Daily Highlights and Favorites from February: 2023

 February started out with quite a cold snap and thankfully warmed up quickly after that; only to end with another cold snap.  But that's winter in New England.  We had a full and fun month.  

1. Wednesday Evan and I worked on schoolwork and then finished cleaning the upstairs and bathrooms... I honestly don't remember much else about this day but I know I put together a new puzzle and decorated my nails for Valentine's day. 7,016 steps. 





2. On Thursday I worked on schooling with Evan and then met Alec after school to go shopping for all the supplies for his dummy cake/ cake contest. 4,150 steps. 


3. I spent another day in the basement in front of the fireplace; it was freezing cold and windy and the temperature kept dropping all day. By 6pm we had lost power and my poor husband worked until nearly 8 to make sure the generator was running and would keep working through the night. The boys and I played Clue by flashlight. 5,936 steps. 




Yes, that says it feels like  -22!


4. Despite getting our power back on in the wee hours of the morning and having the woodstove going it was only 57 in our room when I woke up on Saturday. The pipes in our shower and tub froze and we found ourselves at Lowe's for new parts once they thawed.  I watched Valentine's Day (HBO+) and started a few new books. 4,413 steps. 

Breakfast in the basement near the woodstove

Using the mini space heater to try and thaw out the shower pipes


Yes, that says -11 and feels like -33!


5. First thing on Sunday we did some grocery shopping then I spent my afternoon working on some scrapbooking pages. 4,208 steps. 




6. Evan and I flew through his schoolwork and I left the house by 10 for my mammogram appointment then I ran to the bank and the library before returning home for lunch. After lunch I talked Evan into a walk to the state park-- it was in the 40's and felt so warm compared to the weekend temperatures. 11,394 steps. 





Egg roll in a bowl with riced cauliflower


7. We were supposed to have friends over for dinner so Evan and I had another shortened day of work then cleaned the whole downstairs and I got to work making my dessert-- chocolate chip bars.  While out hiking we got a text that one of the boys was sick and our friends were going to have to cancel.  We had a lovely hike around the Thompson Dam and I decided to finally tackle the laundry room organization idea I've been mulling over (full post here).  10,191 steps. 




Recipe post coming next week!




8.  As soon as Evan finished his schoolwork we headed to Old Furnace State park for a nice long 90 minute hike around the lake.  They put up a new bridge so it was easy to cross to where we pick up the trails this time.  In the afternoon I worked on making some cards. 12,257 steps. 










This tree that has been growing ON the rock for years is just about to tip over since the root system can no longer hold it in place.






9. Evan took my outfit photo for the Ageless style link up for February and then we settled in to do school before heading out to Panera Bread with my mom for a nice long lunch.  I also managed to get another few scrapbooking pages done. 6,416 steps. 



10. Evan and I did a few subjects and then met up with our hiking group for a hike at Mashamoquet; it's the first time we've all been back together since Thanksgiving! It was 60 and sunny and beautiful for hiking-- even though it was quite muddy. After school I helped Alec transport his cake to the church for the Fire and Ice cake decorating/baking contest on Saturday. His cake turned out great! 11,979 steps. 


I started out our hike like this and ended like the photo above













11. I spent my morning working on scrapbooking pages while my husband and Ian headed off to MSHA training. Then around 3:30 we all headed to the fire and ice festival (without Ian who stayed behind to work on school), we checked out the fire pit, the cakes on display, and stayed until the winners were announced--- Alec won first place in the culinary student category!  7,084 steps.






This cake won best in show

Alec receiving his certificate and prize money for coming in first place

12. Alec headed off to work and I spent my day making scrapbooking pages and some soup.  In the late afternoon Evan talked me into going on a short hike at Pulaski. 8,221 steps. 


unstuffed cabbage soup




13. Alec and Evan had no school so I headed out for a late morning grocery run and then after lunch Evan and I went on a hike to the tri-state marker.  7,766 steps. 




For lunch I heated up some unstuffed cabbage soup with a bit of leftover butternut squash thrown in.

14. With everyone back at school and work, Evan and I flew through his subjects and then headed off to check out a new hiking trail-- only we couldn't find the trail and ended up heading further down the road to hike at Heritage park. I spent my afternoon making cards. 10,018 steps. 

Wearing my velvet pants and red sweater today!

So many times I have to change my pants and shoes to go hiking.







15. Evan and I went hiking at the Thompson dam-- it was beautiful out! I even opened the sunroof on the way home.  After lunch I was trying to finish up the last of our Disney pages when we lost power-- for 3 hours!  It finally came back on around 5:00 after Alec had gone to pick up take out for himself and Evan for dinner. 13,585 steps.




"new" library books!

