Let’s just chat about things around here lately. And of course, a bit about the garden spots as well. Brace yourself, this post is going to be a bit of a ramble.

That orange lily was completely closed up when I bought the bouquet last Friday. It’s really opened up and now stands out.

We have some daylilies in our yard but they aren’t anywhere near blooming yet. And I didn’t plant them so we’ll see what we get. I slogged through the yard and mowed it yesterday (more rain due overnight tonight). Each time I mow lately, I start to dream about replacing the front yard hill with flowers. Daylilies crossed my mind. Have you ever seen a lawn replaced with flowers? What do you think?

In a complete turn around, want to talk trash? Not like competition trash talk but actual trash?

Trash And Recycling Woes

Not counting this week (I didn’t need to call), I’ve called our trash company 3 weeks in a row! And not just to chat. Not complain either, well not at first. The company used to be local but now they’re based out of Arizona but of course, the day to day stuff is still handled locally. Unless you want to talk to customer service, then you call Arizona. Makes sense, sure?

Here’s why I called them. The day after Earth Day, we received a letter stating our recycle pickup would only occur every other week moving forward. Apparently, it’s not longer profitable and they didn’t want to increase our rates. Oh, they’re so kind (sarcasm). However, they’d be glad to provide us a larger or an additional container at no charge. All right there in the letter.

The letter the customer services folks in Arizona didn’t believe existed. Well, the first person could see it as she transferred me to sales to request my bigger container.

Customer Service Fail Again (and Again)

Guess what? Bigger recycle containers don’t exist. So, I requested an additional one. They’d be happy to provide it for a charge. Um, NO, not what the letter says. Delivering one for free the next week. Okay. Did it arrive? Nope. Another call, another promise. Did they deliver the second time? Yes. Did they deliver the right container? No.

They sent a second trash container and charged me! Suffice it to say I was simmering a bit when I called customer service yet again where they mysteriously couldn’t transfer me to a sales supervisor or their own supervisor. Kudos to the poor gal in sales who took my call. She did get the charges fixed and hopefully, next week (everything recycle is every other week now) the bin gets corrected.  Oh, and last week they forgot to pick up the recycle container on the right day! Thankfully, I fixed that with an Internet issue form.

Moving on…let’s talk about the Internet or rather our data usage.

Data Usage Increases (Or ISP Wants More Money)

Apparently, our ISP can change our contract terms at any time without notification. And so, now, they have given us a data limit.

via GIPHY

Made even more annoying by the fact that we’ve miraculously used more data this month (double from last month) than during the last pandemic year. We get one free month, then they start charging unless, of course, we want to switch to their $30 more a month unlimited plan.

Why don’t we just switch companies? Sadly, we have two choices in this city. (Don’t get me started on why there isn’t free competition with all this, my brother who lives in KC proper but only 15 minutes away has different options but can’t use this company). And we’ve had the other Internet choice previously. It was worse. SIGH.

How’s your Internet service? Issues? Or are we just the lucky ones here?

Ending my post on a positive note, let’s talk Christmas!

Rudolph Day in May

Yesterday was Rudolph Day! Did you do anything for it? I didn’t do much other than glance at the tasks.

Great suggestion: order Christmas gifts out of summer catalogs for great clearance finds. Guess that dates the site a bit, haven’t seen a good catalog in some time but might be fun to look for catalogs to order or bargains on-line.

For my quick treat for the day, I made an iced hazelnut hot chocolate. Discovered, I think the iced version of hot chocolate might taste better than the hot!

Three Days of Posting in a Row!

Not that anyone is keeping count, however, I’ve now posted 3 days in a row.

Later, this afternoon, I have to work, then we’ll probably watch the finale of The Masked Singer. Exciting Wednesday night plans! What’s happening in your life lately?

It’s another rainy day here.  And an unexpected day off for me.

I can’t remember the exact weather forecast when I shared it on Monday. However, this morning they showed 3 days in a row with 100% chances of rain. Does not do much for my outdoor gardening plans. They also had to cancel/reschedule yesterday’s preschool graduation because of the weather (it’s an outdoor thing).

We’re just hanging out indoors watching it rain today. Well, just the two of us. The cat is the only one home with me. A bit of rainy day bliss to be home alone for a change.

