Spring Forward Update

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Remember that Spring Forward list from a few weeks back? It’s been so much springier than anticipated (and *they* say 70 and sunny by the end of the week. I love Spring Break in northern Michigan!) so we’ve been able to accomplish quite a bit, thank you very much!

  • planting heirloom tomato seeds and watching them grow in our sun room/play room
  • splashing in mud puddles in my lovely pea green galoshes that meine Mutti got me for my Birthday (it’s been dry as a bone here.)
  • turning the compost pile (Chris did this, but it’s done so it’s off the list)
  • making some raised beds and hauling in some soil
  • singing “here comes Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail, hippity hoppity Easter’s on its way!”
  • attending the Cedar Rod & Gun Club’s 50th annual smelt dinner (this Friday!)
  • watching the sap drip down the maple trees
  • planning Wren’s first birthday party (working on it…)
  • watching Wren discover the joys of mobility
  • listening to Wren babble
  • seeing Baby Turner #4 (He JUST arrived yesterday! Welcome, Emmett Christopher.)
  • riding my bike to yoga again
  • taking family bike rides
  • going on our favorite wildflower hike to the Treat Farm in the Sleeping Bear Dunes. When will the trillium bloom this year, do you think, dear readers?
  • eating fresh asparagus every day
  • using the grill again (this week?)
  • enjoying our front porch
  • morel-hunting in our favorite spots (no, of course we won’t tell you where those are, silly.)
  • and watching the spring bulbs pop out of the ground and push their way through the remains of winter

How are you enjoying spring in your neck of the woods, dear readers? What have you done that you’ve enjoyed?

Deep thoughts.

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So here are some *deep thoughts* I’ve been pondering as of late…

  • Cookies (and other processed yummies) are stacked high and wide between current me and me at my ideal weight. So WHY did I buy more cookie cutters? Sigh.
  • I’m not very good with small talk at parties, but I’m trying to be more enthused about it. Making a list of conversation-starters. Checkin’ it twice. Do you have any you’d like to share? Do you enter a social situation prepared with ideas you know you’d like to talk about?
  • Will Wren be walking around during her first birthday party? Care to place a bet?
  • A friend asked me recently what my goal is with this blog. Gosh, good question. Have any thoughts on this, dear readers?
  • I’m trying to be more disciplined, but I keep tripping over myself in the process. So I signed up for a race this summer because this usually helps me to “get on track” in all aspects of my life. I’ll let you know how that goes…
  • I’m reticent to admit this, but I’m starting to take pleasure in keeping house. Scrubbing toilets is actually on my weekly mental calendar. House wife?! Wow.
  • When Wren’s asleep during the day, I miss her presence. Am I addicted? Me thinks, yes.
  • How do you teach someone that although they are the center of YOUR universe, they’re not the center of THE universe?

Happy Sunday to you! It’s Spring Break in our corner of the world and things are quiet. It’s lovely.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9!

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As if I really needed a good reason to mix up some butter and sugar…

But a new number-shaped cookie cutter set inspired me! Won’t these make cute cookies for a wee one’s birthday party? So here’s my question for you, dear readers. Should I just make cookies in the shape of the number 1 this year for Wren’s first birthday, or all the numbers? I know, I know, deep thoughts. Sorry, but this Mamma doesn’t get enough sleep for quantum physics. Sooooo I decided to do a test run today using my favorite Orange Cardamom Cookie recipe adapted from Gourmet via Epicurious.

Orange Cardamom Cookies

Yield: Makes 1 1/2 to 2 dozen cookies

Active Time: 1 1/2 hr
Total Time: 3 1/2 hr (includes chilling dough)

ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest*
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom*
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons heavy cream
*I’m a bit heavy-handed with these. Be liberal — you won’t regret it!

preparation

Make dough:
Whisk together flour, zest, cardamom, and salt.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, then beat in yolk and cream. At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches just until a dough forms. Quarter dough and form each piece into a 6-inch disk, then chill, wrapped separately in plastic wrap, until firm, 2 to 3 hours.

Cut and bake cookies:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

Roll out 1 piece of dough between sheets of parchment paper into an 11-inch round (1/8 inch thick). Slide dough in parchment onto a tray and chill until firm, about 15 minutes.

Cut out as many cookies as possible with cookie cutter (chill dough again if necessary), reserving and chilling scraps. Transfer cookies to a parchment-lined large baking sheet, arranging them 1 inch apart.

I almost forgot to mention! Remember that woodland creatures cookie cutter set I got at Ikea a while back? I decided to use those too. How cute are these?! Of course the squirrel got me, but I’m surprised by how much I love the snail. A snail cookie? Awwww.

Bake until edges are golden-brown, 9 to 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes, then slide cookies, still on parchment, onto a rack to cool completely.

Make more cookies with remaining dough and scraps (reroll only once) on cooled freshly lined baking sheets.

They looked great and tasted delicious, but they needed something…

Chocolate! Could you see that coming? So I threw some good dark chocolate in the microwave and drizzled it on the cookies.

Lovely AND delicious! So I’m still not sure what exactly to make for Wren’s birthday party… Maybe all of the above? Tell me what you think, dear readers. What gets your vote?

Happy Friday to you! It’s sunny, but chilly here today. Good thing I didn’t put away those mittens yet. Whew.

Best!

baby talk.

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If Wren could talk in clear adult language, she would say on a daily basis…

“bib? schmib!”

“spoon? schmoon!”

“bottle? schmottle!”

“yogurt? schmogurt!”

“sleep? schmleep!”

She often gives me a look, which I take to mean “who are you trying to kid, crazy Mamma?”

Yes, it’s just another one of those days…

planting the seed!

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If you’ve been following my drivel, you know I’ve mentioned thumbing through seed catalogs and planning a couple raised bed vegetable gardens this year. I spent more than a few hours this winter perusing catalogs with coffee in hand, pondering what interesting veggies I might grow from seed. All the while thinking that I’d have the seeds ordered and in hand by the end of March. So it hit me yesterday that it was already the end of March and I hadn’t even placed my order yet. Well well well. It’s the thought that counts? As it turns out, this philosophy will only get one Mamma so far.

It was time to stop thinking, wishing and hoping. Act already! Truth be told, I was overwhelmed by the hundreds of organic heirloom tomato possibilities and just needed to settle on a couple packets of seeds. But which ones? It was like going down the cereal aisle at a big grocery store. Too many choices!

48, sunny, and a desire to dig in the dirt pushed me to load up my little birdie and head to Target. Because when you think of gardening, you think of Target, right?! The last time I was there I noticed a good selection of seeds and I just HAD to get a few other things so there I found myself. Thankfully, Target and Burpee made the decision for me and only had organic Brandywine tomato seeds. I’m not a huge believer in fate, but this was possibly just meant to be. I also picked up a packet of organic cherry tomatoes called Sweeties. How cute is that? A packet of organic Chinese Giant peppers also jumped out at me. For instant gratification, I grabbed a packet of microgreens. In two weeks, we’ll apparently have something edible to snip off and munch on so I couldn’t resist. I also got some biodegradable seed-starting cells and I was on my way!

Side note: while I was shopping, Wren was playing with her kazoo in the cart and flirting with other shoppers. Have you ever seen a baby play a kazoo? It’s pretty damn funny.

I couldn’t wait to get home and get planting! Wren decided she didn’t want to be around when I was flinging potting soil every which way so she took a nap. Perfect timing!

Here are a few pics. Enjoy!

My hope in this seedling experiment is of the guarded sort because I’m not sure we have enough heat and light in the sun room, but it’s worth a shot! I’ll keep you posted on what happens this spring. Even though I check on them every hour or so, no shoots yet. Shoot.

So what about that fancy seed order? Well, I still want to place one for other fun stuff I’ll start from seed after Memorial Day. Spinach, beets, sugar snap peas, mache, carrots, basil, zinnia, bells of ireland, oh my! I will try to restrain myself because I want it to be an enjoyable summer and with a mobile toddler, I’m not sure how much garden maintenance I’m actually going to be doing… thankfully it’s still light out at 10 p.m. when I’ll probably be doing most of the weeding. With a cold beer in the other hand.

What about you, dear readers? What garden plans do you have this year? Will you be planting a “Victory Garden” too? Tell me about it!

crunchy eggs.

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Bunny on the brain around here. How ’bout in your nest? I’ve been day-dreaming about coloring eggs. Just had to share this lovely photo. If this doesn’t inspire you to grab a dozen and begin your own egg adventure, I’m not sure what will.

This year, I’m going to go crunchy and attempt to dye eggs naturally. Click here to watch a video on how to do it. Or follow these simple instructions for more loveliness in green egg form.

With Bunny on the brain, I checked out Martha’s site on Egg Dyeing 101. As soon as she mentioned finding some quail eggs, I clicked away. The terms ‘101’ and ‘quail eggs’ DO NOT go together, right? Sometimes her ideas really are easy and fabulous, but usually when the header reads “Easter Projects Anyone Can Do!” I cringe. Come on, Martha! Not everyone has a ready supply of quail eggs… or do they?

