New Fun

Hmmm... I'm trying Haloscan for commenting. Now all my old comments are gone! I'm soooo confused...

Pure Happiness

You know, one of the best things about this blogging thing is the nice people I've "met". I don't live in one of the the hotspots where most of the people I like to read seem to be located (Atlanta, for one). I'm rather anti-social anyway, so this works out well for me. More on that later. I just wanted to say I really appreciate the help I got in learning to create links in my blog from Amanda ! Thank you so much, Lady! I'm gradually learning this stuff... I'm one of those old dogs who was raised on a Commodore 64 who thought I'd died and gone to heaven when they came out with a Commodore 128! Yeah, I've been through a few upgrades since then... I'm kind of a tech junkie. Doesn't mean I know as much about them as I'd like. I'm really pretty jealous of my oldest son who is going to school to get a degree in MIS. I'd love to do that if I didn't have a thousand things on my plate. Oh, well... in another lifetime. Again, I really do appreciate your hand-holding and patience.

Questionable Spring

I realize weather is an inexact science, but it's getting worse all the time, I swear! It's supposed to be spring. We've had some days in the 80's... now, we've got days in the low 50's and frost at night! This isn't right! My poor plants are taking a hit, hubby's crops aren't happy (our entire year's livelihood) and I feel as though I'm coming down with a cold from being chilled so much.

Left work yesterday early and went home to bed. Yes, I said bed. There has been a full moon shining in again and Monday night the puppies decided it was so bright in their space that it must be daytime and playtime. Not a good situation. Finally they settled about 1 a.m. I'm sure that didn't help the cold situation.

This morning I lay in bed and considered staying there. It felt really good - warm, snuggly, and safe. But, being the dedicated worker bee that I am, I got up and came to work after making hubby and son's lunches for the field. Yep, I'm that good.

Now that bed is starting to look pretty good again. I've got to find something here to keep my attention and keep motivated. Maybe I'll read a few blogs...

Can't Catch a Break

So, I'm all set for the rain and for 'jammie day' on Saturday. First off, I try to leave work early Friday so I can fly around in a tizzy trying to get laundry, cleaning, all that "weekend" stuff done so I can be a lazy pile of shit on Saturday. One of the big bosses calls me and has a special project he wants done a.s.a.p. He's never called me before. He's never wanted anything from me. Why today? Crap.

I get home -later than usual, and try to work up some energy to do all that I planned. The operative word here being 'try'.

Saturday morning I get up to the pitter-patter of rain! YES! Oh, but NOOOOOO... it stops. We didn't get more than a few sprinkles. Now I have to face the fact that I will not be having a jammie day. My spirit crumples into a ball the size and shape of the pile of dirty laundry sitting in the corner.

Because of lack of rain, hubby goes out to plant some more. The weekend is a bust. I'm back at work, jammie-day-less and not a happy camper.

Da Blues

I've got the blues. I can't figure out why I'm so glum.

It's been so gloomy the past couple of days... the weatherman keeps threatening that it's going to rain, but it keeps piddling out before it gets to us. Still, we get the gloom. I don't think it's the weather.

I've been busy at work. Finally got the gigantic pile of filing completely caught up. (I hate filing.) That was a feeling of accomplishment.

I finished watching the movies I'd rented over the weekend last night and need to return them today. That was a good feeling.

I need to go to the library and pick up some things they're holding for me. New books always make me happy.

I managed to clean some at home last night - something I'd been putting off. Another feeling of accomplishment.

I think I got a good nights' sleep.

My flowers I planted are all coming along beautifully.

My kids are all healthy and happy.

So what's up?

Memory

I was so sad today to read about Jeff's friend Nelson. It reminded me so much of our sweet Dusty-dog. She was 14 years old when she developed some severe health problems and we had to have her put to sleep. This was two years ago and it still feels like yesterday. She came to us when she was six months old and barely left my side the whole time we had her. She went everywhere with me. I had two keys to my car, so when she went with and couldn't go inside, I'd leave her locked in the car with either the air conditioner or heater on - and her favorite pillow, of course. Hubby would smuggle her into motel rooms and all kinds of places that normally wouldn't allow them - but she was so good. She wouldn't bark or fuss and never made messes where she shouldn't. She was just the sweetest pup. The decision to let her go was the hardest I've ever had to make. When I read about Nelson, it brought it all back. Her trusting eyes as I held her - watching the life go out of them. She left our lives with a huge hole.

