Age or Expansion?

At 30-something (lol) I'm finally expanding my musical horizons a bit...no one would probably ever have guessed I'd enjoy Harry Connick Jr., and there are some that would wonder where Toby Mac/DC Talk fits in...but Joshua Bell? Steph likes THAT type of music? Are you sure? :) YES! I'm absolutely sure!

I came across his amazing sound by accident, "Secretly" reading "the next blog" and landing on someone's interpretation of "Pearls for Breakfast" which prompted me to also blog about that story. Then the Today Show did another similar story about him this morning, and I was once again mystified....

There is nothing more to say, except....WOW!

Introducing....

Drum Roll Please......I would like to introduce you to...my Uncle Rick and my NEW AUNT Gena!!!! Congrats!!!!! We love you both! xoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxo - Rick, be nice to her....and Gena, welcome to our extremly CRAZY FAMILY!!!!!!

Tickets! Tickets!!!! & MORE TICKETS!!!!!!!!

Well...a few days ago, we saw a commercial that Martina McBride was coming to our little ole town...AWESOME! Amber will be so excited! :) So, Graham took a peek to see when the tickets were going on sale....and lo, and behold...Harry Connick Jr. is coming too!!!!!! NO WAY! (WHAT A HOTTIE!!!!!) - Those tickets were available for purchase now...and he'll be here on my birthday! Two tickets please! - Hubby must love me...cuz they arrived in the mail yesterday - Happy EARLY B-day to me! :) -THANKS SWEET CHEEKS!

So, the Martina McBride tickets go on sale on Friday (we put it on the calendar)....but Graham managed to come across the pre-sale password for her tickets last night...Can you say "DAD's the BOMB"! They went on (pre)sale this morning!!!! And at just a few minutes after 10am...I was purchasing 3 tickets...AMAZING little extra bonus (not having to get caught in the website lockup tomorrow, or the push & shove line at TCBY!)

I also have to mention that on Wednesday morning I saw a commercial during the Today Show that Josh Groban was coming too...holy cow! My mom loves the guy! Mother's Day gift? You betcha! :) I was hoping she wouldn't see the commercial...what was I thinking that she lived in a box?....We also had put that on the calendar. So after the order of the Martina McBride tickets (such a great experience with the whole presale password thing)...I had to start searching for the Josh Groban presale password too...i'd be out of my mind not to at least try!!!! :) I "googled" it. I never found the password right out...but I guessed at it! And BING...enter in a few letters, and to my ABSOLUTE surprise...there I was faced with ordering tickets that second! Holy Cow Batman!!! Funny thing is, for both sets of tickets I was only going to get the "medium priced" tickets....but I have since learned that pre-sale orders are for the higher priced tickets. LOL - OOOPS!!!!!!!!!

My mom was tickled pink today when I gave her a "home-made" ----Happy UN-Mother's Day card, with the confirmation email in it....and they don't even go on sale until Saturday! :) Can you say BONUS POINTS! :)

Amber too was very excited when Graham handed her the confirmation email for Martina! I think it's been a good day all around! Especially for the ticket sales people....they have received a TON of money from us in the past couple days...today especially!

Blessings all around!

Reflection...

Well, she came back again this morning, but before 7am. I swear she didn't stop last night until after 8pm. I just found this article, and so I am off to try the tips! Wish me luck. I can't afford a headache again today!

Repeat Visitor...

During last several days (off and on), early in the morning we've had an unexpected visitor. Though the dogs aren't too fond of her, I'm sure she doesn't really care much. The first day she arrived, Saturday, I kept hearing something hitting the front window, It sounded almost like a sprinkler, it was every couple seconds. So I got up to check, and several times I watched as Miss Robin Red-breast flew into the front bay window, smacked it, and tried again. Over and over. I tried to get a picture, but by the time I got the camera out, all I could get was a blur...the boys had beat me to the window and scared her off. How sad, yet comical that she would continue trying. Off and on throughout the morning she tried to get inside. We have two small birds nests under our front porch, that have been there since we moved in, but we have not had any one take up residence thus far. This happened again this morning, only I got some great shots of Miss Robin this time. They boys have been almost too busy to notice, thankfully. HOWEVER, this time, the poor thing has hit the bay window at least 75 times now. I started taking pictures of her at 8:22am, and the last picture at 9:33...it's now 9:48 and she's still "knocking"...my heart breaks for her since I know that birds don't have any repreive from their head-aches like we do, and I promise, she's gonna have a whopper!

