Today is "Eat What You Want Day"

I might be breaking the rules for this, because I eat what I want every day!

I generally try to eat healthy, and for the most part, I do ... but I did have a Milky Way for dinner the other night. Don't worry ... I washed it down with a protein shake!

My Driveway

My driveway is one bumpy ride! It's needed grading since I moved in, but I never felt compelled to spend a couple thousand dollars on it, so it's stayed bumpy.

There was one particular bump that drove me (and likely, everyone else) completely nuts. Last summer I took a shovel to it, but it was like concrete, so that was that. I told John I was going to wait for a good rain, then tackle it with a hoe. He said the ground underneath would be like concrete, too, and that I'd never be able to fix it myself. He was right in that the ground was like concrete, but I was able to do something about it!

It was either do something myself or pay someone a lot of money to do it for me, so I got out my trusty hoe and got to work. It needs a lot more attention to be a smooth ride, but the biggest bump is smoothed out (mostly), and it makes the ride up the driveway much less bumpy.

It's hardly what you could call "graded", but it's a start! I don't have any "before" photo's, so the pictures below don't portray the hours it took to chip away at that bump!

After I tackled that bump, a blew all the leaves on the side of the house by the woods into a pile. I should have done it last fall, but I didn't, and I could have cut them up with my lawnmower, except the belt for the self-propelled quit working. The part is ordered, so until it comes in, my lawnmower is on sabbatical.

The plan is to burn the leaves in the outdoor fireplace, but it was too late to start burning when I finished ... because it's a huge pile that will take a long time to shovel into the fireplace!

Bird Girl Has Flowers Again

When I moved here, Bird Girl's new home was filled with purple phlox.

Bird Girl in the Spring

It looked beautiful, but there were so many weeds, and several with woody stems. Pulling the weeds destroyed the phlox, so I pulled it all out and covered with with black plastic for the rest of the season.

Bird Girls with no flowers :(

I planted some flowers last summer, when it was really hot and dry. I can't remember the name of the flower, but they flower all summer and had small orange blooms. I was so excited to see her surrounded by flowers all summer. Sadly, they all died. I'm not quite sure why.

Bird Girl with newly planted orange flowers that bloom all summer.

This past weekend I almost bought the same flowers that died last year, but changed my mind and planted white phlox. I really wanted the orange, summer blooming flowers, but since they are the only plants I've ever bought that didn't thrive, I decided on the tried and true phlox. It will be several years before the Phlox has filled the bed, but that's okay. Knowing Bird Girl will be surrounded by pretty flowers in the spring will be fine.

Bird Girl with newly planted white Phlox.

Next weekend I'll have to buy a truckload of mulch for all of my flowerbeds, but I sprinkled Preen all over, so maybe I can keep the weeds in check and won't have to gut this flowerbed ever again.

My Dogswoods are in Bloom

I've always wanted to look out my front window and see a beautiful dogwood tree. At my old house, there wasn't room in the front yard for a tree. When I bought my current home, it was summer. All I knew was that I loved the setting ... I loved the house, the yard, the woods ... everything! I didn't really pay attention to what kind of trees were in the yard.

Once I moved in and was working in the yard, I knew I had dogwoods, and I (im)patiently waited for spring. Looking out my front window, I was rewarded with not only with a dogwood directly in front, but also a Red Bud and a Chinese Plum. There are a couple other dogwoods sprinkled on the property, and when they bloom, my heart smiles.

 

I'd love to plant more dogwoods, and a Magnolia, but I have so many yard projects lined up for this year, the trees may have to wait.

I took the above pictures last week, when everything was still pretty much in full bloom. The picture below was taken a few days after the other pictures ... and after the recent rains and wind blew away a lot of the petals ... but here's the view from my front window.

When I bought this house, I got my wish without even realizing it :)

Tiny Shoes

Seeing these tiny shoes lined up makes me so happy ... because it means I'm spending the day with my three sweet grandbabies, and I smile every time I walk by and see them. A day with those perfect babies wears me out ... but it also energizes my life and fills my heart to overflowing.

April Showers Bring ...

May showers :(

I Finally Have the Lights Up

I love the look of lights making a canopy over a patio, and have wanted to hang them over mine since I moved here. The problem was, however, that I didn't have anything to anchor the lights on one corner. Also a factor to consider, I have two different roof heights to contend with.

After some brainstorming, I bought a big urn, a Shepherd's hook, and a bag of sakrete. It took a few hours of stringing lights, unstringing, then stringing them again (and again ... and then again) to get them just right ... add a candle to the Shepherd's hook ... and ... problem solved!

At the moment, I have an extension cord running from the lights to the garage, and it's orange. I'll have to have electricity put closer, and I will definitely not use an orange cord to connect them! Also, flowers are hogging the chairs and table, so the patio is a little less than aesthetically pleasing at the moment, but once I get them in the window boxes, I can get the cushions out and re-position the furniture. There's enough room at the top of the urn for flowers, which I have not bought or planted, but other than that, I declare it done (for now!).

I took a few pictures last night. None of them capture how pretty it really is, but this is the best I could do.

From underneath ...

From the kitchen window ...

From the back door ...

From the end and side ...

And finally, the rig that made it all possible ...

Finally!!!

It's finally warm again! This pic was from Tuesday, and it was even warmer Wednesday. It might get cool again, but it won't be cold until late November ... yea!

The Month of May

I no longer consider myself Catholic (I'm now just a Christian ... a non-denominational Christian), but my parents were both Catholic, and they raised us kids as such during our childhoods, including sending us to Catholic schools. Luckily, I only had to go to Catholic schools first through third grades.

During the month of May, the entire school gathered in the schoolyard around statue of Mary and prayed the rosary after church. Every. Single. Day. I have no idea if there is any "Catholic reason" for doing that in May or if simply "May" is as close to the month of "Mary" as they could get. Anyway, I hated saying the rosary.

For those of you who don't know, you have to pray a prayer for each bead on the rosary. Try as I might, I could never stay on the same bead as the nuns. Honestly, I don't think the nuns could stay on the same beads and the other nuns, either! Sometimes saying the rosary would take an hour. Sometimes it would take 15 minutes. On those days (YEA!), I don't know the nuns got confused and thought they were on the other side of the rosary and almost done, or they did it on purpose. I didn't care or understand why we said the rosary. I found it beyond boring. Aside from The Lord's Prayer, the prayers meant little ... they were simply memorized and regurgitated. Every day I hoped it would be a day the nuns got lost and finished quickly.

When I pray now, I pray in my own voice ... not the prayers the Catholic church tells me to pray. I mean no disrespect to devout Catholics, but I find the rosary and the made up rules of that religion (that change on the whim of the Pope) contradict the Bible in so many ways.

Below is a diagram of the rosary, along with the prayers we had to say on each bead. Looking at it, I'm sure you can see how it's easy to skip ahead a bead or two and get lost! (Click on image to enlarge).

Germ(ophobe)

Last week I was in one of the schools helping administer the ISTEP test. The night before, I had a fever of almost 101°. In the morning, my fever was gone. Since I was feeling fine, and we're short-handed, I went to the school as promised.

When I got there, I told the counselor (who helps administer the test alongside me) that I had been running a fever the night before, but was fine now. She gathered up her computer, coffee, papers, etc., and proceeded to setup on the other side of the room. Once she had everything moved, she left and came back, spraying Lysol. And it reminded me of someone ...