New growth and weekend plans

[caption id="attachment_430" align="alignnone" width="459" caption="plum tree blossoms in front of our place"][/caption]

 

I live in Washington State…about 30 miles south of Seattle in a little town called Puyallup. In all my years here (15 to be exact), I have never seen a winter quite like this one. By that I mean that I have never seen winter come to an end so soon. We didn’t even break any rainfall records this year! It was actually a rather dry winter compared to normal, and we only got one dusting of snow. Quite unusual. A little over two weeks ago I was on my way home from work when I thought I saw flowers budding on one of our trees by the driveway at the office. “Naw…I must be seeing things…it’s still FEBRUARY for Pete’s sake!” On the contrary. I think by the end of next week all trees will be in full bloom. My allergies started taking notice shortly after my observation at work, and that’s when I knew: SPRING IS HERE! Don’t get me wrong. Washington and I were practically made for each other. I love rain. And wind. And gray. But I must tell you, there’s no place like Washington on a crisp and clear day when the tiny green sprouts are starting to come out of the ground, the bare trees are getting that green-ish tint at the end of their branches, the sky is a magnificent blue, and that mountain. Mount Rainier. Beautiful and white. *sigh* I love Washington. It’s so gorgeous here when the sun is out. The rain keeps our skies clear and smog-free, so on the sunny days everything seems to just glisten and sparkle. Days like this make me happy inside. I just wish my body agreed with my love for spring and flowers and new growth. Darn these allergies! It’s supposed to be 63 degrees tomorrow. 63 degrees!! I plan to break out the flip-flops and Bermuda shorts. Granted, I’ll be inside all day, but maybe I’ll set myself up by the window… 

Tonight we’ve got the in-laws (well, my in-laws, Corey’s mom and stepdad) coming over for dinner. I wish I could say I was making something delicious and mouth-watering, but I’m not. I don’t even get home from work until almost 6pm, so that doesn’t leave much time for cooking. AND his mom and little sister have Celiac Disease, so everything has to be gluten-free. And I’m lactose intolerant, so I need lactose-free. Yes, we’re quite a bunch. Cooking gluten-free is no easy task. So we’re just going to take the easy route and pick up some salad and rotisserie chicken from Costco. They make it gluten-free. I wish it was as warm out as it looks to be. I would move everything outside for dinner, but I think 53 degrees is a little too cold. Plus, it’ll probably be back down into the 40’s by the time they come over…and it gets dark by 6:30. So I’m out of luck. Oh well. They’re watching my niece tonight too, so I’ll get to see her adorable little face again. Should be a fun time. I love having people over. I love BBQs particularly. I can’t wait until we have a house of our own and can BBQ most weekends in the summer and invite family and friends over. Right now we can barely seat 4 (and there will be 6 of us). That’s the challenging part of our current living situation. But maybe sometime later this year we’ll have a house. Lord willing. 

Tomorrow I’m going to hunker down (of all days, I pick the nicest day of the weekend to do this) and finish up my niece’s birthday quilt. My Pastor’s wife is helping me with the binding. And I’ve decided to go outside what the pattern calls for. It’s a quilt made from strips, and they tell you to “stick in the ditch.” After talking it over with Jenny (Pastor’s wife), I think it would look much cooler free motioned. Except I’ve never done free motion quilting before. Well, I’ve actually never done a quilt before. This is my first one. So Jenny’s going to help me with the free motion stuff. It looks scary. I hope I don’t screw it up!! I’m super excited to see how it turns out. But I’ll probably cry if it looks terrible. 

Ok, I better quit typing and tidy my house up before the fam comes over. Happy Friday, all!