Odds and Ends and Vacation Payback

Jonquils from the annual Cancer fundraiser
 My favorite flower

Oh my time on the island was sweet... and quiet... and calm... and sunny... and warm... This was our second year on a beautiful, secluded island where you use golf carts or your feet to get around and you have to take a water taxi to get there :)  What a find this place was!  Thank you, Lord! Up top is a small sample of the shells we collected.  We found a nearly deserted stretch of beach (they are all nearly deserted here, but this was even more remote) where the sand dollars were so abundant we started getting picky about which ones we kept :) and there were lightening welks by the dozens!  And did I mention that it was very, very quiet there?

 Several of the kids, especially Jaime, did not do so well while I was gone.  And a few have had some "pay you back for being gone" behaviors. And it has taken me two weeks and I am still not caught up with everything.  Not that I am complaining... it was more than worth it.  One of the first things I did when I got back is to reclaim the kitchen.  I got some new plates and glasses (hooray dollar store) and removed all the junk that had collected in the cupboards during my absence.

The Old Guy had too much going on to get any big projects done while I was gone, but he did get the french doors up in our master bathroom.  These came from my grandma's three season porch (jalousie windows from that porch are in my summer bedroom)  I have a couple of curtain ideas in mind for these, but haven't gotten to that yet.

This was a rather large disappointment.  The laundry area was pretty well trashed when I got back and remains nearly the same since I have lacked the time and motivation to set it right again.  Hopefully I will have a couple days next week to spend down in the dungeon. :(  Right now it is as Lisa E. mentioned in a previous comment, I don't even want to go down there.

 But spring has sprung early this year and boy do I love that.  Last weekend and several days last week had me ignoring my obligations to sit out on the deck in 70+ degree sunshine.  The Old Guy's plants are coming up great guns.  Pictured are Moonflowers from seeds that my cyberfriend Mongoose sent me last Spring :)

There is not a bit of snow on the ground, pussy willows are coming out and since I took this pic on Sunday, we have had some rain and the grass is greening.  On top of that, The Old Guy and I are going to Texas this weekend to meet our new daughter-in-law and... BONUS!! ...it will be 85 degrees and sunny there!