March Roared In

March roared in Wednesday. Besides the wind, the temperatures dropped dramatically in the afternoon and at night snow fell. It has been cold ever since though the sun has melted most of the snow. Right now at Friday evening 5:30 p.m. it is 29 but according to weather.com it feels like 19 because of the nasty cold wind. My crocus will probably start blooming in another 10-14 days. The daffodils which I planted last fall are about 3 inches high. We are still in a roller coaster weather pattern; above-average followed by below average temperatures in 3-4 day cycles. I don't know if the daffodils will survive.

I found 3 decorating books at Goodwill Tuesday. This is my now-preferred source since Half Price Books raised prices and Ollie's doesn't seem to have much in that area anymore. With the senior discount at Goodwill, the books averaged $1 each. I am going to stop there a few times a month. My folders are starting to bulge again, though, so I should buy at least one more folder.

Going through the pictures as I added the new ones made me hanker to shop at consignment shops and antique stores for some new things. I drove to North Webster this afternoon. In Tangibles I bought a table lamp for $15. Turns out it is a bit large for my sunroom porch table; I may keep looking and eventually transfer this lamp to my bedroom.

At Heart of the  Lakes Antiques I bought a small framed cross-stitch picture. Right now it is hanging in my sunroom. I may try it in a few other places.

I felt like having something different to look at. Less than $7, not too big a splurge. At least the rabbit ties in with Easter/Spring.

I have for the past two weeks been looking at vrbo to find a place to rent in Hilton Head in the winter of 2018. You might think this is way early to do so, but for various reasons, it has taken me 4 tries to get a confirmed booking in my price range. We are going to stay 3 weeks this time. I really liked Hilton Head 4 years ago when we stayed there. The rental I reserved for 2018 is within walking distance of the beach and not far from Coligny Plaza where the shops and restaurants abound. If it is warm enough, we will be making ice cream jaunts. Projecting ahead, we may try Hawaii for 7-10 days in 2019. I think our annual winter outings will be coming to an end after that. We'll see.

Next week we will get help from a tax preparer. This will be the first time not to do the taxes myself. My husband has to take required minimum distributions and the taxable mutual fund he put them into has qualified dividends, capital gains, and other factors I don't feel comfortable dealing with. I managed last year with Turbo Tax, but it spit out many forms I didn't even know existed. Better to let the experts figure out if all the bases are covered.

After next week, I hope to do a project for the Grace Village library. I want to use the donated money to purchase books that fill the gaps in our fiction series; but first I have to identify those gaps (my old desiderata list is very outdated) and then do some weeding to make space. I also have to find places online to buy used copies so the money can be used to its maximum effect. A very involved project and time-consuming. It seems like more and more people are using the library books if the return box is a reliable indicator.

With no regular helper, I spend a lot of time reshelving. My helper has been helping in a family emergency for the past 3 months. Her priorities are in the right place. I probably should recruit someone else for awhile, but so many residents are afraid to get on the stool to reach the higher shelves, finding a willing person might be hard.