Wacky like the weather

It is alternately sunny and snowing here. Yes, you read that properly - snowing in Seattle in April. We have had snow flurries on multiple days in the past few weeks, most recently today. This morning before friends came over I thought I'd mop the kitchen floor. I got as far as moving the chairs and throw rugs outside....and it started snowing. So instead of mopping I dragged everything back indoors and gave up on that project. (The floor remains unmopped. What can I say?)

Then, this afternoon, Tessa ran around in the yard barefoot. The grass is lush and Ryan mowed it yesterday and I think it was soft, if cold, beneath her feet. Tessa played on her swingset with her friends, made a "baked grass pie" with grass clippings in a bucket, jumped rope, and insisted on keeping her coat off.

This evening, Ryan prepped another row of soil in the garden so that Tessa and I can plant the carrots tomorrow, and he did so in a windstorm with spitting rain - horrible weather. (Thanks, Ry, for doing it anyway.)

My mood - and Tessa's - is as wacky as the weather. I'm proud of myself for getting back in the swing of things, and irritated as all heck that I'm NOT in the swing of things. My patience is short, which is unfortunate because Tessa is a crazy nut today....her mood is all over the map (and though she's usually a good listener at gymnastics, she was obnoxious today and got spoken to on multiple occassions by the teacher).

I made a lovely dinner (I thought) and then felt like screeching at Tessa because of how much she complained about the scant amount of red onions in it (she used to love onions, now she's decided that they're evil and inedible...whatever).

Tessa was rude to me over the dinner issue, demanding dessert, going so far as to stick her tongue out at me and "harumph" me and raise her voice to me. Just when I thought I'd totally lose it, she started crying. I held my ground about dessert, held to her consequences, but offered to snuggle her and read a story. Then, my obnoxious daughter was sweet as can be, gentle and kind, snuggly on the chair, both of us enveloped in a blanket, reading stories.

Maybe the weather has something to do with our moods!

The garden is starting to be a legitimate garden. As of right now, we've planted:
- leeks
- rainbow Swiss chard
- mixed lettuce (red and green)
- Shuksan and Rainier strawberries
- early cabbage
....and we've got seeds planted in pots to be stored indoors until the weather is ready:
- northern peppers
- Black Krim tomatoes
- red currant tomatoes

I've still got sugar snap peas, golden beets, broccoli, kale, spinach, more lettuce, radishes to plant, and I want to buy more strawberry plants (I've decided we'll never tire of strawberries, and they're low cost when you consider that they don't have to be replanted each year). I want to buy rhubarb and squash. Oh, and I've got potatoes sprouting on a windowsill, so that I can plant those, too.

Our chives, oregano, rosemary, and parsley are thriving this year. I've got an indoor basil plant. I still plan to do mint, thyme, garlic, and maybe some other herbs.

Today, picking oregano from our herb garden, I was more pleased with myself than I should admit. It made me dream of making whole meals from our garden.

But my energy is high and low, just like Tessa's mood, and just like the weather. Maybe when the weather improves my mood will improve as well.