Spring is coming. Now that I’ve survived the exams, I get to focus on all the things I need/want to get done: planting some spring flowers on the balcony, building a new shelf for the kitchen to get more storage, and clean up this mess left by flu and exam stress.

I don’t like it when plans change. While going for a spontaneous walk in the middle of making dinner felt good, other changing plans derailed me a bit. I was supposed to build a shelf, but instead got to remember how bad quality has become the norm. So, instead, I make some more food, and focus on other things.

The garden is waking up, so I take a good look around and enjoy some sunshine before heading home to prepare a pork roast in the air fryer. I’ll also explain why I am no longer vegan.

The dishwasher broke again. Cleaning and repairing it led me down a rabbit whole of more things that needed cleaning. It felt as if everything was dirty. So, I cleaned. That afternoon, I even got to enjoy the sunshine on a forest walk with Pepper and my husband.

Things had been piling up. Now that I was finally able to do things again, it was time to tackle them. So, I canned potatoes, baked some bread, and took care of a million little things. I am so glad, I can finally do things again.

After ten days of the flu, pneumonia, and antibiotic side-effect bingo, I was finally able to move enough to feel human again. As I was craving potato salad, I made mayonnaise from scratch, and mixed a pretty good German potato salad together. My husband and Pepper also checked on the garden for us and found the first signs of spring.

I finally got my hands into soil. It’s been a long winter. But spring is coming. In the meantime, let’s re-pot some plants. Some of my indoor plants have been pretty unhappy. Spring will bring more sunshine. I can’t do anything about that. But I could give them better soil to work with in the meantime.

There are days, when the couch is my reluctant base station. A few minutes of getting things done, then rest. And rest some more. In a state of grumpy productivity, I still got a lot done.

I miss my dull knives. I sent my knives in for sharpening, so I’ll be without for a few weeks. I had to get creative in the kitchen–and learned to appreciate even very dull knives.

Painting holds a lot of trauma for me. I didn’t know I’d shied away from it. Not until my husband printed me a bird house and it took me months to pick up the paint brush.