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It definitely feels, smells, sounds, and looks like March, with the sun shining differently and casting different shadows.

You can smell the earth from the ground and the leaves that have composted over the winter.

Very slowly Spring sidles in.
She steps cautiously, as Winter
isn’t quite done yet.
Maybe there will be one last finale.
She bides her time, not wanting
to steal the show.
She has lifted the sun slightly,
not that you would notice immediately,
but the extra light is almost tangible.
The blossom remains tight in
the bud, almost ready to pop.
The daffodils have followed the
arrival of the hardy snowdrops,
who had little fear of Winter.
They are getting ready for their
grand show in March.
To my delight the birds are returning
their cheerful chortling in unison.
And my heart is feeling lifted,
Almost, as if, I am ready to be born again.
I’m nearing the end of the tunnel ..
I’m bursting with anticipation
for the glorious entrance of Spring ..

C.E. Coombes 🌼 Serendipity Corner

Artist Credit: Jo Grundy

The birds are happily chirping up a storm in the morning. The snow is melting, but more importantly, the rock-hard ice is finally melting.

Many people fell on the ice this winter and a lot of people got hurt. I wore ice cleats on my muck boots for weeks.

Marty fell twice on the ice in the last couple of weeks, thankfully he didn’t get hurt.

The perennial flower seeds I started in mid February are growing! I planted echinacea seeds and most of my herbs on Sunday.

I checked on them today. I was thrilled to see some seeds sprouting already!

The sight of something coming to life and growing is one of my favorite parts of gardening.

I am growing everything from seed this year. I want my garden plants to be as mature as the ones I pick up at the nursery in mid-May.

I am ready to do the work of transplanting to bigger pots when the time comes.

That being said, I am starting my veggie seeds over the weekend instead of on St. Joseph’s Day, March 19 as I always done.

A few veggies will be directly sown in the garden such as peas, green beans, carrots, and beets.

Lettuce, arugula, and spinach will be planted directly in the garden in the next few weeks. How exciting! There is nothing like harvesting your own lettuce for a salad.

This year, I am trying several varieties, not just a basic lettuce mix. We have missed our homegrown daily greens like crazy.

On to another reason why it feels like March, I am completely out of cold weather lunch and dinner ideas. in other words, I am in a cooking rut.

As excited as I get in the fall for comfort food, hearty soups, and stews I am tired of them. I’ve exhausted all of my winter dinner go-to items.

Oh, and while grocery shopping on Saturday, I was shocked to see corned beef for $17.90 a pound in the store!

Seriously, what the actual fuck? I’ll make just potatoes and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day before I spend that kind of money on corned beef!

That’s it for now guys, talk to you soon! 🙂

I celebrated my 29th birthday for 15 years. I had to up it a bit as my kids grew up. Lol.

I celebrated my 29th birthday 30 years ago! Holy shit, time goes by fast! Yikes!

At least this year, I feel as close to 29 as I have for two decades; honestly, I do. It’s a wonderful thing!

I didn’t want to go anywhere today. I thought I did for a few minutes, but then I remembered I don’t enjoy doing peopley things anymore.

So, that was the end of that fast lived idea. I also decided I didn’t want to cook, clean, do laundry, empty the dishwasher, or anything else for that matter.

I did plant some more perennial seeds. Today, I sowed and planted some echinacea seeds I saved from my flowers last year.

All of the flower heads were stored outside in a covered storage area. I learned that these type of seeds need to experience winter before they can be planted.

As for birthday food, I asked Marty to make me a soft French omelet with swiss cheese for breakfast. He makes good omelets, just the way I like them.

I ate some leftover yellow slurpy noodles for lunch and I asked for a prime rib dinner for dinner.

No, I didn’t expect Marty to make it.

Henry’s butcher shop sells prime rib dinners on Friday nights for $19 each—a bargain for sure.

The meal also comes with loaded mashed potatoes and perfectly cooked green beans.

We had enjoyed the prime rib dinner before, so I knew that it was going to be my birthday dinner. Easy, peasy, and delicious.

It was delicious and made with love. I only ate half of my prime rib and green beans. I didn’t touch my potatoes since the prime rib was what I was after.

