High School Graduation Weekend

Vegetarian Dinner

Amie requested corn-on-the-cob and salt potatoes for dinner. Since she doesn’t eat much meat I decided to have a vegetarian dinner. I stopped at an Amish farm stand on my drive home & bought peas. I bought 2 bags at $1 each. It took me FOREVER to shuck those peas. I will never do that again.

What started out as a large pile ended up a very small bowl. Thank goodness Mick doesn’t like peas because there is not enough for everyone.
We have a local graduation party tonight & then Z’s party tomorrow. Let the fun begin!

Old floor new again.

Over the weekend Mick sanded, stained and then varnished the floor in our living room. The stain is a mix of two shades that he blended himself. He made the color to match the foyer and dining room. The varnish is a satin finish. Although, the satin is very glossy for a satin. I LOVE how it came out. Last night Amie & I picked out the paint colors for the walls and cupboards. She says she is going to paint today. We’ll see!

A Dirty Job

On Saturday I was paired up with Mickey, I guess I will go thru life with one Mick or another. We spent the day sprucing up the yard, planting flowers, pulling weeds, lots of sweeping, and cleaning the deck, the dirty job. I ended up with the broom, Mickey the scrub brush and her favorite, the hose.
We built a retaining wall, a surprise for Mau. We were able to find out on Sunday after a severe rain storm that it does retain! How do you like those bricks LUD?
We set one of the containers that we planted on a rock in one of the gardens. It just looks so cute there. Make sure you look for it if you attend the party and Mickey make sure you water it!
On Sunday, Mickey & I went to the grocery store with a long list and purchased the food necessary for the real preparation to begin. Although the weekend was work we had a lot of fun, laughs and tears but, no tears in this pair. Another Agent 99 update. When I arrived home on Monday, I was greeted with a subpoena to attend county court; you have a right to a hearing 146 hours after arrest. Thankfully, the DA’s office called and notified me that he waived his right to that hearing. Now, I most likely will be called to talk in front of a Grand Jury. This is our tax dollars at work, such a waste.

First Day of Summer

Tomorrow will be the first day of SUMMER!! I'm hoping we will have a wonderfully hot summer with rain only at night. A summer like that would make it easier to get thru our long cold winters.

An Agent 99 update; the Indian Reservation pawn shop sent an impostor back to our police station. Same model as her but very used & in bad condition. Officer said that they are not very honest. Basically they are a place to sell stolen goods. The officer told me if I want restitution, if she is not returned, I HAVE TO WRITE A LETTER to the court requesting restitution. Come on, wouldn't that be automatic?????

I am not sure how much GEL-Oh I'll be giving you over the next two weeks. Amie will be arriving home on Monday, I can't wait. I have lots of projects (aka work) planned for her. I am not sure what she has planned.

Everyone enjoy the first weekend of SUMMER!

Party in a Basket

When Amie graduated from high school it was the first time I had ever heard of someone going to college to be an Event Planner, that would have been my calling. Since I am to old for a calling, I live vicariously, mostly through planning our family reunions. One lesson I've learned is always give a monetary down payment (a legally binding contract) when booking any service. I guess that would be one thing college would have taught me, I had to learn the hard way. Currently, I am assisting with my nephew's high school graduation party. I've been shopping for all the paper goods etc. and taking care of the table decorations. Black, White & Maroon are difficult colors to work with. Not as hard as Gold & Brown thou! I'll spend this weekend helping with as many preparations that we can possibly do to get ready for the 28th. This is the to be graduate, soon to be off to Rochester. He also recently joined the ranks of Eagle Scout with his cousins, Jon, Andy & Ray.

Congrats Z!!!!

Should I start planning an Eagle Scout Award party?

She's back....they think

According to the police, a "bad boy" (20 years old) took Agent 99. Since he entered our garage he will be charged with a felony. Yesterday evening, I went to the police station to sign a deposition stating I did not give him or anyone else permission to enter the garage or use Agent 99. There was another boy (19) involved who gave the information on our theft. I guess he is not in as much trouble as the 20 year old. I didn’t want to ask to many questions. For some reason I thought the less I knew about the activities of these boys the better. Thankfully, we do not know either boy or their families. Agent 99 is at a pawn shop on an Indian Reservation. Although, they can’t say for certain until she is returned since another GPS was stolen recently from a nearby town. I just hope these boys don’t have to many bad boy friends. I may have to enter some sort of protection program! When I asked about the repercussions of signing the deposition the police told me to contact them if I experienced any problems. I was hoping they would have said, “Oh, you have nothing to worry about.”

