Spring Whistling

From our back porch in early March

I’ve been brainstorming ways to start this, so I searched for a quote about spring. My intentions were to blog about the beauty of spring and the promise of new life, sappy stuff I will get to eventually, but I wanted to share my wise crack first. Insert sly grin here.

 “Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.”  ~Doug Larson

So true, right? In springtime, we all are filled with fresh air, bright eyes, and a hope for new things as the seasons change. We see life outside again. The past few weeks have definitely been whistling weather, even though I’ve had my share of slushy shoes.

Our only blooming azalea

I am always an early victim of spring fever, but as I get, ah-ahem, older, my reasons are maturing. As a student, I definitely understood spring fever to mean summer is quickly approaching, a defense for slacking off in my schoolwork. Spring was simply a route we all walked through just to get to summer—hot & sunny days at the pool, beach trips, shorts & tank tops, late nights, etc.

In my more adult perspective, spring is a miracle, not just a stepping-stone. The beautiful changes- color in the grass, birds in the sky, and blooms (especially our gorgeous irises) everywhere- are reminders of God’s love and greatness. These are the reasons for my spring fever, wanting to be outside more than inside, this year.

I’m using my newfound spring energy to help shed some of the pounds I picked up during winter “hibernation.” After all, summer will be here before we know it. That’s just how the calendar works. And it’ll be time for those hot days at the pool, beach trips, shorts & tank tops, late nights, etc.  

Pinning

Hahaha. I’m sure someone, somewhere has already made this reference to Charlie Sheen’s epic interview, but it made me feel clever.

The past few weeks, as part of my resolution to learn to sew, I’ve spent countless hours #pinning. Looking at Pinterest for ideas and sewing tutorials, and then attempting to complete the projects. Of course that means I’ve also spent money on craft supplies and I’ve neglected my housework, but that’s okay. At least I made something.

So far, I’ve been fairly successful, minus today’s “Thing One & Thing Two” cupcakes, so I thought I’d share three things I’ve learned from DIY/Crafts on Pinterest.

1.     Before you login, have a general idea of what you’re looking for. If you don’t, you’ll end up looking at things you don’t really need. For example, last week, I wanted ideas for magazine storage. I ended up finding a great “vintage” wine crate idea, which led to another vintage framed-scrapbook-art idea. Which of course led to the scrapbook tree idea… You see what I mean?

2.     Set a time limit for yourself. I am clearly the queen of wasting time & being easily distracted. In the past two weeks, I’m sure my total hours of pinning exceeded 24 hours. Sad, I know. 

3.     Be realistic with your expectations. If you’ve never made homemade cupcakes or homemade icing before, expect a learning experience…and be prepared for multiple attempts. In my learning experience this week, I was attempting to make these fabulous cupcakes I found for my school celebration of Dr. Seuss’s birthday. The cupcakes, as in the “cake” part, turned out great. The icing, not so much. It was supposed to be bright blue and piped to look like tall, wild, Thing-One-Ish hair. Let’s just say it was a failed attempt. The icing was delicious, but it looked like blue soup. At 5:00 this morning, I was pinning again to find ways to thicken icing. All attempts to revive my icing were in vain. In the end, the kids loved the treat, but I was super-disappointed in my baking skills.

New goal: spread the projects out over several weekends rather than cramming everything into one three-day weekend. This weekend, my time pinning will be more limited as I plan to finish a book I started months ago. See my pic below for my scrapbook tree & wine bottle vase I finished last weekend. I say it's an improvement to our kitchen space.

If you need an invite to Pinterest, let me know. I’m happy to spread the mania.