Tuesday was one of those oppressively gray and dismal rainy days. Scotland and I unconsciously decided that such a day deserved nothing more than a lot of reading and snuggling. At one point during the day as I was rocking Scotland to sleep and listening to “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” I started to dose off, so I put Scotland to the side of me with his little head resting on my arm and we both fell asleep. (Oh how I adore my rocker!) An hour or so later we both started to stir. We stretched. Yawned. Opened our eyes. I looked down at Scotland and said “Did you have a good nap, Scotter?” He looked up at me with these knowing refreshed eyes. For a moment he didn’t seem like a baby- but just another person. It struck me, this little baby is going to be one of my best friends for the rest of my life.

After what Claire tells me was the rainiest coldest April in 50 years, we finally had a warm sunny day today. I spent as much time outside as I could, and I think I have recharged. I guess I’ll be ready for the next week of rain. Though maybe a few of you ought to call when the end of that week rolls around- you might find me curled up in a ball under Scotland’s crib crying (wink!). Please sun, please, please come out for more than one day!

I’m on a sugar fast. Not because I’m trying to loose weight- I’m good on that accord, but rather because my habit of eating sweets after every feeding is getting out of control. As a result I’ve been reading a lot about sugar and it’s negative side effects.  You may have read the NYTimes article calling it toxic, or watched the viral video where one UCSF professor calls it poison. I am convinced that the amount of sugar I consume is unhealthy. The trick is getting away from such a high consumption- I just realized that the applesauce I buy is 10% sugar! What! It seems anything you buy packaged these days contains some form of corn syrup. I guess the only way to avoid it is to minimize packaged foods. That means homemade bread and oatmeal for breakfast. Hmmm.

I finished reading “The Male Brain” a couple of days ago. It was both disturbing and insightful. In some ways it made me nervous to raise a boy, in other ways it made me grateful that my son will have such an upstanding father to follow. It reinforced my belief that sending 19-21 year-old boys on missions is incredibly inspired. I hope it will make me a more understanding wife and mother.

I used a push lawn mower for the first time today. The experience was lovely. I could hear birds chirping, and I didn’t worry that Scotland was going to loose his hearing at age 30. It isn’t the “clean” cut I love, but considering how long our lawn was, it may not have been with a gas powered mower either. Hmmm.

I’ve been so thirsty all day.

University circle’s reflection pool has got to be one of the most beautiful places in Cleveland this time of year.

I’ve had several tithing blessings lately. Monday I was at Aldi doing my grocery shopping. While there I overheard the manager telling a customer “They are in such bad shape I’m knocking them down to 99cents because I don’t want them to go to waste.” I quickly asserted that she was talking about the hanging pots. I rushed over there to find some wilty but certainly not dead hanging pots filled with begonia, impatiens, and lobelia. I bought six! They had been marked down from 5.99! I’m going to separate them and fill my pots. Afterwards I went over to Unique Thrift, where I found a pair of designer jeans for $1.50!

I tried on rain boots today. I think I decided I’m going to use my money elsewhere.

Smiling improves everything. Try it!

The geranium slips I propagated are sprouting!

Tom has been working like crazy these past few weeks. It has made me appreciate all the time we’ve had together in the past, and made me fear all the years in the future when he’ll have to work this hard.