Getting My Groove Back

This has been a rough winter and I've gone into "survival mode" where every day has been - quite literally - about just getting through the day and on to the next one.  Sounds dramatic, yes?  It's true, I promise. 
Among the many obstacles that cropped up this winter:

1. Some animal chewed through wiring and $167.00 later, the electrician told me it was nothing short of amazing that I didn't have a fire.
2. LONG story and I'll skip the details but I was trapped inside my house because everything froze shut.  Once my son got me out, I had to close my front door with a towel over the top and side.
3. Snow storm on top of snow storm on top of snow storm = a lot of shoveling and digging out and getting stuck and shoveling and digging out and shoveling...you get the idea.
4. Too many animals in the house.  Between the frigid temperatures (when I would have brought them in at night anyway) and the fact that one of my dogs became an escape artist, I spent most of the winter with the two dogs in the house. 

Between them and the cats I literally spent a MINIMUM of four hours a day cleaning.  Just keeping up with the vacuuming and dusting and washing dog beds and scooping kitty litter and cleaning food and water dishes took hours every day.  I would start the second I got home from work and stop at bedtime.

Taking them out at all hours of the day and night in the freezing weather was very unpleasant to say the least.  Sleep became next to impossible between dogs whining and cats scratching at my bedroom door wanting in and out...and cats and dogs fighting ... what little sleep I got wasn't quality sleep.
 
   5. Surgery, illness and job stress.  I'm not even going to elaborate.

If it sounds like I'm whining, I am.  I think whining has it's place and this is it.  :-)  But...oh yes, there is a silver lining...

SPRING IS COMING AND THINGS ARE LOOKING UP AND I AM GETTING MY GROOVE BACK!!! 

I am blessed that I am starting to feel like myself again because:

1. The weather is improving.  One lonely little crocus is poking out of the ground next to my front sidewalk.  I LOVE that little purple flower!!!
2. The dogs have moved back outside.  The fence that the one dog had figured out how to get over, under, and through has been replaced by a sturdy 6' tall kennel that he can't escape from. 
3. I have a good head start on my spring cleaning and will be able to finish it in a weekend -- with time to spare. 
4. I have started a list of things I need to do.  Just having that list gives me a good feeling.  I am going to buy huge garbage cans, clean out my shed, clean up by winter-wrecked lawn, wash and wax my car, and get an estimate for getting my deck and the front of my house power washed. 
5. I have started taking the dogs on long walks again and eating at my kitchen table again. 

I usually don't mind winter that much but I have to admit that this one kind of broke my spirit.  But I'm bouncing back...stay tuned!