Comeon Spring, Jeez!!

Spring sure seems to be taking it's sweet time getting here to Michigan. We had a gloomy, rainy weekend last weekend. At least the sun is shining today and no rain in the immediate forecast. Could be a little warmer, though!

After having baby showers to attend two weeks in a row, it was nice to take a little break from the booties, and onesies and baby rattles! I don't know about anyone else, but I find baby showers to be a little bit boring. At least at wedding showers I can relate to a lot of the pretty dishes and household stuff, but baby showers? Not so much. Of course, when it comes time for the baby shower for MY grandchild that will be a whole nother story, you know?

We spent a good part of Saturday taking the shower door off of the stall shower in the basement bathroom. If you recall a month or so ago we took the door off of the upstairs master bath and I have never looked back. It is so much easier to clean and keep clean now it's amazing!

Anyway, Rich is responsible for keeping the basement shower clean because he is the only one using it, so we figured it would be a lot easier for him if that door was gone, too. Took a few hours between undoing all of the screws, chiseling off the old caulk, cleaning and re-caulking but it's worth it for him in the end.



I think secretly he's hoping I will go down there and clean it for him occasionally, too!

Sunday night we went to a fancy dinner for my department here at work. Every year they host a dinner at a place called Terry B's in Dexter Michigan. This year the menu consisted of 5 courses.

1st Course
Fresh Hawaiian Blue Prawns
Seared scallop, black beans, English peas, avocado

2nd Course
Pan Fried Skate Wing
White asparagus ragout with house made garlic sausage and Berkshire bacon, cantaloupe and kiwi relish, meyer lemon beurre blanc

3rd Course
Poulet Rouge Naked Neck Chicken
Wild ramp and Vermont white cheddar risotto, Roast chicken, wild mushroom and truffle streudel, red wine syrup and natural jus.

4th Course
Braised Short Rib
Potato truffle ravioli, fiddlehead ferns, smoked tomato, aged goat cheese.

5th Course
Almond cashew graham crust, hazelnut chocolate no bake brownie, house made marshmallow, peanut butter fudge gelato.

There was a different wine with every course.

The portions were small but fine dining is all about the blending of different tastes and everything tasted really good. The only thing I did not like was the short rib because it had a goat cheese sauce and I absolutely cannot stand goat cheese!

And or course, the dessert was wonderful! For once I didn't have my camera or I would have been taking pictures of every course!

It's nice that they do that for us every year. It makes us feel appreciated.
Rich even won the door prize.



They are the most unusual flowers/plants I have ever seen. All real, too!



"There will be no empty laundry baskets in this house when I am around!"

The Brenda Photo Challenge-Lighting

It's time for another Brenda Photo Challenge. This one's all about lighting!

Flame of light reflection off a copper dish.

Sunset lighting a tree.

Las Vegas lighting the night!

Go HERE to see more awesome pics!

Out And Around

Yay! I have 9 followers so far! Thanks you guys!!

So I haven't planted any flowers yet but the pansies came back....unfortunately they grew in the cracks in the driveway, and not in the barrel where they were last year! They do look kind of cute so we may leave them for now if we can manage to not squish them with the car!





Once again the clematis is growing like gang busters! It already has 6 buds on it and is about 18 inches tall! Man, that thing grows fast! I hope it manages to hang on this year!



Smudge laying at the top of the stairs waiting for me to come up there and let him into the bedroom so he can get his white hair all over the brown bed spread. Speaking of white, we should do some painting...those are some boring white walls! I have nightmares of painting the stairwell, though!



This is me, Shauna and my daughter-in-law Marissa at the baby shower last week. Got another one to go to this Sunday.



Yesterday it was gorgeous out, sunny and 82 degrees! Today not as nice but still not very cold. Tonight it is windy and cold! Tomorrow it supposed to rain! Why do we only get Spring every three or four days?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Sorry

Ok Sorry for my extreme ignorance when it comes to blogger. I can hardly ask you to follow me without the link. It's there now so have at it!



Now will you follow our mom, please?

I Got Nothin'

I've been pretty quiet on this blog because there is not much going on these days. I spent my last Friday off cleaning the crap out of my house and going to the grocery store. That pretty much took up the whole day!

On Saturday, Shauna, Marissa and I went to my niece Kristy's baby shower. It's always nice to see the in-laws, and some live out of state so we don't see them often.

Sunday my SIL Linda and I went shopping for a yet another baby shower on Sunday. This time on my side of the family. Lots of family babies being born lately! Most have been boys so I'm hoping for a girl on this one!

Yesterday Shauna came here to the hospital for a job interview. It would be awesome if she worked here too! It would be a good job with good benefits!

My clematis is growing like crazy again this year. Let's hope it hangs on. Last year it grew like crazy, then two-thirds of it died off half way through the year! This year I am going to leave it alone and not fertilize it and see if that makes a difference! I will post a picture soon!

Hope you all are doing well. If you read me please become a follower. I am going to go start following all of the blogs that I read, too!

The Brenda Photo Challenge-Black & White

It's time for another Brenda Photo Challenge. I decided to just convert some of my pictures to black and white. I always liked the effect....Go HERE to see more black and white pics!

The Circle Of Life

It's been gloomy and all day. But the temperature has been warm and I have a feeling this is going to be a humid summer. I can feel it already!!

Last week a co worker's sister died from metastatic melanoma. She was only 37 years old. She had a melanoma removed from her chest in 2003. They got it all and she was in the clear. Then, it came back with a vengeance just before Christmas. In her lungs and basically all over her body. She died on March 30Th.

Today we went to her memorial service. It was sad, yet all the pictures they had of her all over the place showed a true celebration of her life.



And they gave everyone a little tree to plant in her memory.

On Saturday, we have to go to my nieces baby shower.

The circle of life.

Easter Stuff

Well, Friday I got the fugasa made after a couple of false starts (which I won't even go into because it just highlights how my brain shuts down when I over stress myself) and I think it came out pretty good.



I didn't get the perfection I was striving for, though. It ended up being slightly undercooked in the middle, which seems to be a problem I have every year. I am always afraid that the outside will get too brown and hard. My mothers recipe does not have a cooking time on it..just to cook until the outside is browned I have to kind of wing it. Anyway, they taste really good though. Especially with butter dipped in coffee...that's how I used to eat it when I was a child.

We went to my brother Don's for our family Easter celebration. It ended up being a pretty small crowd this year because several family members were either working or out of town. Ate lots of good food and laughed alot, so it was a nice time.

Got a couple baby showers to go to in the next few weeks. One on each side of the family. I haven't got a single thing bought yet, either! I'm going shopping with Shauna on Tuesday for one shower, and then next week with my sister-in-law for the next shower.



Warming up those old bones in the sun.


Hope you all had a fun, food and family filled Easter!