Last week I posted everyday. In my head.

I also kept the laundry hounds at bay, nursed a wisdom teeth patient, did most of the dishes and duked it out a few times (metaphorically speaking) with my growing tween, and then bought myself flowers and ice cream. Sometimes in arctic Mother-landia you have to keep standing your ground and raising your kids whether you're too tired or not.  We got this! Eat ice cream. Hide emergency stashes of chocolate. Or potato chips. Or whatever brings you momentary joy. Flowers help. They brighten MY life more than a teensy bit. Don't ever tell yourself you're not worth a bright and cheery bunch of grocery store flowers. Just throw them in the cart and keep telling yourself "I'm worth at least $6.99 and after the day I've had today, all y'alls out there in the great wide universe are lucky I'm not throwing in a bunch for every room of my house."  I consider them a staple. Life just keeps happening. Things like blogging and sleep go by the wayside. (I read a post or a tee shirt ad about mothers of babies and toddlers being citizens of that existence referred to as #teamnosleep... I hate to break it to these valiant and perky young mothers--brace yourselves if you're one of this bunch reading this little post: when your kids get older and start sleeping like the babies we thought they were when they WEREN'T sleeping through the night, YOU are now the one who can't pull a decent night's sleep out of a drawstring bag. EVER. So Breathe. And consider yourself in #teamnosleep training pants) Many things like basketball games and youth temple trips, visits to our favorite UMass student, lunch with my parents and more Massachusetts snowfall have happened since my last visit here. We keep busy. We now snow-blow and shovel, roof rake and hammer ice dams about as naturally as we eat and breathe and sleep. Maybe more. Life just happens between storms. I bought two more shovels today. We put them to good use on their first day. Gird up your loins. Spring is coming. I planted flower seeds in little pots and put them on my windowsill. I will nurture them and also remind myself to nurture the little seeds of happiness that are stretching inside of me. Shine on.