Potata Frittata

We've been experiencing extremely cold weather lately....like lows of minus 8 and minus 6 degrees with highs of 25 or so. To me it seems like forever for the house to warm up. One day I baked a cake and all of a sudden the house was nice and toasty. An Aha moment! I couldn't seem to get warm this morning so I decided to turn the oven on and make a Potato-Cheese-Egg Frittata. Not that Pa would ever eat it. He's currently at the well, slaving away. I took a pound of frozen hash browns, defrosted them and patted them dry. Browned some onion and green pepper, diced. Took them out of the pan and browned the hash browns. Mixed up 6 eggs with some water, added the onion and green pepper and cheddar cheese and poured them over the hash browns. Popped it into a 350 degree oven and baked till a knife came out clean. I could have used more salt but just added it when I ate it. So yummy! Frittatas are supposed to be cooked on top of the stove but I like my eggs DONE and didn't want to babysit them so the oven worked really great. You can freeze the left overs and heat them up in the microwave whenever you get hungry. But back to my point. The house was 53 degrees when Pa got up and it is now 74 in here.  And lucky us, the weather is warming up to the 40's today.

For the first time ever....ok for the first time in 2 years....we had no water for 2 days. Yep, frozen pipe. Poor Pa spent all day Tuesday trying to figure out where it was frozen. Boy, it was so cold that day too. My BFF Katie was working in Saint Johns on Tuesday and Wednesday so spent Tuesday night at our house so she didn't have to drive back and forth to Holbrook. I had to break the bad news that we would have no water for showers but pioneer that she is, she didn't bat an eyelash and toughed it out with us. Pa brought in some water from the rain water storage tank so we could flush the toilet and we had 3 gallons of drinking water to drink, brush our teeth and wash our face. Pa worked all morning on Wednesday and finally figured out where the pipe was frozen. The only 2 inch section that was close to the ground and had no insulation, close to the water tank. The ground was frozen so he had to use a pick and then put heat lamps on the pipe and viola! water at 2pm.  Our hot showers felt so fantastic that night. I didn't realize how often I wash my hands thru out the day until we didn't have water. I'm not compulsive or anything but everything out here is covered in dust or ashes from the wood stove so hands do get dirty.

Pa bought some Aspen logs to cut up for the wood stove. We are really disappointed in how it burns and heats. We are just about out of juniper. We will probably cut more this weekend if Pa can get the chain saw to work for more than 5 minutes. He gets it started, cuts a few pieces and it floods and dies. He's done all sorts of research to see what to do about it but can't find any answers.

My mom's birthday is this month. I usually get her flowers but wanted something to last for awhile. I found this idea on Pinterest and made this for my mom. I made the whole thing myself including the lined paper in the middle. It is divided up into 12 months with a page for each week. When something wonderful or noteworthy happens or a prayer is answered, she can jot it down in the journal and at the end of the year she can read back thru it and count her blessings. If she doesn't want to do that, she can write her grocery list on it. It was a lot of work but worth it. Katie made herself a memory jar which is the same thing. You can see it here: http://www.ktsangels.blogspot.com/2013/01/makn-memories-happen.html
She's taking orders if anyone is interested.

Last time I was at the Goodwill Weigh and Pay in Flagstaff I found these hair rollers.

The heating element doesn't get very hot so I've been using just the rollers. So tell me what ya think?

 This is Stella from Bugaboo Stamps.

This is me from Hell n Gone Ranch. Do you see a resemblance here? I usually don't look so somber but wanted to see how I compared to Stella. I think I've found my long lost sister!!!  ( I hate, hate, hate having my picture taken!!!!)

Did I share this card I made? I made it a month or so ago. I'm thinking about making 5 or 6 different themed  cards and putting them in a holder and seeing if I can sell some of them. I made a real pretty sympathy card the other day but haven't taken pictures of it yet.

Tilly slayed another rabbit in the garden this past week. Wednesday morning she went berserk and tried to claw her way into the pantry. When I opened the door I found a mouse that had just snapped the mouse trap. Meanwhile, Tilly was tearing thru the pantry, knocking over things trying to find the mouse I was holding in my hand (via the mouse trap). I couldn't get her attention so threw it down so she could "kill" it. She was so proud of herself. When she killed the rabbit, I let her carry it into the house and parade it around in front of the other dogs. We had quite a tug of war when I tried to get it so I could throw it out for the critters to feast on. This table is her favorite piece of furniture. It's perfect for her to sit on to look outside which she does for hours. She also uses it to watch tv and to nap on.

I sure hope Pa and Wayne get a lot done on the well so it can finally be finished. Pa said he will never volunteer to do another project for our Property Owners Association, especially for free. Like I've said before, it would have been done months ago if the officers of the board would have kept their noses out of it and let the guys do what they know how to do. I don't think the officers could find their way out of a wet paper bag without directions. That is, if they could read the directions. It wouldn't bother us at all if we just got rid of the POA all together. We aren't the only ones who live out here that  feel that way .

Well, I guess I'll go out and enjoy our "warm" weather.......