Before it's 2017....

We had a lovely Christmas season at the BusyBee homestead!

We were able to have many parties this year; celebrating employees, friends and family.
Honestly, we're SO blessed.

We were able to spend a lot of quality time with the girls; they even spent the night on Christmas Eve! I told them Santa doesn't know that they've moved out.

 The Coach and I at our company party; I'd say we cleaned up well for the night. 

We had over 120 people for this lovely event; it's so NICE to let our people know how they're appreciated!

The girls and I at our Company Party. They're the best kind of fun.

Our house partay one week later.

Linds, Dawn, Lolo and Suz---Dawn thought it would be appropriate to wear the table light decorations. Honestly....after all these years I don't even try to contain her enthusiasm. Nope.

Is it just me, or do I look angelic with lights behind me? I was hoping to fool everyone, especially Santa!

The Coach and his offspring. 

Sweaty Suz and her girls on Christmas Eve. I had my head in the oven for a while.....

 Cocoa on Christmas Eve wondering what she's done wrong to deserve this.

Funny story. We had our house party catered this year and it was a great idea! Hosting for 50 people can become hectic. The food that the chef prepared was delish and the staff cleaned UP the entire kitchen/bar area. We thought there were more leftovers than we found in the fridge. The next day we were scratching our heads trying to figure out where all the yummy meatballs went since we knew there were more than could be eaten.
Fast forward one week later on Christmas Eve when I opened up the (large side) our oven and found the pan full of meatballs.....but now they looked like a science experiment! There was much gagging happening as I had to clean out the pan!  I'll leave you with that visual.

Wishing all my blog friends a beautiful 2017 to come!!
XOXO

The birthday Girl~~She'll only turn 21 once!

I'm the worst blogger ever but I can't let the day pass without acknowledging one of the people who inspire my blog!
Our Linds turns 21 today!
She's such a feisty, fun, sassy and smart young lady! I'm proud to be her Mama!

 A lot of people say she's my mini-me....I truly believe she inherited my sassy gene. Poor thing.

 On her actual day of birth (the 27th) the Coach and I met her for lunch.....free ice cream?  Yes please.

She'll spend the evening with her friends and the next night we'll have a nice family dinner together.
Life is GOOD!

We're so blessed to have her in our life. Happy 21 baby doll!!!
XOXO

Getting ready for the Fat Guy.

Did you hear the news? No? There's a brand new Suzanne in town.
Actually, she arrived a few years ago. The less-stressed-less-crazed Suzanne.
Ok, on occasion the crazy Suzanne shows her face, but mostly she's all chill and laid back.
{hey, lets check her pulse and make sure she's still with us}

We had a great Thanksgiving. I had my head in the oven only for a few minutes....ya know, trying to rearrange those shelves, and I worked up a sweat. But I got through it with a lot of help from my people. It was a good day, but it seemed to fly by...back in the day we had a huge crowd and we visited, we ate, we played football and then ate again.
This year it was all visiting and the ONE meal, then bam it was over.
A small group of 10.

I had the trees up on Saturday. If you recall last year we were living in the midst of a huge renovation and we didn't get to decorate....so I wasted NO time this year.
I believe this time last year I was convincing my electrician to put an outlet on this sliver of a wall in the family room. (I'm short on walls, but big on GLASS!) I knew I needed a nice spot for our big tree and voila!

It's all turquoise, white, silver and pretty.
And it's got that personal touch of my DNA.
Relax....DNA = pictures of my girlies!

I add new pics every year and I'm thinking I'll continue doing that until someone demands that I stop.

And the sweet little tree has a nice cozy spot too.

This one is covered in homemade ornaments, pics of the girls and silly stuff, like Hello Kitty, GLEE and scuba diving bees.

And my newest addition is this lovely Santa that the Coach won   purchased at a charity auction last weekend. He (The Santa) and I made eye contact as soon as I entered the room.....he was to be MINE. 

I'm trying to decide what to name him....oh, wait, I'll name him Santa! I'm so original and he's so divine. 

And I know it's not nice to brag, but I've already sent out party invitations for the following weekend, sent out our family Christmas cards and I've got everything ready for our company party this weekend.

Ok, I just annoyed myself. 

I'm really on the ball this year and I'm hoping to enjoy every minute of the celebrations. 

Of course, there were some projects I 'wanted' to get to, but hey....a girl can only get so much done while NOT being a hawt mess!

You know that come Christmas Eve I'll remember that I forgot to finish my shopping though....that's how I roll. HAHA!

Are you ready for the fat man to visit? No, I'm not talking about your weird Uncle.

All the best! 

XOXO

Feeling the other side of the law, keeping up, fancy b-ball and lets cook!

Last week Lolo was pepper sprayed on Monday morning, then she was tasered on Wednesday.

