odd clouds, minigardens, trains, pollintation and tomorrow's weather

You know what's wonderful about birthdays these days? It's all the coupons for freebees and reduced priced items you can get if you just know where to register with. I'm one that doesn't like when the restaurants make a big deal over you at table-side, but I'm not above using the coupons for the free meals or desserts or whatever they're giving away.

This Thursday, we went to Logan's because I was so in the mood for one of those little desserts in a bucket that they sell. The fact I had a coupon so it didn't cost me that extra was a plus too. We won't go into the fact I ended up ditching hubby at the table because I thought the waiter was going to come back with the whole staff to sing to me once he saw the coupon we gave him. Nope, I so would NEVER do that. We also won't go into the fact that he was laughing at me when he exited the restaurant because I'd bolted for what amounted to as no reason at all.

On Friday, we decided to lunch at Red Robin. We don't normally go because they're kinda pricey for a burger and fries, and they're a ways out from the town house. However, when you have a coupon...you make the trip! Well that and the fact that I just LOVE their sauteed mushroom burgers and freckled lemonade. On the way to the restaurant, I was snapping away and then I see something unusual up in the sky. All I did to the picture below was use the auto correct option in the photo editing program. Even without it darkened, you could see the colors in the middle of the shot. You can see pink and yellow in the picture, but green was also visible to the naked eye. It was like a very faded rainbow. We'd had a smattering of rain very early in the morning but it was pretty dry out when we were out and about, and we weren't due for anymore rain until much later in the evening.

I simply adored the landscaping when we pulled into the shopping plaza's parking lot. Different flowers for a change, YAY! I told hubby that once we were done eating I wanted to go across the parking area and get some shots of the "gardens" outside the store fronts. The red of the blooms just has been popping the last couple weeks. So very vibrant.
On our way home, we got caught waiting at a train crossing. The husband became like a child and practically bounced in his seat... all excited that we'd be seeing a train. *sigh*

Ok, I can understand the first husband's idiotboy's infatuation because his father used to work for the railroad and they lived really close to some tracks. As a boy, he'd spend alot of time watching the trains go by. So I got it with him....I truly understood why.

However, with this husband, I just don't get it. He was never really exposed to them that I could tell, if anything he was around trucks for the most part. So I asked him...

"What the hell is it about trains that guys like so damned much? I mean I get the cars, boats, planes and even to a lesser extent motorcycles. But trains???"

His answer?
Power.

Plain and simple, they like the power. He also said it's possible that there's that wild west connection that the old steam engines have. Now that I think of it, anytime I've noticed a guy going nuts over some ol rusty train, it's always been the freight trains or the very old steam engines and never one of those slick, speedy passanger ones.

I promised myself that when I got home, I was not going to take yet ANOTHER picture of the roses out front. I even took and had turned off the camera and placed it in my purse so there'd be absolutely NO temptation to click them again.

And then I heard it.
Very distinctly a bug in the area of said roses.
Then I saw it, saw what it was doing and decided to chance taking a macro of the event in progress....

The only thing I've done to the photo is use the auto correct option in the editor to lighten it up so you could see what was going on better.

We have a heat advisory for tomorrow. *ugh* High temps are supposed to be around 95 degrees PLUS the heat index. Not that I really mind it that hot, but knowing the weather here we'll end up with the humidity on top of it all. Man, I wish we lived someplace drier... like Texas! I guess it means I won't be taking a walk anywhere for my "Unplugged" day this week. pooh! Looks like a great day for painting stuff though. Got the next set of figurines on the table, all I gotta do is get them primered and ready for color tomorrow.

I think I'll let this do for now. I have at least 2 more entries all scheduled for this week (Wednesday and Thursday). There might actually be one more added (possible Friday)...haven't decided yet. Then there'll be the usual Saturday one as well. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

I'm truly and absolutely spoiled

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it a couple times before. In case I haven't, I'll say it again.


I am sooooo incredibly spoiled.


I have some of the best buddies in the world. Considering I have friends in at least 4 countries, I don't feel that's too much of an exaggeration. It's not, is it? Well anyhow, in the days leading up to "F-Day" we started with a kick-ass party over at iggy's blog, where a rowdy time was had by all... especially by a certain stoned OCHA, who will remain nameless in my blog, that professed that what she was smoking was for "medical purposes only". Well, at that was her story and she's still sticking to it.

