It's almost April, what's this snow all about?

8 inches of snow fell yesterday, we can't get out of our drive today.  It's beautiful, but I'm over wanting snow....time for Spring!

Oh, that Mr. Spock, he's such a jokester!

Lucas and Garret's birthday bash at Chuck E. Cheeses

Italian Sausage Linguine

Another gray day here, but I have been busy doing the many exciting domestic chores that were waiting for me. We had an early dinner...our special today: Italian sausage Linguine....very, very good! For those of you who don't know, there a wonderful meat market here in Kinmundy, they make awesome Italian sausage. All meat sources are local and fresh.

May the force be with you.....

The grand boys got their birthday presents today, and they got "cool light sabers", as they told me on the phone...Shelley took these pictures, how cute they are...

Coconut cream cake, anyone?

We had a nice day today, even though it was very cold. Bill's mom went with us today to the Amish grocery store in St. Peter. The place was packed with shoppers and people eating in the little restaurant. We ran into some friends there, so that made it even more fun. We stopped at Subway for lunch, mostly because it was snowing beautiful huge flakes and we wanted to watch it snow through the big windows there. It was cold enough that when they landed on the windshield if you looked really fast you could see the unique designs of each one for a fleeting moment. I made a coconut cream sheet cake, which was yummy and now I am reading a gardening book I d/l....waiting for Spring!

Out with the girls

I made a gourd birdhouse for Margie Bogle out of a gourd that she and her late husband grew several years ago, so it was very special to her.  So, I invited Carol Schwartz and Linda Miselbrook to go with me to Flora, IL to deliver it!  We met Margie at the NMN Club (No More Nicotine), kind of an odd name,  but it was a quaint little place to have lunch and catch up with each other.  We talked for hours, what a fun day!   She loved the birdhouse that had two love birds on it..

A frosty morning in February

 A close up view of an oak leaf.

 A macro view of an oak leaf..beautiful.

 Some kind of wild greens that never die...but look pretty covered in frost crystals.

 straw

A lonely dandelion ready for spring....and so am I.

Meteor hits Russian ahead of asteroid close call today

A warm winter day in February...

It was a warm sunny day, so Bill built our first fire of the year in the fire pit and we cooked lunch on it and had a picnic. Our dog, Sally, joined us too. She was rolling around in the grass on her back, felt so nice to be outside, I was ready to join her! Menu: Pinto beans with browned onions, smoked sausage, corn muffins, and mango fruit salad...tasted even better outside..the heat of the day only lasted a few hours, but sure enjoyed it...

 Pinto beans, browned onions, smoked sausage cooked over the fire pit.

 A dash of chili powder and a corn muffin.

 Below, Sally enjoyed her beans and sausage too.

 

 

 Dessert: Mango fruit salad

Super Bowl commerical 2013

Ah, I'm such a romantic

"Warm Bodies"

Had a great day today! Went to zumba in Centralia, Then went to lunch with some of my zumba peeps at Tequila's, yum! Went to see "Warm Bodies", wow! A really great movie, funny and well done...go see it! A fun day with great company, Rob Bachman, Shelley CandyBomb Offutt. Spent the evening at mother in law's house and now relaxing watching these dweebes on tv trying to find gold...lol....in case you haven't seen the trailer for this movie....

My crazy life with BIll..

Sure enough, those wicked storms came around last night, sheets of rain, thunder, lightning, wind...so, the power went out. We lit our kerosene lamps and chatted for a while...pretty soon, this was the conversation:
Me: Too bad you don't have a harmonica, you could entertain me.
Bill: Well, it would probably take me 6 months just learn one song.
Me: I sure don't want to be listening to endless versions of "Swanee River"

At, which time Bill began singing, "Swanee River"
Bill: Why do I always sound like Bugs Bunny when I sing? (Which, sadly, he does)
Me: (Laughing too hard to answer)
Me: Let's have some marshamellows.
Bill: Sure

So we ate marshmellows and then the power came back on and we went to bed..
That's my "storm story"...not very exciting, but let's you know what silliness goes on around here all of the time...

Silliness

Sure enough, those wicked storms came around last night, sheets of rain, thunder, lightning, wind...so, the power went out. We lit our kerosene lamps and chatted for a while...pretty soon, this was the conversation:
Me: Too bad you don't have a harmonica, you could entertain me.
Bill: Well, it would probably take me 6 months just learn one song.
Me: I sure don't want to be listening to endless versions of "Swanee River"

At, which time Bill began singing, "Swanee River"
Bill: Why do I always sound like Bugs Bunny when I sing? (Which, sadly, he does)
Me: (Laughing too hard to answer)
Me: Let's have some marshamellows.
Bill: Sure

So we ate marshmellows and then the power came back on and we went to bed..
That's my "storm story"...not very exciting, but let's you know what silliness goes on around here all of the time...

Weather in Illinois, gotta love it!

Hello, friends!

Hello friends! It's been a productive day for me today. Besides all of the boring domestic chores that I completed, I have been out in my little craft "studio" doing some fun things. It was a perfect day for it, we had loud thunderstorms, down pouring rain, and very warm temperatures for January, it is 57 degrees! Tomorrow will be close to 70! So I turned on the music and watched the rain while I was out there...I love my little "woman cave"

Yummy green smoothie and Cake!

Had this great smoothie this morning, it was like a glass full of sunshine on such an ugly day! To balance out all of the goodness of the smoothie, I made this early really bad for you Valentines cake..Hope you all enjoy your Sunday!

Another fun Tuesday with mom

Went back to zumba this morning....glad to be back! Then I had a really nice day with mom. We had taco salads from Chico's (are you jealous, Shelley Yandell ?)..lol..then we watched two really good movies. "To Rome With Love" a Woody Allen movie, which he starred in, along with Jesse Isenberg, Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz..very, very funny and typical Woody Allen..loved it! Then a very dark movie (both with the low lighting and the story content) with Robert De Niro, about investigators on fake psychic abilities....a twist at the end....excellent! Ran some errands for her and had a chocolate frosty

My birthday celebration with mom

Had a nice day today. Took mom to Mt. Vernon to a Dr. appt. then she treated me to a birthday breakfast at Cracker Barrel. Yum, then she bought me a new spring shirt with jewelry to match...!! Thanks, mom, love you so much! Last night the grand boys from Decatur called and chatted away to me about school and when they can come visit again. Also, they sang happy birthday to me, along with my son in law, Cary, who did the Marilyn Monroe version..lol.....heard from all of my kids, so I'm a very happy mom.