Closing out 2012 and looking ahead to 2013

A belated Merry Christmas to all of you!

Christmas was the normal busy time of year it always is, full of work and family. I think I need to start planning December in July, because it always feels like I just squeak by each year. :) On Christmas Eve, I had forgotten to make cookies for Santa! Yikes! My daughter rushed into the kitchen with this revelation, just as I had gotten home from work and was beginning to make a quick dinner before we were due to go to my parents house for their annual small get together. Being the resourseful Mom that I am, I thought we could get by with popping a few Otis Spunkmeyer cookies dough balls into the oven and call it a day, but the look of dismay that Abby gave me at the suggestion stopped me halfway to the freezer. If you have ever seen the last Shrek film, when Puss is asking Donkey to lick him because he is too fat to reach you will have a sense of how big and sad my daughters eyes were at the thought that Santa wasn't going to get cookies with sprinkles on them. :) So out came my trusty Better Homes & Garden cookbook and the ingredients for Sugar Cutout cookies.

While all this was going on, my son started feeling ill with a headache and stomachache. In the end, it was 8:30 and we still hadn't made it to my parents. We finally just called it a night and decided to skip the party, try to get the kids to bed at a decent hour and meet up with my family at dinner the next day. The kids got their new Christmas Eve pjs on, checked Santas progress on NORAD, put the decorated cookies out for Santa, tossed some reindeer food on the ground for Rudolf and friends, and after a quick read of "The Polar Express" they were both tucked snug in their beds, with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads. Hubby and I finished our wrapping, and the house was in bed and settled by 12:30am...much better than 2:30am like last year! :)

Christmas was filled with laughter, ripped paper and squeals of delight. I am terrible at remembering to take pictures on Christmas morning, how about you? I am just too tired and then caught up in helping the kids with their gifts, and the camera just ends up sitting on the table. Ah well. :) We headed to my parents in the afternoon and enjoyed a delicious dinner of roast goose (our traditional feast - my fav!), ham (added since I married and added new family to the dinner table since a goose doesn't feed more than 4 or 5 easily), kale (grunkohl in German), knudel (potato dumplings), corn, cheesy potatoes, and bread rolls. We were all stuffed! :) Later came dessert: apple pie, a turtle ice cream cake (dad had a craving for ice cream cake this year!), fresh strawberries with whipped cream, and stollen. I again was kicking myself, because I didn't get any pictures of the spread, but trust me, it was delicious! :)

We had a real snow fall last night - it;s beautiful! I chuckle because the first real snow fall of the year always puts people in a tizzy...which is funny, because it's Michigan, and of course it's going to snow! :) But everyone forgets how to drive in it, and the news is full of anticipation of the snow and then analyzing every detail of where it's snowing, how much it;s snowing, etc. Last night they were thrilled that the snow came with a WInter Storm Advisory sothere was much fuss over driving conditions and predicted snow emergencies in various towns, etc...all the more effective if told via a live feed by some poor weatherperson standing outside while the 20 mile per hour gusts toss their hair and swirls snow all around them. This morning, they were thrilled that they could report it was the biggest snow storm we've seen in the area in 22 months! (Nevermind the fact that only 10 of those months are really capable of producing snow). With all the hoopla you would think we had a blizzard of 20+"....but no, we had 3"-4". In January, this wouldn't even be news...but I guess it's been a little dull of the weather front lately. Now, I'm not saying that the roads weren't bad last night...they weren't great. My 15 minute drive home took 30, but that was because I decided I had no where I needed to go fast, so I just slowed down and drove carefully. This morning the roads were fine and it was a beautiful drive.

Now as we close out 2012, I'm looking ahead to 2013. Besides wanting/needing to work off some of the holiday weight (clothes have gotten a bit tight lately - yikes!) I really want to work on some of the house projects that have been waiting and are now to the point that they have to be done. One of the big projects is work on the front of my house. Here is a photo I took when we were looking at the house before we bought it, and it gives an idea of what I want to fix:

My goal is to remove the black metal railings and replace them with wooden posts and railings...something like this:

(via myhomeideas.com)

I also want to work on the scraggly plantings in the front and put in something a little nicer along the fenceline. Any suggestions? I'd like to work on a larger garden space in the side yard so we can grow more veggies and maybe add a few fruit bushes...currants, blackberries, blueberries maybe?

