Pinks and a pesty weed

The Dianthus "pinks" this year are full and beautiful. They may be small but their color is huge.

And this weed is a pest, it is not pretty, it is not cute, it is a PEST.... a twinging, stringy, pain in the butt and I have plenty of it. Do not let this grow anywhere!!

Sorry for the short post but I have to get the house pictures up on my family blog... it's been done for over 3 weeks already and I still have not updated. Come on over and check it out.

What a view

My sister and brother-in-law's backyard. What an outstanding view!! They live in the pines with no wind we live to the south with 100mph winds, they have mosquittos the size of small birds we have very few, they have a pond we have neighbors fields drenched with cow poop

Nephew's Wedding

Today was my nephew's wedding reception at his parent's house. The forecast was rain and chilly but the day was great. The sun was out all day and they are protected by the pines so it was warm enough for sundresses. It was a very nice reception for him and his new bride. "Do not marry the person you can live with... instead marry the person you cannot live without". Congratulations "M" and "B" the best is yet to come.

Today is also 15 years ago that my mother passed away. It seems like yesterday to us, the time flies by but there's not a day that has went by that I have not thought about her in some way or another. 15 years ago during her last days she still had us kids knowing who was the boss. On Wednesday we were all called home from work because they didn't think mom was going to make it though the afternoon..... it took us all too long to get there, she wasn't ready to go anymore. Friday we again got called home... it was time... again we took too long and we parked our cars all over the yard... "there's plenty of room to park, get those cars in line".... then Sunday morning dad calls us all home. We get there (parked our cars in line) and since we're all there together it wasn't the time to leave us. All the families spent all day eating, laughing, helping mom it was a long day but we all did it together. Monday morning mom decided to slip away in her sleep and not bother any of us to hurry home, we had been together the day before and that is what she wanted. I'll never forget that last week that we had with her, the worst week of my life and the best week of my life at the same time. She was a wonderful person that I never really got to know. Love you Mom!

See things differently

On my walks lately I notice the weeds growing along the ditches are so pretty in their own weed sort of way. They sway with the breeze against the blue skies and have a airy feel to them. Today I decided to stop and take pictures of the weeds hopeing to capture the way I was seeing them. I think this picture shows it all.

My new chair

I found a perfect chair for my entryway. I think I even squealed when I found it.... why?? It was $14, yes Fourteen Dollars!! It's in perfect shape and fits right inside my front door like it was made for the space. Wanna check it out.... here is my new treasure, you gotta love garage sale time.

Happy 18th Birthday Adam

My baby turns 18 today. This makes me very sad and very happy at the same time. No matter how old he gets he will always be my baby. There's a country song like that, it played on my way to work this morning and it's the first time I really listened to the words.... I picked the wrong day to do that!! Has anyone ever listened to that song??

Here is Adam with his pesty niece that misses him so much.... Shannon and Elly joined us with his birthday Pizza Hut supper.

Happy Birthday Adam, we love you very, very much. You are a wonderful young man but you'll always be my baby.... your sisters love that!!

Attached to my right arm

Tonight I picked up Elly from Daycare and she was attached to my arm the entire time. She was so happy to be here, she talked and talked all the way home. As soon as she gets here she has to put on her Dora work gloves, tonight we helped Grandpa pick up sticks in the yard so she needed her gloves. We sure did miss her around here after work, she's been a part of our life almost everyday for 5 years so it's kinda hard for us and her to get used to this new routine. She rolled around on the floor with Grandpa while he did his stretches, played hide and seek with Adam, begged to go for a walk to see the neighbors, and ate Popsicles. We love you Elly and we sure do miss you around here.

I love when her hair is in her face for pictures.... it would drive me crazy but it doesn't seem to bother her at all. This is how she sat with me every time we had to watch Grandpa cutting down branches. She was a little cling-on.

Senior Pics

Tonight I took senior pictures. I couldn't resist putting one of my favorites up here for mom to catch a sneak peak. I love how the sky is reflected in the window behind him, and you gotta love a red worn-out door. I don't know how many times I took pictures in this location and never seen this door. I quickly did a photoshop color pop and crop but that is it, the rest is just a cute kid standing in front of a great door on a partly cloudy afternoon.

Clean Garden Shed

Here's the clean garden shed. It makes me so happy to have it cleaned out again. The winter storage is very nice but during the summer it's great having it usable. Today John wanted a bed in there so he could go take a nap!! That will be the next thing I'll have to find at a garage sale. Someday I when I have nothing else to do I'll paint the inside so it's cuter yet.

So here's the inside....

and for those who haven't seen it.... the outside of my cute little garden shed.

Campfire

A nice night for a campfire and of course John spoiled us with the patio heater. Lynn, Jesse, John and I went for supper (yummy ribs) Adam and his buddies met us there too. Then later we sat by the campfire. We had a very good day working in the flower beds and cleaning the garden shed. That shed is so clean now we could eat supper out there!! Take a look at the campfire pictures.

Lynn said I could post more than 1 picture since I photoshoped them..... so here ya go

Here's our wonderful patio heater, I think we're spoiled with this!!

