For our Military Peeps...I love, love, love this idea!!!

Yeah, I love it. You caught that part right?

My Mom emailed me this the other day, normally I never put up email forwards here because frankly most of us have seen them already. I will not be guilty of boring anyone to death....not on purpose anyway.

This is super duper important and extremely cool.

An easy way to say thanks to our service men and women when we are lucky enough to encouter them on our soil....or anywhere in the world I suppose.

It is less than one minute.

AND please, pass this one on.

The Gratitude Campaign

PS. If you see this guy around mid June...please give him the signal. (OK, not JUST him...but he is one of my favorite military men. I can have a favorite...can't I ? )

Cigars and video games? Makes me dizzy just thinking about it...

Brangelina

A photo I found recently while reading New York Times People Magazine.

Here is Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie w/ one of the babies leaving a grocery store.

Surely you can see what I see.....

I know they are working hard to build a new green community in the ravaged New Orleans area.

I know they are saving all the orphans, one baby at a time.

But for the love of all that is NOT plastic in the world could you remember your shopping bags?

I hate to pick sides, but I am totally on Team Jennifer.

***************************

Communication Skills For Dummies.

That could be a book I might want to pen one day...Or maybe not.

The Coach and I seem to have a fairly good communication system going on here.

I mean, we have been working on it for nearly 24 years. But like most people, day to day life can get hectic and sometimes it seems you don't even have time to SPEAK about little things, much less the big things in life. So we leave each other little notes around for some of the small things.

For instance, If I find this on the the vanity top:I know he needs more deodorant. Sometimes it will be the empty cartridge for his razor, empty shampoo or q-tip container.

Easy. No words have to be spoken.

Some days, a bit more explanation will be added: Here, he needs more tea bags.

Green please. Hold the honey.

Good communication. Right?

Remember when I was communicating this to the whole world family?

The girls know that if they want something from the grocery store, they have to add it to my ongoing list.

If you can't find the list...well, then you have to make it obvious to the grocery go getter what you need.

Here, Linds is asking for tomato soup:

Both kinds means, the regular cans and some of the "soup to go" cans for when we are running from school to dance class.

(PLS is please for those not in the know...but you knew that.)

So imagine my dismay when I go into the girls bathroom and I find this:

Yes, that is an overly organized persons worst nighmare.

::running out, covering my eyes, screaming::

But does this possibly mean they need, mascara, Clearasil, ribbons, eyeliner, retainers, body spray, makeup bags, powder, nail polish, hair gel, an old screw, lotion, zyrtec and soda tabs?

Makes me wonder why they even have drawers in there....

Me?

I just leave very discreet and subliminal messages around: Ok, not so subliminal, nor discreet.

This is the lid to the garbage can in the garage. Pretty straightforward.

Below: The chalkboard in the playroom. I spent about 2 hours cleaning the playroom when the girls were visiting Grandma for Spring break. Clearly, I wanted it to stay clean.Not sure why, but I use the OR ELSE threat quite a bit.

Even though I have to use idle threats, I still need to feel the love.....

I was so tempted to put OR ELSE on this too....

Anyone else have any clever communication skills???

P is for.....

A Plethora of P words....

I could not choose just ONE favorite P thing today...so I will give you Plenty of my favorite P's.

My Peeps My Posse People. My Pets. Notice NO Pussy Cats. Although I would not mind adding a panda, a penguin, a polar bear and possibly a panther to the collection. Pretty sure we have no room for a pachyderm, that would be pure pandemonium.

Our Pool. (If you don't have one in south florida, it is considered child abuse.) Pictures and Plants.

Usually, I don't take pictures of my pictures or plants.
Pickles. Wickles Pickles are the bestest pickles in the entire world. Really.

My Cuz Patrick. He is the bestest Cuz Ever. (Sorry Cuz Chris, you have No P)

My Phone. I know I said I don't like talking on the phone, and I don't. But just in case someone needs me....I am partial to Pooh and his friends..
Parties...I love to host a party and I'm an awesome guest too..call me!!!

