Filed under: The Family | Tags: cookouts, dogs, grilling, hamburgers, hot dogs, Noah, terrier mixes
My brother and his wife spent their Memorial Day weekend in landscaping bliss, too.
This is their first summer in their house. They’re still in that soon-will-pass honeymoon phase where working in the yard is actually fun. It’s very sweet.
Ah, I remember those days, but that was before Jimmy Hosta.
Sunday night they invited my Mom, the Disaster Twins, and the Blonde family over for a cookout. My brother is quite the chef and made us hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled sweet corn, strawberry shortcake, and more. It was delicious, especially the corn, which I even ate full well knowing that stomach distress was likely to ensue later that night.
After dinner, we took a walk with the dogs, including the Disaster Twins cousin, Noah.
Noah is hilarious. He’s still a puppy and has way more energy than Miss Halas or Miss Lombardi have expended in months. They love to play with him, but tend to retreat in terror when he tries to play back.
Seriously, ladies, you’re scared of this?
Noah, you rock.
Filed under: The Yard | Tags: boxwoods, daylilies, geraniums, hostas, impatiens, landscaping, mugho pines, petunias, privets, yard work
Apparently I learned something during my miserable three-month summer stint working as a cashier at the now defunct Frank’s Nursery and Crafts. I’ve only recently discovered the insane amount of plant and landscaping knowledge that I somehow absorbed in between accepting declined credit cards as payment, getting written up because my drawer came up $25 short one night, ringing up enough pine bark nuggets to cover the entire state, and listening to Cher’s “Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves” no less than fifteen times a day on the store intercom.
Spider-Husband and I decided to put my new-found horticulture skills to the test this weekend by adding new landscaping to the side yard, and dare I say, moving some of our existing shrubbery from the front of the house to the side since when left to their own devices daylilies will triple in size each season and eventually overtake your entire yard.
Where we started.
Spider-Husband hard at work.
You’ll note that there’s no pictures of me during this endeavor. I’m far too delicate of a flower for that – according to SpiderHusband, my job was to just stand there and bark out orders.
Oh, and to laugh at his jokes…
Spider-Husband: We’ll call this one Jimmy Hosta
Me: What?
Spider-Husband: We buried him where no one will ever find him.
And, voila, the finished product…
At least until we manage to kill it.
Filed under: The Disaster Twins, The Family | Tags: Halas, Lombardi, Bailey, Mother's Day, yard work
The Disaster Twins got to chill with their “Aunt” Bailey for several hours today when the Blonde family made a trip to my mom’s house to help her clean out the garage and do some yard work.
Every year when Mother’s Day rolls around, my brother and I ask my mom what she would like to do, and every year we get the same response:
“All I want is for you to come over and help me work in the yard for a day.”
Can do.
Mom told us to bring the Disaster Twins this year since her dog, Bailey, likes to run amok with them now that they’ve outgrown their rambunctious puppy stage.
Bailey greeted us at the door, and the trio spent the next six hours running in circles, leaping over furniture, barking at neighbors out the window, and sniffing each other’s rear ends while mom, SpiderHusband, and I reorganized the garage, trimmed bushes, created a planter box, and planted flowers in the yard.
Halas and Lombardi, who, I suspect, usually spend the same six hours of their day sleeping, crashed when we got back home. In fact, Lombardi is sacked out underneath the computer desk as I sit here typing while Halas and SpiderHusband are knocked out in the bed.
Playing with Aunt Bailey is hard.
Filed under: The Blonde, The Family | Tags: Aveda, birthday, Dairy Queen cake, Old Navy, Pizza King
With May Sales Conference madness and Mother’s Day mayhem behind us, SpiderHusband invited my family over to partake of Pizza King goodness and Dairy Queen cake deliciousness on Saturday to celebrate my birthday.
I got a gift card to my favorite of all favorite stores, Aveda, from my brother, Michael, and his wife, Kendra.
And if that isn’t enough of a sweet deal, my mom, who was not supposed to get me another gift since she already bought me a ton of clothes for my birthday, bestowed me with another Aveda card.
