Neat photo

Before I forget, hubby took this picture a while ago.  It looks like he's squeezing the sun with the tips of his fingers! Too funny!  That was some clever photography.

Well I am still waiting for some honeydew or melons to appear on the vines...doesn't look like it is going to happen and the vines are starting to die. Probably because it is getting to be 100 degrees or close to it these hot summer days.  I still have some tomatoes and peppers.  I am actually determined and looking forward to growing some vegetables this fall.  It will surely be a better crop without the sweltering weather.

Yesterday I got hubby to knock down a wasp nest that was up in the ceiling of the front balcony in the corner as it was getting bigger and bigger and I was getting concerned that one of those nasty creatures was going to decide I was getting too close and sting me.  He managed to knock it down and dash into the house without getting stung.  We noticed the wasps kept flying back to the spot where it was and walking around the area back and forth.  It was like they didn't know what hit it and were wondering where the heck their nest went.  Too funny.  Today I looked at that same spot and noticed they are really determined and dedicated wasps!  They are building a new nest, already!  Wow.  Hubby said he'll knock it down again when it is a little bigger.  Ugh. I'd love to just spray the heck out of them, but I really don't want any pesticides all over my home grown vegetables that I grow at home specifically so they don't get exposed to any chemicals.  So we'll keep dealing with them the old fashioned way.

Hard to believe tomorrow is the last day of July already! 

Ever wonder?...

Last night we saw a movie that had Matt Damon in it.  We liked him so much in the Bourne trilogy that I suggested we watch it. It was called The Adjustment Bureau.  While my hubby I think dozed off at times, I was intrigued with the theme behind the movie.

Matt Damon found the love of his life, and not by chance, several times and was determined to be with her despite the Chairman's plan.  In this movie the Chairman was another name for God (at least that was my interpretation of it).  The men with hats (his angels?) were there to set Matt's character back on course as to what his path or destiny in life was, that of the future president (without the woman he could never forget). In the end he and his love decided they were going to stay together no matter what. 

The character that Matt played accidentally saw the men reprogramming his friend's brain, so that he was 'back on track'.  While a bit far fetched, it did get me to wondering if we all are in the life we were meant to be in, our 'destiny'?  Am I really suppose to be a mortgage underwriter, living where I live, married to this man, etc?  They always say that we all make our own choices in life and where were are and what we are doing is a result of choices.  Is it really?  Or is it our destiny?   Do some of us live our destiny?  Is there even such a thing as destiny?

I can't help but think of my oldest daughter. Although she started on one path in life, which I thought she was content with, she changed her entire course, moved back east, and is now engaged to a man that she very well may have been destined to be with.  Did she really know at the tender age of 13 when she met him for the first time, that he was the 'one'.  She is marrying a man she's known since high school. She quite possibly has been in love with this man for close to 12 years, no matter how much she suppressed her feelings or let common sense and a move half way across the country prevail.  How wonderful if she is truly marrying her soul mate, her destiny.  Although I'm not thrilled at the distance between us, I am proud of her for the bold move and whether she is following her destiny, or her heart, I know she is happier than she's ever been in her life.
 

Black squirrels!

We had a black squirrel around in the back yard for at least a few years now. Well now we have seen three out at one time this summer.  They live in the shed we think because there is a hole in the side facing the house and we have seen them scurry into it when one of our dogs is chasing them.

Here is a picture that hubby took near the bird feeder.  There is one regular gray squirrel and then the mostly black one (mostly black/dark brown). I had never seen anything other than a gray squirrel before we moved to Texas!  Isn't that neat?!

Taken for Granted

This morning I took two of our fur kids to the vet for their regular check up. We got checked in and were instructed to go to Exam Room 2, but we usually go to Exam Room 1.  I shrugged it off that maybe we got a bigger room since I had two with me this time.  The tech came in and took Ditzy and Kaci back one at a time, weighed them and drew blood for the normal parasite tests, etc.  He said "We'll be back shortly to examine them." I thought it odd that he didn't say Dr. Koy will be in shortly. But again I shrugged it off.

Then this young female doctor came in and asked which dog she was examining first. Ditzy was already on the table so we started with her and she proceeded to examine my dogs.  I politely let her do her thing until she told me that Ditzy needed a rabies vaccination. I protested as I know she just had one of those last year when we first got her.  Dr. Koy wouldn't have made this mistake.  Well turns out she looked at the chart and agreed that she did get one a year ago but it was only a one year shot since we weren't sure how recently she had been vaccinated, we had only done the 1 year shot last year.  So she did need her rabies shot and got the one that lasts 3 years now.

