You know it has been a great weekend when…_____________________. Go ahead, I’d love to hear your thoughts…fill in the blank…what made your weekend great?
Meanwhile, I’ll be here waiting to hear from you. While you’re filling in your blank, I’m also wondering if you wanna pause to take a peek at what I did to finish off my ‘slow-I didn’t have anything planned’ weekend complete with a tantrum turned to joy?
First of all, yes, I’m getting over the neighbor’s new building – we’ve confirmed (via another neighbor) that all he’s building is the storage shed. I’m still confused as to why he chose that lot out of the lots available in the area? But, I’ve been impressed watching him and his kids work together to build it. Maybe that’s part of the lessons I need to pay attention to? Oh, well, it is what it is.
Here’s a picture from my kitchen window this morning. I appreciate you overlooking the dirt on the windows…I don’t wash them until after the first rain of the season…!
Back to the events of the weekend. Yesterday, I did it. I stepped into the TeaHouse to claim the space for relaxing instead of storage. It was my day to break the trend of broken promises I’ve made over the years. The promise that goes like, “This year, I’m going to clean and fix it up so I can spend time in the TeaHouse.”
The TeaHouse is my favorite place in our yard and I’ve missed spending time in it. Now that the weather has warmed up enough to go outside it will be my go-to place for the summer.
Last year, late spring through summer, our daughter made it her greenhouse/combo lounge room for her plants and items that wouldn’t fit back into her high school room. She had accumulated quite the collection of plants and other stuff in her 4 years away at college. She made the TeaHouse homey and inviting. I’m still inspired by how quickly she transformed the space into her own and then left as fast as she came in the first place.
Kids, I tell ya…they move at the speed of light when they are determined. Messes left behind are common. And they grow up so fast…just a year ago…man o’ man…was that a tear I just felt welling up in my eyes?
And, like many times over the years, I was left to clean up a child’s mess. Sorry, dear kid #2, it’s true. You moved your stuff out of the TeaHouse in a rush and left remnants of how nice you had temporarily made it a year ago. Wow – another year flew by. I couldn’t bear to go in there after you left without thinking of how I missed you.
There is no such thing as a quantum leap. There is only dogged persistence – and in the end you make it look like a quantum leap. – James Dyson
It takes me longer to heal my I miss you and your sister moods, but I’m trying. And cleaning up your mess this time wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. It was astonished at how fun and rewarding cleaning up TeaHouse space for me (and the Mr.) this time was.
Okay, so yeah, I’ll admit it, some of the mess was mine. It appears it was a rush to store garden pots in the fall. I hadn’t even removed the dead marigolds! Yikes, maybe you learned from us how to move on to the next stage before finishing the previous stage?
I turned on the radio, found a great station WCFW FM-105.7, cranked up the easy listening lite hits of 1950’s – 1980’s – the ones I know the words to and sang while I shook the dust, tossed the garbage out and moved the garden planters and hoses back out to the yard. I finished up by placing the table in the middle of the room, washed the top, and got ready to sit down to dream about what will stay and what will go for decorating. I smiled as I went inside to grab a snack. Yes, the quirky stuff definitely has to stay.
Lucky for me, Mr. had made a batch of afternoon popcorn that goes great with a Leinie’s.
Me: I’m to a point where I want to stop and take a break. I’m getting popcorn and a beer. Wanna join me?
Mr: Sure, I’ll be out in a few.
Me: Do you think we should part with any of the decorations?
Mr: Yeah, I’m over the oriental stage. But that pterodactyl has to stay – it doesn’t do well in our wind outside. We both looked up and agree, he fits.
We enjoyed a beer to celebrate our kick-off of reclaiming the inside of the TeaHouse.
Mr. sang along with the familiar tunes on the radio. And I listened – he can carry a tune – I only sing when no one is around!
Cheers to a great weekend! And, yes, I must admit, I can get used to this revival trend I’ve got going on this spring…
Thanks for the “relationship” photo, followed by the charming teahouse bit. But Shelley, Tizzie’s pose – she’s definitely saying: “Do you really think I don’t know how beautiful I am? Give me a break!” And the tabletop photo? “This is almost it—just some grass in the corner, maybe…”
Ellen – you’re welcome for the photo. The little bundle of joy is Bee – but, I could see how you’d mix her up with Tizzie – Tizzie gives me that look many times. The TeaHouse was dusty and dirty on the floor, but you’re right, it wasn’t terrible, like a toy explosion of childhood messes!
Sorry…I was talking about a photo of Tizzie on the bottom of your page. I’ve got the little Bee firmly in my mind and cute though she is, she’s no Tizzie!
Gotcha!! 🙂 The kitties think you’re pretty darn special to take note of their uniqueness! 🙂
P.S. After the white fly attack on my poinsettia, I’m definitely going for cactus!
Cactus and succulents are great – I’m heading down that route too!