Spring is on the way, well, it's practically here, so say all my fruit trees. Above you can see my peach tree blossoming, beautiful fragile small pink buds that smell amazing and are a sight to see. Then the wind comes in roaring like a lion, and whips through giving this poor tree a run for it's money, and when it dissipates and moves on to another area, only a few blooms remain.
They cling desperately to the branches, much like old man winter clings to it's last cold days, not wanting to leave, not wanting to give over the reigns to spring.
The allergies are in full force, raging from the pollen that is thrown around during these windy days. And that for me, is the sure sign that Spring is literally around the corner, peeking, waiting to make it's entrance.
When I was younger I used to take Spring as the sign to get into a full top to bottom home cleaning. I even did posts on it here o the blog. I didn't relent, I started one day, moved from room to room and gave it a deep clean that would leave it shining and fresh scented, but would leave me utterly exhausted for days.
It used to be fun, now? Not so much. I have changed into a different kind of approach. I try to keep the house clean constantly, not letting it go between seasons, so that I don't have to do such a hard clean, but rather just smaller daily and even weekly catch ups.
It is what happens as you grow older and wiser. I don't know about the wise part, but the older part, it is happening, oh yes it is. When I look back on my blog and how young I was when I first started this journey, it makes me smile. I can't believe that I am turning 52 years old this year.
Without wanting to, my body does let me know that I am no longer as young as I was, and there are things that I can't do with as much vigor as I used to. I could let it get to me, become frustrated or fight it, but I choose to go with the flow. I do what I can, which I will say for my age is a lot when I think about my parents at my age and how much older they seemed to be and act.
But I also have to be smart and know when to stop, when to rest and when to admit that maybe it's time to change things slightly. So I have and it works for me.
I have been slowly organizing the garage, I will show you in a later post. But the shelves are up and the tubs are in, and we're going through everything and putting it in the storage tubs, which will be neatly labeled for easy access.
I spent an hour typing and printing out titles for the labels. Is it a lot of work? Sure, but when I see everything labeled I will be happy I took the time.
If you hadn't noticed yet, and I know you have, I am very much into my reading and my books lately. I am also on a lot of upcoming book review tours, all Christian, and I am thrilled to see book mail almost daily.
These two will be up next week, so if you are interested in either or both, be sure to check out my reviews and thoughts in upcoming posts.
The Faith to Flourish by Christine Caine and And She Got Up by Courtney Pray Duke.
In my personal reading, I am more than halfway through the last book in the Mark of the Lion trilogy by Francine Rivers and oh my goodness, these are my favorite books now. They have changed my life, my faith, and have made me want to read my Bible more and get closer to God. Fantastic books!
As is usual in this house, we often have bananas that go ripe too fast, and then no one touches them, other than me. The boys all have admitted that they deliberately leave them so that I am forced to make some sort of goodie with them. Brats hahahahah
This time I whipped up some Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins which are divine. Recipe will be on the food blog by this weekend.
I also picked up my crochet hook and current project, again. I mentioned in my Happy Homemaker Monday that I was itching to get back into my Solstice Star Blanket, and I did. I was a bit apprehensive at first, it seemed awkward and weird crocheting again. Also, huge tip, if you are working on a big project like a blanket, don't set it aside for months unless you make a lot of notes reminding you exactly what row you were on, what part of the pattern, what hook and all of that.
I always do this. Set it aside, think I'll remember and then struggle to figure it all back out again. I had to look for the right part, reprint everything again, then count rows over and over to make sure I was on the right one. Oh Sandra!
However, I figured it out and am currently on the last row of Part 5. I just have Part 6 and Part 7 and the blanket will be finished. I can't wait.
Again, this is the Solstice Star Blanket by Helen Shrimpton over at Crystals and Crochet.
As I crochet, my babies lay next to me sleeping, climbing under their blankets, leaving just their faces out. It's something I started doing with them when they were little, I do it with all our animals. I get them used to sleeping under their own blankets, but I always say over and over "face.....face....I gotta see your face so you can breathe".
At first it doesn't work, they get under there and I have to physically pull the blankets off them. Takes about a week or two, but then figure it out after a while and do this on their own. They are just too sweet ♥
The days move on slowly, transitioning from cold to warm, to cold again, to wind that slaps everything around and plays flute music through the windows. Then the heat comes again, storms, tornado weather, then 30 degrees again and ice on the car windshields.
The changing of the seasons is a thing to behold, confusing at times but beautiful in it's own way.
As much as I pride myself on cooking all our meals, even I am ok with a random Dominos pizza night. After a long day of homemaking or working on a project like the bookshelves or the garage, Dominos came to save the day. I didn't complain, the boys didn't complain and Elliott thought it was great as well.
He came to inspect the pizza boxes then took off to lay on my dining chair (one of his favorite places to curl up and nap).
Dinner was had, the kitchen was tidied up and we played a family game, something we do practically every night after dinner.
Our current favorite game to play is Nertz. A fun card game of solitaire but played with up to 6 people. We enjoy these game nights, they give us a chance to spend time together after a busy work day.
I would love to know if your family as game nights as well and if you do, what kind of games do you play.
