Is it summer already?

Not quite, but it certainly feels like it! We had record highs this weekend, and it was great! My "babies" got an extra half hour outside on the playground today, so they are tuckered out. I hope this weather keeps up so that they can keep getting extra play time.

T and I spent a very nice weekend together, getting a lot of errands done in preparation for the Big Project (the new floors - yay!). We checked out a nice, little, year-round farmer's market in Oakton. We got some yummy, local, organic sausage for us, Virginia wine and a head of hydroponically grown lettuce for our shed-ful friend. In fact, I'm hoping to use this tutorial to see if I can keep the lettuce growing!

Yesterday, we packed away our winter clothes, purged some and took a load of items over to our local thrift store. It felt great to pack the car full of things we no longer need! One of the things was T's old stereo from high school. It was great until the volume dial ceased to understand how to lower the volume. We also listed more than 50 books on Amazon. Many of the books are good summer reads - we've already sold 12!

The warmer weather is certainly a nice change. It's starting to spark my creative juices; so be on the look out for some new projects coming soon.

Spring is shedding season

Sometimes after a difficult day, the best thing to do is to just go home and pet the bunny. Bunnies are good at giving their humans fresh perspective and the petting is really very therapeutic. This evening, Tuzi reminded me that Spring is shedding season. That means he's getting rid of his old coat and getting a shorter, softer, new one. He wants me to get rid of my old, heavy winter worries and move on to sunnier, happier new thoughts. Don't focus on the unknowns and potentially bads, think about all the wonderful things this new season will bring!

Spring is also the season for cleaning, and T and I have begun preparations for a massive, overhaul-style cleaning of our apartment. We got the go-ahead for replacing all of our wall to wall carpeting, throughout the whole place, with beautiful new hardwood flooring! Not only will it be great for my newly developed (and hopefully soon to be going away) asthma and allergies, but it will also vastly increase the attractiveness of our apartment. Sure, the week our apartment is turned upside down and packed away will be crazy (especially since I'll be working still), but it will be SO wonderful to be on the road to long-term continued healthiness. Just in time for summer!

Little things

Sometimes, when the weather is dreary, you have to focus on the little things to keep away the grouchies. Take this photo for example. This orange thing is a little piece of plastic that you pull off of an ink cartridge before you put it in the printer. Doesn't it look so happy? It's like a little orange guy, so happy to have a function in life; even though he'll probably get tossed in the recycling bin.

In other news, I've started to feel like my crafty mojo is coming back. It got pretty "quashed" for a while there when other things were occupying my time (and mind). Even though the past few days have been rainy, it's been good for crafty ideas. Besides that, T and I bought some really wonderfully scented candles at Anthro over the weekend which have been making our house smell like spring.
Anyway, here's one of the fruits of my newfound craftiness. Sorry for the less than lovely photos; it's naptime so I'm working with less than lovely photographing conditions. A little bunny pouch for storing goodies and keeping bags tidy. I borrowed the tail idea from this great pattern. I made one of those pencil pouches for Madre's birthday last week. It turned out quite well. Unfortunately, the lining of the pouch is pretty small so it doesn't hold a whole lot of pencils. I made another one last night for my friend Emily, and I tried to fix that a little. I made the ears little pockets, with opeinings at the top for storing all important chapstick. :) You get a sneak peek of something else I'm working on too; see it up there in the top right corner? Any guesses?

I made a new ironing board cover for myself last night also. The old one was pretty yucky. Somehow it acquired brown stains which would occasionally transfer themselves to whatever was being ironed. Besides that, the padding was pitifully thin causing the grid underneath to show through with vigorous ironing. The new cover is made completely with thrifted materials; pretty (partially sun faded or bleached?) pink print decorator's fabric and some kind of cotton string. I'll have to get a photo of it tonight.

Finally, as promised many moons ago, here's a link to our photos from Disney. I'm working on grabbing the professional PhotoPass ones from the Disney site.

Sunshine and earthworms

The weather has been quite kind these first couple days back to school. Nice weather always puts the children in a better mood. The big thing on the playground is earthworms. We received a lovely new layer of mulch over the break which holds moisture in its lower layers well; the perfect digging grounds for small hands in search of fat worms. One of our little friends even brought in a tub of worms he'd found at home. I tried to get a picture of a worm in a little hand, but the camera card is still full of Disney photos!

I'm uploading them as we speak, so there will be a nice link to an album full of photos for you at the bottom of the post. In the meantime, tomorrow is already hump day, and I have decided to go back to my Hump Day Goodies making ways. Tomorrow's goody is kettle corn. Ever since I first smelled the delicious salty, buttery popcorn in Disney World, I've been itching to make kettle corn. In fact, I had even planned to make some before our trip for snacking on the plane. Anyway, a nice big bowl is already made and cooling for tomorrow. Tuzi, who seems to dislike the smell of oil and the sound of corn popping is not impressed and even carried his carrot (an offering from the offending MamaTuzi) away to his room. The photo is from before we left. He has taken to napping in a little towel tent on T's office chair, and I managed to capture a few photos. Such the inventive little bun!