This Stop Willoughby

I looked at the calendar this morning and noticed that it was January.  Still.  Like a house guest who has overstayed his welcome, January keeps hanging around.  Of all winter months, it is by far the rudest. November is considered the beginning of winter around here.  While technically still fall, November is the month that ushers in colder temperatures and the first snow of the season.  Even so, I don't dislike November because it has fairly good manners.  It only sticks around for thirty days and rewards us with a holiday based, mostly, around food and football.  Even if your Thanksgiving get together doesn't turn out well, it's an extra day off work, right?  Maybe even a long weekend.  You have to give November points for that. December isn't bad, either.  There are so many things to keep you busy that it usually flies by.  With all of the holiday shopping, decorating and partying, you almost wish December had...

This afternoon, Mr. Willoughby and I were making a verbal "bucket list".  Well, sort of.  We weren't so much making a list of things we want to do before we die, as much as places we would like to go if we had the time and money to travel.  Our list included the typical places you'd expect; Paris, London, the pyramids of Egypt, Tuscany (where we would visit my friend Elvira ), the Swiss Alps....you get the idea. Next, we talked about places we would like to travel right here in the U.S., and from there, places we would like to go closer to home in Michigan.  We tried to think of all the "must see" Michigan attractions so we could rule out any that we've already visited.  Sadly, we couldn't think of very "must sees" in our own home state.  We ended up resorting to a Google search. Once we had a list of cities and attractions staring us in the face, we remembered how many great things there are to see and do, here....

A few days ago, I was standing at the bathroom sink when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move.  I looked down and found a huge, furry spider in the sink.  When I say huge, I mean gigantic.  Ginormous.  Herculean.  Immense.  Jumbo.  Mammoth.  B robdingnagian (my new word of the day).  It had a leg span of at least five inches.  Or maybe it was five centimeters.  All I know is that it was big. I have no idea where it came from, but I think it dropped from somewhere above the sink.  It could have been on the medicine cabinet or the wall, or maybe (gulp) it was on me.  Could I have had a spider chilling out on my shoulder or my arm and not have known it?  Seems unlikely, but anything is possible. My first thought was to grab something large and heavy and squish him, but there was nothing handy in the bathroom.  I didn't want to go looking for something in another room because, k...

I often get teased about my house cleaning habits.  My son even says I'm obsessed because I tend to like things done a certain way.  I may be particular, but, obsessed?  I just don't see it.  I was thinking about this while I scrubbed the toilet seat hinges with an old toothbrush. It's true that I do a lot of cleaning.  I put the dust rag, vacuum and various antibacterial cleaners to work every day, but I also have this quirky personality trait that allows me to procrastinate about things I can't see.  This quirk applies to closets, drawers and spaces that I don't have to look at on a regular basis.  It's like selective OCD.  If I see it, it must be clean, but if I can close the door, I can forget about it (for a while).  Eventually, it gets to me and I go on an organizing bender.  Over the weekend, I did just that.  It started when Mr. Willoughby and I finally installed the shelves in a cab...

I was bouncing around the internet the other day when I stumbled across something that caught my attention.  It was a recipe (more of a method, really) for transforming humble choice grade supermarket steak into superbly tender and delicious gourmet works of culinary art.  The pictures that accompanied the method were food porn at its best.  Thick slabs of perfectly cooked beef, pink in the middle with a seasoned crust, topped with a pat of ever so slowly melting garlic and parsley butter.  I was seduced. Mr. Willoughby is the steak-lover in our house, so we do have it from time to time because he enjoys it, but the kids and I don't normally get too excited about steak.  New York Strips, Porterhouse, T-bones and Ribeyes can be tasty, but also tough even when we marinate them.  Filets, though, are a different story.  Diminutive as they may be, I'd rather have a tender, juicy, four ounce gem of steak than a twelve ounce piece of sho...

I know there are all sorts of high tech ways to draw a random winner when you're having a giveaway, but I prefer the low tech approach.  I think it's more fun and so does my daughter. Here's what we did.  We put the names of all the entrants on little slips of paper, folded them in half and then put them all in one of my new hand blown margarita glasses (seemed appropriate for this giveaway since I got them from Novica , don't you think?). We gave them a good stir and then my daughter reached in and chose a name. It's a little blurry, but I think you can clearly see who the winner is.  Congratulations, Kerrie!  I hope you enjoy your shopping spree! I'd like to thank everyone who entered my giveaway as well as the wonderful people at Novica for giving me the opportunity to share the talented artists and artisans with my blog friends. Willoughby