Just so you know, Mom, it is only my love for Aveda and the fear of you taking back my gift card that prevent me from posting your picture in this entry. I’ll be spending the gift card shortly, then all bets are off. : )
This gathering signaled the end to what seemed like a month of birthday celebrating with gifts, gifts, and more gifts, like these presents that I got earlier in the week:
A winning scratch-off lottery ticket from my sister-in-law, her Bucket-to-be, and their crew. You’ve provided SpiderHusband hours of amusement as I basked in the glow of my good fortune and riches…all $1 of them. Hey, a winning ticket is a winning ticket, right?
Two new shirts from Old Navy…in, wait for it…colors other than black and white…thanks to some birthday cash from my awesome mom-in-law, Connie.
Aveda skin care products from Cathy. Did I mention I like Aveda?
Whoo-hoo!
SpiderHusband: ”Do you want to snog?”
Me: ”Do you even know what snogging is?”
SpiderHusband: “It’s a kiss and a cuddle.”
I stand corrected.
Filed under: The Family, The Peeps, Uncategorized | Tags: Amazon.com, birthdays, books, Family, friends, Jodi Picoult
Very cool things were waiting for me when I returned from my business trip last night. Um, can you say presents?
A birthday card from Gramma’ B.
A birthday card from SpiderHusband and the hounds.
Two new Jodi Picoult books – Nineteen Minutes and Salem Falls – courtesy of my friend Jill and the Zany family.
An Amazon.com gift card from Judi and Glen.
And, the last of several new dresses and skirts that my Mom bought for me, even though we were at the mall to shop for her instead.
Rock on.
Filed under: The Peeps | Tags: away from home, birthdays, coworkers, Italian food
Well, it’s my birthday, too.
As luck would have it, my birthday happens to fall right in the middle of my company’s annual May Sales Meeting, so I’m spending the big day with a handful of my coworkers in Sarasota. Fortunately, my coworkers are a pretty thoughtful bunch, which made it much easier to be away from home.
SpiderHusband and the Disaster Twins kicked off my day with a “Happy Birthday” phone call – what a lovely way to start the morning.
Throughout the day, I received e-cards from my family and friends, a very amusing rendition of the “Happy Birthday” song on my voice mail from one of my San Francisco colleagues, an “Aloha” greeting from another colleague in Phoenix, a super cool birthday card from the Sybex and Tech Marketing teams (see pic below), another equally kooky “Happy Birthday” song courtesy of my friend Jill, several Facebook birthday wishes, and two delightful Amaretto Sours courtesy of my publisher. And, that was just before dinner.
My team went out to a local Italian restaurant, Mediterraneo, and I spent most of the evening laughing my head off. Dinner was not the same sans my other Tech Marketing partners in crime – Alison, Ashley, and Colleen – but I was glad I got to chat with them online and via phone anyway.
Not a bad way to spend a birthday away from home.
So, thanks guys.
Filed under: The Family, The Husband, The Treasures | Tags: Dad, Family, frogs, jewelry box, memories
SpiderHusband surprised me Sunday with this sparkly frog box before dropping me off at the Indianapolis airport for my business trip to Sarasota.
I am not a frog collector, and neither is my Aunt Donna. But, that didn’t stop her older brother, my Dad, from buying her countless frogs in their younger days. It seems he somehow got the impression that she had a thing for amphibians, so birthdays, Christmas, you name it, frogs were his gifts of choice.
So, frogs have sort of become an inside family joke, especially since my Dad passed away several years ago. Every now and then, I’ll see a frog that catches my eye and makes me giggle thinking about him.
I spotted this one while waiting to be seated at Cracker Barrel for breakfast, but decided I was too cheap to shell out the $20 listed on the price tag. In a rare instance of reckless abandon, my ordinarily very economical SpiderHusband indulged and managed to snag the final frog on the shelf before leaving.
What a prince.
Filed under: The Family, The Husband | Tags: marathon, mini, mini marathon, running
I’m happy to report that SpiderHusband survived his first Mini Marathon with only minor wear and tear.
He ran the majority of the course – around 11 of the 13+ miles – with a time of just over 2 hours and 40 minutes.
Well played, SpiderHusband.
The hounds and I are aglow with pride. You rock.
