May Day

Have you created your May Day baskets yet?

I don't recall ever creating or delivering May Day baskets as a child; however I think this would be a great tradition to start now that my little love bug is 15 months old. This could be a fun way to thank all of our wonderful friends and neighbors for all they do for us and a way to celebrate Spring. 

I first got this idea after my husband was telling me about a teacher at his school making May Day baskets and how excited her students were. I started researching May Day to see what it was really all about. A summary of what I found was a Roman and Druid holiday to celebrate the passing of Spring into Summer and a way to "bring in May." Here in Minnesota I don't think we have really even had a Spring yet, so I am thinking of this as more of a celebrating of the beginning of Spring and "Bring on May!." I am tired of the snow and cold weather. Talking with my husband, he says as a child he made them, delivered them by "ding dong ditching" (hang basket on door, ring door bell, and run away) if you are caught by the person you left the basket for, then they give you a kiss. Hubby says he always remembers leaving one for his Grandma Myrtle (and our daughter was give Myrtle as a middle name after his grandmother) and allowing her to catch him so she would give him a kiss. Fun memories that I hope my love bug can also get from this tradition for years to come.

Today after nap time we are heading out to shop for cute items to include in our May Day baskets. We aren't going to do traditional flowers. I decided to shop the dollar spots at Target and Joanne's in order to find cute items for the baskets to friends, then we will bake cookies for the baskets to our neighbors.

Hopefully our baskets will brighten the days of those friends and neighbors we deliver them to and let them know we appreciate all they do for us! Here are some inspiration baskets I found.

Skip To my Lou

Creative Treasures

Alphamom

No matter how you make your basket or what you put into it, enjoy the time with family and enjoy giving to others without recognition. We will make our baskets tonight and deliver tomorrow after church! Check back tomorrow for posts on how our baskets turned out and if we got caught!

Happy Last Day of April! See you tomorrow when its May Day!

Mini Strawberry Shortcakes

Happy Easter! 

So this is a little late to serve for your Easter brunch, lunch, or dinner but... it is a great Spring/Summer recipe to have on hand!

Today for my Easter lunch we had personal strawberry shortcake bowls. It all started with a look at these bowls sitting in my cabinet.

Pampered Chef 1 Cup Prep Bowls

I knew I could bake in them... but what should/could I bake in them?? Then while shopping for Easter lunch I spotted beautiful strawberries and then I knew Strawberry Shortcakes!

I followed the recipe on the side of the Bisquick box

•  2 1/3 cup Bisquick Mix
• 1/2 cup milk (1 added 1/4 cup more)
• 3 tablespoons sugar ( 1 added 1 more tsp.)
• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine; melted
• strawberries and whipped cream or other toppings of you choice

but added about 1/4 cup more milk than it calls for (to make a thinner mixture and 1 teaspoon more sugar). I poured the mixture into 7 individual prep bowls (sprayed with cooking spray), placed the bowls on baking sheet and baked at 350 for 15 minutes. Ta da! Beautiful, delicious, personal desserts! Using a spoon scoop out a big chunk (about half way through the cake) and add strawberries and whipped cream in the middle, place top of cake back and add more yummyness to the top or not. Your choice! My guests ended up adding chocolate syrup as well. I think chopped almonds would also be yummy. 

Just the beginning

Starting to brown

Looking YUMMY!

Make it your own!

looks like a mini trifle

all gone!

Enjoy!

where it all began...

We moved into our 1952 rambler in November of 2008. Our first home! We looked at several homes before we saw this house (blue house) and through my husband was in love with blue house from the beginning, another house had won my heart. The other house (yellow house) was also a rambler but had been fully renovated and had all the *sparkle* I was looking for as a young home buyer. My husband however saw the yard of blue house and the potential in the basement as well as the cheaper price tag and had the real estate agent walk us through several times. Well, I didn't eventually settle, but I did eventually fall in love with the blue house as well. I did see lots of projects in my future though. The first project was our full basement renovation and then came the nursery. All the while, I was buying things off the rack, keeping everything pretty safe and also feeling sad for our master bedroom that was at the top of my list until we got pregnant and then the master bedroom went very low of the list. Then came the saving. I saved and saved to buy us a bed! A real bed! Not just a mattress and box spring on a frame! A headboard! A footboard! A bed for mommy and daddy! I looked and looked and looked online for a few months, all the while saving and saving! I was thinking BIG price tag based on where I was shopping. Finally we decided on a bed from a fancy store to remain nameless.

I was all prepared to drop my cash and buy the big girl bed of my dreams! Then I randomly stumbled upon  Ana White and then came my big idea! We will BUILD our bed! and we will do it for a tenth of the cost of the bed I was going to buy.Her plan for the farmhouse queen bed looked like just the bed for us! This now meant I could use ALL of the money I had saved for the bed to spruce up the whole room! Then the real fun began! And here it is, my largest project to date! The room that now inspires me to keep sewing, crafting, decorating and really stop worrying about buying things off the rack but start making things, start taking chances.. make my house into a home! 

Master Bedroom - 1 month after moving in

Master Bedroom - 2 years after moving in (about 2 months ago)

 

 

 

THE BED! 

Bed Again.. with night stands and lamps this time

A full room tour and list of projects to be posted at a later date. But there it is, there is the project, the room that really started me on this road to find this passion of creating.

-karol

New Blog!

I have no idea if anyone out there in internet land will ever read this blog; but I am creating it anyway! I have been "creating" and "decorating"  for quite some time, but the crafting bug really started to take over after the birth of my sweet baby girl almost 15 months ago. After my mother-in-law bought me a sewing machine well, then the sewing bug bit as well. I have been reading so many wonderful blogs out there for a few months and my husband has been asking for awhile when will I write my own... well here it is! 

The name "hush puppy hotdish" comes from my life growing up in Virginia (hush puppy) and its southern traditions then meeting the man of my dreams who ended up being a mid-west (hotdish) boy and then moving halfway across the country to land in Minnesota where my sweet girl will grow up with Midwest roots but southern traditions.  This blog will be my journey through crafting, sewing, and making my 1952 rambler into a comfy and relaxed home for my family. Follow me along my journey! Hopefully I figure out blogging, photographing projects and lots more along the way!

-karol