A day in pictures

We had my grandma's suprise 80th birthday party yesterday. It was really fun - and we got her good :) The rain held off long enough to get in the river and play a couple of times....Elli just LOVES it! We had a great time. Take a look - beginning to end!

A big day

Elli had a busy day the other day! We went to visit her friends Jayden and Bella - and my friend Jill. Elli got to hold Bella- and now every time she sees a baby she throws her arms out like "Come here! Let me hold you!" It's cute...but I've seen her with her doll babies, and it's not always pretty. :) She did a good job though!

We took them to the park and they played and played. Here they are on the swings - aren't they cute?! We hope they'll be married someday :) I really like his parents.

Then Elli had corn-on-the-cob for the first time! She didn't know what to think at first and kept making her disgusted face...but with a little more coaching (you don't eat the end) from her Aunt Lois, she quickly began to love it and she wouldn't quit eating it! Good girl :)

Look! It's me!

Yeah...I needed to do something stupid. And I put myself in a grocery store because that seems to be the only place I go shopping. If only I really looked that cute.
Maybe tomorrow I'll post something exciting.....

A tour of my back yard

I don't know why I do this to myself. Every year I say "I am not planting as many flowers as last year." or "I am not planting anything this year." And then spring comes around and I see the flower shops opening and all of the colors and life that's in bloom and I just can't help myself.

I have to buy flowers.

Inevitably I buy way too many and end up needing a new flower pot or two. On top of what I already have. I wasn't going to plant as many remember? And now I need more flower pots. I love them for a while. But then, I have to water them. Then it gets really hot and I have to water them a lot. Then there are mosquitoes and I have to bath myself in bug spray before I attempt to water them everyday.

Ugh....is it worth it?

Here's some pics of my back yard. This is most of it, but there are some flowery groups I left out because I'm not too excited about them.

A view off of my porch:

My million bells:

My latest flower collage. There used to be a giant hydrangea bush under this, but gradually over the past few years it has faded and barely grown. So we ripped it out! So far, I like this better - though it is 5 times as much work: (Can you find my guarding horse sculpture?)

My favorite spot. This is in the back corner of my yard. Unfortunately, there are so many mosquitos that I can't enjoy my favorite spot. I hate soaking myself in bug spray, and I don't like the thought of covering Elli in it either. It's a pretty big bummer. It is so nice to sit here. We are thinking of putting some solid white privacy fencing back in this corner. I think it will make it even prettier and really complete the yard...and when my neighbor mows his dirt it will keep it off of my shade garden.

I planted strawberries last year in a pot. Completely left them for dead through the winter, probably quit watering them early last summer and they came back! The even tripled in size! Unfortunately, I've had like 3 strawberries...the stupid birds have eaten them. I hate birds. The apparently don't get enough bread, green peppers, hot dog scraps, mystery foods (all I have found in my front yard) from my neighbors that they have to come and invade my yard barrier and eat MY strawberries that I haven't given them permission to do. My neighbors use their yards and street as a compost pile I think sometimes....they feed the birds. Only they aren't pretty birds...they are the huge pigeons you see in central park....I HATE THEM. I'd love to have a sling shot.

I digress...

Here's my strawberries.

I'll post of my front yard another time :)

Beating the heat

So it has been stinkin' hot here for the past week. It is also going to be stinkin' hot the next several days. Elli has, at least, found a way to beat the heat. I got this little play mat at Big Lots last year on clearance. It shoot water while connected to the hose. She loves it! (Obviously. This is the one time she stopped playing long enough to look at me and smile.)I just got her a little plastic baby doll that she can play with at the same time. It's cool. I thought my yard was pretty level...it's not, so we have to keep the hose on a little longer than I'd like to keep the pool wet, but it usually get's so hot out here that I can't stand it for too long. We do have a pretty shady yard, so it could be worse. Sometimes she gets smashed by the rainbow. I think she's looking for a pot of gold.

As far as I am concerned, I am feeling really good. I haven't taken pain medicine for 2 days and my head is healing nicely. I go to the chiropractor today, so we'll see what she has to say.

A view

So far today I am only a little stiff. My neck is getting tighter as we speak...I type...whatever.

Here is a picture of my journey...sortof

The left arrow is where I was hit, the right is where I landed. The circles are where I cut concrete, left the ground and then hit again, and then landed. (that's not my car, but conveniently one about the size of mine - or what was mine)

Here's a shot of the road, dug out concrete....

Awesome.

What the flip?!?! (Literally)

So this is a momentous day. This is my 200th blog post! Crazy!! For all of the nothingness that I had to talk about, I certainly came up with something! Happy Bloggy Posting to me!

On other momentous events of this day, I was in a wreck. My first wreck....well, I first REAL wreck. All I wanted to do today, was go to the dentist, play out in the yard with Elli, read a book, go to the fabric store, and start CVS shopping because if you do it right - you get lots of stuff for pennies (read here - she does this all of the time - and here - also someone with a money saving skill at CVS).

