Screen Painting

Part of my pantry project was making a new screen door. I employed several different techniques to make this door unique.

First, Mr Farmer built a fantastic screen door for me. From scratch. And he's never made one before. I want to take a moment and tell you how wonderful my husband is. He is caring, hard-working, and very talented, among so many other good attributes. Some days I wonder what I did to deserve him. (Other days, I wonder what I did to deserve him. But in a totally different way!) Today is one of those first days. I am amazed at how much he can do. Not only did he take my door design and make it. Not only did he build my pantry. BUT! He also helped me arrange the food stuffs inside so it looked good. I love this man!

Here we were fitting the door, so it's unfinished.

Once the construction on the door was done, I began the finishing process. I painted both sides of the door a single coat of dark red. Then, I took a palm sander and sanded it so some of the wood showed again.

I made sure to sand some area more than others. The next step was to stain the entire thing. This darkens the sanded parts to "age" them a bit.

 There are additional steps to antique things, but I liked the look at this point, so I quit at this step.

The next step was something I wanted to try, had never seen before, and had no idea if it would turn out. We installed the screen. Then, I took a full-sheet, clipart print out of a rooster. I fixed it under the screen. I then took a light tan paint and traced the image in paint and filled it in on the screen. I had tried several colors on a scrap piece of screen and decided the tan was the best color as I didn't want the image to be too obvious.

After letting it dry, we took it inside and hung it. Finally, we put a handle on it. I had an antique spoon that I was doing nothing with, so we used that. It could not be more perfect!

And here is the finished door.

What do you think? Did I do the inspiration photo justice? This project took two days, not counting the trip to Menards to purchase the materials. I LOVE the way it turned out!

Pantry

I found this door/pantry on a blog post last week. I knew I had to have it, so I set about searching for antique screen doors. This was a problem because my pantry door is only 24" wide. Apparently most house doors are wider than 24". Go figure. We supersize everything, so we need wider doors.

Because I couldn't find one to fit, I decided to design my own. At this time, I shared with Mr Farmer what my plan was. He wasn't nearly as excited as I was. That's odd. He loves when I add to his list of things to do around the house, especially with projects that aren't necessary. He thought he'd deter me by saying that I had to clean and organize the pantry first. After a discussion about this, I realized I was wrong and needed to do what he said if I wanted a new pantry. That's the way our discussions typically go. He tells me something. I fight and think and fight. Then I realize he is smarter than he looks and much wiser, and I give in and do it his way. It stinks being wrong so often in life! I guess that's the difference between someone who thinks first and speaks second, and me. I come up with all the dreams and ideas and he is stuck trying to execute them.

So, I set to work. I removed everything from inside the pantry and set it on my counters. I can't believe how much stuff was in there! Baby exclaimed, " We look like hoarders, Mom!" She was right.

I threw away 3 garbage bags of stuff. Things I didn't want. Opened bags of stuff. Outdated things. EMPTY boxes put back in the pantry--EMPTY! I also emptied many packages into antique Ball canning jars.

Once everything was put back into the pantry, it looked better, but not great. And I still had no screen door.

I was proud of my work as I showed Mr Farmer the cleaned pantry. I think he thought it would take me weeks to get around to cleaning it out, therefore giving him more time before he had to start the project. HA!

I took measurements of the pantry and the existing door. We made our list of  needed materials. He took a day off of work (not just for this project). We went to Menards on Wednesday evening and bought what we needed.

Can I take a second and tell you how much I LOVE home improvement stores? They are just filled with dreams waiting to be realized. The smell of lumber. Isles of things waiting to be made into something unique. Tools to create. I get giddy just thinking about it.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Thursday morning comes, and we jump out of bed. Wait. That didn't happen. We had our coffee and then got moving. I emptied the pantry again. This time everything fit on our dining room table. We removed the old shelves and scrubbed down the walls.

Then, Mr Farmer went to the shop and made the new shelves. After dry-fitting them, we started to paint the inside of the pantry. The shelves and walls were all done in an antique off-white color.

