has spring arrived at last?

Happy Monday! And Tax Day!

On second thought, that's not very happy for most people. And even though I don't work outside the home right now, I hate Mondays as much as everyone else. Partly as a leftover feeling from my college days.

But this morning I took my coffee outside on the deck and almost started crying because it feels so beautiful outside. It even smells like spring. At last. The sun is shining, the river is flowing, and my tulips are poking out of the ground. I noticed my tulips last week and got so excited, but now I'm ecstatic because the weather is lovely. I'm crossing my fingers that it stays that way.

This is a short post to welcome spring officially (I hope!), and to let you all know that I now have a camera!! One of my dearest friends was so kind to sell her old one to me at a discount price. It's not new, but it works perfectly, and besides it is new to me! I haven't taken many photos yet, and the ones I have taken are of my cats and my feet, but perhaps I'll have some photos of the yard to share in the near future. :)

Now, rather than going to the gym to workout this morning, I am going to put on my gardening hat and muck boots and get some yardwork done!

an in-between time

The snow still covers the ground, which is fine with me, but I also would like to get outside without having to wear winter boots. That would be nice. The air is slowly warming up, and it did rain over the weekend. But it snowed again yesterday. Ah well. Such is Wisconsin!

My blog is suffering in this in-between time, as we transition from winter to spring. Not having a camera really doesn't help. I seriously hate posting without pictures, especially because many of my post ideas need pictures. I entered a giveaway over at Mommypotamus for the Canon T3i, which is the camera that I've been drooling over for a long time now. The giveaway ends at the end of the month, I think. Crossing my fingers and hoping hard! In the meantime, we have some spare cash, so maybe I'll just bite the bullet and buy an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera. Or go for the all-weather one from Nikon since that'd be apropos for our lifestyle. Hmm. Decisions.

At this point, I'm planning out the vegetable garden, ordering seeds, basking in every little bit of sunshine there is (speaking of which, be right back!), mourning the melting snow (yes, I really do like to hang onto winter; besides, melting snow makes me sad), and mentally planning the camping trips that we'll never get to take.

So, back to my cup of organic coffee and my seed catalogs.

colour my world/a Lenten musing

The first three photos were taken in summer of 2011 (I think) at my family's home in Illinois. Currently,  I miss colour. The world is white and brown, which is beautiful of course, since we all know I adore snow. But February is nearing its end now; I find myself longing to see green buds on the trees and hear birds singing in those trees. We have another snowstorm coming; exciting as always. But as I page through my Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog and pick what I will grow this year, I wish I could open the windows and feel a warm breeze. Spring breezes have a certain scent to them. I don't mean the ones that smell of manure and farms! I mean the other ones, those that smell warm.

Lent is also upon us. We sang the hymn in that last picture both on Ash Wednesday and last Sunday. When Lent comes so early, it's a bit of a shock; we think of Easter as being in the springtime. And it will be -- it comes on the last day of March. Easter, that is. So perhaps Lent being so early isn't a bad thing. As winter holds on and spring struggles to break through, we can be reminded of our Lord and Savior's struggle with Satan and death and how He won, just like spring overcomes winter each and every year.

Yes, I love winter. I kind of hate summer. Autumn is awesome. But spring is a good time to be contemplative, and that's something I look forward to as the weather warms up.

sunshine, please come back soon.

I'm at the point now where I have to continually remind myself that I love snow and winter. The problem isn't the cold and the fluffy white stuff, though. It's the fact that the sunshine has disappeared and won't show its warm face. I love bright and cold winter days, when the sun is shining down from the clear blue sky onto a brilliant blanket of snow. But these gloomy not-quite-cold-enough days just drag me down.

To keep my spirits up, I'm writing my spring cleaning list (to be begun as soon as the windows can be opened), looking up places to go snowshoeing, planning my garden, and drinking floral teas. Specifically, Berryblossom White by Tazo Tea. SO GOOD. I have my amazing friend Becca to thank for introducing me to this tea, way back when we were still in college. Okay, that wasn't way back, but I graduated almost two years ago, so....

And I just remembered that I have homemade dandelion wine to try! I'm nervous...it's probably terrible. But I hope it tastes decent. And that it tastes like summer, even though I'm not a huge fan of the summer temperatures.

Of course, Valentine's Day is just around the corner, too. I've never been a huge advocate of the Hallmark holiday, but hopefully Nate and I can do something fun. At the very least, I'm going to cook us a fun dinner. I found a recipe for red wine pasta which looks and sounds delicious. I also plan on making some heart-shaped doughnuts for breakfast. Though those might have to wait until the weekend when Nate doesn't have to get up at 3:30 am.

How are you keeping back the weather blues? And what are your Valentine's Day plans?

here's to making 2013 fabulous!

Happy New Year to my dear followers! I apologize for not posting regularly on here. There have been a lot of ups and downs over the past year, but I am determined to make 2013 better than 2012. We humans, being imperfect sinful messes, always say this every time a new year rolls around. Occasionally it works, and more often it doesn't. We make resolutions to lose weight, read more books, make new friends, stop smoking, eat better food, travel more, etc.... The list could go on forever. And while resolutions can be good, I think it'd be helpful to realize that we will never be perfect no matter how hard we try.

So. I do have resolutions, though I am calling them goals because that just sounds more attainable. Besides, my goals are meant to be habit-forming and thus a change for the better, though a few of them are just fun. So here is my list.

