It's alive!

Emerging from hibernation. "Waking up" with the first signs of spring has been more difficult that in previous years. I could blame it on the weather (which would be partially true), the lack of light (also true, in part), the mountains of cooking & baking that have taken over my weekends (which is both true and tasty! and lets me play Tetris in my freezer).

But the real reason, truth be told, is that we finally broke down and bought a new mattress. (We've only been talking about it for two years now!) So a few weekends ago we found ourselves at IKEA, lying around on mattresses and comparing notes on various thicknesses of mattress-y layers, and trying not to doze off on some of them. And the next night, a very nice delivery driver showed up at our doorstep with our shiny new mattress, all rolled up and compressed like a giant space burrito.

And It. Is. Awesome! I can't believe how much of a difference it makes. I just want to sleep all the time! I go to work, and I miss my bed. I went to bed at SEVEN O'CLOCK last Friday night - FRIDAY!!! - and I didn't care. Of course, the cats also love the new bed, so there are more of them in there with us, more of the time.

So, anyway, I've been busy sleeping. Or lounging in bed. Or wrassling cats for space in the bed. It's been brilliant! But the light's staying longer, and the crocuses and snowdrops are out, and there's more birdsong in the mornings, and it's time to come out of the cave again.

It hasn't all been hiding in bed in the basement. There's been knitting, of course, and also learning to play the ukulele that Mr.Q got me for Christmas. (You should hear me play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"! I feel like I'm in Grade 2, learning recorder again. SO. MUCH. FUN!!!!)

Mr.Q has been around a bit more, too, the last few weeks, so we've been catching up on some Quality Time. For January and the first half of Feb, he was in school for his last round of apprenticeship classes. Between homework sessions and study marathons, I didn't see much of him for the first 6 weeks or so of the year. However, I'm most proud to report, he passed both his final exam and his inter-provincial accreditation exam with strong marks. A few more months of work hours, and he'll be a ticketed journeyman carpenter. Clever man! I've asked him to build me a spiral staircase when he builds our Dream House. I don't even care if it goes anywhere - just a staircase, from floor to ceiling, in the living room, with books and plants and cats lounging on it. I wants one, my preciousss!

I had an interesting class today, which was actually my reason for posting, but I'm going to have to leave it till tomorrow. It's almost bed time (BED! O GLORIOUS BED!) and I can hear my pillow calling me. And the effort in getting the laptop up and going tonight (it needed some TLC) has been rather...epic! Also, Mr.Q has just scarpered off with my ukulele, and must be discouraged from such impertinence! Stinker. It's the spray bottle for him. (After he puts the uke down, of course.) Till tomorrow!