Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Its just a Phase
I am angry. I mean really angry. I'm so angry, that I feel sorry for those that have to deal with me. I know that this is one of those normal stages of grief but really, I hope it passes quickly. I DO have a lot to be angry about, and I should let myself just wallow in it but its so unproductive.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Ch-ch-ch-Changes
Sorry I haven't posted in 7 months...
I've been blessed with literally hundreds of friends that have shown me support through this time and they have helped me immensely. They have helped make a really sad time a little more bearable. My kids have also been a tremendous support. When your kids give you advice on marriage, and its clear that they 'get it', well that just lets me know that I'm not alone. While my marriage may not have been successful, it did produce 3 awesome kids! I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.
OK...enough of that... it is March 14 and it was 75 degrees today. The crocuses are blooming and yardwork is calling.
- I've been busy
- I couldn't remember my password to post anything here
- I have nothing to say
- I got divorced
- I've been busy
I've been blessed with literally hundreds of friends that have shown me support through this time and they have helped me immensely. They have helped make a really sad time a little more bearable. My kids have also been a tremendous support. When your kids give you advice on marriage, and its clear that they 'get it', well that just lets me know that I'm not alone. While my marriage may not have been successful, it did produce 3 awesome kids! I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.
OK...enough of that... it is March 14 and it was 75 degrees today. The crocuses are blooming and yardwork is calling.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Dog Days
So it is August and I haven't been here since June. Once again, life has interfered and I have been unwilling unable to sit myself down at the computer to compose something coherent. Truth is, I have nothing of interest to say. That right there, is it in a nutshell.
Anyway, since my last post, my yard has gone all wild and wooly and the sad part of it is, I just don't care. My yard has sprouted weeds that are slowly taking over the lawn. Whatever. My perennials all need dead-heading and the flower beds need weeding. Sure. I'll get right on that.
My tiny vegetable garden is slowly starting to produce some tomatoes and cukes. The cucumbers were intended to be pickled for the fridge but they end up turning yellow on my counter and then tossed in the garbage. I can't even bring myself to walk the things out to my compost pile. Lazy. I even have the dill growing in the garden for the pickles. Blah!
The Japanese beetles are abundant around here, like they are every year. One of my favorite early evening activities is to go and flick them off of whatever they're munching on, into a can of soapy water. And those little buggers are amoral. I can often find groups of them mating right there in public, on my flowers. They have no shame. So the whole lot of them go into the soapy water and drown. Good riddance to those sex-starved chew mongers!
That whole bit of wordy nonsense above is to illustrate that the dog days of summer are here, and we've all been hibernating in the air conditioning. Its too darned hot to go outside to even get the mail, much less weed the garden. One thing I've discovered while being inside is the website Pinterest. Its a neat little place where you can "pin" items of interest to your virtual bulletin board. The nice thing about this is that there are tons of things that you can keep track of, like recipes and DIY projects. And since they're "pinned" to your board, you don't have to print out anything and keep it lying around for future reference. Check it out. Its good for at least a half hour of browsing, anyway. And if you want to see what I have pinned, my user name is Annabelle26.
Maybe I'll get motivated and take some pics of my hot mess of a garden. It might make you feel better about your own yard. Ha!
Anyway, since my last post, my yard has gone all wild and wooly and the sad part of it is, I just don't care. My yard has sprouted weeds that are slowly taking over the lawn. Whatever. My perennials all need dead-heading and the flower beds need weeding. Sure. I'll get right on that.
My tiny vegetable garden is slowly starting to produce some tomatoes and cukes. The cucumbers were intended to be pickled for the fridge but they end up turning yellow on my counter and then tossed in the garbage. I can't even bring myself to walk the things out to my compost pile. Lazy. I even have the dill growing in the garden for the pickles. Blah!
The Japanese beetles are abundant around here, like they are every year. One of my favorite early evening activities is to go and flick them off of whatever they're munching on, into a can of soapy water. And those little buggers are amoral. I can often find groups of them mating right there in public, on my flowers. They have no shame. So the whole lot of them go into the soapy water and drown. Good riddance to those sex-starved chew mongers!
That whole bit of wordy nonsense above is to illustrate that the dog days of summer are here, and we've all been hibernating in the air conditioning. Its too darned hot to go outside to even get the mail, much less weed the garden. One thing I've discovered while being inside is the website Pinterest. Its a neat little place where you can "pin" items of interest to your virtual bulletin board. The nice thing about this is that there are tons of things that you can keep track of, like recipes and DIY projects. And since they're "pinned" to your board, you don't have to print out anything and keep it lying around for future reference. Check it out. Its good for at least a half hour of browsing, anyway. And if you want to see what I have pinned, my user name is Annabelle26.
Maybe I'll get motivated and take some pics of my hot mess of a garden. It might make you feel better about your own yard. Ha!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Victory?
We had my daughter's high school graduation open house Friday night and its such a relief to have that done. Not that it isn't enjoyable, it just involves so much preparation. Planning the menu, purchasing the food, sending the invitations, cleaning the house; that sort of thing. One big thing we needed to do was get the yard ready. The borders needed weeding and mulch, the grass was kind of dying in spots, and in the bare border spots, I needed to plant annuals. On Wednesday of last week, we placed 6 yards of bark in the borders, which took 5 of us just under 2 hours. It looks so nice! Besides mowing, it was the last thing we needed to do to the yard.
After a morning spent praying away the rain, and weather reports of impending thunder storms right around the time of the open house, we were lucky enough to have NO rain. We didn't have to resort to plan B, which was to put everything in the garage.
I had a lot of compliments on the yard from the guests and many were surprised that I was a gardener. One of them even mentioned (without any prompting from me, I might add) that our yard looked better than the neighbor's yard. Hot Diggity! I'm claiming that as a victory in the Turf War !
