Catching up at the end of March

This month seems to have flown by at the rate of January and February put together. March is my favorite month of the year, and it's almost gone already!

I realized I never posted pictures from my little birthday get together(s). It was such a lovely weekend that I want to blog about it to remember it.

First up: I decorated the dining room with paper flower garlands purchased years ago from the dollar store, no doubt for one of my "girls' night" gatherings. I made lots of party food, which included ham ranch pinwheels, raw spring veggies with dip, strawberries and grapes, a fruity white wine sangria flavored with apple brandy, and of course the carrot cake I had bought for my birthday.

And Marla brought this little sweetie along with her, which was fun for us all. Martina gave the baby a tiny stuffed turtle, which she loved:

I got a lovely gift from Martina: a pretty basket with gardening cloves and wooden cooking spoons, which were handmade by a local artisan. Aren't they pretty?

The birds are Carolina Wrens, which is our state bird and also a species we see frequently at our backyard feeders. I love these and can't bear the thought of actually using them, even though they're supposed to be fine for use as long as you're willing to do a little extra maintenance. Carolina Wrens are also on one of the mugs I bought myself as a birthday gift earlier that day from the Wild Birds Unlimited store (I dropped in to buy seed in bulk for the feeders).

I love these bird mugs and want the whole collection. I started with these two.

The day after my birthday, I went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant with some of my book club friends: Marian, Rita, Karen H., Karen R., Paulette, and Kathleen. The place has wonderful margaritas and fresh tableside guacamole. I got a bunch of cards, and one gift of a tiny stuffed narwhal from my friend Karen H. It puzzled me at first.

Then Karen reminded me of something I shared on Facebook the other day that she particularly enjoyed:



When she saw the tiny pink narwhal, she thought of me. I love my friends!

After the birthday weekend fun it was hard to go back to the grind of work last week. We still haven't had our spring break yet, because it's tied to Easter which is very late this year. We also had a few long weekends taken away since Christmas because we had to make up some of the days lost to Hurricane Florence. The kids are wilder than ever and everyone is fed up and sick of being at school (the staff too!). Good Friday (our first day off) can't come soon enough!

I start a conversational Spanish class on Tuesday. Keeping up with my lessons on my own has proved challenging to say the least and I think the structure of taking a course will help me reignite some enthusiasm for continuing to learn. We have lots of parents at the middle school who only speak Spanish so there's a real need for it at work. The adult education center connected with our school district is offering the course for only $35. Classes are from 5-7pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays for all of April and May (with the exception of the week of spring break). I'm really looking forward to it!

That about finishes up what I've been doing/thinking about this month! It's so beautiful outside right now. Our screened in back porch has become my "happy place" and I spend hours every day sitting out there, enjoying the mild spring weather and watching the birds at our feeders. Spring in South Carolina is something to see.

The view from our driveway.

Our neighborhood is filled with blooming wisteria.

Our dogwood tree out front is blooming.

View from our front door.

Florence update

This has been the strangest hurricane we've ever had.

The worst of the winds and flooding happened well north of us, although the storm is moving so very slowly that it's still making its way across South Carolina as I type this. We never lost electricity, although plenty of people around town did, and the water is just starting to rise in this area. Late last night people in two neighboring counties had to start evacuating due to flooding. Some of my cousins had to leave home, and my parents (who were without power for two days) are anxiously watching the water rise around their house and hoping they won't have to leave, too.

Meanwhile, it's just wet and windy and dull here, and I'm getting awfully tired of being stuck inside. I did venture out to the nearest grocery store this morning to try to get something to cook today. I didn't buy any perishable foods as the storm approached, because I really and truly thought our power was going to go out and stay out, so we've been eating canned meals and junk since Wednesday despite having electricity. I suppose I should be grateful I didn't have to heat it on a Coleman camp stove! So I drove the half mile to the nearest Food Lion, but although they were open, they had lost power for so long that there was NO perishable food available. No meat, no dairy, almost no fresh produce, and no frozen items...so no home cooking again tonight! That's such a minor inconvenience I wouldn't dare complain when it could have been so very, very much worse.

We've been beyond fortunate with this storm. Last week when it looked like it was going to be absolutely devastating to this area people were really scared. I've never seen such a major evacuation and advance preparation by the state in response to a hurricane threat while the threat was still so far out in the Atlantic. Some of my most level headed, not-prone-to-drama friends were almost having panic attacks in the days leading up to Florence making landfall. Even my friend Marla, which surprised me. She's normally the last person to panic over a weather event, but I suppose having the baby to be responsible for now (not to mention new mama hormones) has made a big difference. Speaking of the baby...

