April, 2017 at Urban Home Blog

Here are our plans for the hoppin' month of April at Urban Home Blog:

• Start collecting vacation brochures.
• Finalize and submit 2016 taxes.
• Make plans to see dear friends Patrick and Amy for movie night. Serve sangria and pinxtos, screen La La Land.
• Spend an afternoon with John cleaning and oiling his transportation toy collection and cleaning and shining display shelves.
• Order, frame, and hang film noir movie posters in the kitchen.
• Check household batteries and light bulbs and replace as warranted, including smoke detector, air quality machines, display lighting, and outdoor lamps.
• Retrieve outdoor living furniture from storage unit. Inspect unit and contents; replace moisture control from last visit over the winter holidays if warranted.
• Wash patio and outdoor furniture.
• Schedule rug and curtain deep cleaning.
• Take care in for bi-annual oil check, alignment, and inspection.
• While car is in shop, spend afternoon at mall. Enjoy leisurely lunch. Visit book store, check spring collections at Calvin Klein and Banana Republic, and replenish cosmetics at MAC.
• Treat ourselves to a box of Easter candy from See’s.
• Start spring canning. First up: cherry jam, fennel relish, marmalade, and mustard.
• Transfer house palm to outdoor space for spring and summer growth. Place in refreshed soil, and nourish as new growth appears.
• Continue to care for the snails that live in the city garden but watch that they are not damaging the plants. Discuss with the gardener to determine if there are any concerns.
• Have gardener tend laurel tree, including trimming and feeding.
• Make and keep plans to return to the tennis court this spring and summer. Goal: two lessons and two games a week.

Reading List: Silver Screen Fiend, Patton Oswalt; Sideways, Rex Pickett; Double Indemnity, James M. Cain
Listening List: Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful, The Waitresses; All the Way, Diamanda Galas; Disintegration, The Cure

April, 2016: Dragonfly Mobile, Honey Cake, Weeknight Dinner
April, 2014: Spring Cleaning
April, 2013: Mustard, California Cooking, Weeknight Dinner
April, 2012: Outfitting the Kitchen, Weeknight Dinner, Easter, Baking
April, 2011: Sewing, Baking, Weeknight Dinner, Dinner Menus
April, 2010: Spring Cleaning, Side Dish, Crafts and Projects, Baking