Some P's that I don't care for:

Peas

Pessimism

Plastic

Perverts

Pantyhose

Prejudice People

Pasteurized-Processed cheese

Psycho's
And
Potholes.


Did I forget anything?????


To see how others used the P letter for today, just hop on over to A-Z Mondays

It's her Birthday, we're gonna party like it's her birthday...

Happy Birthday to my Mama!

I won't give out her real age......But this could be her 2nd time turning 33!


Little known facts about my Mom.

*When I was a kid, she worked sooo many hours that she would sometimes come home, walk to the top of the landing and fall asleep on the floor. Do you know how many times I thought she was dead? Not fun for a 13yr old.

*She can't NOT say HEEEEYYYYY Sweetly when she calls or sees you in person. It is just a natural reaction she has....HEEEYYYY. (too many years living in GA)

*She will make every effort known to man to wrap a gift as beautiful as she can. It can be a box of old candy, but she will make it look like a million bucks. (The phrase presentation is everything comes to mind) And No, I don't think she really gives away old candy. Not yet anyway.

*Even as a broke and single Mom, she managed to take Mark and I on some great vacations.

Dressed for dinner out at Disney, circa '73-'74?

How I loved that Dumbo....like the dresses?

*She thinks I am the cat's meow. Don't tell her otherwise.

*She reads my blog every day. (Hence the cat's meow part)

Mom with my Grandpa (my Dad's Dad) I love this picture because it pretty much sums up my Mom's relationship with my Dad's parents...love and laughter.

*She used to carry a gun in her purse for protection. One time I was in our backyard hanging from our swing set. I looked down at the ground below me and saw a couple of cotton mouth snakes....I started screaming (I was trapped there) and she came out and shot them. Sarah Connors....did you hear that?

*She can mix some leftovers, some old stuff in my pantry and whip up some gravy and make a gourmet meal. Really. She cooks good enough to make you want to slap your mother. But please, not on her birthday!

*She loves to laugh. When she, my Aunt and I get together, we should wear depends because EVERYTHING IS FUNNY.

At the Atlanta Zoo. No, I did not have to force her to jump on the monkey's back...

* She is an outstanding, caring and loving Mom to me. I could not have asked for better!

*She has accomplished so much in the last few years...She started exercising daily (she loves it) She quit smoking and she lost over 100lbs!! She is living each day to the fullest!!!

*She loves mexican food, margharitas and I am pretty sure she loves latin men also.

*She thinks that Lo and Linds are the sun and the moon...who am I to tell her any different?

*The girls, whenever we talk about Grandma Bev, they always say something like: "that Grandma Bev, she is soooo sweet"

Thanksgiving 2008

Happy Birthday Bev Mom!!!!

Hey, It's Friday...again.

This week has just flown by for me....suppose I was a busy bee; time flies when you are busy.
Last weekend we had so much fun with our friends from the East Coast....they brought their 2 boxers too, so it was just a boxer love fest.

Here is a picture of the four of them...they are trying to see my neighbor behind our property who was out watering his garden.
Some watch dogs they are...trying to enforce the water restrictions we still have going on.

Meet Zack above and Sparky below. Zack is the Ol' man boxer...he is the reason we fell in love with the breed in the first place. He is an 85lb loving lap dog. Such an absolute sweetheart.

Sparky is the new addition to their family. He was rescued from a bad environment by a boxer rescue group. Our friends just got him a few months ago. SO cute. SO immature. SO funny. He has a really bad battle wound, showing just how bad his old life was. He and his sister were tied up in a family's back yard. They were not given much food or attention. Sparky got himself tied up in his lead/rope and must have been like this for a few days. See the pic below of his "permanent belt"
By the time they left for home on Sunday afternoon our Ozzie and their Sparky were shadowing each other...I could only imagine their conversations about how good they both have it now in their NEW improved homes since they were both rescued.

