I Wish I Could Say...

That the whole weekend was beautiful, including the Friday I took off as another mental health day. But no, can't really say that, however today is absolutely gorgeous! A perfect Michigan pre-summer/feels like summer day!

I did take Friday as another mental health day, probably the next to last I will take. It rained almost all day, hard at times, drizzle at other times, but most of the things I had to accomplish were inside things anyway. The day started with a trip to the groomer for the pups. They were so excited, until we actually got there!

From there I went to the eye Dr. and almost two hours later I was more than $300 poorer and had my new glasses ordered. And I have insurance, and so does H, two insurances, working together and I still have to pay more than $300 for new glasses. And this was a discounted amount! The first price she gave me was almost $500! I was all, I'm sorry, I can't pay $500 for glasses and just what the heck is my insurance paying, may I ask? She had just arbitrarily added on a few things for me, assuming I wanted them like anti-glare, the best lenses, etc. No, I want the minimum, just some glasses that I can see out of and don't make me look like an old hag! Can we just try that?? I find the problem with trying to pick new glasses is that when I'm trying them on and trying to check myself out, I can't really see all that well. Kinda makes it hard to see if the glasses really look good or not. And then you are pretty much just trusting this person who doesn't even know you to tell you that yes, those glasses look great on you! Of course she's going to say that. She's trying to sell me some freakin' glasses!

My next stop was at the Secretary of State's office because I wasn't able to just reapply for my driver's license through the mail this year. I had to go in person, show my social security card and have a new picture taken. That took all of 10 minutes and I was thrilled and out the door! My new license will arrive in the mail in about 10 days, perfect!

From the SoS I headed home for a quick lunch and just about the time I finished that the groomer called to tell me my beauties were ready to pick up. And beauties they were! Just look at them!! She really took a lot off of Charlie and he desperately needed it. He was lookin' pretty shaggy!

But look how pretty they turned out! So much better.


Here they are, concentrating really hard on what I'm saying. I think it was something about a cookie or walk or somethin'.


Here's where Charlie heard the refrigerator door open. Notice Zoe still focusing on her Mama. What's that Mama? Did you say something about getting me a cookie?


Oh yea, I heard that, a cookie. Good job Zoe, never even blinked!


Saturday was another rainy day. I wasn't actually too sad about the rain because when I went out to the garden on Wednesday to water my newly planted veggies, I was met with the news that the pump was broken. That rain was just what saved me from having to lug water out there and carry it out to my plots by hand. So, I couldn't complain on this day about the rain. Besides, it gave me a chance to do some laundry, make pasta salad, catch up on my blog reading and other fun stuff. Oh, but I almost forgot. We did see this little cutie!

It's a little gosling. It ran out from behind the house across the street, got caught by the dogs across the street, we thought it was dead but it was only playing possum, then ran like heck to the front of our house. This is where he was when the picture above was snapped.

Then I herded him to the back yard in hopes that he would catch up to his parents again. Never a dull moment her in suburbia!



Today is another story! It is absolutely the perfect day. Sunny, light breeze, low humidity, warm, probably in the low 80's. Although this is how the day started out.

It was quickly gone though and the rest of the day was perfect. We started with a ride out to the plant nursery in the mustang. It was a good day to have the top down. From there I took the pups up to the field.


They really wanted to run but didn't last long as it was really HOT out in the sun. They were both draggin' by the time we walked back to the car.



We started to take a short cut through the woods but just a little way in the trail turned to nothin' but mud so we decided to turn around and head back out.



Then as a treat, since they were both panting like crazy and seriously hot, I decided to dig the old pool out from under the deck so they could cool down. Plus Zoe had decided a mud puddle was a good place to cool off while we were up at the school and she was a mess.

Even Charlie went in this time without any hesitation. He won't lay down like Zoe does but he was having him some good old fashioned fun!




After that H and I went out to the garden to see how things had faired this week and if they had enough to drink with all that rain!

Things were lookin' good.

