Life Lately ~ February 2021

As winter wears on I cling to every little joy this time of year offers and thrill at each reminder of the spring that is coming. A lone birdsong outside the icy window reanimates springtime's cacophony of avian trills in my mind, almost deafening in their exuberance. February and April are big birthday months here and the celebrations help buoy spirits as we make our way through the dead months. Just as the darkest hour comes right before dawn, so too the heaviness of winter is felt most the closer to spring we are. Lent's coming during this time is excitedly anticipated by me. It's the perfect pruning my soul needs for new growth, and goes hand-in-hand with the physical decluttering and simplifying I'm inspired to do in our home again.

I tackled Addie's room recently and was able to purge a large bag of things from her toy box and basket--and under her bed. All of her toys and dolls now fit in one toy box. I've kept a large cardboard box in a corner of the kitchen that has collected donation items all month. If I have a place to put unwanted things I'm much more likely to remove them from wherever they've been living, collecting dust. I kept giving myself pep talks to get started on the attic room, which was beginning to feel like it would remain, forever and always, a dump. It was such a large project that I'd make a little headway only to get discouraged by the amount of time it was taking and never finish it. Well, I finally succeeded! It is cleaned and organized! I'm writing a separate post about it because of the monumental occasion and I'll be able to share some of the "treasures" I found with you here. 

We celebrated Fat Tuesday in our usual tradition: pancakes and bacon for breakfast, fritters for lunch, pasta for supper. I notice the days we uphold our family traditions each year have become the boys' favorite days, highly anticipated, and counted down to...especially those that involve special food preparation. You know what they say about the apple and the tree.

I've finally given up on electric coffee makers for good. I'm not exaggerating when I say I've replaced my coffee maker more often than I've changed light bulbs in our home. Faced with yet another junk machine I decided to forego buying a new one and now solely use my French press. I love the flavor the coffee has, I love that it doesn't use electricity, I love that it takes up so much less space, and I love that I'm not spending another $20 that will just be thrown away within the year.

This month's creative projects include getting back to working on Addie's dollhouse. I love the way her face lights up when she wakes in the morning to discover she has a completely redone room for her Critters. (I know there have been TV shows based on the concept, but can you imagine that happening in real life to our life-sized homes! Eek!) While cleaning out the attic room I found some neat craft supplies, beads and mini flowers and things that I hope to incorporate into her house. I've also been commissioned to do a couple watercolor paintings that I've been working on. I'll have to wait to share those.

Speaking of home improvements, we got a reasonable quote to get our new floors installed and are tentatively scheduled to have them done in April! We've decided to go with luxury vinyl plank, because as much as my heart wants hardwood floors, realistically our floors are super used and abused with lots of spills, toy cartwheels, furniture sliding, and life in general with five kids and two dogs. I can't wait! I will not miss having to paint this old wood floor every couple months.  And then our garage door broke, so I guess we're getting a new one of those too.

I'm reading another Kate Morton book, The Shifting Fog. I love finding a new favorite author! The search can be painful. I also started the second Theology of Home book by Carrie Gress. So far so good! As an addition to my Lenten reading I've started the Revelations of St. Bridget on the Life and Passion of Our Lord.

Eli and I were able to get away for a weekend this month. We had planned to head out of state with friends and try an Escape Room, but plans fell through. We decided to get a hotel room a little closer to home since we already had sitters. We did a little shopping, ate at Applebees (I crave their wonton tacos!), and Eli did a little gambling. Since it gives me serious anxiety, I went back to our hotel room and had a quiet evening watching Food Network. It doubled (tripled?) as our Valentine's and Birthday celebrations.

I joke that I gave my birthday away seven years ago with the birth of Ian. I turned 32 the day he was born and began the last year of my 30's this month. For his birthday meal, Ian requested pizza, so we picked some up after Mass on the very last day of February. He also wanted a triple-layer chocolate cake with cupcake marshmallows. Since I refuse to make character cakes for the kids anymore, they get to pick the flavors. Ian got a wooden wobble board (I was a little excited to try it out too, and paid with burning calf muscles all next day) and another Gears set so he'll be a busy boy for a while. I have the very best friends and family. I received some amazing gifts including the new Fiat coffee mug (pictured above), specialty coffee, fairy lights that I'm using in Addie's dollhouse, a couple garden chimes, an essential oil car diffuser, a pretty rope basket (with a note that made me laugh-cry!), and a big Tupperware of muffins that made breakfast the next day a breeze. It was a very special birthday. 

I found this birthday note from "R Gosling" in the Suburban after Mass. I laughed until I cried! In case you're unfamiliar with the Ryan Gosling "Hey Girl" memes from the perfect romantic, here is one of my favorites:

Sharing jokes with friends is one of the greatest joys of life.