Monday, February 17, 2014

Five Good Things About February

Let me start this by saying that February is my least favorite month. (Sorry, to all my friends who have birthdays this month—you all are the exceptions to the rule.) So instead of feeling glum, I’m going to list my favorite things about of February.

Gray skies. (Okay, I prefer either bright blue or the deep black of storms.) But gray skies exercise my synonym finder. The sky today is ironwood, gunmetal, the color of cold, dead ash.

Green shoots. I love gardening and in February I begin to see new growth. Sadly, it’s the growth of weeds not crocuses. Boo.

No oily skin. This would be great except my skin isn’t oily to start with. It’s dry. By February my skin is so dry, the outside air makes it hurt. So when I remember I slather it in cream…except, it makes my skin feel oily. Hiss.

Winter sickness is almost over. All the colds, flus, and stomach bugs are over. (I hope.) All that remains is the dust that’s crept into the bones of the house. I’m severely allergic to dust. I’m tempted to open all the windows and air out the house, but the boys think that 30 degrees Fahrenheit is not optimal air out the house weather.

Ladybugs. I like ladybugs. They’re brightly colored—cheerful even. They go to town on aphids—I hate aphids. All in all, when I see a lady bug, I smile. Until this winter. Somewhere they found a chink in our house and invaded to survive the winter. If they hid in the walls, that would be great. But they like our ceilings. I don’t like crawly lines of red with back spots meandering the ceiling. But our ceilings are ridiculously high, so I have to balance precariously on pieces of furniture holding a vacuum in one hand and the suction hose in the other (because the hose is too short to reach from the floor to the ceiling) and vacuum ladybugs off the ceiling…you know, I hate ladybugs.


Hmm, this is not cheering me up. Isn’t February over yet?

File:(Coccinella algerica) Kovar-Mariquita Sarantotón.jpg
This ladybug is where they should be, outside eating aphids. Sigh.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

8 comments:

  1. The nice thing for us about February is we tend to have days when we can at least open the windows for half an hour or so. The sun is a LITTLE brighter, and it lasts a little longer! And the best part is, of course, that it's a short month so we actually start believing that spring is coming, it's not just a myth.

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  2. I agree that having the sun a little longer with each passing day is a BIG reason for enjoying February. Maybe spring will actually arrive! In fact, the month is so anxious to get to spring that it sacrifices a couple of days. Our oldest granddaughter was born in February, so that's a biggie, but my #1 reason for loving this month? My cursive penmanship is getting really sloppy with old age, but my capital F's are phenomenal :>) Some things are just really important!

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  3. YEah, I like ladybugs...when they're OUTSIDE. LOL

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  4. The Olympics are about the only bright spot in this February. My kid has had so many snow days, it's beginning to feel like we homeschool.

    I do like waking to some sunlight, something we don't have in December!

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  5. Louise, Judy, and Laurel,
    You're right. I do appreciate the fact that it's getting light earlier in the morning. Waking up to pitch blackness is not fun, though I do like drinking my coffee and watching the sun rise.

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  6. Almost. Only a bit more than a week to go. ;-)

    My February's smack bang in the middle of a heat wave, so I'm looking forward to the end of it as well...

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  7. The nice thing about February in St. George is that spring is starting...I love it here!

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  8. HA! You TRIED to find something good to say about Febru-weary. You really did.

    When our friends moved to their house in Tennessee, there was such a huge infestation of lady bugs, they had to sweep hundreds of 'em up into a dustpan. Hopefully, they're a symbol of good luck or something...

    Happy weekend!

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