The radishes are growing really well. I'll have to thin them out soon. I hate that job! I want them all!


My potatoes have made a recovery. They were nipped pretty badly by the frost we had a couple weeks ago but they are growing back really well.


This is one of the first broccoli I planted. It's doing much better than the others so far.

This is the view of plot 1. Things are doing well. I transplanted the pumpkin vine I'd been nursing along in the basement. It will have lots of sunshine and warm temps this week so we will see how it does. While we were out there we checked on the pump situation and it looks like they've managed to fix it which was good news. No hauling water in our future!

In other news, Tyler had a three day weekend so he and a couple friends took a bus/train trip to Seoul for the weekend. He said he had a good time walking around and even visited a Palace. Can't wait to see those pictures! He's also excited because his first real pay day is this coming week! Just in time too as his loans are already starting to become due!

Scott started his new job last night. Well, the training part anyway. He works two days this coming week and he can really use the money. I sure hope he's gonna like it.

We are all really looking forward to Memorial Day weekend next week! Amber, Andy and Quinn will be flying to the West side of the state on Friday to visit Andy's side of the family and they have graciously invited us to come also. They are going to have quite a houseful by Saturday morning as 4 of their 6 children will be there with spouses and children. Quinn will finally get to meet her last Aunt and cousins! She's already met the rest of her Aunts and her Uncle. Then AA&Q will come back to our place and wind up the weekend on the East side of the state, including visiting some friends here. Should be a great time and the weather is supposed to cooperate which will add to the fun. We are hoping to give Quinn her first ride on the Mustang.

But first I have to go watch the finale of Lost! I hope I can figure out what the heck is going on.

Have a good week!

Happy Birthday Amber!

And it's one of the "big ones"! Or so it seems to her. They always seem like the "big one" when you're in the middle of them.

She's seen lots of things in her 30 years, gone lots of places,


made lots of friends,

had lots of experiences

and lived in a few interesting places.

She got to spend the day with one of her favorite people. How fun!

Happy Birthday Baby!! xoxo

Finally, some decent weather...

Yes, it's been gorgeous this weekend! I took Thursday off for another mental health day and it poured all day long. On Friday the sun came out and it was beautiful, though a little cool. Saturday was sunny and a bit warmer and so was today! Finally!! This is the first dry, sunny weekend we've had in almost a month!

Friday night was our last bowling and the "Fun Night". On Fun Night we play 9-Pin, No Tap which means that if you bowl a 9 on your first ball it counts as a strike. I couldn't throw many of those and my score ended up being below average for all 3 games. I guess I was just finished. Our team ended up in 4th place though only 2 points out of second. I guess that wasn't bad since most of the season we bowled with only 3 people instead of the usual 4. Our team won just a little over $100 and after we split that it was just about enough to cover dinner afterwards.

Saturday morning we headed out to the farmer's market to try to score some more plants for the garden. Howard wanted to take the Mustang but it was a little cool on the ride there so we kept the top up.

I was disappointed that the lady I had been to a couple weeks ago, that I was hoping to come back to and buy plants from, wasn't there so we only ended up with a few veggies. I did score some Black Cherry tomatoes though. Can't wait to see what they look like. On the way home we put the top down but it was still a little cool but at least it was sunny. When we got home we decided to head out to a nursery that's a ways from home. I had only been there once on a Kindergarten field trip a few years ago but I had heard good things about it. It was a nice drive out there and we weren't disappointed once we got there! We got all kinds of good veggies. I will definitely be going back there again.

Zoe thinks I need to add a few more flowers to this pot.

I spent the rest of the afternoon planting things in pots, window boxes and even a few things in the ground.





Then we sat out on the deck and enjoyed it!


They had this beautiful Martha Washington geranium too that H really wanted for this beautiful Isabel Bloom pot that's been gathering dust in the garage.


I used to have it in the house but since I only keep a few house plants now I don't keep anything in this pot. The fact that it doesn't have drainage figures in too. That's why I'm keepin' it on the porch.

