spring amazements and a big project

This weekend, I went to one of my favorite local garden centers to look around. When I walked into this greenhouse, I stopped in my tracks and smiled. One thing's for sure: When you live in an area that has long, cold, gray winters, it sure makes you happy to see color and flowers again.

I didn't rush and buy any flowers yet though as I knew I wouldn't be able to plant them this week. And right now, all I want to plant is some pansies and they were overpriced at this garden center.

What I did buy? ONE succulent.

Remember the vintage planter I got a couple of weekends ago at an antique shop?
It was calling for a succulent.

If you're wondering about the piece of art in the background...that's a metal and wood plaque by the contemporary American artist, Nancy Thomas. I found it in Goodwill many years ago.

I am amazed by what is blooming or coming out of the ground every day. One day the hostas were barely poking out of the ground and two days later, the leaves were already unfurling.

Today I was walking around my yard and I found these beautiful daffodils in bloom. A couple of days ago, they were merely green stalks.

And rhubarb! That appeared practically overnight, too.

 I had physical therapy this morning (and oh, by the way, I saw the orthopedic dr yesterday for my six week checkup and he didn't like how my knee and leg are still swollen...so I started a prescription anti-inflammatory that will hopefully get that swelling down...and lucky me got another month of PT tacked onto my schedule, too), and this afternoon decided to start a big project.

As most of you know, I'm an avid reader and love my book collection. I have books in every room of my home except for the bathrooms. Downstairs in my family room, I have three big bookcases and two small ones. I also have big wicker baskets full of books because I have no more room left in the bookcases. Well, I decided to tackle the books today. Monkey was absolutely thrilled by this prospect.

I started with the first bookcase and cleared off the half the shelves, starting at the bottom. I carried those approximately 150 books upstairs (lots of trips) and piled them on the kitchen table. I looked up each book on amazon to see the average reader review. Anything less than four stars, I didn't keep it. After that, I decided which ones to list on paperbackswap and which ones to donate to my local library for their Friends of the Library book sale.

I ended up listing 44 books on paperback swap and bagging up another 47 to donate to the library. The remainder were the ones I kept.

Look - I already have empty bookshelves! My goal is to finish this first bookshelf by this weekend. I have a loong way to go, but this is a start.

Happy Passover and Happy Easter - if I don't talk to you all by Sunday!

therapy, a barn sale, and moving along

I'll be honest with you, I'd been hesitating about doing a post these past couple of

weeks. My life has pretty much been consumed with physical therapy appointments every

weekday. I had mentioned in earlier posts that I was having another medical problem, but

I didn't want to get into too many details on my blog. Long story short, I have primary

lymphedema in my left arm and "they" (doctors, therapists) have no idea why. In the meantime,

I am going through lymph drainage therapy. It's not anything painful, just time consuming. And

the first five days my arm was bandaged in five layers from hand to armpit. Now I'm wearing

a compression sleeve during the day and what I call the "oven mitt" at night. Yes, it's as

uncomfortable and hot as it looks. I'm just thankful I'm having to wear these things while our

weather is cold and not in the middle of summer. I think Monkey is just as perplexed about this

contraption as I am.

So, I felt I had nothing to write about. All over Blogland, people were decorating and

crafting and sewing and cooking and remodeling - and I was doing nothing except going

to therapy and keeping the household stuff going. Reminds me of the old 70's skit from

Cheech and Chong - Sister Mary Elephant. Any of you remember that? Though my
version would be, "The first day of the week, I woke up. Then I went downtown
 to go to physical therapy. Then I went and hung out at home.The second day of the week,

 I woke up. Then I went downtown to go to physical therapy. Then I went and hung out at

home. The third day of the week...

SHUT UP!!"

 

So, life picked up a little bit this weekend and one of the fun things I got to do

was to go to a huge barn sale with a friend of mine at a place called Ginger Blossom

in the far reaches of northwest Illinois. Ginger (yes, Ginger Blossom is her real name)

travels the world and brings back tons of things to sell from her farm: furniture, rugs,

clothing, scarves, dishes, household decor, ethnic and tribal collectibles, drums,

masks, ethnic jewelry, etc.  

 

It was a cold, rainy, dreary day and we got wet and muddy, but we sure had lots

of fun. The pathway to the barn was lined with bare trees covered in lights.

 

Some of the interesting things inside the barn included these Buddhas.

 

I loved all the glassware from Mexico. Someday, I'd like to go back and perhaps get

a set of drinking glasses or wine glasses. They were reasonably priced, at $5 each. 

As you can see, the barn is packed from the floor to the rafters with all kinds

of goods. I really liked those baskets you see in the background, too.

 

The grounds had paths all around that led from one little cottage to the next,

with each cottage stuffed with goodies. My only purchase was a pretty red scarf

from India (only $5!) and then a jar of raw honey and a couple of blocks of homemade

artisan cheese from a local vendor. I told my friend that when I go to places like this,

I get shopping ADD. I get too overwhelmed by all the pretty things and stuff I like

 and then can't make a choice. 

Moving on to today, I know that this week will be a busy one for most of us in the US with

Thanksgiving being this Thursday. I did my grocery shopping this morning, then came home

to start a big pot of split pea soup. I also made cranberry-orange muffins, a pan of my

homemade granola, and a pan of roasted spiced mixed nuts.

 Snow moved in this afternoon and I spied Mr. Squirrel out my living room window enjoying

 a little snack ~ one of the last mini pumpkins I left outside for the squirrel's enjoyment. 

  Here's to a good week!

hopping down the bunny trail

 I don't decorate much for Easter now that I don't have little ones at home, but I still

enjoy putting Easter touches in my kitchen. I put some of my favorite bunnies and

vintage egg cups in the china cabinet...

and placed some more bunny items on a shelf next to the china cabinet.

The egg cup on this shelf is a new one from World Market. The other bunnies

and even the miniature teapot were all thrifted in past years.

I keep my kitchen table very simple on an everyday basis due to curious kitties.

If I so much as put a tablecloth on the table or any elaborate place settings,

they must check it out and jump up on the table. So, I won't make a really pretty

tablescape until the last minute on Easter Sunday.

Easter dinner will be small and cozy ~ me, Brian and Tim ~ and my mom and cousin.

I'm picking up a nitrate-free ham at Trader Joes this week and I'll also make 

marinated asparagus and a fruit salad. My mom is making hot cross buns and 

potato salad, and  my cousin is bringing glazed carrots and an apple pie. I'm also going 

to make a pitcher of strawberry-peach sangria.

In other news, I started physical therapy again today for my shoulder. The MRI

last week showed I have a partial tear in my rotator cuff. I'm perfecting the art

of one-armed yoga and at least I can still exercise by walking and biking. I got a

"new" bike last night from a private seller in my town. It's a Schwinn Traverse and

was hardly used. All it needs is new inner tubes in the tires. Little bits of work continue

in the yard as weather permits (we had some warm weather, but then rain moved in

and umm...it's now currently snowing!) and in the guest room, too.

Happy Monday, Happy Passover, Happy Easter.