Happy Thursday, ladybugs, and welcome to 10 on the 10th 03.2022. For today’s edition we are sharing the answers to 10 questions about spring. This month I came up with these questions. But I wrote them a month ago so had forgotten the questions I’d made up!! Marsha from Marsha in the Middle and I are co-hosting the 10 on the 10th series this year. It’s so nice to have some help with this series.
Just a reminder: Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After occasionally uses affiliate links which are usually italicized. If you click or make a purchase from an italicized link provided I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.
10 on the 10th 03.2022
Here are this month’s questions.
And here are my answers.
Favorite Spring Thing
List your favorite thing about spring. Which is your favorite season? The hopefulness of spring is what I like best. The hopefulness of new life, new opportunities, fresh starts. But fall is probably my favorite season. The weather, the colors.
Springy Step
What puts spring in your step? What does your favorite pair of shoes look like? When do you wear them? Getting exercise puts a spring in my step. I grumble about doing it but ALWAYS feel peppier afterward.
My favorite pair of shoes to look at would be different from my favorite pair of shoes to wear. This paisley pair of pumps dates back to the ’90s!! I frequently wore them with an olive tweed midi skirt and twin sweater set. Paisley is one of my favorite patterns and these are the colors I navigate toward most.
The shoes I like to wear most are these L’Artiste booties that PC gave me for Christmas. They are comfortable and unique. Not shoes you see often. I wear them most in the winter. One of my favorite looks is the red Buffalo plaid wrap I featured here paired with these booties.
Kiss Me
Around St. Patrick’s Day we see invitations to ‘kiss me, I’m Irish’ on graphic tees and images everywhere. Are you Irish? If not, what would your graphic tee read? ‘Kiss me, I’m…” I am a wee bit Irish but more English and Scottish. Even tinier bit French-German as some of our family lived in the border region of Alsace-Lorraine.
Nosegay
What flowers would make up your perfect spring bouquet? What is your favorite floral fragrance? I would probably pick a combination of wildflowers. Maybe if it wasn’t illegal to pick them here in Texas, some bluebonnets, mixed with some violets, lilies of the valley (which I think is not a wildflower) and baby’s breath.
My favorite floral fragrance is lilac. We had a large lilac tree outside our duplex in Boston. In the spring, my mom would open the windows to my parents’ master bedroom and the fragrance would fill our entire apartment. I just bought a ‘fresh cut lilacs’ wallflower plugin from Bath and Body Works. Going to put it in our bedroom when I finish spring cleaning (need to start first).
Spic-n-Span
Spring cleaning? A necessary evil or overrated? What’s your favorite cleaning tip? Cleaning product? Sadly, I used to really, really look forward to spring cleaning. I did it over spring break. And went at it like I was killing snakes. My poor daughters. They dreaded spring break for the cleaning it brought with it. In the last few years, my enthusiasm and energy level have wavered, and spring cleaning isn’t the highlight of the season like it used to be.
My favorite cleaning tip – only touch it once. Put things where they go when you pick them up the first time. Rather than putting a dirty dish from the table to the kitchen sink. And then later having to put it in the dishwasher. Touch that dish once. Rinse and put it in the dishwasher immediately. I apply this to sorting mail, too. Rather than bringing all the mail into the house and setting it aside until I can go through it later, I sort it straight out of the mailbox. And stop at the garbage can to pitch all of the junk mail and advertisements into the recycling bin.
Favorite cleaning product – Dawn Platinum Powerwash Dish Spray. This stuff works like dynamite removing tough baked-on food.
Joys of Toys
Slinkies are coiled spring toys. Did you ever have a Slinky? Silly Putty? What was your favorite toy as a child? I had more than one Slinky, I am sure. Got a big kick out of watching it go down the stairs. Although it did so much better in the commercials than on the staircase in my house. Loved Silly Putty, too. The way it would pick up images from the Sunday funny papers and transfer them onto paper. Cool beans!! My favorite toys, though, were my Barbies. Played with them much longer than most girls. Always wanted a Ken but never got one. Guess my Barbies were all single mothers.
Extra Daylight
When we ‘spring forward’ on March 13, what do you hope to do in that extra daylight? Hoping that with the extra hour of daylight, we can begin walking after dinner again. And get back to waking up earlier to exercise before PC goes to work.
