Rain, Rain, Go Away...

It's raining, it has been raining, it rained over the weekend, it rained yesterday, it is raining now and it is forecasted to rain tomorrow.... (heavy sigh)....

Even with rain, we enjoyed our camping trip - spent a lot of time in the camper watching movies, but the spots of dryness in between were awesome! We went on some really beautiful ATV rides and enjoyed a few campfires, too. It was just good to get away for a bit!

The rain has been making the lawn grow way fast - and poor Tim hasn't been able to get it mowed yet! It is just about up to the ears of the Yorkies right now - ha! They don't like going out in the grass when it is wet, so there have been lots of "messes" on the patio (yuck).

And the rain seems to be planting weeds in my garden!! And they are fast fast growing weeds, too - I need to get out there and remove them if the rain ever stops. But, the good thing is I see lots of blooming things happening: 2 of my clematis vines have begun blooming (one burgundy, the other pale pink), blue iris blooming, blue & white columbine, and more. I'll get the camera going if I can find a sunny few minutes. Meanwhile, it is going to keep raining according to the weather guy.

Hope you are having sunny days!!

Planting done!

The backyard flowers are all planted!! Yippee! Finished on Saturday when it was a blazing 97 degrees--hard to deal with the heat when 2 days before that we were at 65 degrees, but I survived. All the hanging baskets and flower pots are filled with happiness. I planted several more columbine plants this year as my experimental one from last year has bloomed beautifully. Perennials are great!

Of course, I planted lots of petunias like always. Love those and they are so easy to take care of. Can't wait for my clematis vines to bloom - I see lots and lots of buds, so they should be stunning... I'll take pictures when the blessed event occurs.

This area is my "shade" garden - and I was fearful that nothing would grow there. Wow, was I ever wrong! Hostas are loving it, blue vinca ground cover, primroses and ivy - all flourishing. The great thing about perennials is that the 2nd and 3rd years they really take off!

The cutie in the picture below is Oscar, he is on fence patrol, keeping us safe from intruders, dogs, birds, butterflys, and any other moving creature.

Scooter is my garden watch dog - he gets almost indignant with me when I am pulling weeds. I've tried to explain that weeds are bad, but I've told him so many times to leave all the garden plants alone that he thinks I'm being bad when I pull up weeds! LOL Do you see that look in his eye, like he's ready to leap at me? ha! That would be 4 1/2 lbs of fierce and ferocious!!

Can't wait to see how it all looks in about 2 weeks!

Complaint day...

I'm grumpy, I'm irritable and I'm impossible to please today. The PAIN from the Invisalign trays has eased at long last (this is good and should make me happy). The weather has gone from 65 degrees to 97 degrees in 3 days (not so good, but shouldn't affect me here in my climate controlled cubicle). I'm not entirely sure what the problem is but I think it is going to get blamed on perimenopause....

A little background on me and perimenopause. It started for me around 40 with painful & heavy cycles, mood swings, hot flashes, weight gain... the usual. I had an endometrial ablation procedure that worked wonderfully for 5 years!! Five years without monthly "stuff" or pain. But since Christmas there have been issues and occasional spotting. Yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon and evening in the fetal position fighting off the worst cramps I can remember... Lots of ibuprofen, heating pad sessions and a sleeping pill had everything easing around 2AM last night. Unfair!! Unfair! I thought this was all taken care of with the ablation, but evidently (according to my doctor) I have sprouted a few non-cancerous polyps which are causing this. And, she says that unless there are serious problems, there is nothing we can do about it. So I'm thinking that I just have to tough this out... And, it is making me a grouch. Looking for the silver lining here - my husband gave me a fabulous foot rub last night and has promised another when I get home from work today. I've got that going for me, which is NICE.

On a happier note, I only have to work 4 days this week as we are going camping for the Memorial Day holiday weekend and leave Thursday night!! (Becky, don't start thinking of all the preparation work you still have to do to get ready to leave - or the happy note will turn sour!)

So, now that I have gotten the rant out I'm sure I'll be feeling just dandy any minute now! Sorry for all the graphic detail -- LOL

The first full day of Invisalign....

What is Invisalign?? It is a way of straightening and lining up teeth that is better than braces and supposedly less painful, definitely less obvious and hopefully will work fabulously for me!! I have several problems that need correction:

• open bite
• over-bite
• very crooked lower front teeth
• mismatched molars/bite

The Invisalign solution is going to be less expensive for fixing the functional problems (rather than have traditional crowns, etc on the molars) with the added bonus of lovely straight teeth! And, I won't have to have a retainer afterwards, the dentist is going to install a permanent fixture to keep the teeth in place. My case requires 15 sets of trays, that are worn about 2 weeks each. Hopefully in less than a year, it will all be finished and my smile will be awesome.

I am attaching the little graphic that shows how my teeth will be changed. It is pretty cool!

Now that I'm done sounding like a commercial, I'll complain! My MOUTH hurts!!!! waaaaaahhhhh! I had braces on my upper teeth back in the day and evidently my threshold for pain was much high then - LOL. I keep popping Advil and I know that by tomorrow it should ease up, but wow - it's making me a major grouch. I feel a big pity party coming on with lots of whining and woe is me... good thing I can get lots of puppy love when I get home, that usually fixes me right up!!

