I Don't Think

That we'll get any more birthday cakes from Wallyworld! At least not if we have to order them. I placed the order for Otter's cake last Thursday. I showed the girl exactly what I wanted. I specified exactly what colors (blue and purple). I specified the exact icing. I specified (more than once!) that there could be NO chocolate because of Otter's allergy and I did tell her (more than once) the reason for no chocolate.

So I get there today at the appointed time and watch as the two girls working go get an undecorated and entirely ORANGE cake from the refrigerated area. I spoke up right then and told them that I'd ordered blue & purple and also told them that the cake they were about to decorate wasn't even anywhere near what I had picked out. The answer: "Oh, you wanted only blue & purple?" Well, yeah!

Texas Woman was starting to whisper in my ear at this point. That's not a good sign!

Well, the cake they had was entirely orange - no blue or purple anywhere! I told them that it was not what I wanted but that I was running out of time so it might work although it was obviously not what I had ordered, but that there had better be no chocolate. The answer: "Oh, you didn't want chocolate?". Duh!

That's when Texas Woman really started to rattle the bars of her cage.

So I let her out to play.

The upshot is that I now have a cake that is still not what I ordered, but is a lot closer. The icing is buttercream, even though I ordered whipped icing. The cake is white, which they both told me they would guarantee - if we cut into it tomorrow and it turns out to be chocolate or marbled, Otter wants to go with me when I go back there (and let Texas Woman out to play again.) There is a little bit of blue on the cake, along with some reddish, and the writing is at least in purple. Also, there are a few purple flowers.

But it is the last decorated cake we buy from Wally unless I am able to pick one out and have it decorated right then.

Otter thinks that it's a funny story.

At least it's not one we would see on Cakewrecks!

A Few Cold Sunday Morning Shots

It's still pretty cold and there is frozen snow everywhere, but it is going to be well above freezing today and it will melt quickly. The sidewalks and driveway are already clear. The street has dry patches already. It's still pretty cold this morning, we had a fire and enjoyed it during breakfast. We might not have any more fires until the fall now.

Bill thinks we got about 6" of snow yesterday. It was nice while it lasted.

This is sideways, but we still have tulips! There are a few that have fallen over, but they look good considering the low temps we've had and the snow.
Still sideways! Most of them are standing up pretty good and there are still several that have not bloomed yet but should be opening up pretty soon.

I took this from inside the dining room window, that is my prickly pear in the front of the picture. The pear is growing another leaf. The cardinal sat out on the windowsill for a long time. I put seed out there for the birds, as well as a few peanuts for the bluejay that has been visiting. I tried to get a picture of the woodpecker I saw, but he stayed on the opposite side of the tree and all I could see was his head every so often. I've never seen a woodpecker at a feeder before this morning.

I was standing out at the end of the drivewy when I took this shot. That was after I slid down the driveway on the only icy patch still out there!

This is the bluebonnet! I won't uncover it until after everything is melted. It might be ok.

This is the tree behind the shed in the back yard. It was loaded with birds, they were at the feeders until I went outside and then they all flew to the tree. They came back after I went inside.

This one was also taken from inside the dining room window. It's the other male cardinal. The two males fought a few times yesterday. But now I think that they have other things on their minds, because one of them will not leave a particular female alone.

Bird tracks!

The feeders and the back fence that we couldn't see yesterday with the snow fall. The fence is probably about 30 feet from the house. The dogs have not had access to the back yard, so there is still quite a bit of bird seed on the ground.

The quilt Bill made for me!

A close-up of the backing. It's a light green color, it reflected the flash more than I thought it would so it almost looks white but it is green.

A close-up of the pattern in the middle of the quilt. This is for the person who said that the Christmas quilts for Nana and Sweetie must have been made in China - notice the same fabric as the backs for those two quilts? Also, some of the fabric left from my kitchen curtains.

Remember those shirts we bought last June at an auction? We sold a boatload of them, kept a lot, donated more than I can count and still had several small sizes that didn't sell. So Bill turned them into quilt scraps! Creative recycling.

Bill Got His Wish!!!

He said he wanted one more "good snow" before the weather got warm. And today, he got it. Actually, it's probably the only actual snow we got all winter, since most of the snow was accompanied by lots and lots of ice. Today started out with a cold rain that changed over to snow much earlier than the forecast called for.

The official measurement is 4 to 6" with as much as 9" in some places. We are probably over 6". It's been coming down all day, and some of the flakes were huge. At times, we could not see past the back fence because the snow was so heavy.

We have put the fireplace to use today! I brought in 5 armloads of wood yesterday. We've already gone through that and brought in 3 more. Most of the wood was cut in somewhat short pieces. We've been in front of it all day long, it was really nice. The doggies seemed to appreciate it as well.

I put out 6 bird feeders yesterday shortly before it got dark. I've refilled two of them this afternoon. We have seen cardinals of both genders, two different kinds of sparrows, starlings, chickadees, wrens, crows and at least one mockingbird. And a very fat squirrel!

The small elm tree in the front was bowed over pretty far, it has just enough leaves to trap the snow. We shook it off this afternoon and it bounced back quite a bit. I think it will be ok. I covered the bluebonnet last night with a plastic cup since that was the only thing I could find, and piled as much dirt around the sides as I could. The tulips could still be ok, they are pretty sturdy. But if they do freeze, we have at least had time to enjoy them although not as long as normal.

This type of weather is not unusual, at this time of year. The conditions were exactly like the last time we had a late snow, and late snows seem to be heavy.

Our church has cancelled services tomorrow, it's going to be in the 20's tonight and there is enough slush on the roads that they will be treacherous tomorrow. At least in the morning.

Also, Bill finished the quilt he made for us today. I finished my crochet project, the new holder for my glasses. But mostly, we just stayed in and enjoyed our family time in front of the fireplace.

Rainy Friday

It's been raining pretty much non-stop since yesterday evening. It rained off and on yesterday and today has been alternating between a nice, slow rain and thunderstorms with lots of water. Lots of water! And a few bouts of striking lightning, but nothing bad in our area. But we need this rain, so I'm not complaining. However, there has been a little hail mixed in with the rain at times and I could do without that.

I'm home with a sick Otter today. She is much better but not quite school-ready so she stayed home today. I've been doing laundry and cleaning, I also made bread. I think the dogs have enjoyed Otter being home, they got to stay inside. I did put them out for a little while, they were not amused! But they got a treat and got to come back in soon.

I've realized something. I set out to simplify and slow down, but it's been the opposite for about the last month. I have been busier than I have in a long time. I think it's time to get back to slowing down. I have a tendency to overload myself and I think I did it again. Gotta work on that!

Bill has had a big project, the garage cleaning, and I've been helping him with that. He's just about done. He has a new project that he's nearly through with: insulating the attic over the garage. He has done most of it, but the part that's left is the area where he put wood down to make flooring and there are shelves & boxes there. Those things have to be moved, the wood has to be taken up, the insulation will be put down and then the boards will have to be put back down. They are nailed down so it will take a few hours. I think we'll work on that Sunday afternoon. It's something we can still get done even if we do get the cold, wintery weather that is forecast.

Then I think it's time to work on calming down again! I actually prefer a slower paced life, we all do.

I noticed something at WalMart last night. They have nearly done away with the fabric department. A year or so ago, WalMart announced that they were going to close that department. Then there was an outcry and they backtracked. But at the same time, the fabric department in the stores in our area started getting smaller and the clearance area got bigger. There was an announcement made around that time that new stores would not have a fabric department. One of the local stores did away with their fabric department several months ago, and also most of the craft stuff as well. Then last night at the store by our house, there were clearance signs all over the fabric area and most of it was already gone.

