Surprise surprise surprise!

Don't you love a good surprise?

Wait, what about a funny one?

The Coach was in Vegas last week for work stuff; he came home late Friday night.

You know how they say "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"? 

Well, not so much. The Coach brought home a cold virus and a polka dotted thong in his suitcase.

What?

He pulled the undies out of the outside zipper pocket and said: 

"Are these yours?"

Me laughing: "Noooooooo"

Coach: "Well, they're not mine"

The thought of him wearing size XS polka dotted undies made me laugh again.

It only took a minute to realize that one of the girls had used that suitcase over the summer.

Thank goodness I'm not one of those paranoid, overreacting, jealous women. You know, that right there could make a girl end up on that show Snapped. 

On Sunday I weeded the garden and fed my plants some yummy compost and I found several surprises!

 None of which were the photobombing cat.

Eggplants!!!

I can hardly wait to make some eggplant parm!

When I titled this post, I immediately thought of my favorite goofy guy from back in the day. Who is old enough to remember sweet, gullible Gomer Pyle?

I hope you all had a nice weekend; minus any illnesses or misplaced underthingys. 

Willy Nilly Five~~ Say what now?

Joining Tanya and friends to share 5 willy nilly thoughts, pics or whatevers. 

1)

The craft (laundry-office-overflow guest) room got painted last weekend.
Our friends PJ and Heather were here from Jupiter, PJ is a professional and he offered to 'help' me paint.
In reality, I was 'in his way' so he painted it all and I did just the the cubby under the desk.
Is it too white? perhaps. 

But, I'm not upset with my choice....hey, in 10 years PJ I can repaint it!

I love the fact that it's fresh and clean because I have a thing for fresh and clean. 

2)

Recently, I was shopping online (Ulta.com) for some mascara and one of the criteria choices was gluten free.   

GLUTEN FREE.

Tasty.  

3)

I made a batch of kale chips this week. I sprinkled the kale bits with garlic & chili powder; lightly mixed in some olive oil and lime juice and baked them for about 10 minutes. 

Delish. The leftovers were thrown on top of a salad for a bit of crunch. 

4)

Did I ever tell you I love geraniums?

Hey, I love geraniums. 

5)

 Do you love avocados as much as I do?

I love them so much I want to marry them; but I'm not a bigamist. Or a weirdo.

I'm starting my own avocado farm and I can't wait to enjoy my first harvest. I'm thinking I'll wait on gathering the other ingredients for my first homemade guacamole for a few weeks though. 

Wishing you all a lovely weekend with fresh and clean surroundings, lovely colors (or white) and yummy  food.

Being One {or five} with nature

Saturday evening we had an adventure of sorts and practically right in our own backyard. 

Our friends from Jupiter were visiting and we treated ourselves to a jeep tour through a swampy preserve. This is only 45 minutes from our house and it was SO MUCH FUN! 

The weather was true perfection this weekend and that added to the fabulousness. 

 We were hoping to see some bear or panthers or even bobcats....but we ended up seeing a LOT of alligators, birds and a few deer. 

 Did you know, to figure out the overall length of an alligator, you only need to measure the inches from snout to eyes; that is the total in feet of that gator. 

Good luck having him sit still while you're doing the measuring. 

Great Egret. How do I know he's great? He told me so!

Alligator face being photobombed by a turtle.

Great Blue Heron. How do I know he's great? Well, you know....

Two deer. This was part of a trio, the third deer was shy. Our guide determined that two of the three were pregnant.
And then they ran....and they didn't even waddle once; imagine that!

We saw more white ibis than you could shake a stick at. But please, don't shake sticks at them...they're cute!

Typical swamp filled with cypress trees; who knew the swamp could be so lovely?

A hawk we spotted while going through an orange grove outside the preserve. I could tell he was getting ready to do some juicing. 

Gorgeous sunset behind some gorgeous sunflowers. 

With all we've been going through with Ozzie, this was a very nice distraction.

I hope you've all had a nice weekend as well!

XOXO

Willy Nilly Friday~Ain't no sunshine like your sunshine.

Joining Tanya and friends sharing 5 willy nilly thoughts, pics or whatevers.

1)

Cocoa VS coconut.
It bothers me that Cocoa contains an A, but if you want coconut, you lose the A.

That makes Suzanne nutty. 

2)

I found the time to update my chalk plate. I love pinterest; that's where I steal ideas from. 

I'm an idea stealer. 

Not to be confused with a Pittsburgh Steeler. 

3)

We're painting the craft room this weekend. I've been in search for the perfect white that's not so white, but not so NOT white either. Is that too much to ask for?

I finally decided on a color, purchased two gallons and THEN the Coach shared his disapproval after seeing the sample swatch on the wall.

Aye caramba. 

4)

I'd love to give a happy update regarding Ozzie, but I can't. We're dealing with a.lot.of.stuff. 

