2 today

Poor Mr. Daffodil is confused.   Hope we don't get a
March blizzard and freeze the little guy!

2 posts that it.

Wow, working outside in a t-shirt in February!  Unheard of but welcomed all the same.   I got home from setting up the Heart Ball Auction  (no, I don't attend; I would much rather be at home in my pj's stitching while my co-workers are dealing with bodyshapers and pantyhose and pinching high heels.  Mr. W. wouldn't go either and then you have to answer all those questions of why he won't come....) but I digress.....

I came home and went outside and did some yard work.  Crazy talk I know.   It felt so good to get out there and dig and scratch and rake to work off the stress.   I never realize what pressure the auction is until my part is done.   The items are unpacked and in place, their  easels with numbers and descriptions are by their sides, the room is dressed, the boxes are stowed and the rest is not my responsibility.








I let my mind go blank scratching in the garden.  No worries, no stress, nothing to think about anything but the next weed to pull.  And I love the 'tired' you get from yard work and then you look back and think ah....I see progress.




Started on the raised bed vegetable garden.   Don't mind my crazy path of clearing the chickweed.   There was a squirrel in the nearby tree that was not happy I was working there......so I moved on.

This spring I will remove more ivy (yes, MORE).  This time across the back property line.    I am just clearing up the edges to make a nice straight property line across the back for me.....

Signs of spring - my wheelbarrow full of garden waste.

Yuck, I need to put lattice or something around the nasty trash cans in the background.  And maybe a paver area around the fire pit.  
 My tulips are coming up too!

And new growth on the hydrangea...
I'd be out there still but a thunderstorm has blown in.  Yes, a thunderstorm in February. My mind is going in two directions with this weather......worries me if we got socked with the real winter weather, it will be brutal after this week of record breaking warmth.....or.....early spring and long hot summer...........hmm, the pool is scheduled for it's makeover in April........it will be what it is......time to wash up, make dinner, and stitch a bit on Corsica River!

I came home from work on Monday....after a quick debate with myself, , I decided to work in the yard.   This proved better to me than any other workout.   It is  truly nuturing to me to work in the yard.    It was beyond wonderful to get my hands back into the soil. 

 A quick 45 minutes later and garden bed No. 1 was neat and tidy.  

I continued around the yard thoroughly enjoying the warm weather.  After a long winter it was nice to be outside.     I picked up branches and twigs blown from nearby trees during recent wind storms and surveyed the yard for spring time garden projects.  For the most part, I am happy with my yard.

....but then I see the left side of the front year.......

This is where I want to dig up and recreate a flower bed to make it match the rest of the year.   I want to continue the lines across the front to a more visual pleasing.  Still the creative side at work, just in nature and not in stitches! 

 The first daffodils are coming up.  






Doesn't it just renew all hope when spring bursts forth with new life?   I love when the earth warms and the flowers return. It is life springing back after the cold and wind and snow. This little pansy managed to winter well.  He somehow managed to transplant himself to the wrong side of the sidewalk.

A semi free weekend and what do I do??

Clean!   Crazy I know.   In my parts of the county we are just starting to see the signs of spring.   Robins are hopping here and there.  Folks out walking their dogs; kids on bikes and my tulips are just starting to poke through the mulch.  I have to say that I just love all seasons!  Just when you've had enough cold, comes the anticipation of spring and warmer days.  



Drat!  Can never turn photos when I try to!!

Yesterday, I enjoyed going to my guild meeting.   A too busy calendar and snow storm has kept me away since the November meeting.   For shame on me.  These ladies are so diverse and so talented with each bringing something special to our meetings.   One guilty pleasure was my copies of Inspirations.  Jane, one of our lovely ladies, takes orders for the subscription and sorts out everyone's copy.  It saves on the postage.   I wonder if Jane realizes the guilty pleasure she is bringing to all of us?   I for one, curled up on the sofa last night and just drooled over the pages.   I have never seen instructions documented so well.

Look at their instructions! 

  

Bookmarks for Literacy

Our Service Project this month is to make bookmarks for literacy.   We used card stock and punch holes in it and then stitch.    I kind of didn't stay within the punched holes!    Oh well.....

So, I got home from guild, and decided I needed to rearrange my living room.   Huh?   How do I get from one to the other?   I am maintaining my closet/cupboard a weekend cleanout.   I mean seriously, if I can't remember using it in the last two years or let alone remember I have something, there is no sense in keeping it for the sake of keeping it.   I am accumulating xerox boxes full of stuff for either a yard sale or to donate.  That brings me to the point of the living room.   I emptied two free standing bookcases.  They were the sides of an entertainment center that had long since been used as one.  These two monsters have been center stage of my living room for two weeks.   I convinced Mr. Wonderful to get them outside to the shed and THAT is what starting the rearranging frenzy.   I sorted and cleaned and wiped baseboards and rearranged furniture as well as what was on the walls.   I love rearranging the knick knacks and wall art because it is always like getting something new or rediscovering an old favorite.  

I actually started yesterday in my dining room and laundry room.   I had stacked the various Valentine decorations on the table just waiting to be put away.    I haven't got my spring flowers out yet but I did 'green'  up my table.  My sister had a great agate tray on her table and it looked so clever so I came home and copied her idea.

Geez!  The wrinkles.  I could have ironed it before the entire world was to see it!

For today, I did my next best favorite (house cleaning related) thing - I washed windows.   Really, I do love to wash windows.   Goofy I know.  I guess because I love the end result. 

They really are gleaming!

Please pardon the wrinkles.   Hazard of working on several projects at once.

Not a whole lot of stitching progress happening here for a myriad of reasons.  Too many evening meetings and fundraisers and the accompanying paperwork and also my resolve not to be a couch potato.   Me and Mr. Arthur Right-us have an issue.   The more I sit on the couch, the more I stiffen and the joints start to aching.   I am trying a new approach - trying to keep my physically active and jumping on the treadmill each morning for 20 minutes instead of stitching.   I wonder if we could put our little stitchy heads together and figure out a way to stitch AND exercise?   Well there would be a lot of very svelt stitchers out there I am sure. 

Trust me, they may not look like tulips but they are.

I see my tulips have broken through the ground. I just planted these last fall and have been anticipating their arrival ever since. The Crocus and Early Snow Drops are up as well. For now, I feel like I have a jump on spring, at least with the spring house cleaning, so much that I will be ready to get outside when it finally it warm enough to work out there. I guess that only leaves the mounds of paperwork to catch up on. Yuck, the last thing I want to see after a day of paperwork at the office!