Next, we went out to the shop and began construction on the screen door. I will describe the door's construction in more detail in a later post.

After all the paint had dried on the shelves, we organized everything.

There are hooks for my mops and broom.

My dustpan and flyswatters have a home now, too.

This is the finished pantry. I LOVE it. It turned out so beautifully!

Now, it should stay this nice if I never have to get groceries again. And the kids never enter the pantry for anything. Ever.

Homemade Oatmeal Packets

Do any of you buy and eat those prepackaged oatmeal packets? My kids eat oatmeal, but like the ease of dumping a packet into a bowl, adding water, and microwaving it. The only thing better to them is if mom makes their oatmeal. Which doesn't happen often.

So, I like to make up little baggies of oatmeal for them. It doesn't take much time and it is so much cheaper than buying the premade ones from the store.

Follow along now as I show you how to make your very own oatmeal packets.

First, assemble your ingredients. I use: oatmeal (not quick oats), sugar, cinnamon, powdered milk, and oat flour. To make oat flour, I put my oats into a blender or baby food maker and blend until powdered.

Next I take a sandwich baggie and add the ingredients and close.

Here is my recipe. Sorta. I vary amounts some.

I sprinkle the cinnamon into the oat flour and mix well.

2/3c oats

1/4c oat flour

1T sugar

1T powdered milk

When you are ready to eat, just add water to cover the mixture in your bowl and stick it into the microwave for 1 minute. I also add in craisins, raisins, apple pieces, or any other bits of yummy that look good to me.

And there you have it. Homemade oatmeal packets.

Did You Think To Wash Your Dishwasher?

I read a post the other day and it got me thinking, "Have I ever cleaned my dishwasher?" Of course, I clean the outside, but what about the inside?

I was knocking around in the kitchen anyway, so I decided to give it a wash. It is Sissy's month for dishes, so I had her put away all the clean dishes. Once the dishwasher was cleared out, I took a pint jar and filled it with white vinegar. I placed it on the top shelf and closed the door. I turned the dishwasher to the heaviest load and the hottest temperature settings and turned it on.

Let me tell you, it smelled fantastic when it was done. I hadn't realized there had been any bad odors until it smelled good. The inside sparkled. I took a rag and wiped out any gunk buildup around the edges and on the door. I scrubbed the door itself, inside and out. If you have a trap, make sure to clean it out.

And that's all there was to it. Now I have a clean dishwasher, inside and out. I can rest assured that my dishes are getting their cleanest.

On a side note, I came across some interesting information. I have found that many experts and repairmen recommend that if you have soft water that you absolutely do not want to use gel detergent. It significantly cuts down the life of your machine. Also, if you have soft water, do NOT use a rinse aid. Both of these things will gunk up your dishwasher and cause problems. Use a powdered soap and vinegar. Put vinegar in your rinse aid compartment.

I have hard water, but I still plan to use vinegar and powdered soap from now on.

Now, go clean your dishwasher!

Are You Ready For The Madness?

On one of my favorite blogs, I was smacked upside the head with a pledge request. The crazy lady Karen at The Art Of Doing Stuff is trying to get people to take this absurd pledge with her. It can't be that time of year yet, can it?!

 

“I,    (insert name here)   being of sound mind and slightly jiggly body, agree to take the Christmas Pledge.  I pledge to get all the crap done I need to, by December 5th.  And then I will lounge and eat chips.” 

I must be crazy, too, because I took the pledge last year. It left so much time during the month of December to bake cookies and enjoy the season. How many of you actually enjoy the Christmas holiday season? Or do you run yourself ragged and stress out trying to find all the perfect gifts you feel you need to be buying for everyone you ever met? Why not get a lot of the work out of the way before the hectic schedules begin? Do your cards, shopping lists, gift buying and wrapping, menus, food shopping lists, and decorating early.

I want to enjoy Thanksgiving before I decorate, but some of the other tasks like writing your Christmas letter or addressing all your card/ envelopes can be done early. You can also plan your menus for Thanksgiving and Christmas and make up a grocery list for those. You can make your gift lists and get things bought ahead of time. I do most of my shopping online. I can avoid impulse buying and watch my budget better from home.

