This & That

Around Here This Week

We're having a birthday-laden week, so this post is appearing today.

So around here this week....

There are things going on in the garden. The lettuce and peas are coming up.

It's nice to see them coming along.

The apple trees are getting ready to blossom. I think there will be a walk in the yard post coming up next week. Lots happening.

These came. Let me say that my husband sets up delivery days at the beginning of the year and more often than not, they come right when I need them. 

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, Evan and Eric's families went on a hike and I got this collection of pictures from them.

For local people, this is the trail down into the canyon behind the Jerome golf course.

It's a steep road that gives they guys a workout for the backpacking they do occasionally.

They enjoyed getting out and getting some fresh air.

This is Evan up on top of the canyon, keeping an eye on the rest of the group coming back up.

My daughter-in-law, Elisa put a little blue ombre color in her hair. 

and she sent me this picture of her spring blooming tulips.

Here's Ephraim.

Meanwhile back east, I got several pictures from Collin's family. This picture of the 3 boys came from my daughter-in-law, Alison, with the caption, "What could go wrong?" Three little boys with sticks.....hmmmmmm. I can think of several scenarios right off the top of my head, most of which I've lived through with my own boys.

They rigged up a little "campfire" on their deck for making s'mores. Notice they have the fire contained with a ring of rocks, which cracked me up.

David enjoyed his.

They've also taken a few bike rides,

...and played with water beads.

And lastly, John has moved into the big crib as David has moved into a bunk bed with James. That's a pretty cute face right there.

He's 4 Years Old!

We have a birthday today....

Our Levi is 4 years old!

This boy is a big fan of everything superhero, dinosaurs, and Star Wars.

I think he gets that last bit from his dad. 

We are excited to get him and his family a lot closer to us this summer. 

We love him, as we love all our grandkiddos. Happy birthday to Levi!

Parmesan Pepper Biscuits

Because of my husband's surgery last week, meals went to survival mode. The day of surgery, dinner was toast, literally. We cleaned the leftovers out of the fridge....not a bad thing, and one of my friends brought dinner. I was really grateful for that. As time went on, I was able to get a handle on things again. I know there are just the 2 of us, but my husband is a.....challenging patient, so it took a few days to get a routine going that worked for both of us.

As I mentioned previously, our Easter dinner this year was a little different...no houseful of family, no rolls which would be absolute heresy if the houseful of family had been here. That said, these biscuits were really tasty and nice for a change. I found the recipe in the latest Pioneer Woman magazine. In fact, I used the ham glaze from that article as well. I cut this recipe in half for the two of us and it still made way more than we needed.

Parmesan Pepper Biscuits

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 Tablespoons baking powder
• 1 Tablespoon black pepper (I'm not sure I used quite that much)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 12 Tablespoon salted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 425°. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease the pans.

Combine the flour, Parmesan cheese, baking powder, pepper and salt in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse it until mostly incorporated with a few chunks. Slowly pour in the buttermilk pulsing as you go. Stop just when the dough comes together.

Drop the dough in about 1/4 cup scoops on the prepared baking sheets and bake until golden on the top, 15-20 minutes. Makes 12-15 biscuits.

Around Here This Week

So around here this week...

The primary election here in Idaho is going to be done entirely by absentee ballot. Ours arrived this week and we "voted." 

This also happened. My husband tore the meniscus of his knee on a recent trip to the ponds and that resulted in exactly the same surgery I had nearly 3 years ago. It's hard for him, which makes it a little hard for me as well but we're going to get through it. 6 weeks of non-weightbearing. We're going to really try to not let him fall and break his dominant arm a few days before he finishes with the crutches/walker.

It falls to me to give the dogs a little exercise.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, Evan is getting the irrigation going in his pasture and took this picture of the blooming things around his place.

Roger went out to help him and took a spill in the mud. 

These little beauties apparently washed down the irrigation ditch upstream. 

At Eric's house, hair experiments continue with braided crowns,

...and viking braids with a little color.

At Collin's place he's doing a little experimentation with his camera.

