I hope that everyone who celebrates had a nice Easter. In our house, it's like most other holidays, an excuse for a good meal and dessert. I nailed the good meal part (ham, rice, fresh asparagus, buttermilk biscuits) but the dessert was an utter failure. It was my first attempt at pound cake, and very discouraging. I don't know if I got a bad recipe, or if the cheap butter I used was an issue, or if I simply did something wrong, but all that work and it went right in the trash. The cakes (I used two loaf pans and had doubled the batter) were greasy, heavy, and, oddly, had turned a dark color on the inside with an unpleasant, almost nutty flavor. Trust me, they were gross...and after all that work!
Another thing about making the doomed cakes (as well as all the other cooking I did) was what it's done to my back. For some reason when I spend long periods of time standing at my kitchen counters and sink, my back will sometimes hurt like hell afterwards. * Earlier in the day I'd spent a few hours working in the garden, then I came in and stood working in the kitchen for about 5 more hours. By bedtime my back was already getting stiff and sore, and when I got up yesterday morning it was worse. Last night I merely coughed one time, and my back went into such painful spasms that it made me gasp out loud. I'm lucky to have refills on muscle relaxers, and since I'm off it doesn't matter that they make me tired. I'm hoping it resolves before the rest of my time off is gone, though!
*I got a bad pulled muscle at work years ago, and my back hasn't been the same since.
It's officially Spring Break for me! We're out of school tomorrow for Good Friday and then all of next week.
The past two weeks at work have mildly stressful for me and the other bookkeepers. Between really serious federal Title 1 budget deadlines (with constant memos and reminders from the CFO and senior accountants), and a general budget freeze that takes effect this afternoon but wasn't announced until Monday, we've had to scramble to get everything done. At the elementary level, the bookkeeper and school secretary positions are combined, so there have been other job responsibilities on my plate as well. And to top it all off, I've had a mild cold coming on this week, so every day has been just a tiny bit harder because of that. I'm tired! The one great thing about these tight deadlines is that when I go back to work after the break, most of this year's budget is gone and can't be accessed. My job will get a little bit easier and soon summer (and really easy days and easy hours) will be here. All good stuff!
I really need to work in the garden next week, and it's time to plant tomatoes. I have way too many seedlings, as usual, but this year I've only potted up enough for my own use. I've decided to give away the extras while they're still small and needing to be potted up, because all that potting up is a lot of work. Gregg has a buddy, Tyrone, who always texts him in spring to see if I have extra plants I want to give away. He has a large garden and so does his dad, and they're always happy to take all the extras I'll give them. I'm glad they get good homes!
My lettuce and carrots are really doing well, and by the end of the month I should be getting some of both. My rattlesnake beans (that Mary Moon convinced me to grow) are getting big, too, and this year I planted more of them. They really are fabulous! Everything is off to a good start (knock wood) but I still have a lot of work to do. A week off this time of year is perfect timing.
This past week, my birthday week, has been really nice and I've felt lots of love from friends. I'm sharing some of it here for my own future reference!
Last Sunday afternoon I went over to Marla's house for a little while to see her puppies! Her Boston Terrier, Flynn, had a litter of puppies back at Christmas. There were five pups total, and they're keeping two of them. Two more have gone to their new homes and there's just one female left. Several people are considering taking her so I'm sure she'll be adopted out soon.
Here's Carsen with the pup she picked out to keep. She named him Remy.
Today is a special day: my dear blogger friend Meike's birthday! Meike blogs from Germany and I love reading about her life and adventures there. A fun coincidence is that we're almost birthday twins; tomorrow I'll be 51 years old. Together, we're two mad March hares! *
I don't have any big plans for my birthday. Yesterday Marla and Martina came over for a few hours, and we had some simple appetizers and cake. I'd recently purchased a new charcuterie board and was eager to use it. The cake came from a local bakery (chocolate fudge layer cake).
