We ordered some patio furniture a few weeks ago from Overstock.com. It didn’t seem to really be overstocked though, because it said it would be shipped in 6 to 10 weeks! I looked around and found the same furniture at Home Depot, but it cost about $80 more for the set (two chairs, small table) so we decided to just wait it out. Well, we got “lucky” and it only took about a month to get here. I am pleased with it, and think it makes the house look sharper. It’ll also be a nice place for people to hang out outside, whether that is me and Louie, my students, friends, family, whatever.

We did a lot of organizing and some cleaning yesterday, and between this weeks organizing and last week’s garden extravaganza, I feel like we are starting to get a real hold on the house and its surroundings. The garage is still a bit of a mess, and a few closets here as well, but mostly I know what we have and where it is, and that now includes the garden and landscaping areas. My peas are growing well and grabbing onto their little poles.

The pictures are from Tuesday, so they’ve grown more since then. We are predicted to possibly get snow on Tuesday, but my understanding is that this should be okay for the peas and the chard also (I have a few tiny chard seedlings popping up), though my flower pots, I’m not sure. I have a few pots with things in them, some of which have some tiny tiny leaves popping up, do I bring them inside where the cat will definitely eat them? That’s a no, but maybe I could put them in the garage. I’ll keep my eyes on the forecast.

Other stuff going on: my parents are visiting next weekend, so I’ve taken Friday afternoon and Saturday morning off from teaching. I basically have a full week ahead though, but getting to the end of April means getting to the end of college classes….there’s only 3 more weeks and then I’ll gain about 9 hours a week back. That will be huge as far as having my days more free. I’ll have my early morning classes until the end of school, and I still regularly teach from 3 to 8 or 8:30 most days with a few morning or earlier students, but having more time during the day means I can relax a bit more and get things done during the week.

Another fun thing we did yesterday was put up a few tiles I wanted to hang in the bathroom. Louie is always hesitant to put things on the walls when it’s a “new” wall (aka dry wall rather that the old plaster with wood paneling on top) so I have to really convince him and let him come around. He agreed that the tiles looked really nice.

This was one I bought from Etsy awhile back because I thought it reminded me of Muriel and Miles and also matched the color scheme well.

The walls are light blue, though the photo doesn’t reflect that as well. They are definitely a little bluer in person.

And this little tile: I think it was a gift from Leslie years and years ago and I just never hung it up. I had it sitting on my dresser instead, but this is better.

You can see it is very small.

I am happy with the little touches I’ve made on the house over the years. I was thinking how Louie’s mom, who lives in a beautifully decorated house, full of art, plants, and other personal touches, once said she wished they had bought a vacation home just so she would have another house to decorate, that once she got hers full of things she loved she kind of wished she could keep going. Of course she moves things around and it’s not always the same (and I also think she was speaking a bit tongue-in-cheek), but I think that idea is what keeps so many people keep redecorating and remodeling: it’s fun to live around new places, and look for new little things to buy and display, isn’t it?

I also feel like we here in my house move a bit slower, and that’s okay too. Maybe it takes a year or move to finally decide where to put a tile, but that just means we are more deliberate people.

I can’t believe two things: 1) my parents are visiting next weekend, after this whole pandemic thing kept them from traveling for a long time and 2) my students are coming back to my house next week. Not all, but some. (It is absolutely their choice.) It will mean real pants, but I think it’ll be really great to see everybody after so long.

Oh, and 3) that snow is predicted for Tuesday. Nothing really big, but still. It’s late April!