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January has flown by...

Alot going on as usual... and no, no sewing to be done with my sewing rooms still all packed up ready to move when everything is all done!
But I have been doing some crocheting... a little bedside rug here... of thick chenille yarn. More and more dish cloths... seriously, if I could stop I would....
and a hat made from suede yarn... the little brim makes it look 'sporty'!

And doing canning, when I have something that needs to be canned. Homemade chicken broth
is a hundred times more flavorful than store bought!



So is homemade mushroom broth!... and alittle Spiced blue berry jam made from some blueberries mom had in her freezer... I love having jars of mushrooms on hand for homemade pizzas!



I waited for months for organic oranges to go on sale... finally! $4 a bag! I wanted to make my own Grand Mariner for Bald man for awhile and since you have to use the zest of the orange they had to be organic, since it took so many they had to be on sale!!! With the left over oranges I made Vin D'orange a French dessert drink and cranberry orange sauce... perfect with duck!




For my birthday weekend... and because we had a timeshare we had to use or loose! we went to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. Something fun me and The Bald Man like doing is going to the local wineries... The one below is in Gatlinburg... wonderful Med-Dry wines there!!!!





In Pigeon Forge they have a 'wine trail' thing going on! You go to all three wineries and get a free gift at the last one you visit. We had so much fun... Mountain Valley winery had some nice 'special' limited wines





The Apple Barn winery below had a great limited Cranberry Apple wine we bought...






Hillside Winery,,,, wow!!!! This winery makes Italian style wines and sparking wines (I LOVE bubbles!) All their sparkling wines were awesome!!! We bought some of each one!!! And they had a really nice Pinot!




At the end of our tour we got to cute wine glasses!



And we went to the Lodge iron cookware outlet where I got a huge Iron pizza pan! I love making homemade pizzas and try to have one every week or so.

You'll notice on half the pizza there are no olives... Bald man hates them... I love them!



I eat homemade, well and often!

Since I started my health and fitness kick last December I have never felt better and had more energy.... and I've maintained around 125 without alot of fuss.
Energy is important because I've practically painted the whole double wide myself!!!! Bald Man helped some... he stays busy to! He's not just hanging out or we'd have issues!
Our goat Barn!!!!!! The guy building is almost done... now to get that fencing. Fencing for goats is in some ways more important than the shelter... I mean they need shelter from wind and rain ofcourse...in my case they need a little better shelter because I'm going to put them up at night and not have a guardian animal.
Goats are escape artist... so good strong fencing is a must. I read in one of my goat books this quote: ' A goat spends 23 hours of its day planning its escape and the last hour of the day executing the plan'
Yeah... good strong fencing is a must!


This pic is alittle blurred from the window light... but its our new kitchen cabinets!!! We bought oak unfinished cabinets... we're really trying to spend as little as possible on the double wide so we have more money to put into building the farm... but we did decide spending alittle more money and re doing the kitchen was a must since I cook SO much... and can and will be also making cheeses, yogurts and other dairy products with our goat milk! Yes, a good kitchen is a must for us! For anyone who cooks alot!



The future sewing room is done! And yes, its pink! I have a thing for pink... even though I love working with animals and getting dirty in a garden I'm still such a girly girl!





Thats all for now! We're hoping to start the move in a couple of weeks and be all moved in by the end of the month... thats what we're "hoping" anyways!

Its gets harder and harder to leave the place when we go up to work on it....

Have a blessed week!

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