Bacon Roses!

I saw the coolest thing on Pinterest last week-Bacon Roses! I knew I had to make them for Matt for Valentine's Day! Here is the original pic I saw...

 Here is the link to the original blog posting http://www.instructables.com/id/Bacon-Roses/

In the original blog posting, they said to drill holes in a mini muffin pan, but I didn't have a mini muffin pan, and even if I did, I wasn't going to destroy it! I made some tweaks and below is how I made my bacon roses. :)

How to make Bacon Roses!!!

To start out, you will need a pound of bacon (I used thick cut), a bunch of fake roses (I got mine at the dollar store), toothpicks, a vase, something to put in the vase to secure the rose stems, and tape. 

Roll the bacon up and secure with toothpicks. I used 3 in each one.

Place them on a meatloaf pan. If you don't have a pan like this, I think you could also use a broiler pan.

Put them in a 375 degree preheated oven. The original blog said to put it in for 40 minutes, but they took over an hour for me. Just keep an eye on them. :) While those babies are cooking, you can get your stems ready! Start by pulling off the rose buds. Separate the green plastic part on the bottom. 

At this point, since I was going to be putting food on them, I washed and dried the stems and the little green things. Put the little green thingies back on the stems. They will slide down, so to secure them, put tape around the stem below where you want them to sit. Leave at least an inch of stem for the bacon to be secured on. 

Put the stems in the vase and arrange the stems. Bend the stems so they are facing up. I added a little cheezy balloon as a decoration. That's how I roll.

Take the bacon roses out of the oven when they're nicely browned. 

I put them in the fridge just like this to cool. Leave the toothpicks in so they don't come apart. After they're all cooled off, take the toothpicks out and put them on the stems. You might have to bend the stems a little in case they want to be droopy.

Here is the whole display of man gifts I had waiting for Matt when he got home. :)  

He loved them!!!

The Wall is Coming Down!

Matt started tearing down the big wall between the sunroom and the livingroom! Mark helped remove all the door frames a few months ago, but Matt started removing the tile around the fireplace and the trim around the upper windows. :) No vacay for us this year so we can save and pay for home improvements, so hopefully there are many!!!

An Adventure Through The Woods

Matt took me on an adventure this past fall. He had gone 4-wheeling with some of his buddies and they had shown him an amazing spot in north Marquette where you could see all of Marquette, Sugar Loaf, Hog's Back, The Superior Dome, Little Presque, etc. Sarge & I hopped in the truck and we went for a drive. It was FREEZING but really beautiful. There weren't many leaves left on the trees, but it was still breathtaking. We will have to go back once the snow melts and the sun comes out again. On the road back I noticed an old stone fireplace still standing. VERY cool. I thought it would be a really cool place to do a photo shoot. :) or like christmas family photos with stockings hung on it... Anyway, here are some pictures. :)

"Sit!"

 

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Our Woodpeckers

We have been getting into feeding the birds in our yard and have discovered that woodpeckers love our property. We thought they were really cool, so we got lots of different types of feeders, suets, and seed. Our favorite is the rare Pileated Woodpecker that comes to visit us briefly twice a day, usually at around 7 or 8am, then again about 1pm. This was the best shot I have been able to get since it is easily spooked. Very cool

A Very Glomp Weekend

Matt's dad Chet came to visit us this weekend and, of course, brought Bo. I got woken up Saturday morning by a giant, smelly Golden Retriever and loved every minute of it! I attempted to make venison for dinner, but it turned out pretty bad. =/

Matt made breakfast for us this morning and it was delish! He is the designated egg cooker in the house, unless you want overdone scrambled eggs-then I'm your man! :) 

The Kids

 I couldn't have a blog without posting photos of my kitties right away. Here are some from the past month. :)

 Moosey snuggling with her daddy

 Sarge, probably begging for food

 It was great to have a little visit with Bo :)

 Mom, Eric, & Bubbi came to visit us. 

 Princess Moosey

 Zima is obsessed with daddy right now

 Sarge's Christmas present from Gramma Nancy-a squeaky Santa toy

Moosey's bath time

Our first post!

I decided to create this blog since none of our family members live close to us and not everyone has facebook, not to mention that facebook is kind of annoying me lately! Hopefully this will be for both of us to post, not just me! Whats going on today? A BIG winter storm! The roads are nasty and I decided to work from home today. I had to finalize new prices at the salon as well as read up on 3 new skincare machines. The cats have been lounging all day and Sarge is with Matt in the truck picking up Nancy from work. Matt wouldn't let her drive-what a great son! :)