Did  you notice the brown building on the side of the house in the first photo? That's actually an addition to the house. I have no idea why they thought it should be sided in wood when the rest of the house has vinyl siding, but that's another project to tackle eventually. Maybe its the weather, or the fact that there are just a few days left in the year, but I am so ready to start some new projects around the house and do a little sprucing up! :)

On a side note, I have been working on some more knitting. I've been working through some of the yarn that my grandmother gave me a few months ago and the latest project is a baby sweater. I've never made a real piece of knit clothing before, and so far it actually looks like the early stages of a sweater. :)

Its knit from the top down so you are seeing the neckline, sleeves (which look like cap sleeves at the moment, but will be longer later), and the open front of the sweater. Jewel was very helpful last night, as she kept my legs warm while I was working. :) I love Ravelry - they have some great free patterns (this is called Helena)! Hopefully it will finish nicely and will become a warm gift for a friend who is having a baby soon. I actually have two friends who are having babies, so I hope to make a second sweater after this one...keeping those knitting needles busy! lol

I hope that all of you have had a wonderful holiday season thus far, that you were able to spend time with loved ones, and are looking forward to the start of the new year. Here's wishing you a joyous New Year and all the best blessings that you could possibly have!

Advent Calendar

I wanted to share the Advent Calendars that my children have this year. :)

My mother made them - aren't they cute? These are a bit of a tradition in  my family. She made these for my brother and I every year when we were growing up. We would wake up on December 1st and we would find the calendars hanging above our heads in our rooms. It was so exciting!

Now my kids get so excited when they arrive at our house, and even I do too. :) The pieces are made from foiled paper that my mother bought in Germany. She uses templates to outline the pieces and cuts & glues them by hand. They are then filled with a small piece of candy and hung on a strand of string decorated with 1.5" pieces of drinking straws and foil squares.

December 6th is Nikolaus in German traditions, and that day is marked with a small stocking. It's filled with extra goodies!

Nikolaus also stops by the children's rooms and drops off a little boot filled with treats. Here is the boot that appeared in Abby's room, by her mini tree on her dresser. :)

Do you celebrate the season with an Advent calendar? Do you have any fun twists or traditions with yours? A work colleague told me yesterday that her family has a traveling advent. Each year one member is chosen to make a calendar for another family member. The goodies have to fit a certain size & price range and they usually end up being very silly little gifts. Others I know have given books as the Advent gift each day, David's Tea has a tea sampler advent (I just found out about that - wow, I would love one of those!) and last year my kids were sent a Playmobil Advent calendar by their great-grandmother in Germany, each day being a little piece/character of a winter scene. I know Lego offers an Advent calendar also. So much fun!

Interesting statement/quote

source

I found this image today and it made me pause. I don't always do my best...sometimes I feel so overwhelmed that I just want to do the bare minimum so I can move on to the next thing that is pressing for my time and attention. There's always a next thing, right? And when I do my best I rarely give myself permission to say it's enough. Too often I fill my head with the "what if's" and "why didn't I?" and feel sad that I can't give 100% to everything and everyone all the time.

I'm sure I'm not alone in that...and this isn't a sob story. But sometimes it takes a few words to make you stop and really think. It leaves me with the question: "Why don't I follow this idea?"

It's been nutty!

When last I wrote, I mentioned that things in my tiny speck of the world have been incredibly busy. No busier than many other people I am sure, but still a whirlwind for us! :)

August & September was full of school prep for the kids. Abby started Kindergarten, which she has been looking forward to for at least 2 years (when Davin started). She was nervous and excited at the same time. No tears for my little champ...she stood proudly in line with her new classmates, said a few shy "Hellos" to some of the other children, and when her teacher came out she happily went inside with her class.

Davin started 2nd grade (oh my goodness, how is that possible already?!?!) and for him it was all "Wash, Rinse, Repeat". He was excited to see his classmates again and do "boy stuff". :) This year he is at a new door at the school so for me it was tough because I had to choose which child to stand with in line! Davin was so excited to leave me, so I went with Abby. He was in good hands with his class, and I barely got a kiss and a "Bye Mom!" before he dashed off. :) Love that boy!

