The results of yard work -

in poor soil. I fight for every single little blossom I get! But it's my little plot and I like it.

Here Comes the Color!

And this is why I go through the trouble of cleaning up the yard:

The azaleas are just beginning to show color as well, and the rhodies will be right behind them. Then the lilacs are coming. It's popping out all over!

The Other Side of Spring!

This is 4-5 days worth of yard work - no wonder I move like an OLD woman!!

And - the tulips are coming! First time I've ever - in my life - had tulips in my own yard; one of my two favorites. I'm so excited!

Spring - one way or another!

I am so TIRED of winter this year! It seems to have gone on and on and on and - you get the picture. I shouldn't complain because Holly reads this email, and they're still getting snow, and they always get snow before we do. (Sorry Holly ;) Nevertheless - I'm tired of it! So, as soon as seeds came into the stores, I went a little crazy with them, and planted them up right away in little peat pellet trays. Well, I guess I jumped the gun a little bit. They are ready to be put into the ground, and we really shouldn't be putting in the ground until about the first of May. So, some of the bigger ones I've had to transplant into 4" peat pots, and I have a month to go! Fortunately, my 10" tall sweet peas (below left), I'm told, can go into the ground now. But I'd like to do it in dry conditions - the second of my dilemmas! :( I may be in a little trouble with my giant pumpkins. I have 2 out of 5 that came up, and the person I got the seeds from got real big eyes and raised eyebrows when I told him I'd already planted them. I guess time will tell on that one! Anyway, here's what my garden looks like right now:

It's bigger than it looks! Each of those trays holds 72 peat pellets, plus I've pulled some out to put into 4" pots, and replaced the holes with more seeds. I figured out that if I had bought as many 4" plants from the store as I have started, it would have cost around $350. And I've spent maybe $10-12 on seeds. The trays are reuseable next year with new pellets, and the nifty little greenhouse I got almost half off at the drug store. It has a plastic shroud to put over the whole thing and turn it into an actual greenhouse, but I don't need to use that in the house. My dining room, turns out, acts like something of a greenhouse itself because of all the light! But this piece can be put outside with the plastic, or without the plastic and be a kind of bakers rack for plants. Yea! More plants!! There are both veggies and flowers there, and most of the flowers are perennials (if they don't die out in my overly-moist soil). I have tomatoes, cukes (above right), cherry toms, carrots, radish, butternut squash, gigantic pumpkins and oh, just a bunch of stuff! :)

Fireplace

Went with an online purchase from Target. The reader reviews sold us both. Had a nice day shopping, but most stores aren't fully stocked with this merchandise yet. Anyway, hope I'll be as happy as the reviewers are!! I plan to enjoy my patio this year!!

Work, et al

So glad the week is over. Some weeks are harder than others, and some days, likewise. This was a week and today was a day. Just glad to have it over. And the week is ending well - Taxes done (almost), and I don't have to pay - YEA!!

It's Friday night, the house is quiet, and the GVB is playing on the tv. It doesn't get much better - unless dad is enjoying it with me! He enjoys it well enough, but would never turn it on if I wasn't home. And I don't force it on him too often.

Tomorrow we want to check out a fireplace for the patio - see if we can't get a little more use out of the back yard on our cool weather nights. Fire pits are cool looking, but take up too much space. I'm fond of a fireplace I found at Lowe's. We'll see.

I've planted 72 peat pots of veggies and will do another flat of 72 flowers - mostly perennials - tomorrow. (Pictures to follow when there's something more than peat moss to photograph!) Trying to save some money this year and limit the number of plants I buy - esp. annuals! Too expensive! If I can limit the plant purchases to a few begonias, fuschias and impatiens for the pots, I'll be a happy camper. Speaking of plants, I think I've lost quite a few of my landscaping plants through this winter. Aaarrrrgggghhhhhh. I'll wait until it quits snowing and the weather warms up a bit to make a final determination.

Well, that's where I'm at this evening. Hope all is well with you, the readers of this on-again, off-again monologue.

Found It!

Unfortunately, "IT" was in my purse all the time - just in the wrong place. I'm SO BAD at looking for things :( But IT is useless. Have to wait for another week or so for yet another new one to arrive. But at least I know IT isn't "out there" somewhere...

My Week

Well, it’s February 19, and I’m enjoying what feels like a rare day off. I actually get 3 days off because I work such long days at the beginning of the week, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like it.

This has been a very busy – but enjoyable – week.

Sunday after church we shot down to the airport to pick up son #1 and took him to Olympia. Had dinner together, and then came back home – about an hour and a half each way on the weekends or off hours.

Monday morning, 8:30, I got a call from the overnight guy looking for someone to come relieve him. My boss didn’t show, and it took him an hour to get her to answer. She was sick. So I got on the fast track, and walked in to work at 9 AM. Since I normally work the evening shift, I took all three meals with me, fully expecting to work a double shift, which I did. Actually a little belatedly, I asked son #3 if he’d like to work that evening shift, but it was too late for him to change his schedule. The overnight guy offered (and I accepted) to come in early, so I was relieved 45 minutes early, for which I was very grateful!

Tuesday the weekend gal came in for the day shift, so I worked my normal 1-10 – still a very long day considering the day before.

Wednesday I worked my boss’s shift: 7:30-3:30, making for a very short night, so if you follow the timeline, you can understand that I’m getting really weary! The evening guy came an hour early so we could get a head start on our trip to Olympia.