To me, a great meal at a great price and supporting another small business is a win-win.

Being able to enjoy it at home was fucking priceless.

I reflected on 58 and concluded that, unlike 57, it was an excellent year for me—a huge transformative year.

I hope the skies will clear at some point so I can see the planetary alignment.

It’s a rare occurrence, and it feels special that it’s happening on my birthday!

Both of my sons and Aja texted me before 7:30 am. Today, is Aja’s birthday too! I love that we share our special day together. 🥰

It meant a lot to me that they reached out early in the morning. It made me feel special, the first thing off the bat!

That’s what is important to me these days. My family. My husband. My girls. My home. And me, of course! Which took almost 58 years to figure out.

Happy Friday, friends. Enjoy your weekend!

While resting in bed this morning, I shot several short videos of the girls wrestling.

I’m still teaching myself how to make better content, this was today’s fun experimental reel.

February is almost over. Marty’s birthday was 10 days ago, and like every year, he has gotten sick—every single year since he was a child.

Inevitably, in some years, I catch whatever bug he picked up. This is one of those years. Ugh.

So, even though I eat healthy and take supplements such as vitamin C and zinc to boost my immune system, I have been under the weather since Friday.

Its not a whopper of a cold or anything horrible like that, its just a cough with a small amount of congestion.

I’ve been listening to my body since my lungs are nothing to fool around with since being diagnosed with lung disease 2 years ago.

I’ve been getting plenty of rest and staying hydrated to the point of being annoying since I have to pee so often, and I’ve been taking it easy in general.

When our bodies are sick, and we listen to them, a beautiful thing happens when we slow down: We appreciate even the most minor things.

We sleep with our window open every night all winter long. The fresh air is great and we both love to sleep in a cold room.

Our bedroom gets super hot in the middle of the night because Nelly and Roxy are like sleeping with two hot water bottles.

In the last few days, I’ve noticed the birds are chirping up a storm again in the mornings. This makes me so glad!

Many people here have posted photos of returned robins, one of the first indications that spring is just around the corner. Hurray!!

We’ve had a beautiful winter but now is when cabin fever turns into spring fever for many people.

We still have March to contend with which feels like the longest month of the year to me.

I picked up a small bouquet of flowers at Trader Joe’s on Friday. It was the best $6.99 I spent that day.

There is just something special about a vase of fresh flowers to brighten things up and make me smile whenever I look at it.

I was careful not to overdue anything, but over the weekend, I set up my seed starting area in our bathroom, the warmest and sunniest room in the house.

The door can be closed, and the hot water bottles can’t bother the seedlings.

Yesterday, I planted my first sets of perennial flower seeds. It’s too early to start vegetable seeds, but getting a good jump start on growing flowers makes sense since we have such a short growing season.

After watching and learning so much from a number of YouTube channels, it felt great to actually start planting seeds.

This year, I am growing everything from seed. I carefully chose my seeds online from many farmers that sell smaller quality of seeds instead of the store bought varieties.

I have my seeds organized and made my own garden journal since I couldn’t find one that I was looking for.

I began writing notes yesterday when I planted my seeds. This is the perfect thing to keep me busy while I am getting over this sick thing.

I hope I am back to 100% by Wednesday for dance or more importantly ny Friday which is my and my future daughter-in-law Aja’s birthday as well.

I love that we share our birthdays together!

Have a great week and I’ll catch up with you soon. ♥️

Today, I posted my first VT Spätzle recipe reel on social media ! I’m happy how it came out both the dish and the reel.

Such a quick and easy one pan dish great as a side dish, lunch, or add a grilled protein and you have a delicious dinner.

1 12 oz package of Vermont Spätzle Company spätzle
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pint cherry tomatoes
4 oz feta cheese or 1/2 a block
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 pinch red pepper flakes *optional
Kosher salt & pepper to taste
1 handful fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a 9 inch baking dish, add cherry tomatoes to the dish. Next, place feta cheese in the middle of the tomatoes.

Drizzle with olive oil then season with crushed red pepper, kosher salt, and pepper to taste.

