Doughnut Muffins

I always like to bake when snowed in on the weekend, so Saturday I made these doughnut muffins from  the King Arthur site.

  In the middle of making these,  I discovered I didn't have any ground cinnamon. Luckily I did have some cinnamon sticks that worked nicely once I grated them.

DH really loves glazed doughnuts, so  I made a glaze instead of the cinnamon topping they showed on the King Arthur page.
 

He proclaimed the recipe a keeper. I was surprised because he does not normally like muffins.  I will most definitely be making these again.

Do You Think Easter on a Weekend Like This?

Despite the snow, I had Easter on my mind all weekend. 

I was eager to transform that  old green shelf I showed you a few days ago.

I primed it earlier in the week.

Saturday morning we were snowed in so I could not get out to buy paint.  Instead I shopped the basement to find a color.  I had a tiny amount of a very bright yellow. It was way too bright, so I mixed in a couple  cups of the white primer until I had a workable yellow color.

Yes, I painted it right in the family room  with just a blanket thrown over the carpet. That's living dangerously when you're as sloppy a painter as I am!

This morning DH helped me screw in my eye hooks (I think that's what they are) and then I went to work bringing my vision to life.

Here's a reminder of what I started with:

and now I have this:

It's an Easter egg display shelf!  I thought it would be a new way to display some of the real eggs I decorated over twenty years ago.  I am getting tired of doing big egg trees.

I made this blue jean bunny a long time ago, too and I still love her all decked out in her pink bandana holiday skirt.

 she has a nest of eggs on the top of her hat.

I put some Easter grass in the sled coffee table and added some of my quilt-themed decorated eggs.

I think the grass is too green, so I am probably going to switch it out to purple and pink.   I also removed the red sofa slipcovers and am back to pastels.


I have enjoyed the weekend at home.  I have cooked/baked a bit and did a tiny bit of cleaning.  I still have a major  mess with the Easter decorations.  I may putter around a bit more with them today.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend, too.

Solo Dining

For the past two nights I have been having dinner alone. 

I don't mind that at all.  In fact, I like it!  I can eat whatever I feel like, which is often not something DH would approve of.

Last night I had a broiled grapefruit.   I just cut a huge red grapefruit in half and sprinkled about a teaspoon of brown sugar on each side and broiled it for a few minutes.

OMG, it was divine! 

I had some kielbasa and sauerkraut  with green beans for lunch (at work), so I was not very  hungry for dinner.

Tonight I made an equally divine meal -- Mexican grilled cheese sandwich with a handful of potato chips.

On Sunday I made a couple pounds of ground beef with taco seasoning for tacos.  I intentionally made enough for leftovers so I could try this sandwich.  It is just two slices of American cheese with the taco meat in between. Butter the bread and cook it just like you would a grilled cheese. I have to say it's delish and I will certainly make it again.  I think DH would like this, too. 

I hope you all had a wonderful meal for your dinner tonight.

Bon Apetite!

Good Neighbors are Hard to Come By & Dining Room Chair Covers

Our neighbors are in Florida until next week.  We are picking up their mail while they are gone.  After Mother Nature dumped a load of heavy snow on us, we had planned to make sure their driveway was clean  before they come home.  We thought we had a few more days.

Today we looked up about noon and their daughter and her family showed up with  shovels to clear their driveway.  There was no way we could watch them try to lift that heavy snow with a shovel!  DH revved up his snow blower and went over there to help them out.

They were very grateful. 

Here is the driveway two hours later:

I think DH felt good being able to help them. Isn't that what neighbors are for? I know they would do the same for us.

Friday afternoon I finished the new dining room chair covers.

 I had to add a coordinating fabric to the two end chairs. I was thrilled to find something I already had in my fabric stash.  I had about five yards of it! I think I originally bought it to make neutral chair backs.
Here is a close up of the end chairs:

I am pretty happy with these contemporary chair covers. I think it will be such fun to set a full table with them.  They look like Easter eggs, so I think an Easter table would be perfect!

Late February Winter Storm

I took these two pics five minutes ago from one of my windows:

Isn't it beautiful?

We are having a late February winter snow storm...heavy wet snow that looks gorgeous in the trees. 

We are only getting 5 or 6 inches, but southern MI is getting at least double that. We got just enough to be beautiful, yet not a major pain.   My condolensces to any readers are are getting the BIG storm. 

Yesterday I took this pic.

Any idea what those are?







They are turkey tracks!

Here are all the turkeys that just passed through when I went outside yesterday.

Snow or not, I hope you all have a lovely last-of-Feburary-2012 weekend.

Overwintering Containers & Easter 2012

Remember the big french urns I  bought last year and placed on each side of my garage door?

No?

Well, here's a reminder:

I decided to try to save them by putting the full containers in my unheated garage for the winter.  We have had an extremely mild winter and I think the garage temperature has remained in the mid to low 30's except for a day or two when it could have gone a tad lower. I park my car next to these urns every day and  I think they look promising for 2012.

Even the asparagus fern is still green.   I have never been able to over winter fountain grass, but I am hopeful that this will be my year of success.

I am way less hopeful for my cordayline plant.  Until February it looked great--nice reddish purple and healthy.  In the beginning of February, I noticed it beginning to change to a greenish color. It feels crispy....like dead....I am so disappointed! 

There are still a few spots near the trunk that are purple and feel alive.  Do any of you have experience with overwintering these?  It is possible that its still alive and it will grow new foliage from the trunk?
I just hate to lose it as I cannot buy one this size in my small town.

I wanted to plant different colors of coleus around it for 2012.   I googled coleus and I just realized that of the gazillions of varieties there are, I like the ones that lean toward a single color the best. Like these:

It would be wonderful if my Cordayline would survive so I can try out my idea with 3 or 4 coleus around it.   Then again, it is not likely that I will be able to buy any of these colors.  We usually only get the Walmart varieties, which are nothing like these.

I have also been thinking of Easter. It's only about six weeks away, you know.  I am thinking of hosting an Easter brunch, so I need to figure out my decorations.  I looked up a couple of previous year's tables to see what I have on hand as I tend to forget what I already own.

I think my new dining room chair covers will be perfect for Easter.  I have finished four of them and just need to do the two end chairs.  I found a fabric to add to it so that I will have enough of the pastel rope fabric I showed you a few days ago.

I also have an idea for this wooden wall shelf that has been living in the basement for a few years.

I need to paint it and add some hardware, etc.  If I actually end up using it, I will show it to you at a later date.

Until next time, take care.

A Relaxng Weekend & My Winter Garden

I had a relaxing Sunday afternoon reading Nora Roberts, Northern Lights. 

I am enjoying this Alaskan love/murder romance.  I am about 2/3 finished and will probably not read the rest until Saturday.

After work today, I took a little stroll through my winter garden. It's 37 degreese so I just wore my Crocs and long wool coat.

I came in when the socks starting getting wet. :)





I left one of my benches out all winter.

Here is my Burning Bush shrub in the winter:

I chuckled when I saw this.  Any idea what it is?

It's my dwarf  Threadleaf Golden Cypress shrub that I planted last summer.

The Ninebark you see in the background of the pic above is here:

It's the tiny little twig you see above the snow by the porch railing. 

I sure hope both are nice and cozy under that snow. I really like them and would hate to lose them over the winter!

Here is  my orb in the winter:

the rockwall garden:

I was shocked to find this:

What gardener worth their Felcos would leave equipment lying out all winter?  I had no idea this was left out!