anaritaiam
- Mar 31, 2018
- 5 min read

The Unofficial First Day...

It's HERE...the official holiday, announcing not just a HUGE religious event, but also the changing of seasons. Spring has arrived! I know the 'committee of unknown, majoring in equinoxes and daylight savings times' has already choreographed their information with the 'committee of calendar makers' and has given us the EXACT start date of all our seasons and clock changing days, but those not on either committee already know that Easter marks the true day of Spring; just as gardeners know to wait until Mother's Day to plant their flowers! Who needs a committee?!?!?

And we have so many little "sprouts" trying to emerge from the ground and probably praying like I am that the snow is a thing of the past until at least after Halloween! And, in true Good Friday fashion, it has rained non-stop for the past three days and this afternoon the clouds finally parted ways to allow a little bit of sun to shine through...just in time for the Cincinnati Reds Opening Day for baseball season! (the other unofficial first day of spring!) ⚾️🌸 Baseball and blooms, a perfect match!

So much of nothing is going on, but at the same time, I know that so much of something is going on all around me! I've been noticing the lawn and garden departments are putting out early spring flowers and spring flowering trees and shrubs, all of which I just want to scoop up and point to spots in our yard for Bill to plant 😉. Our yard doesn't have that many spring blooms (or so I thought) that hide the drab of bare tree branches and bushes, but this year we got to witness miniature blooming daffodils! (fyi, I know you can't see the sign clearly, but it says 'Fairy Garden' and has an arrow...💕) See the yellow blooms!?!

This is a first because we normally aren't ever successful with bulbs thanks to the infinite number of squirrels that plant and harvest in our yard and garden! For example, this ⤵️

Can you see that? That dark spot in the middle of one of our holly shrubs? Yea, that's a walnut...evidently the holly shrub has become a refrigerator for walnuts. I took a picture of this because when I was out there I saw a walnut in the other holly bush and knocked it out. Then I turned my head and see this one. These bushes are literally right next to each other and we have this one particular squirrel that is constantly carrying a walnut past these bushes, up our deck steps, across our deck, up the deck rails, down the deck rails then back to the ground and off somewhere to place the walnut God only knows where. This is daily. I have watched him for months and months now... One day while sitting at the kitchen table, I witnessed him march the same pattern except instead of going down the railing he ran across the railing towards my kitchen window. I clapped real loud, which was, in hindsight, pretty dumb because my back door was wide open and it spooked him at which he knocked over an empty planter sitting on the outside window sill and that caused him to drop the walnut and jump 10 feet and fly off the deck...where he could have easily detoured right into my kitchen!

I had to have a few pansies to brighten up the deck! The drab was just adding to the gloomy rainy weather so I started adding color :)

Of course I needed to add a little Spring to the table.

I love this picture because it makes me think of Bambi, born in Spring :) You can't quite see the little deer, but he's on the other side of the rabbit. Which gets me excited to see all the other animals that will be born or arriving soon. The birds are singing every morning and the internet is saying the hummingbirds will be arriving shortly! Time to get the feeders cleaned up! Also time to get the list of spring house projects in order! But you know what I'm REALLY excited about and what Spring means to me??? Yep, you guessed it! GARAGE SALES!! 😍 Just to get some practice in, I went to our local Half Priced Books to see if I could find a "treasure" or two and I did!! Or at least I personally feel I did 🙃.

A book on teas (to go with my 'collection' of teas!) and a book by Pippa Middleton! I mean, who wouldn't want a book by Pippa Middleton?!?! (evidently the person who sold it to the store didn't...poor taste..her loss my gain!) I mean, she's only related to the the next King of England! JACKPOT for me! lol And purchasing these little "finds" has gotten me in the mood for some major yard sale shopping! But...and there's always a BUT...this year I am cleaning house. Yes, I am very aware of the hoarding that has taken place and stored in my basement, in drawers, and in cabinets that most don't see when they come to visit. My OCD is having a huge battle with itself though because I despise clutter...yet, I have a hard time parting with some things. I always feel like I should "hold onto it for one of the kids" or "this is a collector's item" or "this means so much to me"...But, I have taken my husband's advice and 'if I'm going to bring something in, something needs to go out.' And there is just so much that needs to go out! Our community is having an appropriately named Community Yard Sale at the end of April and this gives me one month (actually less) to organize, clean, and price my treasures! Oh let the fun begin! For my local friends, I will be sure to post pics on Facebook as a "pre" yardsale Sale. And for my non-local friends, if you follow me on my facebook page I Am Anarita, I will post some items there and if you see something, at least if it's not too big, I'm sure we can work it out and I can send it to you. I can't wait to post pics of the big event! In the meantime, be sure to follow me on facebook!

And for those wondering, this little girl turned 4 months old a few days ago. She has been so fun and at the same time, so time consuming lol. All she wants is to learn how her humans live. I can't begin to tell you how blessed we are to have such a sweet mannered, well behaved young lady. She's gotten so tall since we brought her home and has already gained over 10 pounds in less than a month...reminds me of my pregnancies... More than anything, she loves us and wants nothing more than to be around us all the time. This picture is through a window. It's killing her that she couldn't be outside with me 😂😂 Don't you wish they could just speak English sometimes!?