A Sad post for birdies...

A few weeks ago I posted about a Robin building a nest on our patio. My husband and I have watched daily as the robin sat in the nest, protected the yard from large birds and then hatched the eggs. Last Sunday, I saw little baby bird beaks waving around up there and the mama bird flew back and forth with worms for them. We could hear little cheep, cheep sounds in the mornings and I was looking forward to seeing the little ones when they were ready to learn to fly.

Well, the story took a tragic turn, when yesterday evening my husband found a Robin dead in the backyard. We weren't sure if it was the mama bird, what happened to her or how long she had been there. This morning, I checked and the baby birds were weakly chirping, but no mama bird was there, so I fear that the dead bird was indeed the mama bird. So, what to do....

My husband will get home from work today before I do, and I asked him to check things out and if the inevitable had occurred, to please remove the nest and remains before I arrive. I'm secretly hoping for a miracle and another mama bird to appear, but if you don't hear any more on this subject from me, then you'll know that my secret wish wasn't granted.

Here's hoping that this is the worst news you will receive today...

Mother's Day flower planting...

Time (finally) to begin planting flowers in hanging baskets and empty pots!! Yippee! I look forward to this all Spring and my husband took me shopping to get a few things "just to start" - ha Good thing he was there to limit my purchases, or I would have been planting things for 3 days.

As you can see - I had a little helper! Scooter was utterly intriged by all this stuff and had his nose literally right inthe middle of it all!!I can just about hear his thoughts, Hey! Did I authorize all this activity in MY yard? Did you ask me if you could do this? What is that, dirt? Does it taste good? Hey! Arf

By the time I had finished, I'm not sure who was more filthy, Scooter or me!! Actually, I think it was Scooter - he looked like the bad little boy that ate all the chocolate cake - ha!

All three dogs will be ready to help me plant the rest of the annuals (maybe this next weekend)! It is great to see everything turning green and soon there will be lots of color, too!

Victor's Hogs N Horns ride...

It was last Saturday and it was a blast!!! Pictures tell it all LOL

This is my good friend, Bonnie! She is also a quilting pal, ATV enthusiast and camping gal.I'm guessing they had about 300 motorcycles participating and the barbecue at the end was awesome. Proceeds went to the Wounded Warrior Fund. What a fun way to spend a sunny spring day!Whatever did I do before I became a "biker chick"?? LOL

The Pick of the Litter...

Saturday, May 3rd, there was a Hotrod & Motorcycle show at our local Harley Davidson Dealership in Boise. My husband decided he would take his 1941 Ford along with his 1951 Cushman Scooter (to be a "prop" for the car). The event was to raise money for the Humane Society, so dogs and dog-owners were there in great numbers... including the 3 Yorkshire terrorists that live with us!!

Tim commented to me that the Cushman Scooter seemed to be getting a lot more attention than the car, which he thought was very ODD! I laughed and said he should consider where he was - LOL. It was a pretty warm day, so I decided to take the Wee Beasties back home. Upon my return, I found a very excited husband holding a MAJOR AWARD from the show!!! As it turns out, the Cushman Scooter was voted as "The Pick of The Litter" out of the entire show - ha! He couldn't believe it (and neither could I) as there were lots of very nice high-dollar vehicles on display, but we now have this lovely dog-bone shaped plaque to prove it! ha Go figure.... Woof woof

I forgot the cord...

Here I am in my cubicle at work during lunch time. I'm all set to blog like the wind because there is lots to tell. I reach into my bag of stuff and get out my camera, but Alas!! I realize with a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach that there is no CORD in the bag. Phooey!! And blogs without pictures are just no fun in my opinion.

So, I guess I'll just make a list of what is to come when I get my act together with camera, cord and computer all in one place:

• the Pick of the Litter! (Hotrod/Bike show to raise funds for the Humane Society)
• Before and After -
• Victor's Hogs N Horns Ride
• Flowers!!

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day weekend! I sure did - the Wee Beasties (with the help of their Grandparents) gave me a gift certificate to Barnes & Nobles!! Awesome!! My husband took me to buy flowers to start filling my many pots and hanging baskets, so I spent yesterday morning up to my elbows in potting soil, flowers, empty pots and Scooter in the midst of it all. He was quite the "helper".

So - until I get that cord, that's it!!

the Five Fuzz...

Well - I read Sarah's blog and decided I'd give this a try, too!

Five things found in your bag/purse:
kleenex (allergy season is here)
SweetTarts
cell phone
needles for my Byetta pen
little black book

Five favorite things in your room:
it doesn't tell which room, so since I am in my cubicle, I'll do five favorite things in my cubicle!
iPod
candy dish
teddy bears
photo calendars (specially made by my sister & my mom)
Sweet Annie rag quilt hanging on the wall

Five things you have always wanted to do:
learn to ride a motorcycle (working on it)
visit Australia
see the Rolling Stones in concert
breed Yorkshire terriers
meet Harrison Ford

Five things you are currently into:
blogging
reading
quilting
planting flowers
learning to make teddy bears

Then - you are supposed to "tag" five other people to do the same thing! But, I'm copying Sarah's idea that If you read it, You are tagged!!