Here a goat…there a goat…

23 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by Kelli in fluffin' the nest, RaMbLiNgs

It’s true. I was gifted two goats for my birthday.

Aren’t they sweet?

Their names are Peanut (baby) and Myrtle (momma).

They live out by the chickens. They add a certain amount of “farmishness” around here.

This…is some serious business. Goats, chickens and a farmhouse to clean. I believe that I can handle it. 😉

My computer is acting wonky today. I’m gonna have to figure this one out…but I didn’t want to leave you without saying Happy Weekend, Dirt Roaders! May your weekend be filled with all things fun and the time to stop and look around…in awe…of the blessings that God has put into your life.

The Computer Fix it Gal, (not really)

Kelli

Kitchen Backsplash: The After

22 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by Kelli in Culinary Style

≈ 4 Comments

Hey all! Hope that Thursday is being kind. It’s my favorite…you know. 😉 So…today I am going to share the end result with you. Or is it just the beginning? The beginning of a kitchen that I am in love with and the beginning of more home cooked goodness. I like it that way. Let’s call it a new beginning.

I love having a handy-dandy Mr. I love it that even though he might not always see my vision, until I show him pictures, that he trusts my instincts…and jumps right into the boat with me. Especially when I say….“This is what I would like for my birthday.” I have learned that if I will be patient…my birthday will roll around again and again. (Thankfully.) It’s also so fun that he has his dad to work by his side. After all…two mathmaticians are better than one. (He gets that handy-dandy gene from his dad. I am so thankful that Papaw passed it on.)

(Ya gotta get your game face on. )

I cannot stress enough, just how pleased that I am with our new backsplash. It added the amazing bit of “farmhousey” that I was longing for. It was actually a very frugal way to add a backsplash and it was exactly what I wanted. You cannot beat that.

The crazy thing is, I wasn’t even aware that it was the thing to do. I know. I’m late to yet another party. One night when I couldn’t sleep, I thought to look on Pinterest for beadboard backsplash. I then blew up my followers feed with picture after picture of that very thing. I was smitten. Plus I had the pictures to show my Mr. Then the big moment came. I realized that my favorite blogger kitchen of all time had a similar thing going on. Have you ever read For the Love of a House blog? She has amazing taste. She also has the multiple jars that you see in our kitchen. I have seen it pinned multiple times. So you know that others are crazy about it. I love it. Their home is beautiful inside and out. Is that called a blog crush? I’m thinkin’ so. 🙂

I hope that you have been inspired today Dirt Roaders. You know…once you find the style that fits you…there are endless possibilities. Usually there is a thrifty way to do what you would love. Don’t be afraid to try. You will like it…and you just might love it. (Especially when it comes in sheets that are already white.)

In the kitchen,

p.s. Amanda and Misty…I hope this gives you your fix for the day. 😉 I will try to do better in the future. lol! Thank you for being faithful readers. That means the world to me…and keeps me blogging. Have a wonderful day!

p.p.s. One of these days I will pull out the tripod and do full kitchen shots for you. Today…was not the day. 😉

mmmMonday! Happy Blogiversary!

19 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by Kelli in everyday stuff, heart and soul

≈ 4 Comments

Can you believe it? It’s been a year already. My first post was on my birthday, last year! I thought that I was posting on the eve of my birthday…but it must have rolled on over to midnight. My first post was short and sweet and you can find it here. It’s very short and sweet.

I am so excited that you guys come with me on this journey. I love sharing my faith…our food and our farmhouse with you. It’s been amazing for me meeting up with different ones in our community…that ride along on this dirt road journey. It humbles me…in a way that I can’t really explain. Is it possible for God to do a work in you…when you are reaching out to others? Of course it is. That is the way that He works. He is wonderful…and I love Him.

My first header for the blog.

So…I have a little update for you. Yesterday…was my big day. On Saturday…the Mr. and our little guy spent several hours at the goat auction. They had never been before…and they were so grateful to meet up with the Mr.’s brother and his wife. They showed them the ropes and now I am a proud goat mama. 😉 I’m kinda thinking that the highlight of the auction…was getting to hang out with his brother…but the Mr. dutifully brought this crazy country girl…a little Pygmy and her baby. I will post pictures as soon as I can. Myrtle and Peanut…have now joined us at the Farmhouse. They are precious. Our kids are in love. (That was kinda the plan. Ask for goats for your birthday…for the kids to play with.) 😉 Annnnnd……..My Mr. and my FIL started on my beadboard backsplash…to be finished tonight! Woot woot! I’m so excited. It definitely adds a huge touch of “farmhousey” around here. I can’t wait to show you!

