My quest for mistletoe and an easy soup recipe.

I have always loved mistletoe. I think it started when I was a little girl watching a Christmas movie with my granny and she telling me that if you stand under it that whomever was there with you had to kiss you. At some point I learned that it grew on trees and eventually learned how to spot it. My dad would come across some on occasion and bring it to me and with his passing this year it seemed really important to me to have some. I even remember once my hubby keeping something in the car in case we came across some so he could cut to for me. I am a very lucky girl to have fellows in my life who encourage me whimsies.  So imagine my excitement when I see mistletoe growing in a tree within our reach this past weekend. Well within Mr Ladybugs reach actually. So if you happen to come to the urban farm this holiday season you better be prepared to be kissed.

I really love Mr Ladybug hes the sweetest.

Yesterday it got around 2pm and I hadnt even thought about what was for dinner. I had originally planned to heat something on the wood stove but was having a time keeping the fire going especially since I would leave the room and not tend to it,  That will not be the case today. I have it going and am going to keep it that way. I decided that I would fix an easy tortellini soup recipe and everyone was fed and the boys didnt even notice it was meatless.

Too easy tortellini soup

8 oz of dried tortellini
4 cups of veggie broth
32oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon of italian seasoning
2-3 teaspoons of honey or sugar ( this really helps balance the acid from the tomatoes but is optional)
1 tsp each garlic and onion powder
salt and pepper to taste.

Put broth in pot and bring to a boil, add tortellin and cook according the package directions, after they are done add rest of ingredients and heat until hot. Sprinkle with parmesian cheese and serve with bread.

Can it get any easier than that?  When telling my hubby and daughter about the recipe I said you started out with 4 cups of the tears of a thousand virgins but that its a little pricey because its hard to find that many virgins these days. My daughter said that I should put that in my blog and I said I just might and she didnt think I would do it so this is to show her thats its my blog and I do what I want.

I saw this and it made me laugh. I hope to shed a few more pounds this month but if I can just stay the same without gaining while baking and making candy and eating candy others make me I think its a win.

Weekend Adventures

My hubby had to grow something so he planted me some

 lettuce under the grow lights, 

We had a 3 day weekend at our house and we enjoyed just about every minute of it. Getting the slow drain unclogged required Mr Ladybug to crawl under the house and with the creepy crickets. But besides that our weekend was perfect. Saturday we didnt even leave the house. With the temps going into the 60's on Sunday we decided to go to Locust Grove Historical Site in Louisville Ky. We had so much fun learning the history of the house and walking to grounds. After unclogging the drain on Monday and replacing a drain in the bathroom we hung out in front of the fire the rest of the day reading. I highly recommend lazy long weekends. Unfortunately we cant spend the whole winter in front of the fire well at least not during the day when there is work to be done. Here are a few pics from the weekend.....

I was surprised to see this color on the home at Locust Grove. Then knew this color was in the house because they had found the ledger with the receipt purchasing 9 gallons, I love it!

They had a beehive. We of course had to go look at it. Mr Ladybug thought I was going to try to take a bee home with me.

Bayberry candles, have you heard of them? They are my new favorite thing and I have been digging up all the info I can find on them. Very interesting.

Do use this app? We listened to a short book on Greek Mythology while driving on Sunday, Lots of older books on here and a great bargain for free.

Gearing up for Christmas

As many of you  may know I dont have a Christmas tree. I have a Christmas pallet. When we were newlyweds we were given a tree from my parents and we used it for several years and then I was given another tree from a friend that we used for several years. We had bought a few trees that you went to the tree lot and cut down yourself but with the wood stove it was hard to keep water in then and our cats seemed to love to climb them. So a few years ago we decided to not buy a new tree and to make our own. I love the idea of making decorations with things you already have and so thats what we do. We also dont buy gift wrap. I save newspaper and bags that I get. 

I have been on Pinterest alot lately and I have found a few things that I had to make. This is a little tree that you many with old spindles.

I think I need to take my fabric off and starch it really good so it stands out more and I love the recycled wire I found in the garage that Mr Ladybug was going to take to the scrap metal place. I keep going out there and snipping some off for projects.

