Another Sunday in May

We’ve got a storm moving in. Right now it’s a bit windy outside. Wind not being my favorite thing, I have my noise canceling headphones on with some instrumental music playing. Not sure if we’ll get any rain out of it, but that would be nice. The temperature dropped so I am having a cup of cocoa as I get ready to read in my library. It’s a nice, relaxing Sunday afternoon. 

I really need to be not lazy this week when I’m not at work. I’ve got to get some stuff done around my house and I have a few small projects. Like very small and I need to just do them. LOL That’s the goal for this week. I’m only at work 4 days and then having a 4 day weekend, since Memorial Day is coming. It’s the end of spring and transitioning into summer. I do love the change of seasons. 

Yesterday, I took my niece to her soccer game since her parents were out of town. My sister and the twins met us there. Then we went to eat at Iceberg diner and to this month’s indie bookstore: The Hollow, located in Syracuse. It’s a cute little store that just opened up about a month ago. I bought 2 books for myself and 1 for my niece. I didn’t think she was much of a reader, but she said she’s recently read some books she likes. Her birthday is coming up and she said she’d love a trip to Barnes & Noble. LOL She doesn’t need to ask twice. I’ll take her for sure. 

Still trying to decide what my summer vacation is going to be. I’m absolutely fine heading to Cedar City but trying to decide if somewhere else is on the horizon. I decided against any trips with a tour and think I’ll just stay closer to home and spend less money. Prices being what they are, it doesn’t hurt to get my savings account stacked a little more in case of hard times or things breaking. 

But for now, I’m going to go read and take some time out of this world for a different one in a book. 

Flowers

Amy and I did get to the new greenhouse this afternoon. It’s called Plant and Grow and is a smaller mom and pop type of place. They still had plenty of greenhouses to look through. The plan was to not do any extra pots this year in an effort to save some water and I had written down what I wanted : 2-4 coleus and enough colorful flowers to fill the rest of my little space, allowing for 1 impulse item. 

How did I do? Well…. I did ok. I got Shasta daisies as my impulse buy and they went into a pot. I bought 2 new perennial shade plants that I put towards the back and then probably 1 six pack too many. There are A LOT of flowers in there. Of course, they don’t all survive or thrive. As for the coleus…I ended up with 6 of them. So 3 went in the flower bed where I was planning to put them and 3 in a pot. I just love them so much. They are probably my favorite plant, so bright and colorful. 

Seeing the flowers in my little garden makes me so happy. I love flowers! 

May!

I can't believe how fast the year is going. Month five already? 

I am ready to plant flowers. We had some good rain Sunday and Monday and my flower garden soil was so nice and wet. I got in there this week with a shovel and dug out the vine/plant that keeps growing. Hopefully, I got a lot more of the roots. Now it wants flowers. So probably a trip to a greenhouse this weekend. My sister knows of a new one we've never been to. I also want to do a little spring cleaning and clean my windows. The goal is to get up tomorrow and not be so lazy in the morning. 

Last night as I was driving home from water aerobics, it started to rain on my car. It was one of those weird, spotty rains that comes down in one particular place and only lasts a few minutes. Because of the clouds and the sun and the rain, I saw the most beautiful rainbow. It was so vibrant and pretty. I do love this time of year. 

Indie Book Day

Saturday was Indie Bookstore Day. I went with my sister and the twins. Even if I had gone by myself, I knew I wouldn't get that many stores in, so I did not print the map for the book crawl. And that's ok and we totally had fun. I got a couple books for the twins and a couple books for myself. I had a list of books that I wanted to purchase, hoping that would make me not impulse buy a bunch of books, but I didn't need to worry. It was too crowded and I was distracted with the kids so I didn't do a lot of browsing on my own.

Our first stop was The King's English in SLC. I only get there about once a year or less and it's just so much fun. Lots of people there and the space is small so we spent most of the time in the kids section. I did find a book on my list and got a few things for my sister-in-law's birthday. 

Then we went to Weller Bookworks in the old Trolley Square Mall. Even if there's not many retail shops in there any longer, it's still a fun, old building. I did not find anything I wanted to buy in there, but my sister got a few books. I did find a store with stationary and fancy soaps so I finished my sister-in-law's gift shopping. 

We took a break and ate lunch at Liberty Park. It was such a nice day to be outside. 

After lunch and playing around outside, we started for home and made our last stops. The first was the Bountiful D.I. because the kids love going there and getting cheap toys. Then our final bookstore was The Book Garden. It's actually one of my favorites. Again it was busy and I didn't get to browse a lot, but I did get one more book and a candle. I want to go back there soon with a bunch of books I've purged from my library and see if they will buy them. You get store credit and I do like to shop there. 

And then we came home. It was after 5 when I got home so a very full day, and we didn't even get to the indies in our own city. It's ok and they are on my list and I will get to them eventually. 

And today I stayed home to work. I didn't sleep well, but also its raining and I'm loving sitting where I can see and hear the rain. Even if it got warm really fast a couple weeks ago, we've had a few cold days as well. Spring is really glorious. Maybe this coming weekend, I can finally plant flowers!

Nice Weekend

It’s been a really nice weekend, after a kind of stressful week. I worked from home all last week since I had a bunch of training meetings at a bunch of different times. On Wednesday night I went to Barnes & Noble and bought some books I didn’t need. It was just nice to get out. For the first time since I started going to water aerobics, I decided not to go on Thursday only because I was tired. Turns out that was a good decision, since they called and said it was canceled. And by Friday afternoon, I walked to the gas station and bought a Dr. Pepper because I was stressed. I’m not going down that road again, so I told myself to enjoy it. But it was a really long week. 

As for the weekend, Friday night I went swimming with my sister and the twins. Then we walked down 25th street to get boba’s and stopped in a local chocolate store that I knew was there, but had never been in. I tried an orange caramel and then bought a couple of them dipped in chocolate. The dark chocolate dipped was my favorite. And now I think I need to get some orange flavoring since I love making raspberry caramels. Orange would be fun to try too. 

Then on Saturday we went to the library for their Earth Day activities. I got a packet of marigold seeds and a packet of ladybugs, which I took home and put on my outside plants. I haven’t planted flowers yet, but my few perennials are growing and I put them on those. Half of the ladybugs always die, but it’s fun anyway. For a few days, I can see ladybugs outside. It will be a few weeks still until I plant flowers. I mean, we got snow last week. I think the cold snaps are probably about gone, but I’ll wait just a little longer. I’m going to scale back even from last year, I think. I just don’t want to be using water on a lot of extra plants since we didn’t get much this winter. I could argue they are necessary for my mental health, but just filling in my flower bed gives me enough joy there. 

Saturday afternoon, I took my sister and the twins to the movie. I texted my brother too and he dropped off  my 9 year old nephew and a friend and I took them as well. We went to the Mario Galaxy movie, whatever it was actually called. I didn’t think it was great, but the kids had fun. Alex’s little friend can put away the popcorn. 😆 And after that, in the evening, my 21 year old nephew came over and made me watch The Amazing Digital Circus so that I can go to the movie with him when it comes out. Or comes out  again? Anyway, it was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. 

And today after church I made tacos for lunch/dinner and then a cinnamon loaf. I went up to my library and did a little purge project and dusted all the shelves. I have a nice pile to donate and I have some gaps in my shelves again. I’m sure they will fill up fast. This coming Saturday is indie bookstore day so my sister and I are doing a book crawl. It will be fun. I may give myself a budget though. Ha ha 

Ug, Adulting

I got up early this morning to get some stuff done. I got some of it done. Now I’m tired and I just spent almost $200 on gas and groceries. That’s so crazy. I paid tithing too so there went my paycheck. It’s fine. I have money and I’m blessed in a lot of ways by paying tithes and other offerings. I don’t mind that at all. But man, crap is expensive. I feel like I need to make another donation to the food bank or something because I shouldn't complain. At least my paycheck covers my expenses. It’s just horrible how many people struggle to get by. 

We’re getting a little rain today, which is really nice. And there’s a local indie bookstore doing a “re-opening” because they moved locations that I may stop by. I didn’t know they existed before this location so it could be fun to check it out. Or I can go sit in my library and read. Ha ha that will for sure be something I do today at some point. I did finally make it through the library books causing me anxiety and now I have a new stack to read. This year has been different from recent years in that I’m reading a bunch more library books (I even browsed the stacks for a bit the other day). Over half of my books read have come from the library. It’s early in the year, but still…

Yeah, maybe I’ll get some lunch and then go check out the bookstore. Then I can come home and get cozy, whether it keeps raining or not. I’m going to cook dinner and do some baking sometime this weekend. I’ve got buttermilk to use up. Baking does sound nice right about now.

Spring Break

Woke up this morning to thunder and lightening. And hail. It's been raining but now it's snowing. I'm sick so I guess its a good day to stay home. 

I got back last night from a trip with my sister and the twins. I will say it was a good trip in some ways, but it was also difficult. My nephew has autism with another disorder called PDA. He's such a cute little kid but he goes Jekyll/Hide all the time. He's in therapy and she's doing all she can for him, but that doesn't make it easy to deal with. So yeah, we had some hard times. But there were also good times. I don't want to stop doing stuff with them just because it's difficult at times. 

We flew into Seattle and stayed by the airport at first. We took the train into the city and explored Pike's Market the first day. Then we drove to the peninsula. One day we spent at a state park climbing over rocks and looking in tide pools. I love being on the water like that. It's one of my favorite places. I'm not a sit on the beach type of person, but I love walking and exploring along the water. 

Another day we spent some time in Olympic National Park. It was so beautiful and I want to go back one day.  Took a little walk along Crescent Lake. 

And also did the hike to Marymere Falls. 

It was about 1.5 round trip so not long and not hard. Perfect for kids. I loved just being in a green forest with pine, moss, and ferns. We also explored Port Townsend and Port Angeles. We would have liked to include a ferry ride, but just couldn't fit it in this trip. That's ok. We'll just have to go back!

I felt fine the entire trip, although did get a bit stuffy one night, but I didn't feel sick. Yesterday my nose started running a bit on the flight home but I still didn't feel bad. By the time I went to bed last night, I knew I was getting something. So now I'll just stay home til I feel like leaving. I did pick up a few groceries on the way home so I'm fine and happy to be home in my own bed.

Lady Bugs & Bookstores

Well, I made it to Saturday. It’s been a really good day.  I met my sister and the twins at the library this morning. They were doing their annual lady bug give away for Earth Day. This year they even gave me my own packet of lady bugs. I also got to switch my library card from a really old one to a new one that is blue and has lady bugs on it. Then I came home and watered my flower garden, which is mostly still dirt right now and put my lady bugs in it. I have a couple perennial plants that are starting to bloom but that’s all. Hopefully some of the lady bugs stayed. It’s still fun. In a few more weeks, I will be able to plant some  annuals and some coleuses. 

Then I headed down south to watch another niece in her soccer game. It’s windy today, but it was still warm enough and it felt really good to be outside in the sun. I’m trying to appreciate this and enjoy it before it gets too hot. Amy and the twins met me down there and we went to lunch afterwards. 

Then because it’s indie bookstore day, I went to a bookstore I’ve never been to in Bountiful. Since I was over half way there for the soccer game, I thought it would be fun to go. It’s called The Book Garden. I found 3 Georgette Heyer books that I don’t have. I’ve been collecting them, but I like the old covers and these 3 were perfect. I also found a small journal that is the same type as one I already have and am using for a travel journal. I’ve almost used it up and was so excited to find this one. It’s got a different cover (both are floral) but same publisher and you can tell they go together. 

