Book & Book Mark Winner for July!

Cindi said...
Ooooh I would love to win something!

Congrats Cindi!! Shoot me an email at liljewelsemail@aol.com with your address and what bookmark (and if you'd like a name on it) you would like from my Etsy Shop!

Perks of Working: EYE Candy!

There's a few good things about working with farmers.

Most of them are nice.

Some of them wear hats.



Some of them wear boots.





And some of them look REALLY nice in a pair of Wranglers.

Book Club for July-WIN IT!

Today was book club day!

It was at my neighbor's house two doors over. That's always nice, I can just walk over :) Plus I always feel really comfortable there. I found out that she is going to have surgery on the 31st. Something about a hysterectomy and I heard something about the possible c word but I'm hoping I didn't hear that right.

Anyhow, the book for this month was "Flirting With Pete" by Barbara Delinsky. You can go here to see the review I posted last month.



My take on the book:

This is two stories in one that eventually collide in a very interesting way. It was a little slow in the beginning but it keeps you reading because you just HAVE TO KNOW what's going to happen!! Just don't give up in the beginning.

Everyone in the bookclub loved the book.

SO as usual I have a copy for YOU! All you have to do is leave me a comment! I'll give you until Wednesday to get your comments in. The winner will also receive a bookmark of your choice from my Etsy Shop.

JULY'S BOOK is:

The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel by Garth Stein




From Amazon.com

From Publishers Weekly
If you've ever wondered what your dog is thinking, Stein's third novel offers an answer. Enzo is a lab terrier mix plucked from a farm outside Seattle to ride shotgun with race car driver Denny Swift as he pursues success on the track and off. Denny meets and marries Eve, has a daughter, Zoë, and risks his savings and his life to make it on the professional racing circuit. Enzo, frustrated by his inability to speak and his lack of opposable thumbs, watches Denny's old racing videos, coins koanlike aphorisms that apply to both driving and life, and hopes for the day when his life as a dog will be over and he can be reborn a man. When Denny hits an extended rough patch, Enzo remains his most steadfast if silent supporter. Enzo is a reliable companion and a likable enough narrator, though the string of Denny's bad luck stories strains believability. Much like Denny, however, Stein is able to salvage some dignity from the over-the-top drama. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Sounds like a pretty interesting read! Check back next month for a chance to WIN it for yourself!

Front Yard Surprise

I finally got to do some work out in the yard today! I went out to take some pictures and wait! What's this???

A hummingbird!! It came up to about a foot from me and was checking me out. Look at it's red throat! I only have a point and shoot camera so not the best pictures but it felt really neat having it check "me" out.







"Maybe I'll go this way"
Then it went up in the tree and sat there a bit before it flew off. Too cute! (yes my leaves on my trees look HORRIBLE! It does have some new ones coming in that are nice and green, I'm hoping whatever the problem was it was temporary)









An overall


Looking out the front door



This plant looked so dead not too long ago and now it has blooms on it again.



I had to do my first "moving around" today. I took out the sweet potato vine I had planted by the tree and moved it to the side of the house. It was starting to take over!

What's left of the ground cover is looking much greener now that I've been putting the sprinkler on it instead of watering by hand. I'm thinking of trying "one more flat" and leaving it all together and planting it in the middle to see what it does.



It was really way too bright to take pictures. Darn sun! Everything is really filling in nicely though!



Here's the other side I've been working on. I got a bit more done after I took these pictures.



We need to figure out where we are going to start out "corner" stuff that we are going to do so I know where to stop with one thing and start another.

Come on already!

I've been sitting here waiting for my mom to "swing by" for about 3 hours now. WTH?? I hurried home to give her $20 to take the kids to the movies tomorrow. They are going to spend the night (at her other house in another city) and she asked for a "donation" towards the movies. So I rused home and went by her little place out here to give her the money since they were going to leave around 4. I get there and no one is there. WTH?? It was only 3:00. SO I came home and left her a message (because of course she doesn't answer the cell phone). She called here at like 4:30 to tell me they just went out to lunch and they were going to come by in a bit to pick up the money and for Melissa to get something. So I've been sitting here. Waiting. I had a few things I wanted to do but I kept thinking she'd be here soon so I don't want to leave. I'm about ready to tape it to the freaking door.

***update*** just called her (6:00) and she'll be here in a few minutes. HAH! Guess maybe Scott and I can just go out to dinner instead of me going and getting it and bringing it home like I had planned.


***update again*** OMFG she finally made it 6:18! Scott beat her here.

Can You Repeat That Please?

I felt like such an idot at work today.

I made so many mistakes and had to go back and fix them. It hasn't been that long since I did all this stuff really. I mean it's only been a year. And yet it's taking me forever to remember how to do everything.

