Winter wonderland and thoughts of spring

This is the view from my back door. It looks like a Arctic Wonderland . We got about a foot of snow that started Christmas Eve and ended late Christmas night. The only down fall was having to shovel the walk and driveway twice. To be honest it wasn't bad .
 It has been 13 years since we have seen this much snow. Not since leaving Alaska. Which made it  enjoyable to be shoveling snow. I am  sure by the end of winter I won't feel that way.
Just a quick question . How many of you start thinking about your gardens and planting in spring the day after Christmas. As soon as Christmas is over my mind goes to spring and how I am going to plant my garden. I am I alone in this?

Gray and Blue is GONE YAAAA!

In our new home. Time to paint

This is the old living room in our new home. The white you see on the wall is where I took down the wallpaper that was up. The wallpaper was of logs with a border of cowboys herding cattle. I told my husband if I ever want wallpaper to remind me how much work it was to take it off. The gray you see on the walls was painted thru out the house. It made everything look dreary to me. It was more of a cold color and I am a warm color person

So everything was taken down so the walls could be painted a warm tan.

 This is how the room ended up. I am really happy with it.

I love having the warm colors on the wall. It feels more like me now.

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I also had to paint the dinning room. Now it's on to the guestroom  .

Homemade Maddox Dinner Rolls

 I don't live far from this restaurant and have enjoyed these rolls several times. They are so good I had to share.

Maddox Rolls

recipe courtesy of cityhomecountryhome

I think she used to work at Maddox:)

Maddox Ranch House Rolls

2 Tablespoons of yeast (not rapid rise)

1/2 cup of warm water

1 1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup (or 4 ounces) of  butter

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

3 large eggs

5 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

In a saucepan, melt the butter and add the milk and salt.  Scald but do not boil.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

In a measuring cup, mix the yeast and warm water.  Add a pinch of sugar from the 1/2 cup measure and stir.  Let the yeast sit and proof for a few minutes.

In a large bowl, mix the yeast mixture, eggs, sugar, milk mixture and flour just until blended and no lumps of flour remain.  Do not over mix.  The dough will be sticky and very loose.

Let the batter/dough raise until double (about 90 minutes).  Mine took only 50 minutes to double in size;  I live at high altitude so my dough raises quickly.  

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Spoon it into greased muffin tins and let it raise again until doubled in size. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown.  I'd go a little more on the underdone side.

Cool on a wire rack.  Serve with honey or raspberry butter.

This recipe makes about 24 dinner sized rolls.

RV is ready for Halloween

We sign for the house on the 27th of Oct. But  we will still be living in the trailer till my husband has time to get our furniture and belongings from storage in California. 
  So I went ahead and decorated for Halloween. There aren't many kids here, but it still fun to see the decorations .

 I really love this door wreath. I love the vintage cat. But then I am a cat person.LOL

 What you can't see in the pictures is the projector , it projects dancing skeletons on the side and front of our RV. I think that's my favorite part.If all goes well I will be decorating our new house at Christmas.

New Homestead

We put in a bid on this house and they excepted. We should be moving Oct 27. It is on .92 acres. Plenty of room for animals, orchard, and a garden. We will be adding a front porch and shudders  to the windows. Plus a few changes inside. But over all it,s a great house. It is in great conditions and really cute inside. It has three bedroom with one unfinished room  downstairs, which we will turn into a forth bedroom. Also downstairs we  have a family room with a big wood burning stove and a large pantry for my freezers and canned goods. The pantry is big enough to turn part of it into a mud room. Which will be handy since we are now living where we will be getting snow.  I can't wait to get moved in and start this new chapter in our lives. The Lord truly blessed us with this house.