16. I had to pick up my mother in law from a routine procedure/test at the hospital so Evan and I skipped his schoolwork and headed out for an early morning hike-- only problem was we were 1/2 way through our hike when I got the call she was ready to be picked up a few hours earlier than planned. We cut our hike short, picked her up, and headed home.  I spent my afternoon finishing up the very last of the Disney scrapbooking pages (you can see all my cards and scrapbook pages for the month here). 11,849 steps. 






17. It rained all day on Friday so Evan and I settled in for a longer day of school after slacking off so much all week.  5,782 steps. 


18. My husband and I left the house at 10 to go see Avatar at the movie theatre then headed to a late lunch/early dinner at Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse and getting some dessert at Cupcake Charlie's.  We were home by 5:30/6 and finally went to bed after Alec got home from work. (I didn't wear my step tracker for our date).



clam chowder

my steak; we also ordered green beans and a baked potato (both sides were large enough to share)

A cupcake "whirlie" from Cupcake Charlie's

19. Another dreary cold day that I spent inside curled up finishing up a couple of books and working on the blog. A pathetic 2,446 steps. 


20. Since Alec had no school, Evan and I skipped school too and I went to pick up our groceries, we then cleaned the upstairs and went for a walk/hike after lunch through the state park. 11,056 steps.





21. Evan talked me into skipping school again and we headed up to Massachusetts to hike at our favorite Moore State park; the snow was so pretty! We stopped at Bj's and the library on the way home-- where we had no snow at all. 8,961 steps. 













22. We hit the books hard after 4 days off-- honestly we've finished up several subjects completely already and just have a few chapters left in the ones that are remaining so we can slack off.  We started planning for his Sophomore year and looking for materials to use before cleaning more of the house. 7,678 steps. 


23. We FINALLY had our friends over for dinner so I spent the whole day cleaning, cooking, and preparing with a little side trip to get my haircut.  6,577 steps. 


I made Mix and Match Mama's creamy Nutella pie-- it was amazing!

24. I headed out for a short walk first thing in the morning since really cold and windy weather was on the way. Evan and I flew through his schoolwork and then I hung out by the woodstove watching TV, blogging, and reading until my mother in law came to pick us both up for lunch. 5,322 steps. 



With so much ice- the trees glittered in the sun




We ate at the Railside Tavern and I had their Italian Salad with fresh mozzarella 

25. It was another freezing cold day but I had to run out to the library, then I helped Ian with his school paper, made some fresh bread, and played a rousing card game with the two oldest boys and my mother in law.  2,996 steps. 





26. After going grocery shopping in the early morning I spent most of my day by the fireplace watching TV and scrolling through Pinterest.  I did go for a walk in the afternoon when the sun came out and talked on the phone with my father while getting some blog posts finished up. 7,352 steps. 



27.  With snow in the forecast, Evan and I flew through his schoolwork and headed out hiking.  It was chilly but we hiked for a little over an hour and it finally warmed up near the end of our hike. By dinnertime Alec's school had canceled for the next day and Ian knew that while he had to get up early to plow he wouldn't be going to work either. 12,469 steps. 





28. We woke to our biggest snowstorm of this winter and Ian headed out plowing-- it snowed ALL day.  Alec and I did a little baking- he made some PB & mini M&M granola bars while I made some Andes mint chocolate cookies. I did get out for a snowy walk in the afternoon when it had warmed up a bit. 5,096 steps. 






How was your month?

Linking up with: Spread the Kindness, 







Comments

  1. Nice recap of the month- you took some great pictures. Despite the iffy weather, you were able to spend a lot of time outdoors. Those chocolate chip cookie bars look great. Looking forward to the recipe!

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    1. Thank you! I was so pleased with how often we were able to get out-- that rarely happens in February!

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  2. Sounds like February was a great month! Lots of delicious food, lovely outfits, fun hikes and a big first place win for Alec!
    Ruth@playworkeatrepeat

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  3. I love your food pictures and your nails. It was so cold!

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    1. Thank you! We did have some pretty cold days; normally we wouldn't have really felt it if the power hadn't gone out.

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  4. What a wonderful month! Your nails are always so pretty. I’m so excited for the chocolate chips bar recipe those look amazing! Have a great weekend!

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  5. Loving your pretty nails! I am hoping to plant some outdoors activities this month starting with the botanical gardens this weekend.
    www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com

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  6. I so admire your dedication to these wintry hikes. And love seeing your nails and outfit shots. Everything looks really tasty. Those cakes were amazing!

    Michelle
    https://followingmymuse.space

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    1. Thank you! Our wintery hikes were something I just started a few years ago; I have always hated winter but felt like we really needed to just grin and bear it and I've found that it makes winter more tolerable.

