Happy Easter and it is The Hodgepodge

Happy Easter

It is Wednesday! That means it is time for the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

Click here to join the fun!

 

 1. What's a word that describes your life? A word you wish described your life?

What's a word that describes your life .. MUD!

What is a word you wish described your life .. DRY!

 

Ah we are in MUD season in Northwest Wisconsin. As a mom to boys, oh MUD season.

 

 Trying to get out to the yard barn, hang on to your boots. Our yard takes FOREVER to dry in early Spring.

I try so hard to be patient.

But it is so hard for an out of doors kind of girl, who can not wait to start cleaning the yard and get in the garden.

 

 
2. Back in my day we___________________________________?

We paid .99 cents for gas.

 

 3. When it comes to takeout are you more likely to opt for Italian, Mexican, or Chinese food? Does a typical week at your house include takeout?

Pizza!

We will do pizza.

We very seldom do take out here at this house. 

 

 4. Think about the people you most respect. What is it about them that earned your respect?

 The dedication they have to helping others. Taking time to help answer questions and taking time to really listen.

 5. What's something your friends might see and say is 'so you'?

 FLOWERS!

 6.  Insert your own random thought here. 

Years past Easter Cakes .. this has become a tradition for our family. I will try to make a bunny cake for our Easter celebration.

 

Last year I made Bunny Butt Cupcakes. 

Can you see the bunny sneaking down into his bunny nest. 

 

Forcing Bulbs

 I have always wanted to try forcing bulbs. 

The best down to earth advice I found was from Floret Flowers.

In October I purchased some tulips and daffodil bulbs at Walmart.  The bulbs were inexpensive. I did not want to put a lot of money into this experiment. I had no idea if it would work.

October 31st I placed the bulbs in the refrigerator. They stayed in the refrigerator until December 1st.

While I was decorating for Christmas, I also created some forced bulb pots to set next to our South side patio door.

Valentine's week I was enjoying fresh tulips and daffodils.

 

Forcing bulbs was easy and fun. It was also a great way to garden, keep my hands in the soil, during Wisconsin winters.

Having tulips and daffodils pop up in January and bloom in February and March, gave this flower deprived girl something to create a bouquet with.

I found forcing bulbs to be a lot of fun. I plan to create more pots next winter. I will use different containers. I plan to experiment with galvanized buckets, baskets and pottery.

 

Spring Bouquet

Hello Spring

Happy Spring! 

We still have plenty of snow on the ground here in Northwest Wisconsin. 

Even so, spring is in the air. Last week I shared that I saw three Robin. As of today, I have seen flocks of them returning. I also heard the Sandhill crane this morning.

Today I will share with you how to create a simple Spring table bouquet. When I say table bouquet, I mean you can see the person sitting across from you at the table. My husband hates when bouquets are so big they block the view of the person sitting across from him.

Gather

 Pint sized large mouth mason jar

Peony

Daisy

Flowers off of Chives

Pussy Willows

Hosta Leaves

Ferns

Sedum

 

Tips 

 Early April will be the time to gather your pussy willow. Pussy willow will dry nicely and you can use it all year around in your bouquets.

Do not put the Pussy Willow that you want to dry to use in future bouquets in water. 

I pick my pussy willow this time of year, I dry it by setting it in a large vase ~ without water ~ then I have pussy willow for late spring bouquets as a filler.

♥

Carla

♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

The American Robin is the bird of New England's state of Connecticut, and also of the states of Michigan and Wisconsin. He occupies a very special place in our affections, for he enjoys our company to the point where he will build a nest in our gardens, sometimes in a bush next to a door or window where he gives his concert, in rain or sunshine, knowing that he has appreciative listeners.

 

 

 

Taste a Rainbow

Taste a Rainbow 

I am sharing an old post I did. This was a fun project the boys I did together for St. Patrick's Day.

We found this fun idea in Family Fun Magazine. Taste a Rainbow! Just in time for St. Patrick's Day!

Prepare your favorite white cake mix. Divide the batter evenly among six bowls. Make up the colors according to the Food Coloring chart on box. Line muffin pan with baking cups. Evenly distribute the purple batter,blue batter and so on. Bake the cupcakes according to your white cake recipe.

"Wow! It really worked!" that is what we said after they cooled and we cut them in half! :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Lemon Meringue Pie and it is the Hodgepodge

We still have snow here in Northwest Wisconsin. I plan to go for a cross country ski today.

I keep a ski journal. My latest entry for a ski was April, 22! Will we make it to April this ski season?

Let's join Joyce and the others for the Hodgepodge.

Click here to join the fun! 

 1. Best place you've been lately?

The UP of Michigan, staying in this lovely cabin and cross country skiing with my family.

2. What's something you should say yes to today? Or this week? Or even this year?

More sunrises and sunsets.

3. Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day in any way, shape, or form?  If so tell us how. Our family will wear green on St. Patrick's Day just for the fun of it.  In Western cultures the color green is typically associated with jealousy, nature, good luck, and growth. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word 'green'? Spring!

 4. What's a product or service you love so much you'd happily be their spokesperson? Tell us what makes you such a fan.

 Twinings tea. I enjoy the flavor of the tea and the special blends they create. My favorite blend during the holiday season is Butter Mint.

