AFTER (This is nearly the same view as the photo below. These are the two walls we built. Oh, and we put up a ceiling and I installed the light fixture.)

BEFORE, but after the pink and purple were gone. (Notice the white floor, green floor, and random toilet. There is no other plumbing near the toilet.)

The Basement

Holy crap. This basement has gone through a few transformations. There's even a date written in the concrete that says Sept 1917. From what I know, the floor was once dark green concrete. After the dark green is was painted a lovely Easter purple along with Easter pink walls. When we moved in one of the first things Bill did was paint the entire basement white. White you ask? Yup, WHITE. I didn't stop him.

We lived with white for almost two years. During the two years Bill realized that a white floor in the basement show a lot of dirt. A LOT OF DIRT. Especially when you are bringing dirty mountain bikes down there over 100 days of the year.

Earlier this winter...maybe Thanksgiving or Christmas or some other long weekend...we decided to put up some walls. We built 2 x 4 walls around the random basement toilet and built a wall between the furnace area and the first area that you see when you walk down the steps.

This last weekend while I was sewing in my special sewing area (below) Bill decided he wanted to lay the tile that we have had floating around the basement for, oh, 7 months or so.

So he did. AND he decided to paint the rest of the concrete floor BATTLESHIP GRAY! Amazing! Check out the progress in the basement.

(Tile and trim and new paint)

Front Porches

This post got me really thinking about our front porch. It is one of the things that "sold us" on our little house. We sit out there all spring, summer, and fall and watch people walk by or drive through the stop sign.

One of the best features is the special shade that is in the 3rd picture. It blocks the sun in the afternoons and provides a little privacy.

Flowers from Last Year:

• Mammouth Sunflowers - worked great, planted from seed, started inside, may put them in different spots this year...next to the "No Parking Here to Corner" sign and next to the telephone pole.
• Marigolds - worked well, lots of blooms, planted from seed, started inside- probably will do less of these. Will keep them around the tomatoes to keep the bugs away.
• Coneflowers- I have tried these three times from see and only get one leaf to grow and about an inch tall. I have ordered some bulbs of a mixture of coneflowers--we'll see how that works.
• Nasturtium (pictured above) - I put these in the pots on the back steps. I like the leaves better than the flowers. These edible flowers are climbers and I'm trying to find a new spot for them--front porch??
• Irises - Last fall I split the bulbs up and re-planted them along the garage. Last week I saw sprouts of the irises popping up near where the rain barrel goes.
• Daisy/Black Eyed Susan clumps - I got these perennials from Shopko on clearance and if they come back it will be a special bonus.
• Daylilies/Daisys - from our neighbor Paula. She dug 'em up and brought them over, so I planted them. Again, will be a special bonus.
• Tulips - I planted about 100 bulbs last fall. Some in the very front of the house (40), some near the non-producing blueberry patch, some in the back yard.
• Front porch - Zinnias a couple of years ago, can't remember last year's flowers. Need something drought resistant up there becaus of the HOT afternoon sun.
• I planted something in the big blue pots that are along the foundation of the house. The first summer in the house I planted Zinnias and they were GREAT! I didn't really plant them though-- they were in cheap hanging baskets and I took off the hangers and set the plastic basket in the blue pot.

We might have another April 1 SNOW DAY!

My friend Kristy gave me this picnic basket a couple years ago. We've used it for storing the porch lights during the winter, used it as decoration and now are calling it the "technology basket". Our computer speakers are stored underneath the tray. All of our cell phones and chargers, USB cords, battery chargers for cameras and rechargeable batteries and other crap are kept in the picnic basket. Right now the basket sits in the fireplace. You can probably see it in the pictures of the living room below.

(still cooking)

Spring Chicken

I baked a chicken--whole chicken. First time ever. I used a recipe from the cook book that I won-- Food to Live By from Earthbound Organic. The recipe called for things like Meyer Lemons and fresh rosemary. I didn't happen to have any Meyer Lemons on Wednesday night in the UP so I used Tropicana Some Pulp orange juice. Hmmm OJ / Meyer Lemons --pretty much the same thing--right?

Mostly following the recipe (Kathy's Rosemary-Roasted Chicken) it was quite tastey.

