February Foiled

A friend once told me to never make any major life decisions during the month of February - when cabin fever makes you (irrationally) think about changing pretty much everything in your life (like hair styles and color, living room arrangements, job situations). Instead, he said to hold tight 'till spring, when things (almost) always look better, brighter and more manageable.

A few distractions to bring us 'round to spring then? Yes!

I spent time during yesterday's lunch hour buying seed starting stuff - for our cold frame experiment - greens and lettuce. I'll just be setting the flats in our south facing windows. I found the perfect spray bottle, too - so Willa can help with the watering.

A Hoya plant. I cleaned out a few very tired, beat-up, defeated houseplants over the past few weeks and have room for a new tenant.

Forced bulbs. The more, the merrier. The sooner, the better.

Innisfree is selling plants this year! My checklist includes borage for our herb garden, Green Envy zinnias, chocolate mint, hollyhocks, elderberry, woodland phlox and tomatoes - Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, German Johnson and Mortgage Lifter. It was difficult not checking off *every* offering.

I'm talking about container veggie gardens, seed bombs and (next week) figs over at Virginia Living Magazine's blog.

Not really related to gardening, but making February a little brighter:

I'm making a ragdoll for Willa's birthday. She pretty much always has some soft little creature in her arms lately. I'm especially excited about all the clothing I can make for the doll and how I can embroider the face.

Have I mentioned The Snowman here, yet? We have been watching it a lot during our snow days - though our copy is VHS and it is starting to give up the ghost. It is all music, no dialogue. It's magic.

I'm getting ready to start my first Edna O'Brien book. I'm actually not sure this will be so uplifting as probably more moody and Irish.

This chicken and biscuits recipe is a nice stout meal for winter days. I've been making it for years now and was happy to see Willa loving it, too, this season. Ina tends to have a heavy hand with the butter and cream - so I cut the butter in half and replace it with olive oil and it totally works.

This baby silhouette tutorial is so quick and easy. After capturing Willa's, I'm thinking of lining up the three hounds for their own personal sessions.