spring miscellany

1) Spring is finally underway around here! We've been waiting, and this weekend we jumped in full force with the yard and house work we've wanted to start. Yesterday Chris's parents came over. His mom watched the kids, I did yard work (with some help from Celia), and Chris and his dad ended up replacing a window. Chris had planned to just take the outside trim off one of the dining room windows to have a look, but it turned out the window wasn't nailed in and was ready to fall right out. So they ended up putting our first new window in! The trim, both outside and inside, still needs to be done. And the wallpaper is now completely off of the dining room so I need to get moving on picking a paint color.

I did a lot of raking (it looks like I got nowhere; we still have so many leaves even after all the work I did in the fall), did some clearing in the big flower bed, and started clearing the garden and turned over the soil in the raised beds. I want to start planting!

2) Spring flowers are appearing, hyacinths are starting to pop up, and the forsythia is going to bloom any day now.

3) Celia has been watching a kids' cooking show and keeps wanting to make the things she sees. This weekend it was strawberries and cream pancakes, which apparently required a lot of sugar and whipped cream. Ahem. We eat a plant-based diet without much sugar or any whipped cream... I made strawberry pancakes and let Pita put vanilla yogurt and chopped strawberries on top by herself. She loved doing it herself and then ate two whole pancakes.

The next morning I offered her strawberry pancakes again and was firmly rejected. Four-year-olds are so fickle.

4) I just saw that it's going to be in the 60s today, and 70 tomorrow! I need to find some time for working outdoors today.

5) Speaking of that, even though I don't get all the school vacations I used to with my new job, I love the flexibility I have with it. I'm able to stop at home on a fairly regular basis during the day. When I switch from a salaried to a fee-for-service position this summer I'll have even more flexibility. I love it. There will be times this summer when I'll be able to stop at home for an hour to go for a walk, work in the garden, prep dinner, or clean the house without the kids around. I should do a day-in-the-life post for a work day sometime...