I started out alright. Dropped Elli off at Mom's, went to the dentist, picked up lunch and the WAM!!! I get hit on the side of my car, spin and flip over. No, I wasn't flipping for the fun of it. I didn't think it was fun at all. My thoughts were "Oh God." "Hold on...you're not in the movies." "I'm alive!" "I'm bleeding." "Call my husband." "Thank you Jesus for giving me time to shave my legs and put on clean underwear today." "Thank you God that Elli was not in the car with me." "What does their car look like...are they still here?" (Yes, they were) "I'm hungry." And then I got bombarded by people - a tow truck guy who had his truck and saw the whole thing was the first I saw and then am EMT who was on his way to McDonald's for lunch. How convenient that I had help like that right away! A blur of questions, then strapped to a gurney and taken to the hospital in an ambulance. When they covered me with a sheet or whatever to keep me cool (it was 85 degrees) and keep my skirt from blowing up, I asked them to cover up my head too to really freak people out. They wouldn't do it. I thought it would be funny.

Here are pics:

Looters- who's getting into my car? Nah, it was someone from church who worked in the store I landed in front of...

Passenger side: "Nice wheels"

From the front: "Holy Crap!" There's my seat: "Did her air bag go off?" "No."

My seat again (and my husband - who I am so proud of for answering a random cell phone number to his phone. Thank you honey) .... The door opened easily, at least.

Here's one of my wheels. Apparently, I cut the asphalt. It is on my hubcap. There are gouges in the road from two of my tires and then again where I landed and then eventually ended upright. CRAZY!!! I knew I'd leave my mark on this town.

When all is said and done, I am very lucky. I am getting very sore, but I have no broken bones...only a cut on my head. No stiches, but a tenanus shot. My spelling hasn't improved, so the head banging hasn't turned me into a genius. Apparently Honda CRVs withstand a rumble pretty well. We will probably be looking into another one of those.

My new kitchen/add on is definitely out. We need a new car...and I don't know if the person who hit me had insurance....I don't know anything about them. Maybe I will get lucky and win the kitchen make over that I registered for from Rachel Ray and IKEA..... MAYBE

Thanks for all of your prayers today. I am living proof that they work.

I'll keep you posted....

Labels

I've decided to start labeling my posts. Not "titling", but labeling. Mostly so that I can sort through my stuff - hence the title of my new spot on the sidebar to the right of your screen. It will make things easier if you happen to remember something you saw on my blog (because it's so awesome that you reference it), you can easily sort through my randomness too!

On another note...Elli and I planted flowers today (yes, she helped). They look pretty cool. I did a whole planter collage in this spot where I (meaning Mike) dug out a huge hydrangea plant that I had successfully made to kick-the-bucket. It was pretty sad. Maybe mom can get some of the roots to grow. I'll be posting pictures soon!

Blah

So I have been feeling cruddy lately. Not cruddy-sick, but just cruddy everything else. I have no energy to do anything which means my house is a wreck. Thank goodness Mike has been doing dishes lately (I think he feels bad because we aren't re-doing my kitchen this summer and thus aren't getting a dishwasher and he knows I loathe doing the dishes and was really looking forward to just loading and pressing a button and the dishes being done). I only vaccum because I know that E's physical therapist is coming over and will be eye level with my dog-hairy couch and sitting on the floor.
Work has been predicatably the same and exhausting. My manager is pregnant and can't move anything - and unfortunatly she is the only other person in the store who has any sense of how to make visual improvements in the store besides me. Everyone else just stuffs things places without thinking about it. It is an art - and I am very good at it. Which is why when I go into work I am working hard for 8 hours sometimes without a break. I move furniture and pedestal fixtures all day, every shift. It is mundain and exhausting. (but the store looks stellar) So when I come home, I just want to sit and not move or do anything. Which is impossible because I have a toddler. I'm not going to lie. I've put on The Wiggles video to babysit while I stare into oblivian and rest.
At least I am getting a good workout while I work. Because I NEED IT!!!! I am fighting a 150lb mark on the scale. Some people would love to weigh 150lbs, sure. But they aren't 5'4'' either. They don't carry all of their weight around their hips or look like an oompa-loompa. I got on the scale (and chose to believe the lower number) and weighed 146.5 this morning. That's better. Not great. But better. I've had to buy new shorts because if I can't fit into my shorts from before, I have a muffin top and cellulite half way down my thighs saying hello to everyone I jiggle past.
So I feel fat. I am exhausted. I feel lazy. I have a 10 year high school reunion this summer...I feel old. I so desperatley wanted to be skinny and pretty at this thing, but it might not happen. Not that I care that much, but I was so chubby and wierd then, that I want people (and past crushes) to see that I've grown up. We'll see.
Well, I could go on, but my little girl has awoken. She's hollering for Dada (which she's done a lot lately- she's daddy's girl right now), but he's getting ready for church.
Have a great day!