SPRING HAPPENINGS AND SOME VACATION PLANS

We are having a gloriously beautiful day today, temps are in the mid fifties and people are actually out washing their cars!  I was hopeful that The Husband and I could make the transition back to our own cars, he can always use mine if and when snow is predicted.  Well, he tried to start the little monster awhile ago and the battery is dead.  And our battery charger is 100 miles away at the lake.  I don't even know anyone that has one we could borrow.  Argh...I had lofty plans of going grocery shopping tomorrow and then a run into the Dollar Tree to pick up some glasses.  

Yesterday was very gloomy and a little cold.  Taking a few tips from Penny at The Comforts Of Home, I went out into the backyard and snipped some stems from my forsythia bush.  I usually wait for it to bloom and then cut some to bring indoors, but she explained how to "force" them on her blog.  I just trimmed the cut end up about an inch so it drinks up the water.  I have them in my new French trough.  And...I decided to leave the color of the wood alone.  I think it's beautiful just like this.  Now hopefully I will have some beautiful yellow flowers soon.

Remember the old desk and chair Emily found when we were out thrifting last week?

She got to work on it on her day off.  I think it came out really, really nice.  I like the two tone look.  The chair looks over sized in this picture but it isn't as you can see from the picture above it.  I asked her how she liked her first furniture painting venture and she replied, "I hated it."  I don't think we are going to see a lot more coming out of her studio.  

I took my baby to have her two lower wisdom teeth out early Wednesday morning.  I hope it doesn't seem like I'm exploiting her misery with this picture, we were sending a text to her boyfriend Tom.  I wish I could say all went well, but she had a reaction to the anesthesia (as we found out later) and she started vomiting while we were still at the office.  And it continued all day and evening.  She couldn't keep the medications down so she was in a lot of pain, and of course there was bleeding every time she threw up.  I was simply a wreck.  I'm pretty rusty at this part of motherhood now.  She was dopey and sick and miserable.  I didn't want to leave her home but I had to go to the pharmacy.  I picked up soft foods I thought she could eat but of course she didn't want anything.  I must have gotten up 15 times  that night to check on her.

Milo rarely left her side...dogs are so instinctive.  And yes, he falls asleep sitting up all the time!  But Abby got better with each day.  Tom came home from school Friday night and took over my nurses duty.  She will be back at work tomorrow and I told her to refrain from yelling at her students in case she pulls the stitches.  Ugh.

And she threw together a cake for a party she was going to today.  That's a marshmallow duck in the center.  

I haven't spoke much about the low carb diet.  It was 10 weeks last Friday.  I can't say it's easy, only because discipline and restricting ourselves from certain things is never easy.  Overeating and bad food choices are hard habits to break.  I could give you all the tips and tidbits of how I'm dealing with all this but it's just different for everyone.  And some just don't believe in diets (for lack of a better word).  I simply believe we have to take a serious look at our food and the way we eat, and how  that is causing us to gain weight, and then make the necessary changes.  I've almost hit the 20 pounds off mark and I really want to thank all of the ladies I've been emailing back and forth with for their encouragement, advice and for sharing their stories.  I don't think I could have asked for more cheering on.  :)

This is just a wonky picture I downloaded from the website where our condo is located.  This is pretty much the decor for all of the units.  Yes, everything comes outfitted so all of the units are uniform.  The units are booked out sort of lottery style and unless someone requests a particular unit, or one, for instance by the pool, it's all random,  I think they call the decor "Mountain Rustic".  I'll get a ton of pictures.  We have pretty concrete plans to go for two weeks at the end of May/beginning of June.  We knew that one of the first things we wanted to do was explore the Shenandoah Valley and all of the surrounding historical landmarks.  More so The Husband, I really just want to be in the mountains!  For practical purposes we are going to fly into Washington, D.C. and just make our way down through Virginia driving.  We will stay at a few places on our way to Asheville.  So I am working my way down the map, looking at B&B's and inns and even cabins.  It really has been a long time since we've been away and The Husband and I are very excited.  I'll keep you posted.

I don't know what the weather forecast is for this week, I have pretty much stopped checking it.  I still have three major organizing projects that I want to get done; the den, the office and our big linen closet.  I am trying to devise a way to get The Husband on board with redoing the den.  But, I think I need to take a break from all of that for now and just focus on having a relaxing summer.  

Have a great upcoming week! :)

XO,

Jane