Strange! Over and over....so, just I moved myself into the front sitting room to watch, and see what she might be trying to get at...and I swear her "hits" are every several seconds..15 seconds, now 5 seconds, and 3 seconds. Here are the boys...and there she goes----into the tree, only feet away. I'm sure she'll be back. I wish I could have gotten a picture of her "smacking" the window, but that might be too rude, I would hate for someone to get a picture of me making a fool of myself.
I wonder how long she'll stick around, she's beautiful, though sometimes brains are more of an asset...

11:16am - She's still going at it...

11:53am - I'm getting a headache now...I don't believe this. Here's the video

1:30pm - Amazing determination, yes...she's still attempting the impossible!

2:38pm - I've got to find something to hang there...I am dumb-founded at this point, cuz it's not even bothering the dogs anymore...

4:20pm - You wouldn't believe me...

4:48pm - Still no reprevieve unless I go out there...this is her contribution to my suffering, that she left on our porch...(see below) this is only part of it, a small part - can you say GROSS!

Vanished!

I logged in this morning to find my cool pink and white with pink flowers Blog template, was GONE! DISAPPEARED! VANISHED! This will have to do (green/pink/black) until I find "the perfect one" again...**sigh**

The House that Jack Built - Phase II

So another weekend passed by very quickly and although there was not alot of rain, there was WIND, pretty much all weekend...so much wind that it really got irritating!

Graham got Phase II of the Deck Landscaping done. The Bark and Border....it's beautiful! Amber and I did some much needed bush/tree pruning and pulled some weeds, so that the flower beds could get their cedar border and some new bark added to them. Wow! What a difference a little bit of border/bark can do!

We thought long and hard about borrowing dads' truck, buying a wheel-barrow and getting bulk bark. And after much consideration decided that buying the bags (Wally World had a great deal on it) would be a more viable option. And easier! So....Graham went and got some bark. The first load, which we thought would get us a great start, well...after 25 bags of bark...really didn't make much of a dent. We wanted it pretty thick...because the ground isn't level back there, we wanted the bark to make sure and give the impression that it was...LOL! Shortly after Graham got the bark dumped into the back bed, we realized we needed more! So off we went again to pick up 30 more bags! I can't believe we got all that into the Expedition!

Lookin good!!!!!!!!! But still shy a few bags! Can you believe that? 55 Bags of bark by this time and now still a few shy! We picked up a couple more from HomeDepot because they are the only place that had the cedar edging we used, while we were there....and although we bought 8...we could have easily used 10...the front bed is a little lean, but we could not bring ourselves to go back! Do you blame us???

The wind was just driving us crazy and I swear it didn't stop until this morning, and it's supposed to be beautiful today! Sunny, 67 and no wind. I don't get it! And then of course, tomorrow and Wednesday (Amber's outta school that day) they are forecasting rain! We just want to get our cushions out for the new furniture, so we can enjoy the deck...is that just asking too much? We're not so much worried about the rain, as the wind blowing them away...maybe we'll get them out today.

Flowers and other decorative things will come, when we're sure there are no more Frost warnings...and with our weird weather, who knows when that will be!

Pearls Before Breakfast

Ok - So I have to admit, I'm enjoying reading other peoples blogs...and about a week ago I came across a guys blog that just made me laugh almost to the point not being able to breathe. Tonight I checked it out again, and came across another post, although this one wasn't funny, it was just amazing. Amazing in the fact that people now-days are just too busy to see beauty that is put directly in front of them...they don't stop to bask in the awe of things that could help change their whole outlook on the day ahead of them...

That's it! I'm stopping no matter what it is! - Even if I'm going to be late...life is just too short!

Even though this is a very long read, it's soooo worth it, and don't forget to watch the video's (with sound)...beauty at it's finest! Click here to read the article Pearls Before Breakfast

IF A GREAT MUSICIAN PLAYS GREAT MUSIC BUT NO ONE HEARS . . . WAS HE REALLY ANY GOOD? - I loved that statement (from the article)

My prayer for you all today is:

Dear Lord, thank you for all the beauty you provide for each of us daily, I pray that all your children seek the time as they read this post, and read this article to stop and appreciate all (ALL) beauty that is before them, not just the obvious. Thank you for all the blessings we are so freely given, because every second we're alive is a blessing from you.
Amen.

On my HIGH horse again...

The title says it all...but, safety (internet safety) is my passion...and you already know this if you know me...I don't quit!

