weekend plans

Yesterday morn I was looking at permanent ink artist markers online, wishing i had more cash. The kids and i went running errands, spent an hour at the DMV to get my son his permit to drive. We stopped at Meijer to get some food for the long weekend and as I was strolling along, I glanced at one of the end caps and saw art supplies ON CLEARANCE!

Then when I rang them up they were even cheaper than the orange sticker claimed, OH HAPPY DAY! My plan is to doodle with them on fabric, so I have something to do during the long grueling hours at the Art Fair.

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My plan for this long weekend is to give my coop a face lift. I still have that winter run I had slapped together quickly last fall, that is changing too.

Hopefully I'll have lots of impressive shots to show next week.

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*HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE*

What are you doing this weekend?

Spring Break fun

We had a good week, a break from school and hubby had the week off too!

We did go to the .50 movie and had cousins over to play.

The snow melted by Wednesday.

We got a tiny egg.

(sorry ladies, no weight taken)

We went to the UMMA.

This is the model of the museum.

It was great.

We saw Tiffany glass,

and Picasso,

I love Picasso, but according to the literature, he was quite the perv.

The UMMA had a great mix of old and new.

But the best part of our Museum visit was...

WHERE I LUCKED OUT PARKING!!!

Ann Arbor is not the easiest town to find a place to park, so imagine how thrilled I was to find an open meter right out front! And I was driving the Neon! Parallel parking was a breeze!

Here is my car from the front door.

I'm a cheap thrills kind of gal.

We colored eggs.

Some think you cant dye brown eggs, not true.

We went to 2 Easter Parties, one was a bonfire/egg hunt.

The other was a egg hunt/kite flying day.


Just enough breeze.






Kites and cousins in a corn field.


I didn't get any quilting done but I did pull tons of nails from some slightly used free lumber.
We have a couple of building projects in the near future and this is going to save us $$$.

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I am STILL SICK! I was hoping to be better by now, at least I'm not bed ridden and I'm hoping the end is near. I'm longing for the day that i can breath properly from my nostrils and not have the cough that brings up things from the deep. At least it has been a few days without a fever.

Other than that it was a great week.

How was yours?

We now are starting tennis (the girl) and Drivers Ed (the boy). Yikes!

What we did for Easter weekend.

Warning: This post contains way too many photos. If you are someone who can't stand looking at other peoples photos, I understand, thank you for stopping by and will not hold a grudge if you leave right now. For those of you staying, I thank you in advance for your patience.

Some of the photos you can enlarge, I still haven't figured out why some do and some don't.

The kids had a 3 day weekend, the girl did artwork....

.....and took some more photos of Rat Face for me to discover on my camera.

I cleaned my sewing space. Look you can see the floor!

We went to my Mom and Stepdads on Sunday. What do we do for Easter in Michigan ?....

...we go sledding.

Me, my Sister and Mom on the toboggan getting a shove.

There was snow boarding too. (My Man)

And crashing into the fence at the bottom of the hill.

(While enlarging this one I noticed the pants crotch repair on my hubbies pants, for those of you needing a cheap thrill or laugh, go ahead and look.)

He made it this time.

Dogs running around.

Grandpa on his radio flyer.

Dogs quickly on hand to lend a paw or tongue to the crash victims.

No sled? No problem. A cardboard box will do....

...but a kiddie pool wont.

T-Bone and I ready to go. He really hates this and jumps off halfway which sends me tumbling.

The Guinea Hens were watching out their window at the crazy people.

Tip: If you like weird looking birds that sound like two pieces of metal scraping together loudly,

then these birds are for you.

My boy built a ramp at the bottom of the hill.

Here is my sisters attempt.

My attempt.

My brother landing on his feet after his jump.

NICE!

My Hubbies style with T-Bones help.
What?

My Brother in law the wins funniest jump.

My niece wins best air.
I guess when you are light as a feather you fly.

And don't need a chiropractor like the rest of us.

My Stepdad is a talented man. Look what I got!

I hope the birds use it to nest in but not as a potty.

I hope that those of you who celebrated had a.....

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Since I am 1/4 Irish I wanted to give all the other Irish people a shout out. (even if you are just Irish today)

For some weird reason our milk always turns green.

Any and all baked goods too!

(note: still baking in the toaster oven, this is tough for the gal who always doubles recipes)

One year the mayo on my kids sandwiches turned green and my son was too grossed out to eat it. He usually humors me, strange.

Corned beef and cabbage for dinner tonight!

