The Cottage on the Croix

Sailboats in the water

2013-04-23T16:30:00.000-05:00

The first sailboat of the season we've seen, on the same day we had a few more inches of snow overnight.

If you are interested in sailing the St. Croix Sailing Club is hosting their 2013 Learn to Race class. The two-weekend class is will be held on June 1 & 2 and June 15 & 16. and costs $225 which includes membership.

New Bait Shop in Lakeland

2013-04-11T22:31:00.000-05:00

This weekend we went to the Grand Opening of Matt's Lucky Bait & Tackle, the new bait shop in town. We met the owner Matt and his girlfriend Sarah; who happen to only live a couple blocks away from us, less if you travel by river.

They have live bait, which Declan loved to look at and would have jumped in the tank if I would have let him. Matt also has a son Declan's age, so I can only imagine the two could be fishing buds in too short of time for this momma.

The shop is located at 178 St. Croix Trail N, Suite 100, Lakeland, MN 55043.
Find them on Facebook
Summer hours will be 5am to Midnight and on call anytime.

Arabella Cruise April 2010

2013-04-09T11:29:00.001-05:00

Three years ago we went on a cruise in the Virgin Islands. Ah, the memories. Here's our fancy slide show:

Arabella cruise April 2010 - Virgin Islands

Pileated Woodpecker 12/11/2012

2013-03-12T15:24:00.002-05:00


A visitor to our house on December 11, 2012.

I forgot that I took some photos of a pileated woodpecker outside our home back in December.

Returning Home

2013-03-07T13:52:00.000-06:00

A cardinal returned on 3/7/2013.

Winter Storm Saturn

2013-03-07T09:30:00.002-06:00

Drifts on the ice.

Cold Morning on the River

2013-03-07T09:24:00.000-06:00

Single digit morning on the river.

Winter Storm Caesar Visits the Cottage

2012-12-10T10:32:00.001-06:00

We received at least 14 inches of snow on the leeward side of the cottage, haven't made it to the windward side to measure.

A cardinal seeking shelter, earlier on in the storm.

Snow covered Canadian Geese floated slowly by during the storm.

The bird feeders before nightfall. We received an additional at least 2 inches after this was taken.

The deck early in the storm.

Do this now!

2012-11-11T17:42:00.000-06:00

This weekend I heard of a few people losing their cameras. I've also heard the amazing stories of individuals finding cameras and researching the owner to return it to them. There is even a website dedicated to missing cameras. So, I thought, why make it hard. Take the guess work out of it if your camera happens to get picked up by someone so nice. Write down/print out/type up your name, address, and phone number and take a photo of it. I just typed it up on my computer and took a picture of the screen.

Not a good photo, but obviously I couldn't take it with my camera.

Post Halloween Cool Stuff: Full Moon

2012-11-01T13:42:00.001-05:00

Full Moon over Hudson, WI. So bright it looks like the sun in the photo.

Post Halloween Cool Stuff: Witches Cauldron

2012-11-01T13:36:00.001-05:00

We've been very slowly working on our basement. One of the rooms we are working on is the family room which included a boarded up fireplace. That fireplace literally made my mind wander with horrible scary thoughts of what could possibly be behind the boards. My mind always jumped to dead things: mouse, bird, cat, raccoon, or worse... a dead body.


Here's where I began to really freak. Note the first board Brad removed read: "CRYSTAL" on the back...OMG!

After I calmed down and Brad removed all the boards, we found our creepy witches cauldron and spider webs. Thank goodness, it was the first time I was happy for dead bugs!

Post Halloween Cool Stuff: Leftover Candy

2012-11-01T13:09:00.004-05:00

Since it was just Halloween, we have tons of left over candy which included M&Ms, so I thought I'd use a very very small portion of the leftovers to make granola bars. This recipe is adapted from a Pin I saw from a blog called Jo and Sue. I had to adapt it, to what I had on hand. It is a fairly flexible recipe, I've made it with all oats, no rice cereal, cranberries instead of candy, etc.

Chewy Granola Bars

2 cups quick rolled oats

1 cup Rice Krispies

1/2 cup coconut

1/2 cup pecan chips/bits

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp TVP

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup honey

1 egg

4 packs of fun size M&M candies or more if you like

Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8x9, 9X9, or 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray. I like them thick, so I use the 8x8. In a large bowl, add all ingredients except M&Ms and mix together until well combined (I mix it with one had, because it is quite sticky). Press into prepared pan, sprinkle top with M&M candies. Bake 18 - 20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes and then score into bars. Let it set completely and then cut into bars. Score them, because when they cool completely they crumble easily.

Now for the remaining 200 pieces of candy, I think I might just do one of the numerous candy buy back programs that sends the candy to the troops.

Fall Photos in Hudson, WI

2012-10-04T11:07:00.000-05:00

Local Events: October 2012

2012-10-04T10:49:00.002-05:00

Fall Festival at St. Francis Church. Saturday 6-9:30, Sunday 9:30-4pm.

Bingo under the tent Saturday 6-8:30pm (at St. Francis)

Kettlebells, Bootcamp, Tabata www.stcroixvalleyumc.org

Fall Color Art & Music Festival Oct. 6 & 7 10-5pm www.stillwaterfallartfair.com

Segway Tours in Lakeland/Hudson

2012-09-14T17:18:00.000-05:00

I saw a bunch of people on Segways rolling through town today on my way to the post office. The company is All American Segway.
They must have been on what they describe on their website as the Border Crossing Tour.

Hot Air Balloon

2012-09-12T10:05:00.000-05:00

On Labor Day this hot air balloon floated over our house to the St. Croix River. I believe it is from the local business Stillwater Balloon.

