And Another One

It must be April as we have a birthday almost every other day.

Today...It's Austin Bobby's turn.  He turns 5 today.

Here he is about to stand on his brother.  Wrestling is a favorite past time for these two.  They even tried to wrestle Oma yesterday.  (No such luck kiddos.)

And here is he is celebrating at Luke's 3rd Birthday.  Both these faces make me smile.

Our Birthday Girl

Apologies for not posting this on Friday.

Happy 1st Birthday Breslyn Marie.  You are such a joy to us all.

Liebster Award

I just made a new blogging buddy.  Chris over at Chrispy's Creations gave me the Liebster Award.

This award was designed to promote blogs that have less than 200 followers. Once the award is accepted, the idea is to pay it forward to five other blogs you enjoy, encouraging others to visit, leave comments, and hopefully follow.

To accept the award: Thank the person who gave it to you and link back to their blog. Post the award on your blog. Give the award to five other bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

Write a comment on their blog letting them know they have been nominated.

I am awarding the Liebster to the following bloggers:

My dear friend Kathy over at The Curlicue Fractal.  We started blogging together a few years ago and she really helped encourage me to just go for it.

Donna at Momma Mia Days was my very first blogging buddy.  I still don't know how she found me, but I just love her and so will you as she shares her beautiful garden.

Wendy blogs at Greenish Thumb.  She is just lovely and is such a knowledgeable gardener.  She shares all that is best about gardening in Maryland along with her weekly Garden to Table Challenge.

Next is Teresa at My Musings.  She is a fellow carder who encourages me along the way.  Her cards are so lovely.

Finally, I'd like you to visit Beth at Artcricket2. Beth is an extremely talented artist (and I mean a real artist) plus her weekly visits to her local farmer's market leave me in awe.

Thanks Chris for finding my blog and sharing me with your friends.

Happy Blogging everyone.

Asparagus Bacon Saute

After watching a little bit of The Chew yesterday, I was inspired to make asparagus in a new way.  I typically roast asparagus, which I love, but I decided to so a sauté with bacon and shallots.  It was so good that you have to try this.

Here's my recipe for Asparagus and Bacon Saute:

Ingredients:

2 strips bacon, diced
1 bunch of asparagus, cleaned and end stems broken off
1 medium shallot,  diced
salt & pepper
2 Tbl chicken broth

Dice asparagus in large diagonal slices.  Typically 4 bite size pieces per sprig.

Place diced bacon in large saute type pan over medium heat.  Cook until almost done.  Add diced shallots.  Cook until shallots have softened.  Add diced asparagus.  Season with salt & pepper.  Continue to cook until asparagus becomes bright green with some browning marks (4-5 minutes).

Add chicken broth and cover, reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 1-2 minutes until fork tender.  Taste and season with salt as needed.  Remove from heat and serve.

Revelation of the Day

I just spent over an hour sitting on the floor shredding 5 years of old checks.  After a casual perusal, I figured out why I am always broke.  Children are very, very, very expensive.

I don't begrudge the expenses at all.  In fact, I'm quite surprised how much I was able to help out, but at least now I can completely understand why I'm in the situation I am.

Now back to packing and reveling in how much I love motherhood and grand-motherhood.

(Also...not a good idea to sit cross-legged on the floor for that long.  It may take a while before I can walk normal.)

Cards of the Week -April Week One

I fell off my weekly card-making challenge after only 8 weeks.  For shame.

I did manage to get back in the swing of things this week.

I used this week's CAS(E) this sketch for inspiration.  Here is their sketch:

Here are my two interpretations (don't look Deb):

And one for a little party we are going to tonight:

Happy card making everyone.

Starting the Process

I mentioned, a long while ago that we are working on a move out to the farm.  It has been pending for years, but due to job challenges it kept getting placed on hold.  Well...it is now in our immediate future.

The plan is to empty out much of the clutter of my current house, spruce it up with some paint and fixes and get it on the market by May 1.  Here's hoping we make that goal.

As a start, I emptied out the china hutch.  It is now ready to get moved to the farm house.  One thing down...8 million things still left to do.

Wish us luck.