I was able to take the pups to the high school field both days and boy, were they happy!! They ran and ran and jumped and jumped until they couldn't go anymore. They are looking very shaggy though so I'm hoping to get them into the groomers this week.








This afternoon H and I went out to the garden to plant what we bought yesterday. Things were looking ok out there except it looks like my potato plants got zapped by that last frost. They are starting to come back a little but I don't know what will happen from here. I'm hoping they make a comeback. The onions were doing well and so were the radishes and the carrots are finally starting to come up.

So, today we planted 7 different kinds of tomatoes, banana peppers, green peppers, green beans, some white onions, some more broccoli, zucchini, some marigolds along the front edge, and a little herb garden of parsley, chives, thyme and rosemary.

Now I'll be praying there is no frost in the next two weeks. This next week the temps should be fine. The lowest I saw was in the mid 40's and that should be ok. We are supposed to have rain tomorrow and Tuesday and then temps are supposed to be really warm, in the 70's. That will be good news for the garden.

I really hope things will do well out there. When I was digging holes for the tomatoes I ran across many worms so that is a really good sign.

The lettuce on our porch is doing great! We had some of this for dinner tonight!


In other news, Amber, Andy and Quinn spent the weekend in NYC. Amber really wanted to go there as an early Birthday trip and to visit some friends she hasn't seen in a while, most of whom haven't met Quinn yet. She was having a picnic lunch in Central Park on Saturday and I'm sure many of her friends were able to come by to say hi. I can't wait to hear how Quinn liked NY. I'm hoping they got some really good pictures of her.

No news from Tyler this weekend. I'm hoping that means he was off having some fun. A friend from Hawaii was supposed to be there visiting another friend so he was planning to spend some time with them. It sounds like his school is going well and he has a little free time every day to prepare and finish his online orientation. (Update: I finally did hear from Tyler. It's Monday morning there and he's at school but he had a nice weekend, including seeing Robin Hood in a Korean theater. He said it was a nice theater and had Korean subtitles.)

Scott also had an exciting weekend. He got a new job. He hasn't been making much money at his current job as business has been off and he's been sent home early many nights. This is another bar-back job but it's a new restaurant/bar and two of the bartenders are former waitresses at Mr. B's and they say they are making much more now at this new place and they recommended Scott for the job. It's more hours (and days) and a bigger cut of the tips so hopefully he can make some money this summer. He hasn't heard from SCAMP so it doesn't look like he will get that job. There is a new Director this year who doesn't know him so who knows how they will pick people for this year.

So, that's it for the weekend. I crossed a lot of things off my to-do list but I still have to clean my aquarium tonight. I got some new fish a couple weeks ago and I don't want to poison them by not changing their water often enough.

Have a great week!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Mother's Day, one of my two favorite days of the year. In the old days, when the kids were little, Mother's Day always started with breakfast made while I was still in bed. These days I'm always the first one up and I usually make my own breakfast. This morning I made mine and H's too. Scott was up late last night working so he missed breakfast altogether.

Shortly after breakfast Amber called to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. They were already out and about on their way to celebrate her first Mother's Day. Amber's card made me cry, Quinn's card made me smile and Scott's card made me laugh. Amber told me that my gift from her and Tyler was a mani/pedi at my favorite salon/day spa. Talk about your spoiling! I usually do my own manicure but a pedicure is really something I appreciate.

Another tradition we used to have when the kids were little was going to my favorite nursery and picking out some flowers to put in pots, hanging baskets and flower beds. Today it was just H and me but I found lots of things I wanted. I bought flowers for my hanging baskets

Flowers for my porch pots


More porch lettuce plants

Scott planted these for me. Even though he doesn't enjoy planting I told him some time in his life time he may have to raise his own food, who knows. It would be a good skill to have some day, just in case!

And the rest will be used when it's a little warmer for my window box on the back deck. There's also a tomato plant in there and some marigolds for the garden but that will have to wait a couple more weeks.


