The timing of shit.

Started Sunday, March 9th..

We slept in late- as in an hour late, lol. That's what happens when the clocks spring ahead into daylight savings. Just glad we didn't have any appointments today. It was another chasing day today, this time into town. Meijer had briskets on sale, so I picked up 4 of them to stuff into the freezer. Each one is only 2-3 pounds, perfect for a dinner or two and some rubens besides.
Got a pair of garden paws on clearance- they are like shovels you attach with your hands for scooping stuff with.. They will be perfect for weedy cleanup :) Picked up some weird crayola markers too- window markers that frost as they dry. Yes, I will be doodling on my windows come warmer weather. I might pick up more the next time I'm at Meijer if they have them still.
And gotta say, hooray for GFS!!! I love them.  I dearly wish I had a chest freezer so I could better utilize them. Even a little one would be wonderful, lol. But their prices can't be beat- a 4.5 oz jar of chili powder from the store is about 3.50, a 16 oz jar from GFS is 6 bucks. 10 lb bag of rice from the store is 11-13 bucks, 5.49 at GFS. And they have coffee on sale regularly, cheaper than sale coffee at the store.

Got a dry erase board hung and cleaned in the greatroom today. I was cleaning the one on the fridge and got a bug up my ass to hang one down there. We have three of them, well and beyond time for at least one to be hung. Good thing too, my love and his partner are working on some project that the board will be super handy for.
I started out using white vinegar for cleaning, and if the marks had been recent, it would have worked perfect. Or if I had been willing to spend a couple hours of spraying and elbow grease to get it like new again. But I was cleaning ink that had been sitting for three years- acetone nail polish remover to the rescue! That board is white again :)

With the hour delay and by the time I was done chasing today, I kind of ran out of day to work in the solarium.

Monday, Monday... So good to me :) Really, it's been a beautiful, sunny, low 50's kind of day. I didn't tromp around the yard- we have ponds and moats out there with all the melt off, lol. All the birdies have been coming out to check the feeders which to my shame are still bare.
I did get some cleanup done in the solarium. Nova was out there with me for a while, he is really being a good kitty out there. Not chomping on plants or digging in dirt, though he did get curious and jumped to the top of the fountain. He's being good about going inside and not trying to get out and not crying the end of the world when he can't get out as much. I tried letting Os out, but nope, she had to start chomping a cattail, and got booted. Then she sat and stared evil at me through the kitchen door. I need to test Tikki out there, see how she behaves. I would rather like it if I could keep the lower solarium window open when it's nice out so all the cats can come and go as they please, but yeah right. But I can keep trying.
I got some horseradish worked on today. Using an old shower curtain to mix on, I would empty a horseradish pot, mix it with 2 of the litter buckets, then back into the pots again. The horseradish clumps were sort of frozen up so I pulled the plugs and set them to thaw/drain in pots on the bench where the sun should make them happy. I was surprised to find that all the pots were still so wet, and here I worried about it, ha. I still have the last horseradish pot to bust and mix tomorrow, then it's hurry up and wait for the root clusters to be ready for replanting. The resulting leftover from the mix should kick me off with 4 litter buckets or so of dirt mix to start spring potting with. Enough for some milk jugs for sure, prolly enough for other potting too.
And the bear paw shovel scoops I got on clearance have already paid off. In fact, wish I had picked up 2 pairs of them. I used them for scooping up mixed dirt off the plastic and into pots and it was nice as hell. They are far more gentle than a shovel would have been and far superior than trying any other method to get the dirt back into pots. 
Picked up a new product to try out at Meijer the other day since it was on clearance- Crayola window markers, they dry to a frost effect. I've tried them on a couple different windows around the house now and I must say, I rather like the effects. Quite a bit. I think these could be a perfect solution to the windows we have birdstrike problems with. The stuff washes off so if we aren't happy with it, I can clean it off and start again. The colors look great from the inside and particularly striking from the outside. I'm already making plans for a few other windows as well. Heh, I might have to go back to Meijer and pick up more if they still have them. I just wish they came in more colors, it's mostly pastels and I kind of wish for jewel tones sometimes too.
I think I'm going to start with the library window for this. It will be an interesting challenge to get the pattern onto the inside of the glass then color it in. Very different method than what I'm used to for making faux stained glass. Typically I use a pattern behind the glass and use gels working on a horizontal surface. This time I will be using a pattern on the glass and use all inks on a vertical surface. Then come later this spring I can take apart the outside of the window, clean out all the wasps nests and repair the screen as I can.

So... Now I'm a week in on the vape, hooray! Right now I would be at least 40 bucks in the hole on American Spirits this week- even when smoking I hate most of them because of the chemical ick and way liked AS better. By this time next week, my vape will be paid off and all the juice I've been using too. Two weeks from now I will be pulling ahead. And I'm not a raving bitch in nicfits, my habit is in better control. I still need to figure out a little case to slip into my purse for travel- gotta be cute and fit into my often super tiny purses.
Best of all (well except the fiscal part which is number one) is the smell... Geez, I knew darn well how nasty stinky smokes are. But just a few days of no smoking here and I'm finding myself doing laundry to clean all the stink out of bedding, using lots of vinegar to clean to leave it all good. Using a lot of air freshener and incense. I can hardly wait till I can have the windows open and really air the house out good- just being out in the solarium with pops outside through the day today was fresh and better than usual. Even when I've been vaping like a motherfucker, it smells like a tasty confection or fruity goodness rather than the stuff burning tobacco leaves.

Tuesday, another lovely day here at GbH! The snow outside the office window has finally melted off enough that I can see the litter bucket out there- finally under 15 inches, woot!
Another day for the kitties in the solarium. Four of them this time. Os of course ended up getting booted first for chewing on my parsley.  Pooks decided after a while that he wanted in and waited by the door for me to let him back into the house. Marbles was curious all over and a really good boy- till it was time to come inside, then he was a whiney lil puss, heh. Nova of course was right fine till he annoyed me by faking wanting to come inside one too many times and then he too got to come inside.
I did get the last horseradish dumped out and it was the wettest one so far. I'm kind of wondering if they didn't dry out at all all winter and are just thawing out now. I ended up using all the rest of my bone dry potting soil just to soak up all the liquid. It's requiring a bit more of a sit and drain time than the other two did. And I found out the dirt I've been mixing is wet enough to require perching on the soil instead of the carpet, damn it.
Other than that, it's just been a lot of doing laundry and cleaning floors today. Seriously overdue for it, but I really hate floors when I can't have the windows open, lol.

I've been cooking quite a bit since getting back. Casseroles and cheesy veggies, roasting chickens and tonight is spicy chicken and rice enchiladas.

Tuesday.. Went to sleep with the pitter patter of raindrops falling on my roof.. Woke up to winter wonderland of snow frosting everything deeply...

I was not teased to pissed by a day or two of over 40 degree days. I was not disappointed by the snow this morning... I am not unhappy that we got another generous blanket of snow before the official time of spring has struck. I was not tempted to open windows or turn down heat. I knew better.

I know Mama N has been having a grand ole time this winter. I'm not fooled by later winter/early spring shake ups any more than I am by early summer days almost touched by frosty fog in the free lot.

On the bright side, no matter what.. I get to plant in a lot of tomatoes and peppers tomorrow :)