It was only a few months ago that we were finally able to face getting another Shih tzu, and those of you who have been reading my blog know how that turned out! We wouldn't have it any other way... Frank and Frieda are by far the sweetest pups... but Dusty will always have a very special place in our hearts.

Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head

I hated that song.

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my father's birthday. Tonight my eldest daughter and grandson are coming for supper, then we are taking a cake to my parents' house. I talked to my mother this morning and she said they'd be home. I'm hoping it will cheer my father a bit... I think, because we got some rain last night that Hubby will be able to go too. I hope so - he's not seen my parents' new house, yet.

Almost time to get off.

Tomorrow night I hope will be a quiet one.

Crazy Day

After such a nice weekend, today has been a shock to my system.

I'd planned on working until 3 o'clock, then I wanted to go home and get my flowers planted that I got Saturday. (Yesterday was still too muddy.) I get a phone call from my eldest daughter asking if I can pick up grandson from school and run her around - SIL car was getting some repairs done and she wants to drop it off for him at his work so she doesn't have to go out again at 10 pm to pick him up. Yes, I say, I can do that.

So, I get off at noon. Run over to the field and have a "touch-base-hi-howareya" lunch with Hubby, then home. I decide I need to get some more hostas and so forth dug out of the old house gardens to transplant, so go over there and work on that for an hour or so. Home, a few things in the ground, when Hubby calls me on the phone to say he can't get a response from son who is helping him - can I go get him on the phone or radio. Yes... I live to serve. Back in the car, zoom the 2 miles to son's house - only to find him sitting in the pickup with the radio to his mouth. OBVIOUSLY he's now talking to Hubby. Thanks for letting me know, ANYONE. Grrrr.

Back to our house, where I look at the clock, look at myself, and decide I must change clothes before I pick up grandson or will scare the other children. It's windy out and I look like some grungy bag-woman in my wind-blown hair, dirt-covered torn gardening clothes.

Presentable once more, I take off for the small town my grandson goes to school in - about 30 miles away. I'm there early, actually, and wait for him to show his smiling face... Wait... he almost didn't recognize me! His mom called the school, but no one told him I was coming... The after-school helpers look at me curiously, then seem to breath a sigh of relief when I was recognized after all.

An hour and a half later, after running all over, I am once again home. Now it is time to fix supper for Hubby and deliver it to the field. After that I am finally able to go back to my planting.

9 o'clock. Puppies have been out. Shower has been taken and I feel sorta human again. Most of the plants are in before the rain comes tonight. Hubby finishes his field and just called to say he'll be home soon. Today didn't go anything like I planned... Hope tomorrow is a tad bit calmer.

Perfection

This weekend turned out to be perfect. The newlyweds flew into town Friday night via a friends' small airplane. We picked them up and hubby said it was "just like picking up rock stars"! Our airport is so small, though, that we were the only ones there. It's pretty "self-serve".

Saturday it rained all day, but DD and I went shopping anyway. Went to the greenhouse and spent a fortune on plants. Then went shopping for animal stuff (toys, food, etc.) that is a typical monthly run. After that we did a wee bit of clothes shopping - well, it WAS on sale!... oh, and Honey, it's been in the closet for AGES... ;)

Saturday night it was nice enough for son's car races - he came in 2nd! SIL went with Hubby and MIL, and all was well with the world. DD and I rented movies, ordered Chinese take-out (unbelievable - the town they live in is bigger than ours and they don't have a good Chinese restaurant!), stuffed our faces with junk food and put on our jammies! YIPPEE! Not exactly jammie day, but close enough.

Sunday we had a lovely, sunny day. Didn't get so much rain that it kept Hubby out of the field, so he went back to planting and SIL helped. Such a good guy!

We grilled out that evening and sat on the deck watching the puppies playing in the yard and visiting. Very enjoyable. After supper we took the kids out to catch the plane and watched them fly off into the sunset. Sad, but they'll be back.

A perfect weekend.

Spring!!!

