march comes in like a lion goes out like a lamb march 2, 2026 Monday

[blessedw2]

How hopeful is it to know we are moving to sunshine, milder weather, out door adventures and the joy of spring.

I am looking at march's beginning as I go through my house strong (like a lion) (a wind coming through that cleans out my home with fresh air and less stuff) so that I can live calmly (like a lamb) with the order I have worked on. Spring is coming!!!

from a news article:
"March begins stormy and cold — like a roaring lion
March ends mild and gentle — like a soft lamb"

One possible origin of the phrase points to the constellations. Some folklore historians and references indicate in ancient times, Leo the Lion was prominent in the late winter sky, while Aries — the Ram, often symbolically linked to a lamb — became associated with early spring.

While the exact astronomical connection isn’t definitive, the proverb likely reflects this seasonal shift in the night sky.

The phrase dates back to at least the 17th or 18th century in England.

Variations appear in early weather folklore and almanacs. One version from the 1700s reads: “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.”

It became especially popular in farming communities, where March weather was critical for planting decisions.

Early March often still reflects winter’s lingering cold air masses. By late March, the strengthening sun angle and longer days promote warming."

[blessedw2]

Spring is here,
Let’s shout hooray,
The sun is bright,
Let’s go and play!
The trees wake up,
The flowers bloom,
Goodbye to winter’s
Chilly gloom!

Baby chicks
Peep, peep, tiny feet,
Chicks are yellow, soft, and sweet!
Hatching out in warm spring air,
Fluffy feathers everywhere!

[Harriet]

Thank you for a beginning of hopefulness this morning, blessed.

[Twins' Mom]

Such a bright beginning to the month, bw2! Thank you! We spent a mostly sunny day yesterday sitting alongside the river and talking and hanging out. And a little eating and drinking along the way too. We love being with our friends A and V and solving the problems of the world together, lol.

Today I have my workout at two, dh has a Zoom meeting at six. We have pork leftovers in the refrigerator, from last Wednesday and from his dinner out on Friday night. I'm going to thaw and grill chicken breasts too for myself.

Quiet day, I need to get moving.

[Costumelady]

Good morning ladies. I too am ready for spring. Indiana is confused we go from 50 to 60 degree days to cold rainy and snowing. Top down on Friday, 2 hour delay for a slick start today.

Yesterday was the first missed day of church in months and months. Also missed my EFM class as were were doing something that stopped it.

It was a lovely trip and 2 great plays. We do a lot of theater. We have subscriptions to 3 companies in town and got to see the shows of 3 new companies that dont yet have season tickets. Plus we see theater in all of our travels as well as go to Twincities to visit ds35 and see shows there. We see his shows and I get to sit in the booth and watch him call the show. Pretty cool.

Have a massage with Reiki today I go every 2 weeks. I can't believe it is march. I have 1 more month of work.

I did read the last 3 days but forget who said what but I will comment on themes I remember.

Bacon discussion. Not a fan of Canadian bacon or poutine. I like my bacon very crisp, my friends from England call it burnt. I like my fries, hot and crispy. Gravy makes them soggy.

I can't believe gardens are sprouting. Is it about time to start seeds? we won't plant until April. I try to grown cherry tomatoes, basil, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme and mint. We tried beans but that was a waste. We tried swiss chard and lettuce so might try that again. We just have a stair stack of containers and 4 large containers for tomatoes and mint.

Weather is to be up to 70 Friday but rainy all week.right now however ds31 just came in and said he had half inch ice on window. Glad I have a garage. Aurora my convertible does not like ice.

LL did you all carry life insurance? We still pay ours but may eventually stop when house and second are paid off as we owe on nothing after thaose are gone.I am sorry your income has dropped that dramatically. Did you not also get some of your husbands pension and SS? Not sure how that works, I know there are caps. We set ours up that way but I guess it is not the full amount you were used to having.

