Odd Day

 Church conference over the weekend was great.  There were so many things I heard that lifted my soul.  A few things that made me mentally squirm a bit about things I need to improve on.  But that's what this life is about, right?  Learning, growing, finding the path back toward our Creator.  Anyway, the weekend was great.  Monday felt blah.  Kind of a mental let-down after the weekend.  And we were busy yesterday doing laundry, vacuuming, cleaning up. 

Aren't they lovely?

Today we decided to switch up the order of things:  errands in the morning, home stuff in the afternoon.  I enjoyed it - I am definitely a natural morning person, my energy levels are higher in the morning than the afternoon.  So, here I am, catching up on bills and computer stuff.  I finished the last ten pages of a book that I simply couldn't finish last night.  Our walk this morning was lovely.  No deer sightings, though we've seen quite a few recently.  I did stop and take a video - in a spot where we've been before and been astonished at the loud music from the birds singing the day into being.  There had to have been several dozen birds in the couple trees.  I love hearing the birds.  Winter means there are fewer songs to hear but today it was sweet sounding.

The lilacs are about done, as are the tulips.  The trees are still blooming beautifully though as I mentioned before, some are losing their flowers. 

Our snail mail must have arrived very late yesterday - the Husband checked it around dusk and still no mail.  But it was in our box just at seven on our return from our walk.  And sheesh - I need a "minder".  Received a past due notice (what is it about that that is so alarming to me?) for our garbage pick-up.  Apparently I forgot to pay it last month.  Sigh...Got that done first thing this morning, but now am wondering what else I've forgotten to do?  Seriously can't even recall getting a past due notice before.  I know it must have happened but truly I try to stay on top of things.

Stopped at a bookstore - was quite interested in a little "gratitude" journal I came across. Each page contained a few prompts such as:  name three people today who helped you, or who you are grateful for.  I loved that concept.  I try diligently to find gratitude in every single day, but often it's the same sort of things.  Nothing wrong with being grateful for the same things, but I need to be more inclusive and aware.

So today, I am grateful (again and always) for The Husband.  I probably don't tell him enough.  And life can be stressful with the issues we both have.  But I cannot imagine traveling through life without him.  Would have been bereft of so much joy.  (And I stand by my statement that a lot of people today equate fun and joy - not the same thing at all!!)  The children that have come to us have also provided joy.  I am also so grateful for spring.  I truly treasure the hope this new season brings.

From Conference Yesterday

"And it is never too late for miracles"  Taniela B. Wakolo

Also said by Jeffrey R. Holland (conference is not the same without him) in the past.

Good to hear it again.  

I hope for even a single small miracle in my life. 

Spring

I remarked today as we were driving along that I have loved the "greening" of our little area of the world. It has been eye candy for me whenever I'm out and see the trees, bushes, grass all turning that beautiful shade of spring green - such a refreshing change from the dull brown of winter.  I am a big fan of winter (though I wish we'd had one this year) as well as spring and fall.  Summer?  Not a fan at all.  But spring this year for some reason feels especially pretty.  And I need some pretty. I took a couple pictures.  

falling flowers

The one is just to illustrate how odd the seasons are this year.  It is barely March, I took that picture a few days ago on my morning walk a couple streets away to show how many of the trees are already losing their blooms.  W-a-y early.  I'd rather the blooms stay on the trees for a few more days - even better a few more weeks - so we can enjoy their loveliness a bit longer.  It even feels strange to drive down the street and see the spent blooms drifting like snow down to the ground. Again, w-a-y too early.

Our little sargent crabapple in the front will be in full bloom soon, I love how the buds start out pink then turn white as they open.  I love that little tree.  The newest maple in the front only has very tight buds, but the mature maples in the back are beginning to sprout leaves.  I love that proof they weathered the "winter" and are ready to provide beauty and shade to our back yard. If they get enough leaves we'll be able to leave the light blocking devices out of our windows at night - the streetlight from the next street over shines right at our bedroom window keeping me awake when I want to be sleeping, I've become aware I need it pretty dark to sleep well.  All this is to say I'm loving the spring.  I've joked in the past that our spring needs to last longer than two weeks.  We'll see what happens this year since we already experienced two weeks of summer in March.  The world is changing for sure.

