Top 5 ABC's

1. So Hip It Hurts

Probably not the, um, most logical choice for number one, but I love it. Cannot be sad listening to it. Reminds me of high school.

2. Be Near Me

Um...do I really need to explain? One of the best songs. EVER.

3. The Night You Murdered Love

I have just completely, utterly, ALWAYS loved this song.

4. The Look of Love

This was apparently last year. He looks the same, but also very, very different...

5. When Smokey Sings

I'll just refer you here.

Fall Yard

Trees are in. Most of the weeds are gone. The fence is complete. The stone work is started. The giant pile of weeds from the park strip live on until spring...We are officially "yard paused".


Side yard with our new nectarine (NECTARINE!) tree. I'm REALLY excited about this tree. It was supposed to be a cherry tree, but they were out and I overheard someone say "our last nectarine tree is no longer on hold" and my mind perked and I immediately said, "Yes, please!"...



We started the stone work in the park strip in the middle, so people didn't have to traverse the weeds and mud to our walkway. We also have a little done on the end by the trash / recycle cans and I'm pretty sure I'm going to love it when it's all done. Though it's hard to tell with the GIANT WEED PILE in my way!





I LOVE our new fence. Next spring we're going to have to have someone make a new latch for the gate (longer), which is a MUST in my mind, but other than that, the fence is perfect and beautiful and I'm thrilled plan one didn't work out.








My new apple tree. It's just so, so pretty. I'm completely smitten with it. It's red delicious and when I picked it out, it was producing nicely. Which means, as long as I don't kill it, we should have a lovely crop of apples next fall (same with the nectarines). I swear this is the way to buy trees. I'm so glad we don't have to wait for saplings to produce!

So next spring it's garden boxes galore (one early for strawberries...) and the rest of the stone work and a quote for some concrete work around the porch. And figuring out how on EARTH to get the grass to stop growing...And if we have the time and money, maybe we can look into the decking options for the back. I'm itching for some quality dinners out on the porch...


(if i had eyes, jack johnson)

A Mid Week Brain Dump

I have pictures of my yard to post. Really, I do. My final post until we start in again in the spring. BUT! I really want to talk about Camille Grammer on Real Housewives. Because DUDE. She's freaking nuts.

*I'm not one to really watch the Real Housewives series. I watch enough crazy, already, however, I did watch the first season of the first one. My friend Loralee would mention it sometimes and I always just chuckled a little bit. But then. THEN, I was upstairs last week during the start of my cold and I had nothing Tawnya specific saved on tivo and our movies were all the way downstairs...and Bravo was running a marathon. What's a girl to do? So I watched. Call it a cold induced delusion or whatever, but I watched. And it was the glorious train wreck I hoped for. If my friend Michelle were still alive? I could totally see us gossiping about this as we did about other shows way back when...

So. Camille. WOW. Married to Kelsy Grammer. And I always felt a bit bad for her. She had a lot of crap for having her kids via surrogate and for being a trophy wife and, for some reason, I always played devil's advocate with her. Like she was just misunderstood...yeah. I now repent of that. She's clearly just a freaking loon. I have never witnessed someone SO self absorbed, SO egotistical and insecure in my life. Her mother, who has cancer, is talked over so Camille can say what a DRAIN on HER life getting tested for the cancer abnormality is? Really? While her mom is actively in chemo? Wow. I know of the self absorbed, but oy with the poodles already...FREAKING LOON.

*Ahem. In other "seriously why do I think about this stuff" news...Prince William got engaged to much "surprise". Really? Haven't they been dating since the beginning of earth? How is it a surprise? And I saw that she was given Princess Di's engagement ring. Now. I think that bit of repurposing is LOVELY. I hope someday Sammy will do the same with mine. If I can find it. However, if I were Princess Kate? I would feel the weight of a thousand suns on my tiny little finger with that ring. What...a THING, ya know? I would think that were huge.

*Yesterday we had a little storm. At one point, I nearly grabbed Sammy to tuck him away with me in the downstairs bathroom while wishing for a storm cellar. Because...DUDE. The winds were 65+ at one point and I feared mightily for our unprotected house. But, alas, we still stand. Thank heavens. The winds have been CRAZY this year. I don't remember them being like this since I lived in Idaho. There? Not such a big deal. Here? THE END IS NIGH.

*I ALWAYS bake sweet potatoes in the microwave. Let's face it. To remember to throw them in the oven an hour before dinner? Eh. I rarely have that sort of brain capacity. However, this week, I remembered. I had just finished head spinning on Sammy and needed a task to steady my hands. Enter the potatoes we were having with pork chops that night. I tossed them in the oven and by 5 pm they were done. I turned off the heat and let them sit while Isaac grilled the chops. By the time we were ready to plate, they slipped SO easily from their skins and were, hands down, the best sweet potatoes I've ever had, it was such a difference from microwaving them. Huh. Color me converted and trying to remember that will be much higher on my list, from now on.

*We have a high fa-lutin' dinner to attend later. At probably my LEAST favorite restaurant in town. And I have NOTHING to wear. I have a lot of jeans (most with holes in them...) and I have a lot of dresses. But I am SADLY lacking in the things in-between. And I don't know how that happened. I used to have in-between things, right? I'm pretty sure. But now, nope. Jeans. Sigh...I've definitely become an unimportant mom in the clothes category. I may need to do a little shopping for events like this. They definitely come around more than they used to and I always find myself ill-prepared.

*I have been a purging beast lately. Tossing and going through EVERYTHING. I have a row of boxes in the garage and everything that I think we can live without has been going in them. Next spring I'm holding a garage sale. Well...kinda. I'm thinking of getting a stack of sacks and holding a "whatever you can stuff in a bag for a dollar" sale. I think it'll work.

*Also? I just read they are doing a new big screen Gatsby with Carey Mulligan as Daisy. That? I am loving.

Speaking of random...

(a knife and a fork, information society)

Seriously.

I don't think I have the constitution for this parenting gig...

Yesterday afternoon, I was cleaning out closets and hauling things to the garage. Sammy, my shadow, was sad that I finished without him. So I told him to keep his flip flops (which, by the way? FLIP FLOPS. In NOVEMBER.) on and wait on the stairs and I would go outside with him for a little bit before I jumped in the shower. The caveat was that he needed to wait until I peed, first.

After I got out of the bathroom, I came down the stairs and found the front door WIDE open and my son standing out in the middle of the street. I don't think I've ever yelled so loud (and with laryngitis!) nor Sammy gotten in THAT much trouble. I yelled and yelled and sent him to time out and yelled some more. And then I sat on the stairs and cried. He is not that kid. I never have to worry about him. He doesn't get into things. He doesn't climb. He doesn't escape. He asks before turning on the tv or getting a snack. Man. I have never been that freaked out by him. EVER before. I've never had a moment where I wanted to throttle him and hug him all at once.

We had a long conversation about what could happen if he did that again. I stressed again and again that he could have gotten hurt or stolen or hurt. That he is NOT to go outside without mommy or daddy. That it is NOT ok to ever be in the street. That he could have been HURT or STOLEN. And I *think* he got it. He definitely knew I was upset. He definitely knew he was in trouble and I do think he got it. I had him repeat back to me what was wrong. We went over it again and again. And then, five minutes after I made him come in and the lecture began, the UPS truck pulled in front of our house.

And I tried to get the vision of Sammy trying to get out of the way of the truck (like I know he would have tried) and getting hurt out of my head. And then cried some more.


(the smiths, how soon is now)