Indoor Happiness....for a bit longer!!

The first ever so slight sign that Spring is near!









This is the amazing orchid that was given to us by my wonderful friend, Andie, on the day that she came to see us in the hospital after Sol was born.....almost 7 years ago! Every year it had produced a single blooming stem (I am not quite sure of the right orchid lingo) until the year that Poppy was arriving...it produced two blooming stems. I did not think it was going to survive my attempt at re-potting it. I know very little about Orchids, other than the fact I think they are beautiful and I thought they were hard to grow. I have had another one at one time and it did not make it, but this one has a will of its own to grow. No flowers this year for the kids birthdays....but the leaves are still green!




Poppy and I were getting reallllllly creative one of the past cold, rainy, snowy, icy days lately. We had an empty, funny-looking produce bag , a craving for strawberries, and the usual sense of "turning nothing into something"!! (That line and mantra comes from Joseph Had an Overcoat, by Simms Taback. Really good kids (and adult!) book.)





Sol playing a computer game. Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants pilkey.com is one of his favorites.




After school snack of grilled cheese, roasted red pepper and tomato soup, chocolate milk and excitement to read his new library books on Aliens.





Sunday breakfast was fruit and scones....picture to follow. Poppy and Sol liked the strawberries best!






Greg's Saturday project. He braided out of one piece of cording a new watchband. If you have never visited the Instrucables website...we highly recommend it! What fun projects for DIY anything!!





Scones.....yum. This is my favorite recipe for them... Buttermilk-Currant Scones with Lemon Glaze, from Sunset April 2006. I made them for the first time shortly after Poppy was born, so I feel a certain fondness for them!! I love buttermilk in baking and I use Meyers Lemons in the recipe for an extra 'sweet' touch. This time I used dried cherries and they turned out great.





One of my newest favorite things to do is make yogurt. I was getting so crazy annoyed by all the containers we were accumulating (I couln't recycle them or throw them away) and we eat a lot of yogurt so I had to make it a priority to start making our own. It is so easy (another appliance is not even necessary, but pretty darn helpful, I think )and for us really rewarding. We get fresh yogurt, very yummy, mostly organic, much less expensive (!) and no container mess to deal with now on a weekly basis. YAY!


The Salton in action.



We have yogurt containers in every nook and cranny....just waiting to be used for a plethera of different odds and ends. Let me know if anyone needs a handful!






And last, but hardly least, my other favorite new appliance in action....well, actually it is done in this picture. Furthermore, it is done with one of the best-to-date loaves of bread! Actually, I love all the recipes I have tried because I love fresh baked bread without all the work of doing it all by hand. I like that part too, but this is slightly more convenient! Anyway, this recipe is Cornmeal Molasses from my friend Nici's blog. Thanks, Nici! I am sure she wouldn't mind if I passed it on if you would like to try it out for yourself.

Once the weather gets nicer I am sure all these indoor projects will take the back burner. We are all just dying to get out and wear short sleeves and flip flops! But for now, we are loving all the fun things we have dicovered to do indoors. Hope you are finding Spring on your welcome mat very soon too. Love to all.