What To Do With Leftover Pork Stock?

Lisa made a really great pork tenderloin dinner in the crock pot (I love crock pot meals) and while cleaning up the leftovers there was so much really good stock left over that it seemed a shame to just throw it out.  I think living on the farm has made me a little more resourceful in using what we have.  Anyway, I saved the pork stock along with the left over potatoes, carrots and onions to make pork soup.  I Googled pork soup and the closet thing I could find was pork chop soup.  I guess pork stock is not a common use for making things.  I mean chicken and beef broth are used in a lot of recipes.  So, I bought some pork gravy mixes and put that into the stock for flavor and thickening then added the potatoes, carrots, onions, leftover green beans and a can of Veg-all.  I put it all into the crockpot, added egg noodles and let it cook on low for 8 hours.  It was actually rather tasty but it did need more salt.  I dumped a bunch of different spices in but it still needed more salt.  One thing I would change if I ever make Vegetable Pork soup again is to add the egg noodles towards the end.  The noodles were cooked way too long and were just mush.  We did have leftover pork lion that I should of saved for the soup but instead I mixed it with BBQ sauce and made pull pork sandwiches.  So, from Lisa's pork loin dinner we managed to get four plus dinners out of it: 1) the pork loin dinner, 2) pulled pork sandwiches, 3) Vegetable pork soup, and 4,5 & 6 Vegetable pork soup.  I would say that was being resourceful with the leftovers. 
Along with the soup, we watched a lot of College Football.  All five of my teams won yesterday!!!  Way to go Lumberjacks, Huskies, Gators, Gamecocks and Ducks!  I had to post a picture of my little Gator girl, Rory.  Rory is our granddaughter.  She is 16 weeks old now and we just love her so much. I know part of the reason Florida did so well yesterday is because she was rooting for them. 
Today we will begin working on the cabin's interior.  The exterior looks great and turned out better then we thought.  Today is also Week 1 of NFL Football.  GO BEARS!  Check back tomorrow to see the progress we made in the cabin. Also, if you want my recipe for Veg. Pork soup let me know!

The Exterior Of The Cabin Is Done!

Wow, all I can say is having the correct equipment to do a job is a great thing.  After 5 days of working on the exterior of the cabin it is complete.  For four days we were using an extension ladder that we had to prop up one side to level it.  Staying level has been a challenge this whole week.  We were propping up one end of the extension ladder with 2x6s.  Yesterday, BJ brought us an adjustable extension ladder that levels itself out.  What a difference it made while putting on the soffits.  What took us hours before took us about an hour yesterday to finish.  If we had this ladder three days ago we would of been done that much earlier.  So, the soffits are up, everything on the outside of the cabin is painted and we are ready to start on the inside of the cabin.  BJ lent us his nail gun a couple of days ago and that also made a huge difference with putting up the trim. I have to say that the cabin really looks nice and I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Tim who has been working his rear end off in getting the exterior done.  Thank you Tim, I love you! 
Just a reminder, there is only a couple more days left of "Name the Cabin" poll so vote today!  It is suppose to be a rainy day so we are going to take today off, let our sore bodies have a break and watch College Football.  Tim really enjoys College Football so much more than Pro Football and there are some good games on today.  If you follow my Travels With Ruth blog I have my college teams that I follow listed and I am still writing a few posts a week.  So check out my picks and see how they compare with yours.  I am going to announce my NFL teams today on the blog.
GO BEARS!

Cabin Update!

We got a couple of things accomplished on the cabin today.  We were suppose to work on getting all of the soffits measured, cut, painted and put up but that did not happen for one really good reason; we did not have the extension ladder to use.  The contractor working on George and Lisa's house had another job that had to be completed so he was not able to bring the ladder to us today.  So, I painted the front soffit that we put up on Wednesday while Tim worked on getting the wood ready for the soffits.  I don't think I mentioned it before but the cabin has been built with all recycled building material.  George had left over scrapes from building his house that he used in creating the walls, floor and roof for the cabin and we have been using scrapes of wood left over from the house and moving materials.  The paint is also recycled from other projects that George had been working on.  So, we have been saving a lot of money with the construction of the cabin which will allow me to decorate cabin just the way I want it.  The cabin will also double as a guest room with the addition of a sleeper sofa in the future.
I did work most of the afternoon on Door Prizes for my sister's SAS (Stack and Stamp event) that is coming up in a couple of weeks.  I try to help out my sister anyway I can so I made some of the door prizes for the event.  I will post a picture of the sets I made today.
So, with an easy day yesterday working on the cabin we will hit it hard today and hopefully complete all the soffits so we can move inside the cabin and get it completed.  Check back tomorrow to see what we got accomplished.

