worth it, but just where am I to find the time? Think one night this next week I'm going to fire up the Christmas movies, make some hot chocolate and go on a decorating spree once everyone else goes to bed.
I do know that at least by the time that I go to bed tonight the tree will have at the very least it's lights on. Right now it just looks like we built our living room around a large pine tree that we forgot to cut down!
No I'm not posting pictures of that because it is just very sad looking right now, but I will have pictures once my living room has it's Christmas decorations showing.

A quick peek at what I have been busy with

Well I have been busy around the ranch lately. The oldest was off on her first deer hunt last weekend, it was a long 5 days filled with snow, cold weather and mud and not a buck to show for all her hard work. But I am proud of her as she was excited from the hunt and ready to tackle it again next year.

She was so tired by the last day that she fell asleep in the back of the truck waiting until evening to hunt again.

That girl was up at 4am every morning of her hunt and would not quit until the very last of the shooting light had faded. It was not through lack of trying that she did not get a buck. While there is no fresh venison in our freezer this year I could not be more proud of her.

I have also started back to school myself. Only 6 more classes and I will be ready to student teach. I'm ready to be done taking classes. Enough about that though.

What has kept me the busiest is getting everything lined out for starting my own business. I am starting an on-line store where I will sell handmade, custom purses, totes, home decor, baby items and blankets. I want to thank everyone who submitted names for the store. The winner was Celeste Settrini with her suggestion of Twisted Stitches. As a reward for coming up with the winning name Celeste is getting a custom made tote in her choice of material.
I thought I would give everyone a little peek into some of the material that I will be using to make some totes and baby items to sell in my store. If you see anything you like let me know and I will be more than happy to put together the item for you.

Here is one of the western prints that I have to use to make a purse or tote

Another western print, I love this one.

Pretty blue and brown for another purse/tote

I think I will make a purse out of these for myself too! The center material is a faux tooled leather that I just love.

This set and the next will be made into burp clothes. Nice big ones 16"x21 backed with terry cloth seems like good thick ones are hard to find anymore. The material is a nice soft flannel.

Just thought the print on this was too cute and great for boy or girl.

Another burp cloth set in flannel also.

And the close up of the print pattern

Here is one of the burp clothes all completed, both sides shown.

The flannel side of the burp cloth

Up close of the pattern

 I have more western material on order that will be here next week and I will get pictures up so that you can look through that also. I also got some new material at the store today, but have not had a chance to take pictures yet, the ones above I got taken this morning. Then the hubby showed up with a new orphan calf this afternoon and we have been trying to get her to eat... so the picture taking has gotten delayed.


Christmas is just around the corner you know and I will also have some handmade ornaments and hand-painted ornaments for sale also. If you are interested in anything that you have seen here e-mail me at twistedstitches.wilhelm@gmail.com with any requests or questions. I'm getting everything set up for the on-line store and will let you know when it is up and running and you can order from there.

Thanks to everyone who had encouraged me in starting this business and I look forward to watching it grow.

Oh my husband so should not have left today!

Okay, it has hit me... I want to re-arrange the furniture in the living room. It normally happens this time of year. I get board of how the furniture sits and I want to change things...and so I do. Well the hubby is taking a horse back to hid dad today so he is not home to complain about the shifting so when he does get back there is every chance that the living room will look nothing like it did before. I come by this desire to re-arrange naturally (Thanks Mom) and it shows no sign of letting up any time soon. Also it is time to set up my fireplace for fall and put up the curtains in the living room for the winter. I can't stand curtains normally but need them up during the colder months at night. So here are pictures of how the living room looks now and I will post new ones when I have all the furniture moved and the fireplace decorated. Wish me luck!

Okay here is the fireplace, my favorite thing in the room, would just love to get ride of the steer head above, but no such luck. He has been there for about 30 years and looks to be going no where soon.

The sofa came with the house and it is still part of the house just for the simple fact that new furniture cost money and it gives no return back. So until I figure out how to convince the hubby that a new sofa is a ranch investment it will stay.

This is the part that I hate, again the chairs came with the house and here they stay. I'm thinking of trying to cover them, but that the least they are getting moved.

I hate trying to balance a fireplace and a tv. Which one do you face or do you split and try to face both? All I know is that the TV is not getting moved.

  Well I'm off to re-arrange and put up my fall stuff. Will post back when I have everything done. Just hoping that it looks different by the time that I'm done!

Almost back to normal

Well, it looks like in a few weeks all will be back to somewhat normal around our place.