I hear Cute & Stinky (also known as Maggie & Frasier) in the living room, sounds like they might be into something so I'd better go check on them. They are good dogs, but they are also sneaky sometimes!

Still Thursday!

I wanted to update.

It wasn't all a bad day, I just think that my lack of sleep last night had a lot to do with it!

Anyway, I did decide to go to the grocery store after all tonight. Something told me that I should go tonight. So I decided to listen, and even though it was crowded & took me an hour and a half, I don't have that hanging over my head for tomorrow. Although I might run into a different store for a couple of things that Wally was either out of or I forgot.

Walmart seemed to be out of a lot of things. I noticed quite a few empty shelves, and it's not necessarily stuff that people would stock up on in case of bad weather. Unless everybody needs pickles to tide them over for a few days! :)

Since I will in all probability be home with a sick Otter tomorrow, I'm really glad I got it over with tonight!

Ever Have One of Those Days?

I've had one today. All over the place!

It actually started at midnight last night. That's when Bill's Blackberry PDA reset itself and decided that we needed the alarm to go off. It's a strange sound, and it took me several minutes to find where the beeping noise was coming from. Bill slept right through it, even though it was on the nightstand on his side of the bed. I didn't sleep too well after that.

Then I discover while I'm making breakfast that I have a sick kid. She had a very sore throat and felt cruddy. No fever at least. So she stayed home and Bill stayed home with her. She feels a little better this afternoon, but not the best yet. Her throat is still sore but not as bad, however she now says that she's cold and can't really get warm enough. Not a good sign!

Then I get to work and attempt to use my typewriter. Yes, I still have one! There are a few times a year when I need an actual typewriter. It's ancient and cranky, but when I need it I Really Need it. Today was one of those Really Need times. So of course, when I turn it on - it won't turn on. I tried plugging it in in a couple of different outlets, but it didn't help. Not too many people carry typewriters anymore, but hopefully one will show up somewhere. It's at work, so I don't have to pay for it. But I will probably have to do the footwork to find one!

Stuff like that has been happening all day long. It's also been raining, and we had another hail storm. Not bad, but there was a lot of rain and quite a bit of wind. We are expecting another round of thunderstorms that should start tonight and could go all night. Then tomorrow, we get to go back to Winter. I need to get to the grocery store, but I was just too tired today. I hate to go on Fridays, and I really hate to go when we have a weather situation on the way. But I'm not going today, so I'll just fight the Friday crowd and any potential last-minute storm supply shoppers tomorrow!

Sure hope I sleep tonight, because if that Blackberry decides to reset tonight I think I'm going to go find a hammer!

Of course, it we have thunderstorms it won't matter. Because I'll be awake then anyway!

I think I'm going to go find a doggie to play with now. Although with the way this day has been, one of them will probably ralph or something. Urg.

Stuff

I can't think of a good title today!

Froggy, Bill washed (and waxed!) all three cars on Sunday. We got rain on Tuesday and again today. With a little hail both times!

Otter and I had our dental appointments today. Everything looks good, no cavities but I do have some gum inflammation in the area under the partial. The dentist thinks I just need to brush a little harder at that spot. Which is better than the last cleaning, that time she found a new decalcification spot and I had to get a filling!

Because this is NE Oklahoma, it's been cold since the first day of Spring. We're back to jackets & long sleeves, and we have a chance of winter weather Friday evening into Saturday. Yeah, the white & fluffy kind that comes out of the sky. But it's a slim chance and the ground is too warm for it to do anything, assuming that it even happens. But just in case, I'm going to the grocery store tomorrow night and then bringing in plenty of firewood! We've learned the hard way to always over prepare.

I've decided that I need to crochet a new holder for my glasses. The first one was just too big. So it became the new nail kit, it's now in the bathroom in one of the drawers and it was just the perfect size. I started my new glasses holder last night, it's a little smaller and it's also a different color yarn. It's a varigated yarn, blue-lavender-grey, but it's not as bright. I think it will look fine, it will probably match the quilt and the rest of the room a little better. It's the same yarn that I made my scarf from, the one that Otter calls my Dr. Who scarf because it's so long.

And on that note, I'm off to crochet!

Lotta Watta!

It rained this morning. It rained LOTS! It was a short rain, but it was a serious rain because it rained a lot in a very short period of time. My nearly empty rain barrel is now full. Absolutely full. My indoor plants are pleased, they don't have to rely on treated tap water. They've gotten kind of used to being watered with rain water.

I checked the tulips, bluebonnet and trees. They seem to have weathered the storm fine, although I don't know if this area had any hail. (I was at work). I'll get pictures in a few days. My redbud tree is leafing out, I'm very pleased about that.

Of course, the hailstorm that was at the end of the thunderstorm was something I could have done without. But I don't think that the car has any dings.

Here's the spectacular news I hinted at the other day:

(drumroll please)

BILL HAS A NEW JOB!

Well, actually it's an old job. Specifically, it's HIS old job. The one he was originally hired for, way back when. He'll be a Bench Technician again, but that is what he always wanted to be and is in fact why he got his Electronics Engineering degree. He's not changing employers, just departments. He won't be making any more money, but it will be a much better "environment" and I think I'll leave it at that. He will officially transfer on Tuesday, April 14. He will have the same hours and will be at the same place he works now, just a few doors down. He won't have to be running up and down ladders, crawling through filthy attics and pulling cable. He'll actually be able to use his degree, knowledge and experience. The downside is that we won't be meeting for lunch very often, but he will probably be taking his lunch which will be better for him.

God is good. He has answered our prayers.

Monday's Weather, Tulips & Doggies

The pictures are in no particular order today.

Sorry this is blurry, the old camera has good moments and then it has not-so-good moments. Guess which kind it was having today! Anyway, these are the daffys I planted a couple of years ago. I had forgotten that I had planted any daffodils, I was thinking that they were all the ones that Sweetie planted but those are the standard yellow and I planted a different kind for variety. I just forgot about it. There are a few of the yellow ones in the tulip bed, but so far the only ones blooming are these.

Heavy Duty Grooming Session In Progress. Disturb at your peril.

Spooky dog!

Begging is so much more effective when your ear is folded! This is her attempt at sad puppy eyes. And it's much more effective when that fat belly isn't visible! I was surprised she sat still for so long, she was in this pose while I took Frasier's picture and then she stayed sitting like that until I was finished taking hers.

This one is a little blurry as well, but mostly because I was just too close as is indicated by the sharp focus behind the blossom!

The majority of the tulips that are already blooming are this type. But there are still several yet to bloom, lots of buds just forming.

Standing in front of the tulip bed.

Standing at the side, facing the gate to the back yard. The daffodils are all clumped in the middle this year, which was not deliberate.

For years, probably ever since we moved here 4 years ago, the violets have refused to bloom and I usually get disgusted with not having any blossoms, which results in all of them being ripped out of the bed. But this year, they have decided to cooperate. I guess they got smart this year, otherwise it would be curtains for them! There are actually a lot of them blooming. I love violets, I always have. Mom and Aunt Jessie had them planted, either in the flower bed outside of Aunt Jessie's apartment or beside the garage outside the gate to Aunt Jessie's apartment.

