The Kabuki Brush

I may live in the country but that doesn’t mean I don’t love to shop and do girly things.  When my mom comes to visit she usually brings a treat bag from Sephora or one of our favorite makeup counters.  I really miss having easy access to large department stores and ample shopping but I get my fix when I go home so I can survive in the meantime. 

Last year (I can’t remember on which visit) Mom brought me a new makeup brush which quickly turned into my new favorite.  She found the Chanel Kabuki Brush and thought it had a fun name so she got it.  Little did she know how fantastic it is!  Most days I don’t wear full makeup if any at all.  If I am just going to be around town I will put on some mascara and some powder.  This is the best powder brush ever.  It is rare that I will rave about a specific product so much but Chanel makes the best makeup brushes that last forever and this one is no exception.  It is soft, plump, applies powder wonderfully and is also great for blending. 

The only drawback I see with this brush is that it is very short and chubby (see picture below) thus making it hard to fit into a brush bag and travel with.  That means it usually has to stay at home during vacations but that is ok because Chanel’s other brushes are equally as fantastic and can also do the same job. So, if you are looking for a great new powder brush and trust the unprofessional judgment of this country bumpkin I would highly recommend the Kabuki!

The Chanel Kabuki Brush


For the record, Chanel has no idea who I am and had not part in me reviewing this item.

A Clean House - The Impossible Task

It is pretty much impossible for us to keep our house in tip top shape.  Since I have been on maternity leave I have tried so hard to keep it up but it is just daunting.  We don’t have a large house but something about keeping every space clean just seems impossible.  One week our upstairs will be in tip-top shape but the downstairs is a mess.  The next week they seem to flip flop and we can live a happy and clean life downstairs but the upstairs seems to have been hit by a tornado.  To try and pace myself and keep everything in better shape I created a cleaning list that is divided into tasks that are done daily.  I have been keeping up with this for about a month now and although it isn’t perfect I feel like we are getting a better handle of the house.  My cleaning list has a lot of details and while it make seem petty and over detailed to some, for me it is necessary.  If I don’t list specific tasks to be accomplished and leave a place where I can check them off (it’s the little things that make me happy!) then they most likely won’t get done.  I love making lists and I love checking them off so for me this is the start to a great system.

The biggest issue I am having with this schedule is that I am very motivated at the start of the week but by the end I move like a slug when it comes to cleaning.  That is why I have put my least important tasks towards the end of the week.  However, those tasks are getting neglected in a big way.  Maybe I need to try and flip flop the list every few weeks and change the order of tasks so that everything gets done.  Maybe I just need to get off my rear and persevere and get it all done!  All I know is that the weeks where it gets all (or mostly) done I feel fantastic and really enjoy being able to do other activities without the messy house weighing on the back of my mind.  What do you do to keep your house tidy (or at least livable) with your busy schedule and demanding life?

Here is the cleaning schedule that I made:

MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY
Bedrooms and Upstairs     Change All Sheets o   M&M’s Bed o   I’s Bed o   Guest Bed Change All Towels o   M&M’s BR o   Guest BR o   Downstairs BR P/U bedrooms o   M&M’s Room o   I’s Room o   Guest Room Dust Upstairs o   M&M’s Room o   I’s Room o   Guest Room o   Hall/Book Area	Bathrooms and Trash     M&M’s Bathroom o   Wipe Down Counters o   Clean Toilet o   Scrub Tub & Shower o   Take out Trash Guest Bathroom o   Wipe Down Counters o   Clean Toilet o   Scrub Shower o   Take out Trash Downstairs Bathroom o   Wipe Down Counters o   Clean Toilet o   Scrub Shower o   Take out Trash Take Out Trash o   Kitchen o   M&M BR o   Guest BR o   Downstairs BR o   Diaper Trashes o   Upstairs Office o   Craft Room	Laundry, Kitchen and Downstairs   Bring Down All Laundry o   M&M’s Room o   I’s Room o   Wash o   Fold Dust Downstairs o   Kitchen o   Dining Area o   Living Room o   Craft Room Kitchen o   Wipe Down Counters o   Wipe Down Cabinets o   Dishes o   Clean Out Fridge	Floors     Vacuum or Sweep o   Downstairs o   Upstairs Hallway o   M&M’s Room o   Guest Room o   I’s Room o   Stairs Mop o   Kitchen o   Living Area o   Downstairs BR o   Laundry Room o   Guest BR o   M&M’s BR o   Stairs	Straighten     Downstairs o   Living Room Tables o   Dining Room Table o   Tall Table o   Side Entry Desk o   MA’s Desk o   MT’s Desk o   Laundry Room Clean out Honda o   P/U Trash o   Vacuum o   Wash Outside o   Wash Inside Clean out Truck o   P/U Trash o   Vacuum o   Wash Outside o   Wash Inside

Family Favorite Granola

We aren’t big breakfast eaters in our house but we have really come to love some homemade granola.  Eaten on its own or mixed in with yogurt is a real treat!  I was inspired to try making my own after some coworkers had been showing theirs off and telling everyone how delicious it was.  Instead of using their suggested recipes I went out on my own search. (Not that their granola wasn’t great, I just like trying my own thing!)  I got the inspiration for my recipe from Ree Drummond of The Pioneer Woman.  I used the basic steps from her “Granola Bars” recipe and made it my own.  Now that I look back I see that the main similarities are cooking style and the few staple ingredients like rolled oats, butter and brown sugar.  The rest has taken a fun twist as I went to Natural Grocers in the "big city" and got a little crazy with what I could add to the granola to make it tasty.  This recipe is very filling so it is a great one to keep you feeling full for a long time.  If you are looking for a good recipe to try I would suggest giving this a shot!