This year I was also elected as the PTO President for the school. I was the Secretary last year, but as our previous President has moved on with her older children it was time for a new person to step up. Sadly, our school has a low parent participation rate...for lots of reasons I think, mostly that so many parents work and many just aren't sure how to "step up". I don't think they don't want to help, but it can be kind of scary to just jump in. It was for me. But it's an important part of our school, so when I was asked if I would be willing I said yes. Now, I also knew what the challenges would be. I work full time so I can't be at the school as often as many other PTO members, but the VP and Treasurer are closer to the school, one works from home and the other works nights, so they have been great at stepping in and filling in when I can't be there. I will say though, it's hard work! Fundraisers, communicating with businesses, volunteers, teachers, meetings, websites, you name it and we are doing it. :) I don't know if this is something that I can do for years down the road, but I hope that we can build a solid parent base who can chair projects and teams so that the three of us aren't solely responsible for all of the events and projects. And most importantly, to build "a pipeline" of future leadership at the school.

My husband finished his last season as the high school tennis coach this fall, so he was occupied for most of August through October. Practises daily with the team and tournaments on most Saturdays - oi vey! He has done it for a number of years, but after this year he decided that he wanted to step down so he could be with the kids more. With their schedules getting busier and busier it will be helpful to have the extra pair of hands! :) I love that he is so involved with the kids, and being a teacher, he is able to be home with them after school - a huge help for me, since I usually work until 6pm or so.

The fall was also full of soccer practises and dance classes. Both kids wanted to play soccer, and practise was on Tues and Thurs at 6pm, at different schools! Yikes! We (I) made it work, dropping Davin off first under the supervision of his coach until my hubby could get to the field after tennis, and I would take Abby to hers. Games on Saturday mornings and by the end of October I was very glad to wrap that up! :)

Dance class this year is on Tuesday as well, so we had to let the coach know that we couldn't attend soccer on that day. This year, she was moved up from the intro Kinderdance session to Mini, which is the first opportunity to focus on individual classes. She couldn't decide which she was interested in, so in the end we opted to try to Mini Combo program, which is Ballet, Tap and Jazz back to back. It's nice that it's all on the same night, but Tuesdays become long nights when we are at the studio for 90 minutes. I have discovered though that if you ever need to catch up on the latest teen sensations, spend time at a dance studio...I've been caught up on all of Taylor Swifts music by now...on repeat. Yay. *wink* Abby manages the classes pretty well so far...I was a little worried that she would be really tired on Wednesdays, but she seems to be doing fine so far. She is loving all three classes and is really excited that she will be dancing in three numbers at the recital in June. That also means three costume changes, but so far the studio has been really conscious about appropriate costumes for the girls ages so I am sure she will look cute. :) I still have a tough time with makeup on a 5 year old, but after seeing how they look from the audience I understand the concept of stage makeup...and at least I don't have to put blue eyeshadow on her! :) Can you tell I didn't dance when I was growing up? I was climbing trees, so this is all new to me! lol

My job has been super busy this fall too. We closed a major exhibit on September 30, which brought in a fair few folks and left us all a bit winded. :) But we have now moved on to the holiday programming and I'm just working through all of the piles that went untouched when we had lines out the door. It was a good problem to have! :)

We spent a lot of time going to see the Detroit Tigers play this summer and fall.

We were cheering them on as they made their way to the World Series. Sadly, they were handily beaten but not before hubby and I had a chance to see one of the games! What a fun (chilly!) night we had!

I interspersed that with visits to the Physical Therapist 3 times a week to work on my back issues for about 5 weeks. Ugh. I have some compression on one of my discs so it causes pain and numbness in my left leg/foot. It helped, though I think I might be dealing with this permanently, so thats frustrating. But I did love the heat packs at the end of the sessions! lol

Let's see, where does that bring us? We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house for 10 people, and I had a lot of fun cooking and cleaning (ok, not so much fun cleaning!) for a couple days before hand. On Friday I worked, and then we dashed off to another family gathering. I was kicking myself that I didn't take any pictures, but we were having so much fun talking, eating and playing that no one remembered to take any! Good times though! I do have two pictures of Thanksgiving...of the Frozen Lemon Gingersnap Pie we made...very lemony, but very good. The kids made the ice cream by hand using this method. I also made a Pumpkin Roll, using my best friends mom's recipe - delish!

