My internet connection was a bit goofy yesterday morning. Couldn't upload anything to save my life! Looks like we're up and running today. :)

Saturday I surprised myself and got up nice and early. Had a fun, but late, nite on Friday out for coffee with friends. I immediately headed out to this little place. I think a cot in here could be a good thing. I still need some more shelves in here to hold more pots, but this was a feel good accomplishment on Saturday. These shelves were in the basement. They were a pale green and I was thinking a barn red or cranberry might be the trick. The Palmer hardware store is now closed. SBS only had one color spray paint that was remotely close. They sort of looked a bit hot pinkish when sprayed ... but turned out well. Can't wait to move these pots to the stairs. Planning to keep them in the greenhouse for another several weeks before I move them. Maybe I should put some music playing out there for them. :)

The vegies are doing their thing as well. I know this may sound rather interesting, but zucchini pancakes are on my radar screen. Along with zucchini bread, zucchini muffins .... any and all thing zucchini. Monday evening we have carrots and lettuce popping up in the planter boxes!!


After doodling out in the greenhouse .... I moved to the screened porch. Still haven't sold my bathroom cabinet/sink/vanity that is up there. Took some more pictures (deleted the old ones prematurely) and will add them to Craigs List someday. The peas moved up there. Hoping to have vines crawling everywhere on the screen ... with peas for the picking.

Got that cleaned and the winters dust removed. What to do with these old jugs? I think they need some flowers as well. My inside starts of flowers are moving to bigger containers today. Maybe in time they'll be ready for these.

Although my fingers would love to play naked in the dirt, they can't. Not a good idea to go to work with mud under nails. These little buggers get a workout!

Mother's Day was quite the lazy day. Kyra & Anita spent Saturday nite and Sunday over here. Fun to have extra girls visiting. Alyx came home from work on Saturday nite with flowers. Aren't they gorgeous? She is my flower girl. I couldn't begin to count the number of bouquets this young lady has given me. Melts my heart.

Tia & the visiting young ladies walked to Three Bears .. the close grocer. She brought me home some chocolate. Delicious!

The guys here have been working on splitting and filling the woodshed. May sound a little goofy. Spring time and splitting wood. There really is a rationale behind this. They moved the wood pile from next to the driveway. Our woodstove is small in size. They've been cutting down the larger pieces to actually fit in the stove. Someday we want to replace the stove ... just not on the shopping list quite yet. This one works real well. Anyway ... if the wood is split before fishing starts ... it won't be sitting there nagging at anyone. We have plenty of dead fall that can be cut up as well!

Did I tell you that naps were the order of the day on Mother's Day. Went down for my first one with a headache. The "too much coffee not enough water" kind. I just never seem to learn. The porch claimed the second nap of the day for me ... on this couch ... in the sun .... after my dear hubby was done with his!

Someday in my doodlings ... I'm going to make up a poem/song about this porch. I love this place.

Small surprises

I came home from work yesterday and tossed the prepared lasagne into the oven. Anna, Tia & I buzzed to Fred Meyer to pick through their clearance. Heard that they had a good clearance going on and Anna is in desperate need of shoes and something to wear to 8th grade promotion. Then we were headed for the shoe store across the street. Anna was in the fitting room at Freddy's when my cell phone rang.

We take call at work. The department I'm in is staffed with on call staff from 6pm to 11pm Mon thru Friday and from 7am to 6pm on weeekends. We signed up for May's call in April. I had originally signed up for last night and then gave it away. Problem is that the girl who wanted it was never informed of the days she got. Last night at 5:45 she was in Anchorage shopping. I wasn't. Ugh.

So we headed home instead. With Anna not having a thing in her hand. This is driving me crazy. Maybe over the weekend we'll manage to hit a few more stores.

I swallowed a few mouthloads of lasagne and headed back to work.

One of the things I thoroughly enjoy about nursing is getting to know people. The people, and their families, that I helped make it through their surgery experience last night were absolutely delightful people.

I didn't get home until nearly 11:30 pm and woke up a bit too late to get Tia on the bus this morning.