Favorite Family Granola Bars

Ingredients:

9 Cups rolled oats – or however many you have, just make sure they aren’t quick oats

4 Tablespoons butter, melted
¼ Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Brown Sugar
2/3 Cup Honey
½ Cup Molasses
3 Tsp Vanilla Extract
¼ Cup Water
1 Cup Wheat Germ
1 Cup Chopped Pecans (We always use more because we have so many)
1/3 Cup Sesame Seeds
½ Cup Sunflower Seeds
½ Cup Dried Cranberries or Blueberries
2 Cups Coconut Flakes

 Ingredients in bold/italics are just suggestions.  Get creative and use more of things you like and less of things you don’t.  Better yet, add any of your favorite things not listed here!

 Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350⁰

Mix the oats, vegetable oil, melted butter and salt together in a large bowl.

Spread the mixture out onto 2 baking sheets and toast in the oven for 15-20 minutes.  Toast until it has taken a light/golden brown color.  Shake the pan a few times (or stir oats with spoon) during baking to make sure they don’t burn.

Remove from the oven and set aside.

Reduce oven heat to 325⁰

In a pan on the stove combine the brown sugar, honey, molasses and water.  Heat the mixture slowly making sure to stir until combined.  Once combined add in the vanilla.

Mix the toasted oats, wheat germ, pecans, sesame and sunflower seeds, cranberries and coconut flakes together.

Mix the sweet/sugary mix into the oats and stir this all together until everything is well coated and gooey.

Press this into a rimmed baking sheet that has been greased well or is lined with tin foil and then greased.

Bake 20-25 minutes until it is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool.  If you want to make granola bars let it cool in the pan and then cut with a sharp knife into desired bar sizes.  If you want to make granola crumble let it cool slightly and remove it from the baking sheet and crumble/crush it with your hands.

Hatching Chickens

I have a huge affinity for chickens.  The last 2 years I have gotten orders of chicks mailed to me from large hatcheries from around the country.  My laying flock has 20-30 hens in it (maybe more, I haven’t counted in ages) and about 5 roosters.  There are all sorts of breeds which make them appealing to watch and also an adventure when you go to gather eggs as they are all different colors, shapes and sizes.  They live in our backyard and are so much fun!

This year for Christmas my husband got me an egg incubator.  He picked out a deluxe incubator with an automatic egg turner, circulation fan and hydrometer.  I set my first batch of eggs on Christmas day and they began hatching last week.  What fun this is going to be!  We are up to 10 chicks that have hatched and there are still some more set so hopefully they will hatch as well. 

I have learned a lot during this first hatch.  First off, people get really into this hatching thing.  When I search for answers to my simple questions about hatching I am faced with an information overload which, I suppose is a great issue to have. Sometimes, I just want a basic answer and that can be hard to find without scanning through pages and pages of information.  I have also learned that I am a little bit anxious and don’t follow the “rules” very well.  Rules like, stop turning the eggs at day 18, don’t ever open the lid to the incubator after day 18, wait until they are totally dry before moving them to the brooder and many more rules that I am sure I am breaking.  The first 5 eggs that pipped were in the egg turner, still turning.  They have since hatched and are all doing fantastic.  After one hatches and has dried 3-5 hours then I move it to the brooder as I don’t want it to get stuck in the egg turner that is still turning for the other chicks.  Bottom line, I try to think like a hen.  Is a hen keeping a scratch pad by her nest so she knows when it is day 18 and she should stop rolling them around?  Does she never get up the last 3-4 days of incubation so she can keep the humidity just right?  Maybe so, but watching my hens work I am going to highly doubt they follow the rules either, I know I have some rouge hens out there.  We are getting a great hatch out percent so really I think we are doing ok.  Maybe I will figure out that I should follow the rules to get a better hatching percent but for the mean time I feel like we are doing great.  The biggest change I will make for the next hatch is to save up the eggs and start them all at once.  For the first hatch I just put eggs in as I collected them so there were a few a day over about a week’s time and now they are all staggered while hatching.  Next time I want to start them all at once so they will be similar in age and size when hatching. 

 

This has been such a fun experience and I can’t wait to get my next set going!  Happy hatching!

Welcome to The Rusted Thimble!

What is The Rusted Thimble?  The Rusted Thimble is a place to talk about life.  The highs and lows, the exciting activities we do and also the basic day to day things that make this world such a fantastic place to live in.  I used to post to Tales of a Country Girl with a City Soul (www.countrygirlcitysoul.blogspot.com) but will stop posting there for the time being for a few reasons.  First off, the name of that blog is just so darn long!  Second off, that was created a long time ago and life has changed for me since then.  Yes, I still love the city and miss it dearly but my life is now in the country, and will be that way for as long as I can see.  I can’t wait to document all the fun times I will have as I travel back to Massachusetts to visit what will always be home for me but dwelling in the past and yearning for the city so bad it hurts just isn’t healthy!  Who knows, maybe I will return to “Country Girl…” someday but for now, it is time to move on.

With a new year I feel a fresh start is in order.  I can’t wait to talk about my family that went from 2 to 3 this past fall and all the excitement of having a baby in the house.  I also can’t wait to blab on and on about all my crafting projects.  My quilting continues to challenge me and I have many projects planned for 2014 (more than I will ever be able to complete).  In addition, we continue to have some wild times on the funny farm and I don’t see that slowing down at all.  So, with that I invite you to join along with me as I venture through life on the High Plains and enjoy everything this world has to offer!