A Me Day

I spontaneously decided to flee the house on this beautiful day and see where my car would lead me.

I stopped by the Travel Agency (they weren't open) because I'm really trying to make my dream of going to Mexico during my off call time a REALITY. My cousin has a house in Sayulita that he said we can use (for a darn good price=practically free).

Then I went to redeem my Mother's Day gift: Mani/Pedi. Very relaxing and now I have some wild RED toes. Don't you like how I cropped the picture to exclude my funny little toes.


On my way to the mall I detoured to Lowes. I don't know why. Just because. Looked for pole beans and they didn't have any.

Then I headed to the mall with my other Mother's Day gift certificate to redeem at See's Candy. Oh mother load of chocolate and nuts! A whole pound just for me.

I headed to the Land's End section of Sears to return a swimsuit I had ordered. I was just trying to save the cost of shipping and lucky me, they had the same suit in the store so I got to find the right size and exchange it there. (side note: why don't they turn down the heat/turn up the air in the dressing rooms? That is hard work. Take clothes off. Put clothes on. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Wrong size. Put own clothes back on. Go out and find correct size. Do it all over again.)

Of course I found another outfit I had to have.

Then I walked the mall. Just for the heck of it. I perused Barnes and Noble and found a couple of new gluten free cookbooks. I'm really excited to try this one. I recently saw the author on Martha Stewart and her gluten free treats looked soooo yummy. Many of the recipes are spelt recipes. Not gluten free but easier to make.


Next stop: Grocery store, for items needed to try a new recipe I found on The Food Network. And they had pole bean seeds.

Then: Trader Joes, for more gluten free goodies. Quinoa, brown rice, rice pasta mac & cheese, almonds.

Also: Jo-Ann Fabric, for....dadadada....FABRIC. I'm going to cover the cushion on the bench that now sits on my front porch.

Now I have a long list of things to do tomorrow: Make a cushion cover, try my new recipe for dinner, plant beans.

I hope I'm at a birth, but if not I'll tackle that list.

Meet Annie!

Emilia and Annie

Amos being very jealous of Annie.

Annie is wiped out after hours of playing with Amos.

The girls and their puppies.
Emilia and Annie. Savannah and Amos.
(Amos is going crazy trying to get to Annie)

NO!

We did NOT get a new puppy. Emilia's dad got a new puppy and we got to puppy sit her for the day on Sunday. She is a 10 week old lab-shephard mix. She is sweet and Amos is crazy for her. We are trying to tell him that in just a few weeks she will be bigger than him (and she will continue to get bigger than him) then she will be pushing him around. She was a little stressed by our rambunctious dog at first, but as the day went on Annie learned how to keep Amos in check.

Our Backyard Addition

I love the flowers in my yard.

After three weekends of labor we finished our backyard project. I should call it the accidental project! One morning while I was away Mario began hacking away at this overgrown tree, which opened the door to our imaginations. With the brush and branches gone we found almost 20 feet of yard. It is all shaded, we've added the hammock and a couple of tables.

Unfortunately (because it was an accidental project) we didn't take "before" pictures. And the "after" pictures aren't very good, but we are very happy with the end result. The weather has given us a gift these last few days and since we finished on Friday night we have spent every free moment outside. We LOVE it!

Juice Taste Test

For a school project Emilia conducted a juice taste test. She asked us which juice we thought we would prefer before the taste test. After trying each kind of juice (apple, grape, orange), she asked us which was our favorite. It was nice that all the kids participated and had fun together.

Parker at Work

He really does have a job! Here is the truck he drives every day to pick up donations for the Vietnam Veterans of America, with goods that end up at our favorite thrift store, "Red, White & Blue". Go HERE to schedule a pick up and maybe you'll see my handsome boy.

All Because Of A Hammock

I guess the hammock is the reason we've been "remodeling" our backyard for the last three weekends. When we realized it wouldn't fit the hammock frame that we already had, we needed to find another place to hang it. The perfect location was hidden by brush and branches. Very soon it will be done. As soon as we lay the bark chips I will take pictures of the results. I'm excited to have about 20 feet added to my back yard. Oh, and doesn't Emilia look adorable chillin' in the hammock?

