Turtle Cake

As promised....

I baked a cake.

Monday.

A turtle cake. 

Yellow cake with chocolate ganache, caramel, coconuts, and pecans.

Yesterday was my father-in-law's birthday.

He turned 29. He's been 29 since Mr. B and I started dating.

You need a cake to celebrate your 28th anniversary of your 29th Birthday!

The 'Sitting Room'

Hey there stranger!

I feel like I have been slacking lately and racking my brain with things to share with you. It's January and there really isn't much going on around here. There has been lots of snuggling on the couch with my boys, movie watching, and popcorn eating. Mr. B makes the best homemade popcorn. There has been no home improvement, no building projects, and no baking.

It's still January and the 'new year's resolutions' are still fresh in my mind. You know eat more vegetables and exercise more. Hence no cake. Although I've been seeing quite a few on pinterest. I think a chocolate cake might be in order for this weekend.

I took these pictures of while ago. I really didn't like how they turned out, I don't think the lighting is the best. But I thought I would share them any way.

Off of our bedroom is another smaller room. Since you have to walk through the master bedroom to get to it we thought we would make it part of the "master suite" rather than a guest bedroom.

I like to call it the "sitting room".

 

The curtains are one of my favorite things about this space. Nice and feminine with out being over the top. My mom helped me pick them out. Thanks mom!

The furinture is from my great granny. She bought it when she was first married. The bottom drawer of the dresser has the date the set was purchased and the price. She was always writting notes like that on things.  

The peacock feathers are left overs from our wedding. We hit the one year mark last week!

I think it would be the perfect spot to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning while wearing a soft fluffy rob looking out over the back yard. I can dream right.

"Making Ice" Weather

It is cold out.

It is beyond cold out.

The jeep barely started this morning.

  My kitchen is cold despite new windows and insulation in the mud room. Like wear your slippers or your tootsies will freeze walking on the floor, cold. Good thing mom bought us nice slippers for Christmas. Thanks mom!

The geese are cold. They are surviving, but cold. They took their baths yesterday and the water froze to there feathers. It looked like they were covered in white sprinkles. It got down to negative thirteen last night, that was with out the wind chill. I wanted them to spend the night in the mud room or basement. I was vetoed by Mr. B. They made it through the night. Good thing geese are such hardy birds.

 The high today is supposed to be under ten. Yes single digits! I'm sure they will spend most of their day huddled on the corner of the porch. They spent most of the day there yesterday and sassed me the whole time I was unpacking groceries and making dinner. They stand at the window and honk at me. Then Mr. B goes up and starts talking to Bruce. Bruce starts to hiss at him. Obviously Mr. B has to hiss back.

While we hate the cold, Mr B. is happy. It's making ice. Sturgeon spearing is coming up next month.  



He Said YES

Mr. B agreed that I could get more geese in the spring!! Ok, I might have guilted him into it. He bought a new snow board the night he broken wrist and failed to tell me. I was under the impression he was borrowing someones old board. I just found out this weekend (from his brother mind you not from Mr. B) that its new and it's his. So he agreed to let me order the fancy goose package from Murry McMurray.

That's ten birds from the following breeds.

Buff and Tufted Buff (the Tufted are pictured the regular Buff would look like Teddy)

Dewlap Toulouse (like Bruce and his minions but larger and with the beard thingy going on.)

Tufted Roman

Brown Chinese

Super African

Not pictured are the Pilgrim, Patty and Bernice were Pilgrim Geese.

The hatchery guarantees and assortment of at least three of the above breeds. I'm hopping for Buff and some African. Ten more birds is going to mean that there will need to be an addition put on the existing coop. Don't worry I have a plan, and Mr. B lovingly agreed to help me do it.

There was one stipulation, if any of the geese we currently own have goslings this spring I have to sell some of them and perhaps there parents, but not Bruce. Bruce stays.

Sewing for Me

Over the past few years I've made quite a few quilts. For new babies, for newly weds, and for family. I have never made a quilt specifically for me. In fact none of the quilts I have made live with us.

I decided that needed to change.

I'm in the process of making a quilt just for me. 

The block design is simple. The hand quilting is going to be the most detailed I have every attempted. It will take many nights snuggled in on the couch watching movies with my boys until this is done.

I cannot wait to show you the finished product!

