Saturday...and more rain

It wasn't the brightest day when I got up this morning. It was actually raining. I waited until it had mostly stopped before I went out for a quick walk. There wasn't a lot around, but at least I got out for a bit. The weather tomorrow does look better so we'll be going out then. 

I think the puddles at Asylum Lake were worse than they were yesterday!

I didn't do too much when I got home. I did sort a bit more on the porch. It's slowly coming along. I did a bit of Ebay listing. What doesn't sell shortly will be going in daughter's garage sale. 

I've been watching a show on Netflix - The Residence. It's a bit quirky but I like it. I especially like the main character, and it doesn't hurt that she's a birdwatcher lol. I'm still sitting watching it while I should really be in bed!

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend

April Days

We got a LOT of rain on Wednesday! We got 2.8 inches which was a record for Kalamazoo for 2nd April. It's raining again as I write this. 

I did manage to get out yesterday. The water levels at the lake were quite high. I imagine they would have been higher still if someone hadn't cleaned out the beaver deceiver a few days before. What is the beaver deceiver? It's a pipe that goes from big Asylum Lake to Little Asylum Lake. As it's running water the beavers like to block it up (and also that's the way the water flows so all the leaves and debris tend to clog it up) so to try to combat this a pipe was laid and enclosed that is supposed to continue the flow of the flow of water. It doesn't always seem to work and needs to be cleaned out. The water level did fall a bit when they cleaned it out but with all the rain the level is high again. 

It was cold yesterday when I went for a walk. The wind was blowing too which made it feel colder. 

A small puddle, just because I like puddle reflections 

The second and third photos show areas which are usually dry. They were filled with water. 

The beavers' lodge also seemed a bit wet

This part is usually dry. It was filled with water. 

Today I went for a walk and though it was below freezing the wind wasn't blowing and, for a time the sun was shining. There was a beautiful sunrise.

The water hadn't gone down by much. 

At home today I did a bit more work on the porch. It's my project for the month. I want to get it cleaned off and make a space where I can (hopefully) sit and enjoy when things warm up a bit. For too long it's been a total disaster - so much so that I'm not even going to share a photo! I am slowly getting there. It's just a matter of sorting through things, getting rid of things or finding new spaces to put things. The story of my life!

Tomorrow, well, it's raining, and it may/may not rain in the morning. I will be going for a walk but whether early or later depends on the rain. I'm going to do a little bit of work on the porch, a little bit of sorting in the house and a bit of relaxing. 

Do you have plans for the weekend? 

Floating Away Here - More Rain

Thanks for all the comments on the decluttering post! I really appreciate them :)

Ugh. It rained and stormed all day here today. Bucketfuls of it. I'm not kidding. There are several streets downtown that are flooded. It follows on from the bad rain and storms that we had on Sunday. Husband hasn't had a full day at work this week. The building he works in lost power Sunday night during a storm. There have been several updates - Monday at noon, Monday at night, Tuesday at 5, Wednesday morning. He went in on Monday only to be sent home. He did bring some work back with him. He went in Tuesday, managed to get on a computer at another building to do hours and then went in the field to do some measuring. Today he went in for a little bit but shortly came home. Thankfully, the power came back on tonight and barring no more incidents he'll be back at work tomorrow. Phew!

His being in and out has wreaked havoc on my routine! I haven't got near as much done as I hoped. The main living area is a mess. He did build me another piece of furniture while home today so tomorrow I've got to move bits around and replace. Hopefully things will look better then!

I didn't go for a walk at all today. I turned off my alarm last night but didn't sleep in a lot. I suppose when you're used to getting up at a certain time your body tends to wake up at that time. I did laze around for a bit rather than get moving right away as I usually do. 

The rain is supposed to stop sometime early morning. It will be interesting to see the state of Asylum Lake tomorrow. The water was already high so I wonder how this rain will make things look. I shall see in the morning. 

It will be nice to have the house back to normal. I've got a list going and lots beside to get done!

BTW I really shouldn't complain about the rain, Daughter is getting snow and Northern Lower Michigan had a terrible ice storm that even had the Mackinac Bridge (the only road to cross from lower to upper Michigan) closed due to falling ice! 

Me walking in the sunshine on Tuesday - it seems so long ago!

March Decluttering Totals

While not as good as February's decluttering totals I am pleased with how the month went. This really is an ongoing process. Sometimes I find it really tough to let things go and other times I find it a bit easier. Because of that I declutter the same spaces on a rotating basis. I am finding that when I revisit an area, I'm willing to let a few more things go. This might seem like a long-winded way to go about it, but it seems to be working for me. I am definitely finding this works especially well with the books. There are still a lot in the house, but they are slowly moving out and (for the most part) new-to-me ones aren't coming into the house. I'm still picking up some bird books (second-hand) but I might have to stop that soon! They are for a (supposed) craft project that doesn't seem to be happening lol. 