I also can’t wait to start this next year of blogging with you all. I have some amazingly faithful blog followers that wait for my next post. That is so fun. Our last week was full of open houses and early morning hours of school starting and buying school supplies that we didn’t know that we needed…but maybe things will be more normal….for a bit. Maybe I can get back on schedule.

I hope that you have a wonderful day, Dirt Roaders. It’s looking bright and crisp in the sky here. Hmmm…..do I see fall around the bend? 😉

I blog…to share His love, and to encourage you to look around…at His blessings,

p.s. Mister Dirt Road….you are a blessing that I don’t deserve. It humbles me to think that you were meant for me. I will spend my life….cooking bacon for you…because I know…how much it means to you. 😉

Kitchen Backsplash: The Before

15 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by Kelli in Culinary Style, fluffin' the nest

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You have been in my kitchen, many times. Well…not really. Some of you have…really…but you know what I mean. You have seen it. You have heard me wee-wah about not knowing if I should go with all white or stick with the Russet Rose. You have heard me tell recently…that I have compromised for now and settled for a beadboard backsplash and leaving the Russet Rose everywhere else. I’m good with that. I’m a colorful person. I’m just not ready to totally give up my color. So today…I’m gonna share a few shots of what the Farmhouse kitchen looks like…now…before we start our new project.

I love my kitchen. They (whomever that is) say that the kitchen is the heart of the home. It must be…because whenever we have company, that is the first room that the gravitate to. I love that. Our kitchen just feels like us. We were blessed to build this home from the cow pasture up…so we drew our floor plan on paper and went from there.

Do you love your kitchen? If you don’t…there are all kinds of things that you can do to change it…that are very inexpensive. In the house that we lived in before this one (that we bought from the Mr.’s parents) we had red cabinets and black and white checked flooring. I’m talking…the big black and white squares. I loved it. That linoleum was beautiful…all.the.time. It had a glossy finish that was amazing. My MIL is quite snazzy that way. Paint is a wonderfully (thrifty) way to change the whole look of your kitchen.

Of all of the magazine pictures and Pinterest photos that I drool the most over….it’s the kitchen shots. What is it with that? Maybe it’s because I love to cook. It just feels cozy in the kitchen. I told the Mr., just last night…that I couldn’t wait to set our old kitchen scale on the counter, after the beadboard was up. He smiled. He knows me. He also knows that the scale has been in our marriage…since the mobile home days. Now there was a kitchen! 😉

Would you like to hear a confession? We have Formica. Are you shocked? I know…I know…it’s a bad word in Blogland. I’m just being honest with you. I see beautiful counter tops of butcher block and soapstone and granite and marble and they are beautiful. Someday…who knows? Right now…ours remind me of two “kids” trying to build a home with two little girls and a little boy in their future. They remind me of going to the cabinet place and picking out a color and then calling back and picking the lighter color…because I couldn’t live with chocolate brown leaf pattern. They are staying…for now. I’m a little bit in love with them…and their light leafyness. 😉

I am sentimental. I have passed it onto our son. We can’t change much in his room. I’m okay with that. I think that it’s a good thing to treasure what you already have…instead of wanting more. After all…these are just borrowed things. Blessings for…this time… to enjoy…and not nearly as important as the treasures that are being laid up for our future.

May your kitchen be cozy, Dirt Road Friends,

Diggin’ out for fall is almost like Christmas.

14 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by Kelli in fluffin' the nest, Simply...living

≈ 6 Comments

Last night…I was sitting here looking around. Do you do that? Just gaze around and dream? I do. Then out of the blue…something popped into my head. I have a little twiggy pumpkin that I bought at the end of fall…on clearance. Just like that…I was super excited. (No…it doesn’t take much for a sanguine.)

I know that technically, it is still summer. We have just had crazy fall weather for weeks. It’s kinda messing with me. You know what? I think that I am fixing to cave. The only time that I have put my fall stuff out, super duper early, was when I was getting ready to have our son. That year, I put my stuff out at the end of August. It’s just that I love the pop of orange pumpkins so much…that I am having a hard time waiting. Don’t get me wrong…I grumble right along with everyone else when they put the next season’s things out too soon at the store.

