Just 3 Things | #21

It's on the horizon. I can just see it over the hill. Spring is coming! As I look out the window of my office, I see the grass getting greener each day. I see little buds of green on the tips of the trees out that window. Flowering trees are blooming and pollen is floating around and landing on the back porch and everywhere. Those cold, grey, rainy days will be behind us soon. I can feel it!

- What I've Been Reading -

I truly enjoyed watching the HGTV series where Lorraine Bracco renovated a house that she bought for one euro. It seems that small towns in Italy sold vacant homes as a means of repopulating the community. In Bracco's case, the mayor of the town created the one-euro program as a way to bring people back to a historic town after much of it's younger generation had left for bigger cities. The catch: these old homes had to be renovated within three years of purchase. So, when I saw a book where the main character bought a twenty dollar raffle ticket and won a pub in Ireland, I figured it would be a good read. 

The Pub Across the Pond by Carlene O'Connor is about a woman from Ohio who wins the raffle and treks off across the ocean to Ireland and changes her life. I'm enjoying it!

- What I've Been Working On -

It is my most dreaded time of year. Tax time. I don't know why I hate doing our taxes so much. I don't know if it is because I have to immerse myself in math and numbers or if it is just a mental thing brought on by other people's attitude about taxes. I just don't like working on it. Yet, I don't want to pay somebody else to dig around in our business. So, there's that. I am working on our tax return and not liking it. 

Right now I am up to my elbows in receipts and spreadsheets and online forms. I will be glad, once again, to get this chore complete and checked off my To-Do List.

- What I've Been Loving -

We have been watching the SEC basketball tournament. I was never a die-hard sports fan until I married the Mister. I enjoyed watching our children play sports - basketball, baseball, and softball. I was a sometimes-fan of sports my students participated in while I was in the classroom. I would try to make at least a game or match or two of each sport during the season. The Mister, however, has UT orange in flowing through his veins. He is a rabid fan of many sports that The University of Tennessee participates in. Sometimes I think he would prefer to watch UT sports than to watch his own grandchildren in their various sports endeavors. 

So, this week we have been watching the SEC basketball tournament. Today, we will be cheering on the  team from Rocky Top when they play. If you are a big fan of some team, may your team win - so long as they are not the Big Orange opponent!