Sunday Night Chit Chat: Spring Dreaming

Good Evening Humble Readers...

I hope that you all have had a great week.  It was sort of a sluggish week around the hobbit hole, with a serious lack of anything significant being accomplished. 

The weather this past week has been astounding.  We have been having a prolonged January thaw, punctuated by several chinooks.  It was so warm toward the end of the week that I was able to have the windows open in the afternoon to allow fresh air to fill the hobbit hole.  It felt so nice!  As of today, we are back into seasonal temperatures (well below freezing).  While there is still no shortage of snow (if only you could see the mountains of snow in all the parking lots around town), we have actually had a very dry month. 

You can actually see a bit of grass under the trees!

I'm in no way thinking that winter is waning, because I know for a fact that we will likely still get our heaviest snows of the season in February and March.  We still have a good three months of snow left to go.  Heck, we've had snow in May in the last several years. 

Even knowing that winter is far from over, I'm starting to itch to plant things in the pots on our balcony.  I want to expand our container garden this year to include a few vegetables, and I want to include the wee-lings in the planting and maintaining of our little garden.  Do any of you have any experience or tips for container gardens? 

My sad little flower pots right now.

I know I want to attempt to replicate the success I had last year with basil and thyme, and I'm hopeful that at least one of my lavender plants will come back after the winter.  I'm thinking of getting Ginny to plant some chives (for quick gratification... it grows so fast), and she's very excited to grow some carrots.  I'm going to attempt to grow tomatoes again, although I think I might stick to cherry tomatoes.  Any other suggestions? 

The main hurdle for container gardens is that they dry out much quicker than a traditional garden, but I have a plan to help combat this (going to try the pop-bottle trick).  My only concern is our planned week away in June.  Perhaps I'll see if I can get a friend to stop by to water the plants for us. 

***Ugh.  Just had to spend more than an hour cleaning in the wee-lings' room.  Pip has taken to removing his diaper again, and I forgot to tape the tabs down before naptime.  I walked in to get them up from their naps and found him naked from the waist down, and the entire crib, inside and out, covered in poop.  I know that Ginny was in on it, because it was in places that he couldn't reach and of course she had poop all over her hands.  I don't want to rush them growing up, but I'm sure looking forward to the end of this phase.***

On to this week's chit chat.  Here's what I'm...

Reading - Oh my, I have been reading up a storm this week.  I finished Plantation by Dorothea Benton Frank (meh, I didn't like the main character... she was very wishy washy, whining about her lack of attention from her mom one moment, and then treating her sister-in-law like total crap).  Then I read the newest Stuart McLean, The Vinyl Café Story Exchange.  Love, love, loved it!  It's a collection of stories submitted from people all across Canada.  They were funny, poignant, and sweet.  Wonderful read!  And now I'm reading Lawrence Hill's new book, from the CBC Massey Lecture Series, called Blood: The Stuff of Life.  I love this book so much that I'm planning an entire post about it.  It's all about the politics of blood... race, gender, religion, how blood figures in our language, in our culture.  It's awesome!  Next book on the list is The Kitchen House by Grissom.  Oh, and I discovered an awesome website this past week, www.goodreads.com.  You put in titles you've read and it makes recommendations on what you might like to read next.  I love it.

Watching - It's Sunday, so that means Downton!  I recorded it earlier this evening, so I'm planning on pouring myself a glass of wine as soon as I'm done this post, and curl up on the couch with the Crawleys. 

Listening to - My first ever episode of Modern Family.  I understand why I don't watch this show.  I really don't like half the actors. 

Cooking/Baking - Tonight was garlic and herb pot roast, mashed taters, steamed vegetables, and yorkies.  I found a recipe for a copy cat version of the Starbucks chocolate cinnamon bread that I want to try.

Happy I Accomplished This Week - All that reading.  I'm so excited by it. 

Looking Forward To Next Week - Pip's hearing test on Tuesday.  I'm 97.6% certain that there's nothing wrong with his hearing, but I'm glad we're going ahead with the test. 

Thankful For - That AF finally showed up.  She was a full week late, and I was not only pms-ing beyond belief, but I was also starting to freak out a bit.  I know it's extremely unlikely that I could get pregnant, but the fear of facing it again was starting to creep in. 

***Bonus Question*** Do you have any phobias?  Other than getting pregnant again?  Well, birds.  Yes, I'm ornithophobic.  Any thing with feathers and anything that flies creeps me out beyond belief. 

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This was posted as a part of Carla's Sunday Night Chit Chat. Click over and check out what others are chatting about tonight.