Then on Saturday an envelope showed up from iggy with not one, but 2 cards in it. The post-it note enclosed said that he couldn't decide which one to send so I was getting a two-fer. I have to laugh because apparently I did a very good job of hiding my "natal day". One of the cards got signed with a smiley face sticking its tongue out in a :P~~ fashion. Must be because I wouldn't give up my birthdate. So? I'm just a little sensitive about my age, even if it IS only a number.


Our truck was still in the repairshop and since they close before hubby normally gets out of work, well he had to leave a bit early. He swung by the shop in the early afternoon, on his way home from work. They didn't have it done yet but they were looking at about another 30 minutes or so. YAY!

He told me how long it was going to take for the truck when he got home and I started to get ready. I can usually be ready in about 20 minutes or so depending on where we're going. He went downstairs to take the pooch out while I finished up. When I came downstairs, imagine my surprise when I see the most beautiful bouquet of flowers and a card sitting on the laptop waiting for me to notice them.

They are the most GORGEOUS shades of pink and peach. Who cares if they're artificial? They're not the cheesy fakes either, they look real from a distance. He said he figured he hadn't gotten me flowers in a very long time (and he hadn't) and that I'd like these better because they wouldn't die off in a week's time. Have I ever mentioned that he's got the most exquisite taste when it comes to stuff like this?
He gives me these gorgeous flowers so I figure that the card's gonna be one of those mushy ones that he's prone to getting. Nope. My baby knows me too damned well.

It was a beautiful day out. Not too sunny, not too cloudy and plenty of sunrays poking through the clouds.I think they look so pretty like that.

I glanced over at our neighbor's yard on our way out and saw the prettiest rose sitting right by the fence so I grabbed a snap of it. This is the adjusted version of the picture. I saturated the heck of it to get the colors to pop.
Our first stop was to the repair shop (remember it was supposed to be 30 minutes from the time he left there the first time and it took me about 20 to get ready and another 5 or so to deal with my pressy), figuring that the truck would be ready... right? Nope. They were doing a second flush on the radiator because it was so yucky and there were a couple last minute things to do. We ended up waiting 90 minutes for them to finish up. I won't grouse though because it was exceptionally busy that afternoon AND they HAD let us borrow the company truck.

That truck cost us $200+ (closer to the $250 end of that) to repair this time. *sigh* It could have been worse though, the bill actually was closer to $350 but the owner knocked $100 off the bill for us. I guess we must be good for his business...

Hubby took me to Chili's for lunch and then we popped over to Michael's to check on some craft items I'm wanting. Unfortunately, they don't have anything for Christmas out quite yet and the stretch canvases aren't in the size I'm wanting. In fact, they don't have a single square canvas. All rectangular ones with a few round and oval ones. I guess I'm gonna need to go to JoAnn's this week and check them out. I know from their web site that the fabric I'm looking for is carried there, now the question is if they have it in stock. I also noticed that they had the square canvases. They aren't in the size I'm wanting (16"x16"), but there's only a 2" difference (18"x18") and I'm hoping it won't look too bad. I think I'll just buy one and hang it on the wall next to the others to see how it looks. If it looks bad, I can always do something else with it. I've got some ideas floating around anyhow. I really hope that they have a head start on the Christmas ornaments too. Either the glass or the flat plaster ones would be nice right about now.

When we got home, we just chilled. Well...and I painted my nails

Glambert Blue!

When I got up the next day and started catching up in the blogs, I found a very nice surprise on Alice's site. Since her blog is private, I'm not going to leave a link because many of you won't be able to see her page anyhow. However, with her permission, I've done a screen cap of the entry that I saw the next day waiting for me.
Aint it pretty?

Ooooh and today? I got a wonderful handmade card in my favorite color (PURPLE) from my friend Queenie Jeannie. So considering the festivities started in iggy's blog on Tues the 28th and I got my card from Jeannie on August 5th...my birthday has lasted over a week!

pt 6: And that's all she wrote

So Sunday was our last full day in TN. We had breakfast in the usual place and had a lovely walk afterward, as seen from the last entry dealing with the the trip.