This one is one I found on Etsy. It made me wonder if you could use stove paint to paint a mason jar and you can. We bought stove paint to spruce up our 15 year old wood stove. I have like a million canning jars, the people next door chopped down a pine tree and had the pieces they trimmed off laying on the ground so I got a few of them, the bells are from a wreath I found on the curb, the fabric is from the material I got for my quilt project which I will post at a later date. The arrangement on Etsy was selling for $35 plus shipping. I am sure her pine branches were fake so it would last longer than mine but fortunately I have lots of neighbors with trees and a park near by were I can get more as needed. I used more of Mr Ladybugs wire to attach my bells to and stick down in the jar.

Since having a more organized home I have bought a bouquet of flowers. I have a few vases that I love and why have something if you arent going to use them. I have had these flowers for 2 weeks and was wondering what I could do with them before they died. So I got out my flower press Mr Ladybug made me and am drying them to use for future crafts and cards to send people.

I took this picture so I could show you have as they start to dry I can keep pressing and they get flat.

Have you seen this cereal? Why? If I want banana pudding for breakfast it isnt going to be in cereal form.  I thought I would share just in case any of you had banana pudding fans in your family, It would make a great gift. 

Today is clean all the animals cages and wash the animal beds, clean the bathroom and mop the floors day. I really live an exciting life. Tomorrow is grocery day. I have not grocery shopped in 2 weeks and it has been wonderful so I  may just pick that up again instead of doing it weekly. That also means I need to meal plan for 2 weeks and not forget about lunches. 

I checked out a book at the library a few weeks ago and we love it so much that we had to buy it. I found it on sale at a Goodwill in Washington State. It kind of goes along with the pic at the start of this post and being a beginner at something. More to come on this tomorrow and the weekend. Is there something that you have always wanted to try but keep putting it off? There is no better time than the present.

Two months sort of flew by.

What on earth have I been doing the past two month? Obviously not blogging and by the end of this post you will see not brushing up on my english skills. Have you ever felt like you were running around chasing your tail? Basically getting  nowhere, for those of you without the knowledge of crazy southern sayings. I started focusing on a few things instead of a million and blogging got put by the wayside for a bit. Fortunately I have a million new things to show you. Dont worry I am not going to post all million things today. I will do my best to keep this short and sweet. If you find yourself in the same situation really think about what you need to step back from and where you need to start focusing. Taking a break from social media is a great place to start. Just sayin.

My house is in pretty good order, my kitchen is more organized, meal planning is running pretty smoothly we have new slate around the wood stove and I have lost 21 pounds. Things that have went wrong the past two months are we woke up with our furnace not working, the kids car quit on them while they were turning a corner and we had a plumbing issue. All of these things were taken care of by Mr Ladybug who has lost about 10 pounds himself.  Just because we have done a few things to try to get our life in order does not mean that life doesnt like to keep us on our toes. I had big plans yesterday to can two bushels of apples. I can not find my apple peeler anywhere. I seriously can not imagine why someone would break into your house and steal a $15 apple peeler and just the apple peeler. While I was getting all my canning things in order one of our dogs decided it would be a great time to eat something weird and start throwing up and of course you can just throw up on the floor. you have to it on the couch and every stinking blanket and rug on the whole house and because you had had some plumbing issues you have a slow drain and you have to watch as the washing machine drains or it will come our the drain pipe in the wall until your hubby can address the issue this weekend.

It seems like I am going to leave this on a negative note but thats not how I do things. After talking to my sister the other day who had a bushel of apples herself to do something with I decided to focus on peeling and coring mine today and getting them in the freezer to can at a later date and not all once. I will probable dehydrate some as well. I did go out and by an apple corer and slicer for $5 to make the job a little easier and hope that whoever stole my peeler returns it by the time I decide to buy 4 bushels of apple next year. With all my organizing I am finding I have more time in the evenings to enjoy things. Like knitting by the fire and just watching my daughter work on homework and Mr Ladybug watch crazy things on his tablet and laugh. I can even start my blog posts on the evening and finish them in the mornings and post earlier.