Lit a candle, a beach scented one I picked up at Aldi. My plans for this rainy day now that I’m free for the afternoon?

Nothing too exciting. I’ve been working on slowing down. It comes naturally to many of you (and many preschool kids, especially when time is of the essence, ha!). However, it doesn’t come naturally to me. Lots of reminding myself there is enough time in the day to get the things done that need doing. Just stumbled across this article, seems to sum up where I’d like to be on the slowdown journey.

I blame my late mother! Not really. Well, maybe. I think I inherited her “city” blood. For me, there is something about the pulse of being around an urban environment, the energy of the pedestrians going about their business. However, I don’t like large crowds.

Then, there’s the love of flowers and attempting to garden. I know that comes from my late father who grew up on a farm. So basically, all I need is a house with a huge yard in the middle of a walkable city. Tall order. Suburbs for the win, I suppose.

Are you a country or city person at heart?

Wait, I was talking about my plans for today.

Today’s Rainy Day Plans

1. Make dough for tonight’s pizza roll dinner (done)
2. Clean up the house a bit (a lot, in progress)
3. Finish up the laundry (in progress)
4. Maybe pay a few bills
5. Relax and simply enjoy the day

How are you spending your Wednesday? And if you have any spare sunshine, could you please send a little this way?

Just thought I’d hop on here and take a little “thyme” to share my Earth Day Project.

It seems odd to once again have not worked on Earth Day at the preschool. They were only doing a picnic for today (as far as I know) and then, postponed it to Monday. While the snow is thankfully long gone, the cold is still around a bit. I think it was supposed to rain today but that didn’t happen. Actually, turned out to be a pretty day but maybe still a little too cool to eat outside (lunch is early).

Mostly, I’ve been over here just languishing away. However, I forced myself to get up and do something for Earth Day. Finish at least one project.

I actually started my Earth Day project back in the fall. Well, I finished it the first time in the fall. At that time, we took our disassembled gate and turned it into a little plant holder for in front of the porch. I filled it with mums.

Fall Project

Once the mums died out, I removed them but left the containers. For the early spring I tried filling the empty mum containers with early blooming bulbs but it didn’t really work out so no pretty pictures of flowering hyacinths and tulips.

Today’s Finished Project

However, all along I knew I wanted to really fill it with a herb garden. Our front yard faces east and gets the best sun. Needed a not so weird looking way to plant herbs. So, I devised the plan to fill this recycled fence (gate) with planters and put my herbs in them. A few weeks back I filled in the top row. And today, I finished up my herb garden.

I can’t wait to go outside this summer and fall simply grab some fresh herbs for cooking. Top row: tarragon, mint, parsley, dill (more for butterflies than us), oregano, and rosemary. Bottom row: cilantro, thyme, lemongrass (more for mosquito repellant than us), basil, and marjoram.

Then, in summer, I’m hoping to have tall flowers grow up and around them for a bit more color.

Currently, I have alliums planted for some early spring color (hopefully, they’ll bloom around early to mid-May). The blazing star should take over starting in June or July. And I have plenty of sunflower starts I’m debating putting out there as well.

It felt good to complete a project today. I have lots more I’d like to finish. One at time though. Do you have a herb garden? Any fresh herb cooking tips for me?

Since it’s been a while, other than the Happy Homemaker Mondays, let’s just chat.

A little of this and a little of that. We’ll pretend we’re at the coffee shop. Me with a chai tea latte in hand, you? Maybe a scone? Or should we go all out and splurge on cake pops?

Whatever is there to chat about?

Let’s see: Band concerts, vaccines, and taxes. Oh my! Or maybe good, bad, and ugly topics? Ha!

Let’s start with the good.

Band Concert

The kids get to have a band concert! A real, proper one. Well, except no tuxes and fancy dresses. Just dress nice clothes. Retro middle school style, I suppose. Two tickets per family unless your kid is a senior, then 4.

It’s been so quiet here for so long. I miss the music!

Very much looking forward to going to an event at the high school and not even going to complain about those hard bleachers in the gym this time (The entire band doesn’t fit in the auditorium. We did, however, just pass some bond issue to upgrade schools including auditoriums so maybe next time.). Really hoping this provides the spark to get J back to picking up his baritone again. Can’t even begin to express how hard it is to watch your kid lose interest in things you know they love.

