Since it's almost May Day I thought I would share some photos of today's first Farmers Market visit of the season. The colors were vibrant and beautiful and I wanted to take every single thing home. I restrained myself though. The market was only half full of vendors this early in the season, and the prices and choices get better with more competition. Besides it's still a bit cold to plant any of these lovelies.  It was 33 degrees this morning when I got out of bed!

Yesterday Earl and I helped Lauren move into a new cute apartment. Still lots to be done but she had a place to sit and a bed to sleep in and most of her kitchen things put away when we left.  In two weeks, Victoria comes home for the summer from college, and in the meantime I have been making long overdue phone calls to friends who have been very patiently waiting for my classes to be finished so we can get together for lunch out or a coffee date. I am taking some time to sit back and relax and just think about things, but I am kicking some great projects around in my head and looking forward to having more fun things to share.  Forgive me if I've been antisocial, I'm Looking forward to looking in on my blog friends and  putting together a giveaway or two. 

Thanks for waiting for me. I'm back!

Linking up With Bev For Pink Saturday

A few photos from our Easter celebration.  I couln't resist this picture of the brilliant sunshine we had on Saturday. It's the little things that make me happy, like sunshine glowing on dishsoap:>)

Earl and Victoria worked on desserts for our family dinner.  These Lime Cheesecake Tartlets were soooo good.  Creamy whipped cream, cream cheese, and lime in a graham cracker crust.  Delicious and easy.

 They also worked on this Lemon Pistachio Cake with a lemony glaze.  Really good buttermilk cake with a  pistachio crust.  Fun to try something new, and we had no complaints;>) 

We also had the usual redskin potatoes with fresh chive butter, honey ginger glazed carrots, a beautiful salad and home made rolls, mom brought pickles and pickled beets and a glazed ham.. I'm still full. Did I get any pictures? Of course not, too busy getting it all on the table after church and then enjoying time with most of the extended family.  Bad blogger.
In other news, I am thrilled to say that tomorrow is my last class for this semester.  Yay! I am so ready to move on. I have learned so much but it has taken a huge amount of time away from other things.
I'm finishing up my final project right now.  I think I might find a little more time for visits and posts and, well, just real life in the very near future. And how was your Easter?

Good Friday Blessings

Seriously? *sigh* 2-4 inches predicted, I'm feeling all blue and then I turn on the news and see what my friends down south have gone through with the devastation brought on by tornados.  What a baby I am. I'll take the snow, thank you.  Praying for everyone affected by the destruction in the south.  Praying and hoping all my friends are ok.

Oh my goodness, golly

 You know that list I'm making in my head of things I don't really need?

 Flowers don't appear anywhere on that list

 I stopped at Home Depot this afternoon on the way home from work, and lost my head and my heart to these Ranunculus and Violas.  The lady who works there had to wait to water them while I tried to decide what colors to get. She was very patient.

 Well red goes without saying...

But the rest took a while. I finally decided on different shades of pink and filled in with orange and yellow and purple Johnny Jump-ups.  My front porch window boxes are a riot!

Aren't the ruffles on these amazing? I may have to cover them for a while at night, but it is well and truly Spring now:>)

Transitions

This is the extent of my spring decorating. I finally got the wreath on my front door and I don't know if I'll get much more done than that. Decorating and fluffing are taking a back burner this Spring to prayer and meditation and planning for the future.  I feel change coming so strongly. With the lack of jobs in Michigan, Earl and I have talked briefly about moving out of state and it has made me take a look around and start really paring things down.  Do I really need everything in my home? What can I do without and not miss it?  Come to find out, there is a lot that I'm not all that attached to. The thought of packing it, moving it and unpacking it sheds a different light on my possessions.  I don't know if we will be moving, but I want to be ready for the adventure if the opportunity presents itself. Some of this stuff weighs me down. Some I just need to get rid of because I need a fresh start. So I've been boxing it up and taking it to Salvation Army, hauling it out with the trash (yes, some of it should have gone long ago!) and getting ready for change.  It feels really good.  It frees me to think of things in a new light. 

How about you? When was the last time you sat down and thought about where you were headed and what changes you might make if you were free of all the little things that hold you down. Just because you're older or settled doesn't mean you don't have a future, or dreams, or ambitions.

Are you ready if adventure calls you?

Scam

Hi everyone. Just a note. I was checking my spam this morning and noticed an email from someone named Kathy Lagoli. It read, "Haven't heard back from you, are you still in business?" and the subject referred to a give-away I had entered. I didn't see anything else from her so I emailed back that I was and what could I do for her. Then I did a search on the name and came up with several bloggers who have recieved the same message and who say it is some kind of phishing scam. Yipee. If you get a similar email from this person, don't open it. I just hope it isn't going to totally mess up my email or get addresses from it somehow. Just thought I would put the word out.

Spring break began for me Friday.  ♥Oh how I love the sound of those words. ♥

I hope I can post a little more than once this week, I have some major projects to do around the house and have some lunches sheduled with friends and, well, you get the idea.

It's catch up time for everything I haven't had time for.

Here is someone I always have time for. Lauren spends her Sundays with us. Love that.  I think we will be cooking together a lot on Sundays. Lauren, her dad and I.  She is moving into a new cute apartment at the end of the month and I have some decorating projects on the calender with her. Furniture to paint, fun to be had. But I digress.  The kid knows how to cook, she just lacks a little faith in herself, and a good basic cookbook, which I didn't realize until this weekend.  So her dad and I are walking her through some of her favorite recipes on Sunday afternoons.  This week she made her favorite sausage and asparagus quiche with me, turkey burgers for the freezer with her dad, along with  some tips on poaching chicken breasts to use in quick recipes after work.  She went home with goodies for the freezer and fridge and we had a great time.

 (Oooh, a sneak peek of the upper cabinets, still working on the lower ones.)

 laughing together...

and having coffee

And just having fun.  I think the mug says it all.

She's sweet:>)

I would love to hear what your go to favorite basic cookbook is. Mine is an old Betty Crocker circa 1973. Any suggestions for a good one for her?