March Declutter Totals

It's April! Hopefully the weather will even out a bit. It's been a funny ol' day today. It started with barely above freezing temperatures and this afternoon/evening the tornado sirens went off three times!!! It's been a rollercoaster of weather lately. Usually, in April things even out a little bit. I am certainly looking forward to seeing a bit more colour around in nature. 

On to the decluttering. I meant to post these yesterday, but I had an Asylum Lake meeting, and it went on a bit. By the time I got home I was too tired. 

The total actually turned out - not deliberately - to be the same as January and February. 80 items. There were two large bags and two boxes of things that husband took off to the charity shop yesterday. 

Books 17

Magazines 12

Clothes 2

Misc. 38

Crafting 11

I struggled a bit, but things are leaving. Progress is progress. I'll be continuing on this month. How is your decluttering coming along? 

Photo - some flowers I dried out. I'm going to try taking some camera photos with them. These were the flowers I got to remind me of Mum on English Mother's Day

End of March

Another month done and dusted. I was looking back at some photos I took, at the beginning of the month there was still quite a bit of ice on Lake Michigan, but it was beginning to break up. Now it is all gone and the sands are starting to be smoothed back out ready for the tourist season which will begin again in earnest in May. 

I am glad of some days of warmer weather, though the ups and downs are driving me a little bit crazy! Today people were wearing shorts (it wasn't quite that warm IMO). I did break out a t-shirt in the house today and it was nice not to have the heating on. Hopefully, next month the temperatures will even out a little bit. 

Moods this month have been up and down, winter has seemed so long, but the end is in sight now. Next month will include a visit to see Baby A - so excited and counting down the weeks. House stuff - semi-productive. I'll have decluttering totals tomorrow. I'm still plodding along!

Speaking of plodding along. I am still continuing with my Phone Photos - Things That Make Me Smile 2026 (photo every day). These are the collages for the month

It definitely helps my mood when I'm looking for something to make me smile for the day :)

How was your month? 

Sunday Adventure

It was lovely and sunny today and ended up fairly warm. Husband and I went for a walk at Warren Dunes State Park. There is a lovely trail through a marshy bog bit and along through the woods. It's a fairly easy trail, something that husband could do to build up the walking stamina again. As we walked through the bog bit we could hear lots of birds singing and chirping. We watched as an Eastern Towhee sat atop a branch and sang out his heart. I did get some photos but yes - you've guessed it - I've not got to them yet! We also saw lots of little Golden-crowned Kinglets flitting through the trees. 

It was lovely and quiet out. We saw two other couples and a maybe two joggers but that was it. I think that's why we like to go early on a Sunday morning.  

I did take quite a few phone photos

There are lots of daffodils in the woods. These dot the landscape where the old building of the New First Church Camp used to stand for many years. It's always interesting to see them pop up year after year without any human intervention. 

After our walk through the woods, we headed further into the state park and down along the shores of Lake Michigan. 

My favourite tree by the beach

The snow fences are still up but I'm sure they will come down soon

We had some fun looking along the shoreline for VPS (Very Pretty Stones). There are lots of people who walk the shores looking for all kinds of rocks (as they are called here). We have no clue what we are looking for so just look for the ones we think are unique or different. 

All-in-all a nice fun day, topped off with a video chat with Baby A. 

How was your weekend? 

Saturday - Something New

Inspired by A Letter from Home (who shares her journalling on her blog) when I saw a social media post from the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy (below) I took a deep breath (social anxiety) and signed up. Then a couple of weeks later I asked husband to come with (chicken that I am) and signed him up too.

So, today we made our way to a new-to-us Nature Preserve and took a walk and had some fun. It was a really nice walk. Not a lot of colour but nice. 

First, we stopped at several spots along the trail and did some observation exercises. No drawing at first, just looking and listening and trying to notice all the things going on around us. Further along, we stopped and did a bit of drawing and writing. None of us in the group had ever done any nature journalling before. As our instructor told us, it's not about pretty pictures but observing and recording. I did more writing than drawing but she said that was okay. Perhaps as I became more comfortable with the drawing more would come.

It's dark as I write this and I haven't taken any photos of the drawings/writings I did. I'm no good at art, but I could see myself liking this. It is something I think I'll continue with. The instructor says she is going to send us more resources, so that will be good. 

We did do an exercise where we had to pick an Oak leaf, go off and draw it and then we put the drawings and the leaves on the ground (mixed up) and we had to match them up. After a bit of anxiety, it was rather fun. 

This was a free event, by a local nature organisation. It is something I enjoyed attending and something I'd do again! Not sure husband enjoyed the nature journalling, but he did enjoy the walk so I count that as a win!

Mid-Week - better spirits

Thanks for all the comments on the last post. It seems I'm not alone when it comes to the dentist. Sigh. I've still not made a decision yet on the consultant. I suppose in the end I'll go and just see what they say. I'm worried about the cost of it. It isn't cheap. The tooth in question is part of a bridge that I've already had replaced once (it wasn't fitting properly) and I'm concerned that's going to be more money if they have to replace that too! Is it worth several thousand dollars? How much is too much? 