I'm happy to report that yesterday's weather forecast ended up being a bust! Aside from some gentle rain showers, nothing happened. Of course, some idiots on social media are dragging the local weather guy instead of being grateful we dodged a bullet. I struggle to understand people sometimes. I guess they'd be happier if we'd had widespread damage and destruction!
Anyway, it ended up being a very productive day for me. I was only able to get the basics done for my job, but in the afternoon when the receptionist took over phone duty, I got my taxes done! Now that's a great feeling, not to mention a relief. We're even getting a modest return this year! That will certainly be welcome and will come in handy.
My driver's license expires next week on my birthday, and I'm planning to take a personal day off work tomorrow to go renew it, and this time I'm getting a "Real ID" for federal identification. I've had to scramble to get all the documents needed for it, including a copy of my birth certificate. (There's no way in hell I was going to ask my estranged mother for it). After completing our taxes, I gathered all the documents I'll need to take with me tomorrow. It seems ridiculous that I need seven (!) forms at minimum to get the Real ID, but at least after tomorrow that will be done. I've been worried about it for months because now you can't board a domestic flight without one. Not that I have any immediate plans to fly, but you never know what might come up, and at least now I'll be ready.
I also made Poppy an appointment for her shots and checkup, which will be tomorrow after I finish at the DMV. I figured I may as well use the personal day off to get as much done as possible. One day soon I'm going to take a personal day or two off JUST FOR ME and do something more fun.
Anyway, thanks for the good wishes on my post yesterday. I'm grateful that the terrible storms didn't materialize and the garden is safe.
Have I ever mentioned that I have wonderful office windows? They give a great view of the eastern sky, and since I arrive at work by 7am, I'm often treated to beautiful sunrises.
Here are two from this week alone.
On Sunday the weather was spring-like and beautiful. Temperatures got up to 75 degrees (23 C) and the sun came out after several days of rain. It was good to get outside and forget about the state of the world for a few hours. Gregg and I took the chance to get some garden tasks done while soaking up the sunshine. We re-mulched the rose bed around the two new shrubs, swept and tidied the porch, and planted this year's lettuce. Have I shown you how I grow lettuce?
On Friday my two new bare root David Austin roses arrived! I didn't waste time; yesterday morning I did the recommended root ball immersion in buckets of water, and in the late afternoon I planted them on either side of the Eustacia Vye. That particular bed is finished now (aside from some possible future companion plants for the roses). It's on the south side of the screened porch, and the three rose varieties are Benjamin Britten, Eustacia Vye, and Desdemona. Considering that last year my Eustacia bloomed less than two months from planting out, and then bloomed again in the summer, I have high hopes of seeing all three flowers this year.
Sunday afternoon I made a pot of soup from scratch that turned out to be the best I've ever made, along with two loaves of homemade bread that also turned out exceptionally well. We've been eating big bowls of soup with torn pieces of crusty bread ever since. Delicious!
The last of our snow and ice melted away last night. I'm not sorry to see it go--it always starts to look slushy and dirty after a day or two, and then it's just unnecessarily messy. Not fun. Speaking of messy, it's been raining since late last night. Even though it's warmed up quite a bit, it still feels really chilly since everything is sopping wet. A little while ago I had to put a leash on George and force him to go outside. He hates rain, and he hadn't peed all day. Both dogs will walk to the back door, look out, and turn right back around. I don't blame them, but I do feel bad for them.
Since I'm stuck in the house and Gregg works on Wednesday afternoons, I'm making a loaf of homemade bread. I made a loaf a couple of days ago and it's almost gone. Making bread seems to get easier the more I practice. That's true of everything, I guess.
Oh! And look what came in the mail today! My first seed order for this year.
Today is an "e-learning" day for the schools in our district. There wasn't all that much melting of snow yesterday, and what little there was froze overnight (it was 12 degrees, or -11 Celsius, at sunrise this morning) so the roads aren't safe.
