January 8, 2013 / 0 Comments

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to work we go….

We go back to school today and after such a long break, I am not sure I am ready. I just need a few more days in my house, hanging out, reorganizing and listening to good music with my Christmas lights on.

I can’t bear to take my lights down yet, so they will be up a little while longer, it is so nice as the nights close in early to have the den filled with the twinkle and glow of lights, it makes it a happier space.

We have already completed a few reorganizing projects since we have gotten back from the States. We cleaned out the kitchen cabinets and the drawers. We bought some new storage containers to put things in. It is silly, I know, but when I open my drawers now, they just make me happy because everything is in its place. I also de-cluttered one section of my closet and have items to use as dust rags, items to be turned into a sewing project and items that are going to Oxfam.

We tried a new pizza dough recipe Sunday night and it was delicious. I found it on the Annie’s Eats blog and is definitely going in our repertoire of dough recipes. Mr. Michie liked it so much, he cut the crust off a piece, just to eat the crust, he never does that!

I have a few things planned this week, that should make it fly by, but I am already ready for Friday night again, when I can just be with Mr. Michie. I am going to have to wear my pajamas inside out and do a snow dance and pray hard for at least one snow day this term, I am going to need it! Just to have one more day, curled up under blankets with my twinkle lights, Christmas music and a hot chocolate.

{image found here}

December 9, 2012 / 1 Comment

Winter Greetings

It was a little warmer today, but the look of snow is in the sky. One of my favorite movies is on, The Family Stone and the lights and candles are lit in the cottage.

The dryer is humming away in the background, it is just a quiet Sunday afternoon. We are catching our breath before the new week begins.

November 21, 2012 / 2 Comments

Pioneer Woman

I am a pioneer woman. All the women in my family are. We travel where our lives take us and we keep the home fires burning. My mother and her mother before that and her mother before that and so on have given me that gift, I am fortunate and I mean this with every ounce of humbleness, I am a good homemaker. I know how to keep a home and how to make a home, they have bestowed that blessing on me.

However, I am lucky in that, I am a modern pioneer woman, I am a pioneer woman with Skype. On this day before Thanksgiving when I can’t be with my family, I am blessed that I can see their beautiful faces.

It is not always easy being apart from them, but I am married now and wherever Mr. Michie is, is HOME. I am so fortunate, that when I packed up my wagon and headed in my case east vs. the west of wagons ho, I knew that it was not forever, to never ever see my family again. Those were brave women, to leave behind everything they knew, for a new world.

As you pack up your wagons to travel to family and friends this holiday season, I pray that you are well and your journeys safe.

{Image from Ox Cart Man}

November 6, 2012 / 2 Comments

Roasted Butternut Squash Chili

Mr. Michie and I love to cook with each other. We get caught in a rut at times, not so much in that we aren’t sure what to make, but we go through phases and can’t seem to get enough of a certain thing, for instance a variety of different salads, or soup with different homemade bread recipes we will try. We like trying new things. We were on a guacamole kick during our 1/2 term break and decided to do just that: try something new.

I read Jenny Steffens Hobick blog and she posted the recipes that she made during a recent cooking event that she hosted. One of them was a Roasted Butternut Squash Chili.

It looked and sounded delicious. We decided to try it! As always, it must be the Italian in me, but I made a few moderate changes, I added a whole red pepper, a few more spices, I also completely forgot about the bay leaves and never added them.

It bubbled and stewed away on the stove for hours, filling the house with the most heavenly homey scent. Mr. Michie made his famous guacamole, we piled the chili in bowls, dotted it with mounds of cheese, guacamole and sour cream.

We ceremoniously sat on the couch, with a bowl of tortilla chips, a couple of beers and pressed “play” on It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

It was a very nice evening.

October 17, 2012 / 0 Comments

Munchkin

The past two days, I have felt that I have not had a chance to catch my breath, between school and outside of work activities. Tonight, Mr. Michie and I are getting to eat together.

I have a chicken in the oven, a salad dressed with a delicious raspberry vinegar I found and oil and we are trying pumpkin speltotto, a spin on risotto but made with spelt instead.

