Three months of catching up

Oh geez...it's been 3 months since I was last on here.  I think the combination of the brutal winter and sheer laziness has made me neglect my little blog.  I'm not even sure anyone still reads this.  I realize I update this solely to aid in my own memory loss. 

Since my last update, here's what's happened....not much of anything.  The weather has greatly improved, as has my mood.  Jackson's still in school, we still live in our beautiful house, the grass is now green, our plants survived the bitter cold, and I have a new compost bin.  All people and animals in the house are still living.  Jackson's still sassy, and he enjoys picking fights with me.  Can't say I enjoy that too much but whatever.

In the last few months, I've spent a lot of time with my neighbor across the street.  Her husband died in January and she's being forced to put her house on the market (financial reasons).  I've been helping her sell her stuff (she'd probably have preferred to just take everything to Goodwill but she'd get nothing for those tax write-offs).  I'm proud to say I've put over $1100 in her pocket from the stuff I've sold (I sell on bookoo, craigslist, Facebook, and eBay).  That's $1100 she wouldn't have had otherwise.  It's safe to say I can sell just about anything.  :)  It's been like a part-time job, and despite the time and energy that goes into it (measuring, photoing, listing, arranging pick ups, etc), the most positive thing that's come with it has been a strengthened relationship with L (the neighbor).  She's grieving hard these days, and has used my shoulder to cry on more times than I can count. There's no much I can do to help her emotionally but I'm glad I can just simply be there for her.  Selfishly, it makes me feel good to do that for her, even though it also breaks my heart in a million pieces to see her like that.

We're planning our family vacation for this summer to Minnesota.  I haven't been to MN in 30 years, and don't have many fond memories of it, so it'll be good to make new memories.  We'll go to Mall of America and maybe some festivals there, then travel around.  It'll be so nice!  Paul and I both need some time away from here. 

That's it for now.  I'm looking forward to this summer!!  We have our pool passes, Jackson will be taking t-ball and martial arts, and we'll be outside a lot enjoying the warm weather.  I can't wait!!