Oh, how’d the good turn into that sob story? Anyway, a tiny dose of almost normal in this crazy school year? I’ll take it and enjoy. Maybe we’ll even get Subway for dinner (tradition).

Moving on to the bad (maybe).

Vaccines

So, I mentioned I was brave on Monday. Wanted to get that one and done Johnson and Johnson shot before they ran out of it. Silly me thought there’d be a shortage of it. Not that they’d pause the whole vaccine the very next day. My timing is amazing, no? SIGH.

Not much I can do now. Take heed in the wisdom of Tracy Lawrence, I suppose. Going country today!

In poor taste? I don’t know. Humor is requirement for things sometimes. Anyway, I feel fine. Felt pretty run down on Tuesday the day after but today I feel fine. Only symptom is an itchiness and redness around my shot site. Pretty sure it’s normal.

Did you get a vaccine yet? I keep seeing these silly things on Facebook comparing the vaccines to the Harry Potter houses. Hopefully, those of us who took the Johnson and Johnson one won’t end up as bunch of Tom Riddles later turning into you know who (well, if you read the books/saw the movies).

Perhaps, we should just move on to the ugly.

Taxes

Typically, today is tax day but it’s different again this year. So, let’s just chat about taxes for a minute. Husband’s tax stuff for work is spread all over a table in the living room. My post today is actually procrastination. I should be getting a bunch of tax paperwork and numbers together for him. It’s the reason I really came down into the basement. And to pay bills as well as do some laundry. Think we have the ugly part of the post covered now.

Thankfully, once we gather all the paperwork, we take it to someone and I don’t have to think about taxes again until December. (Property taxes are due December 31 in our state). Are your taxes all done?

Let’s see, I don’t want to end our chat on that ugly note. What else can we talk about here?

Gardens and Birds

Let’s end on some pretty and optimistic notes. I’ve been bringing in the tiny tomato plants and sunflowers each night to avoid our frost advisories.

Should be done with that tonight! My husband planted some green bean seeds (still think it might be too early but what do I know, just what the garden center board said).

I’ve been dreaming of purple coneflowers, wildflowers, and sunflowers filling the yard. I have so many plans for the garden areas this year! A post is rattling around in my brain about showing you each area now versus my vision for it.

In the photo below, I’m envisioning a row of sunflowers growing up against that building in the picture. Maybe a vine with flowers climbing up the pole leftover from a broken birdfeeder. And of course, those hydrangeas blooming!

And then, hopefully, later in the summer, what happened with it. What do you think?

Hoping to finally share a proper bird watching post again on Saturday. For now though, I’ll just end this post with a photo of the cedar wax wing I randomly spotted yesterday. One of my favorites!

Tell me what’s going on in your corner of the world?

We’ve had rain the past two days. A few moments of sun but mostly rain. I think today is sun but tomorrow, more rain. More flowers are popping up and blooming around the yard. I also have flower seeds I need to start and soon. Sprinkling a few more flower images throughout this post.

On Monday, soon after I posted, I started feeling a bit under the weather. Blah enough to text my husband a request to bring home some Sprite. Felt a bit better yesterday and while not 100% today, passed on work, I do feel more functional.

So, since it’s Wednesday and in Fly lady land, that means it’s anti-procrastination day, I thought I’d share my list.

Today’s To Do List

Most of these I’ve been putting off for some time though the laundry is just there (and I did ignore it the past two days).

1. Laundry: In progress!
2. Pay Bills: DONE
3. Make a phone call about an automatic bank charge: Something I need to cancel
4. Reply to blog comments/visit blogs/write blog post: In progress! Also, debating making a loose blog posting schedule to follow.
5. Clean bathroom floors
6. Make chore cards: Saw this idea somewhere to use a deck of cards for household chores as a means to getting more help from family. Follows the make it fun philosophy. Who couldn’t use more fun?
7. Put away blankets piled on bedroom chair: Happens to be in the fly lady zone for the week as well.

Bonus Items

These are only if by some miracle, I complete the 7 items listed. (Note: I have other items on my list today, I’m just sharing the things I’m putting in the anti-procrastination zone).