On our way to gramma's, we'd planned on stopping along the way there so I could get some shots of the wildflowers. We'd nearly gotten to the last corner before gramma's house when it began to rain. It wasn't coming down in buckets, but it was enough to make me decide that it wasn't a good idea to step out with my brand new camera!

By the time we finished our visit with gramma, the rain had cleared up and the sun was beginning to peak out again. YAY! So we took our time going down that road, stopping at every grouping of flowers that looked promising. It's where I grabbed the picture that's presently up in the header. They're Butterfly Weed but a couple of us have nicknamed them Yaya flowers because of that great orange color. Thank goodness for a zoom lens as I don't like flying insects that can hurt me. I was really surprised that I managed to get two different types of bee in that shot. While I was out, I grabbed a nice shot of the Queen Anne's Lace as well.

We took our time getting back home, mostly because I needed me time again... but also so we could talk about gramma. Hubby's really not happy with how we found her this time either. When we pulled in at home we turned to see a beautiful rainbow that just seemed to get brighter by the minute.
Oh and we found Skynyrd waiting on us too. I can't believe how photogenic this dog is. I wish Katy would sit as still so I could get some decent shots of her instead of the blurry ones that I throw away because she'd wiggling so damned much. I had to reiterate to hubby that this dog STAYS when we leave. Having another "child" to deal with when we travel is not a good idea. Especially since we're in a pick-up truck and don't exactly have room for anything larger than Katy on the seat with us.
Well, we all got ready for bed. The Neph went for his bath and then ran out to the livingroom to play with his race cars. I give you one guess who I thought of the minute I saw these jammies. It was easy to get the ham to cheese it up and smile for the camera.

I won't bore you with more scenery shots from the drive home. I did get a better shot of the one water tower on the way back and lots of shots of a lake in the area. If you wanna see them they're over in the Flickr. I will share this one sticker I saw. Some of you will recognize him from a previous entry. Pbbbt!
As soon as we made it back into town, we drove right over to the "spa" to pick up Katy. I kept telling hubby that it would be nice if we left her for one more day. You see who the more important one is, don't ya? She was mighty glad to see him though....
And look what I found guarding our townhouse when we got in for the night. I think the place is bugged!

pt4

I know it feels like I'm going on forever about this trip, but there were lots and lots of little things noticed. Even with the ones upload for this entry, there are still 140 on the flash-drive to be adjust, uploaded and shared! Top things all off, I clicked about 100 more since then that I still need to deal with it. I'm going to be going through the pictures on my computer and as I get them uploaded to my Flickr, I just may do a quick post and share a couple here and there.

I just love looking at the layers in the stone on the mountains. Every time through there is a change in certain sections closer to his hometown because they're working at widening the road up due to an increase of traffic in the area. It's good that more people are travelin through, but I am really hoping not too much is done to change the quaintness of the area.


When we go to visit, we always try to make sure to stay through the weekend. Why? Because Saturday and Sundays the Flea Market is open. You never know what you're going to find there. This time around I bought 2 pairs of new sunglasses. I had to replace my white ones because of a scratch in one of the lenses and since I could get another pair for just a few bucks more, I bought these great black ones with rhinestones on the temples. I had to promise to weed the ones I have so now I'm down to 5 pairs at home (but no two look alike). Hubby ended up buying a new full sized katana and a 3 set of smaller ones (iggy? a reminder in my email to post a picture of these sometime next week please? and a reminder on any other pix I've promised and not posted yet...thanks!).Before any smartass here asks if I bought any fleas... no, I did not. Although I think I certainly could have if I wanted to with all the animal cages we saw the day we went. Only a couple actually contained any animals though. This guy was selling the cutest little puppies. No, we did not buy a new fur-kid. I would never buy a fur baby that way because you never know what you're going to get that way. I'm a firm believer in getting the new fur-kids from the animal shelters. Save a life and all that jazz ya know?