OK, that's dogs & tulips taken care of. Now I guess it's time to discuss weather. We might get the noisy kind tonight, probably after midnight. The bullseye of the firing line is well north of us (Froggy, think north of Hominy), but we could still get thunderstorms. Have I mentioned how much I don't like spring weather? Just in case you haven't figured that out yet, I DON'T LIKE SPRING STORMS. I like thunderstorms. I like rain. I just don't like what are referred to as spring storms in this part of the country!

Regarding that spectacular news I mentioned a couple of days ago, it's probably going to be about 2 weeks before I'm able to discuss it. But it's really good. Froggy, you already know about it.

Otter went back to school today, after a week off for spring break. She seems to have survived.

The other thing I realized today is tomorrow is 2 years to the day since I got sick - the time that put me in the hospital. I'm just happy that it is behind me now, it was not a fun experience and it was scary at times.

Still nearly 3 weeks until Easter. I've been resisting chocolate, except on Sundays and then I've tried to show restraint. But it's been hard at times, especially while I had Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies calling my name from the freezer! They are gone now, they were my chocolate indulgence yesterday. But the end of Lent is in sight. Lent is meant to be a time of self-denial, a chance to let go of some of the things that weigh us down and keep our focus off of where it really should be, which is on God. By letting go of whatever it is, a habit - good or bad, a particular food, whatever it is, we can grow closer to God and learn a lot about ourselves in the process. It is only as difficult as we chose to make it. I think that we bring a lot of our problems on ourselves sometimes. Observing Lent is not "just" for one particular brand of Christianity, it is for all of us and so are the lessons we can learn as we experience self-denial by letting go of our own selfish desires. It can be an amazing experience. And one I look forward to every year, as strange as that sounds to look forward to a time of denial. Because waiting at the end of the long, dark days of Lent is the most special Reward we could ever hope for, the One that makes it all worth it.

Sunday Stuff!

It's been a nice day. It started out slowly, but it got busy. But it was still a nice day.

After we got home from church, Bill decided to wash cars. He started out to just wash his two but since mine was sitting there in the driveway he washed it as well. So it will rain, probably at least 3 days since there are 3 cars. Then, as if that wasn't enough, he waxed all three. Starting with mine, so he could be finished in time for Otter and I to go to a movie. Since they are waxed, we'll probably have hailstorms with the rain that he will have caused! :) But his El Camino is absolutely incandescent! I did help him wax mine, my arms will be sore tomorrow. My muscles are tight in both arms, but mostly my right arm so I might have to hold off a day or to as far as crochet goes. :(

Movie review: Coraline. Otter has been wanting to see it, so we finally went. It was surprisingly good. We saw it in 3-D, it's also out in "regular" but if you go see it I strongly suggest 3-D. It is a little more than a regular ticket, but it was well worth it. It's not really scary, but it might be for younger kids. But the animation was excellent.

Froggy, you said you might still manage a trip here this summer. I hope so. We need to go here: http://www.littlehouseontheprairie.com/ and then we need to go here: http://www.forpaz.com/zoo.htm I've been to both places, Kansas is not that far from me and we could make it a day trip.

Both doggies have new jewelry to show off. Doggie bling in my house means new collars. Maggie's collar was just barely big enough for her, it was that way when we bought it so I'm not making a comment about her fluffiness! It was also starting to come apart. Frasier's collar was originally a very bright, flourescent orange (they are made for hunting dogs to wear) but it had faded to a dull orangeish color. He needs a collar that is easily seen, since he looks like a coyote and we didn't want him to get shot. He hasn't gotten out in a while, but I'm always expecting to come home and find him out of the yard. Maggie's new collar is still pink, this time it has silver polka dots on it so it's still girly. I briefly considered a pink collar with rhinestones on it for Frasier, but I decided to leave the dog what (little) dignity he still has! WalMart didn't have any like what he had, so I went with bright yellow instead. Maggie is funny about her collar, she gets very clingy when it's taken off. It's very important to her, and she does NOT like to be without it. She was a basket case when Otter had to keep taking it off of her to adjust it to fit. Frasier, on the other hand, is happy with or without his.

While we were at the theater, we saw the first poster for the new Star Trek movie. I'm really apprehensive about it, it is an odd number after all. But what I have seen in the previews looks very good. The actor who plays Spock is the same actor who plays one of the main bad guys in the tv show Heroes and it looks like's nailed the part of Spock. The main character of TOS (The Original Series) was meant to be Kirk, the Captain. But I'm thinking that the movie may be more of a focus on Spock. Yes, it is one we'll see in the theater! And because of what it is, it will get the full treatment: popcorn, cokes, candy. I just hope that this will be the one to break the Star Trek Curse - also known as Even Numbers Don't Suck!

But I'm still not holding my breath. However, I am going to see it with an open mind. And probably pretty quick after it opens, I'd like to see it before I hear any reviews.

I don't remember if I mentioned this or not, but our problem neighbors have mended the fence. Well, they nailed a board on the bottom of the fence the entire length. Possibly two boards. But at least they made an effort. Otter and I are about to go out and remove all the bricks, cinderblocks, stepping stones, milk cans, etc. that we blocked holes with.

We have about 6 tulips in bloom now, and more buds about to open. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow. They look very nice. Lots of them are the red with yellow edge blooms. I think it's going to be a nice spring, many things bloomed early this year and I expect that we will have a longer blooming season because of it. I'm not complaining! I just hope that we don't get that Other Thing that spring in this area is known for...

Finally It's Friday!!

Frasier is off somewhere, probably in the back yard, so he's not going to have a Friday post. But he did tell me that he's happy because Bill opened the gate when he got home, so that Frasier and Maggie can play out in the big part of the back yard. He also wants me to tell you that he thinks that he should be called Song Dog now. It's another name for coyotes. I think he prefers to be called Song Dog over BigStink, which actually fits him very well. (BigStink fits him).

It has been a busy week and a fast one. I'm glad it's over, it wasn't a bad week but I am tired and really in need of a rest day tomorrow. I might spend it with a crochet hook in my hand all day. I have a few craft projects I might attempt. I don't have a lot to read, but I do have some books and that might occupy my mind tomorrow. In other words, whatever happens is whatever happens! But crochet will in all probability be part of it.

Bill's been working on cleaning off/out his work bench in the garage this afternoon. He had the day off, working for a school district is good because it means he gets lots of holidays. He came across a whole bunch of tools that he thought were lost forever, he threw out a lot of stuff and he also found some things that will be donated. He found the steel balls that he hasn't seen for years, they are cannon balls and I'm not sure where he got them. Possibly at an auction. He got them many years ago, when we still had the second Tagalong (dog) and that dog has been gone for at least 7 or 8 years. They are very heavy, Tagalong was so strong that he could actually pick them up and play with them. He was a very strong dog! Anyway, Bill has had no end of fun with comments about steel balls. I'm going to let you fill in the blanks on that one! (Remember if you comment, this is a profanity-free blog. I will delete if it's offensive).

He also found something for me. He came across it and he knew I'd love it, and he was right. It's a sadiron. Also known as a cast-iron antique iron. Not vintage, this one is antique. It's perfect, I didn't know I needed one but apparently I did! It's now sitting up on the hearth, I figured that the fireplace was a good place to keep it. Froggy, Mom had a couple of old irons that might have been out in her rock garden, do you remember them? This one is older. It's pretty rusty and the handle is no longer with it. Otter said that she's glad she lives now, instead of "back when" because she would not have wanted to iron clothes with it! I agree with her, at least as far as the iron goes.