While I sat there last night I made my Ikea shopping list. :) Jenny, that is one quick stop I want to make. Ikea. I don't want many things, but there are a few things that I really would like to have. Am hoping to spend part of a day in Prescott. Oh! Don't let me forget Storables either. I need another one of those cd storage things as well.

By the way ... was wishing I had a camera on my way home last night. 11:20ish and my headlights were on. Should push come to shove and the headlights quit working ... I could've seen where I was going. Quite fun!

I am thinking that I'm going to have a very cold shower this morning. Waking up kids + kids taking showers + mom needs to hop in there in about 10 minutes = cold shower for mom.

Phoenix here I come!

YES!!!!

I got my ticket. And am heading for Phoenix in June. My main objective is to attend the graduation of this very special friend of mine. :)

We are anticipating that she will have all kinds of time to travel now that school is nearly done! Obviously, we look forward to seeing her up here often! (I don't know if she ever comes on here to read so I'm probably safe!)

Anyone who has taken an ACLS class can probably sympathize with me. My ACLS was up for renewal. The instructor we had (she retired recently) has been known to make the physician in charge of the ICU do remediation because his timing was off on his breaths or compressions. It use to be a bit stressful. Now we have moved to doing it online. Took 8 hours to get the computer part done yesterday. That wasn't bad. Frustrating until you got what the program was all about and where all your tools were. Today I struggled with the manikin. I never knew you spelt it that way either. My new learning for the day. I fought with the computer for an hour this morning and finally gave up. That means that I was doing CPR on this stupid thing for an hour. 30 compressions, 2 breaths for 5 rounds. Fail. Do it again. The computer would tell you if you were going too deep, not deep enough, too slow, too fast. I tried again in the afternoon for one round. Others tried for me ... signed on my account. Someone finally got it for me. You should see my right hand. It is swollen and it HURTS! I think the redness is going away, but there won't be any wood splitting for me tonite! There is no way I could grip the splitting maul. The whole miserable experience is over and done with. I killed my manikin so many times today it was horrible. Let's hope my hand functions tomorrow. We have a busy day.

Yesterday I decided that I should get into the splitting wood thing. Great exercise. Jari was laughing and threatening to get the camera. I didn't think it was THAT good. Maybe it was. Am sure there will be plenty left for me once this hand is working again.

Tia is crashed on the couch. Poor dolly. She is one sick girl. She has had massive headaches that I've been keeping track of. Wipes her out for an entire day. White as a ghost looking. They seem to be the same time of the month. Hormonal? I don't know. She's been fortunate the last several months. Today she thought it was something she ate at school. Will see if she feels better in the morning. Certainly hope so.

The sun has decided to go into hiding. After the gorgeous last week ... I thought it was here to stay! Drizzling on my towels on the line. Drizzling on the rugs still hanging on the porch. Drizzling on the rhubarb that is growing like crazy. Drizzling on the dirt in the flower bed as well. I am moving those tulips tomorrow. Live or die ... they're finding a new home.

Can I go put some comfy jammies on and snuggle up with a good magazine for a few minutes? Why not. :)

Bonfires, mosquitos and woodsheds

Jari came home Sunday afternoon looking rightly tanned. Oh goodness. I need a tanning booth or something to catch up with him! We had services in the evening, stayed for nice long coffee and visiting outside afterwards. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! I normally wouldn't do this on a Sunday evening when I have to work the next day, but we headed up to a bonfire at Mattilas afterward. About 9:15ish and the road by the church afforded us this view. Gorgeous, hey?

Bonfire season has begun in earnest.

So has mosquito season. Katrina had these fun mosquito nets which Blayde was not a bit shy to use. Looks like they worked.

There were 8 visiting guys (young and younger :) ) in town. Fun for my boys to get together with them. Pete Wuollet with 4 of his boys, Roger Silijander, Cal & Taylor Silijander.

