Spring Already?!?

I know that most of the country (and a lot of the rest of the worl) envies Southern California our mild winters. But c'mon - jonquils in February? I never have spring bulbs flowering for Easter because they start popping up at Christmas and flowering by Valentine's Day.

DH had quite the adventure in Utah. He fell in the mud on his first day and, while not seriously injured, was stiff and sore for the rest of the trip. Guest 1 suffered stomach problems severe enough to hie them to the clinic by day two, and on day three guest 2 had back pain severe enough to drive into the clinic again. Day four everybody rested up and collected themselves, then on day five guests decided they could try snowboarding again. At the end of guest 2's most successful run she turned to high-five guest 1, fell backward and dislocated her wrist, breaking two bones in the process. McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden is the best!

After a two-day drive home, DH is now safely tucked into his recliner with his remote in his control and all is well again. He did have a lovely dinner with the architect and her family and other friends. He gave her the go-ahead to have our building site surveyed and a topographical map drawn (cha-ching number one). This could be entertaining. The neighbors to the north of our site leveled their back yard, then built a gravel driveway from the garage to the backyard (our side of the street has quite a slope). The entire project - backyard and driveway - are built two feet or more onto our lot ("someone" moved the line stake two feet onto our lot). Part of having the lot surveyed and marked will include putting out flags to mark the boundaries so that the architect can start placing the house. Won't that neighbor be surprised to come home from work and find a line of little red flags down his driveway?

DH's biggest news is that he was able to find and watch a bald eagle in the valley. Now he's committed to finding the "right kind of tree" to attract a bald eagle to his back yard. He needs to visit a Homer, Alaska, site before he decides he wants resident bald eagles.

Theme: SOFT

I was shocked to realize I don't have a whole lotta "soft" in my life. As usual, Mom to the rescue. She knitted this wrap a year or so ago and I called dibs on it. It's like a shawl with sleeves and keeps me toasty warm in the chilly mornings when I sit at my computer. It may qualify as the softest thing in the house at the moment. She is the most amazing knitter! We all own wonderful sweaters and hats full of popcorn and cables. She's working on one now in a very soft, denim-colored yarn. She hasn't decided who to give it to. A very lucky someone, for sure!

Here's my progress on the Hollyhocks. I went up in the chart to the top edge, then went to the left and right. Now I can proceed from top to bottom, which is more comfortable for me. I especially like the HUGE sections of just one color around the edges. That goes really fast. It will be nice to work on the flowers, with all the color changes, for a while, then switch for a while to the large sections around the borders.

Yesterday was PMS (Preserving Memories Sunday). Sis (a Creative Memories consultant) told a story that was shared at her regional meeting. A CM consultant suffered severe head injuries in a quad accident. Her family brought scrapbooks to her every day in the hospital, and her doctors credited the daily conversations over the scrapbooks with helping her recover and regain as much of her memory as she did.

I had a good time scrapping my Disneyland Happiest Homecoming pictures. I don't know that they'd do me a whole lot of good after a brain injury, though, so am trying to decide what direction to take to get back to family books. What do they say? Start now, keep up and work back when you can.