vastateofmind

You're a good egg, @Mrs.J....and I hope you had an awesome birthday. Can't wait to see what great things you do with that new cookbook...

Yep...exactly what I'm afraid of again. Just went out to run some errands, and while brisk and windy at times, nearly every tree I saw had NO PROBLEM continuing to pop those buds. I imagine the ramp-up for allergy sufferers is going to be a steep one in the next week or two.

My guess is that most furniture is more cheaply built across the board these days, so I wouldn't mind if it's from VCF, Ashley, etc. I can find something to like, for any room, in any furniture store, it's Mrs. V who's a little more, ummm, "choosy," shall we say. We've actually had great luck with LaZBoy in Kingstowne...bought from there a few times during sales over the years and their pieces have held up well. The LR stuff we've pitched is from Belfort, one of my wife's favorite haunts in past years....but this time, I didn't want to go schlepping out to Dulles to roam a giant furniture warehouse for an entire day. Yep, I'll GLADLY repaint the LR to avoid THAT.

COVID still taking a bite out of full-up/100% productivity everywhere. We picked out a new living room sofa/chair combo from LaZBoy Gallery in late Feb. My wife considered a custom upholstery fabric, which the store rep said would take another 6-7 MONTHS for delivery from the factory. If, however, we elected to choose the "default" upholstery fabric on the floor models (which we actually loved, but wasn't first choice because it would require repainting the LR), the delivery wait is "only" 6-8 weeks. So, yeah....I'll be breaking out the tarps and paint brushes for spring break.

Bring it! I just hope we don't have a late-season freeze like we did last April (ish?)...at that point, a few backyard myrtles we had pruned in late 2019 which had just popped out a nice variety of symmetrical shoots from the main trunks...most of which were burned by that freeze, leaving behind a bunch of brown, shriveled feeders/shoots. I was so pissed.

Good thinking on the french drain to preserve the integrity of your carport. We have a french drain that routes in a U-shape around the 20'x20' addition off the back of our home that ends in the semi-swampy lowest corner of our backyard. It does keep the runoff/moisture away from the addition, although since our neighborhood is built on marine clay (widespread east of I-95, actually), the walls, ceilings and doorways in the addition and rest of the house are always slightly shifting/cracking somewhere. Doesn't/didn't help that our addition began life as a roofed patio, but which the idiot previous owner of our home (a self-proclaimed contractor) apparently decided to enclose...without upgrading and putting in a proper foundation first. There is one, but it's barely adequate for the structure built upon it, and prone to constant shifting, depending on how dry/wet the season is. Got so bad in the mid 2000s a few years after we moved in that we had to call in a new contractor, who determined that the addition was pulling away from the house altogether. So, nearly $30K later, and after nuked (but restored) side patios and backyard landscaping, we have 10 giant pile-driven "screws" securing the addition. We hope. Finally, didn't want to be so forward to ask for porch progress/finished product photos...but if you don't mind sharing, would love to see!

OMG, preach. I'm astounded at how bad my sinuses have gotten in the past 3-5 days. I don't usually expect to feel like this for at least another 1-2 weeks. Currently 47, light rain, uniformly gray/wet out.

In real life, I'm with you 100% -- I don't even give one shit. However, full disclosure -- we allowed ourselves to get addicted to "The Crown" on Netflix and now must see it through to the end. But that is my extent of "royal-watching."

Yeah, kinda. Funny how a day with low clouds in the low 40s will somewhat deflate us spring-watchers. I sincerely hope you get snow this weekend, and if anyone has a shot, you and your area do -- but I'm already anticipating a return to somewhat warmer temps next week. I have a crap-ton of yard and garden bed work to dig into. Literally! Truth be told, I'd like to fast-forward a month or so....all of the budding trees and emerging flowers are ramping up my seasonal allergies, big-time.

Yeah. Still not a huge fan of this Disney film, but eight years on, I still love when Elsa tosses her tiara and lets her hair down at 3:04. Kinda like when "good" Sandy goes "bad" in Grease.

