happy tuesday~

after a really great weekend, i have a bunch of random

photos and tidbits to share with y'all.

if you live in minnesota, you already know that we had 

yet another big snow event last friday. after having almost

all the snow gone- we got b--lasted again.

can me crazy, but i thought it was beautiful.

i stood in the living room, in the darkness late

thursday night and watched it coming down and

it really was beautiful. i love snowstorms, thunder and

lightening and rain. i wasn't in any hurry to go to bed

because i think this was most likely the final snow for this season.

there was no snow on this railing on thursday morning... fri. it looked like this~

koda was in love with the snow. he rolled in it and buried himself and

jumped around. it was hilarious!

picked up this fab bird pillow at home goods. 

friend annie told me at lunch last week that she'd re-designed and changed

up her packaging. i was excited and told her to text me some pictures of all 

the components. as a surprise for me~ she did something better~ she 

sent me a box with all the darling little tie tags, candy, shredded paper 

and stickers- just so i could experience what her clients will. how fun is that???

*there's love in these details.

lemon meringue pie. can't remember the last time i've made one.

don't you sometimes just crave something lemony? lately i've

been all about limes too. minute maid lime juice to drink, and i really like 

some fresh lime juice squeezed on....well anything savory.

they're here!!!!!! this is my first bouquet of ranunculous for the year.

lars went to get a haircut saturday morning and came home with these

for me. it means a lot to me that he remembers how much i love them.

a highlight of our weekend was a drive out to the landscape arboretum.

people were out in droves enjoying the warmer weather. one of the best discoveries was that 

they are in the process of tapping the maple trees ( about 250 of them) and their operation is huge.

we listened to a short presentation and then stayed behind to ask a bunch

of questions. now we are more excited than ever to get up north and see if

we've got anything in our pails. we learned that you can tap and make 

syrup out of the sap from almost any kind of tree and we tasted the syrup

from a black walnut. it wasn't as sweet as maple, but we both liked it as well 

or maybe even better.

i also had a blast at the cedar cultural center at a c.d. release concert

by the dead pigeons. if you ever get the chance- go listen to this 

blue grass band. they are sooo good. the mandolin player also happens to be our friend's son.

(find them on facebook/see their schedule)

putting gas in my car today, i had a feeling of contentment and

thankfulness wash over me. i can't remember the last time i haven't

crawled back in my car to stay warm while the gas pumped.

i didn't have a coat or gloves on and the sun was shining.

life is good.

hope your week includes a whole lot of reasons to smile,

xo

IF I RULED THE WORLD

in the book i'm reading, the main character makes lists.

often before she crawls into bed, something that happened

during her day sparks her making a list.

i love when i get to read one of them~

they are funny and honest and thought provoking.

one of hers was: if i ruled the world and it made me think

about if i ruled the world, what would my list read.

here's my list.

1. there would be 3 day work weeks and 4 day weekends.

2. all microwaves, remote controls, computers and cell phones

would work the same. learn it once and done!

3.everyone would make the same amount of money~there

would be no upper class- no lower class and nothing in between.

i'd love to see what our world would be like then.

4.there would be drive up windows for healthy foods,

not just greasy fast food.

5. i'd drive a jeep wrangler.

6. only one parent in a family would need to work outside

the home- and the other one could stay home

and raise their own children. (if that was what they wanted).

7.there would be no wars. if people wanted to fight- they'd 

go in time outs. time outs without phones, computers, t.v.

weights to lift... they would sit in a corner on a naughty chair

till they were ready to get along with their neighbors and family.

8.everyone would get to go to summer camp. like we did when 

we were young. we'd make new friends, swim, ride horse,

sleep in bunk beds and be fed in a mess hall. bonfires with guitar

music at night? oh yeah

9.everyone would have either a wrap around porch or a screen porch.

*with rocking chairs.

(combine that with our 3 day work week and there'd be no reason for

fighting and wars).  :  )

10. children would always outlive their parents.

11.vacations by the sea would be required.

12. everyone would have flowers delivered to their homes

on a weekly basis.

*what would be on your list?

xo, b

weekends up north with all of our kids don't 

happen that often, so when little sister (and her fiance)

 and youngest brother came up friday night

it made us all happy.

my brother and sis in law came too, but...

their daughter, her hubbie and baby Bear weren't able

to join us as the baby was quite sick- poor lamb!

the weather was nicer than it's been in months

so cole did a bunch of logging in the woods

and it got us all out there for the afternoon.

we shared a big bonfire, beers and sandwiches

helped him drag wood to the fire and watched the 4 dogs play fetch.

several of us had red cheeks at supper, due

to the intense march sun reflecting off the snow.

( the dude on the right is not on duck dynasty. it's my bro.)

mary and I

ma, pa, and our new pup.

these 4 dogs started out on friday night acting POSSESSED, but 

after a few hours of intense dog nonsense and trying to separate them

to no avail...we all took our dogs and went to bed and got up

saturday morning to much calmer, more well behaved canines.