We've seen a commercial a couple times the past few days that has just struck a cord. I wish they could show this commercial at school every day (maybe I'll suggest that)...it all surrounds safety in posting (blogging, myspace, etc.) geared toward teen girls. I have one of those (a teenage girl), who does blog...and the few times we'd seen that commercial, she was no where around.

Today, I found the link to the commercial. I made her watch it...and I highly recommend you watch it, especially if you have/know a teenage girl...or boy for that matter...you could help save a life. Show them this video too!

http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/yourname.htm

As always, though I don't solicit them...I welcome your comments.

School for Dogs?

Yep! You heard me right! Humphrey Bogart and Tommy Lee just had their second Doggie Lesson. It’s not puppy kindergarten at PetSmart, it’s one on one puppy school. We have a dog trainer, who’s been training dogs for 35 years who comes over once a week for between an hour and an hour and a half and teaches us to work with the dogs. They are doing great! What good little guys! They are so smart! Anyway, we’ve been learning Sit, Stay, Down (lay-down) and Heel….and today we added Check and Come.

You can completely see the different personalities between the two when they are working. Amazing how quickly they can pick this stuff up!

We worked them in the front yard tonight which was nice, kids running around, riding their bikes by, cars and another lady walking her dogs, she’s got two Miniature Pinchers and a Greyhound. They both seemed to handle it pretty good all things considered. In a couple weeks we’ll be taking them to the park…so they’ll have more distractions.

Right now, they are sound asleep laying next to me. That ½ hour to 45 minutes wears them right out! Very sweet!

Mickey

Yesterday I was watching the Today Show, and saw a story on a darling Boston Terrier. His name is Mickey. Rather than try and explain the story myself, I'll post the link.

(If ever this link is broken, please let me know and I'll remove the link).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18037022/

Of course the story caught my eye, because we have our two Boston Terriers. Humphrey, is micro-chipped in two places, and Tommy Lee will be when he get's fixed on the 25^th of April. We believe it's a great idea to get your pets micro-chipped. The chip is smaller than the size of a piece of rice, and has to be inserted with a needle…amazing!

The House that Jack Built!

Thought I'd post a quick note, about our Easter Weekend. Graham and I have been trying to decide what to do in the back corner of our back yard...when we moved in last June, it was a weed garden, so we thought we'd turn it into a vegetable garden. It didn't get enough sun, sadly...and it got too much water, due to the back neighbors sprinklers not being adjusted properly. So after that mess...we knew that was not going to work, but we had no idea what to put in it's place...we discussed planting grass...decorative patio bricks and even having a concrete pad poured. None of those really seemed logical...so we came up with a DECK, then we could put a Gazebo on it! Yea! Great idea!

Sounds great doesn't it? It really is! Its very pretty...and when we get our new furniture unpacked (hopefully tomorrow) and then get the landscaping done (maybe next month) it'll look even better. We are so excited! Our new patio set is a dark weather resistant wicker, with tan colored cushions, ottomans, and a coffee table...very pretty! (I'll post pictures when we get it out there---so check back!)

Graham worked VERY hard. He spent all day Saturday working on the deck, until the weather decided to turn on us late in the afternoon, so Sunday he finished it up, and put up the Gazebo. We did help (Amber and I)...however, he deserves all the credit. We just helped keep the supplies coming, and made sure he stayed hydrated...and all the other "grunt" work...but we can both say we helped. Hard to really do much more than that...watching it was really a one person (with helpers) job. Poor guy was very sore!! I think he still is. He's got bruises all over his legs! The "boys" helped too...NOT! But they sure had fun playing outside all day!

We will continue to add pictures as we get more done...we still have not made any final decisions about landscaping yet...a fire pit, or a fountain....or neither. Large river rocks, bark, decorative bricks....bluck!

Right now the weather is still pretty unpredictable, so we're waiting to seal the deck until June (as per directions from the deck-lady at HomeDepot) when the pollen and flower blooms are done blowing all over, so there is no possibility of a "film" in conjunction with the sealant. And for those of you who might be wondering, we do have a "screen" for the inside of the Gazebo, to keep out the bugs...but we also are waiting until the weather shapes up. The winds out this way (South of town) are stronger and we want to preserve the netting for when we'll really need it. :) Can you blame us?

Inside the center top of the Gazebo there is a hook for a....believe it or not....chandelier. I am not kidding, they have outdoor chandeliers! We are not putting electricity out there, but we are thinking of hanging a battery operated lantern out there...just gotta find one first!

Ok - I think it's bed time...it's been a long couple weeks. Maybe tomorrow I'll post more about what's been going on around here, other than the deck...zzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZ!