Good Grief..

Monday of this week started off badly, very badly..I had my coffee all ready to drink, it was just perfect, just the right amount of sugar and cream. I'd enjoyed two sips of it before my hand knocked it off the side table in the living-room...A lot of it went on the floor but a good part of it went into a large wicker basket beside me which was full of crochet and knitting books plus many balls of wool, much of it cotton yarn..For a moment I was almost too stunned to move. What do I do first!

I also had about six knit wool squares on top that my granddaughter uses to wrap up her dolls and other toys. They took the biggest brunt of hot coffee..I dragged them off, dripping wet coffee across the floor and threw them into my washing machine. I ended up having to soak five balls of wool in cold water and am still in the process of drying them out..I've had to unwind each ball over the back of a chair, let it sit overnight to dry, then rewind the balls of yarn..Two balls were a thicker yarn I intended to make into a poncho for my granddaughter Claire, they are quite large and will take a lot of work to unwind and dry. Two of the crochet books were brand new, hadn't even used them yet..all have dried well, but have the distinction now of brown marks..woe is me..

Not the way to start off my week. On a another bitter-sweet note our town and another town twenty minutes away are losing our Zellars Stores the end of March. So big sales are on right now making it worth while to look around. I was delighted to purchase a tension rod for our shower in P.E.I. for half price, also two curtains rods half price for the spare room and craft room there. At an earlier foray into the store I purchased my new shower curtain for our farmhouse on the island. A bit flowery perhaps for my husband but he likes to say: "if you are happy, then I'm happy"..

Hubby nabbed some corner brackets for shelving and large hooks for his barn on sale and he is hoping some of the metal shelving will later be sitting outside the store to be taken away free! Time will tell..We both found a nice pair of running shoes half price for the spring and of course I couldn't leave the store without purchasing an outfit for two year old Claire.

Changing topics, I've a confession to make... I'm a "late bloomer"..or perhaps another way of putting it, it takes me years to try new things other people take for granted. Two weeks ago I purchased my very first mango. My sister-in-law in P.E.I. often makes a wonderful fruit salad for breakfast. It includes cut up mango, pineapple, strawberries and bananas. It is delicious and I ate a lot of an orange fruit before I learned it was a Mango. Today I cut one up along with a pineapple and added some strawberries. What a wonderful breakfast. I even ventured to try some Mango all on it's own and liked it! Only took me fifty plus years to do that..

Another funny confession is that I've never eaten a "tuna melt". Wouldn't know how to make one, have seen one other person eat one and probably will not indulge..I've never eaten a Big Mac and only eat a cheeseburger if the person making it, forgets I don't want cheese on my burger..I have friends who swoon over bread pudding or custard but please don't offer it to me..but I do enjoy tapioca pudding. And one of my favorite salads my husband also loves involves  romaine lettuce, red onion, strawberries, poppy seeds and a dressing that I make myself from a recipe from a friend.

We all have such different tastes which is good, there is such a huge variety of foods out there to chose from which brings me to a promise I'm trying to make to myself: "stop buying junk food!" It does take so much longer to prepare fresh foods, the cleaning involed, cutting, chopping but in the end so much healthier for us..I mean who can only eat ONE potato chip, peanut, sweet or salty snack?..I'll only survive staying away from these sweet or salty snacks if I don't purchase them..Hubby would really miss his pretzels so it might take me longer to leave them off the grocery list..

I'm trying hard to get back into my routines since returning from three weeks doing renovations out in P.E.I., so got out for my first walk yesterday. Heard my first chickadees chirping away and our bird feeder was crowded with them this morning. I counted six birds on the maple tree out back and four on the feeder. Wonder where they go all winter, then suddenly show up at the first signs of nice weather. We still have tons of snow everywhere but the sun has been shining this week and Sunday looks like a plus 7 day with rain. I'll take it.

I'm starting a book on square foot gardening even though it will be near the end of April before I may even see my garden but hope springs eternal. I plan to cram a lot more into my garden this year in order to share the abundance with my daughter-in-law who is very interested in feeding our dear Claire the freshest vegetables possible. I have lots of gardening pots to put into use on the deck, some for flowers and others suitable for veggies. All the new magazines are showing glorious gardens right now which is getting me excited to start gardening in May. I plan to let Claire plant some seeds this year to try and get her interested in gardening. She visits her Nanny and Grampy a lot over the summer months so she will have fun watching her plants grow. Now if I can just keep Mr. Groundhog and the brown rabbits out the garden, we will be all set....