Volunteer Gift

Every year, one of the nursing homes where our ladies group goes to sing each month has a party for the volunteers and they give us such nice gifts. This year the gift was a 'meal in a bowl.'


Wanna know what's inside? Everything for the spaghetti except the hamburger! There is the pasta, sauce, parmesan cheese, bread, garlic salt, another herb/spice, colander, spaghetti scoop and a dish cloth.

Wasn't that a nice gift?

(Maybe now I should retire my avocado green plastic colander that I bought the first week we were married, way back in '69!)

Desperate for Something to Post

Why is there a little container sitting on my CERT backpack? We were told to carry Vicks to put in our noses if we have to search some place that smells putrid. Happy thought, indeed.
(Told you I was desperate for something to post. Ya didn't want to hear about my broken tooth, did ya?)



Remember a while back I posted a picture of the lettuce that I was starting from the base of the leaf lettuce I'd bought? Well, I did something wrong so it's having a time catching up (shouldn't have scraped the bottom; I prevented the roots growing at first) Fortunately, I didn't mess up the celery stump that I tried later. It developed a good root system quickly so I stuck it in some dirt. Looks quite healthy and has grown lots of leaves already. Maybe I'll get another bunch of celery out of the old stump. Hmmm, I wonder how long I can keep one clump going? It's already got roots. Do you think I can just cut off the stalks I want and it will grow new ones??? I wonder if green onions work like this, too. They come with the roots still on, don't they?

Most of the snow is gone; just a few piles left. Dale tilled the garden for me, and I planted the onions, leaf lettuce, snow peas, parsnips and carrots. The rest will have to wait a few more weeks until it warms up more.

The new Meijer store in Gaylord is due to open in just 6 days. I'm so excited!

Major Meltdown!

We lost a ton of snow today.


Even the rhubarb is popping through.





The mountain is turning into a hill:



Tulips and daffodils are popping up next to the house (only on the south side, of course.)

Bare spots!

Birthday Weekend

Both Dale and Kate had their birthdays this weekend, so we had Josh and Kate over for dinner Sunday. Here are the birthday buddies.



Monday we headed downstate to Betsy and Anthony's home to celebrate with more family. It was also my parents' 58th wedding anniversary. Jeff & Karen and the kids we able to make a spur-of-the-moment trip over for it, too,. We had a great time together. Sorry, no pictures of my adorable grandchildren. One little granddaughter was wondering why I didn't bring any applesauce (they love my applesauce). I told her that next time she'll have to call and remind me. Sooo, not long after, I was upstairs with the kids and Caroline was making me food in her toy kitchen. She had our plates all ready. She got the plate with the chicken on it. She gave me the bowl and a spoon. She told me I got soup. When I exclaimed over the delicious soup and asked what kind it was, she said, "Applesauce soup." A little guilt trip there for Grandma. A few more bites then, "We forgot to pray!" So she bowed her head and sweetly gave thanks. How could Grandma forget that, too?



Betsy fixed a wonderful meal--and when I say wonderful--I mean wonderful! She smoked chicken and ribs. MMMMMMM, smoked barbeque ribs, mmmmmmmm. And of course there was ice cream and birthday cake for dessert. Betsy made this adorable birthday cake herself. I don't know if you can see, but there is a treasure map in the beach 'sand' (white and brown sugars mixed), with blue waves around the treasure chest cake. Chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, and foil-covered chocolate coins--yum! This cake was huge--four layers. Three on the bottom and one for the lid. Dale said it was the best birthday cake he's ever had!


Betsy was really excited. While we were there, she got one or two people wanting her to do the photography for their weddings. She's been getting lots more hits on her business website. She also received a notice that a picture she entered in a photography contest is in the finals.


We couldn't believe the difference in the weather downstate. Here's what we have:

But down there, they have all bare ground. I felt like we had arrived in the deep south!

Tightwaddery

I read an interesting tip the other day. It said you can grow more lettuce by cutting off the bottom part and suspending it in water.

