Renewed Energy (and how I am using it)

After approximately two and a half years of feeling exhausted, I feel as if I am coming back to life. No, I don't know exactly what caused the exhaustion. Neither traditional nor alternative medical providers have come up with a definite cause, but I have a few theories which involve more than one factor contributing to the problem.

But that's not the subject of this post. Rather, it's all about signs of spring and two weeks of craziness. As @generikat put it, I've been hurtling through life.

The last week of March was spent at my sister's house in Montana. I try to get there for a visit each spring and fall. I had just recovered from a bronchial infection, and felt up to the drive. As usual, we spent plenty of time drinking tea, visiting, and doing a jigsaw puzzle.

I also brought along a crocheting project. Thanks to a three-session class at the local library, I finally learned how to crochet! I didn't think it was possible, but by the end of the third class I had made this funny little octopus.

I became obsessed with making more of them. I bought the necessary supplies prior to my trip, and proceeded to plague my poor sister with questions the first day I was there. It had been two weeks since that third and final crochet class, and I had already forgotten a few details. My sister has been crocheting for years, so she was able to get me going again. I actually made five of them while I was at her house.

It was a relaxing week, but when I got home I hit the ground running for two weeks. I took my husband to Urgent Care twice (nothing serious), and to two appointments. I had one granddaughter over for a day, and the other one overnight at another time. I attended a baptism, went to see a local youth production of a musical, got a haircut, spent a day mucking out one daughter's apartment, got the winter tires changed to summer tires on two vehicles, and had a dental appointment.

And whenever I wasn't busy with all of that, I was prepping and pricing items for a huge consignment sale held at the fairgrounds. My youngest daughter is a single mom and doesn't have the time for all that work, but desperately needs the money. So I did it for her. I kept rough track of the hours I invested in that project, and it came out close to thirty.

Today was my do-nothing-but-rest day. I have had two naps, and tea at a neighbor's house. I do need to go pick up the leftovers from that sale this evening, but that's as ambitious as I am going to get. Needless to say, my house hasn't gotten cleaned properly for three weeks, but I'll think about that tomorrow. Not today.

And I need to make up my mind whether I am going to plant a garden this year. If I am, I need to start some seeds ASAP. Will I have the energy all summer to take care of the garden, harvest produce, and preserve it? Will the ground squirrels and/or pocket gophers eat everything up? Will I be able to afford the water bill? All these unpredictable factors need to be weighed and considered before I set up the pop-up greenhouse and buy seed starting soil.

Meanwhile, the rhubarb is up, as are the garlic, daffodils, and tulips.The hyacinths and the grape hyacinths are just starting to bloom. I used to have a few crocuses, but either the deer ate them or I accidentally pulled them up. The squill is nearly done blooming already.