Recent Blog Posts

Northern Michigan is widely known for its famous whitetails and hunting season come mid-November of every year. What is the first thing you think of when you hear whitetails? I often think immediately of my husband leaving for hunting camp for several weeks and often bringing home enough venison to...
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Happy Monday everyone! I hope wherever you are that you are staying warm! We had another 3 day weekend here in Petoskey due to the temperature being -32 on Friday morning. Brrrrrrr!!!!! Today's blog post brings you something a little different and something a little fun here on the Grandpa Shorter'...
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Your last name doesn’t have to be O'Reilly to dress in green and celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. On March 17th, everyone is Irish for a day. Here’s a list of places around Michigan where you can listen to an Irish tune and raise a glass of green beer to St. Paddy. Grand Ledge - March 13th & ...
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Recently my news feed has been filled with a lot of blogs about self-important stay-at-home moms vs. working-moms and vice versa.  Who writes this stuff?  I want to say this in the nicest way possible - Shut Up! We are all moms and dads doing our very best each day to get our children on the best...
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Happy Tuesday everyone! I keep thinking today is Monday. Petoskey had winter break this past weekend so today was technically our Monday and I'm having trouble realizing it's actually Tuesday. The older kids went back to school and the youngest spent the morning in 1/2 day preschool and then helpe...
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Last week I was raving about the weather being mid-30's. Yes, you can thank me. You're welcome. This freezing cold weather was courtesy of yours truly. It was -26 here yesterday evening. At least today the sun is shining. Gorgeous views but geez, it is seriously cold outside! This past weekend ...
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New Orleans has Mardi Gras, but here in Michigan we celebrate "Fat Tuesday" in our own delicious way, by indulging in Paczki. Never heard of paczki (poonch-kie)? Neither had I. Until I moved to Michigan. But once you try one, you’ll understand just why the pastry causes so much excitement in th...
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Life moves so fast these days. It is hard to stop the rat race and enjoy family time without constant interruptions of our smart phones. Slow down the craziness in an act that allows us to enjoy time with our loved ones while making life long memories at the same time. I have never heard...
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Happy Tuesday everyone! Today is fabulous here in beautiful Northern Michigan. The sun is shining and it's absolutely gorgeous outside today and almost in the mid 30's!! And, even though Punxsutawney Phil claims to have seen his shadow and predicted 6 more weeks of winter, I do not believe it ...
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Hello there! Today on the blog I'm going to be sharing with you a very easy recipe using Brownwood Farms Blueberry Preserves. If your kids are anything like mine they love Pop-Tarts. I stopped buying them long ago due to a majority of the ingredients. I occasionally buy the organic version but it'...
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