So I said, “GUESS WHAT WE’RE ADOPTING A CAT!”

That is how it works around here. If one of us utters the B-word, we get a new pet. It’s the rule. Until we’re “mature” enough “to be trusted” with a tiny human, we will continue to collect animals. It might be a while.

Also there have been mice getting in the house {so grossssss}. They are apparently supersmartypantsmice because traps do not work on them.

Long story short, meet Cleo:

She single-handedly wards off B-words and mice and looks good doing it. And she’s not a half-bad snuggle-buddy either. We’re pretty fond of her already.

So this is our new calico family member. Not a baby. Sorry Mom.

Drum roll please…..Mike and I are going to Italy with my family NEXT WEEK {happy dance}!!

We’re more than a little excited. This will be our first big trip since our honeymoon, and Mike’s first time to Europe. We have a bad itch to travel, and it can only be scratched by the Duomo, excellent gelato, and the Tuscan sun.

My little brother is currently over there WWOOFing at a gorgeous wine vineyard. We’ll be meeting up with him and staying in Central Italy for 12 days all together. His fantastic girlfriend is coming with as well. It’s going to be epic!

One thing stands between us and adventure: packing. One doesn’t simply “pack” for “Italy”. It’s an all-week affair consisting of frequent mind-changing and last-minute panicked online-shopping. Right now our bedroom looks like an evil Laundry Monster rampaged through it.

Perhaps I should forgo packing all together and buy everything IN ITALY? Sounds like a plan.

It was sad and weird and we felt guilty like we had done something to cause it, even though the farmer we got her from assured us that this sometimes happens and it wasn’t our fault. And mostly we were worried how our one remaining hog would adjust to the single life. Pigs are very social.

Well, we’re happy to report that she has been doing great! She gets a lot of attention from us. And from the dogs, who {as I mentioned before} think her poo is a tasty delicacy and spend much of their time hanging around her pen, waiting. She likes the company, so she gives them what they want. Which encourages them to stick around for more. It’s a very healthy co-dependent relationship.

Eeeeew.

Anyway, she is well and happy. We move her pen around the pasture every couple weeks so she has new grass to forage. She loves rooting up and munching on the gnarly quack-grass roots, and is kept happily busy with this task.

Her other favorite thing is a good spray-down with the garden hose on sunny afternoons. She wiggles around under the water stream and oinks with pleasure, and then promptly rolls in the mud.

Tomatoes and basil and beets, oh my!

Spent a productive afternoon in the greenhouse with Mike……and spent waaay too much money on beautiful flowers at Tetzner’s up the road. But it was worth it. I mean, just LOOK AT THEM!

These babies are going in a big planter for our front porch. I’m pretty stoked that I get to look at them all summer long. Have I mentioned lately that flowers are one of my favorite things?

Hope your gardens are coming along nicely- what are you planting this year? Get out there in this glorious weather!

Our cherry and pear trees exploded today with blossoms!

I can’t wait to eat the delicious fruit from these trees, but in the meantime they ain’t so bad on the eyes.

The weather has been faaaaantaaaastic here lately- bright blue sky, glorious sunshine and a nice cool breeze. We’re knocking a bunch of homestead To Do’s off the list: building a deluxe turkey/chicken duplex, planting onions and potatoes in the garden, planting more baby fruit trees in the orchard, and mowing the lawn. It’s a total joy to be outside working! Ahhhh, spring.

Yesterday was the last performance of “Oklahoma!” at Stage North, followed by one last “circle” on stage with the entire cast. Tears, hugs and kisses were abundant as we all recalled our favorite moments from the past couple months.

I’m sure going to miss this big, goofy, unlikely family. I went into this experience only knowing a couple people in the cast and crew of 45 people, and left with 45 good friends.

The cast party was a riot…fried chicken, brats, potato salad, cake, free drinks at the bar, kickball in the field across the street, and lots of laughing at all the inside jokes created during ten nights of backstage shenanigans.

I’ll admit, I’m excited to have my life back. It will be nice to resume the regular scheduled programming. But I sure am thankful for the experience and immensely grateful to our wonderful director Liz, stage manager Jack, and vocal director Pat for choosing me for Ado Annie’s part, believing in me and giving me the tools to do it justice.

The two most useful pieces of advice I received during this process came from two wise women:

1. Liz told me, “For this particular play, if you feel like an idiot, you’re doing it right.” With that in mind, I learned to check my ego at the door and commit to my role no matter what.

2. My mom told me, “Forget about there being a stage and an audience. Just think about the story you’re all telling.” I totally let myself get wrapped up in the world we were creating every night, and sure enough, it helped me to be less nervous and to be more believable.

This was a scarey thing for me- I had never sung in front of people BY MYSELF like that. And we all know what my previous “acting” experience consisted of…..It felt amazing to conquer this fear and put myself out there.

I was so lucky to have a stellar cast up there with me. Everyone gave 100% of themselves, which allowed me to let go of Tonia and become Ado without feeling self-conscious. Thank you, all of you!

YEOW!

Yesterday I had a day off from the play {which Mike has taken to calling “Dorklahoma”}, so I told him I would make whatever his hungry little heart desired. He pointed to this recipe in this cook book.

There’s nothing like soul food to give you the strength to perform the heck out of “Oklahoma” for the second week {and to give your husband the strength to tolerate it.} This meal is exactly what the doctor ordered.

And it was made even better because it was shared with great friends and paired with tangy home-brewed beer and lots of immature jokes, which the doctor also ordered.

And a nutty Maple Layer Cake to top it off {recipe note: I used cinnamon instead of ground ginger and was very happy with the change. I also used waaaay less frosting than Martha suggests, because the cake was already plenty sweet.}

I feel rejuvenated and ready to give the second week of performances my all! And Mike has about a week’s worth of leftover fried chicken to work away at in the ‘fridge, so he’s a happy camper. Oh, the wonders of a good meal. Yeow!

I spent the afternoon squatting over trays of seedlings in the greenhouse, transplanting them into larger containers with one hand and shooing the turkeys and chickens away with the other.

The poor, helpless- and unfortunately tender and delicious- seedlings did not escape the scene without a few casualties. As it turns out, chickens and turkeys are relentless and sneaky when there are scrumptious miniature cucumber plants to be had.

And then the whole thing kind of deteriorated into a poultry photo shoot and before I knew it two hours had gone by and I had only transplanted two flats of seedlings. Oops.