It’s Thursday, and I slept until 8:30, then just kind of wandered around like a zombie for an hour or so. The plan today is to just be a “housefrau” and prepare for our weekend guest. :) I’m actually off work now until Monday at 1:00, so – a mini vacation for me! :)

Friday we’ll head back to Olympia one last time and pick up son #1 and bring him home for a couple of nights and some good family time.

Sunday it will be back to the airport and son #1 will head back home to pick up his life and face-time with his family.
It’s been great having him in the area, and I’m so thankful that his intensive was so close so we could have this time. But I’ve missed his family very much, and would have loved it if they could have all come.

I fully anticipate life to return to normal next week! And now, on to my first duty of the day: to the credit union to order a new debit card. Saturday we got new ones ordered by the CU because a vendor had been compromised so the CU shut down all accounts and opened new ones. Tuesday morning, I could not find it! :( So here we go again. I never lose stuff like that! To parrot son #3 – Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhhh!!

Blessings on you all, my precious family!

Here we go again - - -

I misunderstood Jeana Saturday and thought she wanted me to come in at 7:30 today. So imagine my surprise when she showed up at 7:45!! Ric and Jeana both told me to go home and go to bed, since I have such a late night tonight. Had I obeyed, I wouldn't have done this:

Instead of going home and resting, I decided to do some cleaning up in the family room, including cleaning the back side of the glass in the hutch. Got a little too vigorous and sliced it open pretty good on the edge of the glass. Never done that in the 36 years I've had the piece. And it's not as bad as it looks. But had to drive myself to the dr. because I couldn't get it to stop bleeding. Soaked 2 paper towels through pretty good. And it got me a tetanus shot - yippee!! :(

JANUARY - STILL ACTING LIKE A LION

This is just toooo weird! Another day of waking up to snow, for crying out loud.

Other than that, today was church. Annual Meeting. (I used to love those - now I search for excuses to not go to them. Go figure.) Then to Jack in the Box for Chicken Fajita Pitas. I like to do that if I have an "agenda" in the afternoon. That is probably the most healthy fast food out there. No combo - just the pita. Of course, dad usually deviates from my personal menu, and today was no exception... Once the lunch was over, it was painting time. I was supposed to do that last Thursday, but woke up very dizzy; up-against-the-wall dizzy. Felt fine other than that, but didn't think that was the best condition to be in when I was just painting a portion of a room. Saturday we were with Bob & Lorraine for lunch at their place, so couldn't paint then. So today was it. I painted the lower portion of the walls, below the border, of the guest room. I want to get that room back in order before Josh comes in 3 1/2 weeks or so. I thought it was a little sooner than that, but the calendar says it's not. Well, maybe I can start working on the other room then before he comes. It's never been finished from the last time I painted, so I'm just going to do something different. I'm pretty sure I'm going to even paint (most of) the desk! That would be full circle. Sort of. Guys, remember what it looked like when I bought it? I wish I had taken a picture of that. What a transformation. Anyway, I digress. I still need to make some blueberry muffins and scones to put in the freezer since I got a killer deal on fresh blueberries yesterday at Safeway, and those always turn out better with fresh berries. Oh - and laundry. That also awaits for today. Tomorrow, I will be at Wal-Mart early - hopefully 6:30 or so, to finish up my grocery shopping, then a one-hour dental appt. at 10:00 to fit my double crown in place. That should allow me a well-deserved 2-hour rest before I go to work from 1-10. Last Friday I worked 7:30 to 5. I think I'm earning my keep!!

That's my jabber for today. Y'all take care - I know my out-of-state people all have a huge couple of weeks facing them. You are in our prayers, as well as the local ones, of course.

CONTENT ALERT: If you don't want to read about a cemetery visit, stop reading here!!

Oh - one more thing: when we were at Bob and Lorraine's yesterday, they took us to see where Uncle Dutch was buried, since we missed the service, and all. It's a very large cemetery. Most places usually have a special building for above-ground burials and cremation urns. Looked to me like they ran out of room, so they started carving out small areas throughout the grounds for small open-air "rooms", which is where Dutch is. His particular "room" is a special area for veterans. It was really very nice. Dad wanted me to take a picture "for the kids", thinking it might help you all with closure, if you haven't felt that you had closure. So, here are a couple of pictures. Wish I had taken a little more distant picture to get the effect of the "room" but, didn't. Please pray for Lorraine. She told me she misses Dutch more every day. Sounds like normal grieving, but would be hard on a new marriage. . .

The promised photo!

Hmmmm

My plan was to post a new picture - they've been saying we'd have sun every afternoon this week, but I'm waiting to see the sun! Someone said it came out for 2 minutes this afternoon - I wouldn't know. This is my 11/13 hour day. It's practically dark when I get here, and it's for sure dark when I leave. Oh well. The sun is sure to come out some time. I hope.

Un-Stinking-Believable! :(

Here we go again! They said maybe an inch. Everett already has THREE! :( Dad will decide in the morning if he can make it in. I'll be prepared to be called in at 7:30, and try to make it. I have a 2-hour dental at 10 - that may get cancelled. Dr. Neff may not be able to make it in. Here's to hopin'. I suppose I could end up working a double shift tomorrow. Which will be okay. I'm okay with mass OT! Weather.com said it should turn to rain tonight, and if that's so, this may all be a moot point anyway. This is WAY over the top, and I'm hearing a lot of complaints!