Abduction of Agent 99

Agent 99, my Garmin GPS, was abducted from the inside of my car, which was parked inside our garage, sometime between Thursday evening and Friday morning. This is what she looked like. I see she costs considerably less than the $285 that Mick paid when he bought her for my 50th birthday. I will mess her terribly. She has been my travel partner for almost a year. Not that I travel that much when I need to know where I am going but, for some reason, I like seeing my estimated arrival time. I hope whoever has her won't be showing up at LUD's, Kristen's or my office. On second thought, show up at the office and get some work done! I did report the adbuction to our local police force and we will be keeping the man door to the garage locked even when we are home. Also, I went out and spoke to several of our neighbors so they keep their cars locked at night.
I guess there is no such thing as safe small towns. : (
Lisa, Amie's friend and classmate posted several pictures of their Europe trip on her blog. You can go here to see them. Speaking of Blogs, Amie changed up the design of her Blog. It is so her and she beat me to the task. I have been saving up a new design for mine but don't think I have the computer skills to get the job done. Amie will be coming home in a week and will assist me. Speaking of computer skills, just when I think my computer skills are terrible I find out that one of my sister-in-law's can't figure out how to post a comment onto my blog. I know she reads my blog and I would love to see a comment from her. I love comments!! Speaking of comments, my son gets six or seven comments on the pictures he posts of dead animals and animals that he hopes will soon be dead. I post pictures of beautiful flowers and landscapes and receive three or four comments. There is something wrong with that.

Flag Day

You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flying flag

And forever in peace may you wave.

You're the emblem of

The land I love.

The home of the free and the brave.

Ev'ry heart beats true

'neath the Red, White and Blue,

Where there's never a boast or brag.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

Keep your eye on the Grand Old Flag.

Tomorrow is Flag Day. Get out your flags, if you haven't already, and put on display. If you don't have any flags wear some red, white & blue. Wish I knew where all our politicians get their flag lapel pins, Mick would like one. I'll be attending our community Flag Day Parade on Saturday. Hope you all will be doing something you enjoy on Saturday and also on Sunday when we CeLeBRate and honor our Fathers. Here's to a busy weekend!!!

The photograph is of Mom's flag in her front yard.

My Backyard Gardens

Last night, just when I thought I wouldn't have a post for today, I went outside to rake and saw some beautiful flowers in my jungle gardens. I have not tended the gardens very well, except for weeding. They are in big time need of thinning, I think. Isn't there a saying that goes something like, "Doing something wrong is better than doing nothing at all." ?? Can anyone offer me some guidance? The flowers below are,

Lupine (my favorite),

Poppy,

Iris and

Bleeding Heart.

Photo Developing

This is what $85 gets you.

I finally sat down and choose what photographs I wanted printed, something I haven't done since Thanksgiving. I spent several hours over three days choosing and uploading the pictures. I never will wait this long again! My goal is to download pictures at the end of each month and then place my order every few months. I use Adorama out of NYC. They have the best quality printing I've found. In fact, the first time I used Adorama Mick wanted me to have all our pictures reprinted. I highly recommend you have your photos printed there. Right Amie & Lisa, as in Europe pictures!!!

Micks Dad will be getting a photo album of our Christmas Reunion for Father's Day. Also, I finally got a picture for Angel, the winner of my first Blog contest. An 11 x 16 print of a building in NYC. Amie will have to carry it back, framed, to LA when she returns from her upcoming visit. Sorry Amie.

Farm Visit

Mom, Donna and I went to a farm on Saturday. It was a cute place in the country. They sell plants, items for lawn and garden and there is a small building for homemade crafts. What I liked best was how the house, barns & yard were decorated. I am going to have some of the pictures printed to use as cards.

I bought the bird herb marker for my newly established herb garden. This is my last bird purchase. I actually bought another bird for the inside of the house. NO more birds. Last night I made herbed baked potatoes for dinner and they were delicious. Yes, it was 85 and I turned the oven on.

Mom took a picture of Donna & I on the farm. She saw a Sister frame and thinks we both need one. I am holding out for a better photo for my frame!

