"March bustles in on windy feet
And sweeps my doorstep and my street.
She washes and cleans with pounding rains,
Scrubbing the earth of winter stains.
She shakes the grime from carpet green
Till naught but fresh new blades are seen.
Then, house in order, all neat as a pin,
She ushers gentle springtime in."
- Susan Reiner, Spring Cleaning
Happy Spring!
I would love to be able to say to you that I've been away because I've been oh, so busy. That I've been reading books and knitting washclothes. Sewing baby blankets, baking goodies, planting seeds. That I've been dusting away cobwebs and taking walks and basking in the short, sweet bursts of sunshine that we get.
But I haven't. I've been wasting away time online. Playing games. Taking naps. Running never ending errands. Being still.
I haven't been here, because I haven't been doing much and quite honestly, I have nothing to say.
I've been hibernating. I keep trying to change that. I keep setting goals and making plans and writing lists. But then, most often, I just sit.
I'm going to just go with it. Do what I can, when I can. These are the last few weeks of quiet and nothingness I will have for quite a long while.
I'll be in and out of here still. Hopefully more in than out as the weeks go on. There are things to do - seeds to start, diets that are changing, projects to be done. But I'm not going to rush them along. When I do finally start moving again, I imagine that the words will start moving here as well.
Until then, enjoy the spring winds, rain and those increasing bursts of sunshine!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
In like a lion
Lets hope the saying holds true and March goes out like a lamb!
All four of us ended up with a snow day from school and work Monday, and we spent the afternoon digging out (and then enjoying our 'free' day off!)
I wish I could say this was snow drifts, but it only got deeper as you got to the driveway. Hello winter. I really shouldn't complain, while the rest of the country was getting pounded, we enjoyed a milder than normal winter. But even after all these years in Central New York, even though I should be used to it - snow in March isn't always easy to handle. Of course, the snow on Mothers Day last year was worse. I guess I should be thankful it's only March!!
Kitty wasn't going to let a little snow stop her from getting out! It actually wasn't a ton of snow, not more than we've seen before. It was that it all fell in about 24 hours. And it was wet, heavy snow.
Which meant my husband did most of the shoveling!
If we didn't have the gravel driveway, we would have shoveled the car out and driven to get a snowblower!
I stayed inside and made yummy brownie cookies!
1. Combine butter, unsweetened chocolate, and 1 1⁄2 cups chocolate morsels in a large heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until butter and chocolate melt. Let chocolate cool completely, about 1/2 hour.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla at medium speed with an electric mixer. Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture, beating well. Add chocolate mixture; beat well. Stir in remaining 1 1⁄2 cups chocolate morsels and pecans.
4. Drop dough by 2 tablespoonfuls 1 inch apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
5. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Cool slightly on baking sheets; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
All four of us ended up with a snow day from school and work Monday, and we spent the afternoon digging out (and then enjoying our 'free' day off!)
I wish I could say this was snow drifts, but it only got deeper as you got to the driveway. Hello winter. I really shouldn't complain, while the rest of the country was getting pounded, we enjoyed a milder than normal winter. But even after all these years in Central New York, even though I should be used to it - snow in March isn't always easy to handle. Of course, the snow on Mothers Day last year was worse. I guess I should be thankful it's only March!!
Kitty wasn't going to let a little snow stop her from getting out! It actually wasn't a ton of snow, not more than we've seen before. It was that it all fell in about 24 hours. And it was wet, heavy snow.
Which meant my husband did most of the shoveling!
If we didn't have the gravel driveway, we would have shoveled the car out and driven to get a snowblower!
I stayed inside and made yummy brownie cookies!
Snow Day Brownie Cookies
- 1/2 cup butter
- 4 unsweetened chocolate baking squares, chopped
- 3 cups semisweet chocolate morsels, divided
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
3. Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla at medium speed with an electric mixer. Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture, beating well. Add chocolate mixture; beat well. Stir in remaining 1 1⁄2 cups chocolate morsels and pecans.
4. Drop dough by 2 tablespoonfuls 1 inch apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
5. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Cool slightly on baking sheets; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
making changes
I'm itching to make some changes. I don't know if it's the Spring coming and the urge to clean out and rearrange and brighten up now that winter's ending - or if it's 'nesting' starting to kick in. I don't think it's nesting so much actually, because even though I like thinking of all the ideas, I'm still lacking the motivation to do a lot of them!
My current kick is repainting. Because of all the wood, our house can look dark. We're still working on figuring out lighting, but I think that lightening some of the paint will help too. I actually love the wall color, but it's just not working.
