Merry Christmas From The Little Homestead!

New Grandbaby! More Snow, Cold & Holiday Cheer, Another eBay Find!

New Grand Baby!

Well, here is our new second grand baby boy named Oliver. We was born last night, 9 lbs., 4 ounces. Big boy!!! We met Oliver this morning and he was resting nicely along with Mom and Dad. He's eating well and they will go home late tomorrow. My son in law loves children and will be awesome parent along with my daughter! It's amazing to have our first two grandchildren in one year. River in May and now Oliver. Just in time for the holidays!!! And do you like my new header at the top? I wanted something new, time for a change!

I love snowmen!

More Snow, Cold & Holiday Cheer-

Tonite's it's going to be in single digits again, brrrr. It was sunny today, with a high of about 22. It was 7 this morning when I woke up. We had another 2 inches of snow Wed., really pretty. Longer commutes, but the roads are getting a bit drier, but still icy. We've had three rounds of snow storms so far, more then usual. This "deep freeze" nationally has hit us too. We've added more pine shavings to the coop, kept the heat lamp on at night. We use a ceramic heat disc for reptiles and a hard wired in red bulb. Helps some, but not "warm". The hens came out today in the sun and have started laying again, not that their molting is down. The extra protein seems to have really helped! We got our holiday decor up, I will finish the Chritsmas tree tomorrow. Since we have a new grand baby we were out today more than usual! We're feeding and pottying their dog and 2 cats. My oldest daughter had her 30th birthday this well. Busy week! Here's some pics of this weeks weather and some inside shots-

Fresh snow on our outdoor lights

Mr. Troll is buried this time!

Backyard

Front porch

Santa's of the World, USA left, Norway right

Germany

My faux tin house

Love the birds, from Target years ago

More birds :) 

My chalk painted table with more snowmen, all thrifted

Another eBay Find!

I really scored last week on eBay!!! I changed jobs a year ago and was no longer needing a REALLY heavy, bulky winter coat for morning bus duty. I am keeping that coat, but I needed something more medium weight, rain and weather proof. I LOVE L.L. Bean, but new their coats are more spendy than I can afford right now. Lots of medical bills with my hand surgery and other things. I looked at thrift stores, local retail stores and eBay. I went to a store to find a "sale" coat, and it turned out to be an online sales only, of course :( I went back to eBay and bought this L.L. Bean parka coat instead. I saved $45-$75., but it's also MUCH heavier construction. More features- pockets, flaps, lined collar, has a detachable hood, which I love! If I'm going to buy something I want it to last. It was warm and toasty this morning and less bulky, I am loving it!!! Thanks eBay!!!

Comfort Food For A Deep Cold Winter's Night!

Crabmelts

Comfort Food For A Cold Winter's Night!

With single digit temps coming this weekend it's COLD! It's WINTER! More snow coming too, yay. When the deep cold sets in cold dinners are out. Time for something hearty and hot! I ran across the crabmelts recipe a year r 2 ago, and made them healthier. I used 1/4 of the mayo, eliminated the butter on the bread, lessened the olives. I have also added  roasted red peppers on ciabatta rolls. Much less fat and great flavor! I can buy a large, 2 cup can of crab meat for $8.00 and that makes 4 good sized servings. Preyty affordable! I served with little cornichon pickles and veggies. Might be good with hot soup too. Recipe here- TravelOregon.com

Yesterday I thawed out some garden tomatios, added some Italian sausage, mushrooms, herbs and made a very hearty sauce, cooking thru the afternoon. I tossed with whole grain penne pasta and cubes of feta. Add hot bread and salad, it's all good! 

First Snow!!!

Backyard Coop

First Snow!!!-

We had our first big snow today, about 2-3" during the day. Another 1-3 " coming tonite, then changing to rain tomorrow. My 15 minute commute home was an hour! Lukcily everyone slowed down and I didn't see any accidents, but I heard the sirens in the distance. Some people just won't slow down, sigh. It's pretty and this is what it looked like tonight when I got home-

Mr. Garden Gnome

How To Unshrink A Wool Sweater, Turkey With Sour Cream Noodles, COLD!

How To Unshrink A Wool Sweater-
Dave had a minor laundry mishap yesterday, putting his new-ish (last years Christmas gift from me) L.L. Bean lamb's wool sweater in the dryer. Only for a few minutes. I gasped. I held it up, he tried it on, it shrunk about 1- 2 sizes  :( Oh no!!!  Being the avid DIYer selfer, I went online. I had seen this trick before and figured it would work Countryliving.com. I followed the directions, soaked the sweater-

Then I had Dave squeeze all the water out (still in my wrist brace) and rolled in 2 towels til damp.

I used another sweater as a template and gently stretched-

It worked! I moved it to a card table with a towel to dry overnight. I had Dave VERY gently try it on while damp. Sweater saved, Dave's happy, me happy! No more wool sweaters in the dryer!!! I wish I had known about this years and years ago. I had a couple sweaters I could have saved...

Turkey With Sour Cream Noodles-
What do you do with three or four cups of leftover turkey breast? Last night I was thinking of sour cream noodles and had a "ah ha" moment. For my basic sour cream noodles I cook extra large egg noodles and toss with sour cream, salt and pepper, till nice and hot. Serve! Great as a simple side dish. To use the turkey I cubed it, used a full large bag of noodles, 1 container of sour cream, a bag of peas, 1 cup of sliced baby carrots, salt and pepper. Cook noodles, drain add rest of ingredients, cook until carrots are soft, about 10-15 minutes. Easy peasy and pretty frugal!

COLD!

It was 17 degrees last week,  first really cold weather of the season. That morning there was a very heavy frost, all sparkly!

We've gotten quite a bit of early winter snow in the mountain, with more coming tonight! I started to decorate with my generic winter goodies today, since it seemed appropriate given the temps. We got our winter things out and I have most of the non-Christmas things out. We did set up the Advent wreath last week. We like to put up the tree a bit later. When we put away the Christmas things new year's weekend, we leave up the winter things. we like celebrating the seasons and bringing nature in. Today I spread things out across the house and we turned on the outside lights last night for my birthday! Here's a peak of some winter decor, pretty simple, eh?

In my kitchen