crabapple blooms

Went to lunch today with a friend.  Had such a good laugh.  Her face turned beet red when she told me this, while laughing at herself.  We all do such dumb things.  She'd taken her garage door opener out when she was with friends to easily access the house on her return.  Had tossed it back in the car.  Went out next day to run some errands, hit the wall mounted garage door button to open the door while she got in,  started the car and began to back out.  Only to run smack into the garage door.  She had sat on the opener which triggered the door to close as she was exiting the garage.  Big repair bill there.  She's such a sweetheart and cute and funny.  Just a delightful 79 year old to spend time with today and commiserate about spending all our money on only two things:  our bodies and our homes. 

maple leaves

FedEx lost our blind.  The company rushed through another blind build and it arrived the other day.  Soonest install date was a week out.  Then a cancellation occurred so they're coming tomorrow to replace the broken blind.  Took just shy of a month.  I think I've mentioned before that if I ever have a choice I will never ship FedEx.  They just lose too many items.  It has happened to us on multiple occasions.  Am anxious to see how the new faux wood (he wouldn't even quote me a price for a wood blind, it would have been so high) blind looks next to our original real wood blinds.  Hopefully it won't be so bad that having a working blind will outweigh any aesthetic concern. I'm also hoping that I've matured some.  I remember a time when all the fuss and delays would have cost me much frustration and maybe even a bit of anger.  This time I was able to just laugh it off.  Wow, that's quite an accomplishment for me.  Tightly wound is my natural state.  :^)

I'm so grateful for our good furnaces that can be turned on with just a touch of a button when the world can't decide if it's time for heat or air conditioning.  I'm grateful for a kind friend who wanted to go to lunch with me.  I'm grateful for good books to read.  I'm hoping for something fun to look forward to, grateful for hope.

Busy

Pretty tree

 We've been busy enough that we don't get too restless but not so busy that we feel like things are "too much"!

Since we had no winter, our small portion of the world feels like it's alive with spring.  The trees, shrubs, grass - everything really - are blooming, greening, fragrancing (yep, made up word) and enriching our lives.  The forsythia are the ones that are the first to herald spring.  This year, they have plenty of company blooming and making our world so pretty.  Everything is at least a month early - snapped this picture on our walk to church yesterday morning:  the lilacs are generally just finishing up their bloom by Mother's Day - May!  It feels kind of scary to me to contemplate what the summer is going to be like.  I'm already grateful for the air conditioning that will help alleviate the heat and keep us comfortable.

For a couple weeks we've manage to use neither the furnaces nor the air conditioning (yay!).  That cost savings just transferred over to the guy mowing our lawn.  He started last Friday.  It feels fundamentally wrong to be mowing the lawn in March.😮

We finally bit the bullet and had the guy come to measure for a replacement blind.  It was supposed to take two weeks.  We're at 2 and a half weeks and still no sign of the blind.  Not that we're in a real hurry, just that I super dislike unfinished tasks.  Had a bid on replacing the filters on our reverse osmosis unit (yes, I's aware it's controversial to drink that water all the time, but we like the taste so much better that we'll actually drink our water instead of avoiding it) and of course it was astronomically high.  Our grandson, and the two of us will attempt it this afternoon.  Fingers crossed.  Yet again, a reminder of all the things The Husband has easily done over the years, saving us tons of money.  It's hard that it is no longer possible for him to do what he previously did.  I'm grateful our two sons and two daughters inherited that "can-and-will-do" ability.  Wish I had more of it.

Lilac flowers already?!

So, let's see:  the grass is mowed, the sprinklers are fixed and working, the blind is ordered, the RO unit filters will either be replaced or not, the weeds have been sprayed again, the iron put on the tri-color beech (hoping for pink again this year), plans have been made for Easter dinner, our larder filled from a Costco trip (while our account was depleted), we have a meeting with one of our financial guys this week along with a couple lunches planned.  Right now no one is sick, the aches and pains of aging are mostly semi-controlled, we've food in the house for lunch and dinner and I've plenty of books on my eReader (though I intend to hit the library today or tomorrow - I need a real physical book to read).  All of that considered, I'd say we're in decent shape right now.  I always want to be grateful - and I truly am.  But when things are getting accomplished and there's no really unpleasant issues, I get a tad-bit nervous about what's coming.  The world is in a bad and extremely concerning situation.  I do my best to be at least a small contributor to the good. And I pray always that the will of our Creator will not only be made known, but happen according to what He knows is best.  Can't actually do any more than that, can I?

I'm grateful to still be able to physically move pretty well - sometimes (rarely) without pain.  Grateful for the beautiful world we live in.  Grateful for some small things to look forward to (including a new working blind) and grateful for a very small stash of chocolate. 😍