Copper Country Living

Yesterday was the winter solstice, the darkest and coldest time of year. Well, it isn't really the coldest. Earlier in the week would have been the coldest. Wednesday's windchill was a balmy -25°F. We've been having a warm snap rolling in to the weekend (it's currently 42°F). Heck the sun is even out right now. But the days have been undeniably short. Hubby and I both are shocked when we want to crawl in to bed but the clock only says 6pm. We've also been up to our eyeballs in snowfall and are measuring in at a little over 110 inches already this year. #winterproblems Christmas is right around the corner. In preparation, Christmas cookies are on the to-do list. I'll likely make others yet before the week is up (the step kids will be here soon and I have to find something to keep them away from screens for the next 7 days) but the Peanut Butter Blossoms from the back of the Hershey's Kisses bag- they are my to-die-for cookie. As a kid, ever

It's officially the Christmas season now. In direct contrast to my last post , now that it's December I've fully embraced the Christmas preparation. 90% of it though, is trying to decide what gifts to get everyone. Hubby is notoriously hard to shop for. He likely feels the same way about me. And honestly this year I didn't even know what to ask for. I've got everything I want at the moment. A warm home, a loving husband, a few kids, a baby on the way, plenty of food. All I really want is a job I can do from my home- and I'll start working remotely as part of my maternity leave in January. I told my mom to get me wool socks (my go-to request for 6 years in a row now). I told Hubby I wanted an exercise birthing ball (which I was planning to buy regardless by the end of the year). There's really nothing I badly want that can be wrapped in gift paper. I've never been this content in my adult life and I'm not sure what to do about it.

Okay, so hate might be too strong a word, but I really don't like the practice of Black Friday. I'm not a monster, I like a good shopping deal, but I have issues with Black Friday in particular. For starters, it isn't just a single day anymore. Retailers (Walmart being by far the worst offender I've seen so far) have been advertising Black Friday sales since before Halloween. HALLOWEEN! Which is 2 months before Christmas! Are we even going to bother celebrating Thanksgiving?   Probably should just skip it, since that holiday doesn't net nearly enough profit for retailers. On that note, it's the commercialization of holidays that really grinds my gears. The moment Halloween sales begin to dwindle, they jump right to coaxing people into the store with all things Christmas season... it's just disgusting. None of the holidays, Halloween included, are meant to be about SHOPPING. Gift giving is meant to have meaning. Sure picking out something you g

Hubby and I have almost finished painting at the new ho use.  We've been living here a few weeks now, but it's starting to finally feel like ours and not just someone else's place we are squatting in. As I mentioned in my previous post about moving while pregnant , we bought our new family home from smokers- who were gross enough to smoke indoors. Which meant there was no removing the smoke from some things. After lots of cleaning (hello vinegar), throwing away of window treatments (they were ugly anyway), odor sealing primer, and fresh paint you can't tell there were once smokers here. And damn was I shocked at how much the smoke residue was stressing me out. I haven't always been such a neat freak. I used to spend a lot of time in places that reeked of cigarette smoke in college, and didn't think twice about it. But when I got pregnant, the reading material about foods I couldn't eat sent me into a spiral about all the poisons out there that we can

Winter is unavoidable here. Winter in the Copper Country starts in November and lasts until May. This means that no matter when you're due, if you're pregnant in the Upper Peninsula, you will at some point be pregnant in the winter. That means shoveling. Shoveling while growing a tiny human inside your body is a game changer when it comes to this particular winter task. Ideally you won't have to shovel while you're pregnant (here's where Hubby needs to do his best to help). Having someone else to shovel isn't always practical though, so sometimes it takes a little SISU** to get by. But let's start with the basics. In order to successfully and SAFELY pull off snow removal in our pregnant state- we must first be shoveling by the rules everyone should follow. *Disclaimer: Every pregnancy is different. Consult your doctor regarding what is best for you as an individual.* **SISU is a Finnish word. It kind of means "perseverance" but it

I have a strange appreciation for this time of year. Starting in September, Hubby goes out to his camp almost every day. It's about a 15 min drive from our house, maybe a little longer now that we've moved, and it's where he's been preparing and watching for his prized deer to kill. This year has been a quiet one, and he hasn't seen many. On October 1st, bow season started, and I've become what locals jokingly call a "deer hunting widow". This year I've been much less a widow than last fall, since we just finished moving, but now that we've finished that project (thank heaven) he's started disappearing at dawn and dusk, or over night on the weekends. Should deer hunting ever make me an actual widow I'd be devastated, but I actually really like this time of year. I enjoy having the house all to myself, being able to watch whatever I want on TV, get cleaning projects done uninterrupted, and in general have alone time. I love my