I used to see pretty little buttercups like this everywhere in Texas, however I don't really recall seeing them here in our neighborhood. Then again, I haven't been out much since we got back thanks to this friggin arm that likes to flare up when I go out in the sun. I got talking to mom last night and through her, daddy sent a website to check out. The clothing is very expensive, but from what I hear it's worth it because the fabric is specially made to block out the UV rays. Ok, if you say so, I'd think anything long-sleeved would pretty much do that....? Not that I really want to resort to long sleeves in the summertime just so I can go outside and enjoy the sun.
Well, anyhow.... I did some wandering on the home property in a couple of areas that I normally don't go because I just don't have any real purpose to be there. However, since I was learning the "Pay attention to the small stuff" lesson, I decided to take a walk behind their shed to see if there were other flowers worth snapping. When that was a relatively fruitless trip (there was only one back there that I hadn't already clicked from elsewhere in the yard), I decided to take a walk along the back fenceline. You see, there's a barbed wire fence between the back end of the family property and the pasture of a farmer the next lot over. I found lots and lots of daisies growing there so I just HAD to grab a few shots. That one that is presently in the banner (at the time of this posting it's a daisy with a bug on it...just in case it gets changed *again* before you read this), was shot with this grouping. There was just something about the sunny little daisies contrasting with the harshness of the rusty barbed wire that I found so appealing.

A bit later that afternoon, The Neph came running into the house where I was seated, doing some needlework, and said that I had to come outside. His uncle (hubby) sent him to get me because I "had to see this". Well knowing the Neph, it was hubby's idea to get me but there may not really be anything to see. I grabbed my camera anyhow. By the time I got to the back porch, the Neph was already down the stairs and across the yard (the kid's fast). I watched for several minutes....ok maybe it was a half hour or so....as they played. Actually, the Neph played while grampa (dad) and uncle (hubby) looked on. Hubby made several trips up and down the little hill back there helping The Neph get his ride-on toys up where he needed them to be. It must have been nice for him because grampa (dad) just can't seem to keep up as well as he used to anymore.

As you can see, hubby was thoroughly enjoying himself. Yeah, that's a ciggie in his hand, I wish he'd quit. He's at least thoughtful about it and tries really hard to make sure he's the one downwind so the smoke doesn't bother anyone else. Anyway, this has got to be one of my favorite pictures this trip (with the exception of that damned cig). Why? Well, you'd need to know that getting a picture with him smiling is like pulling teeth. I have to threaten to tickle him (and sometimes actually do it) in order to get a smile on his face. With this one, I didn't have to do a blessed thing. Not that threatening him would have done any good with me all the way up on the back porch and him a good 30-40 meters away. He was just so relaxed and having so much fun with the Neph, that the smile came rather naturally. He's gonna make a great daddy someday.....

On this trip, not only was Hardees the bane of my existance (every.damned.morning.), but McDonald's got to be that way with supper. Why? Because that's where the Neph wanted to go and since he was staying at gramma and grampa's with us because we don't get to see him that often *sigh*. Thank goodness for salads. Since we're not in often, the Neph likes to "act out" or show off while we're there....just to see what he can get away with doing because we're guests. As you can see, he was really full of it this evening. I'm not sure who was having the better time; him, hubby or the older gentleman in the background.....the look on HIS face was priceless.


We got about another couple entries coming on this. I have pictures of the walk through town that hubby and I made and a few wrap up photos. I've got other pix to share that I clicked after we got back...just little odds and ends. If you simply cannot wait to see the rest of the trip pix...they're in the Flickr account. The link is to the right.

I also wanna apologize for not getting around to all of the blogs yesterday. There were over 100 pictures left from the trip and I got sidetracked getting them loaded, labeled and sorted. Today I gotta get the time codes adjusted on them. It's a rather big job so I may not make it in today either, I'm not sure. It all depends on how fast we get the errands and stuff done today. The blogs I did manage to peek in on made me very happy though. I seemed to have hit the trifecta yesterday...as I was mentioned in at least 3 blogs because of submissions I'd made. Thank you iggy, RedPen and MsHLP for making my day!

the trip, pt2

When we pulled in on that Friday night, I saw the most beautiful flowers in mom's "garden". I don't ever recall seeing them before although I'm sure they've been there every time we visit in the warmer months. Anyhow, I suspect that I noticed it now simply because there was a lesson to be learned. What was the lesson? Well, all this time I've been trying to learn the "don't sweat the small stuff" lesson and it was time to add the "pay attention to the little things" part. So the weekend, for the most part, for me was "Pay attention to the little things, just don't sweat them". Because of this lesson (as well as the macro, foliage and zoom settings on my new camera), I got some pix that I normally wouldn't have even tried for (and in one case, normally would have run away from, but that's a story for another day). This particular bloom was on its way out and was quite dead around the edges. You can see another bud that had already gone past expiration. None of the others were bloomed out and it actually made me look forward to waking up the next day there to see if one of the other colors would be opened up for me to capture with my camera.