5. March 14th is Pi Day. How are your math skills? I am rusty with my math skills. I blame it on the calculator. I worked in Accounts Payable and that is when using the calculator at super fast speed began for me. I think that is when my math skills started to go as well. I still can fly on the calculator.

 What's the last thing you did that required math of any kind? I balanced my bank account. And most importantly do you like pie? I love pie! What's your favorite kind? Lemon Meringue Pie With ice cream, whipped cream, or please hold the cream?  A wonderful slice of Lemon Meringue pie with a mountain high meringue. 

6.  Insert your own random thought here. 

I  chuckle at.. once our neck of the woods reaches that 50 degree day after the long winter. We are all ready to head out for ice cream.

 

3 Snows on a Robin's Back

I saw a Robin! I saw a Robin!

A Robin is the sign of Spring in Wisconsin.

or is it?

They say ..

It has to snow three times on the Robin's back before Spring has really Sprung!!

What Northwest Wisconsin still looks like.. not sure what that Robin is finding to eat.

 

Blooming Tea and Joy List Monday

My friend gave me Blooming Tea as a gift. It comes as this pod.

The pod will become a blooming flower.

The flower is usually consisted of green tea buds, jasmine, chrysanthemum, amaranth, osmanthus and lily.

 The pod.

 It is starting to bloom.

 Flower Basket, that was the name of my tea.

Yes, it does look like a flower basket.

Joy List Monday

♥ a weekly ritual ♥

 a reminder to stop and pay attention to the little beauties and graces 

that make life magical and to set aside time for gratitude each day

 ♥ fresh sheets on our bed .. we had lovely sun I was able to hang our sheets out on the line 

 ♥ dad and son time .. our youngest was able to spend the day helping my husband with a project

♥ almost done reading The Boys in the Boat .. the same friend who gave me the blooming tea recommended the book. 

♥ attending an event with my family and my mom won a BIG prize of the night

 ♥ making a new dessert with raspberries we froze from our garden this past summer .. a taste of summer in March

 

The Bib

The Bib

What a strange title for a blog post.

It all began at The Book Across The Bay the ski event our family takes part in that I shared here. 

It all starts with the bus ride. We park our cars in Washburn, we ride a school bus to Ashland. The race starts at 6pm. The wait is the hardest part. If the evening is warm it is not all that bad. We had a wind from the Northwest making the wait cold.

We had a perfect evening for a ski, 20 degrees.

We are able to warm up by the big fire. People donate their Christmas trees to make a huge fire.

It was nice and warm. 

We stayed by the fire warming our fronts and turning our backsides to stay cozy until the race would start.

 

The start for Wave 3. 

We will be off skiing and warming up soon.

 

 We decorate our ski poles with glow sticks.

The fire breathing dragon along the trail.

Now you maybe asking, I thought you said this blog post was titled The Bib.

This is my husbands bib from the race. We all wore our bibs on our backs.

This is my bib from the race. We did not notice this until we got done with the race and we started to take off our jackets. 

I thought I heard something make a crackle noise when I had my back turned to the fire. 

It certainly was a crackling noise. It was my bib. It melted! 

It shrunk by two sizes. We could not believe the time chip still worked in it to record my time.

That my friends is the story of The Bib. I do not think I will stand so close to this..

 next year!!

 

Joy List Monday and March Weather

Joy List Monday

♥ a weekly ritual ♥

a reminder to stop and pay attention to the little beauties and graces

 that make life magical and to set aside time for gratitude each day

 This does not look like JOY .. well that is me about March weather. I am not a fan of the month of March in Wisconsin. Spring fever has set in, we look outside and see that lovely sunshine. We step outside to a freezing cold wind blowing hard making your eyes water. We have days in the 50's and think, yes, an early spring and then a wet heavy snow dumps making everything messy. Speaking of messy! Early Spring in Wisconsin may as well be called MUD SEASON! We really have FIVE seasons here in Wisconsin, MUD SEASON comes before true Spring.

If I seem a wee bit grumpy during the month of March. It is because March and I do not get along. Did I happen to mention, I HATE MUD!

I am going to pull up my boot straps and charge into the month of March with a Joy List Monday!

Here we go!

 ♥ sunshine

 ♥safe travels to my parents .. spending a lovely day with them

 ♥ cozy evenings sitting by the fireplace with a hot cup of tea, a warm blanket, a kitty on my lap and a good book

 ♥ honey .. I just love honey. Thank You bees!

♥ my new lemon scented candle

 

Staying at Cedar Point Cabins

Our family recently took a winter ski vacation to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We stayed at Cedar Point Cabins Click here for more information.

Our hosts were amazing people. They had the cabin all warm and a light on for us as we arrived to the UP in the dark, after a "white knuckler" drive in several snow squalls.

 Our Cabin "Oak" already for us to move in.

 Your drive to a grocery store is a good hour or more away. Our hosts shared with us to bring what you want to eat and fill up with gas before you drive out of the last "big" town on the way up to the cabins.

 My lists of what to bring as we packed up for our winter getaway.

 The extras made it feel so cozy. A perfect cabin feel. Just what we were looking for.

 The lamps were one of my favorite extra touches to make it feel like a cozy cabin.

 Our view from the kitchen window.

Our view from our front door. We called the deer "Our Friendly Neighbors" because of the amount of snow the UP receives people feed the deer to help them survive the winter.

 Our cabin .. we hope to come back to visit soon.

 

A friendly neighbor peeking , look under the ski.