The rest of the exam went without incident but I couldn't wait to get out to the receptionist area and talk to the gal I usually talk to.  I asked her if I could talk to her a few minutes and asked her why I didn't get Dr. Koy, that I've been coming there enough years I didn't think I still had to be specific as to who I wanted my precious fur kids to see. Turns out Dr. Koy retired last month!  What?!  My first thought was betrayal.  How dare he retire without asking me first!!

Then I started thinking, he is after all in his mid 60's.  He is perfectly entitled to retire after all but he is the only vet we've known and gone to the entire 8 years we've lived here.  I was a little surprised we didn't at least get a little post card letting us know he was retiring.  I took it for granted that Dr. Koy would be there for as long as I needed him to care for all the dogs I ever did or ever will own.  I know I shouldn't have done that, but I did, without even realizing it.

Now that the shock has worn off we will decide whether we want to still go there or go somewhere else. I do know of another vet there at that office that we used once when Dr. Koy was away and that office is the closest one to our house, so we'll see.  Chances are we will likely still go there. But the place just didn't seem the same as I walked out the door, knowing that Dr. Koy ,whom the clinic was named after will no longer be gracing its halls with his friendly down home veterinarian style ever again. 

Mid Summer

Okay so it is only mid July but it feels like mid summer sometimes.  Wow, I didn't realize that I didn't blog for nearly a week.  Guess not too much exciting is going on.

I did want to post a few pictures that my hubby took. We know for sure at least 3 of the 4 birds hatched. Maybe all 4 did and the 4th one was just squished.  I would like to believe all 4 made it.  Anyway here are three of them. The middle one looks a little scarce of feathers. Maybe it is the youngest?  Not sure. But alas they are all gone and the second picture is the empty nest.  Once again I am complaining about an empty nest, twice in the last few months! LOL!

Three of the babies

Empty nest. AGAIN!

Poor hubby has been experiencing shoulder, arm, etc pain for a while now.  He went back in February when it was starting to bother him enough to complain about it and got a steroid shot after a few x-rays. That seemed to help a few days until Molly slammed a door shut and he hurt his arm (door went against it or something), which seemed to have undone whatever good the shot was doing.

He stood it for several months more and finally at my insistence went back to the same doctor (orthopedic specialist) about it. This time the doctor wanted to get an MRI of his neck and his shoulder.  After going through two MRI's, waiting for the results and following up with that same doctor, he thought it was more an issue with his neck than his arm and had him come back 2 weeks later to see another doctor same profession in the same office, who dealt more with spinal/neck issues.  He got back from seeing this second doctor today who consulted with the first one and now wants to do a CT Scan.  Hubby is not happy and now thinking they just want to run up medical bills and do more tests. 

He isn't sure what he is going to do. He'd love to ignore it and see if it goes away but he's tried that for the last five months and it isn't working. On top of that my insurance company has required some forms to be completed to make sure it is not a preexisting condition because the insurance won't cover that!  We feel like we're getting it from all ends.  It is not a preexisting condition in that it did not happen prior to my starting my job last October, but I'm starting to think we're bound to be screwed by either the medical profession or the insurance company!

He may just try to get all the medical records from that office and call around for a better doctor!  It is easy to understand why neither one of us like to ever have to go to the doctor!
 

Southernbellegourmet.com sort of Saturday

This morning I got up about regular time so that I could get the dogs walked before it got too terribly hot today.  But by the time I was coming up the hill with Merlin and Molly I was sweating like a pig.  Do pigs even sweat?  Anyway it was pretty humid out so it didn't matter that we set out for our walk by 8:15AM.  Hubby helped we walk the last 3 around the block, which is a much shorter walk than the one I take the other two for.

When all the walking was done I turned on the air conditioner.  We usually don't turn it on until later afternoon but I was so hot, and hubby of course didn't mind.  He wouldn't mind it if we had the air on from April to November 24/7!  I usually do not mind the heat like he does.

So anyway...did some cleaning this morning and watched a movie (one hub had gotten at a garage day).  I just got a big order of Gourmet Cupboard (the company I am a rep for) and hubby wanted to see what treats I could make today.   So I went to see what I had available to make a few things.  Started out making the 5 Minute Microwave Chocolate Fudge. That is so easy to make and hubby just loves it!

Then I made some Heavenly Chocolate Pie, topped with meringue.  This is the first time I made meringue.  It turned out great!  Here's a picture of it.  We both just had some about an hour ago with coffee for dessert. Yummy!