Beautiful sunset after rain showers

It rained some tonight which makes the flowers so bright. My peony is getting so close to blooming.

Then the sunset caused me to take about 30 more pictures.... but I'll only post one.

More flowers

Your going to get pretty tired of my flower pictures by the time summer is over.... or I'll tell you what they are and their names and you'll have a garden of your own by next year.

The first photo is "Snow in the Summer"

And a bonus photo of "Soapwort" which is the pink waterfall and the blue flowers to the left are "Columbine", "Catmint" and the yellow on the bottom left is "Sedum"

Blue Skies

Today was finally a warm day. I took 40 pictures of flowers blooming tonight. I have taken pictures of the same flowers year after year but I never get tired of it. I am always looking for a different angle... a creative eye.... a show stopping, blue ribbon winning photo. Not sure that will ever happen but it's what I like to do.

I was still in my dress clothes when I took these pictures so hopefully I can get the grass stains and pollen out!! As you'll see I was flat on my back like a bug seeing what they must see when they look up. I like it.

How about a bonus photo today? I couldn't pass this up since the sky was so blue.

I am an i-podaholic

I love my i-pod and now that I've found free podcasts it's even worse. I started off with music, then I graduated to tv series and then about 2 months ago I found podcasts... free. I am a podcastaholic. I can't wait to get out walking on lunch so I can listen to my podcasts, now Lynn told me the radio station talk show (that I can't get anymore so I cried for weeks) is available as free podcast on i-tunes, my lunchbreak is not that long!! There are 4 hours of Bob and Sheri everyday and I can't keep up. The other podcasts I love are photography related. I love to shuffle the songs between all the artist I have loaded, much better than having to listen to the entire CD before switching to the next one. I don't know how I ever walked without this little gem before but I'm sure I couldn't do it again. Just think we started way back with records and we thought 8 track tapes were awesome, then cassette tapes were fabulous, then CD's were the best....

Thank you again kids for my i-pod, it's a Christmas gift that keeps on giving and something I use everyday.

"Superstitious" Iris

I finally have a flower on my "Superstitious" Iris. I got this Iris as a small little single leaf from my sister Sharon during one of her trips to Wisconsin (I have to share with my other sisters and this time I got last pick or they know I'm not an Iris lover). I treated this one and the other 3 kinds that I had gotten from her like babies. It may have taken a few years but this Iris grew and got tons of flowers, it was getting to big for the area I had him in so I dug him up and moved him.... well they all rotted in the ground over that winter. So thank goodness I forgot a tiny piece still in the ground from the original place, it may have taken another 3 years but it finally bloomed again. It's so purple that it looks black. I think I'll leave him here now.

The other 3 Iris's - 2 did not make it at all, 1 bloomed "Glad Rags" and it was just as pretty and then the next year it was gone. I wasn't a Iris fan but the speciality ones are worth the effort, I just have to figure out how to plant them..... I know, I know... put their feet in the ground and their bellies in the sun. :)

Overgrown Path

Wanna peak at my overgrown path? I'm not sure what I'm gonna do to control this.... but it makes a great picture.

Happy Father's Day to all you Dad's. Hope you enjoyed your day!

Flower Power

Elly trying to draw the same flowers as Tia did.

She played so hard up at Great Grandpa Earl and Joanne's House this weekend. I have never seen her play by herself but today she did. She even explored the outside running from the fire pit to the house to the swings to the front door to the back door.... she never does this when I'm around. She has to have me by her side for everything.... but not today.

She must be a big girl now because ya' know she's 5 and then after 5 comes 6, then 7, then 8. Okay, Okay Elly stop!!

Cute Surprise

While in a meeting today I came back to my desk to a cute little surprise. Aren't they just the cutest cookies ever? I got them this morning and still haven't been able to eat them, maybe all my food should be cute! I might get skinny???? LOL

The Wisconsin Torch

Gotta have them this year.

The mosquitoes are terrible they love cold and wet weather and we have had nothing but soggy cold

The View

The house is rolling right along, the front (east side) is now done. It still doesn't look like my house to me. I spend my night after walking that over-grown flower path to the left of me gazing at the house.

Favorite Hat

I'm embarrassed to show you all this but it's part of what's happening so I have to. I have always felt my children's clothes are a reflection of me. Not so much the style of them but if they were clean, wrinkle free, smell nice, white is white, no holes in them. So this is diffidently a challenge for me to allow. John and I threatened that it better not be worn in public anymore.... I heard through a few people how they liked my son's hat. The hat was finally banned from his work by the boss, he's working in a kitchen for gosh sakes!! So I talk to him again about how he cannot wear that hat anywhere, it's embarrassing your mother. Everyone has bought him hats trying to replace this one and nothing has worked, we bought him this hat in Oregon when we moved Lynn and Jesse out there, he clinged to it like it brought them closer to him. It was so touching at first.... then as the hat wore it became cute that he didn't want to give it up... then it became stained and torn and the cuteness wore off... it became ratted and we diffidently have a problem.... it's from Target for gosh sakes Adam... it became un-recognizable as a hat, Lynn and Jesse are living back in Wisconsin so threats had to come next and they did I just can't tell you want they were on here!! Well about 4 weeks ago I got an e-mail from one of his teachers on how he left his "so called hat" unattended and it became lost. "WHAT he's wearing that to school, in school, in class, by people, in broad daylight????" OMG - I sent an e-mail back to the teacher begging him to throw it in the garbage.