Starving stray kitten found under my RV

    The poor thing was skin and bones. By this I mean I could feel every bone in it's body. I already have 5 cats and a dog in our RV I couldn't add another one. ( Who am I kidding ,if I couldn't find a home for it I would of made it work) Luckily Bert my neighbor and friend wanted the kitten.   We think the kitten is about 2 months old. It was so dirty and has a old wound to the mouth. Bert took it home and has named it Peanut.
    We took it to the Vet today since it has bad diarrhea, plus to make sure it's healthy. They thought it might have parvo  which really scared me since I was around it  and parvo is very contagious for cats. I did wash my hands and change my clothes after visiting Peanut. But that didn't stop the fear in hearing those words. The test came back negative. I know that doctor could feel the tension leave the room from both of us. It does have a parasite from drinking stagnant water. The doctor gave it meds for that. He wants to wait to take care of the old wound on her mouth since she is so frail. He will address that when she is a little older. So now it is just getting the weight on her and making her feel better. Bert is my kitty angel right now for taking her in.
    As you can tell from this post I am a big cat person. The cat isn't even mine and I was crying in the doctors office  when he said she might have parvo. I am such a big baby!
      Well I has better end this post I have a cat crawling over me and my laptop to be petted.And she is letting me know that she is more important then what I am trying to write.

 Thanks for visiting me.

Dutch Oven Cooking Chicken Delight

I was

I had to share this . It was so good. The next day I fried up the left over vegetables like you would fried potatoes. OMG they were so good. The next time I make this I will defiantly be adding extra vegetables so I can do it again. 

We have land

My husband transferred to Hill Air Force Base. So we moved to Ogden Utah. It is so beautiful here. We found this great piece of land it is 3 and half acres of pasture land.  We plan to build a home on it and make it our new homestead. It will be a lot of work since it has had horses on it till yesterday. As you can  guess a lot of cleaning up after the horses. If you look close you can see the tree line in the back of the property. That is the end of our land.  I am in love with how open it is. We went there last night to stake where we wanted them to build the house. The sunset was amazing! I am so excited to live there!

Saying good by to Great Women and Friends

 Before moving to Utah my quilter friends throw me a going away lunch. The food was great and the gifts were awesome,but the company was even better.  I will miss these girls so much. Everyone needs friends like these.

This is the bag that Debbie made me. I have been eyeing hers for a long time. Every quilter needs a bag like this.  It holds so much. I can carry large ruler sand cutting mats. The inside pockets hold my fabric cutters,pins, patterns, finished blocks, est.....  It will even hold my TV tray turn ironing board.  

We are living in our 5th wheel till our house is build, So this has come in real handed for keeping everything together. And makes quilting in the trailer so much easier. 

The girls got together and made me this Cat quilt. The picture is of my kitty Cleo.  They are all so talented.! This will be one of those quilts I will treasure forever. No matter how far apart we are I will always care for these special woman.  

                                                As you can tell Cleo  loves the quilt also .

Simple Living in a Backwoods Cabin

                                            
This is a must see you tube channel. He has a lot of great homesteading DIYs as well as some great humor and good old fashion country living.

Bailey's first day

                                                      
This was Baileys first day. I had to get all that cuteness on tape.  It is so much fun  watching her interact with her mom and us.  She has stolen my heart.
 Still waiting on Jan's goat Mocha to give birth ,then I will have two new babies to play with.

We spent Saint Patty's Day on baby watch.

 Our friends  Jan and Fred let us join them during the birth of our little girl Bailey. She was born at 7:04 pm on Saint Patty's day. Jordan was also there to help with the birth. She was full of so much useful information ( which is on the video ) .  We went back today to visit Bailey. She is so cute and cuddly you just have to hold her.  We have to wait 3 months before we will be able to bring her home. Jan and Fred are going to get real tired of seeing us.
If you would like to see the video of her birth ,you are welcome go to my you tube channel.
              Channel name is      Michelle C Cutler

Cowboy Ranch Beans

Homemade Pizza

I love this pizza. The crust is made a little differently then some recipes. But it makes a world of differences in the taste.

 Crust recipe:
7/8 cup of warm water. ( I use a cup ,since we are in a high altitude  )
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil ( a lot of recipes call for cooking oil but this gives it a better taste and texture.)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons yeast
In a kitchen aid or mixer ( With dough hook) place your sugar, water, olive oil, and yeast together in a bowl. Add your flour then your salt on top.
Knead for 7 min. Place in a bowl greased with olive oil. Roll your dough in the bowl to coat it. Cover with plastic and let rise for one hour. Place on flour surface and roll out in to any shape you desire.