Click on the snowflake image and check out Karen's blog site. She's crazy, but quite funny.

One more thing that makes the holiday season, Thanksgiving included, more relaxing is to de-clutter your home. I did this last year, too, and was surprised at the difference it made. I could go out and shop and come home to a clean home, one that was clutter free. It made decorating so much more fun. The dust was gone before I put up the lights. My counters were clear and ready for the bags of goodies I brought in. The kitchen was organized, making baking so much more fun. I was just much more relaxed during the season.

This year will be the first one I've spent at home since I met my husband 18 years ago. I am really looking forward to it! I can't wait to watch the kids actually get to play with their gifts instead of looking at them and putting them away until we get back from the in-laws'.

Will you pledge to try to get things done early? Or do you thrive on shopping December 24th?

Make Your Own Yogurt

This is a fun thing to do. You'll want to make sure your milk is not ultra pasteurized. I chose to find a supply of raw, fresh milk from a local Amish friend.

The only other ingredient besides the milk is yogurt. Yes, you need yogurt to make yogurt. Or you can use yogurt starter. You will need to check the  label and make sure it contains live cultures. Use plain yogurt, too.

Recipe:

1qt milk
2T yogurt

Place the milk in a pot and bring to 180 degrees. Remove from the heat and let the temperature come back down to 110 degrees. Then add your room-temperature yogurt. Mix it in well and pour into your dishes.

Next, it's time to place the containers in the dehydrator, turn it on to 110 for 9 hours.

My dehydrator turned off during the night so it continued to sit for a few more hours. In the morning I removed it from the dehydrator. This is the way it looked.

I ate it with some left-over homemade cherry pie filling. Yummy!

But I wanted it to be thicker like the Greek yogurt I was used to eating. So I placed my yogurt in a jelly bag and hung it to drain. I caught the drippings and fed them to the chickens who LOVED it. I got over a cup of liquid drained from the yogurt, making it much thicker.

It will set up even more as it cools in the fridge. I took some out the next day and ate it with some homemade elderberry jelly. WOW! I have never had better yogurt in my life. That is not an exaggeration. It was so thick, even thicker than store-bought Greek, and creamy and delicious.

Give making yogurt a try. There are plenty of other methods including using your crockpot or oven to make it. Check out the internet for directions on those methods. I have done both and for doing bulk, I'd recommend the oven method.

Winter Preparations

This latest storm on the east coast has me thinking. Have you noticed how many people are on television begging for help? Mr. Farmer said to me this morning, "They have known for quite a while now that it was coming. Why were these people not prepared?"

Good question. This post is not to bash those who aren't prepared for such disasters, but one to encourage others to prepare for the next one. The one that might just hit us.

Thinking about the upcoming winter, are you prepared if we get a storm that knocks out power? Do you have a backup source of heat, electricity, food preparations?

How will you keep your family warm? Do you have extra blankets? A fireplace? Plenty of wood? Maybe your backup is a generator, but do you have extra gas to run it? Have you run it lately to make sure everything works? Do you have power cords to run from it to your appliances?

Do you have a plan for how you will see when it's dark and you have no light? How about getting some candles and placing a lighter or matches in the same drawer as the candles. Check the batteries in your flashlights and stock up on extras. Get an extra gallon of lamp oil and make sure you have enough wicks.

Do you have any extra water stored for drinking? What about extra food? How will you cook? Does your grill have enough lp in it?

Have you thought about your animals? Do you have extra food for them? Do they have enough bedding to keep them warm, if they are outdoors? How will they get water? Remember that they are completely dependent on you and shouldn't be overlooked in disaster preparations.

If you have thought of backup plans and have them in place, think about all the things that make that plan work and stock up on extras. Then, when a storm is forecast, go get all your supplies and bring them to where they can be easily found. It's easier to put them away if they end up being unneeded than to find them in the cold, dark, panicky disaster.