You call that a trim?

My lawn guy is awesome. I think. Or I used to think that. 

Last year when we were discussing goals for our yard, one thing he mentioned was trimming down our crape myrtle trees after they were done blooming. He explained that they would come back fuller and they would be more tree-like. They were moving into bush territory. 

Well, last week I came home after the 'trimming' and I gasped. You might have heard me.

That's what I call "Bare naked ladies!"

I wish I had a robe for them!

If they don't come back...well, I might have to dust off my shank. 

Wish them growing luck!

What the Pig said...

I love my kitchen pig. If you have a pig...he should hold a sign and stand on your counter. You agree don't you?

Weekly, I try to keep my family UP by posting inspirational messages.

Bee sweet.

Kiss your Mom.

Call your Dad. 

Bee Joyful and happy. 

Usually my inspiration is laughed at. Fo'rizzle. (until they need me for something, then I'm all sorts of inspirational)

This originally said: Bee nice to your elders. 

Because around these parts, I am an elder.

And since I live with immatures, it was quickly changed to this. 

No, not the Coach. Although, he SHOULD be nice to his elders. And elbows.

I love my little kitchen pig. But dang it...he is in cahoots with someone. 

(Lindsay!)

Hugs ARE FREE. 

Unless inflation hits. 

 I  complained about the 2.00 and was quickly scolded.

  "Well, now I'm removing the decimal point and you have to pay 200 bucks for a hug."

me: oh dang. think of the taxes I'll have to pay on that hug.....

I just can't win. 

Or maybe I can. I won't let the man get me down.

And by the man, I mean my rebelling pig and you know who else. 

Life is good. 

Savor every minute, especially those expensive hugs!

XOXO

The one where she relives being a Daisy.

Once upon a time, both of my girls were sweet little girl scouts. Oh, how they loved scouting. Especially Lolo...since she had the best leader on the planet.
*Ahem~pointing fingers at myself*

Linds and Lolo @ Lindsay's bridging ceremony from Daisy to Brownie.

 Several months ago, Linds was cleaning out her closet and came across her old scout vests/tunic. 

(I might add that cleaning her closet was not her idea and threats might have been involved.)

She came out of her room and declared that it still fit. 

I may have wet my yoga pants from laughter.

May have=fo'sho.

I'm thinking that shortly we should sort through her old baby clothes. Stay tuned for that episode of "Does it fit?" 

Boxers X 4

Our Friday night and Saturday went to the dogs. Literaly. 

Sparky and Milo came for a visit and a boxer party was had.

Did you know it is impossible to get FOUR dogs to sit and pose for a picture?
The dog whisperer...I'm not. 

 You see who IS sitting? Cocoa. She seems to really care.

 Ozzie: "Mama, did you say cookie?"

I feel I'm losing control over this situation.

Cocoa: "hey, is anyone going to listen to the mama?" Ozzie: "I'm trying really hard but I have absolutely NO attention span. Remember?"

I spy with my little brown green eye....boxer butts.  

I tried the whole sitting thing again in the driveway. Yes, SHE again listened while the other three wandered off like I wasn't even there. Boys don't listen. rude.

 Seriously, they are not camera whores. 

On Saturday afternoon when the two visitors were leaving, we finally got a photo op. kinda.

On Saturday night, Cocoa and Ozzie slept hard. Having so much fun is really exhausting. 

The.story.of.my.life.

XOXO 

recycled puppy

My sweet friend Kelly {who is not supposed to send me Christmas gifts} sent this to us at Christmas.

A recycled puppy.

I love him.

And yes, he is made out of all recycled stuff. 

Her note stated that he should overlook my garden.

And he does.

Kelly and I met circa 1990. Her beau was/is Coach's childhood friend Don, who was also my high school friend. I met Coach on a blind date set up by Don's previous high school girlfriend in 1985.

Make sense?

Sure it does.

 In 1990 when Kelly & Don and The Coach & I lived next door to each other, Kelly and I jumped on the recycling bandwagon when that baby hitched it's horses.

And we still are. Recyclers rule. And they are more attractive.

I'm just throwing that out there.

Have a great weekend! It has finally cooled off here....and I'm digging it. 

XOXO

Another crotch surprise....and why PETA will be contacting me.

I don't know how long it has been there, just growing and growing.  This time in the crotch of our ornamental guava tree. I caught a glimpse of it's purple-ness out of the corner of my eye on Monday. 

This made me giddy. I wish every Monday held a sweet surprise like that.
Our little secret surprise resides just above the dog that I've come to neglect.

I love him, but I've kinda ignored him too.

Poor Bartholomew!

After I went back and saw a few posts with him in his glory, I am determined to bring him back to where he should be. Such a loyal little pup he is.
See, he is so like me, he tells everyone to "Plant a tree"! Unlike me though, he leaves out the 'dammit' at the end!

