Sex and the City 2

Had a wonderful day yesterday visiting.
Lunched with a new friend and heard and commiserated about the south.
Then another friend stopped by and we visited on the deck and had a boca burger.
Good thing I didn't have any plans or motivation yesterday, or I find that I would have been a bit miffed at wasted time!
God does put me in a state of mind for what he has coming my direction.

I bought a "comfy chair" for the deck. Of course I put it together backwards and as I was tightening the bolts, I thought I should keep them loose in case......I will spend sometime today redoing the chair.

V and H and I went to see the opening of Sex and the City 2 last night.
It was a pretty good movie.
All the actresses look much older.
The clothes and shoes and city were glittering!
Makes me want to travel...but maybe not to Abu Dhabi!
The middle east seems a scary place to me in these times of war.
The older I get, the less I am willing to risk the unknown.

After the movie, we three went to Houlihans to have a girly drink.
I am such a novice at this stuff!
Hil had her gin and tonic and V had the Sex and City Cosmopolitan.
I had no idea of course...so the waitress got me a key lime martini.
Graham cracker crumbs on the glass!
Interesting and very strong of vodka!
Should have gone the cosmo.

When I got home, I had a hard time falling asleep.
Too many glitzy things swirling around my head.

Liza Minnelli was in the movie and she danced and sang very surprisingly well for being an old broad! She is in great shape!
Only Sex and the City could get away with such blatant gay stereotypes...but it was fun.

I am in the middle of redecorating the family room and the movie made me take a second look.
As I discovered, I am a very pale, earthy colored calm person when it comes to decorating.
Before last night I really didn't think much about that.
After last night I had visions of cool, uptown, funky styling!
I loved her apartment! Always have!
Wonder if I could pull that off?
Maybe in just one room.
Then again, is there anything wrong with calm?
It will take me a while to make the preparations.....tearing carpet up, redoing floor, painting, furniture etc.
I suppose I have a bit of time to ponder.

Lazy day

I am a feeling a bit lazy today.


Charlie did not want to get up when I woke at 7:30.
So we both lay in bed a bit longer...me scratching him and he snoring soundly.
I worked really hard in the yard the past two days and feel very satisfied.
I was hoping for a bit of rain yesterday so I could clean around the house.
It was too beautiful outside.
Charlie and I pulled all the grass from around the garage and side of the driveway.
I have too many perennials crowding the back yard and needed to make some room.
I think it will be beautiful!
Plenty of room for some annual flower seeds, and maybe a plant or two from the farmer's market!
However, today I am not feeling anything!
Playing and surfing the web.
Lunch with a friend at Granite City.
Should get some mulch and do a bit more planting.
Really should clean my floors!
Have been hacking at my familyroom carpet...getting ready for a new floor this fall.
Until then, I have to get rid of the carpet, pad and all the gunk underneath.

Now I see why I'm lazy!

Probably will wash some wool this afternoon.
Going to see Sex and the City 2 with V & H tonight.
Cosmos afterwards! Don't know if I like cosmos. We'll find out!

Better get off this dumb ball and get started!
Have a nice day!~

WHEW!

It has been quite a while since I signed on.
I was riding in Terry's new truck for the past 17 days.
We went to St. Cloud Minnesota,(have you seen the new tempurpedic commercial from there?) down to Laredo Texas, (with a stop to see the grandbabies) to Houston TX, to Modesto CA, (I was only 1.5 miles from a yarn shop...didn't get to go)to Los Angles, (I only got pictures of the street signs of Hollywood, etc) then to Reform Al where Hilary picked me up to come home through Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana.

All in all, I had a wonderful time...and only gained 4 pounds of my lost 20. Since being home I have lost 6 pounds. I credit that to plain old moving!

I was on a cross country trip with Terry about 5 years ago on our 20th anniversary.
We went up through Idaho, Washington, New Mexico, Texas, and Tennessee.
I saw and took over 300 pictures that time of all the interesting rocks, deserts, area 51, cactus, etc.
This time, I took a few pictures. Lots less than the first time.
It just wasn't as exciting as the first time through the desert.
I have decided where I DON'T want to retire to!
I always imagined Albuquerque NM. Nope. I am so tired of desert. No people at all.
Only sand and rocks and snakes. Hundreds of miles of it!
I am definitely a mountain or beach girl....and by beach I mean Maine! Possibly Oregon....

Since being home I have sewn with abandon on Hilary's 80's punk prom dress, and worked in my garden and slept! Alot!