Selma's Ice Cream Parlor, Afton, MN

2012-06-29T15:25:00.000-05:00

Selma's Ice Cream Parlor reopened this year in Afton, MN and we've already visited it a couple times. Declan took me there on Mother's Day ;)

The hours were 11-8pm everyday, except Sunday which are 11-7pm. There were many many flavors to choose from. I've tried the traditional Zanzibar and not so traditional Banana Cream Pie flavors, Brad sticks with the Salted Caramel, and Declan, well he just watched maybe next summer.

Sailing School

2012-06-29T12:22:00.001-05:00

It appears that it is race day in sailing school on the St. Croix river today.

The Sound Of Sunshine - Michael Franti & Spearhead

2012-05-13T20:49:00.000-05:00

It looks like this week will give us the perfect summer weather. If you are having trouble making it through the Monday workday, or any other day this week give our playlist a listen to help you out. This video addition of "The Sound Of Sunshine" by Michael Franti is a perfect match for the beach cottage music vibe. Hope you enjoy it. Keep sending your suggestions for more additions.

Cottage Artwork - Life is Good on the Water

2012-05-12T09:16:00.002-05:00

DIY How to make some signage artwork for your cottage

Supplies: matte medium, paint, 2 paint brushes...

...printable transparencies, and a canvas or board. I painted mine an aqua color. I then made the sign text on my computer, made an outline of the text in a color just slightly darker than my canvas color, and reversed it.

Put the matte medium on the canvas and brush it into a thin layer.

Flip the transparency over so the printed side ink goes into the matte medium. Press and rub the inked areas.

Peel back the transparency to reveal the outlines.

Fill in with paint.

Let dry and enjoy.

Jack Ingram - Barefoot and Crazy

2012-05-05T15:11:00.002-05:00

Barefoot and Crazy by Jack Ingram is an instant addition for the beach cottage playlist. Unfortunately the player site does not have the song yet, but this video is great. Hope you enjoy the selection. Keep sending us your suggestions. It's your recommendations which have made this site the best ever beach cottage playlist.

A corner in the cottage

2012-04-23T19:27:00.000-05:00

I was desperate to add some more blue to our living room, so I used one of the canvases I already had on hand to switch out a painting to better fit the look in our cottage. I have bigger ideas for the painting, but for now it fits my needs.

The lamp I've had since college, it was a garage sale find. It was actually brass and ceramic, but I spray painted it after we moved into our townhouse in 2003 along with its brother, but that one was donated when I was decluttering. It would have come in handy here in the cottage, but you can't have regrets when it comes to decluttering.

To make the clock stand-up it is on a plate holder. Also there is a candy dish on a pillar candle holder. I like to pretend that's genius.

Weekend Grilling: Pork Chops, Country Style Ribs, Peaches, and Mac & Cheese.

2012-04-18T19:14:00.000-05:00

Since the deal this past week at my grocery store was boneless pork chops 10 for $10 dollars I needed to scour the internet to figure out the best way to cook/grill them. I learned that using a brine for pork makes them pretty tasty and moist. I found plenty of brine recipes; however, because I'm lazy and didn't want go back to the grocery store I had to come up with my own recipe. I'm a little biased, but I think it was pretty tasty.

Boneless Pork Chops
Thin cut pork chops (under 3/4 inch)

Brine
3 cups water
1 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
2 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon mustard
1 teaspoon thyme

Combine all brine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely (or replace one cup of water in recipe with ice). Place with pork in a large container or gallon resealable bag making sure that the brine completely covers the pork. Cover and refrigerator overnight. Grill 3-5 minutes each side for thin pork chops.

Country Style Pork Ribs (left over from last week that wouldn't fit on the grill so we froze them and grilled more this week).

Grilled Peaches
5 peaches cut in half and pitted
4 tablespoons melted butter
4 tablespoons maple syrup

Mix butter and maple syrup and baste on the cut side of the peaches. Grill cut side down for 3-5 minutes.

Mac and Cheese recipe from Panera

Weekend Grilling: Country Style Pork Ribs, Chicken Drummies, Asparagus, and Salad

2012-04-17T19:39:00.000-05:00

We have a new game plan for saving money, but still entertaining our family for grilling on the weekend. When we go to the grocery store then purchase whatever is the best deal and figure out how to cook it. We've done country style pork ribs which were 99 cents a pound and boneless pork chops 10 for $10.

Asparagus
Best ever way to eat asparagus. No lie. I grew up next to an asparagus farm, so I've eaten a lot.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Lay the asparagus flat on a baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO, salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan cheese.
Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on thickness of the asparagus.

Side salad
MIL bought from Kowalski's

Country Style Pork Ribs

For the country style pork ribs I started them in the oven at 250 degrees five hours before grilling them. I lined 9x11 inch pans with foil. Coated the ribs in EVOO, salt, and pepper and baked for the first hour. Then basted every 30 minutes to one hour after that with BBQ sauce. It ranged in time, just because I'm a lazy cook, so lazy I didn't have enough store bought BBQ sauce, so I ran out after the first basting and had to make my own since I didn't want to run back to the store.

BBQ Sauce

Ketchup
Dill Pickle Juice
Yellow Mustard
Brown Sugar
Balsamic Vinegar
Famous Dave's Rib Rub Spices
Black Pepper

Sorry no measurements, I just mix it together, until it tastes the way I want it. Ingredients are in order from most to least though.

Chicken Drummies

Chicken Drumsticks marinated in Lawry's Buffalo BBQ sauce.
These were supposed to be appetizers to lunch, but it just didn't turn out that way.

"What A Wonderful World" - Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole

2012-04-12T23:21:00.000-05:00

Rocking the "IZ" is a must at the beach cottage. This is a great song, and the scenery in the video is amazing. Hope you enjoy.