Howdy, friends. It is long past time to say hello without a microphone in my face.
We’ve been doing pretty well overall. We’re all tired both physically and mentally. I’m sure some of it is end of the winter fatigue. Some of it is the evil time change. But a lot of it is simply life not being normal. It’s normal in some ways and still not in others. But we press on because that’s all any of us can do as we live through what I suspect will be one of the major events in American history and probably world history. I think we all can be excused for being a little worn out.
Caroline has been doing a good job of getting up a bit earlier in the morning which means we’re getting her homeschool work done in a more timely manner. Big win. However, that means I’ve lost an hour or two of my quiet work time in the morning. So by the time I make a Morning Update and get it posted, a lot of times she’s waking up. That pretty much means an end to quiet thoughts and writing of any significance.
This means I haven’t been writing here and I’ve neglected my Substack. Sigh. Every day I say I’m going to get back on track, but it hasn’t happened yet. It’s not from lack of desire, however.
I’ve been doing a lot of work in my shop over the past few weeks. It’s the kind of mindless work I can do when I’m tired and/or listening to other things. I’m uploading all of the hundreds of math, reading, writing, science, and history activities and worksheets in my various activity packs as individual products (in addition to the packs). It makes it much easier for moms to find exactly what they are looking for, especially if they have the full year pass. I’m probably about a third of the way done. There are literally hundreds of products and I’ve had to rethink how my store is organized while doing it. But I’m very pleased with the results and it has made me want to get back to writing more learning posts and working my way through the list of products I’d like to make.
I am really enjoying doing the Morning Updates. I find it fun, to be totally honest. The time issue is the only thing that makes it a bit challenging.
Caroline and I finished going through Downton Abbey last week. She loved it. She loves the wit, especially the Dowager Countess. It was interesting to see which characters and couples resonated with her. We’ve had so many good conversations about different aspects of storylines, characters, etc. I think fifteen was a good age to watch this with her.
Other than feeding the birds, bunnies, squirrels, deer, raccoons, opossum, etc. life is pretty routine. David does have a bunny who likes him and will hop right over near him when David takes the food out. We’ve named him Buddy. He’s a cute little thing with shorter ears. We also have squirrels who love the apple cores we throw out after we cut off the apple we’re eating. One, in particular, is quite trained to pay attention as soon as the slider door opens. His name is Applesauce. The other morning we had 16-17 male cardinals waiting and eating around the feeders. It was easy to see them due to the snow that morning. We’ve basically grown our own flock of cardinals over the years we’ve lived here.
That’s it from our home. I hope you are doing well during this transition from winter to spring. ♥
Hi Sallie,
Great post, esp. the cardinals. At our cottage in the Laurentians I have become something of a birder. Although I am still learning to identify the species I was at least able to count 23 different types. I’m sure though that some might have been female/male (s) of the same species. For the first time last spring I saw a cardinal come out of out woods. Brilliant colours. We only saw it twice. It seemed as soon as the Blue Jays started to get active it vanished. Maybe for other reasons. Still, we love watching for them every year and do what we can to propagate as many visits by as many species as possible. Tom
It’s good to read the highlights of your quiet simple life. Thanks for the update. As I’m commenting on the day after your post, I’m happy to say there are only four more days of Winter left. 😊 I’m looking forward to Spring more than usual, probably because of the reasons you stated in your post. We’re seeing bunnies everywhere here too, and of course robins. My Lenten roses are starting to sprout back up, which is a welcome sight. I’m choosing to focus on these signs of Spring rather than the skunks waking up, and the buzzards returning, lol.
Hi Sallie, Thank you for the update. We have been seeing a Woodpecker in our front tree. The cardinals have been around in our back yard. We have been cleaning up our front yard. There is more to do there. After that we will tackle the back yard. We purchased three Pansie pots. The Lily Of The Valley flowers we ordered will be delivered in April. We also have Marigold seeds to be planted in a few weeks. Our Crocus have popped up and did survive 24 degrees. Looking forward to your next update. God Bless.
Joan,Marion and Marilyn