Busy Week

Spring has really sprung here - a little too early I'm thinking, but it has been gorgeous.  Tonight though thunderstorms are predicted and then the temperature is supposed to drop a lot.  It has been in the 80's and 90's all week and Monday night we had some hail.  It was short-lived and didn't do any damage, but just came out of nowhere.  The girls thought it was pretty fun!  Bad picture - but you can see the hail in the mulch.

After the short storm -

In case you're wondering, N has a play cat bed on her head like a hat! She is so funny.

A lot of work was done here this week.  DH and our son especially, but we all contributed some - cutting down trees, pulling up shrubs, planting new shrubs, and spreading mulch.

We still need a few more plants and later this month I'm going to fill in with some annuals, but it looks so much better!

Little Upstarts

While walking around the yard today I found these two little crocus.  I didn't plant them there, but wish now that I had more.  Such a welcome sign of spring!  It is an absolutely beautiful weekend here.  Sunny and in the 70's.

DH and I ventured out to the garden center this morning and bought some new shrubs.  The front of our house had 17 year old overgrown shrubs planted by the builder.  They were crowding out each other and the azaleas we had planted right after we moved in.  We are in the process of pulling out all the old shrubs and expanding the area a little and planting new. We bought a few things this morning and want to place them in the area before I decide what else to buy.  We're trying to get away from the look of lines of hollies that have to be pruned and going with an airier look with more interesting shrubs that bloom or have color at different times of the year.  I'm no landscaper though, so hope I don't screw it up too much! 

I have had a strange couple of days.  Thursday night I started with a sore throat and achiness.  By Friday morning I felt like crap!  All day I froze and ached and slept most of the day.  Since I slept so much yesterday, last night I couldn't sleep, of course.  I got up and watched some TV I had TIVO'd, but my back and head were killing me.  I remembered that DH had some pain pills from his surgery. I know, I know, you should never take someone else's drugs, but you know you have too!  I took one about 1:30 and went to bed.  At 2:30 I woke up feeling like I was having a heart attack. (Since DH's heart attack we tend to think the worst!) The very middle of my chest was hurting, and my eyes were so blurry I couldn't see the clock.  I got up and got a cold washcloth, but was so dizzy I barely made it back to bed.  The next few hours were rough.  I would drift off to sleep, then wake up to see if I was still alive, then drift off again.  Let's just say today has not been my most productive day.  We did go to the garden center and out to lunch, then back to the couch.  I won't be taking this particular pain pill again.  I g**gled it this morning and those are some of the side effects.  I'm usually not sensitive to meds, but age, age, age.  Everything I blame on age!

On to a more positive subject, I finished this cute little scarf - The Garter Stitch Ascot.  Very simple, but fun and cute.

The gathered area is open to fit one side through the other like this:

The yarn is a merino/cashmere mix that is very soft and cushy from my stash.

Have a great week!