I like working from home; I brought my work laptop home so I can finalize payroll and take care of some other daily tasks, and the receptionist and I are dividing up the day to answer the office phone via Zoom app. I'll be done with my "shift" before lunchtime.
When it was just starting to snow on Saturday, one of the squirrels we're always feeding showed up at our dining room window and looked in at us imploringly. I took a big handful of shelled walnuts out there and put them on the windowsill, and the squirrel had a little feast.
It began to snow around lunchtime yesterday and carried on all day and most of the night. This morning, I'd say we have around 6 inches of accumulation. It's not supposed to get above freezing today and nighttime temperatures are dropping to record lows (the wind chill was near 0 degrees at sunrise) so the snow should stick around. It sure is pretty!
Here's a little video I took just now to show you.
Another winter storm is set to blow in late tonight, and this one may very well set some records--for snowfall!
Readers from more northerly climes, feel free to laugh at me, but I'm excited. Kids are excited. Everyone's excited! There's a very high chance that we're going to get anywhere from 6-10 inches of snow this weekend, and that just never happens around here.
Our trusted local weather guy shared this photo from our area last night:
Not only are we supposed to get quite a bit of snow, but for the first few days of next week temperatures are going to remain way, way below normal. Whatever we end up getting will probably stick around for a while.
This all is supposed to begin around midnight tonight. I'll be posting photos, of course! Laugh if you want to, but it's going to be a beautiful, rare treat and I'm going to soak up every minute of it. :)
Yesterday I preordered two more English roses to add to my garden this year. From my experience last spring, as well as lurking on David Austin rose forums and Facebook pages, a lot of varieties sell out fast. As soon as ordering opens up in January, it's best to go ahead and order if you want to be assured of getting the roses you want. My order is supposed to ship sometime in February, which is just as well, since we're in a prolonged, bitterly cold weather pattern at the moment.
My two new roses for 2026:
Benjamin Britten
Well, our big winter storm only resulted in a small glaze of ice on Sunday, and then it rained late that night and melted it away. We were lucky and didn't have any problems. Now there's a chance of snow this weekend, and in the meantime it's very, very cold. This morning when I left for work it was 16°F. And it's supposed to be cold like this for the next 10 days. Winter is back!
One of my Christmas gifts was an Ancestry DNA kit. I sent off my sample last month and I just got the results back this weekend. Here's what I learned:
There were no real surprises except possibly the 6% from Denmark.
It's beginning to look like our winter storm isn't going to be as bad here as we initially feared. We're still expected to get up to a quarter inch of ice, but the worst of the storm will happen west and north of here. We're really well prepared no matter what. I even went out and bought a power bank for our phones in case we lose power. It's supposed to give us both two full charges, so that's peace of mind.
Here's what's NOT peace of mind: I just read the breaking news of another person shot and killed by ICE in Minnesota. I saw a video of the shooting and it looked like seven officers were beating a man (already on the ground) and one of them backed up and shot him dead on the spot.
I feel physically ill.
I wrote the first paragraph, paused and looked at the news, and saw what happened. I'd intended to write more about our storm prep, but I no longer have the heart for it. I actually feel like I might throw up.
This madness must stop. We simply can't go on like this.
Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last post. I was overcome by all the kindness and support, and some of your words brought me to tears. I truly appreciate each and every one of you. I wanted to answer each comment personally, but my home computer has been glitchy lately and I've had trouble getting online every time I've sat down to do it. (Today it seems to be in a better mood--we'll see how long it lasts). I can answer comments from my phone, but that's a huge pain and I hate it. So anyway, here I am sending my thanks to all of you.
I had a pretty good weekend. Monday was a holiday, and Marla came over in the afternoon, and we made taco salads and watched a couple of episodes of The Gilded Age. It's a Julian Fellows show in the vein of Downton Abbey, and a lot of fun even though, as Gregg says, "it's a damn soap opera with fancy costumes" Ha! He's right, but it's a lot of fun.
