The "New", Used Sewing Machine

Dallas Farmer's Market

I was looking for a used sewing machine on Craig's list

the other day and found one for $29.00.

A singer touch and sew, circa early 1970's.

Not a bad price for a machine in a cabinet, plus the matching chair.

 

The only problem?

 

It's location was in Dallas, about an hour away.

I might not even want it...

Maybe it wouldn't sew properly...

Maybe it would need work...

Maybe this was one of those Craig's list scams...

 

You can let the maybes deter you or just go do it!

 

So, off we went to give it a test drive.

 

It was a fine machine with bells and whistles,

 plus a few extras thrown in for good measure.

 

 

We tarped and tied her into the back of the pickup

and headed over to the Dallas farmer's market.

~Couldn't waste the fuel doing just one thing!~

 

Well, I have some sewing to do and soap to cut...

Hope you have an excellent day!

 

Till next time,

Bonjour

 



OH MY!!!!

SO.....

I had a job interview in Dallas today....

What was I thinking?

Stop and go traffic, rude, impatient drivers and the awful smell...

Once I hit the Trinity River Bridge the sewage smell of the River

mingled with the vehicle exhaust fumes...

That's when I remembered why I moved to the country!

Lou Sterrett Justice Center

 This is just one of three towers, guess we have a lot of criminals!

The job opening was for a commissary worker at the Lou Sterrett Justice Center.

Basically it entailed delivering, via a cart,  personal care and other sundries to the inmates.

Sounded easy enough, what the posting failed to mention was the hours,

6AM to 2PM.

There's no way I can be anywhere at 6AM,

I drop off two other people at their jobs.

Unless it pays $20.00 an hour I'm out.

The interview was odd to say the least,

but that's a whole story in itself....

This is more my speed.

First cutting of the season.

I walked outside while waiting for this photo to load,
heard crickets, a frog and other country noises.
No traffic, no stench, that's what I'm talking about!

I hope I find a job more suitable to my sensibilities.
Perhaps you' all could put the vibe out there for me?

I have numerous skills available!

I'll be making soap tomorrow, also more my speed.

Till next time,

Bonjour and good karma

Bustin Arse (AKA, making product)

SO...

I know, I know, I've been absent in blog land!!!

The fall shows have taken over, 

one more to go and I'm finished for the year!

The Texas Country reporter show was fantastic.

We sold mega amounts of product (good) .

Yesterday we had a smaller show

which depleted my inventory even more (bad).

So now I'm scrambling to replace said product

 for the Christmas Market in December.

Today I made five - twenty bar batches of soap

and have plans on making four more batches

during the week.

I'ts doable, and I'll just squeak in

under the cure time allotment.

Nathan is due in on the 18th so I shall enlist his

help on making and packaging the other products.

He's pretty well versed on the workings of the soap co.

and has even told me that when I die he's taking over!

I guess he thinks he's Brad Pitt in - Fight Club!

Don't remember if I mentioned...

Got another wholesale account,

Maybe soon I can leave the surreal world of people-eaters

and concentrate on the homestead duties.  

Maybe even get to bed at a decent hour?

There's always hope...

Oh yeah,

I rolled out a new product this last week.

Brown Sugar Body Polish!!!

(Think sugar scrub with a fancy name).

YUMMY!



Brown Sugar Body Polish

Well it's after nine here in Texas

and I do have to work tomorrow...

I'll try to catch up on everyone's doings at lunch

during the week, can't wait to see what you' all

have been up to!!!

Till next time,

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble!

Oh wait,

no trouble, just toil and bubbles!

Bonjour

 

MOO, First attempt!

Well….

Today I needed to make soap and other products for our upcoming shows,

but I really wanted to cook some of that cow….

What to do, what to do?

Both of course!

I started by getting some of the said cow ready for the slow cooker.

I had the pikes peak roast defrosting in the fridge,

along with some Chicken thighs.

I had googled recipes for this cut, aka heel of round,

and they were all pretty much the same.

Steve and I aren’t big beef eaters because of the cost,

so I’m counting on google and you guys to help me on my way

through cooking this cow.

With help from The Texas Beef Council and

Recipes from a Kansas City Cook

I was ready to go.

Picture from Culinary Arts

I deviated from the original recipe due to not having the proper ingredients.

Here’s what I did and it turned out super tender and flavorful.

