introverting

Hellllooo! It's been way too long. How can it be the end of March already? Though I'm glad it is. Because that means it's officially spring. At least that's what the calendar says. There's only a few signs of it here: chives, daffodils and sedum poking out of the ground; fat little robins hopping around and sandhill cranes flying overhead. The only thing blooming right now is snowdrops. It's been cold and wet this month and tomorrow we're supposed to get 5-8" of slushy, heavy snow. It seems like nice weather will never get here. 

I am an introvert through and through, but March has found me being quite social and trying some new things. I'm good with getting together with my friends one-on-one and I enjoy my yoga class...yoga being a solo activity but still feel you're part of community. But anything more than that as far as a group activity, and I'm quite uncomfortable. I went to a meditation class last week where there were 15 of us sitting around in a circle. And we had to speak in front of this circle three times. It was awful for me. I kind of knew some of the people there from previous alternative healing classes, but afterwards, most of them were standing around talking in little groups and there I was, gathering up my things to leave, trying to sneak out without having to say goodbye to everyone in the room. Ugh, introvert awkwardness problems! 

 When I met my friend, Kari for coffee last month, we talked about going to a women's group at a beautiful horse farm "out in the country". I first went to this women's group about six years ago. It was one of those things where I would think about it from time to time, but never ended up going again. When Kari said she'd go with me, I was all in! Bonus: I got to meet Kari's mom, too. This group I enjoyed because it was quiet and personal and I wasn't pressured to speak. However, it was quite intense and went late. I can't just go to bed when I get home from these types of outings. It takes me several hours to decompress.

Man, how I love horses. The smell of leather and horse sweat, the immenseness of their presence, their amazing intuition. I had a horse when I was a teenager and we lived in Kentucky for a few years. Her name was Judy and she looked similar to this guy, Jack.

I finally got to meet Kris from Junk Chic Cottage in person! We've followed each other's blogs and personally emailed back and forth for years. We met halfway (we live 75 miles from each other) at a beautiful French creperie for lunch. Did we remember to take any photos? No, of course not. We were too busy talking and getting to know each other. Kris is an absolute sweetheart and gifted me with this lovely bag of spring goodies.

For the coming week, I'm going to concentrate on going back to this.

(Gift from one of my besties who knows me too well.)

How about you, are you an introvert or an extrovert?

💖

mid-march this and that

Hi friends ~ even though technically it's still winter, we're having some beautiful spring teaser days. Today it got up to 67 degrees! I had all the windows open in the house and it was wonderful to hear all the birds chirping and sandhill cranes flying overhead. March in Illinois is fickle. Friday will only be 39 degrees and rainy, with snow mixed in.

Still fluffing my nest for spring, I took the pitchers off the mantel that I had there before and played around with other decor...

I'm liking this look on the mantel much better. 

I have to say, I'm tired of my boho curtains. I've had these for about seven years and I'm wanting to change to something plain, most likely an off-white cotton or linen. 

Clementine is still hanging in there. I took her to the vet last week for a follow-up to have her gums and broken fang looked at, as suggested by the vet dentist. The vet said she has a little bit of inflammation in her gum where the fang broke off, but there isn't any infection yet. That was good news.

Back to thinking about changes in the living room...I'm tired of this rug, too. I got this one from Wayfair a couple of years ago when I used to write sponsored posts for them. This rug hasn't worn well, I think it's too small for the room, and I don't like the white and gray with my white sofa. I'm now thinking of something larger and colorful. 

On a sad note, Brian's father ~ my father-in-law ~ passed away on March 5th. He was 88 years old and had been in a nursing home for a few years with many health problems. We were able to say goodbye to him before he passed and to be with him as he took his last breath. 

(Brian and his dad, 1981)

I did some antiquing recently...

What do you think of the hat ~ is it me?

Or perhaps I should've taken home this lamp?

I passed on the lamp and brought home this pillow instead. Even though not an antique, the shop I was in had other pretty decor mixed in with their antiques. I bought a vintage blue and white tablecloth too, but no photos right now since I don't have it on my table.

I also stopped by one of my favorite independent shops, The Backdrop. This is one of those stores where you can find all kinds of unique gift items...and little things to spoil yourself with, too. The owner of the shop told me that these quilted cats were made by a retired Kindergarten teacher, who uses vintage quilts to make these cuties.

Another find from The Backdrop was this little 1970's snail planter.