Cocoa asked me this morning WHO was coming to visit this weekend...Sadly I had to disappoint her with the fact that it was only us humans to entertain her....she is pouting and refuses to come in the house now. She is laying by my bird feeder...making the birds angry now.

I would encourage you or anyone you know to adopt a rescued dog/cat from a group or humane society...they are just wonderful pets.

Ok, most of them are wonderful...I won't bring up our cats today. Yes, they were all 3 rescued too.

My PSA for the day!

Coach and I stayed up late last night watching a movie after we came home from the softball field . This is almost unheard of on a weekday school night. We did not start the movie until after 10:40....trying to get over a bad loss.

(ONLY ONE MORE GAME OF THE High School SEASON)

It was a new movie starring Liam Neeson. Very action packed...not typically my type of movie, but I watched it out of love. :) Cause that is what we do, right?

Through most of the movie though, I was thinking: Gosh, when he made this movie, his wife (Natasha Richardson) was still alive. His family was perfect and intact.

Life is so temporary, isn't it?

Have a wonderful weekend! I hope it is full of wet kisses, happy people and FUN!

Before AND After

We all like to see Before and After pictures...don't we?

Sure we do.

Allrighty then....

See the nice custom shelf that Coach made for our shampoo & soap in the shower? See it?

Now you see it

Now you don't.
My husband Hercules was merely closing the shampoo lid, while the shampoo bottle sat on the shelf....and the shelf hit the floor and as he put it "marble was flying everywhere"

Very funny, considering I rest my foot on this shelf when I rarely shave my legs and I have not made it move an inch. HeMan.

My good friend Kelly brought over potted Stargazer lillies this past weekend for me. They were all closed when they arrived.
Before:

After:
Aren't they just gorgeous??
Kelly is such a good friend....the kind of friend that remembers almost everything...she did our wedding flowers for us wayyyyy back when we got married. (almost 18 yrs ago)
The stargazer Lillies were the flowers in my bridal bouquet... HOW SWEET!!






Before:

After:
DAMN CATS!!!!

MY HOME PLANET Day

Happy Earth Day!!!

Some of the easiest steps you/we/me/us can take to shrink our carbon foot print:

1)Recycle! Recycle everything you can....check with your local waste management/recycling program...they all have websites and see what else you can NOT send to the landfill.
Buying items made with recycled products just makes sooo much sense too.

2)USE LESS! Even better than recycling what you use...try to use less of the things that NEVER or take years to break down in the landfill: plastic bottles, paper, and the one thing that irritates me as much as smelly people: Styrofoam.
AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS. I am convinced that this was developed by Satan himself. IT never, ever decomposes. If we have a nuclear attack, all that will be left is cockroaches AND Styrofoam.

*buy items in bulk= less packaging. Saves $$ and resources.

*Avoid using plastic ziploc bags; use the plastic containers you already have instead. Saves $$ and resources.

Water bottles: another pet peeve of mine....
I know so many people are addicted to drinking bottles of water...when most of us have perfectly good drinking water at home. Do you know how much energy and petroleum it takes just to produce the bottles??? WAY TOO MUCH. Remember where we get MOST of our oil from? really, do we want to keep our world dependent on those places for our oil...for making plastic bottles?
I think NOT. It only took a minute for my Jason to see the err of his plastic bottle dependency. Yeah!! for Jason...spread the word !!! This saves $$$$$ and non renewable resources too.

Something plastic to chew on:

"Approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil—enough to run 100,000 cars for a
whole year—are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these
bottles burns even more oil."

"Nearly 90 percent of water bottles are not recycled and wind up in landfills where it takes thousands of years for the plastic to decompose."

