I've been experimenting with ice candles and ice suncatchers for a couple years now, so it wasn't a huge jump to making solar-lighted ice candles. First, I took all the molds outside and then filled them using pitchers of water. (This idea came to me last summer, so every time I saw a Bundt-shaped mold at the... Continue Reading →
Tea With Auntie Linden
What, you don't name your trees? This is one of our favorite trees. Mine (Laura) shades my whole front yard in the summer. Lois' shades the old wood shed/ice house at Cook's Country Connection. Listen, if Pocahontas could have Grandmother Willow, we can have an Auntie Linden. And like Grandmother Willow, the Auntie Linden in... Continue Reading →
Frost
Here in northern MN, bitching about the weather and the 9-month-long winter is a sport, a hobby, a point of pride, and a way of life. It wasn't really working for me, though. I have found that hating things I have no control over hurts me a lot more than the thing I am hating.... Continue Reading →
Solar Powered Furnace
I have been getting a lot of questions about the changes to my house last fall. (I live very close to one of the main roads in the area, so a lot of people drive by on their way to work, school, or their vacation homes.) "Who are those guys, and what are you doing... Continue Reading →
Through the Window
Every day, WordPress issues Prompts or Challenges. Today's was "Look through your nearest window for one minute and tell us what you see". I hereby invoke the right of Artistic License and also include what I THINK when I look out this window. I left it pretty much the way it came out of my... Continue Reading →
Cabin Fever Cures
Friday and Saturday, the winter blues were encroaching. Then my friend Kelly sent me flowers at work to thank me for helping winter suck less. 🙂 AWWWWW! How sweet is that?? Thanks, Kelly! You brighten my winter, too. 🙂 The big gravel pit banks looked kind of intimidating to the 5 year-old, so I broke... Continue Reading →
One of my latest self-discoveries was that hating winter doesn't make it shorter, and it certainly doesn't make me any happier. So, after making ice candles, candle rings, and ice gems/marbles, I went hunting for more crafty ideas on Pinterest and found this genius named Tracy Lynn Conway who had pinned ice sun catchers using... Continue Reading →
Fire Starters
Usually, our projects are like what we eat: fast, cheap, and easy. This is not one of those. The good news is that it's way simpler than it sounds. It's fast if you have the supplies already and don't have to gather the pine cones now and wait two days for them to thaw, warm,... Continue Reading →
Fast, Cheap, and Easy Ice Candle Ring
Ok, so all my ice-cream buckets are toast. The ice pushed through the bottoms instead of the tops. 😦 And I have yet to master the five gallon bucket or garbage can methods. However, I did have one experiment that turned out great...an ice candle ring. You will need: A bundt pan about three quarts... Continue Reading →
Weekly Photo Challenge: Delicate
It's easier than you might think to forget that snow is delicate. We of the northern climes spend months cursing it, shoveling it, salting, plowing, and bragging/worrying about driving through it. Last night, though, I lay in the snow for a moment, trying to improve my attitude about winter. It only took a few seconds,... Continue Reading →

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