Make for 30 minutes. Remove dish from the oven and add the garlic and basil. Mix well into the tomatoes and feta cheese.

Turn oven to 450 degrees and bake for 10 minutes. Remove baking dish from the oven and serve. Enjoy! Makes 2-3 servings.

I’ve tried many times to bring herbs inside before frost hits them. I usually manage to keep them alive until Thanksgiving, when they die.

This year was different now that I have more plants. I picked up a basil plant in the fall for $2.99 instead of a package for $2.99.

It needs to be watered every day or it gets droopy. That’s when it hit me. I was watering my herbs when I watered my house plants.

All of my indoor plants besides a spider plant are some form of succulents which don’t need to be watered as much as regular plants.

Ah, so that’s why my herbs dried up and died. I make sure that all of my herbs are watered if it hadn’t rained , why in hell did I think I didn’t have to water them indoors? 🤓

It’s mid February and my rosemary and sage are still alive! Yay!

This makes me so happy and at the same time like a big dummy it took me this long to figure out.

My huge rosemary I got from a friend died last winter. I kept moving it around because it was loosing needles but did I think to water it more?

No, I didn’t. Duh, Julz. That is all.

When I lost 65% of my hair a year and a half ago from stress due to an illness I panicked. Who wouldn’t right?

My hair began falling out in August 2023-April 2024. It was terrifying watching brush and handfuls of my hair coming out several times a day

Thank God I had a lot of thick hair to start with. I was able to camouflage bald spots with brush in root cover. Yea, I’m good with shit like that.

Anyway, I began praying every day to relieve my worry about my hair. When it stopped falling out, it immediately started growing back.

Everyday, including today I give that worry away. Manifesting and positive thinking does work to contrary belief.

With my new virgin hair, I decided that I wanted to take care of this hair and not fuck it up like the hair that still existed.

Coloring my hair black was no longer an option. I began using a shampoo and conditioning natural dye that is gentle on my hair.

The color of my new hair is my natural hair color. The old black shit wouldn’t go away. There was no way on earth I was going to strip my hair so I lived with it.

I didn’t know why I could never be happy. I kept on wondering. My hair was growing back fast and thick, as I had prayed for, but now I wanted the black gone.

I noticed in photos back in the fall my dark hair and makeup were too harsh for my now thin face and body or was it more than just that?

I went to Sephora and asked for help switching to brown eyeliner, mascara, and a lighter eyebrow pencil.

The difference was softer, matching my now softer heart and laid-back calmness. But my black hair, which I loved, was now a big no-no.

Yesterday, I used a gentle color remover and some clarifying shampoo to try to get my hair back to my natural color. This was a huge nail biter for me.

To my surprise, after I rinsed out the color remover and used the clarifying shampoo on the lower half of my hair several times, my hair was back to my natural color!

I danced around the house and grabbed my phone to take some photos before the sun set behind the mountain.

I snapped photos in my complete natural state trying to not be too self conscious. I knew I wanted to write about this journey.

I went through a gigantic shift spiritually and mentally. My body went through another transformation back to my healthy weight and bmi.

Now, my hair is natural again, too. It’s so much softer and looks natural—it should be, as it is the color I was born with.

These two old Easter photos were taken the same day inside and outside showing my natural hair color

Many people haven’t seen my natural color ever since I began using Sun-In on my hair in high school.

It’s very fitting because in these photos was before my life changed when I was nine years old when my mother Eileen turned on me.

I am not the same person I was a year ago when I forgave Eileen. My mind and heart have opened again.

I feel the same joy, happiness, contentment, and love I felt before the abuse began. It’s a beautiful feeling.

Looking in the mirror and photos my appearance was too harsh for me now. I was no longer an angry, disappointed, hurt victim shrouded in all black.

I think in a way I was grieving how life felt to me before everything changed. These were some very profound feelings I carried around with me for decades

Don’t get me wrong I still love black clothing that will never change because of the pure classic look they give. After all, black goes with everything.

This post goes above and beyond my change in hair color, it’s just another positive step on my spiritual journey in this lifetime.

I was given the task of making a video to collaborate with The Barrows House restaurant located in Dorset, VT.