Ingredients:
4 lbs. Pikes Peak Roast

Liquid:
1 cup canned tomato juice
1 cup canned tomato sauce
1 cup cider vinegar
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. prepared brown mustard

Dry:
2 tsp. dry mustard (I didn’t have dried mustard, so I used mustard seeds. I ground the seeds with the salt and sage with my mortar and pestle)
2 tsp. dried sage
1 tbsp. salt
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1 tsp. Super Nate spice (I think this batch was rosemary, lemon balm, thyme & oregano)

Small hand full of dried ground garlic
Small hand full of dried ground onion
2 beef bullion cubes

Olive oil for browning roast

Method:
Preheat slow cooker on high.
In a large skillet, heat three turns of the pan of olive oil on medium heat.
Add first five dry ingredients. Using tongs, brown roast on all sides in olive oil/herb mixture.
Transfer roast to slow cooker and cover.

Add last three dry ingredients along with all the liquid ingredients to the skillet.
Bring to a simmer stirring constantly.
Transfer liquid to the slow cooker.
Cover the slow cooker, reduce temperature to low and cook for about 6 or 7 hours.

YUMMO!!!

I cooked the chicken thighs in my electric roaster with

lemon balm, lemon pepper, canned bean sprouts and a little water.

Also
YUMMO!!!

I wanted some cookies too so
I made up some brown sugar drop cookie dough.

I split the dough,

half a batch with grated white chocolate and dried coconut,

the other half with raisins and dried cranberries.

Between making the roast, chicken,
soap and the other Blue Moon products

I ran out of time on the cookies.

(It’s still too hot during the day to turn on the oven).
I just saran wrapped the cookie dough bowls, refridgerated and I will

bake them in the morning when it's cooler.

I just love cookies for breakfast!!!

You' all probably have way more experience cooking beef than I have

so feel fee to Email me with any recipes/suggestions or posts.

Can't wait for the burn ban to be lifted

so I can try my hand at grilling a steak!

(We don't have a normal bbq grill).

Don't even ask!

Till next time,

Beef, it's "what's for dinner"!
Bonjour

What Have I Been Up To?

This!!!

Product

Well let me just say, I've been a very busy bee.

The last few months I've been ramping up soap production

in anticipation of our fall shows. That done, next on the list

was all the of the other products.

I've finished the bath oils, lip balms and bath teas

now all I need are the body butters.

The jars came in yesterday so I'll be tackling those on Saturday.

I try to time everything out so that when I go to the shows

everything is as fresh as possible.

 Our first show is October 8th which is just around the corner!

We've been doing a bit of canning too.

Darn dial up, kicked me off, where was I?

Oh yeah, canning.

Sunday we pressure canned about 8 -1/2 pints of cooked beef

and at least that much or more of corn.

When the sweet potatoes go on sale at thanksgiving

I plan on making sweet potato butter.

Beverly, at Beverly's back porch posted a recipe

that really sounds yummy!

Here's her link.

http://beverlysbackporch.blogspot.com/2011/09/sweet-potato-butter.html

Time to make more business cards and all the other paperwork

that goes with doing shows.

Till next time,

Bonjour

Wildfires



My landscape



Really...

The dogs were acting crazy yesterday,

there was no bad weather, just wind.

I went out with them several times to "check on things"

but didn't see anything, Lady just kept pacing.

I just figured the tropical storms were blowing in rain.

So I went about my day, making soap, blogging ETC. 

When Steve got home from work he asked me,

"have you been outside"?

"Well, yes I said, sort of, why"?

I followed him out back.

Oh crap!

Fire towards Ennis, about five miles away,

fire towards Alma same distance away.

I had been going out the front door.

The wind was blowing the smoke and smell away from our house.

I never even heard sirens!

Sunday there were wild fires in Corsicana, about twenty miles south of us.

Our area is all open land, no farming going on up here,

lots of cattle, some mesquite and cedar trees and brush, lots of brush!

Pretty dry up here.



This is how dry we are!



I went outside this morning. (I'm On a vacation day).

Hazy, smoky smelling. I don't hear any sirens.....YET!

Steve just called from work,

said they got an automated call from the Sheriff's office stating,

yes,

 all of Ellis Co. is smoky, hazy, don't call unless you see flames!

Wildfires are everywhere, Fort Worth, Austin, Oklahoma!