Honestly, I did’t know Utah had so many indie bookstores. Now that I’m not buying books at Amazon (print ones anyway) it’s nice to know I have a lot of choices, besides Barnes and Noble. We even have 2 romance only bookstores and one is in Salt Lake. I just didn’t want to go all the way down there today. I’ll get to it soon, I hope. 

So yeah, it’s been a fun day. I did all my cleaning and chores earlier so I could come home and not have to worry about it. The other thing I’ve been doing is that I started a gratitude journal. I have a cute little notebook with books and bookish quotes in it, but it’s not really the right size for journaling or for work so I am now using it to write 1 thing I am grateful for everyday. Or 1 way that I saw God in the details of my life. I’m only about 5 days into it but it really is helping my mental self focus on good things. Or at least be aware that they are there in spite of stressful days at work. 

Spring

Spring is here. I do love it. The trees are starting to turn green with tiny leaves and the grass has also started to green. The mornings and evenings are beautiful and the birds are singing. And I ask myself if they have to start singing so early on Saturday morning. :)

It's too early to plant flowers, but that will be coming as well. My flower bed even has some green growth in it. This year I want lots of color and a few more of my favorite coleus plants. Next week is supposed to be cooler and rainy so it truly does feel like spring. Ups and downs. I'm trying to enjoy it before it gets hot.  

Half of the family is leaving for spring break this weekend, so I've invited my brother and his family over for dinner. I've been missing mom and wanting some home cooking. I'm going to attempt a roast, potatoes, and rolls. I've even got some of her bottled green beans left. A Sunday dinner...I won't say just from my childhood since we've had it my whole life, but it feels nostalgic in a way. Hopefully, I don't ruin the roast. That's the only thing I've never really cooked before. 

Memorial Day 2024

It’s been a nice holiday weekend. I was really lazy on Saturday and staying in bed reading for a while before I finally got up. It was raining so I was at peace with that decision.  Yesterday we had family dinner  at my brother’s house and I sat on the grass blowing bubbles for a bit. I don’t care how old I get, I’m always happy to blow bubbles. Before that I drove up to the Wellsville cemetery to drop some flowers off at my grandma’s grave. It’s such a beautiful drive right now. The green mountains and snow still on the peaks. 

Today we met up at the Brigham cemetery as a family and walked around putting the flowers down. We had promised my mom long before she was gone that we would continue the tradition for her. I got a new phone and the list was one thing I forgot to back up so I had to make it again from memory and I swear I missed someone, but as we walked around I didn’t notice anyone that we didn’t have flowers for. We arrived at almost the same time as some other family and it was nice to see them there. It’s really a glorious day. If summer stayed like this, I wouldn’t mind it so much. I guess it’s technically still spring but most of the kids are out of school and Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer. 

I’m inside now for some housework but may run an errand and go for a walk later this evening when the sun is a little lower. Forgot to put sunscreen on my part and my head is a tiny bit red. I just sunburn so easily. 

Happy Spring

Spring has finally arrived! The tulips and daffodils are up and I have pansies blooming from last year along with my yellow primrose. I cleaned out my flower bed and it’s ready for some spring planting. It will still be a few weeks before I get to it, but it’s coming. 

I also took a couple evenings this week and cleaned out my garage. It feels soooooo good to have that done. I had so much junk in there. I still have things to throw away and boxes to break down but my garbage can was filled. So over the next week or 2 I’ll get rid of the rest of the small things that should have been thrown away years ago. I did not even remember that I own 2 dutch ovens. I must have taken one from my mom’s house about 10 years ago when we cleaned it out when they moved, but I don’t have any idea where the second one came from. It’s still in its original box. Ha ha it’s not like I use them. You can cook with them in the oven though so maybe I’ll try some of that next fall/winter. 