Monday after I got off work, Blayde & I headed over to the college to finish the last of the paperwork in order for him to start June 15th. When someone tells you that the appointment is going to last about 20 minutes ... I rather take them at their word. We had invited the Wuollet/Silijander crew over for dinner and, bless her sweet heart, the woman is VERY long winded. I finally had to tell her that she needed to skip a few things. We really didn't need the same thing explained 3 times over. I was about bouncing in the chair. Was nearing 6:15 when we got home ... with everything completed and ready for June 15th!! I did stop at the corner above the house to grab a picture. The green was coming quickly over the weekend. Will see if the weather holds out for a fast green or not.

While I was off doing school stuff, my hubby was cooking. I did put the spuds in the oven before I left. Salmon, halibut, salad and vegies were all his. It was fantastic! And he did a divine job of cooking it. Liz and Leroy joined us as well ... and brought yummy eclair dessert. Delish!! While the guys were visiting, I snuck outside with the camera .....

The rhubarb is on a roll. Today's mission is to move those tulips. Live or die .... they're moving. Their time is short if they stay where they're at ... might be shorter if I move them, but we'll see!

Our driveway .... slowly turning green.

The woodshed made it to this stage on Monday. Running out of scavenged lumber ... probably need to hit Craigs List or something. :)

Wally & Lisa joined us for coffee in the evening. Lisa was playing Settlers with the girls ... and the guys decided to join the game ... apparently. Fun to get to know some new faces. We're hoping to see more of them up here.

So ended Monday evening. I had an ACLS renewal class on Tuesday. Had done not one lick of studying at all. Our surgery department is the first group at the hospital doing these classes online. Wasn't too bad. Actually less stressful than going and sitting in front of an audience doing a mega code. I was exhausted though when I came home. So were my kids. They were all crashed out in various places. I hope that if someday my kiddos find spouses that they come from families where naps are the norm. Otherwise, there's going to be a major learning curve. I snagged this picture of the woodshed ... and hit the deck for a bit.

Look at this stuff!! I did use up some out of the freezer over the weekend. Made a delicious strawberry rhubarb pie on Sunday. :)

When I got up from the nap ... the trim was on. The door is salvaged from somewhere in this house. No, not the bathroom. It's door is still safe! :) I'm thinking it begs to be the color red. How about you?

Jari found this piece of tree a short while back and stashed it. Thought it might make a super cute handle. I think it does! And we both agree that the woodshed looks like a sauna now!

I even split some wood yesterday. Some? Okay, should I be honest? I did try. My hubby threatened to go get the camera. Thank goodness he didn't. I figure my upper arms are growing fast enough that they'll soon measure the size of my thighs. And I'll freely admit it. It isn't muscle that's growing. The boys get the job of filling the woodshed, but I might give them a helping hand if the sun shines on Saturday. Get some sun and whittle away at those arms ... all at the same time!

Puttering through the weekend

My all time favorite thing to do. Puttering. Just go from one thing to the next and see what is acccomplished by the end of the day. I always end up going to bed thinking of things that were left undone, but I think I get more done along the way.

Friday we got a new spigot outside. :) Don't you just love the garden watering tool my hubby picked out? Maybe that's why I kept picking out pink and purple flowers today. This gadget is going to be a lifesaver.

After getting the water spigot done .... he moved on to the next project. Wood shed coming up! Still trying to decide what to put on the outside walls. Economy says plywood. The rest of me says the same wood as the well cover and the greenhouse. Hmmm. Maybe plywood on 3 sides and wood planks on the front? I think our boys will have a job and a half splitting and stacking wood before winter.

I encouraged Jari to head to the cabin with the guys. They were doing some bear baiting and snow machine riding ... back tomorrow.

I did a bit of the necessary running today.

Our blinds on the dining room window were rather stuck in the "up" position. The sun shines in for hours in the afternoon and heats it up quite nicely. Add an oven on in the kitchen and it gets toasty. WalMart didn't sell what I wanted, but rigged me up something that keeps the blinds up easily and allows me to put them down when I need to in the afternoon. May have been cooler outside today ... I'm not sure. The inside of the house sure seemed cooler. Seems such a shame to block out sunshine!

Warm air ... sunshine ... clean rugs. Aaaaah.