I am attending the 80's prom, but I am going as I used to dress when in High School
I am dressing flash dance!
I had completely forgotten how I used to dress, how things were decorated, etc. Mainly because I was not Madonna. I was very comfortable in cut off sweatshirt and leggings. Also the flipped collar on polos, usually with a sweater tied over my shoulders.
Not really remembering the blue eye shadow...but it's a party....I'm going with it!

Will post pics next week. Hopefully I can figure out how to get them from my phone!
Like...for sure!

traveling by 18 wheels

I am getting homesick!
I miss my dog.
I miss my garden.
I miss my girls!

I am having a good time tho.
I enjoy going with my hubby on the road once or twice a year.
He got a new truck (newer) and it has a table instead of bunk beds.
I really like sitting at the table, cause the passenger seat is REALLY uncomfortable.
It's pretty comfortable too, as a bed.
REALLY not used to the snoring anymore though.
We have discussed that when we retire, we will have two separate houses!
One for us and one for him!
Being confined to a ten foot box for a week... with the potential of another week....is a bit confining!

This really hasn't been a vacation, folks.
The first two days, I helped him organize and move from his old truck into this one.
Not a pretty job in the old truck....I let him do most of that!
I felt really proud of myself tho, for setting up his new home so well!
Met the folks from ATS and his driver manager.
I must have made a scary impression because they comped us a king size room for the night!

Then it was on to Larado TX by way of Beeville TX.
Terry's son, wife and two kids live there.
I was so excited!
We watched 5 yo Brittany play Tball...
HOT in Texas and on a baseball field!
It was so cute!
All the coaches and anyone standing around her were told..."that's my Banana over there!"
They looked at her, then at me... and smiled.
Brittany didn't think there was anything weird or wrong with what she said.....I don't either!
Beau is 3, and is a bit shy. All boy tho! He is such a cutie! Loved hanging on and around Papa Terry!
Papa Terry loved it too!

After the kids were bathed and in bed, Andrew and Bridget and Terry and I talked until midnight. It was so much fun!
Andrew remembers so much stuff about when he would visit us in Alabama....stuff I had forgotten.
He is still dealing with alot of baggage and not really sure of our relationship with him let alone the kids....but he will have to get over that.
Once banana gets ahold of her grandbabies...there ain't no taking that back!

Now, on the road trip part.
In a truck, it is a working truck. This is our lively hood. If he doesn't drive, we don't get paid. He has little choice into where we go. And trucks drive on the highway. It is very rare that I get to shop or sight see but from the window...and a buggy window it is!
Every once in a whole, when he needs to rest, he will park at a nice rest stop where I can read, knit and exercise.
Once in a blue moon, he will park at a mall and I can wander a shop.
That hasn't happened this trip so far!
And the radio he listens too!
I don't really mind the politics, but the gospel bluegrass and 60s music can be a bit much. He's not one to let me listen to contemporary Christian too often.
So I knit and read!
I am almost done with sock #2, and may need to find yarn somewhere in California!

We have not had any fights.....thank you Lord!
The only time I got testy was when there was 16 hours inbetween meals!
9PM Burger King is not that appetizing!

So, the adventure continues.
I am getting some meals out to people over facebook and emails.
I love my team!
I check facebook often!

Right now I am having a cobb salad at a flying J truckstop while Terry is getting his load to CA. It is at a port in Houston and I am not secured for being there.
I don't mind. Getting caught up with stuff.

Have a wonderful weekend!

weeds

It is a beautiful, rainy, spring Sunday.
After a good church service,
and a great breakfast with my oldest,
I ventured outside to look at my garden.

I am about to go on a road trip with Terry next week.
I am excited about it.
I haven't seen him in 5 months and he just got a 2 month job.
Our 25th anniversary is in June, so this will be our trip!
Minnesota for a new truck, then Corpus Christi to see the grandbabies.
Flying home on Sunday.

I look forward, but also am a little anxious...
mainly because the garden is about to burst out in purple!
Glads, Azalea, Lilac, Iris, Money plant...
I see it every year and enjoy it so much!
Maybe it will wait a week.

Back to weeds....
As I was looking at the garden and all that needs to be done...hopes and visions,
I began weeding a bit.
I know, I am one of those people that do not share many hobbies most would consider fun, but a few will know what I am referring to.