And what's worse is I have to keep asking the freak girl I work with for help.

(my keyboard is squeeking, wth?)

Just about the time I went home I think I finally got it figured out. Do you think my mind will be able to retain all that information until tomorrow? I'm starting to feel like a senior citizen with all the, "wait, what was that again?"

Enough already!

Ugh it's so freaking hot! It's been in the 100's for days now. I think maybe even over a week. I was miserable trying to sleep last night. I ended up getting up at 12:30 and going outside to the garage and reading out there because it was much cooler than in the house and I couldn't sleep anyways. The kids keep sacking out in the living room on the couch. I don't think they've slept in their room one night this summer!

Sunday Jessica left for Church camp. I was a bad mommy and left before the bus came and FORGOT to take a picture! I sent her a text and told her to take one for me. This is what I got.



Jess, The Brat Friend and The Loud Friend

She comes back on Saturday.

Shopping With The Shopper

My Mom, gotta love her, is the ultimate shopper. The only one I know of that comes close is my Aunt. Go figure. Too bad they aren't very close, they could have loads of fun together.

The theme is rubber duckies.

picture source



She is carrying around a huge list (my mom is a total list person. She has lists on everything including napkins in her purse).

Time left: 1:00 pm

1st stop, Party City

2ND stop, Home Depot (flowers for ME)
3rd stop, Costco for some pizza for me & hot dog for mom

4Th stop, Wal Mart

5Th stop, pick up Melissa from the Bday party she was at 15 minutes late because I had to tear my mom away
6Th stop, Party Warehouse

7Th stop, Thrift Store (we ended up having to squeeze a night stand into my car, TG the seats fold down.

Time returned 6:00 pm

I was so exhausted by the time we got back. My feet still haven't recovered lol. I'm such a wuss when it comes to shopping.

I'm Boooorrrreedd

Does this remind you of your kids on summer vacation? I seriously don't know WHY we have so many toys and HOW they got all over the floor because there is definitly no one playing with them.

Well maybe Trevor. He spends a lot of time playing Legos and building things out of stuff I try to throw in the garbage can. I know it's cool to recycle but what the hell am I supposed to do with these large "artwork" things he makes all over my house?

Melissa is the official Queen of Boredom. That is when she is home anyways. She has spend most of the summer at her friend's house. She'll be home for 5 minutes and be "soooo bored". And hungry. The kid is ALWAYS HUNGRY. She's probably grown a foot since they got out of school.

Jessica has spent half the summer at her friend's house also. Her friend's mom keeps paying her for cleaning their house. Which is cool for her but I'm wondering if she thinks we are totally poor people or something. My kid has turned into her hired help.

Have I mentioned that my house looks like a bomb went off? TOMORROW we will clean it. ALL OF US. If it kills me us.

Working Woman

Does anyone else get grossed out by the whole "work bathroom"? Today as I was sitting there on the throne looking at the neverending stack of toilet paper and paper towels I was thinking how gross it is that everyone (well almost there are hardly any guys there) that I work with has sat on that toilet probably at least once in the day.

::shudders::

So today was potluck day. Everything went fine. Hardly anyone ate my dish though :( Oh well more for me. We were sitting there at the big ole table and the cranky woman that works in the other department came and shut the door because the "beans were really getting to her".

::snickers::

I already got caught looking at non work related sites on the internet. The big boss walked in and I had google reader pulled up and was looking at a blog.

::whoops::

My "new little boss" barely remembers the big earthquake of 88. She was probably like 4 or something. Seriously if I put my oldest kid next to her you would probably thing that my "kid" was older than my boss.

::sad::

It was actually kind of funny today. I could over hear her on the phone. She was calling her mom. Apparently she forgot to bring a dish for the pot luck and she was calling her mom to please make something up real quick and bring it to her. Then she was being picky about what she wanted her mom to bring.

::she's the one that brought the beans::

I can hear the toilet flushing on the other side of the wall at my current desk.

::ewww::

BUT I don't have to get up to help customers at the front desk (since I'm in the back) AND I don't have to listen to cranky all day since she sits up front and I don't.

Now I remember why people say TGIF. It's only for those "working folks".

I Survived The First Day Back To Work

And so did the kids!

I had set my alarm for 7:00 this morning and somewhere in my sleep last night I decided I needed to get up earlier. I was up by 6:30, kind of like a kid on the first day of school.

I was out the door by 7:30 and I even had a bowl of cereal and 1/2 a cup of coffee for breakfast.

I drove to work and got there at 8. I was greeted outside the front door by a gal taht I worked with and she was all happy to see me so that was really nice. I went inside and talked to everyone. Everyone that is but my immediate boss who was out sick! Hopefully she really wants me there lol. The big boss thought everything was fine so we'll see if she is there tomorrow. I sat at her desk all day so hopefully I didn't get any of her sick germs.