Oh and I did take "the wreath" down yesterday. One week before Easter, not bad.

Winter is here

at least that's what the Weathermen are predicting. We are supposed to be hit by a big storm tomorrow and into Sunday. They usually are wrong this time of year.... I think it makes them feel important to do the chicken little forecast. I try to be ready no matter what, so today I ......

strung lights and hung our wreath.

Easier said than done. I don't want to relive the experience by telling you the gory details.

This jobbie is 5 feet tall and can be seen down our long driveway from the road.

I saw a green wreath with a red lit bow years ago and had to make one.

I then got the chickens outdoor run sealed up and new roosts. Fixed their broken back door.

Then was rewarded with....

these beauties!

Friday's pizza night

We stacked the wood pile last week so I had one less thing on the list.We usually lose power during an ice storm so I do like having a warm fire.

Lets hope for the best.

random musings

We woke up to snow. Yay! It actually started snowing on us last night as we were finishing up the before mentioned shed which really cracked me up. The time change makes it dark here by 5:30 not dim light but VERY dark, we had just a little bit to go and couldn't see a thing. Luckily the cordless drill had a light attached but the battery was fading fast, so was the light. So I have this emergency kit in my Monster Truck (no flashlight though). It has an old, half melted candle and matches. The winters in Michigan can be fierce and we sometimes travel the road less traveled and I want to always be able to start a fire. Any who, so I am walking around with this very waxy melty candle so we can barely see to finish this never ending job and we are getting pelted with snow. I found the situation so hysterical, I couldn't stop laughing. My hubbie who had to do most of the job without gloves wasn't as amused. (In spite of that we are deeply in love) I did thaw out my keester in the tub so all is well.

I have been loading stuff on my etsy shop but I don't know shortcuts so it takes FOREVER.
How do people load stuff up so fast? I'll see different stuff from the same artist all in a row on the home page. With loading the photos, shrinking the photos, writing a "witty description", measurements and all it takes at least 10 minutes for me.

Enough about that:

I am very penny pinchy. I like to pinch pennies on everything. Especially food. No matter what you eat or how expensive or cheap it is, it's all going to eventually end up in the same place. Sorry.

We went to my mother in law's for Turkey day and I have 3 sister in laws on that side. They divvy up the food afterward. I never take the leftover turkey but always get dibs on the Turkey carcass. I get the looks every year but just smile and smile at my treasure. They may get a meal or two from their share but I get MORE! There is an amazing amount of meat left on that bird if you don't mind getting a little messy.

Here's what I do: Friday I picked as much meat off as I could. Turned it into Turkey salad sandwhiches and made enough for 2 lunch meals for my family.

Then boil the bajeebus out of that bird till the bones and all come off. Sift through the mess after it has cooled. Saturday my daughter made a batch of soup out of some of the broth and meat. meal 3

I made more soup from the same broth and meat today for lunch and have leftovers for another lunch tomorrow. meal 4

I scoop about a cup of broth and meat and put it into freezer bags and label to use as home made turkey soup starter. (I'm not a canned soup fan) In the middle of winter or cold season just add the bag from the freezer, one cup of water per one chicken bouillon cube in the amount you want. Boil, add noodles and veggies of your choice and you get more soup. I made 3 kits today. meals 5,6,7

I have quite a bit left and it will become turkey and dumplings for dinner tonight. Meal 8
I didn't even mention the scraps that my dog loves. My hardworking pup deserves treats too!
8 meals for one family of 4 that would have otherwise gone into the trash makes me proud that with a little work and messy hands I can provide tasty home cooked meals for my family and have a small food budget. I have been taking the turkey carcass for 20 years now. One Thanksgiving I got Three! Lucky me.

We put our tree up over the weekend. It's a 9 foot tree and we load it. I'm too lazy to get the ladder so the top is sparce. Last year we had company over who have themed trees and made comments on my " Mom tree". I'd never heard that phrase before. I guess thats when you "let" your children help decorate the tree. I didn't know you weren't supposed to.

They were Bitches anyway.

We like the tacky lights and have got them at after holiday sales and garage sales.

We aren't choosy.

We have light up bunnies.

And carrots.

Cinco de mayo lanterns.

Horses.

Now who wouldn't love the Hulk shining brightly over their Christmas?

I am SO in the Holiday Spirit.

I also wanted to give a shout out to my Dad and Stepmom who are celebrating their 31 wedding anniversary today. If there is one couple out there who I would choose to follow their example it would be them. I love you both dearly. Happy Anniversary!