What am I talking about? Prepping. Or Homesteading. Or self-reliance. Pick a label.

You may have noticed that I have been missing (yet again) from Marcaritaville. I have been struggling with what I want this space to look like. I have also been struggling with what I want my home-space to look like. We are a family in transition, and in the midst of growing and developing it is sometimes difficult to articulate the path. Particularly when you are trying to move into a space of more self-reliance. Particularly when this move is occurring at the same time as all of this attention is directed at this tv ‘reality’ show called “Doomsday Preppers”.  *Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE THIS SHOW! It just isn’t reflective of my beliefs or goals*

So, where am I going with this? Well, I am coming out of the closet. Our family is getting back to a more self-reliant way of life. It started a couple years ago when I decided we needed to grow our own veggies and can them for the winter. And then we had the massive logger fiasco, leaving my garden-to-be area covered in downed logs.

Future home of my canning garden

This summer we have already hit this area hard, getting much of it cleaned off, and renewing my hopes of a fabulous garden. While we were out there over the past month, looking around, I decided it was time to really get planning. Not just the “someday” type of planning. But planning with a time frame.

After the loggers came in and pretty much clear-cut our 1 1/2 acre fully wooded lot we had a great deal of anger. A month ago, I thought I was past the anger, but as we were working outside I realized I was still so angry. IT was then that I decided that the only way to make the anger go away was to plan on how we could best use this land FOR us. The trees are down. The land is a mess. We can’t take it back. We have to move forward. So plans are now set in action.

Welcome to my massive garden site which be small this year, but by next summer will have a Corn field, as well as all of the veggies any respectable gardener would want for harvest:

This? Old broken down screen house?

Is becoming my chicken coop. For Mother’s Day it was cleaned out

Last remnants to be cleaned out

And Kevin laid sheet vinyl as a base for easier cleaning

My love being a handy man

Our coop-to-be is 9ft x 10ft. We are starting small with only 4 chicks, but once we get it all figured out, I have plans of growing my flock and including roasters as well!

We have plans for a small fruit tree grove, as well as some other fancy ideas in the mix.

So, do I plan to stop blogging about knitting and sewing and cooking? Heck no! All of those things are a large part of being self-sufficient.

Am I a prepper? well, not in the “Discovery Cannel” version of the word. I am preparing, I am hopefully more prepared than I was last year at this time.

Am I preparing for a global economic disaster? No. But a family economic disaster? I am ready for that. A short term family emergency? Yup, ready for that as well.

I grew up watching my grandparents garden and can and prepare their stores for the winter. I grew up milking cows at a dairy farm for fun during the summer. I grew up with a mom who taught us by example how to garden, and cook, and sew, and how to make a home. It is strange how all of these skills were lost to so many over the past 30 years. I think it is time to go back to that place of producing for our own families (even if it is just a small portion).

Maybe a little less time running around town and a little more time running around the yard is what we all need.

While her version is healthy, I opted to make mine full on processed white grains and all.

Ingredients

She suggested using a jumbo muffin tin, but I didn’t have one, so I used these fabulous little milk glass ramekins. I cracked an egg into each one, and baked them at 350 for 20 minutes. I totally forgot to add the salt and pepper. They came out a little bland. Bummer

Eggs

While they were cooking I fried up the canadian bacon and toasted the english muffins lightly.

Canadian Bacon

Then assembled them.

I chose no cheese for mine, as I really don’t like cheese on my McMuffin.

My original intention was to have some stocked for the freezer, but the bus had just stopped outside, and the kids all came scrambling int he door, and POOF – no more McMuffins.

I would say they were a hit, and will make them again.

So, 2 weeks ago I told Kevin I wanted to go to Home Depot and pick up that paint that paints over the tub. He said we should wait until spring when we could open the windows. I couldn’t wait. I went to Pinterest and started looking around more. And this is what I found:

Pinterest Tub Cleaner (I am sorry, but the picture for this won’t cooperate and show up for me, so just trust me when I tell you, it is a picture of a nasty before and a pretty after of a tub)

This pinner suggested the Magic Eraser! So, desperate, and determined to not spend any money (so that I can continue with my No-Spend Challenge) I went off to the kitchen and checked under the sink… SCORE! I had a box of magic sponges! Immediately I went to my bathroom and started scrubbing with the damp Magic Eraser.

Not even 10 minutes later I had finished half – a “before and after” for you so you could see a real life, non-staged, result:

Half done!

WOOOHOOOOO! And the choir of angels sang! A clean tub was within my reach. But then tragedy struck… my camera battery died! So, being the devoted blogger I am, I had to stop here. My youngest came home from school and asked “Mom, why is the tub half clean?”

Yup. This is what happens when your Mama is a blogger!

The moral of this story? After spending hours and hours and hours bent over, scrubbing, cramping my arms and hands… Mr. Clean was the best man for the job. And now? I don’t have to go and spend a ton of money on paint to paint my tub (although once it gets warmer, I am TOTALLY painting this old and outdated tile)!

Now, I am off to get my knit on. I will be knitting at The Monarch’s Game this evening. It is Pink in The Rink – Our local hockey teams’ breast cancer awareness game. I will post pics tomorrow.

***If you decide to try the Magic Eraser on your tub, I would love to hear how it worked for you****

Sleeve Increase Tracker

Now, back to sleeve knitting, so I can finish this arm by bedtime.

First Sleeve

Then I was off into town to run some errands (dry cleaning, fresh veggies, humus, chick pea salad, you know… the essentials). Can I just tell you how bad the roads are here? We just got all that snow, and now it is snow/sleeting. NASTY! I was driving 35 on the highway, and still white-nuckling it. But now I am home, and have been working on my crochet basket.