On the crafting side, I had to table a lot of projects because I was just too busy. I had hoped that I could get my Etsy shop up and running in September, but that definitely didn't happen. :) I haven't made a card in ages...my poor colored pencils and Copics have been sitting forlornly on my desk since August! I finally unearthed them yesterday when I had a chance to clean off my desk...they were buried under a mountain of things! :) I'm hoping that I can finally get back into the groove...at the very least get some Christmas cards done for my family! I have been doing some yarnwork though. Crochet especially, but also some knitting. My mother sent me loads of yarn that belonged to my grandmother. She has had to stop knitting because of arthritis so they decided I should get it. I was so excited! I will miss my grandmothers work...she was an amazing knitter and I still can't bear to part with any of the things she has made for my kids, even though they can't wear the sweaters and socks and hats anymore. I just love them too much. I love the yarn that she gave me, and whenever I open the boxes I get a lovely whiff of her house. I love it, and I hope I can do her justice with the projects that I make from it.

I was gifted knitting needles and crochet hooks from an employee last year after his wife passed away, and I prefer to use those for many of my projects because I know how much she loved them. I suppose its sentimental, but of all the people who could have recieved them, I was the lucky one. I don't think I could ever turn someone down if they offered something like that to me.

I was super excited when a friend on Facebook saw a photo I had posted of a Hello Kitty hat I made for Abby and asked if I would make a hippo hat for a shower gift. I had never made a hippo hat before, but I did some research of other earflap hats and then scaled the patterns down to fit a newborn. It turned out pretty cute I thought! :)

I'm also working on this baby blanket in teal & tangerine (I am loving these colors!):

Still working on my first pair of socks (I kind of lost steam for them, but I'm determined to finish), a scarf for myself, a winter hat for Davin, and a doll blanket for Abby:

I just finished a couple of knit dishcloths (I love those for really scrubbing things!), a few preemie hats for the local NICU and a couple of coffee cup cozies for a coworker.

I've also been doing a bit of hunting for some vintage goodies that my end up on my Etsy shop site...what do you think of these little finds?

Wow, this has turned into an incredibly long post! If you have stuck with me through it, I think you can see why I haven't been blogging much. :) I've been around though, as I mentioned before. Now that I finally caved and got a smartie phone I am addicted to Instagram and update my Twitter page more frequently than before. Feel free to drop me a line and say hello! :)

Now that Thanksgiving is done I don't have to listen to Christmas music in secret anymore and I am slowly bring out the decorations. It has turned quite cold here in Michigan, so I am stalling on putting out the twinkle lights, but it will look so much more like Christmas once we finally bite the bullet and do it. :) By this weekend, I promise. We are supposed to reach 50 degrees this weekend, so perhaps I can coax hubby onto the ladder when it isn't in the low 30's like today. :)

I saw it on Pinterest & I tried it!

The other day I was spending some quality time on Pinterest (yes, totally justifying the time sucking wormhole that is Pinterest - and I love it!) when I stumbled across this cleaning tip. It caught my eye immediately because I have been living with a disgusting mess on my stove for years. Yes, years. When we bought our house in 2006, I was excited to host our first Thanksgiving dinner for our family. In the process of cooking dinner, the milk I was heating boiled over. Since I was in the middle of cooking dinner I couldn't very well turn everything off, wait for the grill to cool down and then scrub everything down. What I didn't realize is that burned milk is a pain in the rear to get off!

Can we all give a collective "EWWWWW...!"

Over the years I have tried any number of cleaning products "guaranteed" to cut through even the toughtest grease and stains. All to no avail. So when I saw this, I thought I might as well give it a try. I didn't have anything else to lose at this point, right?

I happened to have some Ammonia in the house (leftover from the previous owner, who passed away in her 90's, bless her heart) so I pulled it out at following the instructions, stuck the blackened mess of a grill in a Ziploc bag, added 3 tablespoons of ammonia and sealed it up. After only 10 minutes I was already seeing some change in the color or the ammonia (see how it's slightly discolored in the top left corner of the bag?):

The blog post suggested leaving the bag for 12 hours, but I wasn't able to do that, since dinner had to be made. But I did give it 9 hours. Then I took it out and scrubbed it with some regular dish soap and water.

Here is the final result:

Literally "squeaky clean"! 