How could someone do that to this cute little face?

If you didn't know that she was currently enrolled in the Deputy Sherriff's training program this would be an odd thing to share.  

Well, that up there is not her current face....and she hardly climbs into chimneys anymore; but it's still the face I think of when the thought of her being hurt arises.

A more current photo of her sweet face. 

I practically had the child wrapped in bubble wrap from ages 1-12; and this is what she does?

{FYI: She said she'd take the taser about a bajillion times over one pepper spray in the eyes.}

***

Since the weather has been nicer, I've been walking with a good friend several days a week. She's the same height as I am (short!) but she walks faster than I do. Honestly, I consider myself a VERY fast walker. But, my fast walking friend is wearing me out.

I finally figured out how to slow her down. We pick up garbage while we're walking. She thinks we're doing it to save the planet, and we are, but we're also saving my legs/feet so that I can function the rest of the day.

We're getting in about 3-4 miles miles each walk.

***

Right now the Coach and I are eating gobs of fresh romaine and arugula from the garden.
Don't hate; appreciate. But soon we'll also be eating gobs of fresh 'maters!
Ok, now you can hate.

***

Basketball season is upon us. We're big boosters of our local college and we love attending the basketball games. Our ladies team and the men's team are awesome! We had two games this week. The Coach doesn't do anything small or understated. Hot dogs? Burgers? Nah.......how about delicious food served in adorable little thingy-ma-bobs. And wine. Always good wine. 

***
I'm very excited about Thanksgiving! Actually, I might be overexcited and you know what happens then....
My Georgia people will arrive early next week; I'm ready to start the festivities!
I'll have an actual kitchen to cook in instead of the laundry room/office/craft room that I had last year.

Have I told you today how much I love my kitchen? I do. I REALLY DO!

Is everyone excited about Thanksgiving? Did you locate your stretchy pants yet? 

Have a bee-u-Tiful weekend. XOXO




Linking with Tanya and friends for Willy Nilly Friday.

Sappy, Sweet, Queens & Bloomers

Happy Veterans day to all our wonderful vets out there; many thanks for your selflessness! 



This past weekend while the Coach was away coaching, I ended up watching two Hallmark Christmas Movies.
TWO.
After all that sweet sappiness, I needed a good cleansing.
One episode of The Walking Dead did that.
I'm back to my regular self now.

***

One of my favorite sweet treats lately is smeared peanut butter on a banana.
And not just any regular ole Jiff or Peter Pan. 
The Coach and I think this freshly ground peanut butter from the Publix deli is the bomb.com.
I love it so much I'm thinking of committing bigomy and marrying it.

***

Everyone's all "Trump this, Hilary that" and I'm over here ooing and ahhhing over butterflies!
I had FOUR monarchs emerge one morning. I've had 7 total (as of Thursday) this week and they're all females. Seriously.....how are they even being conceived? I'm so confused.

I frequently spot Queen butterflies in my garden too; they're also fans of the milkweed. At first glance they could be mistaken for the monarch. 

A queen enjoying the milkweed. 

Anyhoo.....I've also found several Queen caterpillars amongst my monarch caterpillars this week. See, we can ALL get along just fine!

The queen caterpillar look almost identical to the monarch caterpillar;
the queen has an extra set of antenae. 

{{I noticed that my thumb nail looks so pretty up there. Don't let that deceive you, the rest of my digits appear that I've spread several bags of mulch, dug some holes for drainage and played with rocks in the garden this week.}}

***


Meanwhile, back in the big ole oak tree that houses a lot of my orchids, theres a mess of color happening. And a token sun-worshiping dog. 

Wishing everyone a stress-free weekend full of color, pretties and maybe a hallmark feel good movie? Just don't go overboard like I did.



Joining Tanya and friends for Willy Nilly Friday.

The Blue Bees, TV, Rebel with wings, Veggies and being the Christmas hostess with the mostess.

The Blue Bees

A while ago I'd read about Mason bees and what a great contributor they were for pollinating. They don't make honey or sting you....they just pollinate, pollinate and then pollinate some more.
I'd purchased a mason bee house and we were going to hang it....but then life happened. It's still sitting on the outdoor kitchen waiting. But seriously, I'm not in short supply of bees in my yard.....they are a plenty.
(Also, I've got a lot of the a**hole kind; the wasps, the hornets, the angry yellow jackets!)

Anyhoo....in one of my newer butterfly (milkweed) gardens I've noticed these weird looking BLUE/GREEN bees.
Me: "what are you and why are you always here?"
The Bee: "buzz, buzz, buzz"
I finally googled this because I was then worried they might be the carpenter Bee that my Aunt and Uncle had issues with this year.

Alas, this was NOT an issue.
The Blue Bee is a GREAT bee to have.
Actually, I'd hit the BEE lottery.
 They are Blue Orchard Mason Bees. They pollinate, pollinate and then pollinate some more.
And, they're lovely.