Here's the current paint chips I have up. Yes, they all look pretty much the same. And I don't think I love any of them. I'm planning on painting just the top part of the wall the lighter color. Though the past couple of days I've been a little obsessed with the idea of DIY board and batten. We'll see.
Here's our living room (see, lots of wood).
Most of the furniture in there was left to us by the previous owners. It's all gorgeous, either Ethan Allen, Stickly or handmade. And I love everything. But because we didn't put it there, it still doesn't feel like us. It needs a little bit more of our personality. We'll probably replace the couch in the next year or two. And the TV. And the entertainment center. We need a bigger couch for all of us to comfortably snuggle and a flatter TV to fit the bigger couch. So, we'll have to make due for a couple of years still. Seating is a huge problem in there though, not for visiting, just for movie night.
I know you want to see our couch. This is one thing we did buy - and the first real live adult piece of furniture my husband and I bought together.
I painted our back door and window a couple weeks ago. Sorry no pictures.It's better that way, trust me. Here's a before picture sort of (it's the best I could find right now that showed the color well enough!)
They were dark red. A lovely red. But too dark with the dark wood. So I painted them what should have been a nice light Spring Sage. Instead it looks like mint sea foam nightmare. I have yet to fix that.
I also hate the laundry room re-do I did last year. But that's another post.
What about you? Do you start wanting to make changes to your home when the seasons change?
My current kick is repainting. Because of all the wood, our house can look dark. We're still working on figuring out lighting, but I think that lightening some of the paint will help too. I actually love the wall color, but it's just not working.
Here's the current paint chips I have up. Yes, they all look pretty much the same. And I don't think I love any of them. I'm planning on painting just the top part of the wall the lighter color. Though the past couple of days I've been a little obsessed with the idea of DIY board and batten. We'll see.
Here's our living room (see, lots of wood).
Most of the furniture in there was left to us by the previous owners. It's all gorgeous, either Ethan Allen, Stickly or handmade. And I love everything. But because we didn't put it there, it still doesn't feel like us. It needs a little bit more of our personality. We'll probably replace the couch in the next year or two. And the TV. And the entertainment center. We need a bigger couch for all of us to comfortably snuggle and a flatter TV to fit the bigger couch. So, we'll have to make due for a couple of years still. Seating is a huge problem in there though, not for visiting, just for movie night.
I know you want to see our couch. This is one thing we did buy - and the first real live adult piece of furniture my husband and I bought together.
It's kind of a mess, there's laundry on the chair and Christmas stuff behind the chair waiting to be put away. And a Christmas package still waiting to be mailed. Oops. Oh, and my 12 year old broke my brand new (last year) vacuum that I looooooved so now my floors are dirty cause I haven't replaced it yet. But actually, this is clean compared to the kids living room. Ick.
Anyway.
I painted our back door and window a couple weeks ago. Sorry no pictures.It's better that way, trust me. Here's a before picture sort of (it's the best I could find right now that showed the color well enough!)
They were dark red. A lovely red. But too dark with the dark wood. So I painted them what should have been a nice light Spring Sage. Instead it looks like mint sea foam nightmare. I have yet to fix that.
I also hate the laundry room re-do I did last year. But that's another post.
What about you? Do you start wanting to make changes to your home when the seasons change?
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
winters reveal
The snow has been melting quite a bit the last few days. I never really love this time of year. While I love the idea of what's to come, it's just not always pretty after a long, cold, snowy winter.
I love how our wood looks stacked against the house in the fall.
In the early Spring, not so much. This is technically our side entry, but because of how the driveway is we use it as our main entry. So everyone who comes to our house (including the mail person who has now delivered the same book twice - from two different places, ordered on the same day! Oops, pregnancy brain!) Anyway, this is what they see.
It's not so cute. Around the front door there are recyclables that fell out of the bin and got buried by the snow. Shovels and brooms falling all over. Wood scattered across the whole side of the house.
We're going to have a bit of spring cleaning to do, inside AND out!
I love how our wood looks stacked against the house in the fall.
In the early Spring, not so much. This is technically our side entry, but because of how the driveway is we use it as our main entry. So everyone who comes to our house (including the mail person who has now delivered the same book twice - from two different places, ordered on the same day! Oops, pregnancy brain!) Anyway, this is what they see.
It's not so cute. Around the front door there are recyclables that fell out of the bin and got buried by the snow. Shovels and brooms falling all over. Wood scattered across the whole side of the house.
We're going to have a bit of spring cleaning to do, inside AND out!
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