I can spend hours weeding in the garden.
Cool days, maybe a bit of sun for the shoulders, no mosquitoes...blissful for me.
I sit on the grass and pull what I see, which leads me to another patch and another.
Most times my brain is silent and peaceful.
Sometimes, God and I have long leisurely conversations.
I solve all the world's problems in the garden.

It took me many years to be patient enough for weeding tho.
So many early perennials look like weeds.
I must remember what bloomed where the year before, and then leave space around it for new starts.
I have pulled many a new growth and had to wait years for it to replenish itself again.
The Money plant is a great example of that!
I feel I have a good grasp on that beauty now.

As I was pulling crab grass and chick weed (worst ever)
I began a train of thought about weeds.
Like the cockroaches, I believe that weeds will stick around forever.
No matter how you treat them, how many you pull, stomp, crush, poison etc.
they always come back.
Even digging a trench between lawn and garden only stops them for a time.
Birds and dogs carry their seeds along,
They have powerful root systems that hide from you and set up camp in your nicely mulched areas, and last year I discovered a new way of weed propagation.

As I was on my hands and knees weeding, I was scared half to death when tiny seeds jumped into my face!
Normally, when I see a spider, the weeding is done.
So I was ready for an attack of the arachnid type.
No spider this time.
These pretty little weeds with hairlike stems and tiny leaves, when touched, release their seeds into the air!
Really!
All over the place!
I have yet to figure out when the best time to pick them is without setting them off.
Because, as I know now...once they spring, you wait until next year to find hundreds more where there once was just one!

Most weeds are pretty. Violets, dandelions, chickweed, those little white thingys...those purple thingys...
Why did God make them so sturdy?
Why did God make flies so annoying yet plentiful.
Spiders....won't even go there.
Do the weeds serve a purpose, other than making me and God time?
Will they take over the world when people are gone?
What about all the manicured lawns and lovely gardens that man so tries to control nature with?
Is it a short lived preoccupation that we have?
To pretend we are in control?
What is God's perfect plan for the land?
I know He gets a kick out of our creativity.
We do try so hard to be like Him.
One of the questions I will have to ask someday!

Ballard Curse

I picked up my baby today from her boyfriends house.
I must admit that this still bothers me.
I am getting to like him, but the overnights still bother me.
Please Lord....no living together until they are married.
So much to look forward to!

Anyway.....
She and Joe went to Cancun for the week with her work.
More of a vacation, than work, but.
If you know the Ballard family at all, you must know that nothing...
NOTHING ever goes right or well or as planned.
God likes to throw situations at us.
As a family, we have managed to survive, thrive and laugh about our "adventures!"

It rained in Cancun half of the time.
Hilary caught a horrible cold.. that always goes into bronchitis with her asthma.
The day she was in the sun, her forehead and nose got terribly blistered.
The training was a joke.
She couldn't drink because her throat was sore. (thanks God)
The one day she felt like drinking at the all inclusive bar in the pool,
it closed after one drink! (Again, thanks God)
Their one trip out to snorkel, swim with the sharks and parasail...
The way she told it to me, made me laugh until I had to pee!
Four party cruise ships and one catamaran...
guess which they got stuck with.
Her flipper fell off, her life vest fell off, swimming with the sharks was a pool.
The guy held the shark, handed it to you and they took a picture.
Next!
It was a nurse shark, with no teeth.
Couldn't parasail with a catamaran!
I swear it was going to turn out like that movie where the couple gets left behind and is eaten by sharks.....which, they were the last ones back on the cat.
And finally...
Her suitcase was ripped upon returning to the US.

All I know is that Hilary and Joe made the best of a bad vacation.
They laughed and joked and had a good time with what they were delt.
They brought me huge seashells that Joe dove in the ocean at night for.
And a beautiful beaded bracelet and iguana charm.

It was good to see them again. Good to hug her tightly again.
Good to be able to get and send good morning and nighty night texts again.
I will enjoy seeing all the pictures and hear more stories!
And change my panties!

Thanks God for bringing them home safely and allowing them to laugh at your sense of humor with such character building!

very nice

I had a wonderful weekend.
Nice dinner with girly girls.
Funny play at the Morris about girlfriends.
Made me want to place my friends in the characters,
like I used to do with movies like Big Chill.
No one fit very easily in these characters,
but I believe we all fit in the crazy one more than any other!

Church was great.
Always is.
I love my church!
I love the pastor. He's so down to earth.
Most times.
The underware model thing was a bit much!
But he is humble.
I feel like I belong.
I know people finally.
I have a mission, and I feel fulfilled.
It needs to be expanded, but God blesses me through it!

