My Mother's Day

I spent my special day at Menard's, looking at paint colors and countertop options and electric ranges. For those of you outside the Upper Midwest, Menard's is the first big box retail lumber building supply store here, like Lowe's or Home Depot. But much better, in my opinion.

I am happy to be finally looking at finishing house details! I am leaning towards an electric ceramic cook top and oven, because the price of propane is going up faster than the price of electricity, and we are getting more of our electricity from wind and other sustainable sources these days. If the power goes out, I can always fall back on cooking on top of the wood stove.

My presents were: marigold seedlings, from Starflower and Mr. Attitude; a sun-proof, breathable LL Bean shirt, and a tank top emblazoned with the logo of my favorite local band, The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank. They even sent a couple demo CD's and a DVD as a bonus. And the package was postmarked Bruno, MN. Can't get any more local than that.

After Menard's, we went to Grandma's Sports Garden on the waterfront in Duluth for pizza and video games (and Leinenkugels for Mom), then a quick drive out on Park Point to look for birds. I saw a few flocks of bluebills, but I was too sleepy to really get out of the car and look for anything.

By the way, if you've been looking for a great recipe for black bean soup, please visit my other blog, The Deliberate Homemaker, link to the right. I don't post there as often as I'd like, so this is an event.