Orange is the new bad?

I found some cute little orange ladybugs on my eggplant bush last week.
Well, at first I thought they were cute...then I thought they might be malicious. 

I googled and I searched.
And by searched, I can only google because who actually does anything other than google when it comes to searching? Lazy who?

I found mixed messages.

Yes, it is a specific ladybug common in Florida.

~~~OR~~~

Yes, it is a specific PLANT EATING ladybug lookalike that will wreak havoc in your garden. Nothing in between. Dramatic who?

I still don't know for sure, but I'm not going to worry too much since they've NOT touched the actual eggplants themselves. 

So, are the little orange creatures eating the leaves or are they trying to eat whatever is eating my leaves?
Superhero OR Super-villian.

Time will tell. 

In 'for sure positive' orange news, my bird of paradise is going bonkers in a good way. 

Get your tickets, It's a double-header. 

Orange you glad I shared all this with you?

Happy Monday.
And by 'happy' I mean, we've all made it to see another week!
XOXOXO

Willy Nilly Friday~The "lets get back into a positive groove" version.

Joining Tanya and friends to share 5 willy nilly thoughts, photos or whatevers.
I'm a fan of the whatevers. 

1)
The reason we put up with the horrid, humid, melt your face off kind of summers is to enjoy the 2-3 months in the winter where our faces don't melt off.
Ok, we also put up with it because it's where we live, work and play.

*My face is fully intact right now...but I feel as thought it's going downhill quickly.
Summer is 5 minutes away!!*

2)
I refer to my gardening time as Therapy. And boy....was I need of some therapy after the few weeks that we've had.

I have both gardens filled up. 

This one I just finished yesterday.
{aside from the rosemary plant on crack that I butchered so I could walk into the garden}

 NOW GROW.
I mean, grow, please.
I really need to work on my demanding nature. 

I mean, my demanding OF nature.

This one is a bit more mature; I finished it on Sunday. {aside from the eggplant bush on steroids}

3)
We all miss Ozzie; but I didn't realize that Cocoa would miss him SO much. That's not to say she didn't love him; she did. BUT, they didn't really play...because Ozzie was not a player.
He was an eater, a sleeper and a pee-er. But, while doing all those things, he did them with Cocoa. She's been really mopey since he's been gone. 

I requested a play date this week with her friend Maya. 

I lovingly refer to Maya as The Sausage roll.

Sausage Roll who?

Who knew that I'd be worried about my dog's mental health?

4)
Lolo's Walter is doing well. She lets him get some climbing time in my house plant.

I use the word 'climbing' loosley. He's more of a I'm just hanging out kind of chameleon.
Yikes, my corn plant isn't looking so healthy. 

Oh joy...something else that is ailing???

5)
100% relatable

But if you call me moody, I'll put a hurtin' on you and your coffee filters. 

Have a fabulous weekend my people. 

XOXO

The upside of the {bad, dirty, no good} downside

Thank you all for your kind comments, emails and Facebook messages regarding our Ozzie. Making that decision was one of the hardest things I've had to do, but I know it was the right thing to do. 

Although our hearts were hurting, we were so thankful for the almost 7 years of him being a part of our family.  That was Monday.

Maisy and Ozzie napping on our leather sectional pet bed. Circa 2014 

On Tuesday I took Maisy {I refer to her as the 'crotchety' one}  to the vet because she wasn't looking so great and the Dr. confirmed my fears; she was in kidney failure.

Again, I had to make that oh-so-difficult decision to let her go. The vet thought we could 'try' some things that all required her being poked and prodded. 

The cat was not happy about it and since I know her well, I knew she'd rather NOT do any of that. 

The upside? She came to us via the humane society and she had a great life for almost 17 years. 

 Wednesday, my eyes were still swollen from all the tears, but the Coach and I decided to go and watch the college basketball game at the girls' school. As we were walking into the game, we got a call from Linds; she was off campus and had been in a car accident. She was fine, but her car was not. Being 19 and alone, she was hysterical too. 

The upside? No one was hurt, we have car insurance and we were so close by. 

 But the other downside of this? Since she is only 19, we were not able to rent a car for her while her car is being repaired. Back up plan: Coach's big Blue truck that he is going to restore in the future. 

It was comical checking to see if Linds could actually drive this; she's never driven a car that didn't have the drive/park shift on the console. 

She looked at the gear on the dash and asked: What's this??

She turned into a retro-redneck girl in a matter of minutes. 

The Wednesday prior, Lolo's beloved chameleon Zim passed away. Talking about being sad....she and I were both a mess. I fell in love with that cute little 'grouchy cat' looking lizard. 

Taking care of chameleons isn't easy, and females are even more difficult because they need to lay eggs. {even without a beau}

A few days after that though, a good friend of ours contacted us to say he had 'rescued' a chameleon. 

Lolo thought about it for a day {a big commitment} and decided to take him in. Meet Walter:

 See, another upside. Walter is a cutie pie...well, you know, if you're into that sort of thing. 

 We had a lovely weekend with friends who visited and I had a nice long therapy session on Sunday in my garden. 

I hope you are all doing well, feeling healthy and finding the upside in everything. 

Forever in our hearts.

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."

    -Billings

It was a long and difficult road getting to this point, but if we had to do it again, we'd do it just the same. 

He came into our lives with all the trust in the world.

He was consistently happy and easy and also my shadow. 

The only thing he did wrong was having bad breath. :-0

Mom, why does the cat get to enjoy my food, but I can't have his??

RIP our sweet Ozzie Boy!

XOXO