I couldn't believe it! It actually worked! I still have a small spot that needs to be cleaned, but considering what I started with, I was more than pleased. What was great was other than dealing with the ammonia smell when the bag was opened (they aren't kidding that it smells like cat urine - phew!), it was very hands off. Perfect for me since I work full time and don't have the time to scrub for hours at a time (which I have done before trying to get all this junk off!).

By the way, the bag at the top of this picture shows what the ammonia looked like in the end. Wow...gross!

I know that I have been missing in action for quite a while and I am very sorry for that. I've been around, just so incredibly busy this fall. I hope that things have settled a bit now so I can start blogging again. I have been missing it...I must have sat down a dozen time to start a post and something or another always interrupted me. Story of my life lately - my poor craft table has sat untouched for weeks now. I have been doing some knitting and crocheting though and will have to put together a "catch-up post" so you can see some of the things I have been making.

One of the things I have been excited about is I finally broke down and got a smartphone. So I am now also regularly on Twitter (@livelymind) and Instagram (@littlecreativenest) which I am having way too much fun with, so feel free to catch up with me there as well. :)

Has your fall been super busy as well? Does it feel overwhelming? How are you dealing with it?

New vintage finds!

Finally sharing the vintage goodies I found at an estate sale when we were up north!

Above:

Blue Gingham metal tray

Silhouette picture in frame

2 cards, Birthday and Mother's Day (the back has a sweet note from "Mildred")

Photo

Above:

A collection of magazines & small books (Open page in the center right)

Singer Home Decorators Guide & 2 Insurance Receipt books (1940's - open pages on bottom right)

Half circle table (thankfully it was so small and light it fit in the car for the drive home! I haven't decided if it will get a coat of paint yet)

2 School Books (Speller and History, on top of table)

All this for $25.00!

Just realized I forgot to take a photo of one other item, but I'll post a pic as soon as I get it framed and hung. It's a marriage license, and so pretty!

(And on a side note...I am so excited to finally know how to make a photo collage! I don't know what I was so nervous about...using Picasa it was so easy! Maybe one of these days I'll finally figure out all of these blogging tricks! ha ha!)

Frogging project

So a while ago I took this, a plain cotton sweater from the local thrift store:

Took it apart and unraveled it in a process called "frogging" (apparently because of the "rrrrrip" sound you get when you pull the yarn apart - lol).

I then wound the yarn into many of these:

And tonight, it's turning into this:

A new dishcloth!

I LOVE these dishcloths, and have knit a few for myself over the years. They are so easy to make, and when it comes to a heavy duty, all purpose, non abrasive scrubber, nothing beats them. This is a classic dishcloth pattern called Grandmother's Favorite and can be found for free all over the internet. When I was reteaching myself to knit a few years ago (my grandmother taught me when I was a girl, but didn't really keep up with it so I forgot many of the things she taught me), I bought a book called "Knitting Pretty". It's been a great book for me, and it really helped me remember the basics. The pattern in the book is a bit different than some of the patterns I've seen online, calling for a K3 then YO, rather than K2, YO and it goes until you have 50 stitches on the needles before beginning a decrease, but that's what so great about classic basic patterns like this, you really can vary it anyway you want. And no purling - woohoo!

This is the first one I've made using reclaimed yarn,but since it's 100% cotton like the yarn I've purchased from the craft store I think it should work up the same as before. And with all the yarn I collected from a sweater that cost me $2.00, it's super economical.

If you're interesting in Frogging yarn, here are a few links to sites I've used as reference that you may find helpful:

Neauveau Fiber Arts

My Virtual Sanity

Rewind Yarn - some good videos

The Trip Up North

It's been very hectic since we got back from our family trip up north, but I wanted to finally share some of the pictures of the trip!

 

This was the first year we decided to make the trip from near Detroit all the way to the Houghton area of Michigan in one day...with potty breaks, lunch and stops for gasoline, that was a 12.5 hour drive. That's a lot of time in the car for everyone, but we survived. Everyone was excited for this view:

 

 

Hurray for the Mackinac Bridge! (That's pronounced mack-i-naw for you non-Michiganders! lol) Its a total of 5 miles long, and is the largest suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere (until 1998 it was the largest in the world). It's also led to some fun lingo, as people from the lower peninsula of Michigan are known as "Trolls", because we live "under the bridge" while people from the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) are "Yoopers". We love the bridge, and as soon as the kids see it, they start to cheer. It also marks the approximate halfway point of the trip, which makes me cheer too!

