Working toward spring

Garry and I aren't really the type of folks to get all mushy over any particular holiday. Not that we're "anti" anything, just we don't get all wrapped up in anything that isn't really personal to us. It keeps things less "forced" and more interesting. Folks scoffed at me (no really, they did) when I said all I wanted to do was have a quiet evening at home, watch a movie with Garry and drink some hot cocoa. There are plenty of days we can go out to dinner without dealing with all of the crazy people. Besides, I had an amazingly delicious grilled cheese sandwich last night (that I forgot to take photos of, whoops). 

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese

• 4 slices thick-sliced Italian bread (or, really, any bread - that's just what we used) 
• 2 slices colby jack cheese 
• 2 tbs unsalted butter
• 2 tbs fat-free cream cheese 
• 1 jalapeno - seeded and chopped

I'm going to assume that most folks reading this know how to make grilled cheese. So basically, you add the cream cheese and chopped jalapeno on the inside of the sandwich and cook as normal. It's an incredibly tasty way to have jalapeno poppers without having to deep fry anything. If you're feeling a little more adventurous, you could add some cooked bacon into the mix. 

Grilled cheese is Garry's comfort food and at one point we were going to have it served as appetizers for our wedding. So, I guess you could call grilled cheese romantic in our household... comfortably romantic. 

So, yesterday our dishwasher was installed. Finally. After waiting 5 1/2 months, we now have a working dishwasher. No longer does it sit in the box in our garage collecting dust. No, my friends, it is installed and cleaning dishes like a champ!

It might seem like a mundane thing, but after washing dishes by hand for 5 1/2 months with three adults on different schedules living in the house (and a constant stream of people coming over) it was getting to be a little ridiculous because there was never enough room in our little dish dryer to do all of the dishes (even as we did them as we used them. I'm hoping now our kitchen will look a lot neater. 

We're planning on finishing the counter top this weekend. It already looks a million times better, but having the facing and all of the counter top finished will definitely make a big difference. Oh, if only we had better lighting to take an appropriate photo to share!

When I arrived home yesterday I also noticed that some of my bulbs are starting to sprout! I'm a little worried because I think it might be too early for them to start sprouting and because I'm increasingly more convinced we're going to have horrible weather in March to make up for the rather mild winter we've had so far, I'm afraid that they'll die before they get a chance to bloom. 

We planted a mixture of hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, bearded iris and I think some sort of snow drop. From what it looks like, the hyacinths are the ones that are sprouting with a few of the tulips following suit (based on where we planted everything in the fall. 

I know it's going to be another 2 months before we really see any sort of changes outside. I guess that's what is so frustrating about living up north. The winters here are long. Even if the weather is mild (like this year), it still feels so long because the trees are bare, the grass is brown and everything is still "asleep." 

But, seeing those little green buds yesterday gave me hope. Hope that winter is nearing an end and spring will be here soon. Hope that the days will continue to get longer and warmer and the buds in the ground and on the trees will continue to grow.