It will Break Me

Spring break here.  Guess what we're doing for it?  Sitting here and watching the grass grow.  Literally.  And it's turning greener and greener with each passing day.

I must say, growing up hearing my mother's stories of how she would wait to spy the first robin or look for the new fuzzy-headed pussy willows as the first signs of spring, I always wondered why she was so anxiously waiting.  For in California you sneeze in winter and spring is upon you.  I think most trees are in bloom by February.  Greeness is taken for granted.  Here, in Idaho?  Not so, my friend.  The morning I saw the crocuses poking their green little spikes out of the ground, I nearly tackled my running friend out of sheer joy.  Life!  In the ground!  Could it be?

And now, I go out daily to check how my various trees' buds are coming along.  A lot of promise, but no show.  On my run yesterday I noted each robin I passed.  Thinking to myself, now I'm waiting anxiously for their return.

But enough poetic waxing.  We really aren't doing much this week.  Enjoying the lazy mornings.  Playing a lot of "wegos."  I just baked a batch of cookies, and I have a sneaking suspicion that Mr. M and Miss A are hiding with several of them in one of my closets.  The family across the street must have a new driver, because there's a new car that's been lovingly washed by its two teenagers 4 times in the last week.  I'm thinking of slipping my van into their driveway in hopes that all the love can extend to a smelly blue family van.

Yesterday, DH and I took the whole bundle of children to the YMCA to swim.  The kids had a blast.  Me?  I had fun playing with them.  But there was a point in one of the pools when I saw a very large hairball float past me and I had to refrain from crying out.  It didn't help that the pool was as warm as bathwater, and the majority of the swimmers were under 5 or over 85.  It had so many chemicals in it I could practically feel my skin melting off my body.  Ahh well, I was planning on getting a chemical peel done sometime anyways.

I saved the best for last!  On Sunday night I found bugs crawling out of my 9 year old couch.  Yup.  Tiny brown ladybug looking bugs were coming out of a very old rip on the back of the couch.  It took me 5 minutes of hyperventilating and screaming, and the couch and its tinier twin now reside in the garage where they await their fate at the city landfill.  Come to find out they were carpet beetles.  The house as been sprayed and I even signed up for a 2 year plan to keep my friendly pest guy coming back to ensure I never see a bug within 20 feet of my house again.  Three cheers for chemical warfare waged on bugs!  Down with old furniture and their evil counterparts!

Everyone who has heard of the bug saga says, "Well, at least you'll get some new couches."  Touche my friend.  If only we had 1) the money, 2) the patience of Job, and 3) a stroke of good fortune.  Because we all know how hard it was last time I tried to pick out a new couch.  Time will tell.

Happy Spring!