The Barrows House will be using our spätzle in one of chef Zach’s creations, lobster spätzle mac and cheese!

I am proud of how it came out! Not bad for someone with zero tech skills or making videos before this year.

Things are starting to click and I am learning more with every bit of content I make.

I hope you like it!

We’ve been having the most beautiful winter this year, with snow on the ground since Christmas time.

The small amount daily snow that we have been receiving keeps the snow white and dream like.

The other day, I had a craving for shepherd’s pie—technically, a cottage pie since I was using ground beef instead of lamb. I am not a lamb person because I don’t like the flavor.

I keep my recipe simple by browning the ground beef, adding minced onions, garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, a slight touch of tomato paste, beef broth, and peas.

My mashed potatoes are simple and basic. I always add one can of creamed corn to top the beef mixture to add moisture and additional corn as well.

After I top the corn with the mash, I grab a fork and make a design. This design reminded me of an Irish sweater!

The photo I took of the sweater pie I took on our Aga stove made me feel really Irish! I am very Irish, almost 80%, so it felt very fitting.

It was the perfect meal on a cold and snowy day. I served it was short rib gravy that Sam insisted I freeze from our Christmas dinner.

Oh, how I thanked him! It was perfect! I always make a gravy to serve with my cottage pie so this saved me a big step!

I never had shepherd’s or cottage pie growing up in New Jersey. Was it just my family Jersey friends or is it a New England?

The funny thing about me making shepherd’s pie for dinner was that Noah made one the night before! He must have been channeling me or our ancestors. 😂

My adopted mother Eileen’s family came from Ireland but we never had shepherd’s or cottage pie.

She rubbed it in my face every St. Patrick’s Day telling me I was allowed to be Irish on St. Paddy’s Day because everyone was. Thanks, mom.

This was what growing up as an adopted person hurt the most. I hated not knowing where the fuck I came from.

I guess since I didn’t find out I was Irish until I was 48 years old, I didn’t think I belonged in Irish pubs so I never saw shepherd’s pie on a menu.

Even though I don’t drink anymore I still want to visit Irish pubs. It’s more of the feeling and charm than the alcohol itself to me. I’d love to go to Ireland one day as well.

By the way, I forgot to take photos of my plate and my cottage pie. I was hungry, and so looking forward to eating it that I scoffed it right down.

Before I start writing my blog posts, I usually do some research. When I looked at images of Irish sweaters, I hit the nail on the head, thinking my pie design looked like one of the traditional Aran stitches.

My birthday is at the end of the month. Don’t tell Marty I told you this, but I really want a traditional Irish sweater for my birthday.

It’s a personal thing to pick out the design choices since they can mean different things. I do love the design the model below is wearing though. 😉

It is so weird to me asking for a specific gift. For so many years, I could never think of anything I wanted or deserved (mental illness thinking) for a gift.

I didn’t want anyone to spend money on me let alone something I didn’t need. I would always say I don’t need anything when asked what I wanted for Christmas or birthdays.

My mother Eileen took this as face value and listened to what I said and would remind what I told her, I didn’t need anything. A piece of gum would have been better than nothing.

I had a seriously warped sense of my self-worth and worthiness to others. Thank goodness I’ve worked through that bullshit!

That’s water under the bridge now, and even though I have forgiven Eileen, those painful memories pop up.

I acknowledge them, feel them, and let them go.

It’s healthy for me to do this because it makes the forgiveness continue to make me feel free from what those memories used to do to me.

I’m unsure if anyone else will see an Irish sweater woven into my cottage pie, but I do. Being Irish has slowly woven itself into my life, and I love it!

For the record, the cottage pie was delicious and delivered exactly what I was craving and feeling, a comforting meal that made me feel like I was wrapped up in an Irish sweater. ☘️

Before starting this post, I’d like to give you some background information. Marty would complain about my Irish storytelling, but I think it’s essential so you know who I was and who I am.

When I was a newlywed or a young homemaker, I used to read Martha Stewart Magazine and watch her TV show.

I loved every detail of her homes, gardens, and everything and anything she baked or cooked.

She filled my head with ideas, hopes, and dreams. She made me want to reach the unachievable. She made me want to be her in the sense of the word.

Then I got smacked in the face of reality and realized how many peons must have worked hard for her creating her lifestyle that was unattainable to most people.

I realized all of the things I loved cost a lot of money, time, and more effort than one person could ever do.

I said fuck that shit and went about my life with what I had the money for, the time and effort to make our home nice.

With all that being said, this is still kind of post that people can react to in several different ways.

A few of these things I do around the house at this point in my life cost very little, take little time and effort.

First question, is there a difference between light and bright or clean or dirty light?

Light is one of the most important things in our lives without it nothing would thrive and too much of it makes living things go berserk.

Light is important to me in our home. I love candlelight that is just bright enough to see what you need to. I love the bright sunshine shining through our windows.

In our kitchen, I like clean light for food prep and cooking. The light also affects how my food photos look.

I like soft, warm light bulbs, but nothing with a blue tone. I even purchased two hygge bulbs in our back room when we need more light.

We used to have intense bright bulbs in the back room pendant lights which made us squint.

Now when we need significant lighting, it helps us see things but not make us need sunglasses at night.

This winter whenever I was setting my dining room table for guests, I couldn’t figure out why it was so dark when I used lots of candles and the chandelier dimmed low.

This used to be the perfect about of light for dining, but over the holidays I had to turn the dimmer up making a weird light. Low and behold I figured out why this morning. 🤦🏻‍♀️

The led chandelier bulbs were filthy! They were cloudy from grease and dust was sticking to them even though I dust my chandelier usually without the lights on.

I took out the bulbs and cleaned them with a little vinegar and water. Presto! I screwed them back in and had that perfect amount of warm light. Duh!

I guess it didn’t occur to me that led lightbulbs last longer than incandescent one and basically get dirty.

These light bulbs were a few years old and I never cleaned them I don’t think. I guess I never thought about it or maybe I didn’t look up.

Now some people may say good for her if light is that important. It is important since it sets the stage for dining and the mood. People eat with their eyes.

Some may say, good for her but I don’t give a shit what the light looks like while we are eating. I get that.

Some may think I need a second job because I have too much time on my hands to notice such trivial details. I get that too.

To me, it doesn’t matter what other people think when something makes my life feel warmer, brighter, cleaner, happier, cozier, etc.

Everyone who does walk into our home at night always comments how cozy or charming it looks. I beam a little because coziness is something I love.

Coziness gets me through winter, rainy, or gray days. I am also huge into aromatherapy which also helps to create a certain kinds of atmosphere especially if it’s seasonal.

I love simmer pots, naturally scented candles or essential oils to defuse. Spending a little bit more on well-made naturally scented hand soap is another one of my must haves for a cozy life.

I went for years not having the time or energy to care about these things, but at my age I’ve learned that I deserve to indulge in small things that bring me joy or that special feeling.

House stagers are masters of this as are good real estate agents. Home designers and ads sell people that feeling of home.

This is why some realtors bake ready-made cookie dough before an open house or showing.

Personally, I’d prefer a this “place is clean” smell but not in a mothball kind of way. Mothball smell in my opinion is one of the worse smells.

Years ago, we once did a gig at someone’s old home and all I could smell was a musty mold smell which made it hard for me to perform. Ugh!

As I am typing, the globes to our kitchen lights are in the dishwasher. I use the fast setting and the globes are clean and dry in under 40 minutes.

This afternoon, I went around and cleaned all of our mirrors and other light bulbs. All of them were dirtier than I thought. It’s too early to spring clean, but this made me feel good.

Am I being ridiculous for caring? Yes and no. That’s up to you to ponder or not care at all.

Will some of you look to see how clean your light bulbs are? Will some of you clean them and be shocked by how different everything looks?

I’m sure some of you don’t give a rat’s ass and go back to whatever you were doing and never give it a second thought.

This isn’t about shaming people with filthy lightbulbs like mine were, or to inspire people to run around with ADD/ADHD behavior tendencies like me.

This post is more like the Seinfeld show where I am writing about silly or stupid things that make people tick.

Have a great rest of your weekend. I’ve put down my cleaning rags for a while to sit with my girls.