Decor Changes, Happy, Scrappy & Resilient, Garlic Mushroom Pasta, Thrifting Scores

Decor Changes-
Wow, it was 57 degrees today! Feels like Spring. Yesterday the local weather people said it was the 4th warmest winter on record. It felt like it. Today I put away the last of the Valentine's decor and put out some of my other things I'd stored from winter-

Put a new primrose in my vintage Swedish coffee pot

Kitchen window 

Bookcase

Neighbor Posey cat 

Coffee table, homemade topiary

Side table living room

Happy, Scrappy & Resilient-
Wow, it was 57 degrees today! Feels like spring. Yesterday the local weather people said it was the 4th warmest winter on record. I heard the phrase happy, scrappy and resilient the other day and for some reason it really resonated with me. I started thinking about if I was basically a happy person or not. Have a fairly happy life and the answer is yes. I think there are some people who choose to relive the drama in their lives over and over or create new drama. Then I think there are people who have drama in their lives and are able to pull themselves out of those situations and move forward in a positive way. Some don't. I've been there.

I looked up the definition of scrappy because I'd heard a few different things. One is disorganized untidy and incomplete. The other definition is determined, argumentative or pugnacious. I'd like to think our house and property is not disorganized. I do think that we are determined and not real likely to listen to limitations on what we can do here. I hear people all the time talk about how they don't have time to do gardening, or grow food, or learn how to preserve it. Instead they're parked in front of their computers all day, all night gaming, shopping and doing unimportant things. You just have to set up a PLAN, think about how you want to do it, how much you want to spend and how to maintain it.

I've been reading a lot about resilience last few years. Urban homesteading definitely needs to incorporate the idea of resiliency. For instance there are crops that we've tried to grow here that haven't done very well. After a while we eliminated them. The things that do grow well we can grow quite a bit of. If you have a really big surplus that kind of begs the question- is that the right path as well? We're going to try some straw bale gardening this summer in a very hot area to see how that goes. There's lots of information online, more coming later.

Jamie Oliver's Garlic Mushroom Pasta-
I saw this channel surfing on PBS last week and tried it. Jamie Oliver has a lot of 5 ingredient meals that are great! The pasta Jamie Oliver used in this recipe is much smaller, and slimmer, called Trofie. I have never seen that before. I used the Fusilli (Rotini) instead. Next time I would go to a specialty market to get mixed mushrooms. This time I stuck with one type. Nice recipe and FAST! Jamie Oliver Mushroom Garlic Pasta

St. Patrick's Day decorations 

Thrifting Scores-
I had some donations to make recently and so I went to to thrift stores. The first thing I scored was a really cute set of four brand new little wooden cars, $4.00 great for my two grandsons to play with!

Next I scored a collapsible tote which I thought would be perfect for some of our road trips and possibly some summer picnics down at a local park now that our two grandsons are getting a little bit bigger. It's amazing to think that our grandson River will be for in May!

From Happy Camper Folding Travel Basket

A non thrifting score with a cute little pom pom banner from Cost Plus World Market for a couple of bucks-

Is it Spring where you are????