Will you be dyeing eggs this year? Do you blow them out for future use or do you simply like to put them in Easter baskets and eat them in egg sandwiches for the two weeks that follow Easter? Me? Make them pretty and then eat them. Duh.

Enjoy!

P.S. How ’bout that? Health care for the uninsured after all. Whew!

Wren’s Nest

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Happy Spring to you, dear readers! After two weeks of sunny afternoons, 50 and flip-flop sightings, we’re back to 32 and a bit too cloudy on the first official day of Spring. Aaah, Mother Nature, how you love to keep us on our toes. Or curled up in a ball on the couch.

How was your last week of winter? Time zoomed right by in our nest. When I wasn’t taking care of my little birdie, I was focused on ridding 605 of Cabbage Smell and happily finishing Wren’s nest upstairs. It’s been a year and we spend a lot of time in that room (at all hours of the day and night). Please tell me that the following scenario also happens in your nest? You mean to get around to doing something about that dresser (insert your item/nook here) and it nags at you for a while. Then time passes and you just get used to it being in the same old shape/place/state of disarray. You look at it every day and it doesn’t phase you after a while. Then one day it hits you. You just can’t take looking at it anymore! One more day cannot pass. Arrghhh. Impatience and aggravation set in. Must. Do. It. NOW. Oh, human nature, you’re just as odd  and beguiling as Mother Nature.

I don’t know about you, but I often need a bit (or A LOT will do too) of external motivation to get me going on something from time to time. Deadlines imposed by someone else are really wonderful. It’s true, I am not an island. So when I heard about the Dwell Studio “How You Dwell” contest, it was just what this Mamma was looking for. Simply take a picture of their products in your home, e-mail them in and they’ll post them on their Facebook page. The photos with the most ‘likes’ by next Friday wins a $1000 shopping spree. Yahoo! Now that’s what I call a good kick in the ass. Insert shameless plug here. Dear readers, please ‘friend’ Dwell Studio on Facebook and vote for Wren’s Nest next week when the voting begins! Did I say “please?” And thank you in advance.

Soooo… here’s the photo tour of Wren’s Nest for you to peruse.

Demolition is fun.

Now doesn’t that look like a space you’d let your newborn sleep and play…? We decided to repaint everything and refinish the floors so things were looking up for our little birdie.

Then we acquired an old dresser from Grandpa Tom. I decided to have some fun with it so I painted the drawer fronts–you guessed it–orange and put in cute-as-a-button green drawer liner. In progress here…

And after a bit more sprucing up and “derranging” as we like to call it… the dresser is finished, things are finally hung and the nest is (mostly) complete. Just in time for Wren’s new phase of development: destruction!

Wren’s Nest Now!

Wren likes her nest so much that she wakes up every 2-3 hours all night long just to see it…

Thanks for touring Wren’s Nest today, dear readers. I hope you enjoyed it. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Any big plans (fun pagan rituals?) to celebrate the arrival of Spring? Best!

P.S. Big thanks to Dwell Studio (glider, crib sheets, etc…) Don’t forget to ‘friend’ them and vote!




Hollow or solid?

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Top of the mornin’ to ya! Have you consumed anything green yet? We’re having this for dinner. Pretty traditional and super easy. So this mamma says “why not?” Thank you again, Uncle Fester, for making dinner while I take care of my little birdie.

Speaking (err, writing) of food, this consumer tries not to be too swayed by the mountains of Easter candy at the stores, but nonetheless I’ve got The Bunny on the brain. I’ve restrained myself and haven’t consumed any pastel eggs yet. *Yet* being the operative word. But I’m working really hard to resist celebrating the upcoming holiday so early that by the time the actual day arrives, I’m so sick of it I can’t even squeeze in another chocolate egg or bunny-shaped cookie. But I don’t get sick of looking at cute Easter/springy things… do you? I can’t decide which of these t-shirts I like better. Aren’t they darling?

Back to food. What’s your favorite Easter candy? I admit to loving black jelly beans, but I wouldn’t say they’re my absolute favorite. I love it all! Maybe it’s the pretty foiled eggs, or maybe it’s just that almost everything is egg-shaped and it’s such a simple, lovely shape.

But most importantly, dear readers, do you prefer a solid bunny or a hollow bunny? Me? Hollow. The solid ones hurt my teeth.

Boy, was this ever a thought-provoking post. More ruminations on Easter candy in future posts, I promise…