This is going to sound strange, coming from me, but I really think that the press needs to cut Obama some slack! He said something on the Tonight Show last night that has been blown out of proportion - but then that's what the press does. I don't think he meant anything offensive, I think he probably should have thought before he spoke, but I don't really think he intended to be insulting. So, lay off please! (I know, if I'm defending him then it's the end of the world as we know it).

Otter went to work with me today, she helped me a lot this week and she has been paid. By 4 people! My 92-year old boss gave her a few bucks, the younger boss gave her money Tuesday, 92-year old's wife came in to see Otter and gave her money. Then, she collected from me for the work she did for me this week! Kid's made more money than I did this week, jeesh! :) AND I took her to the library, Arby's and Braum's today. She's got it made and she knows it. Spoiled!

Thursday's Adventures

It was kind of a long day, slow at work, but it turned out to be a pretty good day.***

Otter went with me to work, which is always fun, and we met Sweetie for lunch at our favorite Mexican place. We had a really good visit. Then after work, Otter and I decided to hit a thrift store on the way home. This is the "expensive" one where I found the Fenton last week - we hardly ever find anything there. Otter found a pair of shorts, she is now up to a total of 2 pairs for the summer so we'd better get busy! I found a really cute wooden Texas shaped plaque that is painted with bluebonnets, so that was good. But the real score was the fact that I found dishes. In my pattern. Almost 2 whole sets - dinner plates, bowls, bread plates (the small ones are sometimes called dessert plates). For 99 cents each. I got 19 pieces total. For less than one set cost me when I bought them new. So it was a very good thrift shopping outing! And now we have enough plates. I didn't really need the small plates or the bowls, but I know that if I passed them up somebody would probably break most of the bowls or small plates we had. Murphy's law, you know? :) They look like they have not been used or only very lightly used, no usage marks, chips, etc. and the colors are very bright still. I still would like to find a few more of the drinking glasses, since I've broken a couple of them!

No Fenton, though.

But I'm not complaining. I'm happy with what we did find. There is more Fenton out there waiting for me to find it. And we really did need the plates.

Otter has decided to go to work with me tomorrow. I think it might have been the fact that I bribed her with a trip to Arby's for lunch. And the library. And ice cream. She works cheap!

I've put off my laundry long enough. I have to get at least a load done, otherwise Sunday will be spent doing laundry and nothing else. Have I mentioned how much I hate doing laundry? Well, I do. But it doesn't do itself, unfortunately.

***Spectacular news in a few days!

Dogs. Food. Weather. Prayers. Shopping. Crafts. Etc.

Or a little bit of everything today!

Dogs & Food. Froggy, Maggie loves carrots. I was cutting some up recently and a couple of slices bounced, then fell to the floor. Maggie being Maggie there was no way I could get them picked up before the dog got them. She carried them off to the living room and ate both of them. Then she came back in and begged for more. I gave her another one just to see if she really did like it, and I think she inhaled it because it disappeared so fast. Frasier tasted one and I think he likes them, but not as much as Maggie does.

Weather. No rain, we keep having chances but then it never happens. I think we are in for a dry spell, we've had extremely wet summers the last few but I think we are going to have a drier one this year.

Otter has had computer problems. She has had a problem with her email for a long time, emails just were not getting to her and Bill never could figure out the problem. Well, a couple of days ago her hard drive crashed. Bill replaced it and her computer is working faster and better than it ever did. I'm thinking that maybe the email problem might have had something to do with it, but I really don't know if that is possible so I might be way off base.

My friend Virginia retired on March 31. I think I mentioned that already. She doesn't have internet at home, she's not sure if it's going to be in their budget or not so we agreed that we would have to start writing old-fashioned letters and then sending them snail-mail. So I decided that stationary would be a good retirement gift for her. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find now? Nearly impossible. I have been to countless stores, the most I could find was either tiny things like post-its, grocery store list type paper or computer printer paper. Nobody has actual stationary or writing paper anymore! Well, I found school-type paper and spirals but I wanted real stationary. I was about at the point where I was going to give in and get pretty computer paper but I decided to give it one more shot. I went to Tuesday Morning on my lunch hour today. They had it! Not much, but at least they had it. I also found a blank journal there, I sent them both to her today. I guess that not too many people actually write real letters anymore. :(

I have an unspecified prayer request. It's for someone I know, the last name is Johnson, they had something very bad happen this week and I think that prayers would help them. Because of the nature of what happened, I'm not going into details. But prayers for healing, peace and justice would help.

Otter is going to work with me tomorrow. We hope to have lunch with Sweetie. Then after work we are going shopping! Michael's, here we come! I'm not sure what Otter is looking for, I don't even know if she's sure yet, but she's got the craft urge really strongly right now. She's like me, sometimes there will be a craft idea percolating in my brain but it takes it a while to totally emerge - kind of like an Alien, right Toadly? Anyway, she is her mother's daughter through and through and she's been crafting from a very early age. She still has the redecorating bug, by the way.

OK, I'm off to crochet for a while now. Froggy, I am nearly finished with what I'm working on for you. But I'm not sure if I'm going to make a few more yet, so I'm not actually going to send it to you for a little while after I get finished. I might also find additional pot holders in our thrifting adventures. How's the knitting going?

Spring Has Sprung!

Here's the proof! This is the one that was just beginning to open the last time I posted pictures. Obviously, it's red. None of the other buds are quite ready, but a couple of them are close.

Same flower, different angle.

The daffys are really close, they all seem to be loaded with buds.

The bluebonnet is still small, but it looks great. This is the size it should be, it's not stunted like the tulips. That's my hand in the picture this time. Last time, it was Otter's hand. But she was busy when I took the pictures, she is being my beast of burden today and watering everything. Three trees, each gets a full can of water. The tulips get most of a full can and the bluebonnet gets what's left. In other words, Otter has to keep making trips to the rain barrel and then has to carry a full watering can.

Hope it rains. Soon. The water level in the barrel is getting lower and lower.

I seriously considered stuffing Frasier into it yesterday! We have a large plastic barrel that we toss aluminum cans and foil into, then when it's full Bill takes it to the place that buys aluminum. Well, the barrel was full yesterday - we know this because Frasier was able to reach into it and take several cans out to their yard. Along with a few pieces of crumpled up foil. We know which dog it was, because Maggie is short. And fat, but mostly just short. But she came outside and watched me clean it all up. Frasier came outside with me, but then he realized what I was doing and he hightailed it back inside. Dog's smart. Too smart, sometimes.

Maggie didn't post a Monday entry, but she did want me to make sure I emphasized that SHE was innocent. This time anyway.

Otter's Asthma & Allergy Update

The short version is: Otter's doing great!

The long version is: Otter's check up was today, this is the 3 months later visit. Her pulmonary function (PF) tests were extremely good. The doctor examined her, checked her lungs, etc. And then he told me that we have a miracle on our hands. Her PF has improved 105% over what she was blowing just 3 months ago. He said he's never seen that much improvement that fast, in fact he's never seen anyone improve over 100% EVER. And not very often has he seen it improve 100%.

I think the question of whether or not to put her back in karate has been answered. The answer is no, it is not advisable. Her asthma has changed, it is now officially excercise induced. Which is common, but not necessarily common for it to change after 15 years of it not being excercise induced.

She still has asthma, it never goes away. And hers is still active. It's just a whole lot better. But the outlook is much better, just a few months ago it looked like she was at the top of the peak and was about to start heading down but now it looks like she is probably still at the top and evening out. Which could/should last for a very long time - like years, and then she might not ever trend downward. This is about as good as it gets, folks. She goes back in 6 months.