On my drive to and from work, (Ennis to Waxahachie to Red Oak)

I see patch after patch of burnt grass on the side of the highway.

What?

Are people throwing lit cigarettes out their car windows?

There was a roadside fire on Thursday, 

about a quarter mile from where Steve works. (Waxahachie)

The nursery is surrounded by about a five acre mini forest, so you

can imagine how ugly that could have been!

The fire department put it out before it hit the trees.

Anyway...

Lady's not acting crazy so I guess we're ok?

But, I do have a bug-out-bag sitting by the front door!

Till next time, stay safe,

Bonjour

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New Apron For The Soap Class!

Well...

Of course I needed a new bib apron for the soap class!

Couldn't be seen in the old one.

It's 2 years old at least!

Way too many times wiping/drying my hands on it.

(yes, I did wash it occasionally)



This should do nicely!!

Anyway... On to the class!

The first time, I let a lady come and watch me,

gave a little advice, and that was that.

My daughters about had a cow!!!

MOM,

they said,

"you've done all the research, spent the time testing,

worked through all the bugs,

why are you giving your knowledge away for free"?

And you know what?

They were right!

So now I charge.

I talked to a mother and daughter at my last show who were interested

in learning and willing to pay,

I always knew, eventually, someone would come along. 

So I was ready with  my price and what they would receive.

~~~

hands on class

3- different soap recipes

1- 10 bar soap mold

10 bars of soap, any scent

essential oil info

oil, sap value chart

carrier oil info

mask

resources

and info on how to develop their own recipes

you bring, 1 towel and an apron

I developed and tested, 3 recipes/formulas using everyday market ingredients.

(Not everyone wants to go online and purchase specialty ingredients).

Next up was to compile a notebook with all the necessary info.

I bought really cute binders, made a table of contents, dividers

and filled it with info.

A soapers manual so to speak!



Cute notebook



BTW, I made the dividers and table
myself, using postcard stock and
DIY tabs.



I made 3 notebooks, 1 for each of us.
My hubby, Steve, made the molds.

I wish I could say everything went according to plan,

but alas, it didn't!

I forgot to print their recipes,

I had mine in my notebook,

but their recipe section had nothing.

OOPSIE....

The recipes were on the downed computer,

crap!

OK,

I have my copies, the other desktop has a scanner,

I know how to use it,

 sort of.

(This is turning out to be the Keystone Cops)!!!

I was so proud of myself, I figured it out!

They choose a recipe.

Now we're on to the actual weighing of ingredients,

choosing essential oils etc.

So far so good.

Lye is mixed, oils are being heated.

Now let me remind you,

 I'm working with 2 ladies, 2 measuring cups of  lye and 2 pots of oil!

Thermometers are thurming,

oils are heating, and they are asking!

They're suppose to be watching their thermometers!

My husband warned me,

one of the burners seems to be hotter than the others.

He just didn't say which.

Mom is watching hers,

just doesn't mention that the oil is registering

over 200 degrees, I just happened to look!

Oh crap, again!!
Daughters' is doing OK.

We had discussed this scenario, I was ready for it,

just didn't want it to happen on my watch.

I pulled the blue ice out from the freezer and set the pot on it.

Checked the lye temp.

Oh man, the lye is cooling way down but the oil isn't.

What to do, what to do?

I grabbed another soap pot from the rack,

cold pot has got to be better than a hot pot, right?

Right!

We're good.

Now to combine the oil and lye.

We did good here, only they were a little hesitent to really stir it up.

We were using a stick blender and a rubber spatula.
Circle 8's I was saying.

Hum, let me show you.

 We did manage.

We passed trace a bit for traveling purposes and everything turned out OK

All in all, they were great students and

forgave me my OOPSIES.

 It was fortunate that we did have a few problems.

I've been making soap for quite awhile now but it seems, 

everything has a learning curve,

and I don't know it all.

Go figure!

 Till next time, happy soaping.

Bonjour

Soap, Ear Infection And Tornadoes

So....

Running out of soap.
The last two shows have been great,
but,
the soap supply is running short.
Odd.
We have been doing the soap scene for about seven years now
and the most popular scents have always been the floral.
Now?
