Shania and I have something in common

 (Picture from Internet)

I read this morning that Shania Twain had a fall walking on stage at the CMT awards last night.  If you're familiar with country music you know that Shania is beautiful and very talented.  So you're probably wondering what on earth I might have in common with her?  Well, I had a fall yesterday too.  I was traipsing through one of the stores at the mall when my toe caught on something and I just started lurching forward and ended up flat on my tummy.  It wasn't a pretty sight.  The good news is that I'm okay, nothing broken and actually something good may have come out of the embarrassing moment.  I had been having severe back pain for the last few days to the point of waking through the night in discomfort.  Today, the left arm hurts from trying to soften the landing and my right knee hurts to touch it, but my back feels somewhat better!  As for Shania, I read that she wasn't hurt much either, but may end up auctioning off her stiletto shoes! 

In other news today, I see that new research shows that sitting for long stretches at a time may be just as harmful to your health as smoking.  That made an impression on me as I've been sitting too much and used to sit at work for 8 hours at a time except for an occasional break.  Here's the article  here  if you'd like to read it.  I guess we can allow ourselves to get stressed out over these health reports that pop up all too frequently and we all know that stress is not good for us either.  I wonder about those who sit too much and smoke too?  Okay, getting off my chair now.  Time to trudge downstairs and do laundry.

Until next time... 

How does your garden grow?

This will probably be the only veggie left standing in our garden this year.  Hubby discovered late yesterday that some little critter was devouring my cucumbers.  The other things we've planted haven't fared well with all the rain.  Our garden doesn't drain well.  Next year I hope we can try some raised beds.  With a tall fence around them!  Or just forget the whole thing, except for the tomatoes which usually do well, and buy from the local Farmer's Market.

So far I'm having much better luck with the flowers.  However, that is subject to change, I know.  We will have to make sure they are watered when needed and in this current heatwave we're experiencing, that is every day.   Everything is looking good at the moment.

The same flower bed.  The top photo is looking up toward the tomato garden near the house and the next is looking down from the tomato bed.  Because of our walkout basement, the ground slopes on each side of a retaining wall.  Our patio is almost the length of the house and 24 feet out and it can hold a lot of flowers so I have almost 30 flower pots on the patio that require a lot of watering in this heat! 

Wave Petunias 

Verbena

Stella d'Oro 

The above Stella is in a different flower bed, but I do have Stellas in the above garden also, besides the Wave Petunias and Verbena, there is a Black-eyed Susan, Delphinium, and Knockout Rose.  There is a type of Spirea that we transplanted from a row we took out of the south side of the house.  

Anyone having problems with posting photos in Blogger?  It  has taken forever to upload and I can't post photos side by side as I once did.  Maybe I should go back to the old Editor?  If you have a better way of putting photos on your blog, especially side by side, please share your knowledge!!  Thank you!

Until next time...

Of Cicadas, Rabbits and Realizations...

Of Cicadas - They were very noisy last weekend at the little country cemetery where my relatives are buried.  I saw them crawling all over the tombstones and trees in the cemetery yard.  The photo above is a shot of one on a tombstone with his bulging red eyes.  Cicadas make their appearance every 13 years and the high-pitched buzzing sound you hear is their mating call.  Once the eggs are hatched, the baby Cicadas crawl back underground to hibernate another 13 years.  They feed underground on the sap of trees.  Thankfully, their appearance only lasts a few weeks.  We haven't had many of them in our yard yet.

Of Rabbits...The little critter in the collage above has been dining on my vegetable garden.  I see him hopping merrily along toward the garden nearly every day.  I haven't had the heart to do much about it, but I do think I'll try sprinkling some cayenne pepper on my plants to see if he'll leave them alone.  At least the deer haven't made their appearance yet this year!

Of Realizations...Okay, call me slow.  But as I was looking at some of my recent cemetery photos and shots of dates on the tombstones of relatives, I was doing some math and noticed that my paternal grandfather was 3 years younger than both his wives.  I never really thought about the ages of my grandparents at the time of their marriage and I don't recall my parents ever mentioning that fact even when I announced that I was marrying a man nearly 3 years younger than myself.