Thank God! He is good and He hears our prayers. We lay this wonderful occurance right at His feet. He has truly blessed us.

Gentle Weekend

Gentle weekends are so nice. We have pretty calm Saturdays, but Sundays have been filled with errands, running around, chores and so much that by the time Monday rolls around we don't feel like we've had any weekend at all!

This weekend has been different. Bill found a part for the White Lightning, so I went with him to get it this afternoon. Then we went to Grandpa and Sweetie's house for a little while and had a nice visit, although it was short. Bill's been out in the garage, he moved the other saw to the cleaned out side (he's got two saws on tables and I don't know which is which). I swept out quite a bit of sawdust and then loaded a bunch of boxes in my car to recycle. I vacuumed the house this morning and I've been doing laundry, but it's been nice to have to time at home. Otter had a couple of chores she did without complaint. It's just been a nice, relaxing day, even with a few chores and a couple of errands.

I think I could get to like this slow & relaxed lifestyle. Fast.

Frasier is Busy!

He's too busy to post today, so no Frasier Friday. What is he doing you ask? Well, he's standing out in the back yard. Barking. At the trees, the sky, the air - or possibly at himself. He's not normally a noisy dog, but every so often he seems to get in these moods where he just has to bark. He'll shut up in a few minutes and come inside, and probably curl up on his blanket for a short nap. Which will then be followed by another nap, probably in front of the fireplace if Bill builds a fire, or in front of the tv which is his latest place to sleep. He knows we have to walk right by him, which means that he gets petted. Dog's smart, that's for sure.

Maggie Moo, on the other hand...

Otter went to a Murder Mystery Party last night. One of her friends had the party, they all had a different character to portray. Otter's character was a chicken farmer. So she wore her jeans, one of my blue chambray shirts, her red bandana and her straw hat. She had feathers sticking out of the straw hat and her shirt pocket was full of them. She looked really cute and she had a great time. Her character was not the bad guy, but apparently she was the major suspect until the very end. I forgot to take pictures, unfortunately.

I scored another piece of cheap Fenton yesterday! I went to a thrift store at lunch, I'm on the hunt for corelle plates in my pattern. I'll give it a while before I give up and just buy new plates, but I'm not there yet. Anyway, I decided that since I was there I might as well look around. This particular thrift (Salvation Army) is generally overpriced, it's on the more expensive side of town and the prices reflect that. The merchandise is the same as the other stores carry, it's just that the prices are higher. This one has larger locked display cases than the other stores, and they sometimes have good stuff locked away with even higher price tags, but most of the time they have stuff that isn't particularly sought after or deserving of the higher price in their cabinets. This time, they had what I consider plain old junk in the cabinets! Apparently, the person that sorted out what is "good" and what isn't didn't know what he/she was doing. Because the real "good" stuff was just sitting out on a shelf with a bunch of cheap, junky stuff. $3.99. Amber, hobnail, footed compote. Of course it came home with me! You didn't really think I'd leave it there, now did you? I'll get a picture eventually, I haven't had time. But I only had one other piece of amber Fenton before this one, it's hard to find for some reason. I actually pass a lot of Fenton by, since I really am cheap about it. I have a general price guide that I try to stick with and mostly, I manage to. There is only one piece that I've really gone over my limit on, and that was the silver turquoise crest and then only because I know how rare that particular style really is. But I would not have paid any more for it than I did. Actually, I was not going to get that one but Bill told me I had to. So I did, but I still thought long and hard about it!

We have made a decision regarding Christmas gift-giving. This has already been sent out via email to family, but I wanted to expand on it a little bit. We have decided that we will no longer participate in the gift-giving at Christmas with siblings & their offspring. We have been thinking about it for a while. Our feeling is that it's more important for people to take care of their own families' needs without worrying about us. It can be a hassle and a headache, trying to find just the right gift for everybody and then it has to be shipped to us since most of the family live well south of us. Also, with the fact that the economy is tightening up, we don't feel comfortable with expecting people to spend money on us. Froggy, you mentioned the Bible telling us to love one another. That is very true and I think it's very important that we do exactly that. But I don't think that it means that we have to spend money on someone to show our love for them. Especially when the price of things seems to be going up on a regular basis.

Today was my friend Virginia's last day of work! She retired after 28 years working for the State of Texas. She's not quite the standard retirement age, but the state has an excellent retirement plan. She will be able to spend more time with her hubby and the grandkids, and I am very happy for her.

Well, I think it's time to go rustle up dinner. I didn't exactly eat lunch, I ran some errands and then had two graham crackers with peanut butter on them so I am starving! It's a snack supper tonight, we have a Hickory Farms summer sausage roll left from Christmas and it's still good but the best-by date is coming up pretty fast so I am going to slice it up along with some swiss & cheddar cheese, and it'll be served with Ritz crackers. Also, I splurged on chips and dip but I won't have much of that as it's got a lot more fat than I need to eat. The chips and dip were mostly for the Otter and Bill anyway.

Then I think it's time to get back to my crochet! Froggy, I'm working on your collection. I'm having a lot of fun.

I am Blessed!

Because I have a husband who loves me. He knows I gave up chocolate for Lent and that I'm having a hard time with it. So he has brought me Reece's Pieces two times, just so I could have something to snack on without giving in to temptation.

Because I have a daughter who is absolutely priceless. When I was sick last week, even though she wasn't feeling the best herself by the time I came down with it, she took care of me while I was sleeping all afternoon last Thursday and went out of her way to not make noise just so I could get some rest.

That's why.

Birthdays

Today is Maggie Beagle's birthday. She's 5 years old. We don't really know when her birthday is, but we got her in early March as Otter's birthday present 3 years ago. She was two at the time. So Otter decided that Maggie Beagle's birthday should officially be March 12.

The reason? March 12 was Mom's birthday. Grammy was a very important person in her grandchildren's lives. Also her children's lives. We lost her in 2001, in April.

The last time I ever spoke to my mother was on her birthday that year. I called her on the phone, and even though her health was already very bad by that stage and her mental state wasn't always the best, she knew my voice and we had a good conversation. It was short, but it was still good. Because the last thing we ever said to each other was to say that we loved each other.

I miss you, Mom.

Tulip! We Have Tulip Buds!

We are about to bloom!

They aren't very tall, but they are definetly getting ready to bloom! This one is kind of shy. There are several others at this stage.

This one is a little braver, and it's got some obvious color showing. It could be red or possibly it could be one of the stripy ones. We won't know for a few more days.

This is the entire bed, it needs a little more weeding. I did some weeding in it on Sunday but some of the tulips were just barely breaking the dirt and I was afraid I would step on one. But I should be able to get out there again this weekend and see about yanking a few weeds. There are also several daffodils visible, they haven't quite gotten to the point of budding yet. I wish they'd hurry up!


One lonely snowdrop! I planted snowdrops about 3 years ago. They never came up. But apparently the bulbs were still in the soil and were dormant, because this suddenly appeared and it is not in the original spot! It was a nice surprise, and I think it might have a few friends that haven't shown their pretty faces yet but it does look like there are a couple others.

These are the daffodils that come up every year, they are by what used to be a tree. It's a tree that we lost in the Dec. 2007 ice storm, Bill cut it down to a small stump but it keeps sprouting. We keep cutting it back, but we left it over the fall and winter. I'll get out there soon, or Otter will, and hit the sprouts. There are daffodils on the other side, which are visible through all the sprouts.