Where I work there are several agencies all in one building. As per all office drama, there is always one or two that are "fighting" with the other. I think it's so funny that people get worked up over such petty things.

IE: Wednesday there is a BBQ Potluck. Apparently one group is mad at the other group and was considering boycotting the BBQ. I didn't hear the fine details as of why but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with who is supplying the meat or something stupid like that.

Glad we all have such easy lives that the little things like that seem so important.

Anyhow. It was a pretty good day and it went by really fast. I felt kind of guilty leaving after my 6 hours were up since there is a lot of work to do right now. I didn't feel guilty enough to stay though lol.

Did you get yours?

Free Slurpee Day at 7-11 today.



The sun was behind him in the car so the picture didn't come out too well. I got the Coke one, Trevor got a bit of all of them (blech!)

Back to work after a Mom's Night Out

Last night I went out with 2 of my friends. Susie and Liz. We all met on a mommy type message board years ago. Every so often we get together and wonder why we waited so long to do it again! Last night we met at Liz's house for some Lemon Drops, went to the farmer's market and then out to eat. We had the strange singing waiter take our picture. This was try number 3 or 4 I think lol.



This morning when Scott left for work he told me there was a message on the answering maching from my old boss. I of course couldn't go back to sleep after that so I got up and listened to the message. Of course all it was was his name and number. So I had to sit around for a few hours and wait until it was late enough to call him. I called and got voice mail. He called back not too long after and it looks like I will be going back to work on Monday!

I'm a bit scared lol. I haven't worked in over a year but I am definitly looking forward to making some more money! I'm sure unemployment will be happy to quit paying me too.

Now to see if any of my clothes are still "work worthy" and FIT!

BBQ Rules

BBQ RULES (from an email)

We are about to enter the BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity . When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:

Routine...
(1) The woman buys the food.
(2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.
(3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill - beer in hand.
(4) The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.

Here comes the important part:
(5) THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.
More routine...
(6) The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
(7) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he flips the meat

Important again:
(8) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.
More routine...
(9) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.
(10) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.
And most important of all:
(11) Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.
(12) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed ' her night off ', and, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there's just no pleasing some women.

Relaxing Sunday

Today I worked on the yard a bit. I got this little section done. Then it was HOT and I had to take a break. I went out for a little bit more around 8 until it was too dark to see.



That is an orange hibiscus (according to the tag, no blooms) that I got in the marked down section at Wal mart last week. It appears to be the same kind that I have on the other side, just a different color. The other one is doing great so hopefully this one will too!

It was kind of strange today. Trevor was hardly with me at ALL. Usually he's real close to me chatting me up. Well I've been pushed aside. You see DAD is building him a go cart! They spent all day out in the garage and on the back patio working on it. He was in heaven!



Aren't they cute??



Hmmmm I'll believe it when I see it...

Jessica came home from her big camping trip today. She had fun with her friend's cousin, who just happens to be a boy she kissed last summer. So glad I wasn't the one chaperoning that trip!

Not too long after she got home I opened the door to go outside and there was one of her books on the stoop. She had let the boy across the field (boyfriend around Christmas time last year) borrow it and apparently he decided to return it. He put a little note in there. She decided to go over to his house and talk to him (after doing her hair and make up and putting on nice t shirt etc lol). She got there and another girl was there. She came back all crushed lol.

So rewind, daughter comes home, daughter has drama in about one hour after arriving.

Yep, that's my girl!!

Anyhow.

Melissa's friend just got home from Pennsylvania where she was visiting her dad for two weeks. The girl didn't even go home first before they stopped and picked up Melissa to come spend the night. How cute is that? She called her almost every day while she was gone too.

Well that's about it for today. Scott has tomorrow off for the "holiday". No plans so probably more working in the yard!

Hope you had a fab Fourth!

picture source


Yesterday started off REALLY early. Friday night Scott decided it was finally time to go to to the ER to get his eye checked. He had a small fleck of metal in his eye and couldn't get it out. So we went to the ER at 9:30pm. We were finally on our way home at around 1:00am. Needless to say we all slept in a bit, me until around 8:00 and Scott finally got up at 12:30! I think that is an all time record for how long he has slept in. He is usually an early riser and gets up at 5 or so even on the weekends. He said he hadn't slept good in about 4 days. I think he should be good now!

I puttered around in the yard a bit while he was sleeping. Killing some time before going over to my brother's house. This was the first year in about 5 years that we didn't spend the holiday with our friends. Trevor called my mom and asked what time they were going over to my brother's house and they said around 2. So we left our house around 2. We got there and my dad was there and my brother's girl-friend but no one else. My brother was nursing a serious hang over and was about as much fun as a pile of rocks.

