Spring Tidying

Have you started spring cleaning yet?  Are you going to?  Um, me neither.  More like spring tidying.  Here’s a peek at what my FANTASTIC week looked like.  Including a little spring tidying.

Back Patio

Hub got out the power washer and sprayed off the chair cushions around the fire pit, the grill and dining table. 

Immediately after the furniture gets sprayed, I have to go over it with a bit of soapy water and dry it off so our hard water won’t etch it. 

The garden looks hopeful this year.  We have lettuce ready to be harvested.  Hub’s radishes have already produced a couple of batches.  We got some big tomato plants from Costco.  Crossing my fingers!

Pantry

Ugh.  Just ugh.  I dreaded cleaning the patio but there is a lot of motivation to get that done with warm weather quickly on the horizon.

But the pantry?  Come on!  Every time I opened that door a pit of demons looked out at me.  So I took everything out, got rid of forgotten food, cleaned shelves, the floor and reorganized.

Looks much better.

Do you see the chips are way up top?  Doesn’t stop me.  Even with a sore shoulder.  Nope, I’m pretty dedicated to chips.  But I make myself work for them.

Nature

Two hikes including nearby Sonoran Mountain Preserve with Barb where we visited mama owl who nests every year in the giant saguaro near the end of the trail.  She garners a lot of attention so she must not mind it.

My pic of her is no good, but if you peer very hard you’ll see her ears peeking up.

Deb and I got out and walked our park and local trails.

I wrote about our Superstition Mountains hike last week.

Friends

This is absolutely the BEST part of my week.  DFs Connie and Bob hosted us to alfresco dinner in their beautiful back yard. 

DFs Cindy and Sara and their hubs met us for dinner in Scottsdale.  They were all very naughty and ended the evening at Sweet Provisions.   A lovely ending to a lovely evening.

Friday we had a last-minute dinner out at Texas Roadhouse and then ended up playing cards in our kitchen.  Hard to believe this group of Evon, Barb, Stu and John and I have now been meeting pretty regularly for outrageous fun for two years.  Most certainly my rocks and my sanity.

The new Anthem skateboard park celebrated their grand opening with fireworks Saturday.  So, with Evon, we strolled the park and enjoyed the fireworks.  With a thousand unruly kids on skateboards and bikes. 

And some crazy adults.

We barely made it home unscathed, believe me.

Hearing from friends via text, email and phone brightened my days immeasurably!

Eating

I’m really not labeling this as what I’m eating because Deb shared pics and recipes of the uber-healthy treats she made for her women’s retreat last week.

For brevity’s sake, I’m including the links she adapted from, but please ping me if you’d like her printed copy, because she shared that too!

Here’s what she did:

• Banana Bread – Adapted from:  https://elanaspantry.com/banana-bread-recipe/
• Chia Pudding Cups – Adapted from:  https://downshiftology.com/recipes/chocolate-chia-pudding/
• Fruit Skewers (recipe not included – place fresh fruit cubes on skewers and serve)
• Veggie Sticks & Ranch Dressing – Adapted from:  https://www.rebootwithjoe.com/bbq-cauliflower-salad-with-ranch-dressing/
• Chocolate Dome Cookies – Adapted from:  https://www.powerhungry.com/2018/03/chocolate-coconut-flour-cookies-vegan-keto/
• Grain Free Granola Snack Mix (full recipe on next blog)

All recipes are all dairy free, grain free, and gluten free.

Reading

You might ask with all the activities this week how I could possibly have read a thing?  It was hard, I know.  I wrapped up a couple of loose ends not worth mentioning, started on one and put it down.  Not sure I’ll pick it up again.

And, while I was doing all that spring tidying, I made progress on that stupid audio version of Midnight Sun.  I still have over three hours to finish. 

But, much like my potato chip addiction, I’m tenacious and I will get it done.

Wrap Up

Not for one minute do I take this life for granted.  I am so blessed to have friends and loved ones near and far.  Thank you so much for being part of my journey.