Monday Stuff On the Way to Other Stuff: Loving Spring. Or Is It Summer?

Lots of digging in the garden awaits this week. That's not a chore -- I really enjoy the clean smell of fresh dirt, and the hens are thrilled with an earthworm snack now and then. It's a pleasure, knowing the fresh veggies that will soon be coming.
     We seem to have gone straight from spring into early summer, here in Colorado. The trees are suddenly bursting into leaf, when a week ago, they still looked like brown sticks. Sadly, most of our spring blossoms were killed by record-setting low temperatures last month. Our peach trees, for example, won't be producing anything, for the second year in a row. But at least everything looks (sort of) healthy.
    I have a great job this afternoon, scrubbing down the back stairs. I'd planned on ripping up the old carpet and getting rid of it in the dumpster. (Delivered this morning for the roofing guys.) But the task became even more insistent after a Sam's Club-sized bottle of maple syrup fell off a shelf, bumped all the way down, and smashed at the bottom of the stairs. YUCK. 
    It is no fun to smell like maple syrup. Every bear in the county must be mentally checklisting our house for a future visit. Not to mention the ants. 
    While I'm scrubbing (sooo looking forward to it), you really should do something else -- like checking out these goodies from the Internet. 

Dyeing your own sandals. (Wow, these are pretty, R&R Workshop. Easy, too!)

What if your plane went down...and you were the only one who lived? What would it feel like? A new documentary out, "Sole Survivor," follows the lives of several people who had this happen to them.

Did you know that George Clooney's related to Abraham Lincoln? Ancestry.com opens up its files on Honest Abe, including several unusual documents and correspondence. (Take a look.)

Our Martyred President- photo from Wikipedia

An easy app to check out current yard and estate sales in your neighborhood. The list starts with Craigslist, but you can add other sites. Not only does the 'Yard Sale Treasure Map' give you locations, but it plots them on a map for simpler driving. How easy can you get!

Free Redbox rentals, whenever you want. (Thanks, Andy at Tight Fisted Miser.)

Some great present-less parties to celebrate a kid's birthday. From Man vs. Debt. (two words: 'potluck' and 'byo.')

Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman have changed some of their favorite tunes.  Basic melody's the same, but there are definitely some new notes and variations. Is it a good change, though? Man vs. Debt also has a very interesting discussion on this.

Zombie debt. Yes I Am Cheap's approach to this subject.

What Wayne Brady has to say about Bill Maher's pronouncement of him (Brady) not really being black. In a silly way, this is amusing -- if you're not Wayne Brady, or someone else who takes pride in their culture. Maybe Maher's counting on that. (Not to mention the extra publicity for acting like the class idiot.)

And yours truly's posts elsewhere --

Investing in Gold and Silver (Retire by 40)
Five Ways to Hedge Your Bets -- financial and family ones, that is. (Midlife Finance)

And life goes on. Have a good week.