We have one last weekend at my mom’s house. Saturday night it will be empty and clean and ready to sell. We’ve met with the realtor and she will have it listed shortly. We’re a long way from closing out the estate, but selling the house and car will be big steps. Sometimes I feel like I’m still in shock and can’t believe she’s gone. It’s a weird feeling. 

Fairy Garden

Pinterest finally got to me and I broke down this year and made myself a fairy garden. The plants are supposed to flower as it gets hotter so I'm hoping I choose well in that regard. It was fun to do. I have it on my back porch because I thought it would be fun to look out my kitchen window and see. And it is. The only problem is I'm too short to see that angle very well. LOL so if I stand at my kitchen sink and get on my toes and try real hard, I can see it. 

Earth Day

It’s been a very nice day. I’m not sure that I actually saw any sun or blue sky. It’s been overcast and a little drizzly in spots. That didn’t stop us though. I started the day meeting my mom and sisters and a few of their kids at the library where they were giving out packets of lady bugs for Earth Day. We’ve gotten lady bugs a few years now and it’s always fun for the kids. This year they gave them to the adults as well. Mine got donated to another niece who couldn’t come which I’m cool with.

Then we all headed down to a huge nursery for plants and flowers. I was trying so hard not to go overboard (and succeeded!) that I actually have quite a bit of space in my flower garden still. However, it’s still a little cool and I’m not sure how many of them will survive so we’ll see how that plays out. My biggest score was that I found a gargoyle for my garden. I’m very happy about that. I’ve wanted one for years but only ever saw them online so it was hard to tell size and stuff on some. I’m not putting it out yet because spring is barely here and I want the trees and bushes to actually have leaves on them, but it will go out maybe next month. 

It’s been fun. While I do enjoy winter, I’m glad spring is finally here. 

Happy Easter

One week ago, even just 5 day ago, you never would have guessed it is Spring. Even on Friday, I was joking that you didn’t need to color eggs, just hide the white eggs in the snow. And today, I have 1 tiny patch of snow left on my lawn. It most definitely feels like winter is finally over. 

Today we had only 1 meeting in church and it was mostly music. It was really nice. I played the piano for the primary kids to sing a song. We were a little worried after the last practice, but they sounded so great and knew the words pretty well. Then I also played a hymn for the bishop to sing and he sounded really nice as well. There were other musical numbers and they all did a great job. It was a really nice way to celebrate Easter and the resurrection of the Savior. 

I took a little nap and now am just reading/wasting time as I wait for dinner to finish cooking. We will have family dinner next week but I’m making a nice dinner today. Pork roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, and rolls. And I made a chocolate raspberry torte for dessert. Luckily, all of it freezes so I can enjoy leftovers later. 

Where are you Spring?

Ah Spring! How we love you. I'm sorry for all the allergy sufferers out there. I don't know if this weather pattern makes it better or worse. My biggest annoyance with spring is the little bugs that try and come in my house. Haven't had that yet this year. I guess that's one good thing. 

Yesterday, I woke up to basically a blizzard outside. Once it stopped snowing, it was kind of a nice, wet  day. My nephew had spent the night so we could keep watching Attack on Titan and we waited until the roads were cleared before I sent him home. So we got the entire of season 1 finished. 

Then this morning I woke up to another 5 inches or so. I decided today was a good day to work from home. And maybe file my taxes. 

The current view outside my window. And it's still coming down. LOL I'm wondering who prayed the reservoirs would fill up in just one winter? And yet, it's still quite pretty. It truly hasn't gotten warm or dry enough for most signs of spring to show up. Maybe next week? I have a few days off so it would be nice to have a tiny bit of sunshine. Just saying. 

April Odds and Ends

I had a really nice weekend. It rained Friday and Saturday morning, but it turned out to be really nice. On Saturday I went with my sisters to my local library where they were giving out packets of ladybugs for earth day. The twins love ladybugs and my nephew Owen, went through a huge bug phase one summer and still likes them. A local aquarium brought some exhibits and let the kids touch a snake and see some baby sharks swimming. It was kind of fun.