The craft room? That's not really happening that much. I tend to go up there, move things around and come back down. My daughter has said that she is having a garage sale and could do with some non-baby things so I'm thinking I might be willing to get rid of some things for their sale. That might work for me. I won't be expecting any money and anything left over will be donated. Seems strange but knowing I won't see it in my charity/thrift shops might actually work lol.

Here are the totals:-

CRAFT ITEMS - 37 

MAGAZINES - 11 

BOOKS - 91 

MISC. - 37

Question - how do you deal with items given to you by someone? Do you find it easy to let go of them? Do you feel obligated to keep them? I'm beginning to try to change my mindset and say that I have enjoyed the item, but it's time to pass it on to someone else so they can enjoy it. 

Thanks for the input!

I'm getting started on April's decluttering already!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

I got wet on my walk yesterday and I got wet on my walk today and tomorrow looks like even more rain! 

On the plus side it was actually quite mild today. It obviously couldn't have been mild and sunny lol. Oh well, at least I got out for a bit of a walk. Husband and I are going to chance going out in the morning. If nothing else, we'll have a bit of a drive. We're hoping to head down beyond the rain lol. 

I didn't do much of significance for the rest of the day. Middle son came over for a bit as he had some post delivered here. Not sure why he's still having it delivered here but at least it's not so far for him to come to pick it up! He stayed for a little while before heading home. Later, daughter and Baby A video chatted for a while. It was lovely to see her. She's getting so big! Apparently soon she'll be joining the toddler room at daycare. She's definitely ready for it I think! Some of her 'friends' are already in the toddlers so I'm sure she'll have fun there. 

As usual, plans went awry, and I didn't get any crafting done, but it was a relaxing day. 

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Thursday and an Art Talk

The days seems to be flying by again though there really isn't a lot going on. I've been having my morning walk and getting a few things done in the house. I've been trying to avoid going anywhere after my walk, so I don't spend money! Also, the sooner I'm home the more time I have to work on things around the house. It's almost the end of the month and there are still a couple of piles in the living area, so I need to work on those the next few days. Things are looking a bit tidier, but there is still a LOT of room for improvement! It seems all too easy just to plop things down with hopes of finding a place for them later. I really, REALLY need to stop doing that!

It's been a quieter week this week, but I did do something social today. I went to a talk last week about Oak trees, the second talk in the series, had a local artist talking about his work and oak trees and nature in general. It was quite interesting. He's a beekeeper too and the art he's creating lately incorporates his beekeeping with his sketches. His name is Ladislav Hanker. These are a couple of his works

He was talking about what brings him inspiration and some of the trees around the local area. It was all quite interesting. I'm hoping it brings me inspiration to my photography tree project though I'm not sure quite how yet. Two people from the Asylum Lake board were there too so I sat with them, and we chatted a bit. It's about as social as I get lol. 

Tomorrow will be another walk and I'm going to make myself complete a couple of the house-y projects however much I'd rather do something else! If I can complete them tomorrow, I'm going to give myself the weekend off to work on creative projects. 

I do have to stop by the shops tomorrow. Sigh. I'm out of Marmite and I've been having it on toast for breakfast. I pay an exorbitant amount for it, but it lasts for quite a few breakfasts. I am going to make a list before I go and STICK TO IT! 

Tuesday

It was another cold start to the day, but at least the sun was shining today. It always makes me feel a bit better when the sun shines. 

 

I had the usual walk and then went home to do the usual house-y stuff. Oh what an exciting life I lead! (Hence the title of my blog lol). 

I was taking a look at the decluttering totals this month. There really hasn't been a lot of it happening. I've added some to the list tomorrow - 10 books and 5 other items to declutter. I feel in a bit of a funk with it, but I need to keep going. The totals are definitely not as impressive as last months. 

I'm really starting to think about what's coming into the house. I'm trying to curb spending too, but money seems to be leaking more than ever. I suppose it's the expense of things. I've been meal planning and trying to stick to lists, but every time I go do a food shop it seems to be more expensive. I think I need to start writing down what I'm spending so I can see all the bits. Perhaps I am just spending more than I think. 

Do you keep track of every little bit you spend? Do you use the cash envelope method? I used to do that but not sure if I want to go back to it! What's your favourite budget tip? 