1. Find the other Easter basket. We always save the boys (and yes, they are well past Easter basket age but I don’t care) Easter baskets to use again each year. However, one is missing. Probably in a closet somewhere.
2. Pick up more birdseed. My poor house finches are staging a protest over the different seed I put out there.
3. Visit Target for a few items. Might be an on-line shopping day.

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In other random news, I finished my book, Ready Player One and watched the movie. Wasn’t a huge fan of either though the book was better than the movie. Ordered two new garden flags from Amazon and they arrived yesterday. I’ll share pictures of my Easter one on Friday. And see the green blooming boxwood up there. Those blossoms STINK. Thankfully, the rest of the flowers around the yard smell pleasant.

Work keeps calling. And I keep telling them, hello, I’m sick. It’s different teachers but I do wish they had some sort of bulletin so I could just mark myself unavailable for the week and avoid all the constant texts.

Ending my post here so I can cross another item off the list today. How is your week going so far? What things on your to do list have you been putting off doing?

I’m sure someone out there is saying: It’s already Thursday! Me? I thought today was Friday. Honestly, Tuesday felt like a Friday. That’s how my week’s gone so far. How has your week been?

I also had a whole post written yesterday and forgot to hit publish. Ever do that my blogging friends? And today, I didn’t feel like hitting the button opting instead for a whole new post. Honestly, yesterday (all week) I was feeling a bit down. The dreary weather doesn’t help with the blahs.

We didn’t do much for the holiday except eat some green food. I made a pretty simple dinner of pork chops and baked potatoes (never got to the store for spinach so had to rethink my menu).  I served some chopped up red peppers as well for a bit of color on the dinner plates. However, we had honeydew and some very green sugar cookies for dessert.

Surprisingly, despite the overwhelming green colors, the cookies were pretty good. I picked up the mix on clearance after Christmas with plans to make them for Saint Patrick’s Day. Planned to make them into shamrock cutouts but somehow in a huge box of “holiday” cookie cutters, no shamrock cookie cutter. Need a cookie cutter in the shape of Texas? I’ve got one. A shamrock? Nope.

J and I had already drank our traditional shamrock shakes from McDonald’s on Wednesday after his appointment. While the appointment went okay, my gut is telling me maybe we need to check out another place.

Winter’s Last Hurrah before Spring

The weather is still rainy and dreary. Yet, I’m thankful the predicted snow never arrived. Last night they said anywhere from a dusting to 3-7 inches (large margin). However, we woke up to just more rain. Happy to see the rain in that case!

I did take a quick picture of my blooming daffodils along the side of the house yesterday. Just in case they were buried in white stuff…

Moved my plans for the flower store to this weekend when warm weather and spring should arrive together!  Also snapped a picture of a crocus bud, purple! I don’t remember planting a purple one last fall but I probably did.

Lemon Tree and A Weird Book

With the lousy weather, I’ve been spending a lot of time inside mostly reading. I’ve not had the energy or mental space for dealing with clearing spaces. So, mostly I’ve been sitting around like my lemon tree waiting for it to warm up enough to soak up the sun on the front porch.

See the new leaves? I guess I shocked the poor thing but didn’t completely kill it. See the cat hair around it? Another sign of spring, cat shedding everywhere! We think in addition to shocking it with cold back in February, I over watered it causing a bit of root rot. Ironically, a magazine I had sitting around had an entire article about caring for indoor lemon trees.

Speaking of magazines, I’ve been doing a decent job of reading my current issues and promptly recycling them (I’ll tear out a page or make a note of anything I want to remember). My plan is to slowly start getting magazines I’ll actually really read. Debating subscribing to the Magnolia Journal.

Along with the magazines, I’ve been reading lots of books. The one I just finished was weird. I found it on the e-library sight and thought it sounded interesting. A bit different than the suspense novels I’ve been tearing through. The Resurrectionist by Jack O’Connell was so strange. I linked to my review. Glad to go back and spend some more time with the Zen and the Art of Housekeeping today. Why do actual housekeeping when you can read about it? Right?

Seems I might need a few book recommendations. Read anything interesting lately?

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And now, I’ve got to run off and do a few things before I go to work this afternoon. Hope you’ve enjoyed catching up on this Thursday that I thought was a Friday.

