spring break round up

i could not have asked for a better spring break... well, unless i was skinny and on a beach and drinking a lot, then MAYBE that would be better. BUT - for this little stay at home mama this week has been divine. the weather has been picture perfect. 70's (81 yesterday!) sunny and wonderful. i've been able to sleep and take walks with nuggie and do some big time deep cleaning of mi casa. and i haven't touched a bit of school work. i'll probably pay for this later, but the mental break i've had has literally made me feel like a new person. i didn't realize how badly i needed this break until now, and it's almost over. i had no idea how stressed i really was. guess nursing school will do that to you :-) so so so thankful for a peaceful, restful, delightful spring break!

so what have i done??? well, it hasn't been a panama city beach vacay - but i did take sweet nuggie to the zoo. grampy got us a membership, so i see lots more trips in our future. she loved the meerkats and the flamingos. i think b/c you can get really close to them and she could actually see them. she didn't cry when she saw the blue parrots this time - hurray nuggie! and she loved watching all the kiddos around her. things she did not love: a vanilla ice cream cone. WHAT?!? this child loves anything sweet. a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. so i bought a very small cone for she and i to share. i let her take a taste and you would have thought i'd given her the most sour of lemons. her little face puckered up and she whimpered when i offered her another taste. poor little nugget :-( i think she got a brain freeze. the other thing she was not crazy about was holding my hand. how do you teach a toddler that she has to hold mommy's hand? the zoo has a massive playground area. so when we were done checking out the critters, we headed over there. all she wanted to do was run wild and in fifty different directions. i tried to show her to hold my hand, but that only resulted in her melting into a puddle on the ground. she seriously went limp as a little wet noodle when i tried to show her how to walk with mommy. then i looked like super mom of the year - like i was dragging my child around. and this kiddo is fearless. she wanted to climb up everything, go through every tunnel, slide down all the slides. but she's still so little and at times wobbly. i want her to play and have fun, just wish it didn't mean i was a nervous nellie and had to run around behind her to keep her from leaping off stuff and into harms way.

another fun spring break activity has been to set up my garden! pita surprised me with two new garden beds and all the soil to fill them up. aaaannnndddd, while it may have not been the smartest thing, it's just been too lovely and sunshiny and i had, HAD HHHAADDDD to plant my little planty starts out in the gardens. gardening is like therapy. oh how i love growing things and playing in the dirt. i've looked forward to nuggie's nap time every day this week so i could get out there and dig around. she sees the little baby plants and just wants to pull them up or poke them with sticks. we're working on this :-) so for now i'm a nap time garden gal. so far we've planted: tomatoes, garlic, onions, marigolds, basil, nasturtiums, mesclun, peas, carrots, spinach, cucumbers, white squash, yellow squash, green beans, strawberries, jalapenos, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, dill, cilantro, oregano and rosemary!!! whew! i hope it all does well!!

bub took a day off and while he was home we had a giant, old tree taken down from our front yard. it's bitter sweet. i miss it. i loved that old tree. it was lovely and shady and last spring nuggie and i spent lots of time playing under it. sadly though, it was dying and every time a breeze blew (not to mention all the awesome death storms we've been having), giant chunks of it would fall out/on/down from all around it. it also happened to be a poplar tree, so it dropped 75 bazillion "sticky balls" = yep, that's a scientific term for ya :-) those little beasts though are like perfectly round ping pong balls all over the yard and driveway. i can't tell you how many times i've about fallen on my ass stepping on them. so the tree had to go. after alot of hunting we found a great deal (bub even haggled a little - woot woot!) and down it came. and so now our yard is naked. and not shady. and a little sad. hopefully we'll plant something new soon.

other odds and ends...
- we watched moneyball. call me what you will, but i hated it. it was boring and sad and the only bright spot was brad pitt. but even he's starting to look a little rough around the edges.
- i bought a box of steaks out of a truck in our driveway. i can't say no. i can't. and so when the dude showed me these steaks and said he'd give them to me half off - i HAD to say yes. right? right? guys? back me up. cause i'm starting to feel pretty dumb. and scared to eat them. what if they're bad? they don't look bad. they look amazing. i really gotta work on saying "no".
- we had dinner with our sweet neighbors. man that lovely lady heather can make a delightful pizza - yum!!! it's always nice to spend time with them :-)


guess i outta stop. this is getting out of control. happy march madness friends!!!