This took too much room so I have since changed the dowels to toothpicks and put it over a glass of water. It's actually growing new lettuce leaves...so I started a celery, too. We shall see what we shall see!

HELP!!! WHERE DID ALL MY POSTS GO???

Can you see this one?

Dollhouse Progress

Today was the day to start the wallpapering. I didn't like the slanted walls in the second floor, so built some knee walls to straighten things up a bit.

This is the bedroom.

This will be the bathroom unless whoever wins it wants to change it into a nursery.

This will be the kitchen. You can't see the wallpaper pattern very well, but it is supposed to resemble delft tiles.

Here you can see the interior so far. The living room has a tiny brown and orange plaid pattern. I'm quite pleased with today's progress, but to be perfectly honest, I had a "little" help.

The next step will be the floors, then I'll be able to do the woodwork trims that neaten the whole thing up.

The Exterior is Finished!!!

At last! Finally finished the exterior of the VBS dollhouse tonight. Still needs some kind of decoration--wreath, flower boxes or something--but the work is basically done on the outside. Next step will be making some little changes on the interior, then papering, flooring, and trims. We went to Arnie's in Houghton Lake today so I could get some scrapbook paper for wallpaper. Didn't really have what I was looking for, but got some that will do, if I don't print some from the web.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Every few years, I pull out our all-time-favorite valentine and give it to Dale again. I had originally given it to him in the mid-70's. Cutest one I've ever seen.

A Valentine for Mein Sveetie Pie

Ist dis not der

Smoochin' Season?

Yah, dis ist der

Smoochin' Season!

Ist it not true dot

huggin's pleasin'?

Yah, ist true dot

huggin's pleasin'!

Ist you not mein

Sveetie Pie?

Und mitout you

vould I die?

Sveetie Pie,

Smoochin' Season

I vould die,

huggin's pleasin'!

Valentine, let's stop

der teasin'

Und get busy

mit der squeezin'!!!

How Many Kitties Do You Know That Pick Up Their Toys???

We were recently surprised when we realized Shylo was picking up her toys and returning them to this egg carton when she was done playing with them. Sometimes we put kitty treats in the egg cups and she likes fishing them out. Her other game seems to be getting toys stuck under furniture so I have to find them and retrieve them for her. I'm not so wild about that game.

Excellent Site

Don't know if you've ever noticed, but in my links, the first is the American Colonist's Library. It is one huge library--all readable. Several centuries of books. Ya just gotta check it out sometime.

There Are Some Things One Is Better Off Not Knowing

Did you know you can satisfy your craving for chocolate cake within 5 minutes? This is called "Cake in a Mug" (or something like that). I got the recipe somewhere online.
Mix together:
4 T. flour
4 T. sugar
2 T. cocoa
1 egg
3 T milk
3 T. oil
2-3 T. chocolate chips (Recipe says they are optional. Can they be serious???)
Small splash vanilla

Spray inside of mug with pan spray; fill with batter. Microwave for 3 minutes.

Caroline's Birthday Cake

This cute cake was made by Betsy for Caroline's 4th birthday. Caroline got the top tier all to herself, the middle tier went to my parents, and we all did our best to devour the bottom tier! Caroline had requested a strawberry cake with My Little Ponies. I think it's adorable. And it was delicious!

Very Little Progress

I've added a bit more trim. The rest (if I decide to use it) will not go on until after the shingles are on. Then I just have the inside work to do. It will be several days before I can get to it again. Busy week coming.

Global Warming

We have a fair amount of snow this winter. When I was standing on top of this pile, I was about eye level with the roof of our house. Read recently that February is the snowiest month. My, oh my!

Building Progress

The dollhouse is coming along. I decided to do it all white, with oak porch and black shingles. (No, the shingles are not on yet. Just painted so far.) Next work session will be preparing the gingerbread trim and installing it when ready. That will really change the looks of it. It will look more like a house than a church then.