In case you didn't notice, Google updated the Favorite Blog option. You can now look at the list and read what the last blog title was and when it was. I love to read all the blogs and get sick of going from blog to blog only to find there has been no update. This will save time. I think they did this just for Mau, she has no extra time. Boy, my family has turned into a SLACKING blog family. Ke is the only one with an excuse, she is at Fay Ln for a month with no internet.

Long Weekend....

I spent Thursday evening thru Sunday morning with my Mom, Mick was traveling for work. I had a nice relaxing weekend and hot. It was 94 on Friday & Saturday. In case you remember my pledge, I shopped but I didn't buy a single item of clothing. Mom, Donna & I went to some nice shops on Saturday. I tried to get Mom to point up to the below sign, just like Amie did with the California flag, she wouldn't.

We saw a fowl, he was 9 days old and very cute. I took several pictures and promised the owners I would email the photos to them.

My favorite sign of the weekend was at a local bakery. This would be my kind of diet!

It's in the mail

Last weekend Mick was going to bring home some rhubarb from BUD's garden. Since he was called home early Saturday morning arrangements could not be made for pick-up. So, BUD mailed, YES mailed to me the rhubarb. I never would have thought of putting fresh produce in the mail. He sent it out on Monday and I received it on Tuesday. After washing, cutting and trimming I ended up with 8 cups for the freezer. Thanks David!

I've looked thru my recipes and for starts I am going to make Rhubarb Tea Cakes. How could I resit any recipe with the word Tea in it?

Keeping IT Real (Sort of)

I have been talking about cleaning out for several, several, several years. I talked about it five years ago prior to our move, it would have been less to haul and since our current home, so much so Eric doesn't believe it will happen. He's the neat one in our family, he received the clean genes from his father's family. Well, the process began this weekend. I cleaned out my closet.

The before photo, don't want you to get to good of a look.

27 Dresses, 20 Blouses, 14 Skirts and many other items. All going to our St. Vincent De Paul Shop. It really wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. It's only been three days so time may tell a different story. This is the after. Now I need to do the walk in closet, two other closets and the ENTIRE basement. There won't be any before pictures of the basement thou. Oh, thankfully the attic is good. I am very selective in what I bring up there.

I don't feel the need to go shopping to fill the closet, some people say that happens to them. I have just the opposite feeling. It made me sick to get rid of perfectly good clothes that I haven't worn in some 20 years. Yes, some dresses I have had for just over 20 years. I may NEVER clothes shop again. Thankfully, Mick nor my Mom read this blog. I wouldn't want Mick to read about my no clothes shopping pledge & I would not want Mom to see my before closet picture.

Lilac's

For the last five weeks I've been taking pictures of the progress of our lilacs blooming. Each was taken on a Sunday or Monday. I never realized it took so long for them to bloom. Usually, it seems like they come and go in no time. Since we had such a wet cold spring it was an exceptional year for lilacs.

The first & the last pictures ended up being my favorites. Can't you just smell them?

Deck Rearrange

I only work until noon on Fridays and since there was an 80% chance of rain on Saturday I decided to take some time and sit out on our deck. I did feel a bit guilty about this since Mick went to Fay Ln Thursday evening to work on the bathroom project for the weekend. As most of you know, the weekend did not go as planned. Mick returned home on Saturday morning. As hard as is was for Mick another family had an unimaginable weekend.

I love the arrangement this year, for the first time since we've been at this house. The butter churn was a gift from Mau. It was a great find for her, FREE off the side of an Adirondack road. Mick hated the "piece of rotten junk." Thankfully, everyone who comes to our deck comments on it's uniqueness. This year he bought some Marine Varnish and sealed the churn. He didn't want the finish to fade. He has come to appreciate its uniqueness. !

The reason I like the deck arrangement is that the seating is so that when someone drives or walks by they can't see us sitting. Also, when you sit in any chair, except the wheelbarrow bench, you are looking into the back yard or perennial garden.

The above are two different views of the seating area. Of course I had to mess with Photoshop. Photoshop is very addicting.

My twig table, a find from last year and cheap cheap. The antique shop was going out of business. I thought I would never have one since they usually cost $100 or more. I paid $25. There's the tour Amie. Isn't this a lot better? Everyone else, come by and sit with me!

One of the few time the weather forecasters were correct. The above is our deck on Saturday morning. Notice the puddle on the deck cushion?