Who are you calling a pansy?

I spent a wonderful weekend enjoying the fruits of my labor.  I planted pansies in our planter out front last week, cleaned up the yard this weekend, and planted the peony that has been hanging out in the fridge for a few days.  Saturday afternoon was beautiful and we decided to take Molly out for an exploratory trip in the backyard.  She was a little nervous at first but she quickly began exploring the yard and all of the new smells and sights.  We kept her on her harness but let her play a little by herself.  The sun felt glorious on my pasty winter skin and I lay in the grass. I am afraid that we may have created a monster because she spent most of the weekend plotting how to get out and meowing mournfully at the door.
Its funny but I always took a yard for granted until I didn't have one.  As a kid and later a teenager, yard work held no interest for me, in fact I avoided it like the plague.  When we lived in our apartment, we didn't have a private green space.  While that meant that I didn't have to tackle mowing the lawn and cleaning up branches and leaves, I never felt comfortable enjoying the pleasures of the outdoors, sitting in the grass, enjoying a glass of wine on the patio, choosing my favorite flowers to plant, etc.  Now that I have my own yard, I take pleasure in cleaning and caring for my yard.  I tackled removing the old rose bush and detritus left behind by the old owner with no complaining or procrastinating.  For my parents I am sure that it would be shocking!

Spring!

Spring has arrived!

It has been better busy around here the last few weeks. I was out of town last weekend for my knitting group's annual retreat, recovering from strep throat, and dealing with a sick kitty. Molly has been having some issues with gas since we got her and we took her to the vet to make sure that there wasn't something seriously wrong. After an x-ray and expressing some glands they gave us some antibiotics and recommended switching her diet to a gluten and grain free variety (read expensive). Since then she has had some diarrhea and even worse gas then before. It is pretty obvious she isn't feeling well and I can’t help but feel guilty for causing it. Hopefully she will adapt to her new diet and start feeling better soon.


In the midst of all this it seems that spring has arrived! I am excited to see what all of the green sprouts will turn into. I have already found some crocuses and am hoping that there will be some tulips thrown into the mix. It is a little like waiting for Christmas!

Better Late Than Never and Let Sleeping Cats Lie

I have been working on a very late baby blanket for Scott's cousin's new baby.  I was hoping to have it done by the time he was born, however, due to a combination of my own procrastination and the baby coming early it will be a late gift!  I really like the pattern, it is the Big Bad Baby Blanket from Stich and Bitch by Debbie Stoller.  I bought this book when I first started knitting and to be honest this is the first thing I have made from the pattern section, however it is a super easy pattern and I love the way that it is turning out!

She looks so innocent when she is sleeping doesn't she? Who would think that in her spare time she does this?

Yes folks, at one time this was a complete box.  Our house is completely covered by small pieces of cardboard.

A Snowy Wednesday's Thoughts

The snow is falling softly outside the window this morning, blanketing our lawn and trees.  This is probably one of my favorite parts of owning a house (with the exception of shoveling the driveway).  I love looking out the windows at our yard in all seasons, seeing the subtle changes from day to day.  The experience of homeownership is unlike anything I have experienced before, and although it comes with a little bit of fear of the unknown, it is immensely satisfying.  I feel fortunate that we have the means to be able to afford this privilege.

Coming to a screeching halt

Well, I feel like we have come to a screeching halt on our home improvement endeavors.  The dining room light we ordered didn't work out, it turned out that it didn't have a hardwiring option despite evidence on the website to the contrary.  We haven't decided on a rug and although we have the primer and paint I have yet to start painting the bathroom.  Hopefully, in the next few weeks we can get it together and start to make some progress!

Change is afoot!

Hopefully there will be some changes in our Bungalow in the next few weeks.  We ordered a new dining room light from West Elm, have finally decided on some paint colors for the guest bath and our bedroom, and are almost done organizing the basement where we will be moving Molly-cat's litter box.  Future projects include actually painting various rooms (which I am afraid will require scraping and patching the walls where the previous paint has bubbled), deciding on a rug for the living room, installing shelving inside a few of our kitchen cabinets and closets, and the list goes on.  I am finally starting to feel that our house is coming together.  This weekend in anticipation of dinner guests I hung some of our artwork and cleaned up some of the shelving.  I know that this is going to be an ongoing work in progress, but I am pleased with the results so far!