Kaseys Korner

fun stuff

cute and quick idea I saw in Southern Living magazine earlier this month.  Make a nest from spanish moss or green paper shred, then fill with candy and use as an Easter dinner favor. Theirs was SO much better, they had butterflies on the side of the nest as well.   cute, cute....

success

At last, after a week of intensive detective work, (well, maybe not that intensive but certainly extensive) I located the double poppy seeds I had lost earlier in the week.  Thus Sunday afternoon found me outside scattering seed and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I got them in the ground early enough (poppies prefer a cool soil temperature to germinate).  If you live in a warmer climate, I recently read that you could sow them in flats, refrigerate for a week and have the same successful results as cold climate gardeners but I've never tried that method personally.  I'm eager to see if these seeds will yield results like I achieved in the photo below (taken in one of my previous gardens).  For some reason, elusive to me at the moment, I haven't grown them for years.  Silly me.  If they sprout & flourish, it will be like welcoming back an old friend.  I hope your weekend was fun and productive too??   

glass houses update

The purple hyacinth opening.  A delicate sweet fragrance perfuming the air around it.  The yellow hyacinth slightly behind but just as pretty.  When the flowers are spent, my outdoor bulbs should be close to blooming.  Hooray!  They will have fulfilled their purpose in easing me thru the end of winter and into early spring.  What a beautiful thing.   

coming attraction

Loving my new vintage planter.  Tussled with my mom over it and I came out on top.  Well, that's not really how it went down.  Let's just say we came to a mutually satisfying agreement.  Look for good things ahead with this little beauty.

some layout love

A quick post this AM of a layout I created last year with some of my latest flea market acquistions.  I am a collector of vintage watering cans (although my collection is not very large ~ 6 cans total) so I was thrilled with this find.  Happy Friday everyone!

spring migration

Another sign of spring ~ the pelicans are back!  I saw them flying overhead while out walking the other day.  It's my first sighting this year.  It wasn't exactly these pelicans however.  This photo was taken last fall at one of our nearby lakes.  All these little signs are adding up tho.  Spring is lurking, crowding old man winter and seeping into his cracks.  Slowly but persistantly permeating every nook & cranny until he reluctantly breaks down and moves aside.  I'm rooting for spring.  I hope it's been working out in the off season and is packing lots of muscle so it gets the job done quickly.  I know old man winter won't bow out gracefully, he always puts up a fight, makes a few comebacks, but in the end, Spring prevails.  Hooray for spring.  Everywhere you turn, people are cheering for you.  I was visiting Rebecca Sowers'  blog yesterday and saw her eloquent post about it.  I'm glad I'm in such good company!  Bring on spring.  Let the gentle awakening begin.  Let the sun shine and the temperatures climb!  How did I get so crazy with this post when it started off on the topic of pelicans?!!  I think I have a fever.  Yes, I definitely have a fever.  I'm officially diagnosing myself with a full blown case of Spring fever!      

crazy good

omg, this sandwich is soooooooo good.  It's a tasty concoction beyond words and I never thought I'd say that about a veggie sandwich!  I found the recipe in a book I recently purchased at Barnes & Noble bookstore, called "Delicious Lunches" (published by Love Food).  The sandwich is actually pictured on the back cover and definitely helped make the sale.  I've been trying to eat healthier lately and there are some great recipes in this book that are helping me accomplish that while tasting fabulous too.  The book actually identifies this recipe as "mini muffin pizzas" but it's an open face sandwich to me so I'm going to keep on referring to it as such!  lol  Start with a toasted whole wheat English muffin.  Mix a little tomato paste & pesto together and spread on the muffin.  Saute red onion, mushrooms & zucchini in olive oil until soft and slightly brown.  Add veggies to muffins.  Top with slices of tomato & mozzarella cheese. As usual for me, I didn't finish the last step which was broiling the sandwich (to melt & brown the cheese) but it would absolutely finish it off exquisitely. 

lovely little seeds

Yesterday I broke out my big red box of seeds.  I keep most of my unused & new seed packets in an old shoebox (nice, huh?) with the remaining assortment taking up a little corner in my refrigerator.  I have seeds from 15 years ago in that box.  Whoa, before all the garden enthusiasts panic, I DO realize they are probably no longer viable.  Having said that, I still hang onto them, not because I'm a packrat but because I enjoy the sorting process and the memories of gardens past that inevitably arise.  Just looking at the packets  will bring all sorts of odd information to mind.  Whether or not I had success germinating them, how well they blossomed in my garden, did they survive the winter, etc., etc.  It will even remind me of other things happening in my life.  Yesterday, however, I was not feeling nostalgic. I was searching for the peony poppy seeds I purchased in January.  (papaver somniferum var. paeoniflorum for the diehard plant people out there)  The search came up empty.  They are no where to be found.  The search goes on....  In the meantime, as you can tell from the photo, my favorite place to buy seeds is Thompson & Morgan seed catalog.

    My new catalog always arrives in December and unerringly sidetracks me from the holiday at hand.  I spend hours perusing the catalog which culminates in very long "wish" lists about my upcoming order.  Unfortunately, my available garden space is limited so I always have to cut my list in half then in half again.  I think one of the reasons I am so fond of Thompson & Morgan is they used to give away a trip to the Chelsea Garden Show (back when I first started ordering, the early 90's).   Your name was entered every time you ordered.  The Chelsea Garden Show is also on my Life List.  #10.  So I had to order from them.  I couldn't forfeit a chance at winning!!  See the logic?!!  Sadly, they no longer do this, or at least I don't see anything about it in the catalogs of late.  Old habits die hard so I keep on ordering and dreaming.  Now where are those poppy seeds???? 

make a wish

Now that it's March, visions of birthday cakes are dancing in our heads!  There are five birthdays in our family during this 3rd month of the year so that's a lot of celebrating.  My daughters birthday is among those and its hers that gets lavished with the most detailed attention.  The cake is always a very big deal (tells you where our priorities are, doesn't it?!!)  I always bake the cake a week or so in advance & freeze it (I like to decorate it when it's still frozen, so that it's really moist from thawing).  The most elaborate cake I ever made was a castle cake (scurrying around to see if I have a photo anywhere)

Here's one!  This cake was for birthday number five.  Gosh that seems like yesterday.  sniff sniff.  I really need to take a cake decorating class.  Now that another round of birthdays is upon us, I am kicking myself for not doing that last year.  I just know that would make this job a LOT easier and faster with more professional looking results!  ya think??!!!  It's on my life list ~ #20.  Take a cake decorating class.  Haven't marked it off yet.  Maybe this year....  for now tho, we're too busy studying our cake books and trying to select the perfect one to showcase this year! 

something old, something blue

One of the most frustrating aspects of paper crafting for publication purposes is how quickly the products get outdated.  I try to regularly purge my office but some items are impossible to part with ~  like this cuter than cute bike sticker from PSX Design.  Something about it appealed to me when I first saw it and even tho it's not "current" anymore I still think it's totally charming.  It evokes images of simpler times and lazy summer days.  I haven't created a card "just because" in ages but that's exactly what I did last night (while watching Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest)!  I know, that movie has been out for a long time but some things, like my sticker & Johnny Depp, never lose their allure.