Today is officially spring. Seriously- March 20 ends winter and starts spring. Here it means melting snow, warmer weather, melting lakes, longer days, more sunshine, and rain- which we haven't had in quite a while. There's still a few snow flurries in the forecast, but it's a lot warmer! Spring for me here also means no more boots- finally I can wear flats(!), no more wool socks or long underware under my clothes, no more warming up my car forever, no gloves, no big puffy jackets, and no more gloomy day after gloomy day. Sunshine makes the biggest difference!
So officially, I love spring. Though a few years ago if I came up here I would have said it was the dead of winter as I knew it. Thankful for these "small" victories though!
It's been our spring break which has been super nice. And I've been going domestically crazy! Baking, cooking, sewing and geneology (what?!). Who knew they'd be such outlets?! I've also been cleaning, shopping, and makin' some money! Woo consignment store!
Here are some good recipes I've made this week:
Yesterday Andrew and I stopped by a home goods consigment store and picked up a $30 check! A few months ago I dropped off some random things we'd picked up along the way that we wouldn't be using any more in our house. So I brought them to the store and a few months later we got 45% of what they sold for in cash. Though I'm usually the spender (at least on clothing and house things), I was glad to actually contribute something to our money pot this time. So was Andrew!
I've also been digging some a bunch of family history stuff while doing a free trial over at Ancestry.com. It all started with Andrew took me on a date to the Minneapolis History Museum in St. Paul. They had a genealogy area and it sparked my curiosity for learn more. And Andrew always teases me that I'm Latina so I wanted to finally quiet his little quips! It was neat to see the actual immigration papers my great, great, great paternal grandfather and grandmother came over from Germany with. I got to find some pictures of Manuel Martinez, my great, great maternal grandfather and his parents Juanita and Esteban Martinez. On my mom's side super far down the line (think like seven or eight generations and 1600-1700s are Spanish and even some Mexican lineage) and on my Dad's side is German (and I think Dutch, but I haven't gotten there yet). Anyway, it was so fun! I'll hopefully share more about this later too!
Yeah, so we're nowhere near this, but at least the snow is patchy now, not thick!
So officially, I love spring. Though a few years ago if I came up here I would have said it was the dead of winter as I knew it. Thankful for these "small" victories though!
It's been our spring break which has been super nice. And I've been going domestically crazy! Baking, cooking, sewing and geneology (what?!). Who knew they'd be such outlets?! I've also been cleaning, shopping, and makin' some money! Woo consignment store!
Here are some good recipes I've made this week:
- Cinnamon Chip Scones from Pioneer Woman: 5 stars. I think I'm going to make them again tonight since I ate the last one this morning... My grocery didn't have cinnamon chips so I got caramel chips. Super good. She kept saying it was very dry but my ingredients were quite wet, but they still came out ok. This time I'll triple check the measurements again (though I did the first time too!)
- Pork Chops with Dijon Cream Sauce from Simply Recipes: OMG. Would make again in a heart beat. Pork chops are moist and it's easy to get the rest of the meal together while they're cooking. Yum!
- Tomato and Sausage Lasagna from Mrs. Martha Stewart: I made this while I was out of town for hubby. He had some guys over and they demolished it. I thought it was pretty good, but they loved it. I would make it again, but adding much more tomatoes, sauce and sausage.
- Made this jambalaya tonight. I couldn't find my mom's recipe so I settled for a combo of Emeril's and one from River Road Recipes III, a family staple. I'll be subbing smoked sausage for shrimp and doulbing the recipe for our couples' small group tonight. Yum!
- Corn Pudding: We had this with the jambalaya and it was totally gone at the end of the night.
Yesterday Andrew and I stopped by a home goods consigment store and picked up a $30 check! A few months ago I dropped off some random things we'd picked up along the way that we wouldn't be using any more in our house. So I brought them to the store and a few months later we got 45% of what they sold for in cash. Though I'm usually the spender (at least on clothing and house things), I was glad to actually contribute something to our money pot this time. So was Andrew!
I've also been digging some a bunch of family history stuff while doing a free trial over at Ancestry.com. It all started with Andrew took me on a date to the Minneapolis History Museum in St. Paul. They had a genealogy area and it sparked my curiosity for learn more. And Andrew always teases me that I'm Latina so I wanted to finally quiet his little quips! It was neat to see the actual immigration papers my great, great, great paternal grandfather and grandmother came over from Germany with. I got to find some pictures of Manuel Martinez, my great, great maternal grandfather and his parents Juanita and Esteban Martinez. On my mom's side super far down the line (think like seven or eight generations and 1600-1700s are Spanish and even some Mexican lineage) and on my Dad's side is German (and I think Dutch, but I haven't gotten there yet). Anyway, it was so fun! I'll hopefully share more about this later too!
Here's ol' Juanita and Esteban
...and Manuel as a kid.
Well I should get back to channeling my Latina roots now. And giving Andrew a reason to attempt to speak to me in Spanish (more like Spanglish...or repeating words like taco, burrito and agua since he never took the language.)
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