We worked at investing over our 30+ year careers. 10 to 15% (including match from work)in Roth the last 20 years and had previous 401k accounts from first 10 years.. So SS and pension will cover most of living and we have money to do life differently and our 2 mortgages should be paid off in 4 to 5 years. We could pay them off now but really don't want to pay high taxes on that amount nor pull from Roth. So the payments are just part of budget. We have 2% on house and 5% on second so not bad. We are focused most on second and will pay it down substantially next January when dh retires and gets paid for 480 hours of vacation time not used when he retires Dec 31. You can save 240 hours but if you go over that you lose it in January, he has been at use it or lose it for years. So he is saving 240 more and since he retires before he crosses the new year it gets paid out too.

He is working as much OT as they will allow but taking it as comp time for our travel this year. That will be a huge tax hit but I make make about the same amount less so it may not be bad but then we have money to lower our debt more or buy him a newer car without withdrawing from retirement.

Now he is talking about coming back as a contractor to do the job he does when needed. He is the only one trained to do what he does. He has tried to train others but our current government keeps downsizing and he loses his trainee. He said when his skill is needed he is busy busy busy, but.much of the time.he struggles.to.find work to keep him busy. He just wants contracts to do the busy times, this is when he travels and I can travel with him. I travel with him as often as I can. It is how I got to go to Australia 2 years ago and Whidbey Island, Washington last summer. So that.could be fun.

I have started an Education Consulting side hustle. We will be retired but for us that just looks different. We can volunteer more, I want to be a CASA court appointed special advocate for children, we were wanting.to flip houses to help low income people get places to rent affordably. but we may start building for habitat.i will sub but I will also volunteer to tutor or start my own tutoring business. We will travel a lot. So much of the world to see. We have been compiling our bucket list.

I intend to go to Australia for about 2 months in Mid Jan to mid March in 2027. And 2 to 3 weeks on a canal boat in June in England next year. Plus other things as our vacation points allow and our 3 free weeks we have yet.to use. I keep trying to give those to our sons but they don't work with school calendars. We aren't using them this year unless I go somewhere with friends. Dh doesn't have any more time available. We love to train as well. We belong to a vacation points Timeshare, we call it our vacation home that travels with us.

Ll what did your husband teach? You were an English teacher?. Seeing a college play of R and J is pretty close to professional theater. Our city theaters are considered preprofessiona, amateur and Regional for the high end houses. Theater started for us when my oldest.wrote a.mini play.amd.won 3 years in a row and.got.to be in the.camp that produced the plays. The bug bit and then all the boys and my dh and I got involved. We all acted, ds35 and I directed, Ds35 and I also wrote plays, Ds 31 sang and danced and had like 30 leads in musicals. Ds35 did about 40 straight plays and about 12 of them were Shakespeare Ds27 also sang but he wasn't as into it but performed in many. Ds31s favorite roles were Peter Pan, he got to fly, Snoopy, lead in Footloose (Kevin Bacon role), Lead in High School Musical, The Cat in the Hat in Seusicall. My youngest 2 were in the High School show Choir. Ds31 did 5 of the musicals and ds27 did 3 but he got to play the father in Beauty and the beast. During these 10 or 12 years, I costumed the summer.musical.for 6 years with about 30 kids. I ran our local community theater as Presidemt/artistic director and costumed, directed, oldest learned lighting and lit all of our shows and middle.son was the.lead in all the.musicals, Urinetown, You're a good Man Charlie Brown and Working. I found a music director and he made me be in Working and Urintown and it was.so fun. I often.play an old woman, I.am great at aging makeup. I miss this a.lot. now I just go to theater and write a play for.our 24 hour fundraiser Playoffs each year. I may get back into it. None of my guys act anymore and that makes.me.sad. ds31 last sang on stage in Florida in a youth theater competition where he won best male.vocalist.2 years in a row and he.sang the.Song Goodbye.about and actor.leaving the.stage.for.the.last.time..it.felt prophetic at the time. He plays his ukulele and sings to his.class and writes songs and plays for his class but I can't get him to act again. He is asked often by the directors in town but he always says no. Oldest switched from acting.to stage management and he.too hasn't been back on stage.since he.was.a.senior.in college i may have burned them out but they really were amazing, they both did regional.theater several.times.