Today was chilly but sunny.
I washed three pots of Shetland sheep and dyed them at the same time.
Never tried dyeing in the grease before.
Worked really well! Love skipping a step.
I now have green, purple, blue, orange red, fuscia and another softer red.
I dyed mohair curls at the same time.

I feel happy.
I am curled up in sweater pants, and a sweatshirt with hot coffee.
Chuck is beside me sleepy.
It's ok to feel warm and comfy on cool nights, even in the summer!

No matter how happy I am today, I realize that others are struggling.
I wish everyone was as happy as I.
V had a horrible day. It's raining in Cancun on H.
People in Europe are stuck because of a volcano.
A friend has stage 4 lung cancer.
People are lonely.
People are sad.
People are stressed.

I thought Teresa's communion talk was so wonderful.
She prayed for God to bless all those surrounding her.
To lift them up and heal them, make them happy and feel loved.
I can't put it like she did.
I wish I could.
It was very moving!
I pray that for all of you too.

I am blessed and loved and healthy.
I do not want to take that for granted.
Peace.

Flower Frogs

I have many passions.
I have many collections.
One collection in particular focuses on a passion.
Gardening and flower frogs.
Flower frogs were invented in the 1920's and 30's
Apparently a huge fad of flower arranging was all the thing then.
As you can tell from my small collection, there are many types of frogs.

Some are shaped as animals with holes in their backs.

Some are tiny sharp needles to hold flowers made of metal.
These are often put in a bowl or container that is not tall enough to let the flowers stand properly.
They are also good if anyone breaks into the house....good small weapons to throw and injure....alot! Just Kidding!

Glass, porcelain, clay, and metal holders with holes in them,to put in vases.
They make the flowers stay where they are put and not all fall to one side.

There are even wire cages in all forms.

In the 1950's the invention of green floral foam was invented
and overnight wiped out the flower frogs.
Seems like such a short period.

Every time I go into an antiques mall, or thrift shop, I have my eyes peeled for
flower frogs or sugar shakes....another blog at a later time...!
Some days, I find lots. Some days nary a one.
I try to remember what I already have as not to duplicate.
This doesn't always work.
If the price is low enough, it's mine!
I never pay more that $10 for one and hardly ever that!
My girls are very good at finding treasures for me!

I also like collecting tiny bottles to put in a group for an arrangement of fresh flowers from my garden.
I love it!
A simple pleasure from long ago that makes my spirit soar!

Spring Chores

I love this time of year!
I spent all day yesterday staining the deck and picnic table!
Today will be finishing the picnic table and painting the arbors!
Moving things back onto the deck, and hopefully getting to some weeding and treating the lawn.
The weather is perfect!
Thank you Father for lifting all of our spirits!
Looking forward to Easter and celebrating with family...the reason we are all so joyous!
Family time is so precious!
I am so lucky to have wonderful family, friends and a Lord who wants to give me all my desires!
Right now my desire is to be outside!
I am blessed!
Come enjoy the beauty when everything is in bloom! Restful!
Happy Easter!

feeling faith

How do you feel that God is present in your life?
I know that He is always here.
I also feel distant at times.
I feel Him more in the garden with me
or when I am really involved in studying the Word.
Does a church affect how you feel?
A certain preacher or committee you belong to?
Should you church hop when you feel distant?
Or should you hang in, and hold on, and dive in where you are at?
If you have a really non eventful life, do you depend on God less than someone who has pain and difficulties?
Is that the only time you lean on Him?

What advice would you give someone?

I have a facebook friend who made a posting about love.
Not that I agree with airing all the private thoughts on facebook,
but her query was on love.
In love with one who is in love with another.
Someone else, loving you but you not loving them, even though you should.
I gave her "advise" about love being a deliberate choice.
Your heart only knows what it knows.
You must use your brain and choose to love.
Choose daily.
With your thoughts, words, and actions.
Every day!
I must say that again....choose every day to love.
One day it will be true and nothing will be able to break that love.

Is it the same with a relationship with God?
Daily get to know Him because it truly is up to us to make the move toward Him every day. He is already there.
Chose to talk with Him.
Choose to listen to Him.
Choose to spend time with Him.
Eventually you will feel close to Him again!
The world takes so much away from us!
There is never enough time.
But what better way to spend the day than learning to love again!

Now, telling this to a friend who is out of sorts with God.....
Pray for me and the timing and wisdom for words so that she will hear!