Unfortunately last night and tonight there were/are frost/freeze warnings so I can't put anything out yet. Even the ones on the porch have to be pushed way back out of danger.

The usual warning here in this part of Michigan is not to plant until after Mother's Day. I've planted around then a few times but it's really best if you can wait another couple weeks, more towards Memorial Day, even after if possible. You just never know what Mother Nature has up her sleeve!!

Today Scott and I also went out to the garden to check on things as we had a real downpour on Friday and I wanted to make sure things hadn't washed away. Sorry, no pics as we discovered my camera battery was dead after we got there. The tops of my potato plants looked a little nipped but hopefully they will recover. Everything else (well, my onions and broccoli) looked fine. My radish seeds have even come up and seem to be doing well. No carrots yet, though I thought I saw one or two little sprouts peeping through. Today I took out a couple snow pea plants and planted them. They can stand the cold weather and should do fine.

Not much other news. Friday after school we had a meeting to discuss the layoffs. It was nothing more really than I had already heard except there was some discussion about filing for unemployment, etc. Sadly there were a few women there who were quite upset about being laid off and really couldn't quite grasp that there is next to no hope that they will be called back, even though the Director specifically said that this wasn't like past years when they had laid people off and called them all back. At best, maybe 3 or 4 people might be called back if other people retire or refuse jobs offered to them in the Fall. They would have to call about 15 people back for me to be called so I'm not holding out any hope. I'm moving on. Maybe I will file for unemployment though, who knows. I guess it depends on how hard it is to find a job once I start looking. The one thing I did find out that I wasn't too happy about was that my sick days will be cut in half and I will only be paid $25 for each one. That didn't seem right somehow. I'm gonna have to take another couple mental health days if I can before the end of the year.

Quinn is starting to feel a little better. She was so sick last week with another cough/cold. Amber had this picture on her blog and it just broke my heart!


Then today she posted this one from yesterday and she looks much improved! Just look at that adorable little smile! In jut a few short weeks we will get to see her again and we can't wait!

I talked to Tyler a few times last week. He's getting settled in his new place and at his new job/schools and things are going well. He has also started a blog now so I can actually read more about what he's doing and put it all together with the pictures he's posting! Exciting stuff! Pretty soon everyone in my family will have a blog and we won't ever have to talk to each other!! Ha! Just kidding! Although with Tyler right now it's WAY too expensive to actually talk to him. We are going to try g-chatting or skype soon though. I want to actually "see" that he's doing ok. It's been hard though because when he's getting up, I'm going to bed, on the weekends anyway. He did a little exploring this weekend and managed to find a good grocery store and department store nearby. Seeing pictures of the place really put my mind at ease because it looks clean and not too sketchy.

Here's what H had been doing this weekend.


Playing with his new "toy". He FINALLY got a new cell phone. His old one had seen better days! It is really cool too, so many really great features. Technology is so amazing. He can actually write on it like a note pad with a stylus. It will probably take him a few weeks to find out all it can really do. Thankfully his company is paying for it so we won't have that bill. I'm sure it's gonna be way more expensive than his old one since you can check e-mail and all that fancy stuff with it.

My poor pups didn't have much fun this weekend. I did manage to take them to the high school field yesterday between rain showers but I was worried that Charlie would hear a clap of thunder and take off on me. He spent most of Friday shaking and panting because thunder storms rolled through pretty much all day. Today Scott took them both for a walk for me and now they are happy.


Guess that's all the news for this week. The weather this next week is going to be mixed. Not that warm, rain a couple days, highs in the 60's but hopefully we have seen the last of the frost. I am anxiously awaiting planting time in the garden and trying desperately to keep the few seedlings I have started alive. They are all down in the basement in a sunny window and unless I have a reason to go down there I forget all about watering them! Not good. One day the banana pepper plant I have down there was quite wilted. Thankfully it has come back now and a pepper has even started on it. Soon it will be soaking up the summer sun! Hurry up end of May!!

Have a good week!