Happy Monday friends! And hello to February. I don’t care what the groundhog thinks, we are that much closer to spring! And I just keep reminding myself of that. Truth be told, January was not horrible (well, it was horribly frigid) but I was still glad to turn the calendar page a few days ago. I always love a new beginning. And that also seems a good time for a monthly daybook. Let’s get started….
The Weather – has shown signs of better days ahead! Over the last three or four days, we had a rather warm day and another day of (much needed) rain. WooHoo! Then I noticed yesterday, just about all remnants of our snow are gone. So very little left and with temperatures close to 60 today (yes, 60!), I think we can say goodbye to snow. Not only is the landscape and view more to my liking without snow, but I have really enjoyed getting in walks again. Without sidewalks covered in snow.
As I look outside my window – yes, there are one or two pesky snow piles left on the curbs but everything else looks rather blah. I have to admit the snow, when it was clean, did add some pretty to the view. Everything is brown and a bit “dead” looking. Will be happy when some green returns. Other than that, there is not much to see outside the windows these days. A neighbor, a few doors down, did put a for sale sign in the yard. Selling your house and/or moving in the middle of winter is the pits, in my opinion. But, perhaps, it could not be avoided. I wish them luck.
This morning, I am – trying something new with my breakfast. Thomas’ english muffins come in a sourdough variety. Have you ever tried them? I do like sourdough and I really like english muffins, so I am hoping these will be a double win with breakfast. Every once in awhile, I think I should try my hand at making sourdough bread again. Of course, I would need to begin at the beginning:) with a new starter. I just do not like all the discard and/or jars of collected discard. And what ends up being wasted, in my opinon. There are videos out there saying you make a starter and create yummy bread without discard. Others claim that is impossible. Who do believe and do I really want to try again?
Lately, I have been thinking about – many of those, in my area, who have been told they must report to the office again after years of teleworking. I definitely have opinions about the need for this (hint, I think it is a good thing) but, this morning, I am just talking the practicalities. Traffic has gotten crazy. Commuter lots, that barely saw 100 cars just a couple months ago, are now packed full to overflowing. People (some, not all) are going to offices without enough space for everyone at one time. I know someone who was sharing a cubicle with two other people which was fine when they split days to be at the office. Now all three are together in that cubicle. There are many (including my neighbor) who, thinking they would be working from home, moved and/or bought houses quite a ways from the city and are now commuting up to two hours (each way) in order to get into DC. My husband is retired (and he was not a government employee but he did work from home) and I have wondered, “what would we do??”
What I am wearing – all the cute Valentine sweaters and sweatshirts:) Not that I have that many (maybe three) but if you can only wear them a few weeks out of the year…well, you better wear them often.
Around the house – there are plenty of dog paw prints on the floor. When there is snow and snow clean-up, there is salt. And mess. Our HOA puts down the icemelt on our sidewalks. Which is lovely. However, in front of my house and our neighbors, there seemed to be about an entire bag full of salt. Not sure what happened but it has been a mess. Not only does the dog hate it but it really does leave behind filthy floors. Quite honestly, I got tired of trying to clean it up and, well, now the floors really need a good cleaning. It’s embarrassing but no more than the pile of laundry upstairs that has also been neglected. But both will be taken care of today. Or soon this week:)
My To-Do List – includes, um, cleaning the floor and doing laundry. LOL. I am also wanting to research/learn more about selling things on Poshmark. I know. It should be as simple as take a picture, post your things and sell them. Things are never “that simple” for me. And, for some reason, I find online selling to be rather intimidating, but now is the time to figure this out. We have some brand new, rather expensive items that I do not want to simply donate. But I also do not need them just sitting in the closets. They need to be sold. I’m all about cleared out closests. And making some money would not hurt my feelings either.
And, from my camera. I picked up my phone to look for photos and there are so many new baby photos. Several of my friends have new grandbabies. They are precious. I love it when they share the love, the excitement and the pictures with me. But, if I’m honest, sometimes I cannot tell which baby belongs to which nana/grandma/mimi. All wrapped up in their hospital blankets, they look so similar. At least, to me:) But, I can’t share baby photos. But I do have permission to share my sweet baby Tyler photo. Although, he is getting much too big to called a baby (and he will be a big brother in two months!!). Wouldn’t you just love to know his thoughts as he studies that donut??
I hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead!! Did I mention there are snow flurries in the forecast? Yes, I skipped that above. I’m not focusing on that. Regardless what the weather does, enjoy your week. Find the joy. Eat a donut with sprinkles!! And thanks so much for stopping by!!
Hello, I always enjoy your posts. 🙂 Paw prints on the floor, yep, me too. I cannot keep up.
Happy February!!
We are at 66 degrees right now! Yippee!! I may go and sit outside here in a few minutes. I was just thinking how blah our yard looks. Too early for flowers, buds on trees, no snow- everything just looks dead and not very pretty. But hopefully that will make me appreciate greenery and flowers when they return! Selling online is not something that I enjoy but I have gotten the hang of eBay. Other sites, not so much. I hope your Monday is a good one!
We had a good Monday and I am hopeful the whole week will be just as grand. I am trying my hand at sourdough bread baking with little success. I made bread with my grandmother’s 100+ year old starter (sourdough-like) but have not been good about feeing the yeast so I am trying to perk it back up. My daughter makes delicious sourdough bread and I am trying to renew my sourdough starter, too. She keeps encouraging me to throw out a lot of the starter and start fresh each time I feed my yeast. Seems terribly wasteful.
A friend of mine has a blog where she talks all things sourdough. She has an article about reviving sourdough here: https://idiesfarm.com/how-to-revive-an-old-sourdough-starter-from-the-dead/ and another about making a starter here: https://idiesfarm.com/how-to-make-a-sourdough-starter-from-scratch/. Maybe they will help!!
We had a high of 75* today. Amazing. I am sure we aren’t finished with winter but it sure was nice to sample spring!!
I have had good luck selling on Poshmark. It is really pretty easy and I struggle some with technology so that’s saying something!! I need to get into my closet this MONTH and get rid of a bunch of things I’ve held onto in case… in case I go to a fancy dinner, in case I go to a funeral, in case I start working again – NOPE.
PC worked from home for a short time during Covid. He was a government employee. But he went back right away when the pandemic settled down. However, several in his office were still working from home (and never available to do anything) even when he retired in July. They would work a day or two at the office then work from home. One gal even worked from Florida (although she was assigned to the office in El Paso) for months on end without ever showing up in person here. It was really ridiculous. So, I am in favor of folks go back to the office and cutting back our government all together. Paul worked with so many folks who did very little.
Muffins are yum! Lovely photograph of the little one.
I loved catching up with you here today! I feel you on the messy floors at home; with the two dogs that live here with Jonah and me, I have little dirt paw prints on the floor. It’s on my list to mop this weekend when the rain stops! I know you love the warmer temps; I get excited when thinking of spring this year. New beginnings! You and I have that in common. Much love to you, my friend!
Jennifer, I think the mandatory returning to the office space is a rather nationwide thing. Our son works for L.L. Bean in Freeport ME as a security tech for them and he is having to return to the office an extra day now.
We had 60-degree weather on Monday, but it started coming back down again yesterday and our nights have been back down in the 20s. We are to have an ice storm tonight (Wednesday) and our church service has already been cancelled. I’m ready for spring now.
More people are being told they must return to working in a company office instead of working from home here too. It must be difficult if homeworking has been allowed for some years and folk have moved out of the cities. Fortunately we have not had that problem and now hubby is retiring in a few months.
A mix of Winter sunshine and showers in this small corner for now.
Enjoy the rest of your week, Jennifer x
We’re getting snow today; so far it luckily hasn’t amounted to too much. Living in CT we get snow well into April and even May on a couple of occasions. I didn’t realize English Muffins came in sourdough. I did try my hand at making my own (regular) English Muffins last month. I haven’t yet jumped on the sourdough bandwagon though I do really love the idea I am afraid I’d be baking far too much trying to “save” all the discard!