State of the state of the... things?

 Two more chemos to go!

For those of you who have asked how to pray for me, thank you. Um, if you know of any magical means of chemo not stripping nasal passages and eyeballs of moisture, could you send them my way? I'm not getting nosebleeds, but they are CLOSE. Using more eyedrops than I expected too... other than that, my appetite is great and energy is so much better and all the things seem pretty good so keep 'em coming! Dada even had to give me my first hair trim because Thing One announced I had a good monk look going on but not much going on up top. Great. That's the spring look I was aspiring for. Sheesh.

However, extended family members of ours could absolutely use every well wish and prayer you could offer for their young family whose sweet baby was born with his cord around his neck. He hung on long enough to be loved on and cherished, then passed on after some time in hospice care. My heart hurts for his first time parents and his loving extended family who couldn't wait to meet him. There just aren't words. It's like in "Forrest Gump" when he says, "sometimes there just aren't enough rocks." Sending so much love and hope, you guys. You are so loved.

Life just keeps going, ready or not. We are finally getting some sunshine which is MUCH appreciated, though most of us Ohioans realize this is "false spring" and even though I was thrilled to see a killdeer this week, I also have seen them looking completely disgruntled as they stand around in the snow of previous years like, "I TOLD you we should have waited another week in Albuquerque!" The redwinged blackbirds have also been trilling and that makes me happy.

There's no school tomorrow for conferences and/or professional development, so it's a long weekend for us. This week had been spring break for Thing Two so I'm not sure if he's made it out of his robe at all this week...

Enjoy that sunshine and take really good care of you!

End of February

 Our typical Ohio weather (read: bizarre) had us frizzering back to back with 63 degrees the next day. Today it didn't hit 40 and the wind has been hovering around 20 mph. 

However, our clouds are fun! 

Grandmama says it looks like Siberia, hehe.

Most of our snow is gone, and good riddance, but I'm not naive enough to think it'll be gone for good. We still have all of March to go. 

In other news, we've confirmed that the killdeer and red-winged blackbirds are back from wherever they winter. I get excited when I hear them and even more so when I see them. I guess Spring IS on the way!

The unfairness of it all

I got a text from my mother stating, "70F whole area here and your area @40F seems unfair 😜💙😜💙"

I've been thinking about Triskal and how she hated the rain, which was hilarious as she was a webbed-footed, double-coated, water-rescue-bred Newfoundland. Even the kids laughed at her every time we sent her out in the rain because she made this mournful face like, "I can't pee in these conditions. I might get wet." We miss her. Man, she'd have hated today, though:

I love leaf-filled puddles. And I love that you don't have to shovel rain. And if it's warm enough to rain, then that means I might not be freezing to death, though let's face it, I am happiest at 80F and sunny. 

And our Leak is back.

And I'd been outside four times between about 7 AM and 10:30 AM. Twice with the kids to the bus stop and twice to pick up and reposition the dratted trash and recycling tanks. God in his mercy had allowed the recycling to be picked up early, so that one was empty- hallelujah and amen, because let me tell you how much fun it is NOT to be out there in the Leak playing 52 pick up with recyclables.

I have hopefully wedged the trash tank well enough this time that it will stay put until it's emptied. Then it'll probably fall into the Leak itself. 

The ditch creek out back isn't overflowing yet. The ones along the roads looked pretty darn full on Monday when we did our karate run, so I can't even imagine how they're faring today. Perhaps we should invest in a canoe...

Damon and I did hear our first killdeer of 2018 this morning while waiting under our umbrella for his bus. That along with the Facebook posts of tulips and crocuses from friends in Oregon tell me that spring is on its way. 

God save us, we still have to get through March...

Hooray! Proof!

Our snowman looks like the headless horseman. The Broccoli Broad started to melt yesterday and the broccoli popped out. Triskal devoured that, and I replaced the hat on her head. I added balls from our yard for her eyes and the kids were inside pointing to their mouths. So I inserted a smashed plastic pink bowling pin for her smile, turned around, and the kids are pointing to their noses. I found some old Happy Meal toy from Nick Jr., I think, and showed it headfirst into a nose hole so that the base of it was sticking out. The kids bent over laughing.

Today, there are two humps left of abdomen and thorax, I suppose. Hat is gone again and the entire head has melted away. I'm sad to see her go, but not at all sad to see the rest of the snow in the yard following her lead.

And the best part is that I thought I saw a killdeer on our way to church on Sunday. This morning while I was running errands with Sweetieboy, I saw three more. I hate to think what they are thinking, but I have a general idea. But that means spring is coming if they are coming back! Hoooooooooooooray!!!!!!!!!!!!