I'm so happy that spring is here! As much as I love curling up with a book in front of the fire and cooking something warm and hearty, I do really enjoy the newness of spring. I love walking around the yard and seeing what perennials are coming back and if my trees have lived through another winter. I enjoy seeing the chipmunks back on the deck, stuffing their cheeks with seed and corn as if there were no tomorrow. I get a thrill out of the spring birds singing and chattering - especially the goldfinches - the males decked out again in their bright yellow summer plumage. Wherever do they go during the times when they change color? It is so strange...

I love planning the additions to the gardens and the new vegetable garden I'm going to put in this year. Last year, because we moved mid-summer, I only tucked a couple of tomato plants in with my flowers, but this year I expect to have a full-fledged veg garden again. I missed it last year. I usually make homemade spaghetti sauce with fresh tomatoes and green peppers and stock it in the freezer to have all winter. This winter we ran out. Will hopefully have a good crop and stock up again.

Some people look at garden catalogs all winter long. I get too impatient. I see something and want it NOW, so I tend to wait until it actually is closer to the time I can plant. I'm rather a splurge-type shopper and even if I do order some plants online or by catalog, I find I see a plant in the greenhouse that I must have and end up taking more home. This year has been especially fun because of all the perennials I have at the old house that I can transplant. This makes it doubly fun - I'm getting to enjoy the flowers and they're free!

Unfortunately, I've not won the lottery yet, so the big greenhouse I would like to have is not a reality. This means I haven't started any plants indoors to transplant and will have to go purchase the annuals I want as well as my veggie plants. I suppose I could start them in the basement under my one little gro-light, but prefer to keep that space for the houseplants that need a little extra TLC. I've been trying to get some new cuttings of houseplants going to give my mother, since she lost all hers in the fire, and for my newly married daughter who misses having the greenery around that I have here at home. Hopefully I'll have some for each of them soon.

Why does it always get busy at work when I'm wanting to be home? The weekends just don't seem long enough. At least the newlyweds are coming again this weekend, so that will be something to look forward to - and I think they're predicting rain, so may not be working in the yard all weekend... Will probably be too busy to blog this weekend, so have a good one, people! Get out and enjoy it all!

Busy Bee

Things are picking up at work. I'm starting to get busy. I'm not wanting to be busy, tho'... what's wrong with me? Busy is good. Busy makes time fly. Busy means money in the paycheck because I work more hours. So... why don't I want to be here? I want to be lazy. I want to be independently wealthy. I should have been born into a family where there was money to burn. I have tons of interests and can entertain myself for hours - but nothing that makes me money! Grrrr... I suppose we all feel this way from time to time, huh?

It Can Stop Now

We've gotten 2-1/2" of rain. Now I'm afraid all the little plants I put in will wash away! Enough, already!

Raining!

YES! It's raining! Whoo hoo!

Lazy Day

Okay, he was right. I can barely move. Hope the rain comes tonight so I don't have to go water everything... Back to bed.

Third

Son got third place at the races!

Grub

I'm a grub. I spent hours doing yard work. First I went to the old house where my son lives and proceeded to clean brush off the biggest two of my five perennial flower beds. I also graded off a burm I'd made a couple of years ago that the kids teasingly called "the body"... as in, "Mom, aren't you supposed to bury your enemies in the BACK yard?". My son never liked it, and the flowers hadn't really gotten established on it yet, so I graded it off and now he's happy. Keeps threatening to mow off the flower beds as he and his girlfriend aren't garden people, but I keep telling him to leave them alone so I can move flowers to the new house and gradually they'll go away...

At any rate, after working at his place for hours, I dug up some hostas and lilies and took them to the new house and got them all planted before the rain comes tomorrow night. I really need more, but right now I can't see straight and I'm feeling pretty creaky. Hubby says, "I've seen this a million times - you won't be able to MOVE tomorrow!" He could be right.

Tonight while he and son are at the car races I think I'll just veg...

So Appropriate

So, the new bride calls me last night and tells me she got a job. Guess where? A nationally known pet supply store! This is soooo appropriate if you knew my daughter. This is the lovely little redhead that at 4 years old walked up to the front door and said, "See what I found, Mommy?" with a dead bull snake wrapped around her sweet little neck. This is the one who had every animal known to man that her father would allow (no horse, thank goodness!). We had a lovely parakeet that she tried cleaning the cage outdoors - you can imagine. That was a short-lived project. We had fish, gerbils, mice, birds, dogs, cats, bunnies, a pig we found (yes, a plain old farm-grown pig). You name it, we probably had it. We figured she of all the kids would end up the veterinarian.

