Some random stuff from the weekend:

• We live in a cute house. It really is. If you drove past, you’d look at our house and say “Oh, isn’t that cute!” It IS cute, until you get inside. And that is when you see that cute on the outside can often mean not useful space on the inside. It does not have what decorating people would call “good bones”. Small rooms, bad rooflines, poor construction and design choices — our little house has it all. But it’s ours, and so we are constantly trying to help it morph into a comfortable home. And that means endless fits of moving furniture around the house in an effort to make some useful, comfortable space. So this past weekend, we began another of our “let’s-move-stuff-around” adventures. And while the latest configuration might still be just as ungainly as the last, these fits of redecoration do mean one good thing: spring cleaning-level purging of stuff. We throw things out, and pack things away, and clean and dust and vacuum. These are not things we are particularly good at as a matter of course, so when our redecorating fits come along, it’s actually kind of refreshing.

• I don’t like ribs. I have tried, but as a former vegetarian, I tend to struggle with any meat that has bones in it. But honestly, it is safe to say I have never liked ribs, even from childhood. I have tried, though, because BDH loves ribs. He will order a full back rib dinner when we are out and revel in the barbeque-y goodness. And so, because he loves ribs, and in an effort to diversify our menu and make things interesting on a budget, I decided to give cooking them a try. I got a tried-and-true recipe from our classic BHG red-checked cookbook, I bought the ribs, and yesterday I cooked them up. The house smelled wonderful, with the tang of barbeque sauce and cooking meat. When they finished, we took the ribs out of the oven and they looked fantastic. And the sauce was really tasty, which surprised me no end. The problem? I still don’t like ribs. I ate them, but even at 10 pm last night, as I was getting ready for bed, my stomach was still doing flips at the thought of the 5 or so ribs I had actually eaten. And the worst part? After 12+ years with me, BDH is now coming to a place in his life where he’s beginning to struggle with the “meat with bones” thing too. So he didn’t enjoy them as much as he once would have. It’s a shame, too — for a rib lover, they were darn tasty ribs.

• There are not enough hours in the day to get everything done that I want to get done AND be a hands-on mom who engages with her child. I just can’t do them both. My priority is my daughter, of course, but then that means that housework, work, or other activities must fall to the wayside. And for that I feel guilty, like I am a failure at my “job” taking care of the house. But if I leave my daughter parked in front of the TV while I do other things, I know I’d be failing her also. It’s not always hard to do both, but a growing child makes life a changing landscape. We get into good routines for awhile, but then she grows or changes and her needs grow and change and then the routine is gone until we can get into a groove again. But if I could get a few extra hours in the day, when my daughter was napping or something, I’d be golden.

• I didn’t get my seeds started for my garden this year as I had hoped. There were a couple of problems I couldn’t figure out — a watering problem while we were away on vacation, and a cat who would probably destroy the plants with all those unsupervised hours anyway — and so I decided not to start any seeds this year. I am kind of bummed about it, because it’s a cheap way to garden and I’ve done it for years. So what I am going to have to do is go through my seeds and see which ones I can just stick in the ground, and then we will hope for the best. If the birds, the local wildlife, or the frost don’t get them, we may have an interesting garden this year.

Ever have one of those days when it feels like gravity is really, really strong?

We’re having one of those weeks so far. It’s pulling me so hard, it’s hard to get out of bed. When I am out of bed, I am weighed down, usually in a chair, by a baby who seems to be feeling the effects of big gravity herself.

Travelling is always hard. It tires you out. And vacations, even the most relaxing, often leave you feeling like you need a vacation to recover from your vacation. I know I am pretty tired. Stinkerbelle was a trooper, but you can tell that even she is feeling a bit tired.

Plus, she’s been a bit clingy. All the changes, in place and people, plus the new teeth beginning to poke their way through, are making That Baby want to snuggle more. Not that I am complaining, but it does make it a bit difficult to get anything done around the house. When I am not snuggling with her in our comfy chair, she’s crawling headlong into my shins and then clawing at my pantleg to be picked up.

And I am tired, so who am I to complain? I drink caffeine all day, just to be alert enough to deal with That Baby and not doze off while I rock her and give her a bottle. But then, when I go to bed, the caffeine makes it hard to fall asleep. So you can’t win for losing.

What I wouldn’t give for Stinkerbelle to take a good 2 -3 hour nap. But that is NOT going to happen.

That’s okay though. In a day or two, she’ll be back on routine and I’ll crash and get a good long night’s sleep, and then everything will be back to normal.

Until then, though, we’ve got to fight the fight against gravity. And probably lose.

I got up early as usual with Stinkerbelle, and since it is a stat holiday, it feels like a Saturday. The street is quiet, without all the usual noises of cars and people going about their busy days. The house is quiet, as BDH is sleeping late. It feels like a Saturday.

We have a lot to do today. Tomorrow we are off on a week’s holiday to visit family, and we have a lot to do to prepare. Pulled muscles in my back, tax preparation, and other bits of life prevented us from getting much done in advance, so it all falls to today to do. We “must strike in the hustle and the bustle beforehand.”

There are cats to ready for a trip to the “spa”. (Well, one cat, anyway.) There is cleaning to do. There are floors to be swept and mopped and vacuumed. There are bags to pack. There is cat litter to attend to. There are dishes to be cleaned, and clothes to be folded, and toys to be put away. And somewhere in the midst of all this, someone has to keep an eye on That Baby.

Most importantly of all, there are lists to make. Don’t get me wrong, I have already begun lists. But as any good listmaker knows, it takes more than one or two lists to be TRULY prepared.

But it feels like Saturday. All I want to do is sit and relax with a mug of coffee while That Baby watches Baby Mozart and puts things on her head.

But it is NOT Saturday. And so, there is much to do.

We’re in the midst of a snowstorm right now. A 15 cm pasting of wet, sloppy snow, that makes the roads slushy and no fun for driving, and that sticks to buildings, trees and cars alike, until it gets too heavy and then it falls off into heaps. I like it.

Every year during the first week of April (or almost every April, I think) we get a snowstorm. It’s usually a whole lot of wet snow over a short period of time, and the temperature doesn’t venture too much lower than zero. And although it’s a big dumping of the white stuff, the snow vanishes often as quickly as it came. It’s like winter sends one last blast so we don’t forget about her until she comes back next December.

I like the April storm, unlike most other winter storms we get. It shows up after a couple of weeks of warmish spring weather. And like the rule that you should not plant until the May 24 weekend, it’s predictable, always happening around the same time — although a couple of years it has come as late as the 11th or 12th. So you know that spring has not really come until after that last storm.

After this storm, it’s easy to be optimistic about spring. I can start thinking about what needs doing in the garden or the lawns. I can start putting away the winter clothes and hats and mitts. I can take the bunting bag thing off the stroller and dress the baby in spring jackets. And the heat can be switched off a lot of the time because the temperature is generally reasonable until the dog days of summer.

But mostly, it means I can finally say goodbye to the snow and cold wintery weather I despise and start welcoming spring. And this makes me happy.