For those that don't know, back in June our hired help up and quit one Friday morning leaving me to fill in not only on the ranch but with our contract business removing trespass livestock off the neighboring coal mine. This has left not much time for me to blog or for that matter cook, keep house and do school work! Well my time as the hubby's full time employee looks to be coming to an end in about 2 weeks! We have finally found someone to help out full time again. Which means I get to go back to being chief cook and bottle washer, mom, teacher and part time help!
Considering we home-school and I'm the teacher, my days will still be filled up, but I know this routine better and I love being able to teach my own girls.
That also means that I'm going to be able to devote more time to my blog again! Can't believe that August is almost over and we are looking to pull our calves in to wean in two more weeks and then sell in about a month! Not sure where all the time has gone this year, but I know for a fact that our summer has passed by at lighting speed.

Finally finding some time

Yes I am still out here, only some days I'm not sure just where "here" is!
Since I became the hubby's only help for our livestock contract business my days and weeks have been turned on their ear. What would be days spent around the house working on school work, laundry, housework, my garden and cooking are now spent in the saddle chasing cows and horse from where they are not to be and still trying to fit in laundry, cooking, cleaning, shopping and school work.
Don't get me wrong I am happy that I have been able to be a help to the hubby, but there are days that I just don't want to leave the house anymore. I did manage to get some apple butter, stewed apples and apple pie filling put up a few weeks ago and I have my eye on some tomato sauce in the next few weeks as my tomato plants are getting ready to turn out some nice tomatoes.
This week has been a strange one since the girls are at Grandma's house for two weeks. The house is too quiet at times for my taste. I say that now, but give it a few days after they are back and I'll be wondering what happened to my quiet house!
Calving season is almost a close here finally. Only three or four cows left to calve and then we can brand our short-agers and then just watch them grow until time to ship in the fall. We have been blessed these last few weeks with some fairly regular rain. Most of the rain has been grass rain, the slow steady kind that lets the grass grow tall and green. A few have been what the hubby calls "toad floaters" and they have floated the frogs in the tanks. Which is good since that means that there is water back in our tanks. Water in tanks means that we are not having to haul as much water which takes up so much time that we just can't seem to find anymore.
I have missed writing and posting on my blog and even just having enough time to read the blogs that I follow has been hard to find. I am hoping that will change and I have finally found a new rhythm to follow that will allow for me to get back in the blogging grove.

The darkness

Okay now most of you know that I am not one to complain or let on when things are wrong...but today is just not one of those days.
Our oh so lovely hired help decided to up an quit two weeks ago with no notice, just here are your keys and I'm packed and leaving. When you only have the one help and they leave it puts even more pressure on us as a family. So that leaves me to try and step up to the plate and take on the role of hired help. Spent three days last week in safety training to be able to go with the hubby monitor and remove any trespass livestock on the coal mine just north of our ranch. Besides having the ranch we do contract work with the mine three days a week. So I'm all trained up on how not to get hurt working on a mine site and have been going out with the hubby three days a week. That presents the next problem, what to do with the girls while we are gone... can't just drop them off for a neighbor to watch! My dad had been here for part of the time and was able to watch the girls, but he is gone back home now so we are stuck trying to figure this one out.
Then I'm struggling to take two classes right now to speed up finishing my teaching degree, which at the rate we are going I'm not going to get to use any time soon. Can't take the time to teach if I'm the only help the hubby has on the ranch and off.
Stupid cow got stuck in the mud on Tuesday, got her out. Wednesday she was back in the mud on the other side of the tank, got her out again. Thursday, you guessed it back in the mud and she did not make it after that time. So that means that we are now feeding three calves down at the barn. Finally got the water storage tank in that we ordered 3 weeks ago and were promised would only take 1 week to get in. Got that set up and a line installed to a drinker so that the cows don't have to drink out of the dirt tanks that are drying up because we can't seem to get any rain in a good amount.
I guess I should not complain about that because at least it has rained enough here over the last few months that we have grass growing and the cows have food to eat, but with no water in the tanks there is just only so many places we can put them that has access to water at all. That means hauling water and longer days for the hubby since he is the only one that can drive the water truck. Not sure how much longer our days can get, worked until midnight on Tuesday to get the storage tank set and filled.
The last straw for me was yesterday when I went to go water my tomato plants to find one of them cleaned out of the 20+ tomatoes that had been growing on it by the squirrels. I hate them things, they have eaten my entire garden this year, down to even digging up the seeds before they can sprout! It just seems that everything is pushing down on me and that every time I look up it is to just stare into the darkness. I hate feeling this way and I hate that I'm sitting here complaining about these things when it could be so much worse, but I'm worn and I need to share with someone even if it through this post. I know that everything we are handed there is a way through, but I just can't see the way right now.
Well I am off to go run water for the cows. Then going to try and get some grocery shopping done so that I have food to cook for dinners. Hoping that everything is going good for you and yours. Enjoy the 4th of July weekend.