So right now on the urban farm there are apple peels and cores making vinegar, colby cheese aging in the closet that we can try before Christmas, plans to make sour cream later this weekend and bread to be made since we have decided that there are something that we just want to make ourselves instead of buying. Soon there will be things to do with goat milk since I found someone who was selling shares of her goats and we get fresh goats milk. You have no idea how much that excites me and probably relieves Mr Ladybugs fear of finding a goat in our backyard one day. There will also be some deer recipes coming soon since my brother in law and uncle brought us lots of deer meat.

This my friends is a female Red Bellied Woodpecker and I have seen her many times from afar. She swoops in and out pretty fast and I wanted a picture of her so bad. The other day while Mr Ladybug was under the house I was sitting near the crawl spaced entrance for moral support. I never go under there because I know what those crickets look like down there. I had my camera and she landed on the peanut feeder several times and let me get so many pictures.  Nothing teaches you patience like birding.

Never forget to wear your smile

I have jokingly called my home decor Ghetto Chic since I love to find things on the curb and fix them or repurpose them. I have recently decided that I do that because I am sort of apologizing for things that I actually enjoy doing. I have actually tried to go into new furniture stores and the appeal just isnt there for me. Over the weekend I came up with a new name for my decorating taste, Urban Farm Charm. Expect lots of post about this. So many ideas, so little time. I love to find something on the curb and give it a new home and use. This really makes me smile and my home is filled with these smiles. I hope your life is filled with things that make you smile too.


Mr Ladybug and I had a very productive day yesterday. We have wanted to do something with our front porch but wasnt quite sure what.

A few curb finds later and we have a nice sitting area. We painted the chairs periwinkle and covered the seats with indoor/outdoor fabric. The fabric was priced $16 a yard but was marked down to $11 at Hobby Lobby. The table was on the curb as well and had a little rust on it. We bought paint that would cover most surfaces and it covered the glass top pretty well so you cant see some of the rust up underneath of it. We did not attach the seat bottoms back to the chairs. We can now take them in if we think they will get wet. $19 for two chairs and a table really isnt too bad. I know I could have gotten a cheaper fabric but I was so in love with this pattern.

In between painting and upholstering, I had so much fun using a staple gun, we smoked some tilapia and had tacos with mango salsa. It was so yummy! It wasnt one of my $5 meals but came in around $8 for 4 people and I think I can live with that.

Tilapia tacos with mango salsa

2 pounds of tilapia grilled, smoked or baked
Corn tortillas heated up, I stack mine and heat them in a covered dish on the oven at 250 degrees until warm. A microwave would probably work but I dont have one.

Mango salsa
1 mango cubed
1/2 jalapeno seeded and chopped
1/2 cup red onion chopped
3-4 TBS chopped cilantro

Does it get any simpler than that? I dont think so.

I am not a big breakfast person but in my quest for better health I am trying to eat or in this case drink something every morning. This morning it was a blueberry smoothie.

1 cup of blueberries, I used frozen
1/2 banana, this adds some sweetness
3/4 cup greek yogurt
1 TBS chia seeds

Blend and sip.

I am pretty sure that I have mentioned every home should have an aloe vera plant. I saw this cute pot and new I had to grab it for my oldest daughter who does not have one. Imagine my surprise when I seen there were actually two plants in this one pot. I am going to give them some fresh soil and separate them and give the other one someone. Two for the price of one, that makes me smile too!

Time Savers

The two things most of wish we had more of are time and money. Mr Ladybug had to work a little late last night and I was figuring out what I wanted to get done before he got home and I kept adding things to my list and I have no idea how I expected to get them done. I work from home and dont manage to get my to do list completed every day. I really dont know how people get all the things they need to get done and have a job they have to drive to 40 or more hours a week. I am a little spoiled being able to be home like this morning I took Mr Ladybug to work around 6:15 on my way back home three cars in front of me turned into Starbucks for their morning fix. I make Mr Ladybugs morning brew but I usually wait until I get back home to sip my tea.

Even though I do love to cook I do love things that make life easier. We are not big on eating out, not because we think you are evil if you eat out its just terrible expensive and I am sort of cheap. Trust me if I have good coupons and we can all eat pizza from Pizza Hut for less than $10 bucks and have leftovers for tomorrow lunch this momma is all over that.

Imagine my happy face when I see a whole rotisserie chicken for less than $4 and I know I can get three meals out of it.