Enough of that. I'm not thinking about it for a while. I start worrying/getting anxious when I do. 

It's been a couple of fairly relaxing but productive days. I went for a walk both yesterday and today. The weather today was beautiful, but it's all change for tomorrow and below freezing in the morning. It was so lovely and peaceful first thing. I sat and watched the sunrise, the beavers and listened to the birds as they welcomed the day. Then it got very people-y. Apparently, I wasn't the only one excited about the warmer weather. I must admit that I do like it when it's a little bit quieter. 

I came home, did the dailies and a few extra bits. I didn't do any crafting today. I was going to work on my cross stitch, but I've lost the bits of floss I needed! The chart didn't come with any colour numbers, so I've got to do my best to match the colour and hope the difference doesn't show too much with what I've already stitched! I had separated this colour from the others and it was hanging out by the light. I must have pulled it off, but can I find it? Nope. Not the end of the world. 

Before the men came home, I sat out in the garden for a little bit as it was so lovely. There were quite a few birds in the garden. It was nice to just sit there and listen. They were home soon enough though and by then the showers were starting to come through, along with storms that will bring in the colder weather. 

Another beautiful sunrise!

I found something green growing!!!!! Can you tell I'm excited? Lol. 

Just an UGH da

I didn't post in advance ('cos who wants to hear me moan some more lol) but it was the dreaded dentist visit today. I had a cleaning and a crown. I was sure when I had booked the appointment it was cleaning first, then the crown and a filling. I go there and it was crown first, no filling and then cleaning. Anyone who has read my blog for a while knows I am absolutely in terror of the dentist (bad childhood experience). I usually take Xanax beforehand and use laughing gas when I get there. Just the change in what I had thought was happening threw me off completely. I was really nervous and anxious and just UGH. While I was having my cleaning the hygienist saw something else and they want to refer me to a root canal specialist. 

I'm not afraid to admit it but I cried in the car. I have so had enough of this. It doesn't seem to matter what I do, there is always something going on with my teeth. I took the referral but I'm going to think on it for a bit. I honestly don't know if we can afford it - at least not until this last lot is paid off. I sometimes think the providers think we have unlimited funds and if not, we can put it on a credit card that the credit card fairies just pay off.  

To top it all off, when I got home, I had a sneezing fit and now my nose is running and I keep sneezing. Either it's a cold or I'm allergic to something from the dentist. I suppose I'll see in the morning. 

As I said, I'm going to put it all to the back of my mind for a few days to find my balance once again. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, at least later in the day, so I'm going to walk, craft and maybe sit in the garden. I'll do dailies, but I'm giving housework and any online selling stuff a rest

Photo for today - just daffodils starting to force themselves through the dead leaves at Asylum Lake. These had to be planted by the people who once farmed this land as part of the Michigan Asylum for the Insane. There are so many there that grow year after year and are a testament to how hardy these plants are. 

Back tomorrow and I will be in better spirits. 

Weekend

The weekend was quite a peaceful one. I did manage a walk on Saturday and Sunday. My foot was still hurting, but the weather was colder and my feet were freezing so I couldn't feel the pain that much. Not sure that's good or bad lol. I did stay off it most of the afternoons. 

I did a little bit of crafting, but the mess in the craft room is just putting me off (to be frank) so I worked a bit on sorting out some things elsewhere so I can perhaps get some things out of the craft room! I did do a bit of cross stitching. I did a bit of my beaver cross stitch (which I haven't shared in a while) and a bit more on the little kit that came with a magazine. I have a lot of these little kits and want to get a few of them done!

This is the weekend update. I have done a bit more but no photo yet

I am glad I did go out Saturday morning as the sunrise was absolutely beautiful. It's so quiet and peaceful there in the mornings and a perfect way to start the day when I'm up that early. Taken with my phone. 

Sunday was a lot chillier. As we've decided to try to go to some closer places, and we haven't researched really close ones yet, we went to a park up in Grand Rapids. It's a huge park 1400 acres. It has 18 miles of trails, a splash pad (in summer) a six-acre beach (in summer) and boat launches and such too. It has several ponds and there is a path along parts of the Grand River. We went on a favourite trail but have bookmarked another trail to do another time! 

The trail we went on was flat and really easy. Husband is just starting out walking again so we're trying easy to start with - better for my foot too. By the time we were done it was pretty achy and I didn't want to do any more walking!

You can see by the photos that everything is still quite brown looking. There are some closer parks I want to go to but I want to wait until they have some spring flowers in them. Hopefully soon!

Plans this week - to continue sorting. I have a half full bag of things that are ready for donation that I want to fill up by the end of the week. I can't believe we're almost done with March! Only a few more weeks until we see daughter and Baby A

Friday Again

The end of another week. Not a bad one in all. Hit and miss on the productivity, but I feel as though things are a little more balanced than they have been which is a goal of mine. I don't want to hyperfocus on one thing and get nothing else done!

Warning - bit of a moan - I've done something to my 'good' foot. It's really painful - OUCH - constant pain. It started about Wednesday when I was out walking and felt as though my sock was bunched up under the middle of my foot and I was walking on bunched up hard fabric. Got home and there was nothing there. The side of my foot seemed a bit hard and tender when I pressed on it. Thursday morning - ouch, just ouch. Getting out of bed and stepping on my foot was OUCH. I went for a little walk and could barely step on it the rest of the day. When I'm walking it feels as though I've got something stuck up under the arch. Not any better today. Husband thinks I might have done something to the tendon - maybe actually did step on something and messed it up. It wouldn't surprise me as you can't always tell what's under the snow. 

I'm going to see if it gets any better over the next few days. If not, I'm going to have to go and have it looked at. I can barely put any weight on it at all. I can't just sit. I'll go crazy. 

Moan Over. 

I did go for a tiny walk today. I'm not going to do a lot of walking over the next few days, a shame as husband and I had decided a nice walk would be good for Sunday. I don't want to make things worse than they are though so we shall have to take a little one. It was actually nice enough this afternoon to sit on the back porch for a little while. A deer had decided to take a rest in the garden and was laying down close to our fence with the neighbour. 

Made me smile. She was there for quite a while, at least until I went inside. 

I chatted with Baby A today again. We played dolls for a while. Just a little over a month until we will see her - something to look forward to!

It was my father-in-law's 85th birthday today so husband took him out to lunch. They are going out again tomorrow. I'm going to go to Asylum Lake and sit by the beavers' lodge for a little bit and then come home and craft for a while!

What are your plans for the weekend? 

Mid-Week

Cold again this morning. Dreary too. I did go for a walk, but I must admit it's getting to be a struggle to be motivated. Things are supposed to get warmer over the next few days though, so fingers crossed. I wasn't quite as productive as I wanted to be, but I did get my dailies done, some listing and I attended my camera club zoom talk, so not a bad day in all. 

The zoom talk was really inspiring. So much to think about. It was Paul Sanders . He worked at a large newspaper, had a breakdown, stepped down and found solace in photography. Such a good talk and I'm glad I attended. It gave me a lot to think about as I haven't felt really motivated in my photography either. I'm hoping it's just because the weather is getting me down!

Baby A was back in daycare today but as soon as she got home, she wanted to talk - though she suddenly got very shy and wouldn't chat at all to begin with lol. Daughter said she had demanded to talk to Nanny when she got home. She wanted to see her Grandpa and her Uncle. Once again, she did more hiding than chatting. She did say Goodbye Uncle, but only after he'd already left lol. Son-in-law was home today, but he's feeling better. He has to go to work tomorrow as he doesn't have any more time off (he doesn't have any sick time and only gets a few holiday hours calculated by how many hours he works).

Tomorrow, I'm chatting to my sister in the afternoon - usually a Friday thing, but it's her daughter's birthday on Friday so they are going out for a meal. I'm looking forward to chatting and seeing some photos of Spring from her end lol. 

Hope everyone is having a good week!

A Bit of This and That

Overnight there had been a little bit of snow and ice, just enough to make things a bit of a pain this morning. The car needed to be warmed up and the roads weren't great. I took the back way through our neighbourhood into the next so I could park and take a walk at Asylum Lake. It was brutally cold this morning. I think spring decided to go back to bed for a while! I didn't hang around for long. It was far too cold to stand still for long. I must admit that I'm getting a little tired of mornings like this. Always seems to be this way at Winter's End. I almost stayed home, but when I looked out of the back window it appeared that the beginning of the day was going to be a little sunny and sunshine is always good at this time of year. 

Sunrise from behind the Beavers' Lodge

The walk was brisk and pretty uneventful except for the three Great Horned Owls we saw. 

One of the owls. 

As I was pulling into the driveway daughter texted to ask if I was home. Baby A wanted to chat. I asked her to give me time to get my coat off and then we chatted for a couple of hours! She was feeling a bit better today though my poor son-in-law was home as he was sick! Baby A kept asking to talk to Grandpa or Uncle though they were both at work. It's really funny, because she doesn't actually talk to them if they come to the phone - she just hides! I think it's a bit of a game. She did call back later and see husband though she wouldn't talk she just kept hiding lol. 

I got my usual housework done - why does the weather always seem to be rubbish on days I'm going to mop the floor in the kitchen by the back door? When husband got home he took me to the post office as I didn't want to drive on the icy roads in the morning. By the time we went out, the roads were mainly just wet so if there is no more snow tonight, they should be okay in the morning - though there isn't anywhere I have to go lol. Things are looking warmer for the weekend. 

I did have time to work a bit on a new little cross stitch and to go up in the craft room for a bit (no cleaning up there today!)

In the plans for tomorrow - a walk, dailies, a zoom camera club talk in the afternoon, some listing and some time spent in the craft room. I am trying to do more varied things instead of hyper-focusing on one thing and getting nothing else done!