Dear LORD. It was a little breezy around here yesterday afternoon, and nothing like the RFW criteria winds we had on Sunday. Did they really have that much wind about down there yesterday? Are we sure there isn't a T-rex loose on the Eastern Shore??

As always, looks AMAZING. I'm not a tremendous mushroom fan, but I'll bet it tastes good with that mix. The snap peas look soooo mouthwatering. Never heard of the meifun noodles, but they look awesome, especially with the other veggie/protein mix here. Geez, Mrs. J, if you don't already have your own cooking blog, channel, etc. -- you really should.

Whaddya think...first half of May? I feel like it might be that kind of late spring/summer.

Awww, man, this sounds like heaven! Good luck with all of this. And yeah, we enjoy watching the younger families/kids starting to enjoy the nicer weather again. We're on a cul de sac of "original owners" who've been here for 40-50 years. We couldn't figure out why they were all ecstatic when we moved in 20 years ago with a 6 and 4-year old...with our two having flown the nest in the last couple of years, we now "get" it. A younger family with three kids in that same age range bought the house next door this time last year, and we've enjoyed hearing them play outside and enjoy their pool in the summertime. The "portable TV" solution is a great idea -- we were thinking, too, of moving one of our 32" monitors out on the back patio this summer and stabbing a Fire TV Stick or Chromecast in that bad boy, because why not??

Ahhhh, man, lilacs. Always enjoyed having those in the backyard I grew up with. One of the finest smelling flowering trees. I'm guessing you can't take lilac bushes to Alexandria with you...

OMG, like a sudden explosion of budding over the past several days...and the red-flag criteria winds yesterday brought down an accumulation of those little buds all over the patios, yards and roofs. I know this is a necessary step, but ugh...what a mess.

Since I do more marinating and grilling year-round than ever before, I've really wanted to try growing my own fresh herbs. Our neighbors have done so successfully for years...but since I kill most things I try to grow, I've been hesitant to try.

Temp sensor currently says 34, but man...stepped outside for about 10 minutes and it feels like it's in the low 40s. Already getting breezy again.

Pictures from last evening are spooky...looks like something right out of wildfire central in the western states: Massive forest fire rages on mountain near Dillsburg (ydr.com)

I mentioned a trip to Water's End Brewery in Lake Ridge, VA yesterday afternoon....probably a 10-15 minute diversion off of I-95 south, and well worth the trip. Current beers on the board repped in first pic here....I started with the sweet/sour cherry pie, and while I am not a fruity beer fan...it was damn good. Barkeep said they're working a sweet/sour cherry pie to debut in a couple weeks that will be a bit more on sour side...what I had was fairly balanced. Mrs. V started out with Damn Beer, which is their everyday IPA and quite good. I followed my first draft with a Barleybeast -- which was, bar none, THE BEST barleywine draft I've ever had. I regret leaving without a crowler/growler of that...which is why Mrs. V and I are headed back there in a week or two before it's gone. And, on our way back from Water's End, we circled back through Potomac Town Center at Stonebridge to complete our weekly grocery run at the Wegman's there, and I finally found the "Saturday Morning" Lucky-Charms-themed four-pack there from Smartmouth, that I mentioned us hearing about not quite a year ago on its debut. There were national stories written about the "Lucky Charms" beer that was selling out as soon as it was made available. Mrs. V and I split one this afternoon and I was...underwhelmed. Don't get me wrong, it's a tasty IPA...just not a particularly well-flavored/themed one. Smartmouth touts the marshmallow flavor on the label, but try as we might...we didn't get that from the nose/taste of it at all. Again, a great everyday IPA, I just didn't feel that it lived up to the hype.

I envy those who have homes with front porches. We have a two-level back patio behind our current cookie-cutter home, but nothing compares to a front porch. The big Victorian house I grew up in up in northern PA (built ~1900 maybe?) had a wraparound front/side porch...my parents had a hanging swing, a sofa-sized glider and a bunch of Adirondack chairs on it. Spent much of my youth out there playing on that porch...

58, high/thin clouds but the blue skies are mostly there. Just finished a five-mile walk with the doggo and Mrs. V, and now we're headed to Water's End Brewery in Lake Ridge.