Fabulous Crochet Project Tote

I am off to knit some more! I am turning off the cooking shows, and putting away the crochet in favor of Kevin’s sleeve and last night’s episode of The Walking Dead.

Wanna check out some other crazies who have decided that knit marathon-ing is the way to go? Check out Cheryl Marie Knits to see her fabulous sweater and a pair of socks she is making for her hunny for Valentine’s Day.

Lemon Rosemary Chicken

So I couldn’t waste an oven already preheated! Right?

MMMMMM… Chocolate Chip Cookies

They just happened, I mean, I was sitting knitting, and then all of a sudden the butter just started creaming itself! What’s a girl to do???

Well, at least I got some good knitting progress as well. I have finished the cuff and 8 sleeve increases on the first sleeve.

Kevin’s First Sleeve

I have to say, I love this yarn. I was afraid I wouldn’t because it is not the usual yarn. It is Wool-Ease by Lions Brand. The only down side is that it rolls like a son of a gun. It is a little frustrating when trying to measure, or take pictures. (Speaking of which, my youngest says to me while I am photographing the chicken “Mom, why are you always taking pictures of our food?” Apparently she doesn’t read my blog.)

I am off, and I am probably done knitting for the night. I think I may spend some time crocheting – ya, I just said that! I finally learned! I can’t wait to show you guys the progress I have made on my basket!

Have a great night, and I will be back to marathon some more tomorrow.

Sunday is church day for us, but one of my kids was sick, so she was brought to the clinic, and I stayed here with the other 2. While I knitted and attended church via the internet, the kids measured the snow for me and made a very cool fort

Total snow fall from NEMO

OK… Here we go again with that little “click here to see more” thingy… I feel like a real blogger!

Maddy in her fort

Aidan conquering Mount Snow

LOL… I just noticed we never brought in our patio furniture! ROFL!!!!!

Anyways… then I knitted a little bit, while watching Pioneer Woman. BIG mistake. Because then I had to STOP knitting and make the yummy corn chowder I had just watched her make!

PW’s Corn Chowder

It was a huge hit. Everyone said it was a keeper! Love it when all of the faces in my house are happy with the same food.

OK… back to the knitting part of the marathon – I FINISHED the front of Kev’s sweater!!!!! woot woot!

Front of Kevin’s Alpine Zippy Sweater

Now to cast on his first sleeve. Man, I wanted to suggest a couple of days ago that maybe I could finish this sweater for him for Valentine’s Day, but I thought there was WAY too much to finish. Now, maybe…

OK, back to the needles, as I will be stopping at 3:30 to go to see Hotel Transylvania with the fam later.

(OH… did I mention that while I was making the chowder I decided to also make a roasted chicken? I mean, I was already chopping onions, right? Makes sense to you? No?)

This time I am going to do it a little differently. My hands and wrists are a bit sore, and I am afraid if I go straight through I will be forced to NOT KNIT *gasp* for a couple of weeks after I am done. Also, I have church today, and as a result of NEMO we have been cleaning the basement out (nothing major happened, we were just inside and it happened). So I have made a game time decision to knit the 26.2 hours over the next 3 days.

What you will see from me here are multiple posts during the days I am knitting, so you can see what all I am working on along with other regular blog posts.

*** as a side note, and completely unrelated, I finally figured out how to do that “page break” thingy – and will be inserting one of those “more” tags in my blogs from now on. When you click on the “more” button, it will take you to the remainder of my post. Here is my first official “more” button! Don’t forget to click it so you can see what I have already finished this morning***

So, I was up for some unknown reason at 6:30! UG, I know! The upside to that is that I was able to really hit the ground running and finish off my last hand knit Christmas presents… yes, I know it is almost Valentine’s Day… Here are my 4 knit scarves:

These will be bundled up and shipped to my sister on Monday.

Now I am going to make myself some breakfast and enjoy a cup of coffee by the fire while I decide which project to work on next. I think I am going to work on finishing the front of Kevin’s Alpine Zippy Sweater before church…

My lovely fire!

This morning we were pretty lazy. Mads made a breakfast sandwich. This was a feat considering her right hand is in a cast from a basketball injury:

Maddie’s morning creation

I got a really cool picture of Kev working from home in his jammies, but he said absolutely not. So, imagine a picture of my wonderful hubby looking completely adorable right here!

I made a nice cuppa Hazelnut cappuccino

My Favorite Summer Mug

And made a few fondant toppers for the 80′s themed cupcakes a customer is picking up tomorrow.

Pac-Man Invasion

In a nutshell, that’s a snow day in our house. I still have a few more toppers to make, but I hope to settle in to my knitting after dinner.

Enjoy!

Me? I make my kids bring in enough wood to heat the entire street for a week. Then I shop for some good food and munchies for the kids. Then, I make sure I have enough projects on hand to knit.

Kevin’s Alpine Zippy Sweater

Celestial Socks

And then as if knitting weren’t enough, I have FINALLY learned to crochet, and am working on this project basket for my knitting things. It will be made in two colors – this eggplant will be the bottom and go a short way up the side. Then I will change over to a cream to finish up the sides.

Crochet Ombre Project Basket

To top things off… you know… just in case we get snowed in for a month (or my ADD gets the better of me, and I just HAVE to start a new project)… I have the yarn to start this fabulous afghan which will coordinate wonderfully with the wall hanging quilt I made last year.

Bernat Afghan pattern and NEW YARN!

For those of you who have been following along with my No-Spend Challenge, do not worry! My Mama got me this yarn! It is so perfect! I am so in love with the lime green.

So, yes, you can tell a lot about a person by what they do to prepare for a storm. What is on your must-have list?

To all of those in the path of the storm, stay warm, stay safe, and enjoy your days of winter white…