Mostly the earthy, spicy scents with the fruity not far behind.
I was caught off guard, so now I'm scrambling to catch up.
What used to be a predominately female demographic (floral)
is now evolving into a unique mix of both the sexes.

Gotta love it.

Anyway....
I won't trouble you too much with my recurring ear infection..
BUT...
I've about had enough.
You would think,
one GP, one ENT and one emergency room visit (ruptured eardrum)
should have fixed this five or so year problem.
NOT...

I'm not kidding!
I have been told I have allergies.
I had about given up.
As a last resort I went to the local clinic and guess what?
I have a fungal infection.
Diagnosed by a PA!

The GP, the ENT and the emergency room blew me off.
I could have had a seizure, lost my hearing, even died....

This PA was appalled, O.M.G. she said.
Needless to say I'm pretty drugged up, and hopefully, on the road to recovery
without too much damage done to my hearing.

OK,

THE TORNADOES!
GEEZ...

Being that I couldn't sleep Monday night due to the storms
I took a vacation day on Tuesday.
I'm laying in the lounger on the deck reading, napping,
when I was awakened by the sound of dog nails clicking on the wooden deck around me.

Lady was circling me, trying to wake me up.
Seems there was a possible tornado about five miles away.
(We call Lady the weather dog because she knows when there's bad weather approaching).
 OK Lady, I'm awake now, what's up?
 I spent a few hours in the closet with her and Red.
The storms moved off to the east towards my mother-in- law's house in Canton, 
passing her but hitting Edam and Ben Wheeler.

Today Sunday, AM started out cloudy with signs of rain that never materialized.
I went out to pick wild blackberries and discovered several more berry patches on the property.
WooHoo, I do love free food.
Later the temps turned cold so we spent the day making soap, canning meat, berries,
 and also doing a little baking.
Also made some ham beans and cornbread.
YUM!

Believe it or not I had to get the winter quilt out of the blanket chest
cause it's cold in this house tonight!

Disclaimer
Any awry statements, typos or incorrect sentences will be blamed on the blog and not the drugs!!!

OK, there's the rain, darn. I have laundry on the line!
OH well....
Till next time.
Bonjour

P.S. For some reason the "blog" decided to bold almost everything, align things incorrectly and not

print most of my text! I swear, it's not the drugs!!! I give up. I'm going to bed!

Mock Fried Meat Pies

Let me tell you....

Texas is starting to warm right on up, which means no turning on the oven.

My husband Steve AKA  the fruit tree guy, has been selling fruit trees like crazy.

Not just your normal ones either,

customers are looking for things like Quince, Mulberry, Persimmon, Pomogranate....

He's been doing a lot of Goggling and phone calling to find these unusual

(at least around here) types of trees.

He's a very busy guy in the spring.

Did I forget to mention he works at a nursery?

What does this have to do with ovens and meat pies you might ask?

There's no time for him to eat....

I'm not kidding, no sitting down with a plate or fork.

He needs portable food, something he can eat on the go.

So on my days off I've been making him big batches of meat pies, fruit pies and fajita rolls.

I package them up into meal size portions and freeze them.

They need to be done now because in a few weeks there will be no turning the oven on.

I can do the fajitas on the grill but not the meat or fruit pies.

Anyway, that's what I've been doing instead of blogging, (oh yeah, I've been making soap too).



FRESH BAKED PIES



 I call them mock fried pies because I bake them instead of frying them.

I lightly oil the cookie sheet, lay down the pies,

brush the tops with oil, bake for 10 minutes,

flip and bake for another 10 minutes.

They come out nicely browned on both sides.

All they consist of is meat mixed with veggies and gravy in a pie crust round.



CUTTING ROUNDS WITH A CEREAL BOWL

 I do a double pie crust recipe times 4, roll it out, cut it into rounds,

then fill, fold in half, seal. and bake.

Basically I'm doing  hand held pot pies.

(I add chopped herbs to my pie dough for added zing)

The fruit ones are made from canned fruit preserves that are heated

and thickened with corn starch.

This last batch of fruit pies was made with papaya/cantaloupe preserves.

The fajita rolls are cheese, sautéed meat and veggies rolled up

in a flour tortilla and packaged the same as the meat pies.

(Forgot to photo those).

About 45 sec. in the microwave and he's good to go.

A lot of work but worth it.

Nathan helped me make these,

he's learning how to stay away from the fast food places.

After we finished our baking,

Nathan and I took a walk down to the creek for a little R&R.

The scenery was nice as was the quiet.

 (As much quiet you can  get with a 12 year old anyway)!





NEIGHBOURS COW





CHECK OUT THE BARBED WIRE REFLECTION ON THIS COW



NATHAN CLEANING HIS FOUND SHELLS



NATHAN EXPLORING

We found shells and some cool rocks at the creek.

Nathan and I are big rock collectors.

We stayed for about an hour or so at the creek then it was back to the Casa

to fry up some fish and hush puppies.

I'm telling you, we are some food cooking fools here.

It was a lovely day spent working and playing with my grandson.

Hopefully he will know something other than fast food and video games!!!

WELL,

It's way past my bed time, so......

Till next time,

Bonjour

99 Bottles of Beer On The Wall




Z CHOCOLATE MINT



SO.....

The song 99 bottles of beer on the wall

 has been floating in and out of my mind for the last few weeks.

Perhaps because the song seems to never end.

And, as I prepare for our upcoming shows, the work seems to never end.

We have five shows scheduled for the spring so I've been a busy bee.

Over the last few months I've made,

113 lip balms

26 body butters

31 bath oils

96 bath teas

300 bars of soap (I think, sometimes I get lost)

I'm probably good on most of the soap till June,

everything else I'll make as needed.

With spring soon to be here for real,

the ladies will be thinking about wearing their sandals,

 and then realize they have sandpaper feet.

Body butter to the rescue, I guarantee!!

I think I have things covered, at least for the moment!

And, as I've been busy as a bee and

thinking of endless bottles of beer, guess what?

WAIT FOR IT....

I landed another store account!!!

Yeppers, I sure did!

Shabby Sheek Boutique in Texarkana, Texas. (Google them)

This makes three total.

I'm so proud of me....

Slowly but slowly I shall make this venture work and

before I know it,

I'll change my name to Tyler Durden and

 have a whole army of people making soap for me!!!

You  know, the movie Fight Club.

(I choose to believe they were only making soap.)

And who pays $10.00 wholesale for a bar of soap anyway?

Lead me to them!!!

And what I wouldn't give to have that army

working in my herb beds. ( I really don't like pulling weeds!)

So here's to a successful spring!!!

Anyway. I've been offline so to speak, for far too long,

I'm off to see what you' all have been up to.

Till next time,

Bonjour

OH YEAH,

If you have a ruptured eardrum,

don't go to the emergency room,

find an urgent care facility!

$250.00 versus $100.00

Just thought you would want to know!!!

making Soap and Other Endeavors

SOAP, SOAP AND MORE SOAP!!!

WOW....

It's been a very busy weekend.

I have a show coming up at the end of March so product making was in order.

200 lip balms, 36 body butters, 60 bars of soap.....

that's just a start, I still have bath teas, bath oils and more soap to make.

I'm also revamping my show display. Most of my display pieces are

made of wrought metal so changing the look is quite easy.

Krylon is my best friend.
I'll post picks when I get everything finished.



ARE YOU GOING TO FIX ME?



I'm still working on the floor lamp and yes, I did find the missing piece.

ALMOST THERE!!!

Well it's time for me to re-enter that other world (work)
so I'll have to cut this short.
What was your weekend like?

Till next time,
Bonjour

Making Soap

WHAT IS THIS YOU ASK?

Well, today we are making soap & this is a pic of some of the soap oils all measured & ready to go into the soap pot. It takes 6 different oils & 2 different butters to create my soaps. (Very moisturizing.)

Here we are heating the oils & butters.

How do you like my little gadget that holds the thermometer? 

My Steve made it for me.

HEATING, HEATING, HEATING

So now we have everything measured, heated & ready to mix.

MIXING, MIXING, MIXING
That thingy on the right is my mixing speeder upper.
Now it's time to add the other goodies, essential oil, botanics ETC.

 

All right, into the mold you go.

You're labeled, wrapped & ready to go under the blankets for 24 hours.

AND YOU GUYS TOO!!!

(SLEEP TIGHT)

Tomorrow we will unwrap, unmold & cut you up into perfectly, perfect bars.
And then it's off to the soap drying rack for you where your other soap friends are waiting.

WAITING, WAITING, WAITING

3 weeks from now you'll be ready to help me clean up the world!!!

AND THAT'S HOW YOU MAKE SOAP!!! TA DA

Tomorrow is canning day!!!

BONJOUR