My Inspirations

I was asked by a friend not long ago I have so many ideas for cooking and come up with my own recipes, do I ever get stuck on what to fix for dinner or run out of ideas. And if I do where do I go for inspiration.
Well I have to say that not every night do I fix a meal that I have come up with on my own, good grief that would take a lot of time and work. Most of my inspiration come from knowing what my family likes to eat and what they don't and then just trying different things in combination with each other until I hit on something really good.

One those night however that I am running dry on ideas there are a few places that I turn to for new ideas and inspiration.

My first one to share is Martha Stewart. I know most either love her or hate her. But I owe her the ability to make a flaky pie crust that is easy and delicious. My favorite part of the Martha Stewart world is Everyday Food Recipes. It is just as it sounds, everyday meals that can be cooked with minimum amount of fuss and with common everyday items that even I'm able to find in the aisles of Wal-Mart.

Great part of the web-site is the pictures

  The great feature of this is the Grocery Bag sections, a weeks worth of meals planned out and a shopping list prepared so that all you have to do is print and shop. Oh, and cook!

Now another place that I turn to when I'm not sure what to cook is the Betty Crocker web site. I love this one because you can enter what you have in your refrigerator or pantry and they will come up recipes for you! Also nice about this site is that it features recipes made from or with Betty Crocker products, such as Bisquick, Hamburger Helper, and cake mixes. If you are like me I almost always have some of these products in my pantry and they help make weeknight dinners quick and easy.

Now when I'm looking for something more special and that sometimes takes more time I turn to my cookbook by chef Curtis Stone. It is on sale right now on Amazon, for those interested. I first came across his cooking when he had a show on Discovery Channel called Take Home Chef. While his recipes are not for everyone I love them as they bring something beside steak and bake potatoes to the table and give the girls a chance to taste different food.

Other places I turn to my collection of cookbooks that I have collected over the years. I comb through the discount racks at the bookstores every time I go always looking for something new or something that looks good. I am also lucky in that I have my grandmothers recipe boxes and the hubby's great-grandmothers recipe boxes which are treasure troves of recipes that have been tried time and time again.

My one piece of advice is just do not be afraid to try something new. If a recipe seems kind of wired but contains individual ingredients that you like, try it. I did that once with a recipe for Veracruz Snapper that seemed a little bit off on the combination of ingredients and it is now one of our family's favorites. Yes, I will share that recipe in my next blog.

I'm still here, I think!

Okay, I know it has been a while since my last post. No I did not fall off the planet, just got buried under snow and paperwork, which really looked like snow from the bottom of the pile.
I have managed, I think, to dig myself out of the paperwork pile that comes at the end of the year when you are the bookkeeper and office manager for two business, plus end of semester grades for the girls and my own school work. Heaving a huge sigh of relief right now.
So what does the new year have planned for us right now? In a week a freezer full of fresh grass fed beef! Yummy! That however was not always my reaction to grass fed beef.  When we first moved to the hubby's family ranch and butchered the first time, I was not sure what to make of it. I was city raised and meat came from the grocery store, I was wise enough to know that it came from animals that had been raised and processed to feed me, but they were corn fed. Now if you have never eaten grass fed beef, let me tell you that it does taste different than corn fed beef from a store. I have no words on the difference, but once you try it you can tell the difference in one bite.
Much to my husbands dismay that first year was pretty slim on the beef end of meals, as I did not care for the taste of the beef.  Then on one of our rare trips to the big city we stopped at a steak house and I ordered a steak, looking forward to my corn fed processed beef again. Well I will tell you that was the last time that I have eaten willingly corn fed beef. I could not get over that the taste was so different from what I had become accustomed to with our beef and did not know it!
Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against those who raise their beef cattle on corn and we sell our calves every fall to buyers who are sending them on to feed lots to finish out on corn and grain feed. All I'm saying is that our steers we keep each year that are only raised on grass taste so much different that it is amazing. If you have never had a chance to try grass raised beef, give it a chance if you can. It is like eating a steak for the very first time all over again!
I just can't wait until the week is over and we can start to process the beef and get that first new steak of the season on the grill. I don't even care if it snowing outside, that baby is going on the grill!