Faery gateway

So, I have found a home for my nonsense purchase which is nothing more than whimsy in its purist form! I can already feel various friends and family members rolling eyes, but that just means they need more whimsy in their lives!! :-)

Road trip!

On Friday I drove down to Roanoke to visit my friend Teri. We've been friends since middle school, although neither of us can recall when, exactly, we met! But we've stayed in touch and finally got our schedules to sync. We had a great visit and didn't realize how quickly the day slipped past.

Her daughter Olivia took zillions of pictures but this is one of the best.

...just a hint, enough to tease

As I enjoyed what was left of the day when I got home, I was rewarded with the intoxicating breeze perfumed by a harmonious mix of peony and honeysuckle. I wish I could have flowers everywhere!!

I'll be sad when the blooms have faded, but for now I savor them.

McDonald's...oh, I don't think so

Apparently, McDonald's just isn't in the cards for me -- ever. On three seperate occasions I have attempted an early morning caffeine fix at their drivethru, and have thrice been denied.

1. drive thru not opening until 7, but I've got to be at work by then!
2. I'm 4th in line and the guy ordering must be ordering for at least 5---gotta go!!
3. at first glance the drive thru isn't open, but today I've got time, I'll go inside. NOPE, they're not open at all!!! (apparently the manager partied it up a little too much and didn't make it in!)

Guess I just need to make sure I set up my coffee pot every time...

It is: whimsy

SO-this very cute item that I ordered way back when finally arrived this afternoon. I can't tell you what it is just yet, but I assure you that it is the epitome of whimsy!

As soon as I find the perfect spot for it and it's all set, I'll post a picture. And your mockery has no effect on me!!! :)

Rain, rain, go away...

My but it's been rainy. Last Fri pm my super-cute frog rain gauge measured 4.5 inches! Then Sat pm another 1.5. Most of my work week was without rain, so of course on my day off it's a bit wet out! It rained last night -- 2 inches!! -- and is raining yet again. But that's ok...drought one year and then continual flood warnings the next.

Playing in the dirt

Well, I can't believe I totally forgot to mention my plants! Last week (or was it 2 weeks ago?) I met my landscaping sibling at Lowe's. He gave me some pointers about what to look for and what to avoid, but basically told me to, "Buy what you like."

SO, with that pearl of wisdom I bought some Asiatic Lilies, Wallflowers, and Dianthus. There was another plant that I liked, one variety had purple flowers and another white. However, I wanted the white, but they only had that in one gallon containers. Also, I didn't care for any of the hanging plants in their selection. When I was done at Lowe's I just moseyed down the road to Southern States where I found beautiful Snow in Summer to fill in my white flower needs and GREAT hanging plants which, as a bonus, were on sale! I don't know what the hanging ones are, I just know they're gorgeous and look fabulous hanging around my porch--every wrap around porch requires flowers to grace it! Mom said they sounded like petunias, but I don't really know.

I had SO much fun picking out my stuff. It doesn't look like much yet, but I'll go back in a few weeks when different plants are in bloom to pick out new additions. YEA!!

trying that 'green' thing

Ok, so I'm not so wacky nut who: drives a hybrid (or a Subaru Outback!), has my own bags which I bring to the store, eats only organic, is a vegan, etc. I am a average gal who figures it doesn't hurt to make a few adjustments and take a few steps towards being more "green".

(if some of the above apply to you, no worries-as long as they ALL don't apply!)

Anyhoo I bought some of those new energy smart light bulbs for my living room. Well, they're TOO LONG for my enclosed fixtures!! So I guess I'll just have to keep on using my energy eating, global warmers.

Hey, I tried.

Cell (phone) support

Each of my brothers is very good to me in his own way. Yesterday was Phil's day.

Last night crazy storms came through Central Virginia, and my dog was more antsy and whiny than her norm for storms. So I check online to see what's going on and lo, and behold, there's a tornado warning for my area!

Generally I wouldn't think much of this, except last year one touched down about a mile from my house and tornadoes seem to no longer be an anomaly in VA. Literally seconds after I discover this tidbit (sometimes ignorance can be bliss) my phone rings. Phil is calling to check on me and see if I knew what was swirling about outside my home. I am really quite nervous and just a few steps shy of panic: all that's keeping me from crossing that line is trying to keep my mutt calm and the realization that there is absolutely nothing that I can do about whatever happens.

But Phil emails me the link to the local radar and we both watch it on our computers---the cell is just about to come bearing down on me, we talk about nothing, the cell is overhead (which I could tell even without the radar!), we continue talking about nothing, and finally it has passed. All in all about 20 minutes during which he kept me pre-occupied and (almost) worry free!

Thanks, Phil! :-)

Mamma Bella!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

I pick this picture of my parents dancing, because yesterday they celebrated 15,000 days of marriage!

Achy, Breaky...everything!!

Two days ago I decided to weed-whack the areas the mower can't go. Nothing makes me feel less feminine than doing this, but it needs to be done, right?

45 minutes later when I finished, I realized that I could barely use my arms or hands, and even today I am still achy all over!!!

I need a massage!!

All Aligned

Today I finally got around to replacing my expired county sticker for my car...only two weeks late! While I am not as controlled by my OCD hangups the way "Monk" is, I do have my share of idiosyncrasies. One thing that drives me bonkers is the trunk lock cover on cars, you know the swivel kind that flips aside to reveal the lock? I get antsy when I'm driving behind a car where the cover is still flipped down or slighty askew. All I want to do is just r-e-a-c-h out and flip it back in place. My carrying on provides a certain degree of entertainment to any travel companions in the car with me.

This brings me back to my county sticker which is displayed right next to my inspection sticker. Let me start this anecdote by saying: I love Goo-Gone. When I had my car inspected last August, I had flashing thought that I wouldn't ever go back to this guy again. Now, he's been great to me, took care of the ongoing crises with my last car and so on. My problem was that the sticker was bubbled a little bit and some of the goo from the old one was still on my windshield. Because of the small separation between the two stickers, though, I couldn't really get to the goo to remove it without ruining my stickers. I have been looking forward to April and removing the county sticker just so that I could clean up the goo!!

So I clean up my windshield and get ready to apply my tidy new sticker. As I'm j-u-s-t about to apply the sticker...static works its magic and pulls the sticker to the windshield. DRAT!! And once these babies are on, there's no removing them intact. So for a whole year, I will be tormented daily by my crooked, mis-aligned sticker.