{The Dr.s feel confident that he can get through it}

We don't usually keep dog beds in the mudroom/hallway, but he was going down quickly and needed a soft landing. 

I'm eversothankful that business is going well so that we can afford good health care for him. 

Prayers are appreciated. 

5)

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend doing something worthwhile with people/critters you adore.

Hey, YOU are my sunshine.

XOXO

This Tater is Trying to Take over

I worked in the yard/garden for several hours on Saturday.
It's so nice to do it on a day when it's both sunny out while being cool enough so that I don't drown in my own sweat.
A rarity.

Do you get the feeling that this ornamental potato plant is enjoying it's location? 

He/She/it appears to be taking over the upper lanai area. It's of the plants I tended to this weekend....he/she/it is now trimmed to a decent size.
I almost hated trimming he/she/it....but he/she/it was creating a traffic problem. 

And in case you were wondering, {I'm sure you were} there appears to be a potato at the root!
Go figure.

Happy Wednesday {oops} Tuesday my party people; this SPUDS for you. 

XOXO

Willy Nilly Friday~The one with all the specialists and the bloomers.

Joining Tanya and friends for 5 willy nilly whatevers. I'm all about the whatevers lately.

1)
I worked on this for a while last week....time to change it up. Again.

2)

The Ozzie saga continues.
The Tuesday before last,  just out of the blue, he went into a major seizure. It lasted 2-3 minutes, but felt like a lifetime. We again rushed him to the emergency vet specialists where they kept him overnight.
*knock on wood* he's been fine since then. The neurologist has some ideas of what his main issue is....we're still deciding on his course of treatment, but focusing on his heart issue for now. 

Ozzie now has a neurologist, a cardiologist, an ophthalmologist, and an oncologist.
There's word that he's now requesting an agent and a full time masseuse.

I took him in yesterday for a follow up visit with his cardiologist.
His heart condition is getting better. {enlarged heart, getting smaller} BUT, his irregular heartbeat is going on. She's adjusted his meds somewhat and I'm checking his heart rate several times a day now. Because, really, what else do I have to do? 
Actually, I'd do anything for this sweet boy. He does nothing wrong. Ever.

3)

This week I came Soooooooo close to saying something I hoped to never say to one of my children.

"Just you wait. Just you wait until you have children, then you'll understand."

I resisted saying it out loud.
For now. 

4)

Don't hate me, but we've been dining on fresh romaine from the garden for weeks. 

 5)
Again, don't hate me, but please enjoy this trio of orchids blooming in one of our oak trees.
These are the best surprises when I stumble upon them.

I do hope your week held more surprises than not and that your weekend will be filled with goodness.
Or at least some pretty flowers and a sweet furry critter.


XOXOXO

To destroy or NOT destroy, that is the question.

The scene: 

Our living room, Christmas morning, 10 minutes after Cocoa received this toy in her stocking. 

Ok, I just lied. 

Her toy was to her right...this was one of the visiting Labradors toys. Hence, her contemplating. 

 Can you see the contemplation in her face?

Her decision was: To Destroy. 

I can't bear to show the after photo; a dog toy tragedy. 

Again, this is why we can't have nice things. 

***

I've already destroyed two checks this week by writing 2014 on them; woe is me. 

Lets document something before it's forgotten.

I've been a very bad blogger. I've been a very busy bee. 

I should be put into a timeout; preferable a timeout that includes a few spa sessions, cooked meals and a few more spa sessions. 

Lets recap. 

We had a fabulous company holiday party this year.....and since we've not been able to have one ($$) since 2008, well, that made it even more fabulous!

We held our party at a hotel, fully catered and we hired a casino company to give us all the fun of Vegas without the losing of actual cash. A fun. Fun. FUN time. 

It was nice to have the girls there this time as well. Lolo is AN actual employee and Lindsay is an actual future 'Event Planner wannabe' major. 

Christmas Eve we had a full house. 21 people for dinner. I took some time to do some family portraits for Coach's brother and his extended brood before the sun went down. It was so nice to have all the cousins here at the same time. 

My BIL and his lovely peeps.

The cousins being photobombed by Ozzie. His favorite pastime is peeing in public.

Lolo and Linds making santa strawberry hats. 

We had a delicious dinner of steak, lobster bisque, antipasto, and other non diet related foods!

This year we also had two kiddos here on Christmas eve and boy oh boy is that fun. There was bowling in the hallway and nerf guns shooting left and right! 

***

Christmas day is always pretty quiet here since we have so much NOISE on Christmas Eve. 

It was just the four of us plus Coach's mom and stepdad, and they usually head home around lunchtime. 

Lolo and I watched more Hallmark Christmas movies than should be allowed. 

I mean, why do they always make me cry? No wonder they're sponsored by Kleenex. 

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and New years.

Oh boy...it's 2015 people!