☼ The Perks of Spring ☼

Lots of people have favorite seasons. Me? Every season is my favorite season. The reason for this is that I don't want to limit my happiness to a certain time of year. Why not throw favoritism to the wind and have the best time you can with the special perks of each season?

That being said, my favorite time of year right now is spring (go figure). I always forget how much I love the vibrant blue sky until the spring winds come and pull the clouds back, like a curtain, to reveal that crystal clear sky. Somehow,  even when I look out five minuets later and clouds cover the sky again, that little glimpse of radiance supplies my heart with joy and the reassurance that even though I can't see something, it's still there.

So let's dive into just a few of the things that make spring special to me.


       ☼  Warm Weather
Here in the Rocky Mountains, this perk must be taken with a grain of salt, or rather a flurry of snow, but we have had a few days over 70 degrees. I love not having to wear a huge coat when I go out to do chores.

       ☼  New Growth
Whether it's a flower, grass, a tree, or even a weed, new things are bursting forth everywhere, and who isn't encouraged by that?

       ☼  Birds  
We have some birds here in the winter. But not enough to satisfy me. I love the first morning that I wake up and am greeted by the cheerful chirping of the songbirds.

       ☼ Baby Animals
I found this lamb picture on the internet and a picture is worth a thousand words.

       ☼ Puddles
Do you ever swerve  just so you can drive through the puddles on the road? Well I do. We haven't had enough rain yet to warrant any big puddles, but I'm still hopeful.

       ☼ Spring Break
Being homeschooled, I never got to experience to joy of this (we were lucky to get Christmas off), but now that I am taking a college class and work as a sort of teacher, I've learned to appreciate it.

      ☼ Happy People
This is technically not a season specific perk, but seeing other people happy makes me happy and I have been noticing a lot of cheerful folks recently.

     ☼ Sales
Okay, so this one is a little abstract, but yesterday I went to Kmart and all of their fall/winter stuff was discounted. I don't just mean discounted, I mean DISCOUNTED. Well, maybe not that much, but it made me happy all the same.

There are so many other things, but I hope this small list has brightened your day somehow and I hope you are enjoying your spring.

I couldn't help one last picture.
(I did take this one.)

"Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf of spring-time." ~Martin Luther~

Cookie Butter

I love cookies, you love cookies, my uncle's dentist's cousin loves cookies. We all love cookies. Because I love cookies so much, I'm always looking for new ways to enjoy cookies whether it's in cookie bark click here for recipe  or cookie fudge click here for recipe. ( p.s. I have never actually attempted to make these, but they sound awesome.)



The latest non-typical way I found to enjoy them is cookie butter. (Yep, that is a thing.) It is similar to Nutella but, in my opinion, it is 200% better. I discovered this while walking through my local grocery store. One of the store employees asked if I would like to try some Cookie Butter. I would never refuse free food so I agreed to taste it. When the pretzel she spread it on, entered my mouth I knew I was in love and I bought a container.

The thick spread is cinnamon-brown in color and, really, doesn't resemble anything that marvelous in looks. When you taste it, however, its wonderfulness will be impressed upon you forever. The flavor starts as a rich, creamy taste closely resembling peanut butter but as it melts in your mouth, instead of a peanut flavor, you experience something closer to a cinnamon graham cracker. The end result is heavenly. 

 This taste is achieved by actually incorporating Belgian Speculoos cookies into the butter. In fact, according to the label, the cookies make up for 50% of the ingredients. I Googled the cookies and as far as I could find out they the grownup, gingerbread version of animal crackers.

Speculoos Cookies



As far as I am concerned, this cookie butter could be made out of fish eggs and I would still eat it. It is just that delicious.

 

 

* This is NOT a sponsored post

The Girl Inside

On first impression some people might call me childish. They would be right, but you know what? It doesn't bother me one iota. When I get old and gray, I still want to be known as the girl with the contagious, girlish giggle, the one who still chases butterflies, plays with Playdough, and draws stick figures.(That last one is only because I don't have the patience to learn how to draw.)

I'm always striving to please others, this blog will be where I draw the line. I'm going to post what I want to, so what if only one person reads it and thinks its lame. I don't want to lose "me" looking for someone who doesn't exist.

I said all that because I want my main focus on this blog to be expressing the kid inside. It's that small part of us that never grew up and never will. It's the thing that makes your heart jump when you see a shooting star. It is that irresistible urge to swing on the swings or to splash  through the mud puddles.

 I have been blessed with all of this "kid-ness" because I work in the preschool room at a daycare. I can't credit it all to the kids in the class, (I was born with an extra large quantity of child I think) but when you spend several hours a day with three to five-year olds, you get an extra dose of sunshine.

Before I get too carried away with explaining how childish I am, I had better end the post, but I wanted to challenge all of you (my hypothetical readers) to do something nice for someone this week.  It doesn't have to be something huge it could be just smiling at a stranger, holding the door for someone, or even buying a family member or co-worker coffee. I'll do it too, and let you know how it goes in my next post. (In a few days I hope.)