Ah HA

This was particulary true today, the largest segment in the pie chart...

Tandem napping, or napping tandem

Flowers along the way...

Here are some pictures of what I have planted so far...still haven't finished getting them all in their pots. I can't remember the names of all of them (some new to me this year) so I'll improvise ('cause I'm too lazy to go get the little name stakes I saved - they're outside).

Verbena, something yellow, coral something and white bacopa...

Yellow daisy-mum thing, purple super bells and more white bacopa.

Baby purple fountain grass, and a couple of little verbenas to keep it company until it fills up the pot (won't take long)!

Boston fern in neat black iron basket with coco mat liner (great for ferns...)

The mutant non-Easter lilies...more are popping open every day!

Spring Fever...

Before I get into the Spring aspect of this post, here is a photo of my trusty blog assistant, Myrtle. Think she could get ANY closer? She is truly a Velcro dog...

Lookie what I got today at Tallahassee Nurseries...

The weather has been soooooo perfect the last few days. Today was pretty windy and a bit chilly, but the sky was clear blue and the sun was working overtime. I will share my flower creations after I finish them all...I ran out of potting soil and didn't feel like going out for more. Off to the store in the morning.

After I ran out of dirt I stripped one of the cabinet doors in the kitchen. The Miracle Erasers I ordered arrived, and I had to test one out. They really do work, but it's not quite as tidy as the web site photos make it look (warning label says to wear gloves, a mask and protective eye wear). It's like a large block of pumice that smells like sulfur.

Instead of having to deal with stripping glop, you have to deal with a lot of black dust particles. The eraser wears away as you use it, so there's a lot of dust. I used it outside so a large portion of it blew away (and in my eye once, owwwww) due to the wind today. I'm going to get some stripper tomorrow and see which one is easier - I have many cabinets and cabinet doors ahead of me. The doors can go outside, but I have the built-in part to deal with as well.

I should be in my office catching up on paperwork, but I just can't make myself stay inside when it's so wonderful outside. My plan, for the last several days, has been to take advantage of the outdoors during the day, then do paperwork in the evening...riiiiight....maybe tomorrow.

Hoppy Day!

Every day is Bunny Day at my house...this trio is on the back porch, under an asparagus fern...

I surfed the 'Net for some cute bunny pictures for my Easter post, and here are a few of the cutest to me, and I hope the Internet Police don't come get me for using other people's photos!:

Love the ferret/bunny...we've had ferrets and they are very comical pets (also very stinky and messy!).

Here are some non-Easter lilies, they were marked as Stargazer, but they must be mutants because they are huge. They also don't have the super-duper smell most Stargazers do...





Happy Easter!

Bailey's first day out...

I can't believe I haven't introduced Bailey yet. When Stephanie moved into her apartment she needed a cat to really feel at home. Unfortunately (but not for Bailey) all of our cats here at home are indoor/outdoor and she needed a strictly indoor cat - lives on a busy college campus street. So off to the animal shelter she went. There, waiting just for Stephanie, was Bailey - formerly named Cheyenne by the shelter folks.

Cheyenne (now Bailey) was 'on sale' for a $15 adoption fee, because she had been there 60+ days (and her kennel card said 'will bite' - wonder why nobody adopted her?). Of course Stephanie accepted the 'will bite' challenge and asked one of the workers to let her out of her kennel. It was love at first bite - in a good way. This poor kitty, locked up for 60+ days and living who knows where before she was impounded, had soooooooo much energy she just couldn't wait to use it up on someone!

Now, let me interject here that her bites don't hurt. She plays rough and is mouthy (like a puppy), and it takes a special kind of cat person to know this and not be intimidated when those teeth are on your arm. Lucky for Bailey Stephanie knows a cool cat when she finds one! She's calmed down considerably since she's been in her new home...

Here is Bailey's photo spread...

This is the photo the shelter used for their adoptive pets photo gallery on our local paper's web site. Kinda pitiful and scrawny looking.

60+ days and a few pounds later, her first day out of the 'clink' and visiting at our house. She's keeping an eye on the dogs...

Back off you dogs...(you will notice she has no tail...)

I can relax now, I have the dogs under control...

Goin' for a ride...on to her new home at Steph's apartment! Don't know too many cats who are so nonchalant about car rides! Nothing ruffles her fur...

Bailey got her new name after a few days...we found a web site with a couple thousand cat names (some with definitions) and Bailey was defined as 'half smooth and creamy-half nuts'. She is one cool kitty...

Dogs demand equal face time...

The dogs heard about The Cat Lineup and have come to me pleading for their turn on the blog. So here they are...


This is Raven, lounging in the sun on the dock at the river house. She is 10+, found as a grown dog when she was 2+. She used to be solid black with just a little white spot on her chest!

Here's Cody, he's 6. He's checking to see who's watching him before he disappears into the pampas grass...


The tiniest, and most cantankerous of the group, Grace. She's 2.5 and has no idea she only weighs 6 lbs. She lives with my daughter, at her apartment (with Bailey the cat). She is uppity because she is the only purebred in the group...
















Myrtle, 2, is concentrating hard on something here (lips are pursed), and listening backward!














This is the most recent acquisition, Marley. My daughter and my sweetie's son adopted him a couple of weeks ago. They live in the same apartment complex and share custody (: Marley's probably about 10-11 months old. Is he cute, or what? Looks like a baby lion to me...

Cabinet project

I've been a post slacker again...but have been busy with other life projects! I'm currently obsessed with updating the look of my 1983 kitchen and bathroom cabinets (same ones in both places...). I have numerous home improvement projects that are about 90% complete - some started long ago and far away.


I started the master bath cabinets this week...figured I'd experiment in there, see how they turned out, then progress to the kitchen. I removed the cabinet doors, then half way through sanding/prepping thought that I should have taken a 'before' picture. Here is one of the kitchen cabinets beneath the sink...lovely, huh?
Nice 80's Fruitwood stain and 'fancy' routed pattern. Pardon the unkempt look, and the grout still stuck to the baseboard from my daughter's tile work!

It took me a whole day to prep and complete ONE door. I did remember not to panic about that fact, since the first attempt at something new is always the worst part - the rest was a piece of cake (or was it mud pie?).

Here is a shot of the sanded door, less the hinges and handle. I had already painted the backs of the remaining three, and thought to photograph along the way.

Here are a couple of the close to completed thing...still have the knobs and trim to complete.

More to follow..