And now, indulge me. Look at my pictures. Thanks!
After a morning spent praying away the rain, and weather reports of impending thunder storms right around the time of the open house, we were lucky enough to have NO rain. We didn't have to resort to plan B, which was to put everything in the garage.
I had a lot of compliments on the yard from the guests and many were surprised that I was a gardener. One of them even mentioned (without any prompting from me, I might add) that our yard looked better than the neighbor's yard. Hot Diggity! I'm claiming that as a victory in the Turf War !
And now, indulge me. Look at my pictures. Thanks!
Look at those Fox Gloves in the left picture. Aren't they beautiful? They're a biennial so I planted them last year for blooms this year. And on the right, those feathery plants are called Goat's Beard.
Thanks for not mentioning the sparse grass in the picture on the left. These 4 pictures are all from the same area, different angles. I'm trying to be an ar-teest. (Not really, just wanted to get in as many flowers as possible.)
That Rhododendron bush in the corner is not doing so well. Its leaves are turning brown and there are just a few blooms on it.
Notice the string ornaments that Bethany made. She and her friend Kelly made these to hang from the canopies.
They also picked wildflowers to put in canning jars.
It was a really nice time, and nice to see so many friends and relatives. Whats really nice though, is that the yard is done, the garage and house are clean, and I can relax for a minute. I hope you find a minute to relax as well. Grab a beverage and go find a quiet spot to sit in, preferably outside, and enjoy the peace.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
The Reveal
So my bathroom has been done for about 3-4 weeks now and I haven't posted any pictures. Why? Pure laziness. Well, that and the fact that life has been going on at lightning speed around me. So just to refresh, here's what my bathroom used to look like:
Ah, the old upside down Scooby Doo towel. Martha Stewart would die.
Anyway, here's what it looks like now:
Ah, the old upside down Scooby Doo towel. Martha Stewart would die.
Anyway, here's what it looks like now:
I can't even tell you how much better this bathroom makes me feel. I'm not skeeved out everytime I go in there, and I'm not ashamed for other people to see it. Even Martha Stewart.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Gone
Yeah, I've been gone for almost 2 months. Not that I've been goofing off or anything and I certainly haven't been on vacation. We have a graduation open house in exactly 7 days and I'm overwhelmed. The to-do list doesn't seem to be getting anything crossed off and in fact, gets more added to it everyday.
Yesterday was a really hard day for me. I said goodbye to the people I've worked with for 25 years. I'm starting a new job on Monday working at the same hospital, just a different department. So its not like I won't ever see my old coworkers again, I just won't be working with them. We've shared a lot over the past 25 years: marriages, deaths of spouses, children, etc. So these women are a lot more like family than just people I work with. One in particular, Kate, has become one of my best friends. We both worked the exact same schedule for about 5 years so we got to know each other really well. Our last day to work with each other was last Sunday, and I knew that all day long but I couldn't bring myself to mention anything about it to her, because I was afraid I would cry. In fact, when I left that day, I just kind of casually said "see ya" like it was any other day. And then when I got home I felt bad, like maybe she thought I didn't care. So yesterday I bought a card and told her that I couldn't say goodbye on Sunday because I was going to cry, and that I would miss her terribly. I left it in her locker.
And then I cried all the way home from work.
Yesterday was a really hard day for me. I said goodbye to the people I've worked with for 25 years. I'm starting a new job on Monday working at the same hospital, just a different department. So its not like I won't ever see my old coworkers again, I just won't be working with them. We've shared a lot over the past 25 years: marriages, deaths of spouses, children, etc. So these women are a lot more like family than just people I work with. One in particular, Kate, has become one of my best friends. We both worked the exact same schedule for about 5 years so we got to know each other really well. Our last day to work with each other was last Sunday, and I knew that all day long but I couldn't bring myself to mention anything about it to her, because I was afraid I would cry. In fact, when I left that day, I just kind of casually said "see ya" like it was any other day. And then when I got home I felt bad, like maybe she thought I didn't care. So yesterday I bought a card and told her that I couldn't say goodbye on Sunday because I was going to cry, and that I would miss her terribly. I left it in her locker.
And then I cried all the way home from work.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Spring!
Isn't Spring the best? Seeing all of those perennials and flowering bulbs making an appearance in the dirt gives me a little thrill. Its more reassurance to me that things follow an orderly progression; gives me a little hope. This past weekend, my kids and I got to go outside and work a little in the backyard. We have this graduation open house in June that we need to prepare for so its extra incentive to get the yard beautiful, (not to mention that I"m in a fierce turf war with the neighbor!) We got about 15 bags of leaves and sticks raked up with a little more to go. And in my opinion, Spring yard cleanup is so much more enjoyable than Fall yard cleanup.
Yesterday I worked on the border next to the garage which I completely neglected last year. It has Hydrangea bushes, two Clematis vines and a Honeysuckle vine. That Honeysuckle came from a shoot I brought from my old house (the one I grew up in), and it is quite vigorous. (You can read that as it spreads like Wildfire!) Anyway, the vine was growing on a trellis and was so abundant that it bent the trellis to the ground. I spent an hour last night cutting the vine right back to the ground, and unwinding it from the trellis. The Hydrangeas were so huge last year and had just a few blooms so I decided to cut those way back too.
These were taken with my new cell phone so they're not the best quality, but you can see some improvement. I wish I had taken the picture before I cut back the Honeysuckle. My son Dylan is just happy that he won't get smacked in the head by it anymore when he mows the lawn.
Speaking of Dylan, he's become quite a good landscaper. He's also making mental lists of what needs to be done before this open house: new bark in the border, thatching and aerating the lawn, overseeding, power washing the deck, cleaning out the garage, etc. Such a good kid!
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