3) DITCH THE PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS!!
I know you have heard this from me before.....seriously, this is the easiest step to take. If I see YOU out there toting your 65 plastic bags (when 3 reusable ones would have fit it all) I will "accidentally" bump your ankles with my cart. Ok, I won't really bump your ankles...but I will be thinking about it and that is just as bad.
And no whinning about how you forget them in your car. I will hear none of that. ;)

I realize some people need them for waste bag liners...a few are ok, but you can really make it just a few a month. right? Don't you all love your home planet?

.99 cents goes alooooonnggggg way with some nice bags.

4) LIGHT BULBS. Switch out some, if not all of your light bulbs to the eco friendly bulbs. Sure, they are not pretty...but what is more important? pretty light bulbs or a longer life for our earth??? hmmm....

These are just the top 4 items on my brain today...anyone care to add to the list????

Hey, do you smell something funny?

Warning: This guy has Wharf breath!

Have you seen ALL the stuff now for us to rid our homes of SMELL? There are complete isles in most stores just for candles, oils, air freshner sprays, plug in devices, pearls, balls, reeds, stones, etc....you name it.

I am waiting for someone to design an actual cat/dog that emits a fragrance...

Apparently we are a smell obsessed consuming country.

All the "green" literature I have read always covers this topic too...it is always stated that A clean house should have NO SMELL. Not a "clean" smell that you can put your finger on...like say: Pine sol. I used to like the smell of pine sol...but that love affair is over too.

I buy my baking soda at costco now. I clean so much stuff with it...I love it bunches. Sans smell.

Speaking of smells...
Have you ever walked into someones house and you knew instantly:

DOGS LIVE HERE.

Gosh, I hope that is not the case in my house. I think that is a real crime. And punishment should be given there should be a.......smell law? Kidding.

Believe it or not...NO Dog breath from this little beauty...nosiree!

The Coach has come home before and said: "This place smells stale." Really? STALE? I don't know what that smells like, do you?

But I believe him...after all, I have been in the stale house all day...what do I know?

I most likely smell stale myself. **making note on grocery list: buy anti-stale spray as I am whipping open windows & turning on fans**

I pride myself on keeping the house fairly tidy. Sanitary really. The garbage is taken out in a reasonable amount of time.

The counters are always wiped down before and after meal prep. The dogs beds get washed quite a bit.

The dogs get washed. (I loathe doing that job) The cat boxes are far away from most of the living space and they are cleaned all the time...and yet those cats are ungrateful.**giving a cat the evil eye right now**
Rosie is pulled out many times during the week and she sucks up all the floor dirt. Have I mentioned how much I love my Rosie lately?

Well I LOVE her bunches. We are besties. Tight, like an impenetrable cult.

As far as I can tell, we have NO chinese dry wall here in our home. I have heard that stuff is horrid....BTW: I can't stand the smell of chinese food...the take out restaurants?

NO THANKYOU. (Although I love PF Chengs and their smaller spinoff, Pei Wei)

Gosh, now I am talking about restaurants....A.D.D party of ONE.

Really, I don't even remember now what the point to this entire post was....anyone have a clue?

Oh, Now i 'member....smelly stuff...what smells irk you?
Dog? Smoke? Rotisserie chicken? Baby hair? Flower candles?

Oh, Coach loathes my candles...he thinks that Yankee Candle should come up with a Bacon smelling scent. GROSS!!!

O is for.....

Outside......

Where I have been lucky enough to spend lots of my time lately.

This past weekend we had our good friends visit from the East Coast. The boys (Coach and Don) spent most of the visit INSIDE...doing some audio/video tuneups....Lauren turned into a hermit crab after 3 straight days of softball, she enjoyed some movies and playing the wii.

The girls Kelly, myself and Linds spent most of the weekend OUTSIDE...mostly on the lanai watching the 4 dogs have fun. (More on those pups later in the week)

Linds, Cocoa, Moi, Sparky and Ozzie.

Kelly and Suz.

I may have mentioned a few hundred times that I have been working in our yard...sprucing some stuff up and making it all Pretty again.....

I don't have any befores'...but I have some afters.

