1. “Hope springs eternal”…discuss. 

Hmm, well, I guess you want to know how I interpret this? I guess, for me, it means that you should never give up hope, even when things seem awful. I hate feeling emotional and downtrodden but I try very hard to have hope that tomorrow will be better. There’s a Disney commercial they’re playing lately and the Carousel of Progress song plays in the background: “There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day…” and I try to keep that in mind, always.

2. Last time you needed to ‘spring into action’ or ‘spring to someone’s defense’…explain. 

I guess this week, when I needed to spring back into action with work. Last week I didn’t have 3 of my classes for the community college and for the other job, I canceled a class I normally have on Thursday. I let myself get a little sidetracked with personal fun things and now I have to get back to it here.

3. Tulips or daffodils? baby birds or baby bunnies? The cherry tree or the dogwood tree? Jelly beans or peeps? March madness or spring training? Peas or carrots? 

Tulips. Bunnies. Dogwood. I like both jelly beans and peeps but I’ll choose jelly beans. March Madness. Carrots for sure!

4. I read an article here on the South’s best cities on the rise. They are-Baton Rouge Louisiana, Fayetteville Arkansas, Greenville South Carolina, Huntsville Alabama, Lexington Kentucky, Norfolk Virginia, Tulsa Oklahoma, Waco Texas, Wilmington North Carolina, and Winston-Salem North Carolina. Of the cities listed how many have you seen in person? Which one on the list would you most like to see? Have you spent much time in the southern states (USA)? Any spring road trips on your calendar? 

Baton Rouge, Huntsville and that’s it. I have spent time in all the southern states but I also don’t know why Texas is on that list as I, a resident of what some call the Deep South, have never thought of it as being part of our contingency. But out of all of them, I would like to spend time in Texas most.

5. Tell us how your outdoor space needs sprucing up this spring? Which do you enjoy more (or hate the least-ha!) yard work or house work? 

Right now, the yard. But the kids are getting it there. They have been raking. Once the layer of leaves is pulled up and the grass can grow, I’ll spray the Weed ‘n Feed and we can mow regularly. I don’t mind either one. There are only a few tasks I dislike. One of them is weed-whacking because ours is heavy and the other dusting because I feel like it is never good enough.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

And again, I was up by 5. Ash set his alarm for 5:30 instead of 6 so he could run early instead of at 4:30 pm but I woke at 4 and we never really got any more good sleep. My oldest woke up complaining of leg pain so we said “growing pains” and told him to take a bath. After some quick research, they tend not to be in just one leg and kids normally don’t get them after the age of 12. So I have no idea why his leg hurts. I drifted in and out of sleep for a while then finally got up and now I have to teach. I am still really liking these days alone, doing my work without anyone around. It isn’t that my husband’s presence interfered – he also had work sometimes – but it was just not the same as being by yourself.

This week already seems more manageable than last week was, even though we have a lot going on. Both boys have had one soccer training session so far and we have two more this week. I am really liking ASG and the level of instruction they get from coaches. They really make the kids work! The city league, while fun, is a little too relaxed.

Coming up, Ash’s dad is coming for a visit, finally. They live in Arizona and the thing is, we saw them in 2018 for Ash’s brother’s wedding, then again in 2019 for another wedding, so I see why he didn’t come here. But now that he’s been vaccinated, he’s feeling good to come see this home, which he never has. And we’re at our three year anniversary in… 5 days! I’m excited about it for sure.