When I was a young girls, for some reason, Groundhog day was always a fun day.  Probably because everyone had a guess about whether of not the groundhog would see his shadow and because at school there were always little activities surrounding the day.  
     Of course, Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell took Groundhog Day to a new level in the movie of the same name! The reality is that originally, Groundhog Day had nothing to do with reliving the same day over and over again.  However, watching the movie would be a fun way to culminate a day of celebrating the cute little groundhog and all that he represents!  
​      Read on and find some fun ways to celebrate and to learn all about Groundhog Day! 

     As you may know, I love to garden.  In the last few years. I've really gotten into it.  Gardening in Phoenix has its pros and cons and there is a steep learning curve.  The main pro is that we can grow things just about all year round!  As a matter of fact one of my big goals is to have something growing in my garden all year round!   The cons are the heat , the soil and the watering.  Oh, and did I mention the heat?   As I've been learning to grow a garden here,  over the past 40 years, on and off again, I've learned how to combat the cons and to really enjoy the pros!  
      So, here is my big secret. Until this year, I had never really sprouted my own transplants for my garden before.  I mean, I'd done a few experiments, but nothing really large scale.  But, this year, I have had a big idea and put my foot into my mouth and now I am learning to sprout seeds for transplant on a big scale! (At least big for me!)

     Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to show loved ones how much you care, and what better way to do that than with homemade pop-up cards? This year, my kids (ages 9 and 7) and I spent an afternoon creating Valentine’s cards using simple pop-up methods. It was such a fun and creative way to bond as a family—and the results were adorable! Here's how we did it and how you can, too.

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    I am always posting ways to preserve food here on the blog.  Our family eats what I preserve.  Unfortunately, I hear people all of the time say that they don't know how to use the thing that they have preserved or they are afraid to eat it or that their family won't eat it.  That is just wasteful!  So, I thought that I would write some posts periodically that talk about using the food  that you  preserve.  
       Today I'm going to really lean into the zero waste idea as I tell you about using the leftover cranberries from canning cranberry juice as well as the candied orange peel I shared a recipe for!