 

My flowers outside are starting to bloom and I was so pleasantly surprised when I saw that my new succulent already shot up a bloom. I was not expecting that at all. I can't wait for it to open.

I have been borrowing books from the library again which is kind of nice. I felt like I had spent less money on books so far this year, and it’s possible, but I have still bought quite a few. 10 paper books and 12 kindle. Only 3 of the 10 paper books were actually new to me. I had already read and decided to buy the other 7, mostly because the paperback version was released. And a few of the 12 kindle books were free, I picked them up on a deal. So I’m probably really not spending less money on books, it just feels like it. I’m pretty sure I’m not doing as much impulse book buying after reading reviews. I’ve been checking the library first and waiting for sales. And that is because unless I start reading it right then, it will just stay in the pile of unread books and right now I just don’t want that. I have too many of those as it is. Of course, I’m still spending a lot of reading time on Webtoons and Tapas. That’s not going away.

Nice Weekend

I had a very nice 3 day weekend. My flowers are looking fantastic. A few of them didn’t make it so Saturday morning my sister and I went to another nursery. That was a good mistake. I bought more flowers and even a new houseplant.

 

Sunday, we had family dinner at a park. We had a good time even though a storm was coming in. After we ate and the kids played we went back to mom’s house and then the storm hit. It was raining and blowing crazy hard and then the hail started. A few of the drains in the street got backed up and as soon as the lightening stopped, we took our shoes and socks off and got in the puddles. It was sooooo cold! 

I’m not sure how much hail I got at my house, but only one of my flowers on my back porch had any damage. They sure got lots of water though. I love spring/summer storms!

Flowers and Donuts

And life during a pandemic goes on...
I planted flowers this weekend. I've got grand plans for a small garden box at the back of my house, but for now I did my normal planting in my front flower garden and my pots. And by pots, I mean all my pots. I normally try to hold myself back a little bit but I did not at all this year. I bought every flower that took my fancy. And a bunch of herbs. They used up every pot I had, plus new ones I bought.

It was a perfect day for flower shopping at the nursery. By that I mean it was raining and there were not very many people there.  I loved it. I've got ideas to turn my back patio into a miniature flower garden too, with pots and plant stands. I figure I might as well. It makes me happy and since I'm not going anywhere this summer, there's no reason I can't water them and keep them healthy and happy.

A few weeks ago I decided I had to have a stand mixer, even though I've gotten along just fine without one until now. I got a wonderful Bosche compact mixer. I finally used it this weekend and the first thing I did with it was donuts. I cooked them up and delivered fresh, homemade donuts to my family. It was fun. I'm not sure I loved the donuts and they were kind of a lot of work, plus my house smelled like fry oil for days...but I really loved seeing all my family as I delivered them.

Happy Easter

It’s been a great Easter weekend. I had Friday off work so I took my 3 year old nephew to the park during the day. It really was a perfect spring day. We walked around the duck pond and threw sticks and rocks into the water.

Today after church, I went to my sister’s house for family dinner. It has been kind of rainy today, but that didn’t stop us from going outside. My niece started playing volleyball on a team this year and they have a net up in the yard so my brother and I played with Livi for a while. LOL we are getting old. It’s not as easy as it used to be. The wet grass didn’t help. After it dried out a bit I jumped on the trampoline with the younger kids. I’m going to be feeling my knees tomorrow.

Blue Skies and Sunshine

Spent a great day with 2 of my nieces. We went to SL to see the Utah Symphony and Ballet West II perform Peter and the Wolf.  The girls said they liked it. I know I did. I think they did a fanstastic job.   But then, I’ve loved the music for years. Having the dancers dressed up like the characters during the narration was so much fun though.

Then a little lunch and shopping over at City Creek. Sitting by the fountains in the sunshine was just perfect. It’s a little cool but it felt like spring.