Here's what I did:

1 thawed whole chicken

Olive oil spray

3 cloves of garlic chopped up

1/2 cup OJ

A few tablespoons dry rosemary

Some cayenne pepper

Spray the chicken with olive oil then sprinkle cayenne and some rosemary and garlic on the non-breast side of the chicken. Pour a little bit of OJ on it. Flip the chicken over so the breast-side is up. Tuck some rosemary and garlic between the skin and the chicken breast. Pour the rest of the OJ over the chicken and sprinkle with some cayenne and rosemary and garlic. Bake the chicken breast-side up for about 1 1/2 hours.

I bet if you follow the recipe and use Meyer Lemons it will look just like the picture below. :)

Getting a little stir crazy from the long and continuing winter I decided to change some things around in the house--swapped upstairs pictures for downstairs pictures. The first picture is how the living room was when we first moved everything in. Sinco's fish bowl is on the table.

Signs of Spring (even though we'll probably still get a couple more big snow storms)

1. Lars (the 5 year old who lives down the street) pedaling his John Deere tractor down the sidewalk.


2. Crocuses actually blooming along the house (picture soon).


3. Tulips pushing through the ground.
   
4. People wearing shorts and tank tops (it's only 55 degrees people!)


5. A skunk in our neighbor's garage.


6. Ice melt rivers down the sidewalks.


7. Everybody riding bikes!


8. Frosty Treats is OPEN!
   
9. It is light outside until 8:30.


10. Chipmunks are out.

Weddings and Kids

From someone who didn't do a fancy wedding ($25 in the Marquette courthouse followed by pizza at the Portside) it seems like the most fun part of having a fancy wedding is creating a registry.

...Same thing with having a baby. Pregnancy seems to be contagious around NMU right now. When Carolyn was pregnant I created a fake registry of baby stuff that I would register for. I didn't research recalls or read many reviews (yes I read a couple and took Carolyn's recommendation on the car seat). It was fun to do. I didn't have a budget in mind and just chose things that looked cool. I chose a high chair, baby furniture, some bedding, and some other stuff. After a while, though, it got boring. Here it is. I'm pretty sure I went gender-neutral. (I also faked a name, Sarah Lawrence.)

I have a "save the date" magnet on my refrigerator and recently looked up the registry for the couple. Kohls, the place that starts with W, and Target.

I think I'm going to make a registry or a few for myself. You know, just for fun. I think I'll register at Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn or Peir 1, and Target --but it all depends on the ease of creating the registry.

EDIT: PEIR 1 doesn't do registries.

EDIT 2: Williams-Sonoma Kitchen and Cooking Related Registry Here - may have to search Haley Rhoades, Michigan

EDIT 3: Pottery Barn Bathroom, Bedroom, and Table Registry Here - may have to search Haley Rhoades, Michigan

**I didn't register at Macy's but would have selected one of the "Expanded Sets" of the fine china. That stuff is a rip off if you buy it per place setting.

Photo: Dick Huey upwaterfront.com

Granot Loma

Granot Loma is for sale! The story goes that Louis Kaufman was not allowed to join the prestigious Huron Mountain Club because he was Jewish. In 1919 he built Granot Loma, a gigantic estate about 20 minutes north of Marquette on CR 550.

http://upwaterfront.com/gl/

Less Frozen Pizza, More Real Food

Two week plan:

• Pork Tenderloin, Stovetop stuffing, broccoli
• BBQ Pork, mac & cheese, carrots and celery
• Tater Tot Casserole
• Chili
• Frozen Pizza
• Brats, coleslaw, baked beans, potato chips
• Homemade Pizza
• Lloyd's BBQ Beef, applesauce, baked beans, coleslaw, toast
• Cudighi Soup with spinach and tomatoes
• Fajitas
• Roasted Chicken, salad, vegetable, rice casserole?

Feeling Like Spring

• We chopped up the 6-inch deep ice at the end of our driveway so the water could flow down the street.
• Went for our first cruiser bike ride of the year.
• Ate brats from the charcoal grill, cole slaw, potato chips, and baked beans.
• Went to the Builders Show.
• Saw real grass.
• Changed our clock - Spring Ahead.
• Went for a walk on the actual ground--not on snow.
• Didn't wear a coat when running errands.
• Wore sandals without socks.

Bill with the penguins.

The penguin brothers are down by Picnic Rocks now.

Penguins arrive in Marquette, MI