Author Archives: cathyboettner

When we bought this house, one of the first things that we did was to spray weed and grass killer on areas around the house to create garden beds. There was grass (weeds) in this front bed, which made no sense to me because it would be such a pain in the butt to mow.Continue reading “Spring Fever–the front garden bed (an involved project)”

My husband LOVES meatloaf. And when we have meatloaf, he always wants to have homemade garlic mashed potatoes, and peas (because we both like to mix our peas with our mashed potatoes.) So here we go. Aunt Josefa’s Mashed Potatoes–My dad’s youngest sister who lived in Chicago 4 lbs baking potatoes peeled and quartered 1/2Continue reading “Mike’s Favorite Meatloaf Dinner”

I used to work out with a personal trainer. I did it for year and years, and had to stop when I took my last job because of the long commute. I left that job in April of 2020, and was finding it difficult to be motivated enough to start working out on my own–IContinue reading “Pandemic Physical Fitness”

I cleaned this bed up when we had the really pretty day a couple of weeks ago, and wanted to be sure to get it mulched before the weeds started growing again. This side of the house is the side that faces the road. It is a little tough because it is the north sideContinue reading “Another bout of Spring Fever–the perennial border”

As you might imagine, I have a lot of cookbooks, but there are just a handful that I reach for when I need a sure fire great dish. Here they are: This is a petite book of nothing but cakes and just a few other sweets. These are old standbys that are generally easy toContinue reading “Favorite Cookbooks–since we’re all doing more cooking these days”

I took down the Christmas wreath and realized that the porch really needs a wreath on the hook by the front door. I had a spring wreath that I had made a couple years ago, but it was too small for its location. So, I took this wreath apart and reused the small white flowersContinue reading “A Spring Wreath for the Porch”

Earlier this week we had an absolutely glorious day–70 degrees and sunny. So I was out in the garden beds trimming stuff back and pulling weeds. (The backs of my legs were complaining about it the next day!) The next day, the weather was terrible, but I saw that Home Depot had their bareroot flowersContinue reading “Spring Fever–the Cutting Garden”

This is a little adventurer table with guide books for local wildlife, a book of knots, journal, turtle shell, magnifying glass, net, flashlights, and binoculars (one is actually a flask). Simple place settings with white dishes, glassware, flatware, and brown napkins.

This is an all green theme perfect for Saint Patrick’s Day. I started with a green and white appliqued table runner, a green planter, and spring green lanterns. For the place settings I used Fiesta ware in two shades of green, a white coffee mug with asparagus on it, and green and white napkins thatContinue reading “Stuck at Home Spring Tables–Table 16”

This is for a Derby party (or Belmont, or Preakness). I started with a green silk table runner (bought on super sale at the Pottery Barn outlet a million years ago). I took a plastic horse and two plastic trophies and spray painted them with a bright metallic silver. I used these along with aContinue reading “Stuck at Home Spring Tables–Table 15”