This is the bluebonnet! It's still pretty small, but it is about twice the size it was about a week ago. So far, it's the only one. But I'm not complaining, one is better than none. That is Otter's hand, her nail polish has been on for a while and I think it's time for her to replace it!

Otter watered the bluebonnet this morning, but she didn't have time to water the tulip bed until just now. And then as soon as she finished watering and we went out to take the pictures, it started raining. It's just a sprinkle, but we are hoping that we get a good, soaking rain because we really need it. It's cool enough that I'm not worried about twisty weather. It should be in the 40's the next few days, after 2 or 3 days in the 70's it's really going to feel cold. I hope we do get some rain, my rain barrel is down to less than half. I think it's about 1/4 full, I've been using it exclusively to water all the plants both inside the house and outside.

Speaking of trees, which I did a few paragraphs back, we're pretty sure that all three trees we planted last spring made it through the winter. The elm in the front is suddenly covered in tiny green leaves. The one we were really worried about, the oak by the side of the driveway, didn't get enough water during the hottest part of the year last year and we were afraid it hadn't survived. But it looks like it is still alive. And, the best news of all as far as I'm concerned, my redbud tree made it! And it's growing. They all seem to have some new growth, and the redbud tree has a few tiny pink places. Redbuds usually sprout pink everywhere, all along the bark and all over. Mine doesn't have a lot of spots yet, but it does have them so I am absolutely thrilled. I have really missed having one. The one at the old house was several times taller than they normally are and it was also brittle because of that. We had to remove it a couple of years before we moved and I hated to see it go. I had not even thought of planting one here, until last year when we decided to plant a couple of trees since we'd lost two and Bill bought me the redbud sapling.

OK, time to get busy! I have a few things to list on eBay tonight. I've been putting it off, but it's not going to post itself.

Maggie's Monday Report

Hi! Hi! Hi!

Maggie here! I have a lot to say today!

I'm kinda madd at big brrotherr Frasierr. Hee said that I'm a bratt. Hee told mee that hee really didn't say that, but hee said that little sisters are bratts and I'm his little sister so hee lied to mee when hee said that hee didn't say I'm a bratt! Big brrotherrs are not fun sometimes, let mee tell you! Hee tries to take alllll my toys outside so I can't play with them. But when I try to stop him from stealing my stuff, I get in trouble. I don't think that is fair, not one bit. So I have to wait until the people aren't looking. Then I bark at him!

But I think something funn is going to happen to mee! My momm said that it's almost my beffday. I don't know what that means, but when it was Frasierr's beffday a bunch of days ago wee got some extra treats. Do you think I'm going to get extra treats? I hope so, I need more treats. Momm's momm said that it's not today, but it's more days after today. I don't know how many days after today, I heard her say firfsday but I don't when that is. I sure hope I get treats!

Anybody wanna rubb my belly? That's my big brrotherr Frasierr in the picture. I think hee is jealous because I got my picture tooked.

Momm got mee some new stuff to wear! This is my newest andnandan.

This one is my favorite dandnadnana. I wear it a bunch.

Here's my other new bandanbanana. My momm was still putting it on mee when her momm tooked my picture. Frasierr doesn't get to wear fun things, I don't know why. But I like to wear stuff.

This is not a mandandana. Momm said it is from a teevee show. I don't know what a teevee show is, do you? Sometimes I get to wear it on my belly but it itches so Momm just puts it on my neck.

OH, Frasier just went out our doooors to bark! I better go see!

The Road Less Taken or the Beauty of Back Roads

Otter and I ran a few errands this afternoon. We stayed off of the highway, we went all over our small town and the neighboring bigger town (the one we used to live in). We hit a couple of thrift stores with sucessful results, we went to Michael's but didn't find what I was looking for. We had a wonderful time. We went down a few streets that we have not been down since a few years before we moved, we drove past parks & places that we used to go when Otter was little and when we still lived at the old house. In each place, there were fun memories and we both enjoyed remembering. Otter even made the comment of how she was just enjoying the drive itself. I agreed with her.

It got me to thinking. I've been working on simplifying our life for the last few months. We've calmed things down considerably. It's been a good thing. I wonder, when did society's expectations of what is normal or the right thing to do, to cram our lives with something every second? There has to be an activity every day and the weekends have to be filled. We have to be on the go constantly. Everything has to mean something or be part of something, or just be busy. Rush, rush, rush. Busy, busy, busy.

When did it become strange or abnormal to relax? When did it become unusual or even wrong to live at a slower pace? I've often heard the phrase about marching to the beat of a different drummer or swimming upstream. Well, we are no longer marching to any drummer's beat except our own. As for swimming upstream, I'm no longer inclined to fight the current. Which does not mean that I am just going to "go with the flow", I'm not one to go along with anybody else just because it's easier and I certainly am not afraid of confrontation. But I'm thinking that simplification can and should apply to other areas besides recycling for example, and I think we'll be working on that now. In many ways, that is just my Texan independent streak showing. But I think it's time to slow down and see what happens.

Anybody care to join me?

A Few Sunday Scrambled Thoughts

Daylight Savings Time is here! The dogs woke up at what they perceived to be breakfast time, but they were an hour early even by the previous standards. They were up at 5:30 on the clock, but it was 4:30 on the old clock. I would have let them wait a while, but Bill got up and fed them. Then when I got up, 6:30 new time 5:30 old time, they were already on their post-breakfast nap. Who knows what time tomorrow, since they have apparently decided to Fall Back instead of Spring Forward.

Bill is feeling a little better, but he was still awake most of last night. I woke up at 2:30, he was up then and had been for a couple of hours. I didn't sleep the best but I did sleep some, but Bill hardly slept at all. So we are staying home from church this morning and taking it easy. Bill is going to his dad's this afternoon, but I don't think he's got anything strenuous planned.

We might get a little more done in the garage today, it's mostly just a matter of finding places to put things and not anything really heavy. Bill has cleaned out a lot, he's thrown away about 10 trash bags worth of stuff and I have a trunk full of things to donate. This will be the 2nd donation trip from the garage clean out project. I've also taken a trunk load of boxes to the recycling center and there are still plenty more of them waiting.

The redecorating bug has now found a new home: It's visiting Otter! She wants to repaint her room, but she has found resistance in the form of her father. Of course, since she wants to paint it a dark blue I have to say that I agree with him on this one. She is redoing her decorative touches and indulging her crafty urges at the same time. She also wants to redo her bathroom, and I agree with her, but that would involve pulling down wallpaper and painting. Which would also possibly mean that she wants to replace all the decorative things in there. I'm on her side on that as well. Bill, however... Well, he's agreed to at least think about removing the wallpaper. One of his comments was that he didn't know when we would have the time to work on the wallpaper. But I reminded him of the fact that we are off the first week in July. He can keep coming up with stalling tactics, but we will eventually wear him down!

We didn't get any rain last night. But it has been very windy. (Flying beagle alert!) So most of our outdoor plans at this point are just to water a few places. Such as tulips! And bluebonnets. And trees. And mums. I think that's all of them. I still have quite a bit of water in the rain barrel, but it would be nice if it could be refilled soon.