Well that was a brain dump. Today is my day off, still lazing.in bed. Have a massage.later and should go through mail and pay bills.

[Harriet]

A good appt but they surprised us wanting to go ahead with meds. So an extra several hours and we didn't have breakfast because of blood work. So HRH has left me here attached, lol, and has gone to scout for a sandwich. This does allow us to avoid coming back Wednesday. I will be sickish, though, today. Concentrating on having surprise of sewing time on Wednesday. Poor HRH didn't expect this.

[MysteryWoman]

Good morning afternoon! Got the wash started before dropping DC at school. Driving home, I saw the medical building across from there and remembered I have to have a blood draw. I may schedule it for there on Wednesday. The hospital system we use has contracted out their lab work -- at least for the draws, it seems to be all the same people, probably getting paid less -- and the wait times have gotten astronomical. They say the wait is better if you have an appointment, so I will make the appointment for one of DC's long class days (on short days, I don't think I could be out of there soon enough), then go to the gas station/restaurant I frequent for brunch after. I hope your DH finds that sandwich, Harriet! And I hope the meds do their job!

Anyhow, flipping wash is next up. I've got a load in the dryer to fold as well, so I'll have to get that out of there. I didn't have time to fold it before we left.

We have raccoons in our eaves; DH has called a trapper, who is here. The trapper has not come to the door yet; he appears to be examining the house to see how the raccoons get in. We had them in the eaves over DD's room previously and eventually got them out. DH was much quicker to call a trapper now that it's over our room and disturbing his sleep. (I mostly can sleep through it.) And the trapper's come to the door; he's pretty sure he sees where they're getting in and will bait a trap near there. I just wish the raccoons would stop bothering us. They don't get into our garbage that I can tell; they just like to use our house for shelter. We did get a roof out of it when they did enough damage to the back eaves and roof, but I wouldn't recommend that lucylee get some raccoons.

Envying your convertible, Costumelady! I had one when I was younger; it finally gave up the ghost when the kids were small. (Poor thing was never garaged and had lines rusted out on the bottom.) It probably would have needed to be replaced anyway; DH and I had pretty much swapped cars by then because you couldn't easily fit car seats in the back seat.

Somebody asked about the author of Separation of Church and Hate. Looked it up; it's John Fugelsang. I haven't read anything by him before, but I imagine this one isn't everybody's cup of tea -- the blurb describes it as "in the spirit of George Carlin and Christopher Hitchens," and those guys weren't the greatest fans of religion in general. I guess I'll find out if/when I get to it. My current read (in addition to my book club book) is Ensh*ttification by Cory Doctorow, about how tech corporations have gotten worse in the pursuit of profit, and the lack of meaningful antitrust laws means we don't have competitors to turn to.

Goodness! Look at the time! I think I might have lunch before flipping the wash. Have a great day, everybody!

[Lady Maverick]

CUOP. What a diverse group of SHE's we are. I love reading your posts.

My day is about half over with the first 6 hours going to plan. Since I am a morning person I stack the majority of my doings early in the day. By the time afternoon arrives i am mostly done with everything except hourly walks.

While cooking breakfast, I decided to start the process of making lasagna. Using the time I was already in the kitchen cut in half the time it took to make/assemble the lasagna layers. It cooked for an hour in the oven and has been resting since. I just dished up some for my lunch and took a preliminary bite. OH MY. Worth the time & effort!

I like my fries, hot and crispy. Gravy makes them soggy.

Have you tried hot crispy FFries dipped in milkshake? The first time I saw the teens doing that i thought YUCK! But as wrong as it seemed, I decided to try it. My brain was saying NO WAY but my taste buds were saying YES! More Please! The contrast of savory/salty hot FFries and the sweetness & coldness of the milkshake just has to be experienced. IMHO. I suspect it is a contrast that is either loved or hated. It seems too extreme to have a lackluster reaction.

[Twins' Mom]

Heading out to my workout. I'm probably not at my best today but I'm going to get there. Headachy, feeling tired and kind of unfocused.

[Nancy]

Sick Day
had a low in the nite
fighting off a cold.