The Cabin - Day Three

We have completed day three on the cabin and finally it is completely painted and all of the trim is up.  We are working on the soffits now and after coming up with a way of leveling an extension ladder on uneven ground, not very safe, today we will have the use of an extension ladder that has moveable legs that can be adjusted to level the ladder.  I am very happy about this because it means Tim will be a lot safer working on the ladder.  The past couple of days were nerve racking when we were dealing with the uneven ground and the "rigged" ladder.  We did get the soffits done on the front of the cabin.  Today I realized that the cabin's paint scheme is similar to the cottage at Lake Geneva that we use to live in during the summer when I was little.  It is also the same color as my Grandma Colley's house was at Lake Geneva when I was growing up.  It's cute and I love it.  I took a couple more pictures of our view since there was such a big change.  We woke up to low clouds so that the mountains could not be seen at all.  By the afternoon the clouds were gone and the evening views were beautiful again.  Today's goal is to get the rest of the soffits up and painted and with the use of the leveling extension ladder we should be able to complete it!  Check back tomorrow and see if we did!

The Trim Is Almost Done

We have two more pieces of trim to put up and the trim on the cabin will be completed.  Then we only have the eaves to deal with on the outside of the cabin.  Once that is complete we begin on the inside of the cabin.  We still have a long way to go but at least the outside is looking good.  It was hot yesterday so at lunch time we took a break and ran into town to get a few more supplies for the cabin and go grocery shopping.  When we got back Tim and I did a couple more things on the cabin then quit for dinner.  The trim is making a huge difference on the cabin and it is really looking nice!  We are learning to work around the unlevel ground and with some extra help with building scraps we are making things work.  Check back tomorrow and see what we get done!
I do have to address one little issue that my mother in law has brought to my attention.  I was told that if you skip putting blogspot.com at the end of my blog and just put .com then you will be directed to a not so nice site.  It is a porno site.  So please make sure when you are entering my website you add the blogspot.com.  Sorry if any of you found the incorrect site and thanks Mom C for letting me know!  Now it is time to start work for the day!

The Cabin Is Painted

Tim and I spent most of the day working on the cabin.  We wanted to get it all painted yesterday so we could work on the trim today.  It was a success and the cabin looks good with its new colors.  I wanted a "cottage" look so we painted the exterior walls white and the trim a hunter green/forest green. The roof was already hunter green or forest green so we matched the color and it looks so nice together.  We did learn a few things while working on the cabin and over came some "challenges" during the painting.  The cabin only has one side that sits on level ground.  The three other sides rest on supports so painting the other three sides was a challenge especially since we did not have scaffolds.  Working with a roller was great and Tim was able to paint everything.  There are grooves in the exterior walls that had to brushed on, my job, but I could only get so far without a ladder.  We figured it out but I will not share how.  The important thing is that we got the painting done and  I love the way it looks.  Thanks Tim for "everything" you had to do to gets the grooves painted.
Now that the "Name the Cabin" poll is over the Craft Shack won with Studio Ruth coming in second. During the contest I was given so many cute names that I am going to run another poll, for a week, and see what name wins.  Thanks to my friends, you know who you are, for the suggestions, now let's see what the results will be!  Please vote below!
Today we will begin the trim work on the cabin so check back tomorrow for more pictures!

Yet Another Project For Tim

We have been in Eastern Tennessee now for a week and it is still hard to believe that this is our home for a while.  Every time I look out my window and see the beautiful view I am in awe.  I don't think I will ever get tired of the view.  Yesterday I talked about Phase one of the cabin that is going to become my craft room.  We got a lot done on it and we also went and bought supplies to get started on phase two; the exterior.  You would think that the cabin is a big enough project for us to be working on and it is but Tim felt he needed another project and over the week end we purchased a used golf cart that he is going to fix up so we can use it to get around on the farm with it.  There are 25 acres here on the farm so a cart will be nice to have to get around and to go check the mail in.  It will be quite a while before we get a chance to use the golf cart but that is okay.  We got a really good deal on it but that is because there is so much to do on it to get it running.  The nice thing is Tim knows how to fix it up and I know when he is done it will be great.  Now all I have to do is try to keep him focused on the cabin for a while first.  Look for pictures of our progress on the cabin tomorrow.