• read my Bible more often
• treat my body better and get it in shape
• drink a green smoothie at least once a week
• eat breakfast
• snowmobile with Nate as often as possible while the trails are open
• play the piano more, and teach myself Claire de Lune
• take up knitting again
• learn how to crochet
• perfect the art of making a latte (I consider it an art anyway...)
• sew a fantastic Halloween costume (gonna be the Miller High Life Girl!)
• take more walks/hikes
• work my way up to running
• plan at least one weekend up north camping trip for this summer
• write something every single day
• purchase clothing only from thrift shops (this is a goal I will expand upon in a later post)
• shop local: both shops and farmer's markets
• write monthly letters to friends and family
• plant a vegetable garden
• harvest dandelions for wine again
• purchase a DSLR camera (I even have my eye on one... ^_^)
• read 50 books, at least 10 of those must be non-fiction
• begin making Christmas gifts at a decent time this year
• BLOG BLOG BLOG 
• don't forget that it's okay to dress up and put on a little lipstick just to do mundane shopping
• always remember that each day is a gift from God and try to enjoy it

There you have it. It's probably not a complete list of goals, but I also tend to overshoot when I plan things out for myself. I think I'm addicted to life, specifically experiences in life. I want to do everything, go everywhere, see all the beautiful sights this world has to offer. Realistically, I know that'll never happen, but I can begin a little closer to home and enjoy what the Lord has blessed me with, which is a fair bit of goodness.
And I mean it when I say 2013 is going to be fabulous!

[gardening post no.1]

It may be a tad early to be planting much here in Wisconsin, but I thought I'd at least start a few herbs. In the past, I have always managed to kill what I try to grow when it comes to herbs, but I think that has to do with forgetting about them...
Hopefully, now that I have my own house, my memory will work better.
Or something of that sort.

Anyway.

Do you know what is an excellent use for old coffee cans?
Poking holes in the bottom of them and using them as pots!
Considering my husband and I drink a lot of coffee, I'm pretty sure I'm saving myself some money.

Just use a screwdriver and a hammer to pound some well-spaced holes into the bottom of the cans for drainage!

I have three other cute pots that I bought at Kmart the other day, so I used those, as well. I had six coffee cans, but I only used three of them for right now. I didn't have quite enough potting soil, plus I didn't want to plant everything and then, well...kill them. Blah.

So I planted the seeds of six herbs out of the many that I purchased.

Here is what I planted:

• Spearmint
• Stevia
• Cilantro
• Oregano
• Sweet Basil
• Cress

I have plenty of others to try out, but I had to start somewhere.

They all need full sun, so the deck is a great place for them. I'll have to bring them inside at night still, but hopefully not for long.

This is my favorite pot:

I planted the spearmint in here, since of course I'll probably use it to make tea. :)

Also, I adore my pink metal watering can.

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Like I said, I sincerely hope and pray that these herbs grow well. I probably ought to invest in a "growing light" to put them (and other plants) under when I bring them inside, since there really isn't a place in the house that gets full sunlight other than in the late afternoon.

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"I never had any other desire so strong, and so like to covetousness, as that one which I have had always, that I might be master at last of a small house and a large Garden."  ~Abraham Cowley, The Garden, 1666

[we only watch British television and old movies now]

Hi, long time no see.
Last time I signed into Blogger, I read the announcement about the design change that was coming for the "Dashboard" part of it. Now I find that it has changed and I DON'T LIKE IT ONE BIT.
It's more confusing than it was before.
Oh hey, kind of like Facebook.
Sigh.

Never mind that.
I'm almost serious about the title of this post. There's not much American television I like anyway, though there are a few shows I love, like Once Upon a Time, Switched at Birth, and Bones. Other than that, we tend to watch Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Keeping Up Appearances, Mr. Bean, and other shows like that
Of course, one cannot forget the always stunning Masterpiece Theatre, especially the Classic part. Downton Abbey is my favorite, and last night I watched part one of Birdsong, which takes place before and during WWI. It was absolutely excellent, though I'm not sure how I feel about Eddie Redmayne playing Lieutenant Stephen Raysford . He always looks vacant and it's kind of weird. Clemence Poesy, who played Fleur Delacour in Harry Potter, is wonderful as the French woman Wraysford has an affair with. So far, having seen part one, I can say this is definitely not for younger viewers, as there is some graphic war violence and sexual scenes, and I would imagine next week's episode will be the same way. The make of this film might bother some people, because it appears to move through the scenes rather fast, with very little dialogue at some points, and an almost exclusively piano soundtrack, but it made me think somewhat of Scorsese's adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence. Something about the aura, I guess.
Other than that, I tend to watch a lot of Turner Classic Movies. Rarely have I watched something on there that I didn't like. It's probably my favorite channel.

I'd tell you what I'm reading, but that would infringe upon what I wrote on my book blog earlier today!

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Since Mother Nature can't seem to make up her mind, I haven't done much gardening yet, though my purple tulips that I planted last fall look beautiful! I might mow the grass this afternoon, too, but I want to pick the myriad dandelion heads first. Maybe. I have a recipe for Dandelion Wine and I feel like trying it. Though I don't have all the ingredients yet, so maybe mowing will have to wait.

I have a lot of empty coffee cans that I am going to turn into pots for the herbs I'm going to plant, and I bought three cutesy pots yesterday, once of which is a huge teacup. I think I'll plant the chamomile in there!

My vegetable garden needs a lot of work...I can't even see the dirt for all the weeds. Eugh. Not looking forward to tackling that. Thankfully, I have plenty of time, since I don't want to plant my veggies for another month yet.

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I had intended to include photos with this post, but perhaps I'll add them later, since I haven't actually taken any yet. Oops.

I hope April has treated you well. After all,

April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
- - - T. S. Eliot "The Waste Land"