Trending Colors
The following colors will be trending for spring soft lilac, canary yellow, hot pink, salted caramel, scarlet, sky blue. Will you be styling any of these? Is there a color you will avoid? Hmmm. PC’s favorite color is purple and it is one of the colors I wear best. But I think I look better in a deeper shade than a soft lilac. I like canary yellow, salted caramel, too. But of all of these choices, hot pink probably sounds like the most fun. Really, really contemplating buying this great Walmart blazer my friend Kellyann at This Blonde’s Shopping Bag has been sharing. See it on KellyAnn, here. Dang it, looks like the pink blazer is sold out. Boo!!
Good Book
What will you be reading this spring? Do you have a favorite devotional or quiet time routine? Need to be more faithful about getting up in the morning for quiet time. To remember that on the days when I don’t get up early, I can still find time during the day to do it. Even before bed. What better activity to do before I go to sleep?
My book club is reading 2 books this month. I just finished the first, I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys. Talk about a powerful book. And timely. Highly recommend. Have just begun reading The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom. Can’t tell what I think about it but it has received glowing reviews.
I just received A Book That Takes Its Time: An Unhurried Adventure in Creative Mindfulness (Flow) by
Food for Thought
Share an inspirational thought or spring quote. Why does this speak to you? This quote is attributed to author Louis L’Amour. It speaks to me right now as I am trying to write more this year. Doesn’t have a thing to do with spring but I have put this quote on my message board and it inspires me.
Your Turn
How would you respond to these questions? Hope you will put together a 10 on the 10th post to do just that!! Then link it up with us below. Or answer the questions in a comment. Thanks for playing along!!
Back to house cleaning. Brennyn arrives early, early on Friday morning. Looking forward to a wonderful visit with her, Cady and Declan. What do you have planned?
Hugs and kisses,
I just finished I Must Betray You yesterday and LOVED it! I have already warned Evan that if she publishes it as a graphic novel he WILL be reading it for high school (and maybe even if she doesn’t!). I’m currently having him read her book Shades of Gray that was recently turned into a graphic novel. Another powerful story about life in the Russian work camps of Siberia.
Those shoes are so fun! I had tons of barbie dolls and accessories for them– my grandmother spoiled us and since she loved clothes she was often drawn to Barbies just like we were.
Oh, you are onto something. Wouldn’t Sepetys books be great graphic novels. I had no idea some of her earlier books were already graphic novels. Wow!! Great books to incorporate into the history and social studies curriculum, huh? Our book club read Between Shades of Gray as one of our first books several years ago. I froze to death the whole time I was reading it. Those poor souls.
Awww, I wish we could have played Barbies together. We had some stuff but not really an abundance of clothes. I always wanted a Ken. Not sure why Santa never brought one. I was a pretty good girl.
Love these kind of posts. Look at those sexy shoes. I just wish I could wear heals.
I think my heel days are coming to a close. But I still love them so. Thank you.
Have an iSpy post I have been trying to finish for 2 weeks. Ugh. Will get it up this weekend. And need to not fall so far behind. I’ve missed participating with you.
I Must Betray You is one I want to read.
I do love Spring; I just hope my allergies don’t get worse. They’ve been so bad! haha
-Lauren
I Must Betray You was so good. So relevant with all that is going on in the Ukraine. And a very moving. You could easily read it in a couple of days. I am such a slow reader but plowed right through it.
Hope your allergies are soon better. The weather has been so unpredictable. Our Japanese plum trees are in full bloom and we got 2 inches of snow today. Ridiculous. Flonase really, really helps me, too, with mine. I sniff some morning and night.
Both of those pairs of shoes are fabulous! I’ve been very tempted by L’ARTISTE heeled booties, but I’m keeping my shoes mostly flat. Fortunately, L’ARTISTE sells flat booties too. Love that Louis L’Amour quote. So true!
Michelle
https://mybijoulifeonline.com
OH YOU ARE A NATURAL FOR L’ARTISTE.
Ooops, didn’t mean to send that yet. But I think your personality and sense of style make you the perfect gal to wear L’Artiste booties. And they are truly comfy. Think about looking into a single pair. Just for special occasions!!
OH YOU ARE A NATURAL FOR L’ARTISTE.
Loved your answers – and that quote! So appropriate for so many things!! And those boots are toooo cute…Mr. PC has great taste!!
Thank you!! I am lucky to be on the receiving end of PC’s great taste!! I have some Frye boots I would never ever have afforded on my own. And 2 pairs of L’Artiste booties that he has gifted me.
