Preparing for spring!

I try to get out of the house every day, especially when Mark is gone.  Being cooped up inside with Abbie for an entire day, by ourselves, isn’t either of our ideas of fun.  I had planned to go to base this morning, just to get out of the house, but Brittney and I are going to run errands tomorrow, so I decided not to drive all the way to base just to check my mail.  (Although I have been known to do that before…)

Instead we played around in the yard.  Abbie had great fun watching Sadie tear around like a lunatic and she played on her slide some.  (She can go up and down the slide all by herself now.  That’s a fairly new feat for her.)  I de-weeded my garden, took all the plants from last year out of my pots, dumped all the old dirt on my garden and trimmed all my rose bushes.  And I got hot while doing it!  I just had a fleece jacket on, but I was warm.  It’s beautiful outside, and I wouldn’t mind if it stayed like this all year round!  Well it could warm up a little, but the sun and the crisp air is wonderful.  I’m so excited for spring to come so I can start planting my flowers and my garden.  Hopefully I can get my garden to grow better than I did last year…  I consider last year my trial run.  =)  What do you plant in your gardens?  And what are your favorite flowers to plant?  I’m a little bummed that I didn’t bring back some tulip bulbs from Holland for me.  I thought I was going to be gone all summer though, so I didn’t get any for myself.

It’s so nice that Abbie is at an age where she doesn’t need CONSTANT supervision now.  I don’t have to always have my eyes on her making sure she’s not going to get hurt.  I can turn my back on her and work on my garden and she can run around the yard and be just fine.  Well almost…  I usually run around with a pooper scooper and try to pick up all the land mines when we first get out there so she doesn’t step in them.  Invariably, I miss one and Abbie will come up to me later on, dog poop in hand, and try to hand me dog poop.  It’s really gross, but I have to laugh because EVERY time she does it she says “Dog-a poop”.  My dad says that’s the Italians rubbing off on her because it does almost sound like an Italian accent.  I’m trying to teach her that we only pick up poop with the scooper, but she’s just trying to help so I can’t get too mad at her.  It’s just a pain to have to drop everything and run inside to wash her hands, but we’ll live.

I think staying busy and getting out of the house is the key to making separations from your spouse go by more quickly.  While being away from Mark will never be enjoyable for me, it’s definitely getting easier, and that’s a very good thing.  What are your tricks for making separations go by faster?

Happy Monday!!