March, in like a lamb and out like a lion

Did you find all your Easter eggs last Sunday?

We didn't, because we woke up to layer of wet snow!

Snow - then church, followed by tasty brunch at June's with friends.  Our same Christmas routine.  We are so blessed to have great friends, full healthy lives, and good food to enjoy.  D is also a local celebrity at June's, and he's never left without a hug from June herself.  The fantastic holiday buffet and festive atmosphere are tops and we passed three easy hours enjoying the company of our friends, (who we don't see often enough, despite the fact they live close by, that happens too often, doesn't it?) totally impervious to the bustle of others out for Easter brunch.  Afterwards, D and I returned home to our latest project:

We took a gamble on Veranda Charm and won!

That's our living room, re-painted (well, the half above the paneling) from an oatmeal/porridge/okayu color to that calming pale gray/blue Veranda Charm.  I was worried that the color would be too dark in a north-facing room, and our marriage too tested by a DIY, but we finished the whole thing in about 90 minutes.  Thank you, tiny living.  We both feel soothed by the color and I refer to it as our "spa room" now.  Not a bad under-$50 project.  Under $30 had we not bought rollers, sponges, brushes and masking tape, drop cloth etc.  We had fun and amazingly no horrible paint accidents (one flip flop may have been accidentally veranda-charmed, but it will live to see another foot, so that doesn't count).  

You can see D re-attaching our coat hooks in the photo, and please ignore the mess on the left as it waits to be re-placed once the paint dries.  D's new rule for tiny living is "nothing in the house that's not beautiful or useful" which he thinks is SO FUNNY.  I am sure he gleaned it from a baitclick solely to pester me when I come home with bags of sale candy, boxes of pens, nests of yarn, pounds of tea.   Don't get him started on the over-stuffed shoe crate either.  He just doesn't understand that some running shoes have sentimental value, before working themselves down the hierarchy to retire as lawn-mowing attire.  

Speaking of which, it's almost lawn-mowing season, isn't it?  Though March ended with snow, April has been breezy and mild, and the grass, the few blades of it left among the dandelion/poison ivy farm, creeps steadily upward.  Nugget loves the scent of springtime and as part of her pre-dawn toilette she tells the whole block exactly how much. 

We look forward to our next 10K and I have toned down my mileage respectively.  I am a busy bunny at work and with knitting and sometimes, at the end of my day (which starts very early) I just need to go home and not run.  Most days I do, but I'm getting better about tossing out garbage miles and replacing with other things that grownups do, like work, study independently, further my career, steward the profession, you get it.  I really don't need to do everything everyday, do I?

Cutie among the fruities....pattern not my own - Henri from Ravelry

This weekend we'll run I'm sure, and we caught the spring itch to paint the kitchen now!  It's nice to have this little home that we can revamp in a matter of hours.  I'm very task-oriented (in small chunks, puhleeze) so a room at a time suits me just fine.  

I'm getting excited for our upcoming TX trip and for morel season.  D already spotted mushroom hunters in the woods yesterday - no fungi however.  My gut and the lack of may-apples tell me it is just a few weeks too soon...though tomorrow I want to check on our secret spots from last year.  Not that I found any mushrooms, but it's never too early to oversee my terroir.  

Happy weekend!

See?  I put all that yarn to good use!  This guy also from a Ravelry pattern.