Here's an interesting story, at least to me.  Grandpa, as I called him, was married to his first wife and had a little girl named R.  His wife died at age 34 when R was 3 years old.  He then married his second wife, who had also been widowed and had a little daughter named L who was about 1 1/2 yrs younger than R.   So the two, each with a daughter, married and a few years later had a son who was my father.  To make things more interesting, when the two girls were older, they married brothers!  So the two girls who weren't really sisters ended up being sisters-in-law!  Confused yet?  They were my father's half-sisters, though, and as my father's older sister was 11 years older, I'm sure he must have been quite spoiled.  Another interesting tidbit, my 3 years younger hubby's birthday is the same day in September as my grandfather's.  

I had to put in a photo of my kitty, Stormy, in the collage.  She was front and center when my daughter was opening her birthday gifts recently.  She had a blast playing with the ribbons and hiding in the bag.  And she's now waking me up every morning by batting my mouth with her paws so I'll get up and feed her.  So much for sleeping in.

Until next time...

Goodbye May...Hello June

 

The beautiful scent of the peonies still lingers in the air or maybe it's in my imagination.  Peonies are beautiful while they last, like all spring flowers.   The scent of honeysuckle is now beginning to mingle with the peonies and is also one of my favorite floral scents.  We have a row of honeysuckle growing on a fence by the retaining wall that is alongside our patio. 

The cemeteries were beautifully decorated this Memorial weekend.   Many graves have peonies blooming near the headstones.  The scent of the flowers followed us as we made our way around the cemetery decorating my parents, grandparents and brothers gravesites.  Hubby's parents are in a different cemetery and we stopped there to leave our flowers, too. 

We braved the traffic on Interstate 70 Friday and drove to Kansas City to see our son's new place.  He came to our house Saturday for the rest of the weekend.  We had a great time visiting and eating grilled kabobs and brats.  Son smoked some ribs, too.   He brought his golf clubs and practiced hitting a few balls over the trees in the back 40 6.  We played our usual card game and the gals got soundly beat (again) most of the time.   We did manage to win the last two games.

All too soon the weekend was over.  And so is the month of May.  Hubby started the hot weather schedule at work this week which means he'll go to work at 6 am and get home at 2:30 pm.  The weather has been getting hot and humid here.  It even seems hot in the house at times with the central air running day and night.   We got most of the flowers planted that have been awaiting drier weather.  I just have a very few left to do and hope to get them in tomorrow.  In the vegetable garden, my lettuce is almost ready to be picked for eating, but the spinach is looking sad.  I don't know what happened to it.

June will be a busy month.  I'm hoping that the bathroom project will get done sometime this month.  Or at the very least started.  We have an anniversary coming up that I will talk about later and our son has a birthday later this month, too.   What are your plans for June?  Do you have special projects or a vacation lined up?

Until next time...

One more weather post

I hope that this will be the last weather related post for some time to come.  It goes without saying that our weather in this town has been minor in comparison to the devastation left by tornadoes in other parts of this state and others.  

This photo was taken by my son on his Blackberry somewhere near here Tuesday.  The old windmill made the sunset interesting, I thought.  And the huge cloud is a warning of more bad weather heading in. 

I took this photo looking northwest from my house Tuesday evening.  There was a long line of these droopy looking clouds hanging in the sky.  I'm sure there is a name for these, if someone knows maybe you'll let me know?  They were certainly unusual looking, this photo doesn't really do them justice. 

 

                     

This photo was taken of clouds over Kansas City Wednesday around 1 pm.  This was sent to me by email and possibly was tweaked a bit...who knows...but it is certainly interesting.

Finally, this photo was taken over Columbia yesterday in the northwestern sky. 

We had reports of a funnel cloud in the sky spotted just 2 or 3 miles north of our house.  A funnel cloud was also spotted near where my daughter works.  We had quite a lot of rain last night, but no severe weather damage that I'm aware of.   

I do not know who took the last two photos, they were sent to me by email.  If they belong to someone who does not want them on this site, let me know and I will remove them. 