Check out the look she's giving me while I snapped her picture! This was taken earlier this week when Marla brought her over for short visit ahead of the storm. Carsen is growing into such a serious baby. She looks at everything intently with the slightly knit brow that you see here. 

Thanks to everyone who left kind comments and good wishes for our safety during this storm on my last post! It meant a lot to me to see that so many people cared. You all are the best!

Last week of June

How is your summer going?

It's been ridiculously hot here in South Carolina. Temperatures up to 100F with heat indexes of up to 110F have made it nearly impossible to do anything outdoors. I've been staying at home in the A/C with the blinds drawn against the relentless heat. The dogs have been staying inside every day from around noon until bedtime. Ginger has decided that she loves being inside and has a favorite spot picked out in one of the bedrooms right beside an A/C vent. She and George have both been good as gold while inside; they mostly lie around all day and nap. I think they both appreciate getting to escape the heat. We've been giving Marco time out of his cage in the morning before the dogs come in, and then again at night when they go out (and maybe once or twice during the day when I make the dogs go outside for a few minutes to give them opportunities to pee and poop). Since I dare not leave the dogs (especially George) alone in the house, I've been stuck at home during the worst heat of the day so I can keep an eye on them. 

Tomorrow and Wednesday are supposed to be about 10 degrees cooler, which is a good thing, because I have things I need to do during the day. Hopefully it will be safe to leave the dogs out in the garage with their fans going and plenty of water. They also have access to our fenced back yard, which is full of trees and very shady, so they should be fine. 

I've been assigned as a Guardian to a new child, a little boy that just turned a year old this month. I'm going to meet him and the grandparents he's living with on Wednesday afternoon. His mother has addiction issues and wasn't caring for him properly, and so the grandparents had to step in and take him when he was a week old. Little B. showed some signs of opioid withdrawal at birth, but from all accounts is doing well now in the care of his relatives. The mother has supervised visits, but wants full custody back, so this case will likely be heard in court several times. Hence the need for a GAL for the child. I spoke to his grandmother this morning, to set up a time to visit, and she was pleasant and polite and (most importantly) receptive to my role as her grandson's Guardian. I'm not dreading this first visit as much as I've dreaded others in the past, partly because the grandmother assured me that little B. is a delightful toddler and "you're going to love him!" With that kind of positive attitude, I think this woman (and hopefully, her husband) will be easy to work with.

Speaking of children, I'm planning to go see Marla and the baby tomorrow! It's hard to believe that little Carsen is already five weeks old. She's the sweetest baby; she's always asleep when I go to see her, and she smiles in her sleep. 

A photo Marla texted me just this morning. 

I have a long list of chores I'd like to accomplish this week, before the beginning of July. July will be devoted to continuing the process of paring down our possessions in preparation for moving. I've already worked my way through our bookshelves, but that's the tip of the iceberg. Our garage is cluttered, our closets are stuffed full of old clothes and junk, and we even have a whole "junk room" filled with all kinds of things that need to be either organized, repaired, donated, or tossed. I always keep the door to that room closed because it's so shameful looking inside! Now that I have all this time on my hands, there's no excuse for it. Especially when we plan to buy a house before the year is out and will be packing up to move.

On the diet front, I've doubled down on my healthier eating habits and calorie counting--and it's working! I'm now down 17 pounds despite not walking nearly enough in the past week due to the heat. My clothes are getting looser and I'm feeling really good. I think the fact that I'm limiting sugar and junk food is making my skin better, too. The eczema on my knees is completely gone, and while my right ankle still has itchy patches, my left one has almost cleared up, too. The only two things that have really changed are my diet and the amount of water that I drink. So that's a good bonus, too.

I'm finishing up June in a good way on all fronts, and I'm looking forward to July and making more progress on my goals. Do you have any goals you're working toward this summer? If so, I'd love to hear about it!

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve, the day when we await the imminent birth of the newborn sun (or son, if you happen to be Christian. I am not.) I love the sense of anticipation, possibility, and magic that always permeates this night, no matter how old I get. I love the deep, quiet joy that always seems to arrive in the wee small hours of Christmas morning. I love knowing that although the night is long, and dark, and cold, the sun is already returning, albeit slowly.

Speaking of special midwinter births, a distant cousin of mine became a first time father three days ago. His son was born on the day of the solstice, the 21st of December. My (small) extended family is just thrilled with this little boy's arrival.

This photo was taken shortly after the baby's birth. This is the new dad, embracing his mom (the new grandmother). I love this picture. The sense of joy and relief is palpable, and beautiful to see.

And here is the new baby, going home just in time for Christmas. The reason for a whole lot of joy in our family this year. A special midwinter blessing. His name is Cohen.

Happy Christmas Eve. May you be filled with all the joy and hope of the season!