...and apparently I kept the kids busy with a little singing video I made, while he and Alison made dinner the other day. Long distance digital recorded singing time with Gramma Honey.

Marc finished his Boise rotation and traveled home. His boys were happy to see Dad.

And from my daughter, one of her very food blogger-able meals from this week.

Coronacation & Family History

If I'm being totally honest as I've mentioned here before, I am basically a homebody. I'm not a roamer, a traveler, an explorer. I'm very satisfied staying at home, so quarantine is not something that throws me into a spiral of depression. Of course, I could REALLY use a haircut. Things are pretty ugly here.

I had a few unfinished mini-albums from last year lurking on my desk. Since we have to be at home, I might as well get some of these UFO's aka unfinished objects, done.

One of them was this Day in the Life album from last year. The principle is simple...document in depth what you do during the day for a couple of different days during the year. I needed to put together the second day and used supplies from Ali Edwards, who came up with the idea for this album.

None of my ancestors kept journals of any kind.

As I've done research on my family line, the biggest question in my mind is....."What did you do during the day, and how did you accomplish it?"

Maybe I go a little overboard, but I'm hoping my posterity won't ever have to ask that question. As you see here, the choice for one of the days happened to be my 40th wedding anniversary.

There was also the 30 Days of Thankful album from last year. I used templates and ideas from Cathy Zielske, the originator of this project.

This is one of my favorite projects every year.

Not only does it happen during my favorite time of the year, but it directly points me to my favorite holiday, which is Thanksgiving.

It also definitely takes me outside myself, and gives me a generally better perspective.

Keeping a positive spin on what's going on around me, 

I'm grateful for some time to expand my family history a little bit. Unfinished projects getting finished is always a good thing, right?

The Blooming Things

There's something almost magical about this time of year, when things start to come alive and bloom. I see changes almost every day when I walk around outside.

The rock cress is in its element.

And my favorite happy flowers are in full swing. These cute little ones are no bigger than a quarter.

I look forward to seeing the old friends that come back year after year.

And I love the new ones. These were those first ones that bloomed.

This new one is Narcissus Westward. I'm noticing a theme here. Apparently I'm a really big fan of the "double" variety of daffodils...the ones with the ruffled centers.

Rustic Sausage & Potato Soup

In the kitchen this week, 

...it was time for a batch of bread. Even with just the two of us here, bread gets used up.

I roasted several bone-in chicken breasts, then put the bones, some vegetables, and herbs into the crock pot to make some stock.

It's nice to have some of that replenished.

It was a ham-o-rama week using up the leftover Easter ham.

This was the Pioneer Woman's scalloped potatoes and ham. It was really good. One good thing about the holiday recipe binder I put together earlier this year, is that I can put notes about how to use leftovers in it and don't have to reinvent the wheel every time.

There was a night of grilled cheese sandwiches...with ham, using the fresh bread. There may also have been an egg salad sandwich night. Yeah, there are some days when less is more.

I even put ham in this Garden Linguine recipe...and it was really good. There are also mushrooms buried in there somewhere for my husband.

I also tried my hand at the trendy Dutch oven bread that Marc likes to me just to prove I could do it. In my opinion it got a little too toasty on the top,

... but it tasted good.

Moving on...Make. This. Soup. It comes from my most recent favorite cookbook. I've been working my way through recipes I want to try in this book and so far I've only had one that I wouldn't repeat. I know long ago I posted a different recipe for a similar soup, but this one has it beat all to heck. I'm attributing that to the stock I used. I used up the last quart of Thanksgiving turkey stock and honestly couldn't believe the difference in flavor. Makes me want to make Thanksgiving turkey again much sooner just so I can have the stock, but I'm probably going to have to make due with chicken bones until then. Seriously, make the stock and then make this soup.

Rustic Sausage & Potato Soup

• 1/2 pound bacon
• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 cups chicken stock (since I packaged the turkey stock in 1-quart quantities, I just added the whole thing)
• 6 medium russet potatoes, halved and sliced (I only used 5. I wanted more broth.)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I probably didn't add this much)
• 2 cups chopped stemmed kale leaves (I used spinach)
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish

In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until crispy. Remove the bacon, setting it aside on a paper towel to drain and leaving about 2 Tablespoons of fat in the pot.

