Somehow we have come a full year and are back in April! I keep remembering last April, with the kids at home. Jose and I were trying to work, but also trying to keep the girls entertained. There were mid-day bike rides and random acts of baking and craft projects galore. It was both a nice time and a crazy stressful time. I’m thankful that this year is a bit calmer, but there were definitely some silver linings last year, now that I can look back with the benefit of hindsight.
March goals update:
+ Get a haircut and a pedicure. Done!
+ Figure out something fun for Emma’s spring break. We met friends at a park, went to the Pompeii exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science, met friends at a different park, and explored a third park. (I’m only now realizing how park-centric our activities were — but hey, awesome! Taking advantage of good weather!)
+ Hang patio lights. Done! Of course after having the lights for months and just not getting around to putting them up, it only took like 30 minutes to hang them. They are so fun and festive.
+ Clean up the guest room/longarm room. Done! We are hoping to bring Jose’s mom up from Corpus for a visit in the coming weeks now that she (and we) are vaccinated. The last time we saw her in person was February 2020.
Other March wins:
+ Celebrated my birthday! It was a nice day. I was able to take the afternoon off work and did some sewing and got my pedicure. We had takeout sushi for dinner (yum!) and followed that up with delicious chocolate cake. Jose and the girls gave me jigsaw puzzles and puzzle books — both fun things.
+ #igquiltfest. I participated in the Instagram Quilt Fest again this year — totally voluntary and open to anyone — and enjoyed it!
+ Got a piano! This was also a birthday present, even though it’s really for the whole family. We got a Yamaha P125 digital piano and I really love it — it really does feel and sound like a real piano, but at a lower price point and a smaller footprint.
April goals:
+ Have a fun Easter holiday. (Since I’m late with this post, we’ve already done this — ha. But it was on my list, so I’m still putting it here.)
+ Get the front porch fixed. A couple weeks ago I was sitting at my desk and hear a crazy creaking/cracking noise. It wasn’t until hours later that we finally discovered what it was — the brick tile top of our front porch cracked and popped loose off the foundation. Kinda crazy! I suspect water got underneath, and then froze last month, which loosened the mortar. Either way, our front porch is all janky and needs to be fixed. I’ve already called two places and still haven’t successfully gotten an estimate, but maybe third time is the charm? (Contractors of all variety are super busy here right now as a result of all the home damage people had from the freeze in February.)
+ Figure out summer plans for Emma. My work hasn’t announced any sort of “return to the office” date yet, and I am confident my management will be flexible. But I also think it would be in our family’s best interest to have at least a couple weeks of camp and/or other scheduled activity for Emma, rather than have her sit at home all day like she did last summer.
+ Practice piano at least 5x per week. I’ve been using the Simply Piano app (recommended by an Instagram follower) and really enjoying it! It does a pretty good job of hitting the sweet spot for me — someone who can read music and has a bit of self-taught experience, but really needs to learn the fundamentals and work on making both hands work together.
+ Release my Notes to Self quilt pattern. I’ve really been dragging my heels on this one, and want to get it wrapped up and published.
Happy April!
SO happy to hear that Notes to Self is still on your list! Happy Birthday, Sarah. I enjoy your posts so much.