One Of My Favorite Things

Lilac's
The sweet smell of spring, and one of my favorite of God's creations.

I am lucky enough to have one tree in my back yard with large, succulent blooms that appear fairly early in spring. They remind me of my childhood. We had a purple tree and a white tree in our backyard. (I liked the purple variety best). I would pick them and fill my mom's house with their sweet scent. I would use them to fill handmade May day baskets that my friends and I would secretly place on the neighbors door.

Now I love it when I see the buds on my own tree and know that in just a matter of days I will be able to enjoy their glory. They don't last long, so I have been picking bunches every few days and filling my home with the sweet reminder of my childhood. Just today I went out to cut a few more flowers to refill the vases and noticed the brown petals appearing. The end of another lilac season is near. But something wonderful will soon be here in it's place!

Honor Roll!

Oh Middle School. It's amazing that we all survive it. It's such a rat race....friends, fashion, phones. Choices, choices, choices! I'm lucky that my kids haven't suffered too much through those two awful years of school. In fact most of them excelled academically and socially. Here we are, down to the last year and a few months of parenting a middle school age child. It will come as no surprise that this one may be the most difficult.

I'm proud to announce that her busy social life has not impacted her academic life. She has worked hard to get good grades and has made the honor roll two semesters in a row. One more to go! And if she makes it she's asked for a trip to visit Aunt Gretchen this summer. I think she deserves it!

Way to go Emilia! Keep up the good work.

Take Your Daughter to Work Day

Last year Savannah spent the day with Mario, but this year it was Emilia's turn to follow him around Neil Armstrong Middle School for the day. She got to experience school from the inside! She learned that gangs are scary. She saw only ONE cute boy! Then she got to write Mario a referral.

The Anti-Vaccine Midwife Gets A Shot!

I'm forecasting late nights by the fire outside, afternoon iced teas with friends, lazy afternoon reading in the hammock, the dog frolicking in the grass and cleaning up the chicken poop that's everywhere. At least they give us yummy eggs to eat.

Do you want to come over and play with me?

We've been mighty busy over here creating an outdoor space that feels happy:) I'm pretty happy with the results.

Saturday morning while I ran some errands my husband went crazy! I came home and he had chopped a whole bunch of our HUGE tree off, creating a whole new shady space for our hammock. I was thrilled that he used his strong muscles and got so much done while I was gone.

He really deserved this break.
(Yes, it's an apple and hot powder)

Then I decided to paint the hen's house....

While moving things around I stepped on a chicken poop covered rusty nail while wearing flip flops! Ay Carumba, that hurt!!!! But I kept on working. (Being the dedicated backyard fixer upper that I am) Mario mentioned something about a tetanus shot. Oh that. Hmmm..... well it has been 22 years since I've had one.

No way was I going to waste that beautiful Saturday sitting in urgent care to get a freaking vaccine. I don't even vaccinate my kids for hecks sake. I'd think about it and read about it and then decide. After 24 hours (and some mighty strong words of warning from others) I did my homework and decided that YES I would get the vaccine. Statistically I was going to be ok. But on the small chance that little poop covered nail did carry some tetanus, well that's some serious sickness that I didn't want.

Sunday afternoon I consulted with the Kaiser advice nurse. I had some questions and the sweet lady was patient with me. When I told her I don't go to the doctor much she said in the sweetest voice, "I can tell". They need to make a "Navigating Kaiser Permanente for Dummies" book just for me.

On Monday I consulted with my Naturopath, who concurred on my decision to get the vaccine. So I headed to the Nurse Treatment window (they don't even charge you to go in and get vaccinated) and got my shot. I was a little pissed that I wasn't getting just the tetanus. I asked for the Td, but the snooty nurse said they had to give me the Tdap, just to be on the "safe" side, since there was an outbreak of pertussis. Oh well.

Here's the ironic shot of the anti-vaccine midwife getting a shot


Oh, and one of the finished projects, our new fire pit area.
Did I mention how happy I am with how the backyard is coming along?
AND SERIOUSLY, I LOVE COMPANY.