Mom's turn:NEAT!!!

Okay...I've been wasting too much time on the computer while I've been down. This is a picture from our South Beach Florida vacation this summer - I thought this was facinating! It's the simple things that can entertain me while I'm bored :-D

Water Effect by Crazyprofile.com

Mom's turn: ON THE MEND

Well – I went to the doctor for my post-op check up and to get the stitches out. He commended me on what a “good girl” I had been during my recovery time because my foot looked so great…who was I to correct him *grin*

Okay – honestly I have tried to be good:

I have rested,

and slept,and rested,and changed views,and rested more…till I was tired of resting and Samson said “enough”!!There is only so much laying down that one person can take!

So with stitches out the doc gave me the “okay” to get the foot wet. I came home and my darling hubby made a foot soak for my piggies…ahhhhh, that felt great! Can I run yet??? Um, that would be a NO! So the frustration mounts as I rest some more.

Beetle Invasion

Green June beetles are probably one of the prettiest beetles I have ever seen. They are iridescent with fuzzy antennas.The iridescent color works wonderful for camouflage.Their scientific name is Cotinis nitida (Linnaeus). The Green June beetles do not have good eye sight and often run into things. This is when you might notice them by their loud buzzing stopped short because they have run into something. They are about one inch long. The green June beetle is a relative to the brown June beetle, but it is bigger and more colorful than its cousin. We enjoyed them while they were here (which was actually during late August and not June as their name would imply), but I don’t know what the dogs thought about them.

Mom's turn: Dinner Delicacies

Whoever says simplicity isn’t good enough has never had dark chocolate m&ms with a fabulous glass of chardonnay wine for dinner!!! That’s MY idea of cooking…CHEERS.

Samson the Yorkie-retriever...

My darling daughter thought it would be fun to play fetch with my FIL's big golden labs in his pond. Well...not to be out done, Samson quickly let her know that he could fetch just as well as the big dogs!!! Being both the tosser of the pinecone and the videographer proved to be tricky though ;-)

My Grandmother's Old Fashioned Garden

Written By: Unknown
Copyright Unknown

My grandmother dear
Has a garden,
Old fashioned and quaint
As can be
The flowers so rare,
That none can compare,
'Neath the plum and apricot
And cherry tree.

Would you like me to
Show you the garden?
Then follow me now
And we'll go
'Round the old grape-vine arbor,
Back of the walk,
Where the birds and the butterflies
And flowers grow.

The daisies and lilies
Are telling
Of grandmother's kind,
Tender care
Sweet william and peas,
Heliatrope and heartsease,
And violets, modest
'Tho fragrant and fair.

I still long for
My grandmother's garden;
With hollyhocks,
Stately and tall
And sometimes in my dreams
I see her, it seems,
My dear grandmother
Standing there close to the wall.

In my grandmother's
Old fashioned garden,
There are flow'rs
Of every hue
Daffodils, pansies,
And hyacynths
And old fashioned pinks
Are there too

I belong to
My grandmother's garden,
I was picked
From the family tree;
So out in my grandmother's
Old fashioned garden,
If you come there
You will find me.

Mom's Turn:How Does Your Garden Grow?

My husband has a passion for gardening and landscaping! I’m lucky; he does all the work and I reap all of the benefits. Thankfully we both have the same love for the old fashioned perennial types of gardens (floral, productive, and low maintenance once established – for ideas, click here), and square foot gardening for the food. He has his own personal library of books full of ideas and techniques, but my favorite is The Old Fashioned Gardner. This is what I leafed through, snuggled in the magic purple quilt of course, while I was enjoying the beautiful morning air, resting my healing foot, and admiring my husband hard at work. We have a pretty good base start for the landscape on our new house,

note the unique growth of "shampoo ginger" - science progect posting soon about that

but of course he has all sorts of his own ideas to improve things. I can’t wait!

He starts by canvassing the neighborhoods for grass cuttings, leaves, and pine straw that other people conveniently bag up and throw away.

He definitely takes to heart the Swedish proverb, “Den enes död -- den andres bröd.” Translation: "The death of one -- the bread of the other." Or more common in the US:"One man's trash is another man's treasure." These all go into his ever-growing compost pile that he measured, yes I did say measured, the temperature to be a toasty 165 degrees Fahrenheit. And he says I’m a nerd with my biking gear. Hmph, nothing can compare that!

our everpresent "helper"

Then he built the area up to get the perfect raised and leveled bed so that it would drain properly.

He used 4x4 timbers, a laser level, concrete rebar rods to secure the timbers, and crushed limestone around the outer edges for the finishing touch. To get the ideal soil for the crucial growing conditions, he adds a mixture of bone meal for the phosphorus (yes, actual ground bone) and blood meal for the nitrogen (yes, actual dried and powdered blood) to help balance the nutrients needed. Then he tops this off with the compost that has “cooked” to a beautifully rich, dark soil turning it all under with a shovel. One concern is that the mulch he primarily uses is oak leaves, an abundance in the South, and they can make the soil acidic. To offset this, he will probably blend in some lime, but first he will take a soil test. He takes his gardening very seriously!
Plans for the yard lay in wait for the Fall weather to come, but his ideas include blackberries, blueberries, fig bushes (LSU Golden, as they discourage the birds with their lighter color), grapes, Natchez crape myrtles, and plenty of herbs and other perennials to compliment the treasures already hiding in the flowers.

not all snails are harmful...pretty little copper treasure we found on a hidden yard faucet

Until then, we’ll enjoy the limited productivity of our potted basil with some homemade pesto and dream of what the future holds.

he cooks, too...I'm so blessed!

Mom's Turn: Cleaning Challenge

Okay – a friend of mine did this on her blog as a “summer cleaning challenge”…but I’m a little slow, both in house work and blogging, so here is my effort morphed into a "fall" cleaning challenge.

My ever-present supervisor

I was inspired by my impending surgery and the need for an uncluttered bedside table – as that was where I was going to spend the next several weeks!!

BEFORE - what have I gotten myself into!?!?

AHHHHH, relief. I feel like I can take on the rest of the house - maybe after a nap

This has been fun – nothing like showing the world your mess to make you more accountable to clean it up! On to the next project…

Decorations!!

Every since we have moved into our new house I have been so exited about decorating it for special occasions like Halloween and Christmas! But now we can’t find all of our decorations from the move and Halloween is upon us! Soooo, I went in Paint on my computer and made new ideas using simple cheap stuff. I tried using pictures of our actual house, and so far this is what I have done. Tell me what you think and make suggestions!

Still working on this "real" part of this idea...

Mom's turn: He Makes Me SMILE

The captor of my heart

There’s nothing quite as special as innocent, undemanding love. No matter what my mood is, when those adorable, melt-my-heart, brown eyes look up at me I smile.

pleeeeease pick me up

LSU ROCKS!

waiting patiently by my feet

He thinks he’s a person…well, a prince really! ALL pillows are subject to his claim – it is assumed they were laid out especially for him.

The story of the "prince(ss) and the pea" come to mind

Then there is “the bone”…if I didn’t know for sure I’d swear they were made with some sort of doggy-nip in the middle!

He loves to play chase with it, and only after about a month of that does he deem it worthy to chew.

And as handsome as he is – well, we all have our “bad hair” days.

Somehow he seems to be smiling in spite of it…there is a lesson to be learned from that, I’m sure.

I know I'm still adorable - life it good

He shares my joys, pain, sadness, and heart so completely it’s hard to believe he’s covered in fur.