Maybe I will just go down to the storage room and look though my stuff and dream. The good Lord knows that I don’t want time to pass any faster than it already does. Besides, I think that we are getting ready to start the beadboard birthday project. We may need all the room that we can get for a few days. 😉

Dreaming of fall…

Getting back in the routine of things…

13 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by Kelli in everyday stuff, heart and soul, RaMbLiNgs

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Hey there. Is your day going well? I sure hope so. We are trying to get back into the school groove around here. It’s not too long until we will be in full swing. Does summer go by faster the older you get? When I was a kid…it lasted forever. I don’t want to leave you there though…because routine is good. It makes us appreciate the laid back times and gives us a reason to party during break. 😉

The silver in my hair, (Lets call it silver…it sounds so much more sparkly than gray.) is testifying to the fact that my kids are growing up. I told the Mr. yesterday…that someday it will be just he and I and the dogs here. Ha! He looked a little sad. We both enjoy our kids…like crazy. We will probably be those grandparents. lol!

Last night was open house and the kids were excited. When they are excited…then I am excited for them. I do love my quiet time…and my “me” time….but in moderation on that last one. My favorite time of day, during the school year, is when they climb into the vehicle to come back home.

This post is starting to sound a little melancholy…and I don’t want you to be sad. How bout this? My kids are going back to school…and while they are gone…I’m going to do projects and cook fun things…and do laundry and go junking and go to the grocery store and PARTY HEARTY!!! ha! Whew…pulled us up out of that one…huh!?

Have a wonderful day, Sweet Dirt Roaders!

Partying it up! 😉

mmmMonday! Here a Pepper…There a Pepper…

12 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by Kelli in Culinary Style, Yum for the Tum

≈ 5 Comments

Hey Friends! Happy mmmMonday! I hope that you had a good weekend. We did. Lots of refreshing and that was what was needed. My husband might disagree with that…because he was needing to mow and didn’t get to…and it was getting on his one last good nerve. It’s been so rainy here…you almost have to watch the sky and then run out and mow when you can. Rain is good though…and that brings us to our point today. It’s time to do a little canning around the Farmhouse…because we are getting overloaded with veggies from the garden.

You know…I’m writing this post in the wee hours of the morning, for one because I couldn’t sleep and secondly…because when the day gets started…I’m going to be in the kitchen, working. So because of that, I don’t have pictures of today’s canning process. I will have to save those for another post. You will wait…right? I knew that you would. You are kind like that. 😉

I’m planning on searching the internet for a good, pickled banana pepper recipe. They are doing really good this year. So are the cukes and the squash. Some years I have made lots of pickles and some years I have pickled squash and green tomatoes. This year…the only thing that I have pickled were beets. Our summer has been fast and crazy this year. Mainly, we have given veggies away. That is okay. That is even more rewarding than putting it up for yourself.

Are you crazy about canning? Canning is work, isn’t it? It’s something that has been passed down to me and I love it. It’s so satisfying when you hear those jars sealing. I love seeing my hard work in those pretty jars. There is something very humble, yet proud, in a long row of canned veggies. A good kind of proud. Maybe it’s more of a thankfulness that rises up inside. Thankful to God for the harvest and thankful that you are able to put something away for your family to have in the future. My sweet family, they cheer me on with the canning. That makes it all worth while. I hope that our girls pick this up and enjoy the busyness in their own kitchens someday.

From way out on the dirt road, with hopes of inspiring you a little…

Rainy Day Baking

08 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by Kelli in Culinary Style, Yum for the Tum

≈ 5 Comments

I have been in the baking mood. Have you? It seems like that it has rained here for weeks. I am not complaining though…because in Missouri…we sometimes have really, really dry summers. I think that it’s just throwing everyone off a tad…because it looks like fall outside. Of course then you step out into the humidity and you are all like “Nope. Still summer.”

Ethel, the mixer above, (I just named her this week.) is my right hand gal in the kitchen. My husband bought her for me, for Christmas one year…and talk about excited! She is definitely a workhorse. She twirls my egg whites and sugar into meringue…while I just stand there…filing my nails. (Just kidding…I don’t have nails…to file. Well…I have fingernails…just not long ones. Didn’t want to freak you out.) 😉

Do you have a stand mixer? They are amazing. If you don’t have one…I highly recommend saving your egg money or your quarters or just being really good so you can get one at Christmas. They are truly wonderful for those hard to stir batches of cookies. I just give ol’ Ethel the flick of a switch and she does it for me.

