What's Up Wednesday: March 2024

Whew! March has been a whirlwind! We had March Break (with a cruise) and then we dove right back into the school/work/dance/etc routine. Throw in some birthdays and March has been full! When I feel overwhelmed and way too busy, I try to remember how instantly life stopped four years ago this month and I try my best to be very grateful that we are able to have so much on the go. So after all that preamble, on with this post :)

I love answering the What's Up Wednesday questions every month. I like how they help me reflect on the past month. The questions come from Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me Too.

image from here

 

What we're eating this week... Well, this month we were eating cruise food for about a week, which was awesome! In case you're wondering cruise food is...

... breakfasts of fried mushrooms, fresh fruit, and croissants for me (the non-breakfast eating person) 

and endless ice cream for Sam...

...endless pizza for Rachel (and me!) and creme brulee.

When we weren't eating cruise food, we also celebrated St Patrick's Day with Irish soda bread, vegetable Guinness stew, and green chocolate chip cookies (made by Rachel).

Dave also made a really delicious, and vegetable laden, stir fry this past weekend.

 

Honestly though, except for the cruise, and the rare occasion, this month was a lot of eating leftovers or "catch as catch can" as we tried to use up food before travelling. Hopefully, in April, we'll get into a better eating routine again.

 

What I'm reminiscing about... I'm reminiscing about how great our cruise was. We made a (somewhat) last minute decision to book it (in October 2023) so it felt a little random. However, we laughed a lot and had so much fun. I never regret family travel. I'm also reminiscing about the warmth and sun as we've returned to winter since we've been back home.

And as always, every March, I'm reminiscing about Sam and the week after he was born. He turns 15 on Saturday and I still can't believe it!!!

 Sam at two days old. So little.

What I'm loving... I'm loving any sign of warm, spring weather we've had. I'm itching to get outside and do some yard cleanup. Unfortunately, when it's been nice we've had too much on the go, and when I've had time, it's been snowing. Hopefully in April, I'll be able to put some dedicated time into cleaning up our yard. I can't wait!!!

 

What we've been up to... We've been up to work/school/dance/travel and then fitting in other things as best we can.

We checked out Can-struction, a fundraiser for our food bank.

I've enjoyed my weekly mornings with Janice.

We've celebrated a lot of birthdays this past month with one more BIG one to come this weekend :) Sam is turning 15 on Saturday so we'll be celebrating him all day long!!! 

What I'm dreading... Our spring plants were coming up nicely and then it snowed :( I am desperately hoping the snow did not kill their buds and I will still get daffodils and all the spring flowers I love. I am dreading that the snow killed them all though. sigh. Stupid, late season, snow.

 

What I'm working on... I'm almost done with my most recent virtual walk! Whooo hoooo!!! As of last night I only had 16.9 kilometres (10.5 miles) left to finish my walk across the United Kingdom -- from southern England to Northern Scotland. It was 1,744 km (1,084 miles) total. I already have my next walk lined up and I can't wait to start walking around Wales. I started virtually walking routes during Covid and it has stuck. This is the fourth (or fifth?) one I have completed.

Rachel, Dave, and I earned our medals doing the Castaway Cay 5K and I definitely counted that as a part of my virtual walk.

What I'm excited about... I think next week I will buy my pansies and ranunculus for the season and I am ridiculously excited to plant them!!!

 

Also, I was looking at something else in our backyard and noticed our chives are growing! I totally forgot that I brought some home from Saskatchewan last summer! I'm definitely putting potato salad on the menu plan for April!!! Whoooo hooooo!!!

 

What I'm watching/reading... I've been watching Spring Training games whenever I can and I am also excited that Opening Day is TOMORROW!!! Whoooo hooooo!!! Now we just have to buy some tickets to watch some games in person!!!

As for reading, I have a couple of books which are very overdue so I've been working on reading them so I can get them back to the library. Currently, I'm reading Family, Family by Laurie Frankel, and depending on how it ends, it might be the next book I recommend to absolutely everyone! Stay tuned...

 

What I'm listening to... When I wake up in the mornings, I can hear the birds chirping and I love it! I can't wait until I can sit outside, drinking my coffee, and listening to them.

What I'm wearing... Sadly, I'm back to wearing sweaters and dress pants at work and sweatshirts and pjs pants at home. It's been cold here the past week or so, with more snow than I want at the end of March. However, our cruise included a Marvel Day at Sea so Rachel and I had special ears and t-shirts!

 

If you're not familiar with Marvel, my ears are Captain America and Rachel's are Iron Man. Her shirt is based on Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour and was perfect for her. We got our shirts and ears off Etsy. Maybe I should wear my ears to work one day to really throw everyone off! Hahaha!!!

What I'm doing this weekend... I'm really excited because we're celebrating Easter with our best friends! And Sam is turning FIFTEEN! Yeeeks!!!

What I'm looking forward to next month... April brings a lot to look forward to this year -- Passover, a big birthday for one of my aunts, Rachel's dance performance, (hopefully) good work news for me, a big school trip for Sam, being able to hang laundry outside -- did I mention there's a lot to look forward to?!?!?!?

What I bought on Amazon... I bought some new white lights to hang over our living room window after my other light string died. However, I haven't even opened the package yet and I bought them about three weeks ago. Ooops. I should put that on my list of things to do.

So that was our March. I'm off to work and hoping for some sun, although I think we're scheduled for rain all day. Still at this time of year, I'd prefer that over the snow we're supposed to get this weekend. Oh Spring -- you do test my patience.

Happy Wednesday everyone! If you're currently experiencing sun (and warmer temperatures) please enjoy a little extra for me :)