His mother has this partial rock garden. Actually, I should say that it's a majority rock garden. It's about 85% rocks and some plants. I always thought the purpose of a rock garden was to be all stone? Ah well. There is this interesting corner piece to it, however. I don't know if the tree had originated there and simply been cut down and dug up, or if the wood piece was brought in from elsewhere, but it makes for an interesting shelf for one of the pieces. The guy on the top (as well as a couple of the others) made me think of several of my friends.......
Here's a close-up of the guy up top. Any guesses as to which readers I thought of when I saw him? The monkeys at the base made me think of my GaSis. I had a closer picture of them but it was blurry so I pitched it. I do have other shots of some of the other pieces in my Flickr account. Feel free to pop over and take a look if you care to. I'll be adding more to the TN folder in the next few days. I'm trying to do it a bit at a time so I still have time to do other stuff around here. Well that and the fact I want this to stay fun and not feel like a major chore. While in the pix files, feel free to take your time as I went into details on a few other pictures there.
This guy to the right is a new addition to the family. He's supposed to be the nephew's dog but this guy actually lives at "paw-paw's" house (sissy doesn't want it at her house as she doesn't like dogs and isn't home most of the day anyhow). The pooch's name is Skynyrd, named for that southern rock band. The nephew insists on calling him Snoopy. I found out the dog will answer to pretty much anything so long as it's said with love and results in a good pat on the head. He's 10 months old and is a pretty good size right now. I don't think he'll get too much bigger though.
This is one of the pictures I was mentioning before that will have more details in the Flickr account. Do you recognize the one tree on the left? It's the big one that I clicked back in December. I'm not seeing an entry with the other picture though so I'm not entirely certain I shared it in Blogger or not. I'm not seeing it here but I know for sure I shared it in my Photobucket account. The next tree I don't believe I got a shot of before but I clicked a couple similar trees that trip.
It reminds me a bit of a bonsai tree with the way some of the branches are on it. The only thing it needed is a bit of twisting and contorting. I kinda like the simplicity of this picture. In trying to get the entire height, I couldn't get much more in the frame with it. Maybe it's a good thing, eh? The next day's worth of pictures, I think I got a shot of grandmother's trees while we were out this time too. I'm not certain right now as I'm downstairs on the laptop and the balance of the pictures are on the main computer upstairs right now. It's highly possible it's in the next set of photos. Then again, the next set might be the pix I snapped while we were walking home that one day. Yeah, hubby knew I needed some away time ;).
Anyhow, on this day hubby saw some rather oddly shaped white things in the lawn. There's a distance shot in the Flickr. When he approached, he noticed that they were these HUGE mushrooms (ew). The picture to the left is one next to his foot for a size comparison. They were quite large. *gets up for a sec to check size of hub's slippers* Ok, his slippers are an 11-12 so I'm guessing his shoe is a 10.5 or so. When he realized what it was, he asked to borrow the camera (not "can I have the camera"..."may I borrow" was actually used....Why? Because this camera I bought with MY money so it is definitely MINE. Ok ok...the money was from my account but it was more than likely from funds donated by him. Sheeesh. Picky picky y'all!).
I was so happy to find out, upon rising the next morning, that my hopes that the other blossoms would have bloomed by the next day had, indeed, done just that. The most GORGEOUS reds and yellows ever. Considering that yellows aren't my "thing"....that comment is really kinda telling. This one to the right (again, turned by Blogger against my wishes) is my absolute FAVORITE of the group. Actually, it's my fave of the whole trip I think. It's not a cropping of the other picture of the yellow blooms, this one is SFTC.

