7 Quick Takes Friday

Welcome Company Girls! Come in and welcome. Pull up a chair and help yourself to iced tea and lemonade and sugar cookies.

---1---

The highlight of my week was the birth of my second granddaughter on Easter Sunday. So far I have been limited to pictures and hearing her on the phone. I can hardly wait to hold her and see her in person.

---2---

Easter has come and gone for another year, but I'm still pondering the resurrection. I have one book in progress and another sitting in the queue. I wonder what it is that's going on right now that is making this subject so very compelling?

---3---

I'm dreaming of gardening. The fever is strong this year. Every time we've passed some place selling plants, I have the urge to stop and look. My first priorities are: (1) buy plants to do the planters that now flank my front steps, (2) buy hanging baskets for the holders hanging on my porch that are empty right now, and (3) get some tomatoes going. I have already purchased seed to grow some herbs on my kitchen windowsill. I'll be posting some pictures as some of these are accomplished. Are you doing any gardening this year (or dreaming about it)?

---4---

 One of the low points of the week has been a brief battle with a stomach virus traveling around the area. Two woke up vomiting in the night two different nights and a couple had unsettled tummies, but I think it's run its course. I hope all of you have been healthy.

---5---

 This month I am taking a good look at a cookbook that has been languishing on my shelf. I bought it after reading rave reviews. I've never made anything out of it, because it just didn't suit our lifestyle at the time, but seems to now. While we were testing new recipes last month, I kept running into issues if it was a day I was gone or really busy. I discovered I have lots of recipes if I have hours to cook, but not so many if time is short. This month I'll be cooking out of Desperation Dinners. Every recipe is rated at 20 minutes or less, but may take me a bit longer because I will be doubling or tripling everything. I'm looking forward to adding some new quick and easy meals to the lineup.

---6---

Tonight Thecooldad and most of the kiddos will be at a Christian concert. I'm hoping to get some reading done. I feel like I'm way behind on reading challenges. I currently have four books in progress. I'm determined to finish at least one of them tonight.

---7---

My head is so full of future plans it isn't even funny. I'm working on gardening plans, spring cleaning plans, next year's school plans, menu plans and spring/summer wardrobe plans. Can you tell I'm a planner? Hopefully, I can get some of my plans finished up this coming week and post some of what I come up with. What are you working on?

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine and flowers blooming!

Top Ten {Tuesday}: Ten Ways to Welcome Spring

The sun is shining. The wildflowers are blooming. It's Spring and this is how I like to celebrate:

1. Open the curtains and blinds
Let the sun shine in! The cold dreary days are hopefully behind us, so let's enjoy the sunshine before it gets too hot.

2. Open some windows
I love when it finally gets warm enough to open windows and let the fresh air in. It's time to let those fresh breezes blow through the house and freshen it.

3. Arrange some very short-stemmed flowers
I know the wildflowers are in bloom when I start receiving short-stemmed bouquets from my children. Forget vases. Bring on the juice glasses and baby food jars.

4. Blow on some dandelion fluff
Yeah, I know that it spreads the seeds, but there's no simpler way to recapture the simple joys of childhood, if only for a moment.

5. Plant some tomatoes
In order to enjoy the sheer perfection of perfectly ripened tomatoes straight from the garden all summer, the tomatoes must be planted now.

6. Plant some herbs
I will definitely want some basil and some dill for summer cooking. And some cilantro for salsa. And some mint for tea.

7. Plant some flowers
Some pots of brightly colored blooms are definitely needed to brighten up my porch.

8. Clean something
While I won't be doing an attic to foundation marathon cleaning, there will be some cleaning and scrubbing and knocking down of cobwebs.

9. Lighten my load
Just as I will be cleaning the refuse and unwanted things out of the flower beds, I plan to do the same inside the house. It's time to get rid of clothes that don't fit my body and possessions that don't fit my life.

10. Go play in the sunshine
There is work to be done, but I will be carving out some time to play outside with the kids. Bocce, anyone? I have to warn you, we play by house rules!

What are you doing to celebrate the changing of the season where you are?

I Have a New Granddaughter!

Spitfire had her baby last night at 10:54 PM EST. The baby, henceforth known on this blog as Bunny, weighed in at 9 lbs, 8 oz. and is 21" long. I can hardly wait to see and hold her!

Food for Thought

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."
--C.S. Lewis

Quirky Quote

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."
--A. A. Milne