Well, we were wrong. Turns out she got a degree in Anthropology. Hmmm... And now she's working in a pet store. I'm really tickled for her. She'll probably love it. I told hubby. His exact words were... "Oh. My. God." Ironically, those were her new husband's exact words, too! Great minds think alike.

It will be interesting to see how long she can hold out without adopting one of the animal rescue league animals they have there. :) I'm really happy for her. Way to go, Em!

Head Holding

I've been MIA for a couple of days. I've had a migraine. These, for those of you who have never had the pleasure, are extremely painful and do nothing for your activity levels. If you have a migraine, you wish you could cut off your head just to have relief. You want complete darkness, complete silence, and woe to the spouse who jiggles the bed in any way, shape or form.

I've found the only cure is to take a medication that basically knocks me out. After a day or so I eventually wake up without the headache and I proceed on with my life. Fun, huh?

Puppy Love

I'm sickening, I know, but I just love my critters. I have four house cats, a beagle that lives in a kennel in the garage - where he can get out and run in the yard - and two 6-month-old shih tzu puppies. They are brother and sister. Frank was only supposed to be about 10-12 lbs. He weighed in this morning at 19.6! We decided someone forgot to tell Frank he was supposed to be a shih tzu, not a St. Bernard. Frieda is supposed to be my tiny pup and she is only supposed to be about 6 lbs. She weighed in at 9.5. So much for what they were supposed to be!

Hubby askes if I want to take them back. Hell, no!!! I've fallen in love. They are the sweetest pups you could ever wish for. This morning they had to go in for surgeries (you know, the kind so that boy dog + girl dog does not = many dogs). I felt bad for them. I've been there, done that.

Frank even had to have some baby teeth pulled that hadn't come out on their own and would be causing trouble if they didn't come out. Poor guy - he got it at both ends!

They were so sweet when I brought them home. They just want to cuddle and they are being very quiet and good. Didn't know what to expect, but at least figured if they went in at the same time they'd both be hurting and one wouldn't be wanting to play while the other one hurt.

I'm a sucker for animals. All animals. Am looking forward to them feeling back to their old selves and running silly.

Just a Good Day

I'm just having a good day. The newlyweds came on Friday night and we've been spending 'catch-up' time together. We've looked at the wedding pictures that we'd taken spontaniously, all the honeymoon pictures, and the pictures of their apartment - so I can now see in my mind where they'll be.

Last night new-son-in-law went with hubby to youngest son's car race (yes, the season has begun again). Daughter and I watched all the shows I'd videotaped that we liked to watch together that she'd missed while on honeymoon, or because they don't have cable yet. It was just like old times. Jammies on, junk food, nothing to do but watch shows and make wise cracks. (We're like the everyman woman? version of "Mystery Science Theater 2000").

Today we are going to a movie together and NSIL is going to help hubby in the shop - working on the planter. I wonder if he's just brown-nosing, but Daughter says not. He is a little bit hyperactive and likes to keep busy.

It's supposed to be in the mid-70's today! What a glorious day...

I know I'm going to probably crash when they leave tonight to go home, but for now... I'm just having a good day.

Fools Rush In

It's April 1st. So far the fickle finger of fate has not decided to point at me. This is a good thing.

I have a good sense of humor, but for some reason practical jokes just don't do it for me. I think because so many of them are grounded in mean-ness. When I see the shows "Punked" or "Scare Tactics", I just don't find the humor in them. I see someone being put through some pretty stressful stuff - for our amusement. Like I say, just don't get it. Maybe it's an age thing or maybe it comes from being one of the "geeks" in school that get this kind of treatment almost daily. It doesn't become funny when it's a lifestyle you have to contend with. For those of you who saw "The Breakfast Club", I was the Ally Sheedy character. To a "T". I mean, the hair, the personality, all of it. I was really a loner. In a school where my class was about 300, I had about three friends.

Somehow, now that I think about it - not much has changed. Something to ponder.