It's a pizza for breakfast day today. We made pizza yesterday, the bread machine is wonderful for making pizza dough. But it makes enough for 4 pizzas. We tried cutting the recipe in half and making two, but the dough was too small to really mix well. They are not huge pizzas, but they are good. We usually eat about one and about 3/4 of another one and put the remaining 1/4 plus the other two in the fridge for the next day. We usually just have it for lunch or dinner the next day but it's breakfast today. Pizza is good for breakfast, although someone mentioned that they don't like it for breakfast - Toadly, I think it was you! The pizza we make is actually a lot more "healthy" than anything you can buy anywhere. I use my healthy butter substitute in the dough, we use fat-free shredded cheddar and motzerella. We do use pepperoni, but the rest of it is reasonably healthy. We experiment with the toppings, for example we've discovered that celery is really good on pizza. We tried a ham & pineapple pizza one but it wasn't that good. We have used leftover turkey on it before, which was pretty good. Sometimes we'll use ham but not often. It's really fun to make and always good! I think it's time for breakfast now.

Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?

It's time once again to set our clocks forward an hour. I usually catch all mine before we go to bed, then if I wake up in the night I have no idea what time it actually is! Personally, I think we should just abandon the whole idea of Daylight Savings Time. There is at least one state that doesn't recognize it, and there are some groups such as the Amish who don't. And they seem to do ok. So I think that the rest of us would be just fine!

King Frasier Here

It's Frasier Friday. I'm the King of the yard. The people don't always seem to realize that, though. Take this week, for example. We've been locked into the small yarrd most of the days. But the day before today, Daddd let us out into the big yard. Stupid Maggie, the gate closed itself and shee was running around the big yarrd, laughing at mee because I was still in the small part. Shee's such a brat sometimes. I went and got my Mommm, shee let me out the doorr and I think Maggie was unhappy about that. Maggie doesn't deserve to have the back yarrd all to herrself, it's my kingdom. She was sleeping in my sleeping spot on the wood part of the yard by the doorr! The nerve of her sometimes.

I heard Daddd say that Maggie's Mommm has to clean out ourr small yarrd. I don't really know what he meant, he said sunnnyday but I don't know when that is. But it's not today, Maggie's Mommm has gone to whereever that big, yellow carrr takes herrr. But shee should be home in a while, wee know when the big yellow carrr will bring herr home. Then shee'll play with us! I don't think that Maggie's Mommm feels too happy because she has been home a lot and sleeping a lot. Wee stayed with herr, wee take care of our people. Today, my Mommm is home and now Daddd came home and they are maybee not feeling happy. So we have to take care of them. But we don't mind. We like our people. I think that our people should like me best. But Maggie says that they should like herr best because she's little. She's not little, she's fat! I'm sleek and slim. Maggie doesn't know anything, she just thinks she knows everything. Little sisters can be such brats.

2nd Sick Friday Post

Froggy, thanks for the information but I'm sticking with my plastic. I am using what I already have and it is a small area that usually is just left alone. The only reason I'm having to redo it now is because of StupidDog and OtherStupidDog. The names are interchangeable between the two of them.

And Bill did not manage to avoid this bug. He came home about 11:00 because he didn't feel too good. He's not a good patient, when he's sick I usually wind up pulling my hair out in frustration! Fortunately, he doesn't get sick too often. It just that when he does get sick, he generally gets SICK.

It's warm today, and windy. Very windy. We are in what is known as Fire Season. Warm & windy days, especially when it's been dry, can equal bad grass fires. But we are supposed to get rain over the next few days. Not supposed to be anything bad, but this is Tornado Alley so we are always aware of the possibility of bad stuff.

OK, back to my couch!

Sick Friday!

I am home today. I feel a little feverish, I haven't taken my temperature yet this morning because I just had a cup of coffee so I have to wait a while. But I was feeling pretty warm before the coffee and I did have a low fever yesterday afternoon so I think it's a safe bet that I still have it.

Otter is back at school today, she rode the bus this morning and will ride the bus home today. She spent most of yesterday resting and I think she really needed it. This bug seems to take 2 - 3 days, I'm going to take it easy today and then Saturday is our day of rest anyway.

I did manage to get something done today. I boiled potatoes to make potato salad later on. They were on the verge of going bad, so I figured I'd better cook them. But that wasn't too strenuous, it involved peeling and slicing them and then just watching the pot in case it boiled over. I prefer potato salad without peels, fyi. Bill doesn't care, he eats it peeled and unpeeled. He loves potatoes in any form. If I'm making mashed potatoes, he won't let me do the mashing part - he has entirely too much fun with it!

I might get some crochet done this afternoon. I'm participating in an activity that my Australian blog friend Rhonda has going. Most of the people involved are knitters, but there are a few of us that crochet. The challenge, if you want to call it that, is to make squares for blankets. Since I love to crochet granny squares, this one is certainly something I'm going to enjoy. There isn't a time limit, it's just whenever we get a square finished we let Rhonda know and then eventually she'll post pictures of the completed blankets. Since I have one I'm almost finished with, I think I'm ahead of the game. It's fun.

The blanket I have that is nearly finished is actually an eventual baby blanket when Otter has pups. (Baby Otters are called pups, in case you didn't know that). Which won't be for a long time (Right, Otter?!) but I have the time, ability and supplies now.

I also managed to get my plants watered this morning. They are still indoors and I think I'm going to leave them all inside this spring/summer. They all seem to be very happy where they are, the ones in the bedroom have put on a lot of new growth in the last few days. One of the two peace lillies is female and she's starting a new bloom. Yes, plants are male and female! Female plants blossom. This is the same plant that Froggy made sure I got from the plants that we received when we lost Mom. I use the water from the rain barrel for just about all the plants, including the tulips and outdoor stuff. But not for the venus flytraps, they get distilled water. Eventually, I might use the rain water for them.

I counted tulips a couple of days ago. There are at least 24, possibly 25 that have come up. There are a couple that are so close together I can't tell if they are two plants or just one that is a little spread out. They are still small, it will be a little while yet before they get to the blooming stage. But they look good. However, there is still only one bluebonnet so I think it's going to be an only child this year. I have looked on the outside of the whiskey barrel planter where a couple came up last year, but I haven't seen any sign of them. But I will keep checking. But if I only have one, I will still be glad about it.

I'm not sure if I've posted any pictures yet of my rock garden. But it's going to get revamped. The original plan was for this Sunday, but I don't think I need to be doing any strenous work like that yet and also it might rain. But the plan is to take all the rocks out, which is going to involve a shovel and some muscle power. The rocks will be put in the wheelbarrow and then hosed down. Then when all the rocks are out, I am going to take the hoe and rake to the dirt and level it out better. The next step will be to cover the dirt with black plastic which keeps weeds out. I have the plastic down now, but it will be torn apart as the rocks are removed so I'll just replace it with fresh. Then I am going to take chicken wire and lay it over the entire area, which is a trick I learned at the old house when the dog we had then dug up the rock garden I had there. Two dogs who shall remain nameless have been going back to one particular corner in my rock garden and unearthing a mole trail, I'm going to beat them at their own game because dogs don't generally like to dig through fencing! While we are doing all this, and I saw "we" loosely since it will probably mostly be ME, the rock garden will be expanded a little bit. I'd like to get it a little past where the dogs keep digging. After the plastic & chicken wire, the rocks will be returned and I'll probably have to get a little more since the area will be slightly larger. Then I'll reposition the fountain and all Otter's concrete animals. The fountain will probably become a planter, which is what I was going to do last year but I was going to move it out of the rock garden entirely. However, I think it will work if I leave it in the rock garden and yes, I'm going to leave Bill's statue of the Nekkid Lady on top of it! It is going to be a lot of work, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of the rock garden. But I might be short a few sandstones, I use them as the border.