Have a green and happy Wednesday!
XOXO

Raising the bed.

Which is similar to raising the roof. Kinda sorta. but not really.

You know I love my veggie garden. It has brought me tremendous joy the past few years.
B U T, it has brought me tremendous anxiety this past year.
Anxiety? I know. I am wacky.

My garden circa early 2012

You see, the problem was every time I went out there to work the garden, it was filled with weeds. Grass weeds. Weed grass. The kind of stuff that required so much work, that it overwhelmed me.

So instead of looking forward to gardening, it stressed me. And then there were the rocks. Actually boulders. In some spots, I could not place plants because apparently our property was at one time a quarry. 

my garden mid 2012

I thought about just scrapping the whole dang thing. A match and some gasoline. *poof*

I shared this with Coach's Mom at Christmas and we discussed that if I were to raise the bed, and add tons of new soil, it would be easier to maintain. But taking on THAT task also overwhelmed me.

B U T since I have the best MIL on the planet...she volunteered for herself and Coach's step-dad to come back and build a bed for me. Yes.they.did.

I know. I am so darn lucky. And it's not like they live down the street...it is a 2 1/2 hour trek for them.
So, two weekends ago, they came over and we started.

 Sometimes the Coach threatens me with that very same sledgehammer if I don't cook him chicken wings. 

 There was much debate about my garden fence. Do we leave it? Do we redo it? Do we scrap it?

Of course, you can't work in the garden without having a dog or five getting in your way. 

 The coach came up with a genius way to keep the fence, but make it better than before by using things we already had. He has the brain of an engineer. which is exactly why I don't know what he is talking about half the time. 

 The Coach and Bill pretty much had this job handled...but every once in a while Sue or Lindsay would bark out some orders from the shade of the golf cart.

I would never do that. I barked my orders from the shade of the house.

Ok, that was 2 weekends ago. This past weekend I had 7 yards of compost delivered. 

Two deliveries like this one.

 And then my super sweet nephew Bryan and the Coach shoveled it into the bed.  You'll be proud to know that I also helped out with the shoveling of sh*t compost.

On Sunday, I added my plants.

Voila. My garden is raised, as are my spirits.

No rocks. No weeds. Just plants and some garden chotskies.  

 We had a bit of extra compost material and filled in low spots on either side of the garden.

 I'm still debating on putting some sort of lattice/fencing on the backside...because I have tomato loving dogs.

 Yeah, they look innocent enough...but right here they are both plotting against me to eat all the tomatoes. 

Bastids.

So, that has filled up my life for two weekends....and I am a happy bee right now.

I'm so thankful for my helpful peeps! 

Now I can go back to only being stressed out with things happening INSIDE our house! 

You know, like a normal crazy person. 

XOXO

Joints, man

a few months ago, I had a nice health tip for the canines in your life.
Today; a tip for the human in you:

This works.

I've had a bum shoulder since May. I don't know what happened besides age, but it was a-hurtin' daily.

I also have issues with taking LOTS of OR large pills and this is a one-a-day little baby.

I've been taking these fairly consistent and my shoulder ain't a-hurtin' so much anymore. I don't think it is a cure for whatever is ailing my shoulder. {old lady-itis} But it's a major improvement, like 99.9% improvement.

I call that magic.
Or modern medicine.
Your choice.
My joints are well juiced and not crinkly anymore.

I am now free to , do the wave, raise the roof or wave my hands in the air, like I just don't care.

But you know I care.
Now I'm off to do some hammer time or even that crazy dancing Korean guy time.
Yep, back on the cardio wagon. 

Have a 'good feeling joint' weekend. 

XOXO

It happened right there in the bakery dept.

This past Friday I ran into the grocery store to pick up a few items for the weekend.

I started in the bakery dept. for some fresh sandwhich bread, when out of the corner of my eye I saw her.
She was at least 15 feet away, but I recognized her.
My Grandma.
Ok, it wasn't exactly her, but from the side and if I squinted a tad bit it looked just like her. Seeing dead family members is not that weird for me. *Especially at Publix.
The weirdest thing....is that immediately after seeing her, I could smell her. 
Her smell.
I couldn't tell you what her smell is, but I recognized it at once. My Grandma's smell, not the lady shopping in the bakery dept. who was faking her way into my heart.

Right there in the grocery store, I had a visit from Grandma. My heart was fluttering, I had a smile plastered on my face; warm memories flooded my brain. The feeling lasted about 32 seconds, but it was a wonderful 32 seconds.

Dad, Suz, G'ma~~~nineteen seventy something.

*I've run into my Dad's look alike in Publix before. He might have found me to be a bit weird since I stared at him for as long as I possibly could without being issued a restraining order.