Remember about a week ago when I said I watched Frozen on Disney Plus? My thought was I’d watch the sequel soon after. Turns out I don’t need to do that as we’re living it! Well, not the princess part. Or the cool castle part. No grand adventures or talking snowmen either.

However, it’s definitely as if Elsa had a finger pointing tantrum directed at the Midwest.

Twelve degrees out there right now and that’s warm for this week! Saw a meme that ordered the northerners to come get their “drunk weather” out of our backyards. I concur. And please, hurry!

It’s one thing to embrace winter but I’m not quite enjoying frigid cold just to drop a kid off at school yet. We’ve also had snow and ice mixed in with it. Road conditions were still poor enough Monday evening, that J’s baritone instructor called early to make sure we weren’t attempting the trip (He gives lessons out of his home).  And on Tuesday morning, my husband returned home and waited a bit longer to leave for work as the roads were solid ice.

Yesterday, we had a bit of a heat wave or at least improved road conditions, so I did a bit of running around after dropping J off at school.

Grocery Store

Thankfully, the store is back to somewhat normal hours so I didn’t have to worry about waiting for the “senior hours” to end.  Normally, I don’t shop on Wednesdays (sale day, always busy!) but made an exception.

Colder weather is supposed to arrive this weekend so I wanted to be prepared. Flower prices always go up around Valentine’s Day but they had these Meyer Lemon Trees in a sale cart:

A lot cheaper than a dozen roses! And (hopefully, keep reading though) longer lasting so I treated myself. Or rather I told my husband that he bought me a lemon tree for my Valentine’s flowers.

Also, treated myself to a Chai Tea Latte. A medium. Am I the only one can never remember the size names? A tall is a small but the Venti vs. Grande thing confuses me. Appreciated the barista’s graciousness in just saying so you want a medium? It was nice to have a warm beverage in hand going back out into the freezing cold.

Now, back to my plant. I took the photo above soon after I arrived home. Made sure to put it in the car/house first to limit its cold exposure. However, it still started this curling craziness last night:

It happened after I watered it. The soil seemed dry to me but apparently, over watering is a thing with these plants. Hopefully, I’ve not set a new plant killing record. I’m going to let the soil dry out for at least a solid week and see what happens. Wish me luck!

Tractor Supply and The Dollar Tree

Tractor Supply Stories

After driving to the grocery store, I decided the roads were decent enough that I should run a couple more errands.

Poor birds were completely out of seed (Minus a small bag I bought at the grocery store in case I ran out of steam before running more errands).

Lots of people were in Tractor Supply stocking up on bird seed, most likely for the upcoming frigid weekend. This surprised me as I’m not used to waiting to get into the bird seed aisle.

On another note, guess what happens when you down a medium Chai Tea Latte and then, go off on another shopping adventure?  I don’t enjoy using retail restrooms in normal times let alone pandemic ones. However, sometimes when you’ve got to go; you’ve got to go.

Found the bathroom, way back in the far corner of the store. Walked to the ladies room to see this lovely sign:

For key, please see cashier.

What? Asked another associate walking by. Oh, the cashier has the key. SIGH. Did I mention it was busy? Thought about just paying and simply going home but again, when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go.

Back to the front I walk, park my cart, get the key from the cashier. It’s attached to a stick wrapped with pink duct tape. Visions of gas station restrooms floating through my head. Whew, just a normal bathroom with stalls. No idea if it’s a normal thing or a Covid thing that they keep them locked (Target’s bathrooms are still “normal”).

Relieved, in more ways than one, I returned to the front and waited in line to pay for my birdseed and return the key. Strange times aren’t they?

The Dollar Tree

Braving the restroom at Tractor Supply meant I could run an additional errand so I made my way over to the Dollar Tree. Turns out the particular store I frequent is moving. Quick Trip bought the whole corner or something. Thankfully, they’re just moving across the parking lot and next to another grocery store in our area. Hopefully, the new store’s a bit better maintained.

The moving date listed said mid-February so the store was quite empty. Nice to have a bit of space to shop although not much to look at in the mostly empty aisles. Bought some Fairy garden doors. Then, picked up my project idea paper boxes.