I am up to 73 bags of mulch that have been spread....I will be back for more this week. This is the area directly in front of our bathroom.... at the front of the house.

I made a little cut-through path to the hose area on the side. The dogs were always running through here making a mess...so I put in the stepping stones to keep it cleaner. Guess what? Dogs don't like to walk on stepping stones.


This is the side entry/sidewalk area. I added some impatiens...added mulch, trimmed the crotons and cleaned up my rock ledge. The rocks are along all our sidewalks...they look really nice, but have to be "cleaned out" annually. Which entails me raking them all out and then cleaning out by hand/hose the dirt, mulch and leaves.....yes, I am a crazy person for doing this.

This is a little area that has been bugging me. It is on the pool lanai/screen exit area. A wet spot for gutter/lanai drainage. I think at one time it had mulch here....which has floated away apparently....I have a thing for Rocks I suppose...It sure looks Purtttyyy.. don't it???

Almost like I know what I am doing....almost.
This is the bed that I was not going to mess with...but once I start something it is hard to stop. I trimmed all the overgrowth, cleaned out some dead stuff and added a few plumbago, a rose (can't see it) and a new hibiscus.

The dogs loved running through here as soon as I was done.

Can you spot my flamingo?

It is mandatory in Florida to have at least one in your yard.

I am a rule abiding citizen.



If you would like to see how others used the letter O or even to join yourself.....go here: A-Z Mondays

Give me a caption title for this picture. Please!

Harley.

ON my buffet/server.

IN a very nice serving bowl.

Any great titles for this picture?

"Chicken CAT-cacciatore"

“Chow Meow Mien”

“This is for salad? Pretend I’m a Tomato”

“Anyone care for a bowl of catnap?”

“The windowsill is so yesterday”

“Kitty A-LA King”

“Kitty Cat-serole”

“I thought this was the toilet bowl”

“I’m Waiting for Da Food”

An aging rocker, Exotic snakes, Crack and "Green" silver.

You know it does not take much to get me all a-twitter!!

And NO I don't twitter....or even text for that matter...what???? No I don't live in a cave either. :)

I found this in Targ*t yesterday.

Recycled aluminum foil!!!

I did a little "green" dance right there in the isle.

Yeah, I was the crazy person on isle 4!

We really don't even use much foil to begin with...maybe a roll a year?

But this just makes me soooo happy. Even the box is made with recycled paper....water based ink to boot. Yeah, I am loving anyone named REYNOLDS right now. RYAN...BURT....

You can even go HERE, the official website... and get a rebate for a FREE ROLL on Earth day (April 22nd)

THAT MEANS IT IS FREE!!!

My most favorite price for stuff.

I was so darn happy with my recycled foil that I decided to splurge and get something JUST for me.

Ain't she a beauty?

Don't be too jealous...for $1.29, you can be right there basking in the joy with me!

Ok, now for the crazy part of my post.

Lo had a game last night and then was up until midnight finishing a project that she had all spring break to work on....so I was up late too....and 5:30 comes really quick for someone who's brain and body require at least 7 1/2 hours of sleep.

I don't know what happens to my brain when I hit the pillow...Cause last night I dreamt that I was making custom snake boots for Brett Michaels.

First of all, I don't like Brett Michaels, so why is he invading my limited sleep time?

The dream was so vivid...my girls were there and they were helping me..what we had to do was:

Calm down these gorgeous snakes...they were rainbow colored and big...actually very pretty. (for snakes)

Some other lady was cutting them up for their skin (ugghh...I know)

IT was my job to calm down the snakes for the skinning lady...how would you do this do you think?

Well, how I did it was I was mixing oatmeal with crack cocaine and feeding it to the snakes. A little known fact...Crack calms down snakes.

I know..this is all new to me too.

TGIF!!

I wish for everyone a relaxing weekend, full of family, fun, good sleep and no crack eating snakes!!

***Updated***

Guess what I ate for breakfast today????

Oatmeal!!!!