Funny

I try to keep a nice house, meaning tidy and decorated, but let's face it: it's nearly impossible when you have children under the age of 10.

Just this evening, I was complaining at the dinner table because someone smeared spaghetti sauce all over one of the new placemats.  My husband suggested that maybe we just shouldn't have placemats.

My left eyebrow shot up; it really does have a mind of its own at this point.

"I have the placemats to cover up all the marker and ink and scratches on this table!", I oh-so-helpfully explained to Mark.  Then, my tirade continued with "These things wouldn't happen if I didn't live in a house full of flying monkeys!"

Mark, not missing a beat, responded with "Well, let's just remember who was in charge of all the flying monkeys."

Touché, dear.  If he and the kids are the flying monkeys, I suppose that does make me the Wicked Witch.

I bet she had clean placemats, though.

Plants

Some people feel drawn towards saving cats; others, dogs.  Me?  Plants.  Over the last couple of years, I have developed an urge for adopting plants and giving them a good home.  (No, seriously.  Plants.)

I really don't even know what it is about plants, except that I find them soothing.  It's very curious, since I'm not a huge fan of being outside (having very fair skin makes spending time outside a bit daunting; five minutes in the summer sun makes for quick burns).  I think another part of it, at least for this year, can be attributed to the very (very!) long winter we've had.

Because the weather is just too unpredictable to start outdoor planting, I decided to bring in some new houseplants.  Andrew was with me last week when I selected the first of three; he was quite puzzled to learn that I wanted to give it a name.  I tried to explain that I think a plant will live longer if we name it, but I'm not certain that I convinced him.  He agreed anyway, and we brought home Harold.

Harold

While we were shopping for Harold, some lovely hanging plants caught my eye.  I wasn't quite certain where I would hang a plant, though, so we left that one there.  After thinking about it for a few days, I decided that my kitchen really needed a new accessory.  Off we went to purchase this beauty; she was named Matilda.

Matilda

And apparently because I need just one more living thing for which to be responsible, we brought Bert home yesterday (Andrew named this one all by himself). 

Bert

Hopefully, these three will get me through until I can plant some flowering plants outside this spring and summer.  I'd love to have a bigger plant to put in the corner of my living room, but I'm fairly certain that the dog would destroy it.  I think this little bit of green will give us just enough confidence that spring is truly on its way, bringing with it more sunshine, warm days, and blue skies.  Enough is enough of this winter.