Since this post is getting a little lengthy, I think I’ll end it here and make you return tomorrow to see what’s stashed inside these boxes. I’ll share a few other recent projects I’ve been meaning to show you as well.

How’s your weather? If it’s warm, can we borrow some, please?

Waking up in a bad mood on a Monday? Understandable. However, I woke up in a bad mood today.

Ever wake up in a bad mood? I’m sure most of it is sleep related. My husband added a *few* security measures around the outside of the house during the course of the week. After Monday’s madness, I get it and am attempting understanding.

However, his placement of said measures isn’t working well for me. Or at least not for my sleep.

First, he added a “doorbell” that dings any time a person passes it. It’s right next to the front door. I told him it was a bit much as I go in and out of the front door at least 4-5 times each morning. Add to it, the sound is just like the security sound at my work. No one, even those of us who love their job, wants to feel like they are at work when they are actually home.

Then, he added another to a tree in the backyard. It faces his trailer. It also faces my bird feeders. Last night, nocturnal animals or leaves (wind) set it off twice. I do not do well on interrupted sleep. At all. Put it ON the trailer I told him. Am I the only one with the husband who does not listen? UGH.

Add to that, the new trip lights around the deck and backyard. See above about nocturnal animals, leaves, and wind. Our backyard is now constantly lit up like it’s daytime. Again, it’s about the placement. And again, my ideas for more common sense placement of said lights? Mostly, ignored.

A Bit of Good News

Before I continue with my bad mood minutes, I’ll share a little good news. We did indeed get one of the stolen ATVs back. Turns out another neighbor caught someone trying to rob his shed. The thief? Riding our stolen older ATV. Not as hopeful about the newer one, however, insurance is covering it.

Not-backyard business related: After a comment from Tracy over at 4 D Farms, I took another look at how I could preserve So Not Organized without dragging it all over here or going through the posts each week. And I decided what to do. All of my content from the So Not Organized blog is now archived at:

SoNotOrganized.wordpress.com

It’s not super pretty and kind of a mess right now. There is a search bar though. The old paid site should still be there through year-end but now I don’t have to worry about it all disappearing.

We Now Return to Bad Mood on a Friday

Can I just tell you that I didn’t get enough alone time this week? Uh, this entire pandemic. I know I’m not alone on that one. As some sort of weird 50/51 (depends on the day of the week) Introvert/Extravert personality type (ESFP if you’re really into that stuff; or ISFP depending, today leans more I than E), I need my alone time. And don’t do well without it.

After my husband being home much of this week, J not going to school yesterday (anxiety), and G always here though in his room mostly, I’m like a bear awakened from hibernation much too early. Searching angrily for a tiny corner of our small home to carve out for a bit of uninterrupted time. Time for what? Want to know something funny? I don’t know. Just know I need some time to be alone for a bit. Maybe time for this mood to evolve into something a bit more positive.

Goal Not Met

As an emotional stress-eater, this probably wasn’t an ideal week to pick for going sugar-free. I did okay with it on Monday (surprisingly), Tuesday and Wednesday while not perfect, weren’t awful. I caved a tiny bit on Wednesday with my nemesis or “MY LOVE” pictured above.

Yesterday, however, complete and utter failure. The stress of many things caught up to me and I covered it in chalky sweet candy-hearted pieces. And a few cookies. And Chex Mix. Yes, also a few pieces of chocolate. Though it was 85% cocoa chocolate. *J, the other dark chocolate fan in our house, said 85% was a bit too bitter for him.

Managing My Mood

Still reading? Wow, thank you. Usually, I’m not quite so moody. Tend to be fairly stable in the mood department. Looking ahead to the rest of today and this weekend:

Today I work in the afternoon. Always a mood booster being around 3-6 year old kids. Even at their crankiest time of day.

Shouldn’t plan life around the TV but I’m looking forward to watching a new episode of WandaVision and the Super Bowl this weekend. (Wearing my red for red Friday, Go Chiefs!)

A new magazine to read (lots of those that arrive for free in the mail but I gave in and purchased a copy of Magnolia Home Journal and I’m excited to flip through the pages)

I know this mood is a passing thing and once I’ve had a little (real) food, water, sunshine, and more rest, the clouds of my bad mood will lift away.

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How do you chase away a bad mood?