My 21 year old loves Chipotle. I think if she could afford it she would eat there every day. We always tease her about being in a burrito coma after she eats there. In fact we plan on going there tomorrow because my mom has never eaten there and my daughter thinks thats a travesty. One of the meal I made with the chicken was a chicken rice bowl sort of like Chipotle. Since last night Mr Ladybug was working late and our son has a class that doesnt get out until 6 I made Big Salads. Have you ever seen the episode of Seinfield where they talked about the big salad? Its one of our favorites and big salad is one of our family favorites too. With the remaining carcass and as you can see I left some meat on it I will make a chicken stock and some chicken noodle soup. All of these things allow me to do one of my favorite things and thats get a meal prepared fast and feed 4 people for around $5!

I was at a Walmart store that was a grocery store only. Those things are pretty snazzy. I found a veggie pizza for less than $4 and thought it would be great for our Chipotle loving vegetarian. I came home cut it into four pieces layered it in between parchment paper and put it in freezer bags. I remembered to put the heating instructions on it too. It reheated perfectly. A quick lunch or snack for less than a dollar!

These are just a few ways we save time and money around the urban farm. I hope you found it helpful and as always I am open to any suggestions and ideas you use to save time and money at your house as well.

I loved the quote at the top of this post. I have been trying to be more intentional in my life. When I think of intentional I usually think about with my finances and my relationships but now I will add with my time to my intentional list as well.

Replenishing your garden

The veggies are winding down and the herbs and the flowers and the grass but not my run on sentences! As Mr Ladybug and I were clearing out some garden area over the weekend we were discussing fertilizing the winter bed. We will be planting onions, lettuce, carrots. spinach and they will either lay dormant until spring or will grow very slowly but yield an early crop. We have done this in the past with much success. We just plant, cover with a hoop of plastic and not look at it until late February. On warmer days we will take a peek. Within the next few days we will add rabbit poo, worm castings, worm tea and compost to our beds. We try to keep everything as natural as possible. Next year I would love to try cover crops. There is always something new to try or learn in the garden.

Look at these last peppers from the bed we cleared out. We have banana peppers as you can see some turned red because they were forgotten. We have a chocolate bell pepper which was new and I really loved them. there is a jalapeno or two. The jalapenos are a bit disappointing since we thought we planted some and they ended up being bell peppers and someone keep taking them from our community garden plot. Thats okay we have a different garden plan for next year and I cant wait to share that with you when the time draws close. Anyway with this hodge podge of peppers I plan on making a sweet relish. I might even name it Hodge Podge Pepper Relish.

Mr Ladybug had a regular doctor appt the other day and he was told he needed to make some changes. Nothing terrible, well unless you really like to drink coffee. He needs to limit coffee. We both decided we need to start watch fat, calories, carbs and fun before its too late and we have to take lots of medicines. Not that I am telling people you dont have to take your meds and I know that some people watch their diet like a hawk and still have to take meds. We just feel that we would feel better if we ate better. We aint getting any younger. Mr Ladybug will be the big 50 next year and I follow him 9 months later. Exciting stuff. I am looking forward to being 50 and fabulous.

Just like our garden needs to be fed good things for healthy soil so do we. I can not afford to buy new soil every year for my garden and we only have one body so we need to take care of it.

So lots of new menus items for us and I guess that will give me something to do when I cant garden. This morning I put together a zucchini crusted quiche. It was so yummy and only 325 calories! I even got a little crazy and rode our stationary bike for 15 minutes while it was cooking. I am on a roll today.



Crustless Quiche

1 egg
1 oz cheese
2 TBS chopped red pepper
2 TBS chopped red onion
2 oz steak or any meat of your choice
1 TBS cream or milk will be fine. I just happened to have cream in the fridge
Zucchini sliced with a veggie peeler. Enough to place around sides and bottom of your pan


Preheat over to 350 degrees. Place 6-10 zucchini slices in your pan. I used a disposable pot pie pan. Mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over your crust. Bake for 30 minutes.  This is for one serving. You could multiply the recipe 8 times and make a fill sized pie and just cut it in 8 slices. It would be great to make ahead for a quick morning breakfast. You can use any meat you have. I just happened to have leftover steak I needed to use up. This could easily be a lunch and dinner item as well.