Poor February!

 Greetings to all my fellow swimmers! My goodness, February has certainly brought us a variety of weather, has it not? First, we'll lay some of the blame at the feet of the groundhog. He hardly ever promises us an early spring, when in reality, we still have "six more weeks of winter", at least according to the calendar.

One of my dear friends has a birthday in February - the very first day - and she'll remind me every year that she absolutely hates this month. Not because of her birthday - she just hates February. It's dull and gray, and often snowy and cold. Just an ugly time of year for us here in the mid-Atlantic. I'm not usually crazy about February, because this is the anniversary month of when Eggbert died. I've made a little peace with it over the years, but as the date approaches, I often become a little more introspective. Poor February!

This is also that time of the school year where you look at the sea of faces in front of you, who are also feeling that we are trudging through time. They are also sick of being inside; of cloudy, gray days, surrounded by Institutional Green walls, or if you're lucky, Buff; of no Ranch dressing for your carrots - only if you're getting a salad; of 'keep your hands to yourself' mantras. Poor February!

Something is trying to poke out of the garden in the front of the house. Since we haven't been here all that long, I'm curious as to what these little shoots are. Tulilps? Dafs? Crocus? We planted some daffodils in the backyard by the end of the forsythia line - but it has been too snowy, and now muddy, to muck out there and see if they're starting to pop out. I'm sort of afraid they will, and we'll get another round of ice and snow. I'm so looking forward to seeing the little mass of yellow - my favorites - and thanks to DiDi for getting them for me. Even more thanks to Big Brother and Ms. Business for planting them! 

DH has been sort of glued to the house - we're having the first floor bathroom redone. That's been something. As someone who is no stranger to home improvement projects (I joked for a long time how my father's projects lasted a good 15 years!), this one has been interesting, to say the least. It started on January 31st. The room is 42 square feet - tiny! It still isn't done. Probably because we asked for the moon on this one.  It's all going pretty well. The new shower install is in, as well as the new floor. Oh, it was the wrong insert, but that was an error on the original paperwork, and we're okay with what was installed - our original choice instead of the change we made the next day. Oh, and Waste Management took the wrong green bag of trash - they took the one that wasn't quite full, and left the other that is overflowing! I have a sink and a toilet in my living room - unusable, of course. Here's hoping that by the end of the week, I won't have to trudge up the steps or to the basement to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. That's been the worst. Trying not to drink too much water so I won't get up, but with some kidney stone issues, I've got to drink the water! Sigh. The upstairs shower has a hole in the bottom of the tub - something we didn't see during the final walk through when we bought the house. Ms. Business said, "Just keep your foot on the hole." Have you ever played 'Twister' in the shower? I'm really not that flexible...DH said "Use the downstairs shower."

He bought a really dark shower curtain, and I feel like I'm in a cave. No, thank you. Once again, sigh.

So, poor February! Soon we'll have the sunny (and cloudy) spring days brought to us by the month of March, and I'll have crossed another month off of the school calendar, getting ever closer to those happy days of June. Moink looked out the back window one day last week and said, "I can't wait to use the pool again." Amen brother, amen!

If you're in the neighborhood, stop by the Stress Pool and see if we're still swimming, or if we need the help of a floatation device! And, if you're one of those February haters, remember, it is the shortest month, even here in the Stress Pool!