This Stop Willoughby

We decided to go out and have a little winter fun today.  We went to the Frankenmuth Snowfest.  If you're unfamiliar with the town of Frankenmuth, it is Michigan's "Little Bavaria", because it resembles a Bavarian village.  It also has the world's largest Christmas store.  It's a little touristy, but still a fun place to visit. We had no idea that this was such a popular festival, but it was really crowded.  It took us 30 minutes to drive through town (a total of about 2 miles).  We had to park on a residential street because every lot in town was full. The first thing we did was stop by the Frankenmuth Brewery Restaurant.  It was only 4:00 and we thought we might catch an early dinner a little bit ahead of the dinner rush.  We couldn't have been more wrong!  The estimated wait time was 65 minutes.  We knew it would be the same in every restaurant in town, and that it would only get worse as it got later...

Like I said yesterday, we've been eating a lot of salad lately.   I never get tired of salad.  There are so many ways to change it up and make it different.  Different dressings, different toppings, different varieties of lettuce; you could probably make a different salad every night for a year and never have the exact same thing twice. When my daughter was in the hospital, I used to have lunch in the hospital cafeteria.  They had a really great salad bar, so I got salad pretty often.  I happened to notice one day that all of the nurses who were getting salads were putting raisins on them.  Day after day, I would see them so I asked one of them about it.  I couldn't imagine that raisins combined with any sort of dressing would taste good, but the nurse I asked assured me that it was delicious.  She suggested I add just a small spoonful and try it.  "It's surprisingly addictive" she said.   I took her advic...

This is the thermometer on our back porch.  The temperature has climbed about eight degrees since I took my daughter to school this morning.  It wouldn't be all that bad except for the fact that it's very windy. There isn't much snow on the ground. You can still see the grass through it, and the sun is starting to melt it just a little. It stills seems pretty bleak, though.  Look at how sad the patio set looks sitting in the snow. You see that wooden box on the table?  In the spring and summer that becomes an herb box.  Now it's just a box of frozen dirt with some dried up, brown stems that used to be herbs. Look how dirty and dingy the pile of snow on the end of my driveway looks. It's full of leaves, grass and dirt.  It looks so untidy.  I wish it would melt.  Snow is only pretty when it first falls. I can't think of too many good things to say about winter.  I'm practically counting the days until spring a...

I glanced through the magazine supplement that comes with the weekend paper, this morning.  I noticed that there were two pages of tips for managing your kitchen and giving your home a mini-makeover.  Excellent, I thought, I will read them when I get home from taking my daughter to school.  I might find a little gem of inspiration over my morning coffee.  I'm crazy about household tips. After reading both pages, I was sorely dissappointed.  The kitchen article gave such insight as "throw away anything past it's expiration date".   Um, I think I already knew that handy hint.  It also encouraged readers to "shop at a time that's convenient for you".  Seriously?  These were the best the author could come up with? On to the home mini-makeover, which was no better.  In a nutshell, it said to paint your front door, and buy new linens for your bedroom.  Those are obvious, although legitimate, suggestions, I sup...

I love houses. My house, your house (you knew I could see your house through the computer, right?), any and all houses.  I like touring model homes, going to real estate open houses, browsing real estate websites and watching real estate shows on television.  The floorplans, different material choices, architecture and decorating are all of interest to me.  If I had an extra 1.2 million dollars hanging around, I'd buy a house I saw on the internet today.  It's on the coast of North Carolina, close to where we take our family vacation every year.  Here's the description: A grand waterway estate on 2.59 acres with approximately 3886 sq. ft has many stunning details. A stately stone fountain and manicured grounds compliment the appealing character of this property. Interior details feature the finest custom work, brazilian cherry hardwood floors, built-ins 10' ceilings, 8' doors and more! This fabulous home is perfect for southern living and outdoor en...

Thank you so much for the wonderful comments you left after my last post.  I'm feeling much better now.  I still have a little congestion in my ears, but other than that I'm pretty well recovered.   Hopefully, I've said my final farewell to the "Swine". I wanted to post a new blog today, but I'm busy catching up on all the household tasks I neglected while I was sick.  Instead, I'm bringing back a post from February, 2009.  I hope you enjoy it.  It still makes me laugh.  I'll be back soon with a new post. You Can't Do That It's been a while since I've shared a stupid story with you. I have so many that's it's hard to choose, but I think something food related would be a good one for today. This happened a little more than 16 years ago and I was pregnant with my son at the time. My parents took Mr. Willoughby and I out to dinner at a buffet style restaurant. This was toward the end of my pregnancy so I was pretty big and st...

I'm not quite ready to come back yet, but I wanted to take a few minutes to post my version of a Public Service Announcement.  As many of you already know, I've been away from blogging due to illness.  However, what you may not know is that the illness is H1N1.  Yep, the Swine Flu. I can honestly say that I've never felt so terrible in my life.  I had heard that for most people, H1N1 is no worse than the regular seasonal flu.  I guess I'm not most people.  After 15 days, I'm only now beginning to feel slightly human.  I was unable to get vaccinated because our area ran out of vaccine months ago.  I understand that it has recently become available again, but it's too late for me.  It's not too late for you, though.  If the vaccine is available in your area and you haven't gotten it yet, I beg you to drop what you're doing and take your family to get vaccinated. If you ignore my advice and decide to develop your immunity by gettin...