Backyard Bang

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, but I've been playing with my new FlipVideo and wanted to see how I can use it in my blog.

Well graduations are over, school's out and summer is finally here! I finished my planting last week and very happy with my choices this year. Instead of planting a lot of annuals in my pots which ends up costing quite a bit of money, I decided to get more bang for my buck. I went to the local hardware/garden stores and bought very large palms and some ferns for my pots. Sure there isn't any color, but do I really need color in every pot? And when you have so much shade your choices of annuals are small. Another problem when you wait as long as I do to buy my annuals, the choices are picked over and already leggy - whatever! yuck! But I'm happy and I saved a lot of money. Those palms only cost $19.99 and the very large one only $24.99. Normally I stuff those pots with annuals that cost way more than that. And hopefully, if I did this right, you can see my late Spring/early Summer garden as I take a walk.

My Wish for You

My son graduated from college a few weeks ago. At this time you begin to reflect on the growing years and now the future. And then today this list of wishes appeared and I thought it was appropriate for all our graduates.

The Wish List by Collin McCarty

Of all the things I wish for you, I would give anything if these wishes
could always come true…

*I want you to be happy.

*I want you to fill your heart with feelings of wonder and to be full
of courage and hope.

*I want you to have the type of friendship that is a treasure — and
the kind of love that is beautiful forever.

*I wish you contentment: the sweet, quiet, inner kind that comes around
and never goes away.

*I want you to have hopes and have them all come true.

*I want you to make the most of this moment in time.

*I want you to have a real understanding of how unique and rare you
truly are.

*I want to remind you that the sun may disappear for a while, but it
never forgets to shine.

*I want you to have faith.

*May you have feelings that are shared from heart to heart, simple
pleasures amidst this complex world, and wonderful goals that are within
your grasp.

*May the words you listen to say the things you need to hear.

*And may a cheerful face lovingly look back at you when you happen to
glance in your mirror.

*I wish you the insight to see your inner and outer beauty.

*I wish you sweet dreams.

*I want you to have times when you feel like singing and dancing and
laughing out loud.

*I want you to be able to make your good times better and your hard
times easier to handle.

*I want you to have millions of moments when you find satisfaction in
the things you do so wonderfully.

*And I wish I could find a way to tell you — in untold ways — how
important you are to me.

Of all the things I'll be wishing for, wherever you are and whatever I
may do, there will never be a day in my life when I won't be wishing
for the best… for you.
--------------------

Those funny emails....

We all receive those funny email. Sometimes I receive so many I can't possibly open and read them all. Today I received this from a friend and it really made me chuckle and thought why don't I put this on my blog. I hope you all enjoy it - it's just for fun!

SAD News.....
Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

A Day of Beauty

There is nothing better than a day of beauty.

First I was off to get a new set of acrylic nails. I don't really know what it is about getting my nails done that makes me feel so good. But when my nails look good I look good. I started doing acrylics back in the 80's when it was fairly new. I've always had terrible nails that no matter what home remedy or over the counter product I tried, nothing worked to stop my nails from splitting. I tried whatever I could find to have nice nails and nothing worked. And then I found out about acrylics and the rest is history. I think the secret to beautiful acrylic nails is to get a new set every 4 weeks. And just look how great my flower ring looks with this great manicure!

Then I was off to get a pedicure at my favorite spa Coldwater Creek. Believe me when I tell you that a person can fall asleep during a pedicure at CC. It starts out with a lavendar foot soak that smells heavenly. Then you get a warm neck roll, a blanket wrapped around you, an eye mask before they completely recline your chair and you are now totally relaxed. But, wait, now they give you some aromotherapy which totally relaxes you and then the pedicure begins. About 45 minutes later your technician wakes you up with a little more aromotherapy, puts you in an upright position, takes off the mask, neck roll and blanket and welcomes you back to the real world with really great looking toes - ooohhhhh!

My Dream House

When I was younger I wished for a two story house, but we always lived in a one story ranch. Two stories were not really popular in California then. My first three homes were one story ranches and I remember wanting more. I still had that dream of two stories. Then I moved into a condo in downtown San Francisco that you had to walk up a flight of stairs to the main entrance and the main floor which was the living area, then once you were on the main floor you could go back down a flight to the kitchen, dining room and an office or you could go up one flight to the two master bedrooms or you could go up one more flight to the laundry room and rooftop garden. Is it any wonder that after several years going up and down so many flights of stairs I no longer wanted a two story house. But when we moved to New Jersey, the home I fell in love with was 2 stories and 100 years old with very small stairs. Then our last move, where we are now in Naperville, I moved into what they call in the Midwest a split level Ranch. Which, if you want my opinion is 2 stories. We've been here 20 years (a very long time in one place for us) and I long for a small, quaint cottage somewhere, anywhere. My dream house is no longer a big 2 story home, but a single story, small, quaint home. When I see a home like the one above my heart soars for the simplicity of life this home offers. And now that my son has graduated from college, I dream of this house and wonder how long will it be before we find each other. I wonder where it will be? I hope somewhere warm at least 9 months out of the year - wouldn't that be nice?

Where's your dream house?