Candles are lit, the heat is on, the lights are dimmed, Mumford & Sons is playing through the speakers and we are happy.

I bought my first munchkin today, it made me smile.

October 1, 2012 / 0 Comments

The First of October

The first of October is upon us. Autumn is officially here in my book. We cleaned the house this weekend from top to bottom and decorated for Fall, it just feels so cozy! Mr. Michie and I sat down when we had finally finished (he is a good helper around the house) and watched a movie, ate some popcorn and drank hot apple cider, a perfect Saturday night!

September 9, 2012 / 0 Comments

Upside Down

Ages ago, my Mom sent me this adorable Betty Crocker “Apple Pie” candle and I have yet to burn it. I couldn’t bring myself to do it, as it was so adorably packaged.

But, last night, I lit it and I knew it needed to sit on something cute in my kitchen. So, I looked around, I don’t have any mini cupcake stands, but I knew I needed something like that.

I suddenly spied what I needed, it is an old glass egg cup, I use for tea lights or to put flowers in, that turned upside down was the perfect “cake stand”.

Looking at something in a different way, always sheds new light on the situation, don’t you think?

September 1, 2012 / 0 Comments

The First of September

Oh, the First of September! Where did you come from? It seems only yesterday I walked out of school with the sun on my back, heading toward vacation and Summer with open arms.

August brought a visit home to see new places, to see my family, a baby shower for my sister, shopping, eating, eating tomatoes that actually tasted like a tomato! August brought, getting to talk to my mom in person instead of skype, getting to see my dad every day. Getting to play with Maisy, the cutest dog in the world!

August brought suntan lotion and heat and skin warmed by the sun as you swam in the pool. August brought one hospital trip for me after a really bad case of food poisoning, where my dad was still my dad, no matter how old I am and held my hand as they tried to start an IV. It brought my first trip to the Wakarusa Dime Store, home of the famous GIANT JELLY BEANS, where my mom and I tasted almost every flavor and I got to see her beautiful smile and laugh.

August brought a road trip from Indiana to Viriginia, where I drove past Upper Sandusky, movie “home” to Doris Day. August brought me having to tell my family goodbye, to watch their beautiful faces as they waved and blew kisses from the other side of the ticket gate. I hate August, I love August. I am so blessed for the time I had, but I am ready to see them again.

School starts on Tuesday and I am not sure I am really ready for it, this time around. I still feel worn out from being sick and flying, but Tuesday will come whether I am ready or not and so this new school year shall begin.

Mr. Michie and I went out yesterday to run a few errands and the sun was out, but it was cool and breezy, the light is changing, Autumn is on her way. It won’t be long before we turn our clocks back and the night creeps in faster and more candles are lit in the cozy cottage behind the racing green door.

(Image Found at Golden Gems)

April 15, 2012 / 1 Comment

Bottoms Up!

I’m Back, I’m back! Thank you all for sticking with me while I had a few days off and thank you ever so much to Goose Girl & Foxy who posted in my stead, I had so much fun seeing what you were up to (that is one of their pictures above).

Well, today closes out our Easter Break. Somehow the time we have together is never enough and there is never enough time to get everything done that I want to do.

But, we are blessed with the time that we have had together and with what we have been able to do with it. We did a few things around the house today to get ready for the week. We went grocery shopping and picked up a fresh turkey breast to make for Sunday dinner.

We stopped off at the coffee shop and ate a bite of brunch. I had an iced Italian Lemonade and a chicken & pesto panini, it was wondrous!

We came home, Mr. Michie folded some laundry for me and I went to work on making Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Cookies from my Betty Crocker Cooky Book. I have a few tweaks I make to them and now the house smells so cozy.

I suppose this week is coming, whether or not we are ready for it. It will be a whirlwind as all first weeks back to school are. So, Bottoms Up! Here we come!

(All images by J. Michie, except “Bottoms Up!“, found at ElectroSpark)

October 31, 2011 / 0 Comments

Happy Halloween

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

These would be our Halloween costumes this year. Mr. Michie has been sick for over a week, so I have been donning my nurse’s cap and staying busy making homemade chicken soup and jell-o as well as tending to my little patient!

(Image by the adorable Becky, found on Flickr)