Weekend

It wasn't a bad weekend. Pretty chilly. The volunteer clean-up at Asylum Lake went really well on Saturday. It was sunny but bitterly cold. About 40 people showed up though! It was lovely to see people of all ages, from really young children to teens to adults then to seniors. A great mix of people. 20 big bags of rubbish were picked up. I can't believe there was that much! By the time I got back home I was ready to have a nice warm bath. 

On Sunday we decided to go to Kensington Metropark which has a lovely nature walk in it. We were hoping it was going to be warmer, but at least it was dry! It's over closer to some cities and they have a series of what are called Metroparks. Kensington has 4,481 acres of land. There are golf courses, boating, running, biking, farm centre and more. They also have a great nature centre which is what we like to go to. There's lot of trails in that area for walkers. No dogs or bikes allowed (there are plenty of other areas of the park where these are allowed). It's really great for birdwatching. At this time of year, the herons are building their nests up in the rookery, which is what we were going to look for. 

They were up in their nests. It's really fun to watch one of them brings sticks for the nests to the other one. I think it's part of their mating ritual. 

Today the weather was still colder, and it snowed! Not sure Mother Nature has got the message yet that it's supposed to be Spring. My friend had texted early to say she had forgotten that she had a dentist appointment and wouldn't be walking. I was glad! I did a really short walk and headed off to go to the shops. I've had enough of snow. Sigh. 

Hopefully tomorrow will be better! 

End of Another Week

Not a bad end to the week. It was below freezing when I went out for my walk this morning, but the sun was shining and that's always a plus! I had a nice walk with my friend. I had debated about going to do a mini food shop after or leave it, but that would mean going on the weekend and I really hate food shopping on the weekend, so I ended up going and picking up a few bits. Got the things done on my list and then messaged with sister for a long time. I had to really think about the time change difference again. The US changed did the Spring Forward thing a couple weeks back, the UK doesn't do it for another week. Instead of five hours difference we're on four and the end of our chat usually lands right when we eat. One more week and then we'll be back to normal lol. 

Tomorrow is another social day - too many - too many - lol. It's our first volunteer day at Asylum Lake. It's only for three hours, but that's more than enough. Half of me is looking forward to it, half of me dreading it. It doesn't help that I pulled my back a few days ago and I can still feel it. Not so good if we are bending over to pick up rubbish! I am going though as I can't go to the next three as we will be away. 

My plan is to go for a nice relaxing nature walk by myself, go home and get something to eat, pack up some water and then go a little early so I don't have to worry about parking as it is limited. I'll do the volunteer event (hopefully I won't have to talk too much!) and then I'm going home and taking a nice warm, relaxing bath. The high tomorrow is going to be just above freezing but at least the sun will be shining. 

I'm not planning on much beyond that. 

Just trees. I'm finding them quite fascinating at the moment. 

Falling Behind

*Edit - not sure what is up with commenting on comments. I can't reply to anyone! I did read the comments and will reply as soon as I can!

I survived the dentist! Yeah. It was nerve-wracking (I'm such a chicken) and it took longer than I thought. I tensed up a lot. I could feel myself clenching my fists. Not good. I managed to get through it and - thankfully YEAH - I don't have to go back for six months this time. Phew. I don't have to think or worry about it again until September. So glad. I just get so flustered beforehand and after that I seem to crash for the rest of the day! I did manage to get the bits on my list done for the day, so I was glad of that. 

It's been a pretty average week. Not a lot going on. Today was the first day of Spring but it certainly didn't feel like it. It snowed this morning! I went for a really quick walk as it was snowing and blowing and I was getting wet and snowy and, well, I just couldn't be bothered! I did get quite a bit done at home today. I'll allow myself a bit of a longer walk tomorrow as it's supposed to be okay weather. 

I did something social tonight. Certainly not my usual. A church the next neighbourhood over was hosting a talk about Oak trees and their significance in our area. The area I live in used to be full of Oak Savannas which have sadly mostly been lost. The talk was by the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy and efforts to restore some of these areas. It was quite interesting. As part of my online camera club this year all our projects are focusing on trees and for my main tree project, I'm going to take photos of one of the oaks at Asylum Lake, so I wanted to learn more. I'm glad I went though being social is not for me lol. Mind you, I have to be social again this Saturday as it's our first volunteer day at Asylum Lake and I've said that I'll go. Sigh. Why I thought it was a good idea I don't know! 

Tomorrow is a walk day and then some house stuff. I'll be messaging with sister in the afternoon. Another average day. I do have some catching up to do with blogs, but I'm off to bed pretty quick so most will be tomorrow! 

Photo for the day - 'My' tree lol