Add the sausage and onion to the pot and brown. Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes more, until fragrant, then add the stock, potatoes, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

Add the kale (spinach) and simmer for 3-4 minutes, until it is slightly wilted. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Remove from heat and stir in cream. Add crumbled bacon and serve with a little sprinkle of Parmesan. Serves 4-6

Around Here This Week

So around here this week.....

We have had warm enough weather that the peach blossoms have burst forth in all their glory.

And so have the stupid plum blossoms.

That said, it's spring in Idaho and you know what that means? Well as you can see here, my husband is stringing lights on the branches, so it must be time for #savethepeaches2020.

We try to be really careful when we get the lights on, but we can't help but knock a few blossoms off in the process. It's a little bit heartbreaking.

Since the temperatures are a little borderline, we didn't put the tarp over it, so I sure hope it works.

A couple of days later we decided to put the tarp on when the temperatures decided to drop into the low 20's.On the upside, maybe the plum blossoms will totally freeze.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, there are big doings at Evan's house.

25 big things to be exact. So far they're all surviving, but Evan says they might succumb to being overly loved. ETA-Evan tells me Tiny Tim passed away yesterday. 24 and counting.

Evan is also coping with the frost and came over to borrow some lights. His peach tree is looking very festive, but was too big to cover with a tarp.

I got these from Collin's wife, Alison. 

They were biking on the Mt. Vernon trail.

She also sent me this video of him trying out David's Batman mask. That giggle gets me every time.

From Marc's wife, Rachelle, I got this series of pictures of the boys getting some fresh air, which they all loved.

Marc's been on that out-of-town rotation, so she's been handling these guys by herself.

It's a big job.

In addition to the park, they did a little chalking for their neighbors.

Here's Jude's new trick for the week. Rachelle says she can't leave him alone for a minute.

From my daughter. She's doing a lot of Corona-baking and this is her first solo attempt at yeast rolls. Atta girl!

And lastly, from my sister's letter board.

Keeping My Hands Busy

Get ready for a very photo-laden post, because my hands have been very, very busy lately. In fact, I'm going to have to divide this up into two posts so nobody gets overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of my productivity.

I stitched up the April 2" minis from the most recent Primitive Gatherings wool box.

This also came from a wool box, but maybe the one before this most recent one?

I tackled an older Simon Says Stamp card kit. Interestingly,  these papers that came in it were supposed to be Christmas-themed. There were some I repurposed for other cards.

...and some worked really well for Christmas cards.

Since this kit has been in pieces on my desk since last fall, I'm glad to get it done...and I'm totally saying that I'm ahead of the game and willfully ignoring the fact that I didn't get it done before last Christmas.

I had 3 unfinished actual scrapbooking projects tucked in various places that I dragged out to work on. This is the Ali Edwards' Week in the Life album project. 

Yes you're reading the dates right. The week that was documented was May 6-12 of last year. 

I figured maybe I should get the album put together before it's time for the event taking place again next month.

I learned a few this putting this together. I need to take more pictures during the day. There were a couple of days I had to supplement with random yard flower pictures to make it work. Note to self....

This was the last page in the album, which is pretty much my life philosophy right now.

And here are the most recent Project Life pages done with the app.

These are all stories that you've seen....

....and I've said it repeatedly....

.....that this just makes me so darn happy seeing everyday life documented.

Eastering

We practiced a fairly socially distant holiday this year.

Eric's family got some coordination going with their Sunday best, which was worn to home church.

You've got to admit that all my grandkiddos are pretty cute. Here's Ephraim...

...and Emmett.

My husband and I were invited to participate in the egg hunt on their place.

Eric and Grandpa were pretty good at hiding those eggs...

...some requiring a little more dexterity than others.

And some impossible without a little help.

All the eggs were found except a couple.

Gwen found one in a fairly natural habitat. It might be hard to tell that it's in a bird's nest.

It was a fun outing and felt good to get out of the house for a bit.