 

Then for dinner I made Shrimp Etoufee.  This is one of our favorite meals.  I bought a bunch of veggies from the farmers market and had some stir fry veggies with it for dinner.  Although I was in the kitchen a lot today it was fun and delicious!

 

 

TGTIF

Thank God Tomorrow Is Friday...

Gotta share these beautiful pics of the sunset I just took a little bit ago.  I happened to glance out the window, bolted out of my chair to grab the camera and ran up to the balcony.

Early Day

I finished work a little early today by taking a shorter lunch. So I decided to blog some now before dinnertime.

Before I forget here is a shot of one of the baby birds with its mouth open.  Isn't it cute? Top picture was taken today (7/10). The bottom one taken 7/5. I'm sure hoping that all 4 hatched and are alive, but I do not know. I don't want to mess with the nest that much to find out.

____

I have a short story about investing that I was told.  One day about 44 years ago, a man was standing in line at the bank and he overheard the lady in front of him.  She had in her hand some stock shares that she wanted to cash in.  The bank teller told her she would have to go to a broker in order to do that and the woman was quite perplexed.  The man behind her asked her what stock she was interested in cashing in. It was Heinz stock and she wanted $200 for it, the going market rate at that time.

The man told her he'd buy it from her and the teller told her they could handle that type of transaction as long as an officer of the bank handled the transfer. They waited for a bank officer and then completed their transaction. The lady got the money she wanted and the man left the bank that day with stock in Heinz he never had before.  The stock split, and increased in value and split again, on and on for years.  The dividends at first were reinvested, but the last 10 years, the man decided to get paid for the dividends to supplement his income. Then after owning 44 years, he was forced to sell his stocks in Heinz as the entire company was being acquired by an investment group.  That $200 piece of paper grew to be worth over $40,000!!  That man was never happier that he went to the bank that day back 44 years ago!  That is fantastic to me!  It sure gets me thinking I need to start saving more for retirement and I don't even have anywhere near 44 years for it to grow. 

It is going to be another hot evening tonight. Sure glad I got my walk in early in the morning. I'm off to go turn on the air conditioning.

Too fast!

These last 4 days went by way too fast!  Boo!!!  Here it is Sunday evening already. 

Can't stop time but at least it was a great 4 days.  Yesterday we went down to the square with my youngest who came home for the weekend and strolled around down town and shopped some and had lunch too. It was fun and I got a few new outfits at a neat new shop down there. 

Also visited our favorite store Divine Patina and had a great time seeing what was new. We are going to get a picture that caught hubby's eye. He's going to get it in a few days.

Then yesterday evening we had dinner at Cotton Patch. I like that restaurant. It has decent food for decent prices.  Stac knew our waitress too as she went to high school with her.  The only drawback to dinner was that I wanted a nice relaxing dinner and the waitress was asking us if we wanted dessert when we were only half way thorough eating. I absolutely hate that!  Of course we said no!  We weren't even close to being done dinner yet to know if we had room.  Then she gave us our check, but "No hurry".  That's baloney.  As soon as they do that I feel rushed.  So for that I didn't enjoy it but she lost out anyway as I may have gotten dessert to go, but not after I feel rushed.

Today we visited my folks for a little bit in the afternoon after Stac and I went to the movies. There were so many good ones out but we agreed on World War Z.  I liked it more than I thought I would.  Sometimes when you see the previews to something, you think you've seen all the best parts, but it was a great movie that kept me captivated to the end.  I had to go to the bathroom because I had to go so badly that I just couldn't focus on the movie an longer, but I only missed  few minutes.  I hate when that happens, but it is better to go than to wish the movie would end so that you can go. :)

It is back to work tomorrow but I has been a nice holiday weekend.

Friday AND the day off. YES!

I am very fortunate to work for a company that was closing yesterday for a 4 day weekend!  Woo hoo!

I was chatting with my oldest last evening on Facebook...I really miss her!!  I told her about my garden and a few what I consider miracle things happening.  So I thought I'd take some pictures and post them since, yes I have the day off!  It will be hard keeping track of the days as yesterday seemed so much like a Saturday that I forgot to exercise (so I did it today). And today now seems like a Saturday but it is only Friday.  I'll be reminded when we order pizza tonight though. We have a tradition that Friday night is pizza night. It has been that way for years and well we just like our pizza!

So the neat things about my balcony garden.  The one container that has the failing zucchini (there are still a few small zucchini plants hanging in there but no actual zucchinis yet), actually has a pole bean plant!  It has grown quite a bit and has grown up through the wire fencing. I have not planted any beans this year yet so it is left over from last year. Cool! Maybe I'll get a few green beans!