You can learn more about the Mighty Mac here

 

It was a hot, sunny week. A perfect excuse to run through the sprinklers...

 

 

And spend lots of time in the lake across the street from the house!

The kids turned into little fishes as they gathered shells, paddled and splashed in the water. This part of the lake is rather rocky on the shoreline, so the kids took to wearing their flip flops as they were wading - smarties!

 

There was lots of fishing each day from the dock ...nothing was better than fresh caught fish! We caught a total of 6 small mouth bass that week, not too shabby considering we didn't have a boat to be able to fish further out where more of the fish were.

 

 

We played lots of hands of Uno...

 

Morning, noon and night!

 

 

Some stops at the local restaurants for treats like frozen custard!

 

 

A few visits to Houghton & the surrounding towns, which has a long history as a mining town in the copper industry.

 

 

Both sides of the main street had these really colorful chairs...perfect for a bit of a break as we checked out the shops!

 

 

And a stop at Suomi - our favorite spot for some traditional pasties and a loaf of Nissu, a Finnish sweet bread. By the way, french toast made using Nissu - YUM-O!!! It's one of their breakfast specialties.

 

The hammock is a new addition to the yard and the kids took all of 5 minutes to figure it out. Here, a quick smooch for her big brother - I love that even with all their bickering, they do still love each other.

 

 

A very hopeful boy, saving his spot for the campfire with roasted marshmallows!

 

 

And some time just relaxing...which was just what we needed. Watching hummingbirds, having no internet access, spotty cell phone service...good times. I had some time to practise Prismacolor pencil coloring, worked on the t-shirt quilt I am still hand quilting, and reading. I finished The Hunger Games trilogy, read a Young Adult book called Liesl & Po and got a hold of the new copy of Art Journaling. My mother-in-law and I also took a trip to a local estate sale down the road from the house. I was so bummed that I didn't think to bring my camera...the house was so cool! It had been unused for years, and was like stepping into a house from the 1940's or even earlier. Wood burning cast iron oven in the kitchen, enameled cast iron kitchen sink, Hoosier cupboards, Victorian photo album full of cabinet cards, beautiful wooden furniture, spindle beds...I was in love! There was also a log cabin on the property, with no electricity, and another set of very old appliances and furniture. I was so bummed that I didn't have a way to get some of the beautiful furniture home, but I did find a few small items to buy. I'll post photos of my finds soon!

 

On the way home at the end of the week, we made another traditional stop - dinner in Frankenmuth! There are two famous restaurants, both known for their family-style chicken dinners directly across the street from each other - Zehnders and Bavarian Inn. This time we stopped at Bavarian Inn.

 

 

This five year old was loving her dinner...starting with a cup of chicken soup. Then she exclaimed "Yum!" from dish to dish, creamy cucumbers, buttered noodles, cole slaw, chicken, potatoes. Dinner finishes with a dish of ice cream, every kids dream. :)

 

Even the accordian player was having a good time! I think it has to do with the Lederhosen he was wearing, which Davin was trying to figure out. Actually, he would look adorable in Lederhosen too, but I doubt he'd go for it.

After another 12.5 hour drive home in one day, we were all very grateful for a good nights sleep in our own beds. We were greeted by our very attention-deprived kitties, who forgave us very quickly for being abandoned to each others company and daily visits from the neighbor. After a day off to unpack and get ourselves back to the normal day to day business I was back to work. It took a few days to get back in the groove there, caught up on the 300 emails that were in my inbox (groan!) and just know what day of the week it was. Work has been nuts, but I'll share more about that another time. It's been quite a whirl!

  

As I was reading this over, I realized a few bits of Michigan lingo has creeped in, so here's a few more...

• In the Lower Peninsula we pretty much refer to any trip as going "up north", regardless of direction.
• We use our hand as a very convenient map of the state. (see below)
• Oh, and we drink "pop", not "soda".
• We give directions in terms of time rather than distance. (i.e. I live about 30 minutes from Ann Arbor and about 12.5 hours from the Houghton area.)
• And I've been known to mutter "geez-o-pete!" in moments of frustration. :)

Here's a fun post on the unique Michigan accent!

Here's our map:

I love being from Michigan! :)