7 Quick Takes Friday

1

I've had a very busy week! I participated in most of the blog carnivals I wanted to. I found a new Monday carnival this week, I'm thinking it will be a big help for establishing some routines & motivation to stick to them. I kept up pretty well with my Food blog. I currently have about 6 recipes partially started as drafts...some I need to make & take pictures of, maybe fiddle with the directions a bit, others I just need to finalize how I would like to use them. I've gotten into the habit of starting my weekly posts a few days early so I can tweak them a bit before they go live....I'm really liking the routine of it. My friend Kirsty has a new blog design....it is GORGEOUS!!! I'm so jealous. I would LOVE to get a custom design done for my blog, but it is totally not in my budget. I am starting to look around for another new background. I like to change it fairly regularly. I like this one, but I think there may be something even better available if I spend a little time looking. I'd love recommendations for good places to find FREE backgrounds!!

2

I had hoped to get a LOT of spring cleaning done this week. I've gotten two of the kids bedrooms pretty much cleared out & cleaned, I need to get them put back together. I'm almost totally caught up on the laundry & at one point this week I actually had every single pot, pan, glass & dish clean & put away!!! I've been running the vacuum a LOT, keeping the floor clean is one of the things that helps me to feel like I'm accomplishing something. Unfortunately my 3 yr old & 1 yr old seem to thrive on dumping things on the floor all day long.

3

Tonight we are taking dinner to my oldest daughter's former teacher. Mrs A had to take a leave of absence after the Christmas holidays because of severe blood clots in her legs. She was totally bedridden for a while after she got out of the hospital, but she is improving little by little. One of the room parents organized a group to take meals to the family. My daughter loves to go with me to deliver meals and I think it is uplifting for Mrs A to get the chance to see her former students. Mrs A is hopeful that she will be able to return to teaching in the Fall, prayers for her continued improvement would be greatly appreciated. In a similar vein, I learned this week that one of my neighbors was in a welding accident at work on Good Friday. He is currently in the burn unit at Vanderbilt Hospital. They are hopeful about his recovery, but it is going to be a long road. Our subdivision is planning several fundraisers for the family & we've put up yellow ribbons on trees in the neighborhood with his name on them. Prayers for Mark would be appreciated as well.

4

I've been thinking a lot about my initial decision to not use my kids names on my blog....I have friends who have cute nicknames for their kids & using those instead of their names seems to work really well. Unfortunately my kids don't have cute nicknames & the longer I blog the more confusing it is getting for me to talk about my kids without using their names. This is one of those things that once you start, you can't go back & undo it. All my kids names start with the same letter so referring to them by their first initial wouldn't work either. I'm finding it tedious to keep using their ages. I'm going to think about it a bit more before making the leap, but right now I am definitely leaning toward starting to use their actual names.

5

Our weather is still being unpredictable. We've had a few warm days, but we've also had some pretty cold ones. Hubby & I have been talking about planting vegetables in containers. I looked at tomato plants and want to do some research online. I like to buy the little plants rather than growing from seed. Everywhere I've looked there are tons of hybrid plants....I'm not sure I want to buy hybrids. I did see some heirloom varieties and I think that is what we will go with. I'm also considering growing bell peppers, maybe some hot peppers & green beans. I'd love to grow cucumbers too, but I don't think we have enough room for all the pots on our deck. Our ground here is red clay & our dog is not garden friendly. I could put pots on our driveway & I may end up going that way, but I'm afraid I will neglect them if I'm not looking at them constantly. I'm going to wait until May 1st to actually plant anything, hopefully the danger of frost should be gone by then. The flowers are all starting to bloom. I need to get some mulch & trim my bushes & I'm also thinking about putting some weed & feed down on the lawn. I bought a new lawn mower, ours was stolen early last Fall. Here's some of what is blooming in my yard now

6

Hubby went back to work last Saturday. He is concerned about how his leg is healing so on Thursday he went back to the Dr to have it checked. His ankle & lower leg are already looking much better, his upper thigh actually seems worse than it was before the procedure. The Dr says it is all part of the normal healing process & eventually will improve. He has made the decision to go ahead & let them give him an IV for the next procedure on April 30th. If you know my Hubby, you know what a HUGE deal it is for him to agree to allow something to be stuck into him & left there for any amount of time. It's unfortunate that general anesthesia is not available for this procedure, I think that would be so much easier for both Hubby & the poor Dr.

7

Next week our youngest son is turning 11. I'm not sure yet what we are doing for his birthday, but I hope to come up with something fun. I'm starting to make plans for a possible family get away in May....we could really use a few days of fun.

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