It's been such a busy month that I just realized today that St Patrick's Day is tomorrow. Not that we do anything special to celebrate, but I do have a few St Patrick's Day decor items that I usually dig out and display. Oh well, not this year! 🤷 🍀

happy march ~ small joys

Hello and happy March! I don't know about you, but I'm glad to see February go. Not only because Monkey passed away in February (three weeks ago today 😢), but winters here in northeast Illinois last "forever". Seeing the calendar turn to March at least gives me a little hope. I know it's still technically winter and we could easily have more snow storms, but at least there will be some warmer days here and there. Just the fact that it stays light until almost 6 pm now lifts my spirits.

Small joys...

Plants make me happy! If I can't garden outside right now, I can add to my house plant collection. We have a new, women-owned plant shop in our town and they had a plant sale a few weeks ago. Of course, I had to go and check out the shop. Not only are the owners friendly and helpful, but their shop has so many cool plants, plus they've expanded to include lovely, unique gift items. Three plants came home with me. First up is this pretty striped plant called Parallel Peperomia. It's a perennial that's native to South America. 

This large plant is my favorite and the one I splurged on. It's a Hoya Carnosa Krimson Queen. It's native to Thailand, India and China but is also found growing in the wild in the Philippines, New Guinea, Polynesia and Australia. I love the pink leaves!

It would make a beautiful hanging plant in front of the window, but I have a hanging iron chandelier to the right of this window over the dresser (not shown), so the plant wouldn't look good hanging in this particular spot. I had Brian hold it up for me so I could get a visual.

The third plant I bought is commonly known as a snake plant. There's a good deal of varieties: this one is a Sansevieria Laurentii. One thing I like about this plant is that it basically survives on neglect. It doesn't need a lot of light and requires little water.

In the kitchen, I changed the artwork on the wall to one of a brighter, colorful canvas (thrifted a few years ago) instead of my son's large photography print. I love Tim's photography, but the photo was in neutral tones and I was wanting lighter and brighter in the kitchen. I moved the photo print into the living room.

I found a short, neutral, lightweight runner for the kitchen table on Amazon. It's hard to find a short runner. Standard runners are 72" long, which is much too long for my small kitchen table. Sorry for the dimmer photos, but I took these late in the day.

I've always tried to look for small joys in my home and it feels even more important now, with what's going on in Ukraine. Our homes should be our place of comfort and safety. To see these families fleeing for their lives is heartbreaking and beyond comprehension.

What small joys are you finding or bringing into your home right now?

a sort of discombobulated month

March is a fickle month in northern Illinois. We could have temperatures in the 30's or 70's, rain or snow, endless cloudy days or plenty of sunshine (more unlikely). Signs of spring have finally started here. Daffodils and lilies are poking out of the ground and red-wing blackbirds and Big Fat Juicy Robins have returned. When Zippo was alive, he loved watching the robins out the window. I always told him they were "Big Fat Juicy Robins" when he was staring out the window at them and swishing his tail. I miss him so much. Chipmunks have come out of hibernation too, and are once again running around under the bird feeder, hoping to find fallen seeds.

 Every March, as I scan the ground for signs of green and the flash of the orange breast of robins hopping around, I feel as excited as a little kid seeing the ice cream truck coming down the road. 

Another sign of spring in this area: fruit trees appearing at the big box stores. The outdoor garden center was being set up with the metal display stands and piles of top soil and mulch. That means the pansies will be coming soon. I can't wait to have a pot of their cheery yellow and purple goodness on my front porch again.

Spring projects have started around the house, as well. We hired a neighborhood painter to paint what was Tim's bedroom and the hallway bathroom. We chose the same pale cream color for Tim's bedroom as our kitchen. We really liked the current color of our bathroom, but we couldn't find the old paint can with the name of the color on it. I was ready for a slight change in that room anyway, so after looking at a lot of gray paint swatches, we chose Flannel Gray by Behr. It was a little too dark, so we had the shade reduced by 25%.

Here's the hallway bathroom "before". It's a small room, so not easy to photograph. The brown trim near the ceiling will be painted white. The only reason we're having this room painted in the first place is because the paint was bubbling and peeling. The previous painter used an eggshell finish, which obviously did not stand up to all the moisture in the bathroom. This new painter is using a semi-gloss finish.

I hate having my house in disarray ~ everything from the bathroom and Tim's room is now in My Space (what was Phil's bedroom) and the basement. It didn't seem like there was much in either room, but when you start dismantling a room down to nothing, there's always more stuff than you think. Even the toilet tank is in My Space. It's also very unnerving to me to have a stranger in my house. With having a small house, there's really nowhere for me to "hide" except the kitchen. I guess I could hide out in the basement family room, but I don't like hanging out down there. It's rather dungeon-like. At least in the kitchen, I can be busy making food or using the kitchen table as my office space. Today I made a french potato salad (the recipe can be found here, though I also add a little fresh lemon juice and capers) and Energy Balls.