Garage sale signs are absolutely EVERYWHERE! I could have spent all day hitting sales. I had great intentions of waking up early and going this morning. I didn't wake up early. I didn't go. I probably missed all kinds of great deals. Tia & I did hit one sale. I found a chalkboard that I can't wait to paint the edges on. That was a fun find. Another great one was some sheets. Not exactly plain in the color department ... but one set is flannel. Come fall/winter and the windows are open .... I can snuggle into flannel sheets. And I really won't care what color they are. They'll be toasty. Notice they're hanging outside and not in the dryer twirling around? Blayde and I hung up a clothes line this afternoon. Will move it somewhere else someday when we're done with whatever it is we're doing outside. In the meantime .... these 2 little lines worked for drying 4 loads of laundry today. Nothing like fresh laundry from outside.

Did my pulla baking for my dear hubby today. And then we had company this evening. Isn't he just the cutest ever? Charisse and Charlie came down and spent the evening. My first real peek at this handsome fella ... Baby Charlie.

Now ... back to the book. :)

I need some shelving

in the greenhouse.

Went to WalMart today and bought flower seedlings. Transplanted peas ... I need shelves! :)

Also learned that I did something incredibly silly last fall. I dumped all the potting soil out of my pots last year.

Silly me.

At least I dumped it in the compost pile. Just won't be able to use it this year ... unless my compost pile starts really working quickly.

Now I need more potting soil.

And I don't feel like hoisting the heavy bags from Lowe's. This learning curve gets steep somedays.

Yippee!

Progress is wonderful.

Jari has been working on the yard. Every. Day.

All winter long we dumped stuff behind the house. Remodeled the bathroom and just hucked things out the window. The pile went to the dump this week. Only thing left behind was the forgotten dishwasher. Add that to the next dump run!

The wood pile is moving from the side of the driveway. It is going to take the place of the bunny house and rather vacant no longer existent chicken cage. Eventually (might be more than a few blinks) we hope to haul wood into the house through a different entrance. One closer to the wood stove. Kind of makes sense hey? Would also be closer to the sauna. The one that isn't built yet. :) Moving wood, burning rotten wood, using any 2x4s he can get his hands on. Scavenging and accomplishing. Awesome mix.

Picked up a shelving unit from Lowe's last night. :) One step closer in that laundry room downstairs. It is a constant disaster. Am guessing that it will be that way until they are grown and gone. Then I won't need anything but a washer/dryer up in the kitchen or somewhere close to my rocking chair. Next on the list is another Sterlite dresser. Am kicking myself for leaving one behind when we moved. Should have left something else instead. Could really use that about now. 2 kids are keeping their clothes in the laundry room. Works out very well. I didn't have the space to do that when the kids were little, but highly recommend it!

The planter in the greenhouse is filled with dirt. Mix of top soil, horse manure, peat moss and potting soil. Let's see if the plants like it or not. This photo was taken before the dirt filling was

complete. Warm enough in there during the day to do some serious growing. Let's hope. Today we need a water source. In the middle of our basement remodeling, the outside water spigot went away. It was at the back of the house. Only needed 200 feet of hose to reach the garden last summer. Horrendous!! Today we need a new water spigot. Then we can start watering the lettuce, radishes, carrots, peppers and whatever else it was I plunked in there!

I moved Brock's snow play table over to this side and all the plants went outside last night. If I regret the move ... I'll know next year!

This morning I did the run to the grocery store with Tia. She was sleeping when we did our Lowe's run last evening. Would have been convenient if she had been awake. I'm asking too much. Spirit Day at school today. Plus, she needed a folder and markers. And ... she wanted some green glitter. Fred Meyer doesn't open until 7:00 so we ran to Carr's. No green glitter. Will green star shaped post it notes work? Why not. Slap them all over your sweatshirt. :)

Wondering if I can sneak off to a few garage sales tomorrow morning. Moving sales in particular. Maybe they have some really fun falling apart old chairs and things. Some hanging planters they don't want to haul along? Waders? Fishing poles ... cuz the season called "Anita Breaks Another Kids Rod" is about to be here!

Happy May Day!