The trip out

We had a beautiful day when we started out that Friday morning. The sun was bright and the skies were a gorgeous shade of blue. It was probably the best day we'd had in weeks. The good thing about it was that the roads were nice and clear and visibility was awesome. The bad thing was, as you could see in a previous post was I managed to get sunburned and sun poisoning on my arms from riding so long. The arms are itchy again, but it's a good itch because it means the scabs are ready to come off.

One our way out to the truck, I saw that those pretty purple flowers were in bloom again and since I wanted to play with my macro setting (I'd never used one even on the old camera), I took a few shots. There are more in the photostream if you care to go visit my Flickr account. I think it turned out right nice and vowed to myself I was going to take some time this trip to practice with that setting some more.


One of the things that I notice often, seemingly during trips to anywhere, are the triple crosses on the hills. You see them so often that you actually expect to see them. You don't, however, expect to see them on a truck as shown to the right.

We only saw a couple watertowers on the way. This one was definitely the prettiest of the two. I wish there was a spot along the way were we could have stopped and gotten a decent shot of it. My picture really does it no justice. However, considering we were traveling about 75 mph at the time, I guess this is the best I can hope for.

Talk about your unusual sights! We came up behind this lovely
somewhere in south Virginia. At first glance, we thought they'd simply hacked up an old VW Beetle to use as a carrier for their bike. Kudos on the recycling , dude! Then, as we were passing, we realized.....it WAS the bike. Awesome.

A couple shots of what we saw while coming into Tennessee. It's B*E*A*Utiful
countryside to say the least. Part of me would move there in a heartbeat so long as there was a 2-3 hour (at least) buffer between me and the folks. Although, that close means weekend visits. *ugh* Maybe more like 4-5 hours buffer is necessary! However, the other side of me would totally rebel because I just know that the internet connection out that way would totally suck.

2 cents from the chaotic mind

So I think I have the decor up, I'm not sure I'm totally in love with it yet so you may expect it to change a time or two more until I'm satisfied with the results. I've changed 3 more of my blogs over to the 3 column format because I think the new format will service them better as now I can add links for resources in one of the sidebars without junking up the already existing one. In the Padded Room (the Phoenix page), I've started adding links on where to go for help. I hope this helps out someone in the long run. Time to start writing in there again eventually. Been almost 8-9 months since I did anything with that page.

All I have left for this page (other than the title) is to see about getting a sig to actually post everytime without me having to remember to put the code in. I've tried going into the settings section and putting it in the code box but it just won't stick (my luck it's a main code issue and I'll need to do the same thing as when I reworked the header code). Really kinda sucks. I also need to see if I can find a proper widget for the Photostream. I'd much rather have mine look like iggy's with the pictures 2 by 2 instead of single file.

With all the ideas that came in and the comments that sent me into other places looking for ideas, I ended up with a full page (front and back ) of ideas. I suspect there were about 50 possible titles in that list. I've tweaked some of the ideas and narrowed down the possibles to like 7. Now I just need to decide which way I wanna work it. When I get it narrowed down to 2 or 3, I may stick it in a poll to see what y'all think about them. Then again, I just may decide I love one so much that no amount of voting is going to change my mind (and there's one that's getting to be that way) *shrugz*.

Have been having loads of fun with my camera. It seems like the subjects of choice (besides plates for the HLP) have been our "kids", clouds and flowers. I've loaded a bunch more stuff in my Photostream if anyone wants to take a peek. Uploaded several pictures last night once I learned the lesson of "reduce the file so you can fit more into the limit for your freebee account". I'm just waiting on the day that I have to go pro on that bugger. Since I'm loading only the best pix I've taken, I expect it may be a while before I get to that point.



Aint that look just priceless? She's taken to giving the snooty look every now and then. Especially when I've got the camera in hand....



This is a SFC (straight from camera) of Katy. We'd just started daytime shift and so had rearranged our Thursday errand run. The groceries had been bought and hubby dropped me off to the dr's while he headed home to put the food away. When I got out from getting my shot, there at the door of the office was hubby and Katy. I told him it was a good idea because this way she gets out for a walk now and again. She loves the road trips too.



Speaking of road trip, we'll be headed to TN for a couple days. We're leaving out on Friday morning. Poochie is going to the "spa" so it'll just be the two of us. We're expecting to be home sometime Monday. I'm angling for a day away from the family and a side trip into Knoxville. Hopefully, I can get some zoo pictures. I haven't been to a zoo in a couple years or more. Please keep us in your thoughts as we travel that we arrive safely, that I don't end up with sunpoisoning or hives and that I don't freak out and finally kill my MIL. Thanks.