Until next time...

What is going on?

 

Just a brief post today.  This was the weather coming our way in central MO last night.  Can  you guess that I didn't sleep very well?  And today's weather has even been worse with reported tornadoes in many areas of the state, including around the KC area, Sedalia, and the Jefferson City and Lake areas.  We had the sirens going off in our town this afternoon, too.  Fortunately nothing severe took place here.   We did have heavy rain for a time.   I hope that our friends in other parts affected by these storms are safe.  It's been a busy day watching the weather both online and on the tv and going to the basement twice.  Better safe than sorry as they say.  

Yesterday, tornadoes killed folks in Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma.   And possibly one in Texas.  It has been a dangerous spring thus far.  Joplin, MO has been on the national news with the devastating tornado there.  Please be in prayer for those in the Joplin area and others affected by tornadoes.   I hope our blogging friends in the tornado alley will let us know they are safe! 

Until next time...

A birthday coming...

A daughter is a gift of love.

- Author Unknown -

 

 My daughter, Kim, will be 39 this week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

How can it be?  It only seems like a few short years ago when

she was outside playing with her dog and kittens.

And sneaking strawberries out of the garden.

 

 Before I knew it, she was in school and busy with softball, 

basketball, and cheerleading.

Her hair is darker now and the cheerleading,

basketball and softball playing had to come to an end.

She injured her knee and had arthoscopic surgery

and the doctor said NO to running or jumping.

She went to many of her brother's games to cheer him on, tho.  

Kim was an Honor Roll student and went on to college.

Kim and her brother, Brett

This photo was taken several years ago.  And

my son didn't have a beard, it's a shadow.

My daughter got married while in college to her

high school sweetheart.  They were married 13 years but,

sadly, it didn't work out and now she's single again.  At 

the present time, she's living at home with us and we enjoy

having her around.  Our Kim loves to talk and always has

stories to tell about her "kids  ".  She graduated from college with a 

major in Child Development and has been working around children ever since.

Currently, she is the director of an Early Learning Center near here.

 Here we are, the proud parents of our baby girl.  She has always

brought joy to our lives and we are very proud of her.  And I'm

proud to say that she's not only my daughter, but also a good friend.

We can talk about anything together and we do!  She is sweet and

charming and has a terrific personality.  A real pleasure to be

around.  And we love her very much! 

A daughter is a little girl who grows up to be a friend.

  - Author Unknown-

My daughter graciously consented to having her photos put in this post.  Next month is her brother's turn.  His birthday is about a month away so I'll have to be working on him to allow a photo or two also.  Shhh.  Don't tell him that I sneaked one of him in this post, although it is an older photo he hasn't changed all that much.  Now as far as hubby's and my photo...LOL...we look nothing like that photo now, of course.  You know, it was only taken nearly 39 years ago and there's been a few many changes.  

It is Sunday night as I prepare this post and the weather has been very stormy in our area and other parts of the state.  I've heard that Joplin was hit by a tornado and possibly other places and I'm waiting for more news from those areas.  Hubby got called to work several hours ago.  For those who may be new to reading this, he's a rural electric lineman.  Thankfully we have power in our small town.  It seems like it rains more often than not, lately.   Our son just texted me from the airport in Dallas where they are delayed again due to the weather.   Hope the weather is good wherever you are!

Until next time...

Hair talk...

Do you or don't you?  Use hairspray, that is.  My hair is super fine and if I don't put on a little hairspray, it won't hold  a style.  I don't really like the stuff and especially now that they've seemed to change the formula in my brand to a more sticky, gooey concoction.   Once it's dried, there is no way my hair will move even if the wind is blowing 50 mph!  :D  I wish it didn't have that "sprayed" look or stiffness, but it's that or limp hair. 

The photo on the left is a little more styled with a mist of hairspray to hold in place.  Hair on the right is in need of a style and spray.  (Why my wall in the photo on the left looks dark, I don't know.  It is the same wall as on the right.  The lighting was different I guess on the two different days these were taken.)