I write letters to my stepchildren. My stepchildren live with their mother, 3.5 hours away from us, during the school year. There's not much we can do about that since they need to attend school, but keeping in touch with their day to day can be hard. Last year I started writing them 'snail mail' letters, complete with self-addressed, stamped envelopes. While I've never gotten a reply from either child, I know they are at least getting my letters and they know that their dad and I are thinking about them. It's my own little way of showering them with love from a distance. Phone calls with kids are awkward. I don't know if you've ever tried to talk to a kid on the phone but they're easily distracted and it's not always possible to follow their train of thought. Talking on the phone with our kids has the added 'fun' of their mother hovering in the background, listening to every word and interjecting into the conversation when she's

It's happening.  I'm 6 months pregnant and my husband found our dream house. Porch at our old house, packed to capacity, waiting to be moved. I had zero intention of uprooting our entire household, packing it in boxes, and trucking it to a new house (which would of course need cleaning). Then we got new neighbors. Don't get me wrong, they are perfectly nice neighbors. But my husband would prefer no neighbors at all. These neighbors have four children under the age of 5. They themselves are from a large family, and the day they moved in, their crew of helpers included more than 10 little blonde boys too young to actually help. Those little boys spent the afternoon hooting and hollering and throwing a ball in the backyard- and frequently into our backyard. My husband spent the afternoon in our back porch watching them, fuming. "We have to move." was all he said when I came home from work. This was back in mid August, and I agreed, thinking it would wai

First Snow Yesterday morning as Hubby and I were drinking coffee, I glanced out the living room window and  could see a flake of snow falling, here and there, very intermittently. "Look honey, it's snowing!" I exclaimed. He turned from the TV to take a look. "Look at that, it sure is." he replied. "I'm going to go hunting tonight." "Ok." And we went back to watching television like it was nothing. Less than a week ago we were on a boat in 70 degree weather, and now it's snowing. That's how weather goes this time of year. This morning we woke to actual snow on the ground and I took some pictures. It's not snow the way we have snow in the real winter, but the contrast of the fresh white with the fall colors lit by the rising sun just made my morning. It's a chilly 34 degrees right now and I could see my breath as my fingers got cold taking pictures. My poor marigolds are done for the season. They

This past week my husband and I took a fall color cruise from downtown Houghton to the north entry of the Portage Canal aboard the Isle Royale Queen IV . It was a fundraiser for the local Lions Club and while we've gone every year since we started dating, this year had the best weather. It was sunny, 68 degrees Fahrenheit, and only a slight breeze so the sailing was smooth. I took tons of pictures on my phone, which doesn't have the highest quality camera, but really the pictures never do the view justice around here anyway. It really is more breath taking in person. Portage Canal-approaching North Entry from the south We set sail with a boat full of locals (and a few tourists) and headed towards the north entry. Hubby and I found a good spot out on the forward starboard side and relaxed as we watched the local lakeside mansions go by. We always joke about what a serious waste of money owning property along the canal is. The road is very close to the water, and m

Recently we had a beautiful Saturday as a family exploring locally. I dread those cold winter Saturdays where getting the kids to go outside is like pulling teeth (and those are coming soon), so I try to find fun things to keep them busy in the fall before the weather gets nasty. Sometimes though, us parents have to join in. We're really lucky. We live here in the Keweenaw's Copper Country and there's always plenty to do. I realized recently that my husband and the kids had never been on the Quincy Mine tours. I worked there, years ago, and was excited to share something I knew would be educational, inexpensive, and take up a good portion of our Saturday to keep everyone away from the TV. To make it even better, we ended up with amazing weather (bonus!!!).  Aerial view of the mine- as seen on a poster in the gift shop The Quincy Mine tours are run through a non-profit known as the Quincy Mine Hoist Association . The site is included in the Keweenaw National Histori

It's been cold and foggy often in the past week which always makes me crave warm comfort foods for dinner. So for the first-ever post here at Copper Country Living, I've decided to share with all of you one of my favorite cold weather recipes- Chicken Pot Pie Soup. Chicken Pot Pie Soup My mom used to make this when I was a kid, and I have no idea where she got the recipe from (probably a cookbook or a friend). I've modified it over the years, and no offense to mom, but I think my version is better. My husband and the kids gobble it up and the recipe makes plenty of servings so we usually get at least two days worth. I've placed the instructions in bold so you can easily skim passed my side notes if you want- they aren't critical to making the recipe work. Without further ado, let's get started. Chicken Pot Pie Soup First you'll want to gather the ingredients listed below. You'll also need a skillet/frying pan, soup pot, spoon (I prefer wood