Florida is warming up beautifully. Spring is here and the birds have been busy building nests, fighting for territory, calling for mates and gracing my backyard. I really enjoy spring. We are in the height of our drought season. We need rain badly, but probably won’t see anything untill June. Then the heavy afternoon rains begin and we turn green in a week. Really neat to watch, actually. The pool has been scrubbed down, filled and up and running. The water is chilly, but the kids will not care. I will let them in there today.
I am still playing around with growing vegetables. The broccoli is almost done producing. I planted 4 new tomatoes in containers and they are thriving! I have strawberries to put in, and they are flowering and fruiting in their pots. I have the supplies to build a compost bin. I look forward to making my own dirt. Dirt is not cheap at the store. The sandy soil we have here is not suitable without amending it first.
The school year is careening to an end. I can’t wait. I am actually going to take a break this summer, instead of schooling through it. For the most part anyway. Todd will continue with his Japanese lessons and Nathan will continue with his drum lessons, if he chooses. In the meantime, there is much going on in the school group. Todd is loving the ballroom dancing class. They have a show at the end of April. He is also in the teen play “Cinder-Riley”. It is an Irish twisted version of Cinderella. He plays the leperchaun, and he plays it well! The teens had their Spring Formal dance. It was wonderful. They all dressed up so beautifully and danced the night away! The best part is all the Mom’s chaperoned the party and it wasn’t wierd. Todd said it was the best night of his life. Very sweet. My boy is growing up. He is 14 now.
My Greyhound Rocky died Saturday, March 12. It was a tough decision. He had been getting weaker and losing control of his hind legs. Friday night he fell and that was the end of that. We put him down comfortably on Saturday. That will be 4 dogs that have died on me in the last 2 years. Hopefully, I can 5 more years before it happens again. Rosie is 1 yr old, Red is 4 yr old, and Rumsey is 5 yr old.
We are going to see the Newsboys in concert, April 24th. The Newsboys are a popular Christian rock group. You can listen to some of their music on YouTube. Great stuff! We are excited. This will be the boys’ first concert. It should be a great experience!
We are plugging along, economically. We have done so much better in past years, but that is not the case in the last year. Hopefully, someone will turn on the light at the end of the tunnel! Thankfully, Todd still has his job and because he is certified in other areas, he has work to fill 40-50 hours a week. We hope that summer will be busier than last year. Then he can earn more money than we need to break even. We need a new roof, badly. We need new windows too. Todd jr. needs his cataract surgery and Nathan has thousands of dollars of orthodontal work to be done. We are trying to get a new a/c with a heat pump and a heat recovery. That will make a large dent in our electric bill. I hope it comes through. We also will be insulating the attic before the end of May. That will make a difference too. This year, I will definetly be hanging heavy curtains in the windows to cut the heat that comes through. I have been using my line to dry my clothes and I need to make a habit of shutting of the hot water heater. But, now I have the pool pump running 6 hours a day, so it will add to the load. I have made great strides in the grocery budget and will continue to work on meal planning (which turned out to be a great thing. I don’t know why I was so resistant to trying it ). I finally made the switch to store brand soda. That is an enourmous savings right there! We also have been grilling more. I even baked breaded chicken breast on the grill! I was so pleased. Our goal is to use the grill, instead of the oven, thus avoiding heating the house up. So, we are working it out little by little. The cable is still off. That has been rough for the kids, especially Nathan. We all look forward to turning it back on, just as soon as possible!!
Well, Rosie is climbing into my lap. I think the 120 lb dog wants her breakfast. I better go.