This week we have made zucchini muffins and cherry cobbler. I’m kinda in the cookie baking mood right now though, which is funny because I am more of a pie baking kind of gal. One pie and you are done. When you bake cookies…you are in the kitchen for like, ten years. (Okay..slight exaggeration.) I’m telling you..it’s this rainy weather. No wonder people diet in January. From the first day of fall until then…they are baking cookies. 😉

I hope that you have a wonderful Thursday, Dirt Roaders. I hope that you bake cookies and pies and that your little kids smile with crumbs around their mouths. I think that the Proverbs 31 lady would approve. I would say that she had yummy things waiting on her crew when they came home. I love to do that. I love…loving my family through food.

Waving at you with my oven mitt on… (not really)

p.s. A big shout out to my friend Sue Joyner. Your words of encouragement…brought home by my husband yesterday…were wonderful. Thank you for your kindness. It was just what I needed. I shall….blog on. 😉

A Little Fall Dreamin’…

06 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by Kelli in fluffin' the nest, Simply...living

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Hey Dirt Roaders! Guess what? It’s rainy here. It’s rainy and cozy and I have an Apple Strudel candle burning…and Cider Mill warming in the Scentsy pot.

Now where did that come from? Ha!

Oh my. There is another one. My apologies to those that are squeezing the last drop out of summer. We are too…..I just LOVE to decorate for fall….so I can’t help but dream a little.

Are you feeling the brisk breeze and the warmth of a fluffy sweatshirt…right out of the dryer?

Okay….okay. I know that it’s barely August. I’m not trying to rush you. We all know that time seems to pass too quickly as it is. I guess we could look at it more like…I’m just giving you something to look forward too.

~~Autumn Wishes~~

Love from our dirt road to yours,

mmmMonday! Aunt Bonnie’s Squash Fritters

05 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by Kelli in Yum for the Tum

≈ 2 Comments

There was a little lady…that didn’t live in a shoe…yet she had so many squash that she didn’t know what to do.”

Is that ever you during gardening season? Squash of any kind, once you get it to growing and if you can keep those pesky squash bugs away, will go crazy.

During my Paw Paw’s hospital stay a couple of weeks ago, we had plenty of time to visit about our gardens while sitting in the waiting room. You know how looooooooooooong that can be. Thankfully, the subject of squash came up and my great-aunt Bonnie shared some of her “squashly” wisdom with me. Not only is it a new recipe…but it’s also a way of preserving the abundance of your harvest. That is a win/win in my squash book. Okay…I don’t really have a squash book…but you know what I mean. 😉

Now…I have to throw in these facts: Aunt Bonnie did not give me a recipe. She is from the generation that thinks that cooking is just common sense…so just go do it. I will explain it to you…like she explained it to me. I know…but sometimes ya just gotta wing it.

Aunt Bonnie’s Squash Fritters

Shredded Zucchini

(This is the preserving part. She told me that you can just grate your zucchini and put it into freezer bags. Then when you want it…just pop it out of the freezer and thaw!) Awesomesauce right? Right!

Egg (eyeball it)

Bread crumbs (I don’t remember if she told me this part…but surely she did.)

Parmesan cheese

Oil

Directions: Thaw your frozen zucchini. Then mix it with enough egg and bread crumbs to form little patties. Also add in Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Fry in oil of your choosing. I would say that she probably uses veggie oil or canola. (Like I said…her generation is not into specifics.) Fry until browned on both sides.

It’s funny. This is my kind of recipe. I guess after years of picking the brains of the older generations…I have learned to cook like this too. It’s just sort of common sense. I’m sorry that this blog doesn’t really cater to the precise cook. I guess I’m just casual in the kitchen. I love it that way though…when it comes to cooking a main dish. Now of course, baking is a different story. You need exact measurements. Sometimes it’s frustrating to get a dessert recipe from the older ones…but I really appreciate the simplicity of their day. I also appreciate my grandmothers straining their brains to help me write their dessert recipes down. It has been a challenge at times…but after some practice…I am now able to make fluffy meringue with the best of ’em. Whew!

I hope that your mmmMonday! is wonderful. May your supper be filling this evening, Dirt Roaders. May you go to bed with a contented smile of your face…giving thanks to the Provider of it all. After all….He loves you…and has your best interest at heart.

From our dirt road…to yours,

p.s. I didn’t grate my zucchini. My daughter and I used my handy dandy new Martha Stewart peeler with the julienne blade. I love it. I had wanted that three pack of Martha Stewart peelers from Macy’s for a long time. I finally caved. (Btw: This is not a paid post….this one is on the house.)