I also have a paver stone that Grandpa brought me many years ago, it has and will continue to have a place of honor in my rock garden. It's a state outline, anybody care to venture a guess? Not a hard question, I know. But the bottom piece of it has cracked off so it's going to be a trick to move it and then put it back. And I'm also going to get my concrete cow skull finished up and put it out there. I had started painting it, but I was not happy with the way it turned out. So I bought another can of Kilz and I think I'm going to get that on it this weekend. Then I am going to find a good bone color and just paint the entire thing one color. I might do a wash so that it has a little detailing. I will eventually get pictures posted.

OK, I've been up long enough. I think it's time to go lie down again. The dogs have been keeping me company. They hardly let Otter out of their sight when she was sick, and now they are mother-henning me. Do dogs mother-hen? Hens are chickens after all, and their main interest in chickens is to eat them!

Update the Score

The score has changed. Instead of Asthma 1, Otter 0 it should read Asthma 1, Otter 0, Tummy Bug 6!

I don't think Otter's problem was caused by the asthma. Rather, I think the asthma was a symptom of a bug that she has which aggravated the asthma but also caused severe & frequent upchucking. Because asthma doesn't send one to the bathroom to barf, nor does it cause a low-grade fever. Or a headache. She's still at home today, we let her sleep in today and Bill stayed home with her. She is much better, although still slightly weak but she's able to at least keep food down today. Bill brought her sprite yesterday, and she's been drinking that today along with water, water, water.

But I'm afraid that I am coming down with it. I have had the headache since this morning and my stomach has felt odd at times. I don't feel too good but I went in to work anyway. I had a few things that I needed to do and by the time I was finished up, my older boss came in and promptly proceeded to yell at me to go home because he could tell I didn't feel well. I had already decided that I wasn't going to make the day because I was starting to feel so bad. I'm taking motrin and trying to head off the worst symptoms that Otter had to deal with yesterday. She will be back at school tomorrow most likely. I'll see how I feel in the morning, it seems to be a couple of days duration.

I think I'm going to go lie down for a while now. I might have more to say later on. I'm just glad that the week is nearly over.

(Later). I took a 2+ hour nap, which helped but I do have fever. It's after dinner and my stomach feels ok, but the rest of me doesn't! So I'm probably going to be home tomorrow. But Otter is much better and will be going to school tomorrow, so there is that to be happy about. She was pretty sick! So the score for me is Illness 1, Ottermom 0.

Mid-Week. Asthma 1, Otter 0

Guess what we are doing today? That's right, playing the Asthma Game! Otter has been fighting it for a couple of days as I've already mentioned, and yesterday I expected a call from school but she managed to make the day. Then last night she seemed to be ok with minor symptoms. She was ok when she got up, we had breakfast and I could tell she didn't feel the best but she seemed to be alright. Then while she was getting dressed, her lungs started to tighten up and she had to get her inhaler. After she used the inhaler, she did feel a little better but still had the tightness. So I decided that she needed to stay home. It was not the original plan, but we've learned that with asthma things can change in seconds.

So she's been using her inhaler as needed today, staying warm and taking it easy. She's also been drinking a lot of water, which helps. I think it's mostly seasonal allergies, but that doesn't mean that she's happy! Maggie has hardly left Otter's side today.

Here is what my yarn addiction forced me to do last night. I actually finished it up this morning, but I did most of it last night. It didn't take me too long, it's all done with a single stitch and a first row of chain stitches. It went really fast. It's actually a little big. I didn't measure but just guessed the size I needed. Now I don't have to worry about my glasses getting knocked off of the nightstand! The colors are a little brighter than the rest of the bedroom decor, but they will still work. And I like them, so I don't think it matters! Captions are below the pictures they describe.

Tools of the trade! I have a foam grip pad that fits over the hook, it makes it easier on my fingers. (This is also the yarn that will be used on Otter's quilt, which I might get to this weekend.) I can't remember without getting up and looking, but I think the hook is a size H or J. It's the one I use most often. I still have the hook I learned to crochet with, way back in 6th grade! And I also have Mom's hooks.

The finished piece, before sewing. The hook is in the picture to give you a size idea. Like I said, it's a little big! The corner was trying to curl up a little, so I had to hold it down. I decided against blocking this piece because it's not meant to be flat. Blocking can be done in a couple of different ways, the most common and easiest would involve a steaming iron. A piece of fabric, like a thin towel, would be placed on top of the crocheted piece and then the iron would be held closely over - but not touching!- the fabric with the crochet underneath, the iron would have to have a steam feature and be hot enough to steam. The steam/heat would help the piece to lie flat. But it depends on the type of yarn used, acrylic - which is what most yarn is these days - might not take much heat. Wool yarn is stronger, but I'm allergic to wool so I can't use it.

The bottom 3rd is flipped up and sewn on the sides. It's sewn with the same yarn. Then it was turned inside out so that the seam stiches don't show as much.

Then I attached velcro to the outside top of the opening and the inside top of the unsewn flap. It's all done! Except that I got the velcro off-center, but it doesn't show and it still works. The velcro was sticky-sew, which means that one piece has to be sewn on and the other piece is sticky backed. I sewed the piece on the bottom, the sticky back piece is stuck to the top flap. I don't know how well the sticky back will stay, and I might take a few more stitches in the sewn on piece. It would also work as a jewelry holder, or for whatever needed a place to be kept!

Now I just have to come up with another project! Well, I probably should finish up the other two I have started. One of them is nearly finished, it won't take me too long. The other project is ongoing. I'm eventually going to have all crochet covered clothes hangers, Mom used to make them and I've been making a few here and there. I have Mom's fabric piece she used for size and also an unfinished piece she crocheted. They are with my crochet stuff. (No Froggy, I haven't forgotten about making you pot holders! That is also a work in progress).

Tuesday!

It's been a busy day. It seems like it should be at least Thursday, but the last time I checked it was still Tuesday. Some weeks are like that, they seem to take forever. And then there are weeks that just rush by. This week is not one of them. But at least tomorrow is Wednesday, which is good because that means that the week will be half way over already. I like Wednesdays!

I have a prediction: it's going to be a bad spring. I'm talking allergies, not weather! Although there is a connection between the two. I'm thinking that this spring and summer will be bad seasons for us. Otter and I have both been fighting off allergy symptoms for the last few days. Mine are still tolerable and mostly confined to my head in the form of sinus pressure and a headache. And a little ear clogging! I have to keep adjusting one of my Fuze earbuds because every once in a while I can't hear on one side. I'm listening to the BeeGees today.

But Otter's allergies seem to be starting with her lungs. Sometimes that happens, with asthma. She has had to use her inhaler a little bit lately, she needed it at school yesterday. Last night, it looked like she might be about to start a flare but so far, so good today. With it being warmer, things are blooming a lot earlier than they normally do. Which is potentially a Very Bad Thing. She sees the allergist in two weeks for her regular follow-up. I know he's probably going to get on my about stopping the Singulair (or was it Claritan?), but it wasn't working at all.

I think I'm about to have a big-time creative spell. And I think it's going to involve yarn and crochet hooks. Now that I'm all finished up with my redecorating projects, I'm suddenly overcome by the urge to crochet! I have a few projects I want to finish up with my crochet and I am going to make a couple of hot pads for Froggy's collection. Sometimes I think that there needs to be a support group for yarn addiction. Hello, my name is Ottermom and I am addicted to crochet! I have been, ever since I took Home Ec in 6th grade and it was part of the curriculum. I taught Mom how to crochet and she really enjoyed it. Sometimes I get started and can't stop...