Winter or Spring?

I was thinking today, I try not to do that.  But I think Groundhog Day is a cruel holiday!  It just rubs it in that Spring is nowhere near, and makes us start thinking about Spring in the first place, when we would have otherwise just focused on valentines and leprechauns.  At least in this part of the world, Spring is still quite far away, and like everyone else, this time of year is less pleasant for me than others seasons.  I just want the elements to get a move on with it!

I did, however, want to hang on to winter a little longer than usual this time.  The reason being that we never got any real snow!  I had my first brown Christmas this winter.  The one day they say it did snow here for, like an hour, I was in Boise shopping and missed it all.  In Boise, it only rained.  So I decided to hurt no one but myself by leaving Christmas up until it actually did snow.  I know, it was risky.  And cranky. 

Well, a couple of days before March hit, I ran into a friend in the parking lot of a store in Nampa who said to wait right there because she actually happened to have something for me in her car.  She came back with a zip-lock bag full of white powder and said she didn't have time to explain but an e-mail would be waiting for me at home explaining everything.  Hmmmmm.  (She cracks me up because this mysteriousness was just something she would do.)  I discreetly tucked my "mystery bag" of white... powdery... substance... into my car and headed home.

As it turned out, the powder was "Insta- Snow".  They use it on film sets and it makes a great activity for kids.  I was over-joyed!  She explained in her e-mail that Todd had told her I didn't want to take down Christmas 'till it snowed- and she recognized that this may just not happen this year.  So she brought snow to me.  :)  I thought it was the coolest thing ever.  So did my kids.  

They LOVED LOVED LOVED it. 

 Everyone singing, "Snow!"

The first picture shows a Tablespoon of snow powder in the glass jar.  

With the right amount of water added, the powder absorbs and expands 

and overflows out of the jar into a jolly pile of snow.

It's crazy that only one little Tbsp. of that stuff can turn into this much Insta-Snow!

  

So I took Winter decorations down, finally.  Part of me probably just dreaded the effort.  This is definitely a bigger house to decorate than the one we lived in before.  There, all I had to put decorations on was the piano and the Christmas tree!  Here, we have loads of shelves.  As well as a few side table tops.  Part of me worried I'd never remember where to put my regular decorations!  I've decided to take pictures of how I like things arranged so I can look off of them each season.  I like to decorate, but I take way too long making decisions of where to put things.  So if the decision is already made and displayed in a picture, maybe I won't procrastinate changing out seasonal decor so long next year.

Here's the Spring decor! 

And here's what happened outside the very next day.  Figures :) 

A bit of a contrasting look with snow in the background.

Getting ready to play in the snow.