  Making the pizza:
                                                  Preheat oven to 550 or as hot as you can get it.
Garlic butter
 3 cups mozzarella cheese ( Grate your own. It melts so much better then the pregrated. This will also give you a great stringy cheese consistence to your pizza.)
Fillings of your choice.
Can of diced tomatoes with garlic and basil added.
Place   1/2 of the can of tomatoes in a food processor of blender. Lightly puree.
      
Butter the outer edges of your crust with the garlic butter. Spread your puree tomatoes over the crust. Drain the rest of the tomatoes and add to the crust. Sprinkle 1/2 of cheese on top of the tomatoes, then add your fillings. Add the rest of the cheese.  Place in oven and cook for 7 to 8 min. Check after 6 min( all ovens cook different).

Enjoy.

Looking back at how my life has changed.

I have been thinking a lot about the life I led and how I got here. I stated out as an Army Brat. I grow up traveling all over the US and several other countries . After leaving home I worked and played in large cities. I loved it, couldn't see myself any where else.  I spent my high school years in a small town near where my dad was stationed and totally hated it. The guy I started dating in my 20's lived out in the country while I lived in the city . I was surprised to find I enjoyed being out there. It was like a mini vacation.
A couple years later I moved to Vegas where I met my husband. He grow up on a ranch but was now stationed at Nellis Air Force base ( Vegas). Where my family and I lived  I really enjoyed Vegas . There is so much to do no matter what the hour.
A couple of years later he got stationed in Germany. We end up living in a small village. It was even to small to call a town. At first I was lost. The streets closed up at 5. Everything in that village closed at 5 except for the guest houses ( they only had one.).   The Guest House is a restaurant, hotel, and gathering place. It  closed by 9.
Stienvienden ( Sorry can't remember how to spell the village name ) was a beautiful place and the people were very friendly.  To live there was like taking a walk back into time. If you want meat your went to the butcher, who also owned the guest house . For bread you went to the bakery. They even had a little candy store. There was only one very small convenient store. Twice a week a truck would come into town and sell veggies out of the back. In the mornings a guy would come door to door delivering  milk, soda,water, juices, and yes even beer. All you had to do was leave a note for him telling him what you wanted.Every Saturday people would come out and sweep the streets and side walks. They took great pride in their village.
 We were stationed there in the early 90's I know  this sounds like something from the far pasts ,but it was totally real and charming.

The reason I am telling you this, is because they started me on this journey  along with my husband.
 I learned to slow down to relax. To enjoy what was around me and the people I met. Even they festivals were centered around friends and enjoying what life had to offer. I was blessed with great friends ( thankfully a lot of them spoke English) Germany  taught me how to live rather then just run thru life with my eyes closed. Fast forward and My husband took what I learned and added a new level. He was able to start a little garden with out me rolling my eyes at him. Which as time went on turned into bigger gardens and me learning how to can. My husband had always loved the simple life, me not so much. But times were a changing.  Germany taught me to slow down. He was slowly teaching me  simple living.

 Over the course of time and  wonderful experiences I have come to love small towns and the life it offers. I now live on a homestead with three gardens , chickens, and this spring we will be adding goats,  We raise our own meat birds, turkey, and pig( with help from our friends since we can't have a pig where we live.). I am canning, cooking everything I can from scratch, and learning new skills every day. Did I mention and loving it!
 Germany started my journey by teaching me to slow down and my husband took me the rest of the way.  My parent never thought in their wild's dreams I would turn out this way. When I asked my mother how she  expected me to turn out she commented Died. To her defense I was a wild child when I was younger. Plus I had married a very violent man. Now my ex and long forgotten ( Love does really hurt some times) So I can understand that answer totally.  Being a city girl all my life, this was a BIG change.  Even to this day a lot of my friends and family are scratching their heads over my path in life.   What they didn't  know was there was always a uneasiness and discomfort about me. I was never quit comfortable in my life. Now I wouldn't change a thing. I am enjoying every thing about my life and there is no longer a uneasiness or discomfort. It may not be the life everyone one envisioned for me,but it's the one I need. As For city life. YOU CAN KEEP IT. Not my cup of tea. At one time I loved being around a lot of people and activity . Now it just makes me jumpy.

 If you had told me when I was young that I would led this life I would of laughed at you.
  Funny how your out look and life can change.