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February Roundup

February 28, 2021 by April

Every February 1, I wait for February 28 to end because despite being the shortest month, it's so endless! I just want spring to come back around immediately, so I pretty much spent all month inside. It rained for the majority of it anyway. This was good weather to work on the blog. You may noticed I changed the link structure so there are no longer dates in the URLs. And by "I changed" I mean "I hired iMark Interactive to change". They implemented the redesign last year and I still love it! I'm learning more about SEO than I ever wanted to, which is a good career move too I think. So, onto this month's February roundup.

February Recipes

It was a pretty theme-y month here. Valentine's and Mardi Gras ahoy.

Champagne Vinaigrette

Peanut Butter and Jelly Brownies

Bouquet of Salami Roses

Mardi Gras Cream Horn Cones

Shredded Mushroom Risotto

Chicken and Stars Soup (without meat chunks)

Instant Pot Drunken Beans

McDonald's Chili Oil Sundae

How does chili oil on ice cream taste

I also reviewed Clemson blue cheese dressing (and talked Primal Gourmet into carrying it!), made a roundup of Mardi Gras recipes, and a roundup of Valentine's Day recipes.

Festive Mardi Gras cream horn dessert

February Home Updates

It was an expensive month over here! We started out by getting a whole oak tree removed from the backyard, and some limbs cut in the front. I feel a little bad about decimating a big tree in four hours when it probably has been growing for more than four decades, but leaf removal is very expensive. I am going to diversify the plant life in the backyard to make up for it though. The goal is for this area of the yard to be unrecognizable in a few months!

Backyard orchard in progress

In a roundabout way that leads us to... solar panels! We are in a weird holding pattern with them but supposedly they will be installed next week. It'll take a little longer to get them turned on due to inspections but it's progress! I'll really be hating rainy days after this when we are depending on sunny days to make us money!

The last thing we did was have a UV light installed in the HVAC unit. This is supposed to help purify the air. It even can kill coronavirus, if it was floating through our home's air! The big sell on this for me, besides our friend who installs them highly recommending it, is that its ideal for homes in high humidity climates. South Carolina definitely qualifies.

UV light on HVAC unit to purify air

At the beginning of working from home because of the pandemic, I went on a cleaning jag and found mold spores growing around the air registers in some parts of the house, including my bedroom. I soaked them in a bleach solution in the tub, and vowed to find a way to fix it. Enter the UV light recommendation! I plan to go through the house again before it gets humid and soak and clean every register again. Then in the fall, I'll see if any more spores have grown on the registers and if they don't have any, it'll prove to me it was worthwhile!

For my Columbia, SC area folks, I used Airwaves for the install. Tell them I sentcha!

And other than buying plants and working on the backyard myself, I am DONE spending big cash on this house for a little while! I swear, I mean it! It was great to stimulate the economy a bit though.

Buying trees to plant

More Life

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    A Girls Trip to Panamá City
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    Our Trip to Belgium
  • amsterdam canal with bikes
    Our Spring Trip to Amsterdam
  • Blackfriars Inn Inverness vegetarian full Scottish breakfast
    I Miss A Vegetarian Full Scottish Breakfast

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About April Blake



Cooking doesn't have to be boring and routine. Are you looking for easy dinners, Southern-inspired recipes, fun desserts, and ways to incorporate unusual ingredients in your cooking? Welcome, you're in the right place!

I'm April Blake, a recipe developer, food, agriculture, and travel writer, and digital marketing manager in South Carolina. Please follow me on Instagram, but not in real life.




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