Today was the last day of school and look what he came home with and his grin was ear to ear or shred to shred. So another threat came again tonight "Adam you seriously cannot wear that thing outside this house or even in this house ever again" "I will take away your bed, make you sleep on the floor and get you up every morning at 4am with your father during summer vacation if I ever hear of you wearing that hat again" There, that ought to do it, mess with a teenagers sleeping and they crumble!!

Now take a look at my punk under the so called favorite hat.

And just for those that want a closer look here's two more photos

Guess who drove out the driveway tonight with his hat still on??

What am I going to do with this kid?? And I was so close to this being in the garbage.

Sunday

Not much to say just a photo of one of the flowers from the wedding. The brides mom gave us these for the holders to use again. The flowers are beautiful.

Looking down

I walked into Elly's room today and looked out her window down at the patio. It was raining so the garden was so green and vibrant. I had to grab the camera and take the picture right through the window. In the spring my colombine, false indigo and blue flax are the only things blooming and they are all blue so it was a sea of green and blue down there.

Trash to treasure

Got any old light fixtures that hang from the ceiling with the pull chains? Flip them over and use as a base to hold flower heads. We used these at the wedding we decorated for this weekend. I think they are so cool

Alum Flower

Short post since I'm waiting for the auditors to prepare for the closing meeting. I took a picture of the flowers on my desk. It is a Alum which is like an onion. I bring flowers with me to work almost all summer. I spend so much time here that I need to enjoy the flowers from my garden and I think others enjoy them as well.

MIA - If I don't get to post for the next couple of days it is because we are again decorating for a wedding. Long days and nights are ahead of us for the next 4 days. I'll take pictures each day and post when I can.

Weak Knees and Heavy Heart

I'm going to get a little deep so all those who may shed a tear I'm sorry. Last week a friend of mine received the worst phone call a parent could possibly want. Their son (who is an adult) was rushed to the emergency room with only minutes to spare of him losing his life. To make a very long story short and to protect their privacy I will not get into the details. All last week we prayed and kept that family in our thoughts hoping for the best. The father returned to work this week after his son was released from the hospital. The first moment I seen him my heart felt heavy and my knees weak. He looked at me and I at him and the only words I could muster were "I'm so sorry". He nodded his head and said thank you. He reached for my hand and asked me to join a group of people at the popcorn table at 9:15. I felt all the pain pass through him and into my hand, it was the weirdest feeling I had ever felt. I continued to feel pain in my hand for at least 15 minutes. I knew how hard it was to come back to work with news that you felt you needed to share with your work family as I had done this 5 years ago after Memorial Weekend. I know now my story included a life, a new beginning, a precious little girl and not a death or sickness. My work family said "Congratulations Grandma" after hearing my story, I expected something else, I'm not sure what but they were all very supportive. I will remember that day in my head for the rest of my life.

The time ticked by so slowing for the next hour and a half, my mind was swimming in thoughts as I prayed for my knees not to give out as I walked back to the popcorn table at 9:14. The story I heard immediately brought tears to my eyes as the father broke down telling us what had happened during their first hours and days after reaching the hospital where their son is fighting for his life. My tears continued and my heart felt as if it was bleeding for him as he fought for the words to come out of his mouth. His son has a long road ahead of him along with his parents as their college student is back home again relying on their love and support to help him through this difficult time. I cannot begin to imagine the pain and suffering they have went through as parents. So now is the time to give your kids a hug, support them as they grow into young adults helping them to make good decisions in the rough world that is out there. Educate them about good decisions of their own and others that may not care about their safety when it comes to "having a good time".

Now after I write this story I'm not sure this is a good picture but it's late and I don't know what else to post since it's Self-Portrait Tuesday. My thought was my work clothes, heavy heart, weak knees and the weird feeling I had in my hand all in the same photo. Now I can't see that at all but this is what I got.

Fun Night

Tonight I took engagement pictures for a friends son and his beautiful faience'. They are the cutest couple, I haven't had the chance to take such fun photos in along time. I couldn't help but play with a couple of them before I hit the hay. I couldn't just chose 1 for my POTD so since it's my blog I posted more than one.

And I got a new front door and the skin on one side of my house, how could I not post those pictures too. This is hard choosing just one so once again I'll post 3, it is my blog right?

The north side with it's new skin

What I've been waiting for..... my new front door

Check it out!!

Here's the glass up close. I love the sparkle it gives with the light and the flower colors bounce all over the glass.

Summer may be here

Today was so nice, as soon as we woke up the windows were open, shorts on, radio speaker in the window, and we were outside. I attended a bridal shower for my niece for a few hours and then back to the outside ending the day with a fire in the pit. What's not to love about summer?

And of course it's almost over for the dandelions they are so cool to photograph but a pain in the gardens....