These are the necessary products that keep my hair in place.  My daughter says the two in front are less likely to be sticky and heavy, the two in back leave clumps of what we call glue in the hair.

Maybe I just need a new hairstyle!  A friend of mine wears her hair super short and doesn't have to do much with it.   I wish I could wear that style!   Or some gals wear their hair long pulled back in a low ponytail and it looks good.  That doesn't look good on me either.  So I guess my question today is...do you wear hairspray and do you have a good one that holds a style with out appearing too glued together?   Do you have fine hair like me or do you have that lovely hair that holds a style?  If you are, ahem, older like I am...do you find that your hair is less manageable than it used to be?  Or do we even care what our hair looks like as we once did?

I know...a lot of questions.  But I'm really curious about hair today.  Especially since summer and the accompanying humidity is right around the corner and that affects the hair, too.   Hope you'll let me know how you manage your "do".

Until next time...

Full Moon

I just happened to look out my kitchen window and saw the moon beginning to climb up and over the tree line.  So I grabbed my camera and hurried out into the chilly night air to get a shot.  The color was just as it appears in the photo above.  I did use my zoom to get a closer shot.   Did you know the May full moon is named the Full Flower Moon?  It is so named because in most areas in May, flowers are in abundance.   Each month's full moon has a name and here is the list if you'd like to know more.  Don't you just love a full moon and the way everything looks at night bathed in moonglow? 

Until next time...

A busy time of year

Hello everyone...I didn't intend to stay away so long, but the days flew by and before I knew it I was 2 weeks away from blogland instead of one.  The days were mostly very busy ones.  Outside work and shopping for flowers, mulch and various gardening items were done when we had nice days.  I just drooled over the beautiful  flowers available and wanted to buy everything, but kept to the flowers that I know will do well in my yard and that are easy to grow.  For me that means Stella D'Oros, Knockout Roses, Salvia, Petunias and Geraniums to name a few. 

Then there was an unexpected doctor visit and a follow-up visit.  And a regularly scheduled visit to my primary doc for blood work.  The unexpected visit came after seeing arcing lights in my left eye and, fearing a detached retina, made a trip to the Eye Institute in CoMo at the University Hosp.  They determined that it wasn't a tear but a usually age-related thing that happens when the vitreous gel shrinks and pulls away from the eye wall causing flashes of light and floaters.  It is getting better now but I still have floaters which can be annoying.  Had photos taken and, contrary to what I'd been told, that wasn't bad at all.  I'll go back in 6 months for a check-up. 

I wish I could report that the inside work is coming along, but we haven't started on the bathroom yet.  Hubby has agreed...after much persuading...to hire the work done, but it's hard to find someone who will do the job when you want them.  

I'm still waiting on my new sofa, but I can show you the style I've ordered and fabric choice.  The sofa is a Flexsteel which has been a good brand for us and served us well.  I had a hard time deciding on fabrics because of my wall color, Durham Beige.  It has a hint of a pink undertone and it seems most beige or light tan fabrics lean more toward gold undertones.   That's the reason behind ordering this sofa because I simply couldn't find a color that suited me...yes, I'm picky with colors.  I was told by a helpful store employee that I should have picked out a sofa and then painted.  Ya think?  Anyway, the deed was done and I wasn't about to repaint again.   Below are photos of the sofa style and color choice.  It really is close to the wall color, but I intend to add color in my throw pillows and other accessories. 

The wall color on the left is by Dutch Boy called Durham Beige.  I love it but it really doesn't photograph well.  It seems to always look grayish in my photos.  I chose the same fabric for the pillows.  I'll use other colors for extra pillows.  Now I must practice the art of patience while I await my new sofa.  It will be awhile yet before it arrives.  When it does come in and I've lived with it a while, I'll be looking for a new window treatment for the 9' long window.  It will be a little harder to decide on than the sofa, I'm afraid.  So, I'll worry about that later! 

I have a lot of catching up to do on reading blogs.  I've peeked in on a few from time to time, but didn't comment due to not being able to comment on all of them.   I look forward to seeing what everyone has been up to.

Until next time...