crockpot meal, shopping, and spring

Warning: This post is about three things that have nothing to do with each other!
My life just seems too busy and swirly and hectic sometimes
and it's hard to post often, much less on one subject.

Thus said ~ ever wonder what you're going to make for dinner?

I think most women face this dilemma. Doesn't matter if you work outside the home

(which I do, three days/week) or if you're busy at home (which I am).

I've read that slow cookers are making a comeback, and with good reason.
I have found that you can basically throw anything into the pot
and it turns out delicious....the only necessary prep work is chopping
 veggies and/or meat.

I decided to try a meat-based spaghetti sauce. I used a pound of ground
sirloin, one link of hot Italian sausage from the butcher, a 28 oz. can
of whole tomatoes, a little tomato paste, 1/4 c. white wine, and finely
chopped carrots, onion, celery, and garlic. I then added a lot of Italian
seasoning, freshly ground black pepper, and a bay leaf.
Set the slow cooker for 8 hours on low....

And this is what it looked like 8 hours later - yum! The house smelled so good

while this was cooking. And, if you're gone most of the day, how wonderful is it

to walk in the door and dinner is done?

We had it served over whole wheat spaghetti noodles and topped it with freshly grated

Parmesan cheese.

There's leftover sauce which I put in the freezer, but for a new meal

I will toss the sauce with penne pasta and chunks of mozzarella cheese

and bake in a 9x13" pan.

My husband actually had this past weekend off ~ he's not in the "normal" 9-5 office profession ~

so we spent the day on Saturday in one of our favorite browsing towns...Geneva, IL.

You may know that one of the decorative items I love is cloches.

Well, I was in a garden shop and I saw the world's tiniest cloches!

So cute...but what would you put under those two teeny ones?

They had some other miniature garden items, so I'm thinking they were for people

who make fairy gardens.

See the glass bottle with the heart-shaped bird stopper on top - at the left?

I found it at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Geneva

 ( http://geneva.patch.com/listings/st-vincent-de-paul-thrift-shop-deja-vu)

 for just $3. I hung some sterling silver bangles around the neck of the bottle.

One of my favorite stores in Geneva is Cocoon (http://www.cocoononline.com/). 

Couldn't resist this wooden bird necklace.

Mmm...besides cloches, I'm a bit obsessed with birds and nests, too. :-)

Spring has sprung in northern Illinois! Saw these beauties popping out of the ground

in Geneva. Are they Lily of the Valley?

I did a lot of spring cleaning on Sunday and started some spring decorating.

That will be another post for another day.