Spring is Coming!

The weather here has started to warm up steadily (finally) and I can't help but find myself hoping against hope that maybe, just maybe, this time we won't warm up for a few glorious days and then dive head first back into a deep freeze. The weather in the Midwest makes me a little batty sometimes, particularly in the winter. I really do not like to be cold (because I am cold 99% of the time without any help from mother nature) and the warm days make me so happy that when it does freeze over again, I feel part of my sanity slip away from me.

Don't worry though, all the sanity that I lose over the course of winter is restored as soon as the grass turns green again and I don't have to wear 3 layers to go outside anymore. But I have hope this time around because the weather is nice, but it still has a little chill. It's just not as chilly as it was. You know how weather gradually warms up everywhere else in the world, well that's what it's doing here.

Plus, the morning doves are going crazy at my apartment complex and I was once told that when the morning doves come back it usually means that Spring is only a few weeks away. You might think it sounds hokey and old-wives-tale-y but I figure it's a system that can't be any less reliable than watching to see if a ground hog sees his shadow or not. Right? Right.

I have lots of plans for this Spring, and for a number of reasons. One of which deserves it's own post (and is a very depressing subject for me, so I'm not going to think about it right now), but all the other reasons are small and can be summed up rather easily: I want to be a domestic goddess who can take care of all things house, home and garden.

One of my biggest Spring projects is to plant a garden in the space around our patio. The area is rocked, so the first step is to move all the stupid rocks out of the way. I don't think that moving them will be an issue so much as figuring out where the heck I am going to put the rocks, since they will no longer be all around our patio.

Other really crazy exciting Spring projects include: mastering the art of bread making, planting the above mentioned vegetable garden, planting grass (?), planting flowers (?), traveling all over the damn place (details coming soon. I know, you can hardly wait right?), marathons, 5ks, camping, and just generally spending time outside. And knitting. And sewing. And scrapbooking. And reading; lots and lots of reading.

Oh, and also joining some clubs that I have been wanting to join for a loooong time in a continuing effort to make friends who are in the same city as me (unlike my friends who are still in Lawrence, or living in Colorado, or moving to/already living in China).

Wow. I have a lot that I want to do this year. This is a very, very good thing.

Now, for a nice little GiST (7/365) to wrap this happy (and busy) post up.

#1. Haircuts

#2. Kielbasa sausage, green peppers, onions and rice.

#3. Aprons.

#4. Really sharp knives (for cooking people! I am not a crazy person)

#5. Cookies that I made myself (even if they are a little burnt on the bottoms. I still haven't gotten the hang of our oven yet)

Weather

Every blog on my reader today has been talking about how it's snowing like crazy where they are. So I thought I might add my two cents to the mix and talk about the weather where I live.

It's cold and not snowing.

And when I say cold I mean that with the wind chill, we're talking temperatures in the negative numbers. Right now it's 17 degrees outside (with the windchill it feels like it's 6 degrees) at 1:45 pm; when I woke up this morning, it was -1. I know there are places in the world where it's colder (like Canada or Russia) but when you have to take the dogs out every morning so that they can do their business ... it might as well be Russia because it feels like it's -1,000,000 degrees out.

It's so cold in the mornings that I layer like I would if I was going snow shoeing through the Alaskan wilderness. I wear leggings, under fleece pajama pants, under snow pants, with a shirt and a sweatshirt and my heaviest winter coat. Then add on my faux-fur hat with the ear flaps, gloves so thick I can barely zip myself in my coat and a scarf to try and shield my face from the wind. The wind that blows right into your face and is so cold that it feels like you're being poked in the face with a million tiny, freezing cold needles.

I hate to be cold, but if it's going to be so cold out, I would at least like it to snow. Then it would be pretty at least. As it is now, everything is frozen. Including people who have to be outside for more than ten minutes at a time. But at least the black ice is mostly gone.

I hope things are prettier where you are.