Good stuff right now

Let's do something else. Let's get poor AJ's poor choice down, away from top billing on this page. :)

Here are some ways life is really good right now:

1. Our spring annuals are planted and pretty! I know YOU don't care, but this might be the earliest we've gotten it done in years. And we replaced a few plants (bushes) that had died and been dug up last year, so it feels significant. I am checking it off our Home-Beautifying-Before-Sale list, and that feels good because it was a "would be nice to have" item, but now it's done!

2. The kids are playing outside. All the time! With the hundred or so kids that seem to gather in ours and neighbors' yard every day. (Ok, it's just fifteen, not a hundred.) There is even a little girl KT's age. Hallelujah. I know she was having a hard time before this new little girl, we'll call her Abby, showed up. Now she LIVES for the doorbell to ring in hopes that it's Abby. Super cute.

3. I am back IN the dinner-menu zone. I go through phases, you know, where I can't think of anything good to make. In the last couple of weeks, though, I've tried some new things that were successful, and Monday night I went back to one of our family's Old Standbys, and it was well received -- pork chops with Hot & Spicy Shake-N-Bake, field peas with white rice, and Crescent rolls. I know it's not very original but it had been a long time since we'd had it -- I love rediscovering old gems like that. Here are some things I want to try next (for the adults, of course. The kids would never eat these!):

Shrimp, cilantro, avocado w/brown rice. Source: womenshealthmag.com via me on Pinterest

Spinach, garlic, lemon pasta. Source: weekofmenus.blogspot.com via me on Pinterest

Black Bean Spinach enchiladas. Source: thegardengrazer.com via me on Pinterest

4. Besides that, I seem to be on a roll with getting some exercise (at minimum 10 minutes a day but I'm aiming for 20). Most days it's just a quick walk outside around my office building, but the weather's been nice enough that it's really a mental boost, too. Score. I've been working on lowering my calories-in, too, with some success, and have lost a pound or two. It's kind-of lame to always, for years, be trying to lose 10 pounds. (Baby weight! Haha! What? I had babies once.) I'd like to be finished with it. On the other hand, I guess it's better to be working at it, mindful of what I'm eating all the time, rather than not caring. (I go through plenty of "not caring" phases, too. Just not right now.)

5. We rescued all of AJ's baby photos and videos from my dead iMac. I haven't yet gone through them all to sort and save, but they're safe.

Just a few little things. But they're making me happy, happy.