Roller coaster weather

Temperatures got up to 87 degrees on Tuesday! It was enough to take the apricot tree from bud to full blossom in just 12 hours! Then, Wednesday, a cold front blew in and Steve and I had to cover the tree overnight. Then the mercury quickly started climbing again but another front arrived this afternoon bringing severe storms - including a tornado warning for St. Louis and we will be covering the tree again tonight and tomorrow night. Ah, March....

With the cold front coming in this afternoon, we heard the tornado sirens while driving home from a very lovely Chamber Choir concert that Emily sang in. We could see the very black western skies but thankfully, we were able to make it home and get into our basement before the storm wall hit and, so far, we have not had any severe weather in our neck of the woods. 

I relinquished my Church keys to my Archway Refugee Connections (a.k.a Kindness Begins With Me) replacement Monday morning! We are still working out a time for an appointment with the Stake President for our official release but it is looking like that will happen next Sunday afternoon.  After I dropped Afghan women off at their homes, I stopped at a thrift store to look for picture frames (I found two) and then to the library to get a book I had reserved. Since Steve and I watched the movie Train Dreams, I thought I would read the book. It is a short little thing so I finished it by Thursday. The movie and the book were about 60% the same. I wonder if the author approved of all the changes that were made? My favorite author, Brandon Sanderson, is having some of his book series made into movies and he is maintaining total control of the story. Yay for him!

On Thursday morning, I picked up a pillow insert from IKEA and, since I was in the area, I stopped in at the Goodwill Outlet - still looking for picture frames and seriously, THAT is the place to go for them. I found just what I needed. I also found a footstool in terrific shape for $2.00 since Steve had mentioned he would like one for the TV room. I love a reason to shop there but, since I don't need more "stuff", I rarely do. The Goodwill Outlet is a blaring testament to our current society of too much stuff! 

This week, we also had a second estimate for our front window (that has lost it's seal so it is foggy). Whew! I never imagined it would cost so much! Over $5,000!!! !)(the first estimate was almost $7,000) I am seriously thinking I will just continue to put up with the foggy and save up the funds. The window was that way when we bought it so what is another year or two???

Steve took Fred shopping at our nearby Schnucks Friday afternoon and I tagged along because I wanted to check out window well covers at Lowes next door. I would also have seen what front windows cost there but I didn't think I had the time. Fred asked me to look for bedding plants (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and romaine lettuce) which I found and we split the six-packs of each variety fifty-fifty. I put mine in the ground Saturday afternoon after I worked in some ground up egg shells that I have been collecting since last fall. Saturday morning, Steve and I helped with the Concordia Cemetery spring clean up to prepare the grounds for weekly mowers. Between those two physical activities, I was pretty sore last night and so was Steve.  Why do our bodies have to get old?

We did a lot of show and movie watching last week. We finished the last three episodes of Starfleet Academy. SO good! I started watching Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (Steve refuses to join in). Friday night, we watched A Dog's Purpose and pulled out the kleenex for that one. Then, last night, I got Steve to watch Zootopia (the original). It had been a few years since I had seen it and I wanted a review before we watched the second movie that just came onto Disney+. 

Yesterday was also Pi day so our ward had a potluck pie dinner. I really hate making pie crusts of any kind - SO messy - and gluten-free ones just kick the mess up a notch but I was having a hankering for a chicken pot pie and a banana cream pie so I tied on my apron and made a double batch of GF pie dough. Both pies turned out extremely delicious and not many gluten-free folks attended so I brought home leftovers!!! Yum!

This final photo is from yesterday - it is of one of the trees blooming in the cemetery - and all around town, actually. They are called saucer magnolias and they, like my apricot tree, are some of the first to bloom in spring and are, inevitably hammered by frost. So, we admire them while we can.