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  7. I always love your walk-in-the-woods pics. You live in such a beautiful area!

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  8. Gosh, that's some crazy cold weather, and no heat?? OMG, I would not be a happy camper.
    You're inspiring me to think about doing my nails occasionally. I've gotten so lazy with them (what kind of fashion blogger am I? LOL)
    XOOX
    Jodie
    www.jtouchofstyle.com

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    1. Yeah we were not happy-- I feel like we have lost power so often this winter and it hasn't even been filled with snow and ice storms like usual (which take down lots of trees and cause power outages).

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  9. Enjoyed seeing the sweater outfits (and scarves!) and the snow photographs, which were gorgeous. You do such a great job of getting out and hiking even when it's cold.

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    1. Thank you! I sometimes have to force myself to get out there but I'm always a bit happier when I do.

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  10. You sure had a lot of great moments in February! Except for the frozen pipes. That does not sound like any fun! All of the hiking looks so nice. I need to plan a hike soon now that the weather is getting better! And your nails always look so great! I always like it when I paint my nails but never seem to make the time to do it!

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    1. Yeah that was definitely not fun... but it could have been so much worse. I'm just thankful we didn't have to worry about leaks in the walls or ceilings.

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  11. You really made the best of the chilly weather. Your hikes look beautiful! I can’t wait for that dessert recipe coming soon! Have a great weekend! ~Sarah @ Sunshine & Books

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  12. When we were first married, our pump for the well was in our garage. We learned, the hard way, to plug in a light bulb to keep it from freezing! Luckily, our other pipes didn't freeze. I'm glad yours thawed quickly! I loved seeing all of your nails...those are nail wraps, right? And, I'm going to track down your recipe for unstuffed pepper soup. That looks delicious!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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    1. Yes, these are all nail wraps from Colorstreet; it's pretty much all I use now. I should have thought to link it up but here is the recipe I based my soup off of (I'm sure I didn't follow it exactly but I think it was pretty close). https://www.pinchmeimeating.com/unstuffed-cabbage-roll-soup/

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  13. Wow! You take so many photos and have so much to add into your monthly reviews (I'm the most forgetful photographer - I remember after the event!) Loved all the snow and ice and the thawing as well. It'll be summer before you know it and that deck will have photos of you lazing on it reading a book and enjoying the view again.

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    1. I'm trying to be more intentional about taking photos but it's a hard practice to get into! Oh I am dreaming of lazing on that deck and reading a book and enjoying the view. :)

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  14. I always enjoy your posts like these. And I also always wonder how you do home schooling. We don't have that het in the Netherlands. I mean the things you must know? How does that work?

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    1. It's actually a lot easier than you would think. Most books come with a teacher edition that really tells you how to teach--- plus I was a teacher before I left the school system to teach my own kids. But a lot of what we do is just through shared experiences, and talking and reading. I've learned so much homeschooling my boys and it was so much easier than I thought it was going to be.

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  15. What a lovely month you had.
    Your Valentine's nails are so pretty and Brr! You have had some cold weather. Here's me complaining about it being about 5C and you have freezing temperatures. All the scrapbook pages look fab and I love all of your outfits. x

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  16. I love all your outfit pictures and your festive nails! Also, your hikes look amazing, as always!

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  17. So much to see! You certainly put a lot into your month! Love the cake!

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  18. I'm impressed with your daily step counts! I get nowhere near those numbers and need to step it up (literally! LOL!). I'm hoping to get in some more weekend hikes once the spring weather arrives. You went on some great hikes and got beautiful pictures this month and ate some delicious looking food! Hope you had a great weekend!

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    1. I set a mini goal this month to try and at least get 5,000 on those days we're not hiking and I can't get to 10,000- when I started tracking last year I was usually in the 2-3,000 range so I'm liking that I've at least increased the averages!

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  19. A lovely month!
    Well done on your steps count. I'm trying to up mine in between work and uni, it's a hard balance.
    Love all of your outfits, you look fab in them all!
    I hope this month is just as lovely for you. :)

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    1. Thank you! It really can be-- plus I find I am plagued with more foot pain and joint pain if I push myself too much to read those 10,000 step goals every day.

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  20. Joanne, Thank you for your weekend coffee share. Looks like you had a wonderful February. The hiking trails and snow photos are so pretty. Your cards look beautiful, too.

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  21. Those chocolate chip bars looks incredible. I can't wait to see that recipe!

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  22. You've certainly done a good number of steps. You have so many beautiful places to hike near you, so I'm not surprised that you can keep the step count up. #mmbc

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    1. We do have lots of lovely places to hike near us & I'm always on the hunt for new ones too.

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