The Orchid Dollhouse

A few days ago, I started building the dollhouse for this summer's VBS.


First, find the parts needed to start with.

My least favorite part...sanding. Not wild about painting the little parts, either.

The directions said to prepare all the window parts first, then put them on the proper pieces of the house--before putting the walls together. Well, I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish the interior woodwork, so I just pulled out the parts for the exterior. Then I got to thinking about how I usually tape the houses together until the glue sets. Just wouldn't work if the windows were already installed. Scratch that plan. Dig out the basic structure pieces.


Glue and tape. I was out of masking tape, so had to use painter's tape. Note to self: Next time, make sure to have masking tape before starting.


A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do...


Add dormers and gable.



There will eventually be shingles on the roof (Yuck! I hate shingling). This black paint is just to hide spaces that may show up between.





A few of the windows ready to go on when the outside walls are painted.

That's it for the first three days. Of course, that's not three steady days worth of work. Just what I could get done in the time I had. Right after I took the picture of the house on it's side and weighted with stuff from the cupboards, our CERT team had its first run, so off I went to stand outside in 4 degree (not including wind chill) weather. I was pleased when I arrived home about 5 hours later and saw the house still standing as I'd left it.

Spring Fever

I received some gift certificates to Gurney's Seed Co. for Christmas, and today I placed my order. Lots of seeds and bulbs will soon be on their way to Frederic!!! How am I ever going to wait for gardening time???

Here We Go Again...

This is the dollhouse kit I will soon be starting to put together. It will be one of the prizes for VBS this summer. (The one I made last year was a big hit.) I'm trying to decide what colors to use. Maybe a mint with white trim and some accent color. I don't know. Any suggestions?

Pirated Pictures

Betsy and Kate talked me into having highlights put into my hair. Let me tell you, I was very nervous about this; they were enjoying it all too much.


This picture does NOT show the true color. When the light shines on it, it is much, much, much lighter and reminds me of....
CARROTS! I plan to make it dark again later this week. (Pictures from Kate's blog)



And I know you're all wondering about "The Snake". This picture, taken from Betsy's blog, shows where the little critter appeared. Guess Betsy was a 'bit' surprised. She then carried it in her purse, looking for an opportunity to pass it to the next unsuspecting victim, but Karen spotted it and sounded the alert. Now Betsy is stuck with it until the next gathering. Hmmm, I wonder if that was what prompted her invitation to come down for Caroline's birthday later this month???

Well, 2009 is off to a frustrating start. I'm having trouble getting caught up with things after all the holiday fun. Not due to laziness, but circumstances beyond my control (mostly). Things are starting to come together though, so hopefully I won't feel so snowed under before long.

Christmas Fun

As many of us that could, got together at Betsy and Anthony's for Christmas. We had a great time.

My parents opening their gifts.

Kate with her camera. When our family gets together, one must have a camera...for self-defense!

Dale opening his new Beagle wear coat. It's really nice--the nicest he's ever owned!

Betsy gave us pedicures (not the guys). I love the bright red; I usually only use pink.

This is the tag that came with a cute jar labeled "Brownie Points" I give Brownie Points when they do something especially nice. However, once in a while, I take some Brownie Points away. All in good fun. I try not to be a mean mother-in-law.

Betsy helping Lori see if there's enough salt in the mashed potatoes.

A feast fit for a king...and enough to feed his army! We had two hams and two turkeys with all the trimmings.

Anthony smoked a turkey for the first time. Turned out pretty good. The white meat was nice and moist.

Karen made one of her adorable gingerbread houses. (Yep, I got the chocolate door!)

Just hangin' out.


This was in Betsy and Anthony's front yard when we came home from shopping the day after Christmas. Actually, it was already dead and gutted out...and frozen. It was one Jeff shot and was giving to Ben. The neighbor's dog was having a fit behind the fence!

Remember, I try not to post pictures of my little grandchildren on this public blog. I plan to post more pictures on Facebook.