Bless My Heart I Married A Yankee

I try to take care of my feet but they still get rather nasty looking.  As I was pondering at my feet earlier today I thought, oh goodness gracious how disgusting.  I have no clue how they got so ugly looking.  I realize I am on my feet a lot and that takes a huge toll on them.   Since it is flip-flop and sandal season I really do not want them looking all scaly and dry.  A few weeks back I did start trying a bit harder to make them look nicer.  I would use my pumice stone after each shower and lather them down with coconut oil.  While this helped a bit it just really was not doing the trick.  The last time I had a pedicure my feet just peeled dead skin off.  I know this is rather gross but I want you to know just what I decided to start doing and it is WORKING. There are so many ways to take care of your feet at home and not spend a fortune doing it.  You really have to find what works for you.   Today I...

One of the first things I made in my Instant Pot was eggs.  I read that they are one of the easiest things to do and it helps you get comfortable using your IP.  I have to admit besides  yogurt  eggs are incredibly easy.   This morning between running errands and cleaning house I decided to make deviled eggs and of course I "boiled" my eggs in my IP.  No, the IP does not actually boil your eggs because it is a pressurized cooker.  However, if you want perfect eggs and I mean perfect, use your IP.  If you do not own one, for heaven sakes, go BUY one or two or three.   When I said incredibly easy, I promise you I mean easy.  All you do is put a cup of water and your trivet into your inner pot.   Place the eggs on top of the trivet.  Put the top on and make sure it is on seal and set the IP on manual for 5 minutes.   When you use an instant pot to make boiled eggs the...

You may ask just what are aphids?  They are bugs that are pear in shape and tiny around 1/8 inch. They are over four thousand different species of aphids and can be green, white, yellow, orange, gray or black.  Aphids mouth pierce the stem of the plant, sucking out the vital nutrients that help a plant grow and thrive.  They can spread quickly due to their life cycle is between one week and 40 days.  A female can have up to 12 offspring a day.  Think about the math there.  If one female has 12 babies a day in a week she can have 84.  If the babies mature in a week and they have more offspring, well heck you are overrun with the little vampire sucking insects.   I think I have stated before we did not do too well in germinating our peppers at the beginning of February.  Which means I started more seeds a few weeks back with the thought process that they will at least mature in time to overwinter for next season.  This pas...

I love food on the grill. I mean I seriously LOVE food on the grill.  I have no clue but for some reason, nothing is better than throwing meat and veggies on the grill.   Of course, when we cook out we have to prepare for the  bugs  because for some reason they love us.  I realize I am totally lovable but now well Scott mmm... sometime he is too.   One of Scott's specialties is his amazing smoked Boston Butts.  I mean he truly rocks the butt.  I have yet to meet anyone who did not love his smoked pork.  In the part of NC, we live in it is known for BBQ.  I mean who has not heard of Lexington Style BBQ.  We will fight over what is good BBQ.  Now you Northen folks out there that may be reading this, BBQ is NOT cooking whatever on the grill.  NO, BBQ is smoked pig normally cooked in a pit, hence the reason it is called pit cooked BBQ.  There is nothing like Lexington style bbq and my husband ha...

Today kicks off Memorial Day weekend.  I hope we will remember just what this holiday is about and why we celebrate it.  Memorial Day is a time to remember and give tribute to our fallen heroes.  The ones who were brave and gave their life that WE might be free.  The love of country and their people they protected and were willing and did die for each one of us.  Let us all celebrate with a thoughtful heart this weekend and give honor where honor is due.   There will be tons of people cooking out this weekend.  For some reason, this day also kicks off summertime grilling season.  Hot dogs, hamburgers, brats, chicken, steaks, and pork all will be sauced, rubbed and seasoned to perfection.   BUT what about the vegetables?  My friend Brooke told me about grilling onions.  Not just throw them on the grill or in a basket on the grill, no, believe me, I love onions and this one is a step above the rest.  I made t...

First I want to say this will probably update often.  You might just want to bookmark it so you can check it out for changes. As I have said multiple times I am very frugal.  I hate waste.  AND I love neat ideas of any kind that helps me out by making things easier. Since blogging the last 6 months or so I have realized how many helpful things I have known, figured out or in some way come by that I want to share with all of you. As my journey beginnings, you will learn a few things you can do with something you may have otherwise thrown out.  Or you might just find out an easier way of doing something.  Either way, I hope this trip will be full of fun and rewarding to all of us. MESH TEA BALL STRAINER:   Yeah you know they are good for a cup of tea but did you know you can use it for anything you wish to infuse a flavor with?  I use mine all the time for when I cook or can and the recipe calls for spices put into cheesecloth....

Onions, Onions, Onions and more ONIONS!! A few months ago we were gifted tons of onions, well maybe not tons but about 80 pounds of them.  Geesh, I am just getting around to really working on them.  I made  stout beer pickled onions  yesterday which got me going.   I have been tinkering with the thought of an onion relish recipe since we received all those onions.  I looked and looked and researched and did more research to come up with a recipe I thought might be good.  Since it is a canning recipe I really will not know if it is just OK or really really delicious for a few weeks. The recipe I decided on calls for 5lbs of onions.  Boy did that scare me.  Who wants to peel, slice and dice 5 pounds of onions?  Just the thought of that was a bit scary or should I say teary?  When canning, I normally like to hand chop but there was no way in this life was I gonna do this by hand.  Just the thought had me in tears....