We gave up on him entertaining us and all went in the pool. Before long my other brother was there and joined us swimming. He brought his dog, a boxer, named "Rocky". Rocky was not quite sure what to think of his daddy jumping in the pool. He was nervously running and the pool and eventually slipped and got to go for an accidental swim. We all swam for quite awhile.

Eventually I climbed out and sat around talking. Luckily my baby brother brought some bags of chips since I didn't realize we were going to be eating so late and we had only had a very small meal in the morning. Eventually my sister in law got there and then finally my mom came around 4:30 or so. I felt like we were all eating in stations. We all brought our own meat so everyone was taking turns grilling, which resulted in everyone eating at different times. When we left at 8:30 my parents were just getting around to eating their tri-tip that they had brought. It seemed kind of weird to me.

I had made a Greek Saladand it turned out really good! Scott won't eat cucumbers or raw red onions so I figured it was a good opportunity to get something that I wouldn't make for at home. I couldn't find the greek dressing it called for in the store so I just used the Zesty Italian and it turned out fine.



I didn't take any pictures while we were there. My mom makes such a production of taking pictures. Making people pose and do it over and such that everyone kind of gets annoyed by the time she is done. I'll just borrow her camera card and get my pictures for my scrapook.

We left around 8:30 and decided to go back to our city for fireworks. We went to a spot where we usually watch them and got lucky and no one was there. Our city did a FAB job with the fireworks this year. They were kind of short but they were AWESOME. We were all cheering and clapping when it was over.



We jumped in the car and luckily got out on the main road right away and were on our way home. That is the FASTEST we have EVER got out of there. Pure luck. Usually it takes forever.

All in all it was a nice day BUT I still miss the olden days of spending the day at my Grandma's house. It's just not the same without the home made ice cream, Grandma, floating around in her pool and watching the fire works in her back yard.

I'm still hopefully that some day we will have our own tradition that MIGHT live up to the old one!

First Dateaversary

Today is the anniversary of my first date with my husband. It was also the first day I met him! My Dad fixed us up on a blind date. Husband and Dad worked together at the time. He came and picked me up and brought me a red rose (so nice!). Then we went to Sizzler and after that we went to see Far & Away. Aren't we cute! You can tell what decade it is by his glasses on his head and his pants, not to mention my curly hair.

Ready for their new owner

I just finished up the bookmark for the winner of the book club of the month contest. Here is her stuff all ready to go out. Make sure and check back at the end of the month to enter the next one!

Toothfairy Save and Tidbits

The toothfairy ALMOST didn't make it to our house again. It's a good thing the kids are sleeping in this morning! I think she's collected just about all the teeth I paid hundreds of dollars to get filled last summer. Those teeth are worth A LOT!

I'm feeling very yawny-yawnisher today.

Yesterday I hardly did anything but somehow I got my house looking cleaner. That was inbetween playing literati (on yahoo) and being on facebook all day. Now no one will come over until it is thrashed again. Like the other day when Trevor had a little friend over and his mom came to pick him up. Yeah. My house was BAD. So embarrassing.

Anyhow.

Melissa has a birthday party to go to in town today so I'll go hit the grocery store while she's there.

Jessica is camping with her friend. On a boat. Somewhere on a lake. She's supposed to come back Sunday so it's been rather quiet here the last couple days. Best time to send your kids camping with someone else? When they have PMS!! ::insert evil laugh::

Trevor was playing with my camera the other day. This is my favorite picture. It just cracks me up!



I hope everyone survives the 4th of July. Instead of hanging with friends like we usually do my mom TOLD US that we will be spending it with the family. So we'll be bobbin around the pool and eating bbq and trying not to get annoyed with anyone. That reminds me must buy more booze...

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Yard Update

Here's a few pictures of my yard in it's current state. I had just watered so everything is wet.

Big pile o'bark there, maybe I didn't quite need that much, oops.

We need just a little bit more rock for the front

I love that the alyssum is filling in!

I raked the driveway a bit but I'm going to have to get all that grass out there eventually. ICK.

I thought this bush was dying but it's getting new leaves. Weird. I moved the other one onto the other side of the yard and it has a few new leaves on it.




Going to start working on the big grassy/weedy area.

I got a few more plants yesterday, they were marked down everywhere I went!

Side yard. I have a feeling we'll be taking out the brick and putting in wood for the flower bed edging.

Book & Book Mark Winner for June

Book Club Book Winner!



The winner is:

TIM & LUCY



I don't have your email so please email me at liljewelsemail AT aol.com BY FRIDAY thanks and congrats!