FYI: If you say BlueBees really fast several times, well, then you sound really weird.



TV
Has anyone been enjoying some of the new shows this season?
I'm particularly fond of This Is US (reminds me somewhat of Parenthood, but a bit deeper)
It's thought provoking and touching.

Also, American Housewife. This mama cracks me UP as does the Dad on the show. Great writing.



The Veggie Garden

I finished my veggie garden a few weeks ago and it's coming in nicely. My MIL gave me a beautiful Mum, some tomatoes and arugula. I then added more 'maters, red and yellow bell peppers, romaine and broccoli. This is the first time I've ever mulched my veg. garden and I'm hoping this alleviates all the cussing that I do because of the weeds.
Yay for less bad language.




Rebellious caterpillar
I currently have 10 chrysalis in my ongoing saving of the monarch butterflies.
Can you see this one in the pic? He/She is on the OUTSIDE of the container. When it was a caterpillar, it escaped a few times from the container. Seriously, I'd never have this happen before. So, the last time it escaped, I just left it outside.....I'm going to have a good 'talking' to this one in a few days when it's ready to fly. Rebel.

Christmas
It's only the beginning of November and I've already planned two Christmas parties.
I'm excited.
And whooped.
But mostly excited.
Last year we weren't really able to decorate for Christmas since we were living in half the house, I'm sooooo ready to put up the Christmas tree(s)!!

Our 2015 little tree with ONE lone ornament. 

Are two tree's enough this year? Gosh....I'm thinking I might need three.
Just kidding.
But really....three is a better number when it comes to design.














Have a great weekend!! I hope you're buzzzing with fun.

XOXO

Joining Tanya and friends for Willy Nilly Friday

The one where almost everything is flying.

*The Flag
For Coach's birthday the girls gifted him with a flagpole; he's wanted one for the yard for a long time.
(The black/blue flag stands for Law Enforcement support)
The clanking of the flags/straps/clips in the wind reminds me of being back in public school. I loathed school, but I find the sound of the flag clanging comforting. If I ever get to therapy, I'm sure theres a reason for this.

(I have no idea why two videos show up. When I try to edit it only shows one)

*The garden
My new-ish butterfly garden is coming in really well. But now I'm now wondering if I've put in too many plants? I need to do some trimming. FYI: It's a huge butterfly attractor for sure....but what I'm most surprised by is the amount of bee's that are always present.
I'm talking nearly eleventy thousand bees.daily. Yes, I counted them and I'm exhausted.

*The butterflies
I'm still busy making monarchs.
Ok, I'm not ACTUALLY making them, I'm assisting them to have life. I'm a life assistant.

This week I've had 5 emerge....all females. If some boys don't start showing up we're gonna be in trouble; the girls need the boys to make babies. Well, at least thats how it works in nature.

But....a few weeks ago I did catch these two in the act of love.
Butterfly porn....yep, it happens in my yard.

*I took the dogs out to potty after dinner one night and Cocoa decided to forgo the potty action and have a little siesta by the pool; Harley joined in a minute later. These two old (11 & 17) critters are best buds.

*It's been windy and kinda overcast all week and I LOVE IT. Really, we get too much sunshine around here.....I like a bit of a change.
Yeah, I just said that.
Also, the humidity is taking a bit of a break and the air has dried up a tad. Honest to goodness my skin felt it within 12 minutes. Death.Valley.Skin.for.SUZ.

If you need me, I'll be in the bathroom applying moisturizer.


Have a great weekend my friends!

Linking up with Tanya for Willy Nilly Fridays.

What's happening?

I've really gotta get on the blog ball again! I fell off and it's hard to get back on ya know? 

I suppose I should shop for a flat ball. 

Cocoa doesn't like to look at the camera....she might be superstitious or rude. 

Callie lives in a very large house with lots of napping options. Her favorite place? The 24" in between the couch and the coffee table. Dogs are sweet. And weird. 

We had a little party last weekend. Kinda for the Coach's birthday and kinda because we haven't had a party in a while. I was going into party detox. It appears that I'm strangling him with my love. And I am. 

It was fun to have both my girlies here for the night. Linds is doing great in school and loves her job. (She's working at a juice bar and was just promoted to shift lead.) She's also gone vegetarian and is feeling great! 

Lolo is in her 6th week at the Police Academy and is doing fantastic. I'm still in denial about it all and I'm working to change some laws. The first one will be that the police academy will last for 5 years instead of six months. Wish me luck. 

It's starting to cool off down here in SW Florida...and I couldn't be happier. 

On my agenda for the weekend is garden work, bathing stinky dogs, giving butterflies life and catching up on housework and my DVR. 

What's on the agenda for you?