Next, I have a flower coming up among the other flowers I planted. I looked it up and it is called a Celosia.  It is the feathery flower in the center of the next photo.  I haven't planted any of these flowers in 2 years!  Amazing to me that the seed survived 2 years?  Well maybe just one as I think one of these popped up last year as well in the same pot with different flowers.

And I'm quite proud that I have my first jalapeno pepper. It is only about an inch long, but hopefully will grow to full size.  This is the first year I have tried these type of peppers. I don't particularly care for them but hubby loves them.

And here are a few more peppers that I pulled and a cherry tomato (that had fallen off). There are more tomatoes but I'll wait until I'm going over to my folks to pick any more as I give them to my dad. I don't care for them, although I did use one in my vegetable stir fry the other day. The peppers are starting to get a little mold at the bottom (as a few others have) so I picked them but they are suppose to be yellow peppers!  So I'll wait a few days and see if they'll start to turn. If not I'll just use them anyway.  I'm afraid just leaving them on the plant will make them mold faster.

Well off to get an English muffin for breakfast and see what else I want to do with my day off!

Happy 4th! (one of two)

Okay hubby finally finished the spare bedroom floor. Woo hoo!  That's something else to celebrate on this 4th of July!

So here are the before and during photos...

The carpet is the same berber carpeting that we had in the master bedroom. We sold the daybed that was in there months ago as my oldest has not used the room in years. We just were using it as a spare computer room. 

Here's where our spare computer was.

Before photo from the doorway. Carpet still down

More before with carpet still down...

Carpet is up..padding needs to come up

Another shot with padding still on..

Hubby didn't take as many photos 'during'. Here is part of the floor in over pad and some wood floor still exposed.

Here is about half the bedroom done...

All done on that side...the balcony door is open to let some of the sunshine in on that beautiful bright floor!

BEFORE picture at the doorway to the bedroom

AFTER photo at the same doorway

Last bit to finish was the closet..just needs the trim!

Happy 4th!

I'm getting smart about this post of our new bedroom flooring since the before pictures ended up in the 2nd post last time, sort of back assward. So here are the AFTER photos.The floor is a beautiful white barn wood looking grain and really makes the room pop, not to mention helps it look bigger. It is the smallest of the bedrooms.

White Brushed Pine is the color of this flooring

Tika was inspecting the floor :-)  This is the furniture we bought from Divine Patina and the owner did some nice eggplant stressed finish to it. Really stands out with this flooring!

We don't have box spring/mattress yet for the bed but here is a good view from the doorway.

Here's a view of the corner. You can see some of my balcony garden through the window

Here is where that metal desk was. We have a nice vanity there now with just enough room to get around the bed. Looks so much nicer and again, lovin the floor!

Computer was moved to the built in desk that was already there before. Hubby stained the floor trim to match it and give some nice contrast from the wall color.

 Ditzy says "I approve Dad!"

Short break..

Writing a little on my lunch break.  I am so looking forward to having a 4 day weekend!  The office is closed both tomorrow and Friday, and that is enough reason to celebrate for me!

The trim isn't up yet in the spare bedroom but as soon as it is I will post pictures.  Unfortunately hubby did not take before pictures like he said. Maybe he thought he did or accidentally erased them, but he only has pics after the carpet was removed and padding was still down. But will post what I can.

After suffering with some shoulder/arm pain he finally found out today at the doctor's office what his problem is. Since he had some neck vertebrae fused years ago from being in a car accident, the hole that surrounds the large nerves that come out from the spine is getting smaller (from calcium build up or bone growth?) not sure. And so the pressure on his nerve is causing all this pain. He is going to see a specialist about it and may need an operation to make that opening bigger to relieve it. Hopefully that will resolve his problem!  We'll see.  I'm sure he would rather avoid an operation but since this is not an issue that will go away, he has to do something.  At least he knows what is wrong.

Looking forward to a visit this weekend from our youngest. She's still getting her teaching things finalized and also has to get an apartment too, so lots for her to do.

The birds are starting to hatch out on the back porch. You know the ones in that bag for leaves and brush.  Hubby saw one in there he thought it was dead but it moved. So yeah!  There were 4 eggs total so I think there are 3 yet to hatch.  I can't really look in there without standing over it and he is taller than me so he has been peeking at a better distance without disturbing the momma.  Too cute!  Not sure about pictures but I'll see if I get an opportunity once they are all hatched and the momma slips away for food.  We sure know when there is a dog outside laying on the porch though, because the birds squawk like crazy! :)  They think the entire back porch is theirs!