Good news!

The oldest and I were having a rough morning so we set out to get some sun, exercise and hopefully good news. We knew that almost precisely a year ago we found skunk cabbage pollen in a spot close to our house and our hearts.
But this year, we were not confident to find much, being that we are still under about 2 feet of snow.

And yet, look!

We're graduating ...

Turns out we are graduating at every corner. The dreaded letter to register the babee for Kindergarten was in the mail today (I can barely stand it). We are outgrowing our child size furniture, our bookshelves, and possibly some old habits.
I've been on an overhaul spree in the house and before I knew it, I found myself in the middle of another rug project. The last one was a lot more involved, but this one gave me no less sense of satisfaction, even though it is much more utilitarian.

I wanted a sisal rug to cover the area at the bottom of our stairs, that we so famously can cover in shoes (to the point that the necessity of a new rug may actually be a little questionable but let's pretend for a moment that this house is cleaning up). I measured and had it priced because it turned out to be a custom size. What I wanted came to $600+!!! Oh no! 

An afternoon trip to Sweden to the rescue, and I came home from my favorite store (that keeps my kids, and gives me free coffee) with a $80 sisal rug that was perfect in one dimension, but too wide in the other. 

Turns out, a seam ripper, sharp scissors, a needle and some thread later, I could detach the border, cut the rug to size, and re-attach the border by hand. Went easier than I thought, and I like the outcome. It is just in time for the Big Melt around here, and all the wet boots that will undoubtedly come through the door every day. 

See how neat this area can look (if you don't put the shoes in the picture)?

Now, is anyone in the market for a child-size, espresso brown bench with three cubbies for shoes? 

S'isch zum Baimschneida.

This is how you say you're just about to lose it, in my Southern corner of Germany. It is also how I feel about the snow. Yes, yes, we're nearing spring, and we sprang forward and hope springs eternal.

But that snow, it is hard to remember how much of it there is. I took my kids to the sledding hill, and went to look for the bench to sit on. As it turns out, a person with a daintier behind than mine could just about perch on the six inches of its backrest that stuck out of the solidly packed white mass.

Back to the title, it literally translates to 'It causes one to prune the trees' and that is just what I did this weekend. No ladder needed, I could get to the 10 feet tall branches of our old apple tree that needed a trim.

OK, in the end things were a little sketchy, but the job got done, nobody got hurt, and the tree is in better shape than before. I am calling it the official beginning of the outdoor gardening season.