While we were out the other week, hubby saw this beautiful honeysuckle plant. He said that if he was certain on what type of pesticides were used while the trucks were spraying, he would have picked some. Says they taste really nice and sweet. Once we get into our own place again (eventually), I'll have to remember to plant some.



I can't remember where I saw this beautiful flower, but I really wish I'd thought to grab a few more shots of it. I suspect it was at a business somewhere. Which reminds me, hubby came home early today and took me out to Logan's. I got some more water fountain and geese shots. Unfortunately, as sunny as it was, I couldn't tell if they were good or not and won't know until I get back upstairs for the day.

Actually....I've got another set of pix I need to upload tonight. I didn't want to put them in my Photostream until I was ready to write about them. I think I'll work on them tomorrow sometime.

Found out a couple weeks ago that my stylist no longer works for the salon I'd been going to and of course no one there will give up where he headed to. I'm still in mourning. Ended up having to color my own hair. I hate doing it myself. The solution stinks and the bathroom isnt nearly well ventillated enough. Plus I can never get a color that looks good on me. Now that I'd been going pro and he'd found a nice color and style for me, I hate the fact he's no longer there. I think I got close though with Nutriesse Chocolate Caramel. It's supposed to be a medium golden mahogony brown.... looks more red on me than anything. I'll have to get hubby to get a pic of me outside.

Looking at the comments from my last post, it seems someone has gotten a trifle spoiled with me posting everyday-ish. Hun, I don't post everyday anymore as there isn't much to say and it got to the point where it was just riding stats. No sense boring everyone to tears with that. Yes, I'm still riding...I just had to modify it a bit.

I think this'll need to do for now. Got a few more things but I don't want an entry too long. I know, too late.

***edit 12am. I think I got the sig figured out. I was right, it was a main coding issue and a pain in the ass to find. I'm hoping it'll work each time now. I think so as I just pulled up a new entry as though I was going to write in it and it already had code in there. I also figured out how to remove the box from around my sig and pictures. Whoot! Go me! Now to work on that Flickr Photostream problem...but not tonight. I'm tired and ready for bed.

just some pictures

The first picture was taken from the deck at the Logan's restaurant down the road from us. They (the fountains ...to clarify for the easily confused) are located in a pond near the entrance to the Bull Run Plaza. The other 3 are some of the flowers that were outside of a TGIFridays. Not sure what they all are, I just know that they grabbed my attention and are really pretty.

this n that

Just another entry in the vein of a Seinfeld episode....alot about nothing. Ive got a few more pix on the computer desktop that I wanna get shared before I file them away. This first one to the left my hubby's tat. For the life of me I cant remember if there was a story behind it or not. It's a pretty cool dragon though. I wouldnt want anything quite that big on myself...just something small and enough to help identify me. Not that that's gonna happen because I really hate needles.

This picture to the right is the plant that has the bloom from my bee and flower picture. Personally, I think the bugger's a weed. The door to the right of the plant is my neighbor's and the cement to the left is my front step. This next picture to the left is of the same type of plant. At least the blooms and leaves are the same. It's that big plant behind the mailboxes. To show you how tall the plant is fully grown, it's 6' behind the mail boxes and the top of the mailboxes is taller than me and Im 5'5" tall (official measurement from the dr's office).

The picture to the right here is those bushes in the front of my townhouse. Strange thing...they look like they're going to be blooming.....*AGAIN*. I fully expect the flowers will emerge by next week or so. I've never known a plant that blooms more than once in a season....but both of this will be. *sigh*

There's a townhouse in my cul de sac for rent. It's been empty for at least 8 months. How do I know? Because it was empty when we moved in. They have brand new windows in the second story..those were replaced just a couple months ago. I think they really want to rent this place out as they have 4 "For Rent" signs in the windows. I got a good look at the property owner when he was in the neighborhood the other week and considering the state of the world today (and where many of America's boys and girls are right now), Im not sure this place is ever going to get rented to be honest. No offense, but I know I surely wouldnt rent from him.