Back to the painter and it being unnerving having him in the house....he plays sports radio loudly the entire time, which tends to drive me up the wall. I know it could be a lot worse. It could be music I can't stand. I also know that this soon shall pass. And then I get to decide on the fun decorating stuff. Do I want the same sort of shelves going back on the bathroom wall, or something a little different? Perhaps I'll choose hooks for towels on the opposite wall (not shown) instead of a towel bar. As for Tim's room, we still need to decide on a twin or daybed, a rug, curtains and wall art. The room will be a combination guest/nap/TV room and Brian's office space.

Meanwhile, I've done little things to lighten up the house for spring. I've changed out the heavy throws for lighter ones and added pops of yellow for spring delight. All Clementine approved.

I just got a new piece of artwork. Isn't this a beautiful print? I love owls. I never knew this acquaintance of mine was artistic until she started posting photos of her work on Facebook. I was blown away. Lydia sells her work on Society6, if you're interested. Besides owls, she paints moose, flamingos, otters, elephants, ducks, pigs, etc. You can order the prints as wall art, note cards, cushions, bags, apparel, clocks...Society6 will print on basically anything.

I hung the print in my living room entryway for now. Who knows, I might put it somewhere else later. I'm known for changing things around. I also moved a white lamp to the corner to lighten it up for spring. Previously I had a tall silver metallic vase with willow springs and light stalks in it. It was great for winter, but I was in the mood for something lighter.

In other news ~ in my last post, I mentioned my battle with back, hip and buttock pain. It's been on and off since then...but a few days ago, sciatica really set in and I was in so much pain Tuesday night, that I was crying out in pain with every step I took. I could barely walk. I was holding onto furniture and the walls. I didn't sleep most of the night because the pain was keeping me awake. I went to my Primary Care Physician yesterday, even though I knew there wasn't much she could do except prescribe drugs and physical therapy and/or send me for x-rays or a MRI. I was feeling a little better thanks to ibuprofen, but I don't want to rely on that either. She wanted me to go on a Medrol pack (steroids), but I told her I wasn't willing to do that unless it was a last resort. Steroids won't cure sciatica. They simply "put a Band-aid on the problem". Steroids have way too many horrible side effects, including insomnia. I'm not willing to go there right now, trading one problem for another. And then the pain comes back as soon as the steroids wear off, so why bother?

She did send me for a lumbar spine x-ray, which again, I feel is basically useless because all it's going to show is arthritis. It won't show herniated discs or spinal stenosis like a MRI would. I had a MRI on my back about 10 years ago and at the time, that showed three herniated disks. So I don't know if one of them is now worse or if I have a new one...or maybe I do have arthritis or spinal stenosis or God-only-knows what else. 

The doctor did write a three week prescription for physical therapy, which I'm going to consider. I'm also looking into acupuncture. Our insurance doesn't cover it and it's a little pricey, but perhaps a few sessions would help relieve the pain. Oh - and I also want to mention that I'm regularly taking CBD oil except that I upped my normal dosage and that is helping relieve the pain and inflammation, too. All-natural and no side effects like NSAIDs.

How is the month of March going for you?

spring has sprung so yard work has begun

Check it out - short sleeves at the beginning of March! Yes, it's a Midwestern Miracle. Temps have finally warmed up into the 50's and 60's and the sun was even shining for a bit yesterday. What this essentially means is that it's time for spring yard clean-up. After a long winter, all the perennial beds are filled with dead leaves and other decay. Lawns are littered with dead leaves, twigs, rocks from the snow plow, and wood chips from surrounding beds. 

Just look at all of this yucky stuff from this area along the fence! Though I suppose it serves a good purpose during the winter; that being as a ground cover for the perennials. Those dried stalks you see sticking out of the ground are hostas.

After clearing out that area, we were then rewarded by the beautiful sight of lilies starting to  poke out of the ground.

Brian also started to rake all the dried pine needles and leaves out from under the arborvitaes in the back yard.

Today, I went around the entire yard and cut back all the perennial stalks...hostas, purple coneflower, sedum, phlox.

I marveled at all that was blooming already. The lilac bush...

Chives in the herb garden....

The tiny beginnings of hydrangea. I didn't cut this bush back. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to. I'll do a Google search.

After cutting back the sedum and digging out dead, wet leaves with my hands, I was thrilled to find that the cabbage-like sprouts were under all that decomposition.

Do you think I should uncover the patio furniture and get it set up? :-)

 Because we would never get a snowstorm in March or even April, right? ;-)