One of Gus's Many Sad Faces

Gus Gus does NOT like being dressed up in any type of clothing. You put something on him, a hat, a sock, a shirt, and he freezes. He doesn’t want to move.  You can sense his humiliation. He puts on his most pathetic face to make you feel sorry for him. I must be a horrible mother because I find his faces at these moments most amusing. So amusing I thought I would share one with you.

A Weekend of Curtains

This past weekend Mr. B had to work. Which means I was productive around the house and was able to cross some things off my crafty to do list.

I made curtains.

For the bathroom.

For the past two years I have had a nasty plain white curtain up in our bathroom. The location of the room and the fact that it is well a loo, demands some privacy. The curtain was hideous, therefore there is no before picture. For those of you who have been to the acres you know how horrible the curtain purchased from the big box store that will not be named (couch Wal-Mart) was. 

The new one is much nicer. So glad I finally got around to this project, I've only been sitting on the fabric since we bought the house. Better late than never.

I opted to go with a half curtain, more like two thirds. It lets in so much light. I am also able to open the window from the top and that will still allow for some nice airflow come the summer without blowing the curtain all over the place. 

I also got around to making the curtain for our bedroom closet. 

You heard that right a closet. For the fist two years, while our bedroom was on the fist story we had make shift closets that Mr. B built us. Not any more. The only down side is our current one didn't have a door. Well it had one of the nasty accordion vinyl doors. Needless to say that had to go. 

I found the fabric while with my mom and aunt. I don't know what I was thinking when I bought it, it was a tad  on the expensive side. But that happens when you are with those two... Not saying that I don't like it because it is perfect.

It makes the room look that much more complete. When I bought it I was hoping to have enough to make a throw pillow or reupholster a rocking chair. Good thing I bought as much as I did after I finish the hem I will have only a few inches to spare. (Yes I still need to hem it.)

It was the weekend of sewing curtains. (and reading books I did spend most of Saturday reading). But really it was the weekend of sewing and baking sweet rolls.

Yummm. 

Lemon Blueberry Sweet Rolls. 

Those had to go to work before I devoured the whole pan. 

BTW (Mary, that means by the way) This is my 100th post!! Thanks for tagging along so far!

Mr. B's Misadventure while Snowboarding

Last year Mr. B went snowboarding several times. He had fun and he liked it..allot. So much so that at the end of the season he bought his own board. And then it sat for the summer and fall and into the winter. Finally after Blizzard Draco there was enough snow to go out.

He went out this past weekend. He went Friday night right after work. Then he wanted to go out Saturday. I wanted him to want to stay home and do something with me. I'm sure you know how that goes. He went. He had fun. I had pinapple for dinner and watched a chick flick. He also biffed it getting off the ski lift tweaking his wrist. Thinking is was just a sprain he continued snowboarding the rest of the evening. That's what he figured it and that's what his friend's wife the registered nurse said it probably was.

He woke up and it was swollen and hurt. Then he tried to move it and it was all over. It must have been bad; he took himself to urgent care. There he got xrays to confirm. He broke it. They splinted his arm up to his elbow to immobilize it until he could get in to see the bone specialist after the holiday.

Poor Mr. B, no snowboarding for a few weeks, it nedds time to heel. Poor me, he has limited mobility with his one hand so more work for me. I don't think he will be able to do dishes for a while.

I never said it out loud, of course that doesn't mean I wasn't thinking it. Mr. B said it first, If he would have stayed home with me instead of going snowboarding two nights in a row he wouldn't have broken his wrist.
It's nice to be proven right once in a while.

A New Year

Happy New Year!!

I had this big elaborate post all planned out with highlights and photos of the past year. But then I thought every one does that so I'll just skip it this year. (mainly it's January 2nd and I ran out of time, Shh)

Instead I'll share this photo with you.

We went to my big sista's house New Year's Eve and celebrated together by cooking good food and drink good wine. Neither of us has ever made lobster but we thought we would give it a go. AMAZING. It my fist time ever eating it, I've been missing out. It was yummy in my tummy.  

Mr. B manned the grill with his good arm. (That story deserves it's own post. I'll tell you tomorrow!) He made us steak so we could have a surf and turf thing going on.

It was a nice evening in. We stayed to watch the ball drop in Time Square and some horrible lip singing. Then took ourselves home to bed.