3 labs and one baby chesapeake. that's a lot of fetch.

seth in a deer stand

cole chucking a really big stick for the dogs~

sunday i tagged along while the guys tapped 

more of our maple trees.

how many norwegians does it take to tap a tree?

fleet farm pails are what we decided to use for the collection.

knowing, like we all do, that this little puppy won't be little for very long,

he was a big attraction. especially to adria and seth. he was

swaddled and babied and forced to take naps with these two every couple of hours.

agghhhh, to be a dog. 

week one is done with mr. koda pup.

pretty sure he likes his new home.

have any shenanigans planned for

april fools?

it's been a blogging kind of week for me.

it's an indication of my newly found unemployment.

i talked to my sister yesterday about the restlessness i'm feeling.

sister is 2 years retired. she said she felt the same way - in the beginning-

but it goes away after about a year.

haha

she admitted that now she has settled in and

tries to do one thing that matters everyday,

she then exaggerates it in her mind to seem very important.

(love her).

*we were raised by a strict grandmother who valued hard work

over most other things.

well anyhoo- cause i just felt like throwing you a little bone

to enjoy over the weekend, 

here's some pretties- i took some of these images 

and some of them are by others.

so many people love this song, especially to sing to children.

i have a very precious memory of my momma singing this song to us.

*yellow bird.  it was first recorded in 1957. (my mom sang it sweeter)  :  )

 please mother nature. if you're listening~ i'm ready for dinners on the deck!

i really love this soft, whimsical wall grouping for a child's room

if you've yet to discover this bottled juice from trader joes

you don't know what you're missing. drinking it makes

any small occasion feel like a   p a r t y  to me.

and speaking of trader joes....it's one of the best places to get yourself some

spring ranunculus.... really, go get yourself some- they are one of the most

beautiful of all the amazing flowers the good Lord gave us.

if you could, would you get yourself a few chickens? to have fresh eggs

everyday would be a real thrill. one of my favorite things about

small flocks of backyard chickens, is the names people choose for them.

names like henrietta and kaliope.

the grapevine budding out on our deck

we're looking forward to a family weekend at the lodge.

babies, puppies, grandsons, newly engaged lovebirds,

food, mud, fourwheelers, wellies, snoring, earplugs, laughter,

crowded tables, maybe even a stolen nap for some.

happy friday!

xo

way too much winter...

there's been robins in our yard, but seriously, that is about the only
sign that spring is indeed coming. until things thaw out and start to
green up around here, i just do what i can to make the
house cheery and myself happy.

one of those things recently was a little field trip to
alexandria to see all the marvelous things at friend leslie's
spring sale.

her house was a wonderland, filled with handmade goodies like
the big smiley sun-face she sculpted out of paper mache.

she also sculpted this rabbit. she is one talented artist.

vintage child's sweater with yellow chicks~

wheat grass jars

this was one of her masterpieces. she sculpted the sun out of clay
and then her hubs flattened old silver wear for the sun's rays-
she set him atop an antique cracker tin that said SUNSHINE
and it was a show stopper!

these tulips were a little surprise from my sweetie on st. patrick's day.

leslie's daughter christa makes these darling pennants. we did a photo shoot at my house
for her upcoming etsy shop.

one of the artworks i had ready to sell.
the little girl was my grandfather's sister, vera floy.

you know the saying
~always be yourself...
unless you can be a unicorn.
then always be a unicorn.
?

well ~ my take on it is
"skip wearing a hat...
unless it's a party hat.
then always wear the party hat.

another little something i've been making.
these are for your keys~

do you like them?
i got one from a bestie about a year ago
and i LOVE it.

christa made these too and they were part of the photo shoot
aren't they aDORAble???
so cottagey- summery- anthropology-
if and when she gets her shop open i'll let you know how to find it.

leslie dolled up "crash" to greet the shoppers on her front porch. his name comes
with a great story. one of her friends lost her dear husband and she was
struggling. to get out of the house and have some fun one day,
she and leslie went to a local garden center where fran spotted
this heavy cement dog. she'd always wanted one, so she bought him and they
loaded him up in the back of her car and started home.
on the way, the dog tipped over and broke out the back window of her car!!!!
i guess it was good comic relief for those two that day and he officially
had a name. crash.
when fran moved to florida a couple of years ago, crash came to live with leslie.

and speaking of dogs~

there will most likely be a whole bunch of news about our
dogs for a while.  it's almost like having a newborn in the house
and there is an opportunity for a cute photo about every
4.5 minutes.

duke did a lot of this today.
talk about sad eyes. i'm keeping the two dogs separated most of the time
to let koda get used to life here and i'm pretty sure this big dog
wishes that little dog would just go back to north dakota.

 i kept telling duke what a good dog he was today,
and trying to reassure him that i still think he's
the cat's meow, or the dog's ruff, but i don't
think he was buy'n it!

*if you just feel like you may stick your head in the gas oven if
you can't wear shorts soon, promise me you'll stop
and buy yourself some tulips or daffodils k.?
or a dog named crash.


have a really great day my dears!!!

beth