It was good to see Marla. She's had a rough time, because her dear grandmother, Miss Mildred, died a couple of weeks ago. I loved Miss Mildred. She was one of the kindest, gentlest souls, and one of those sweet little southern ladies that you just don't meet too often anymore. She treated me just like family, and I'm grateful to have known her. So that's sad, but she lived a good long life (she was 96) and died peacefully surrounded by her loving family. We should all be so lucky.
Anyway, that's what's been going on with me. The next couple of days will be spent preparing for what's shaping up to be a very dangerous winter ice storm set to hit the state this weekend. It's really looking like a bad one and I'm a bit worried. We have gas logs and a gas stove, so we'll be able to stay warm and fed, but the state emergency management is warning that much of the state may end up without power well into next week.
I'll keep you all updated on the storm prep. Hopefully it won't be too bad, but we're preparing for the worst.
After last weekend's balmy, spring-like temperatures, things have shifted and this morning it's 19 degrees outside. There's also talk about a chance of snow on Sunday, although I'll have to see that to believe it. Still, it's gearing up to be a long weekend of cold weather and staying snug in the house. I say "long weekend" because Monday is MLK day, a federal holiday and an extra day off. It's a very welcome break, even though we just returned from the holidays a couple of weeks ago. It's so hard to drag myself out of bed on these cold, dark mornings, even after going to bed early and getting plenty of sleep.
Our school is doing a "January Weight Loss Challenge" with anyone who wants to participate putting $20 into the pot, winner take all at the end of April when we have our last weigh-in. It's going to amount to about $400 for the person who loses the biggest percentage of their body weight (which of course is fairer than just number of pounds lost).
We had our initial weigh in on Monday. I was devastated to realize I've gained back most of the weight I lost last year. I was so disgusted with myself. I knew that I'd gained some back, based on how my clothes fit, but I hadn't dared step on a scale in two months. I was hoping it wouldn't be too bad, but what a wake-up call. I've been in a funk all week since then.
Sometimes I despair of ever being in better shape. I feel middle-aged, fat, and ugly these days. Everyone always says to be kind to yourself, and work on your self-esteem, and talk about "self-care" blah blah blah, but right now I'm struggling with those things. To be honest, I don't like myself very much these days. If I could take the weight loss jabs, I would, but since I'm not even pre-diabetic my insurance won't cover them and I can't afford the out-of-pocket cost.
So here I am, beginning again, damn it. I don't expect to win the Weight Loss Challenge, but if I can take some of this weight back off, I'll consider that enough of a win. Gregg and I are planning a vacation to Kitty Hawk, NC this year for our 20th wedding anniversary and I'd really love to not look like a whale on the beach. I'd also like to look nice for my husband, who deserves a wife who takes better care of herself than I have been.
When I returned to work on Monday, Gregg texted me around lunchtime to tell me that the dogs were miserable, especially Poppy. They kept going to the back door and windows to look longingly at the driveway, checking to see if I was back yet. Lots of big sighs and sad eyes. Poppy finally draped herself over the back of a small sofa that has a driveway view, and laid there all afternoon, waiting. I asked if Marco had missed me, too. Gregg said, "I'm not sure, but he's been a little asshole all day, so I imagine he's sick of me if nothing else." Ha. When I finally got home, there was absolute doggy joy. (Jennifer joy, too!)
Yesterday when I got home from work, the dogs got so excited and wound up that they started pulling toys out of the toy basket and play-fighting with each other in front of me. Marco watched from his perch, obviously wanting to join in the fun. Lately he's been getting braver about approaching them, and George and Poppy have been showing remarkable tolerance with it. It's a good thing, too, because when there was a pause in the doggy roughhousing, Marco decided it was time to move right up into both their faces. He's awfully bold, and the dogs are awfully good!