Isn’t that L’Amour quote good? And like you said, applicable in many ways!!
One more thought: did you notice that every single one of us (those in the link-up) had a slinky as a child but no one really liked them that much! Talk about some good advertising! How to market and sell to the masses the world’s most boring toy….ha!!
I tell you…all it takes is some genius marketing and a clever jingle.
Aren’t lilacs the ultimate spring flower? I love them but have only a scraggly little dwarf one! And, both of those shoes would go very well in my closet, my dear! Love paisley…next to florals, it’s my favorite print!
Oh, I knew you would appreciate lilacs, too!!
I love those L’Artiste booties! I love violets, I planted a few several years ago and they’ve self seeded everywhere and pop up all over the place! I love lily of the valley too. No luck growing those but then some appeared close to the fence, from the neighbour’s garden,
Love that quote – how true!
I’ve just finished the first book for our online book club – it felt especially relevant with all that is going on in that part of the world at the moment. The end chapter where he finds out the extent of the informing and how many of his family were involved totally surprised me. Thanks for encouraging me to read something I would not normally have chosen for myself!
Wasn’t I Must Betray You a timely read? I am just so consumed by the horror coming out of Ukraine. Have thought of you so often. I know you are a million miles from the war zone but I am so afraid this war isn’t going to stop with the invasion by Russian of the Ukraine. Scary times we are living in.
I try so hard not to influence the book selection by the book club. But I did vote for The Stranger in the Lifeboat. Glad the other book won so I was ‘forced’ to read it. Did you read Between Shades of Gray by the same author? It was very moving. WWII. I was freezing the whole time I read that book. About Holocaust concentration camps in or near Siberia.
So glad you read something you might not have picked for yourself. Those books can be the best surprises.
As much as I am going to complain about the time change, I will enjoy going for walks after dinner when it’s not so dark outside. Interesting questions and I love the quote about the faucet being turned on – very motivating!
xo,
Kellyann
LOL, it is hard to adjust at first but I think daylight savings time is totally worth that rough first week.
I’m excited, as a new book club member, to read I Must Betray You! I will get to it soon. I had the same answer about our hour of daylight – walking when it’s still light outside!
Girl, you read so much!! Take your time reading what the book club reads, and pass on anything that doesn’t interest you. I am just glad to have you join us. I read I Must Betray You in record time…for me!! A new personal best. It was very good. And had me wondering how it was all going to work out in the end. You will probably get it read in an afternoon.
Leslie, this was such a fun post to read! I am absolutely swooning over your favorite shoes to wear and to look at! While fall is also my favorite season, spring comes second and reading is one of my favorite springtime activities while I enjoy front porch sitting. I need to find some good titles to read this season. I love the idea of book clubs but they intimidate me because I can never stick to a reading schedule. I am going to try to join for April’s 10 on the 10th…if I can get my act together!
Shelbee
Sooo glad to have you stop by. I have been so delinquent in my blog reading and comment reading but trying to catch up this weekend. Hope you will join in for 10 on the 10th in April. Or the link is open this month for a week!! Ha!! If you find yourself with a little extra time!!
I could never participate in a book club where there was a lot of pressure to read a certain book, to participate in a lot of conversation and deep thinking. My deep thinking days are long gone…if I ever had them in the first place. I just want to read. This club is very laid back. So that is nice.
Thank you for the compliments on my shoes. Going to dust off those paisley pumps and where them this weekend. They haven’t seen daylight in a very long time!!
Ok now I totally want to get A Book that Takes its Time! It sounds so cool!
And I love that tip too, to only touch it once. That makes a lot of sense!
I would LOVE to see the bluebonnets in Texas one day! The one and only time I visited Texas I didn’t get to see any of the nature in that great big state and I am so bummed about it.
Doesn’t A Book that Takes its Time sound fabulous?? I don’t want to peek inside until I can start going through it. I have too many partially finished books going on right now. But soon!!
Oh, the Texas bluebonnets are indeed something to see. We talked about trying to take a road trip to see them but not sure that will work out. Maybe next year. You need to come spend a little time in Texas, if you get a chance. It is a state that has it all…rolling hills, mountains, prairie, beach.
I’m so bummed I keep forgetting about the 10 on the 10th posts. Uggghhh..I need to set a calendar reminder for next month.
I will try to remind you in April!!