first rose

I finally was able to pick my first rose from my overly expensive rose garden. Nevermind that I selected this particular rose bush, Sterling Silver, because I love the lavender colored roses. Oops nursery! Nevermind that this bush has infested my garden with aphids I simply cannot get rid of. It is a very pretty rose regardless and I am hopeful the rest begin to bloom as well. I have become the struggling gardener living here...nothing seems to grow or transplant well for me. Very disappointing but I have not thrown down my gardening glove in defeat yet. One day I will figure it out.

Now I know you are all wondering if my guest has survived her week long visit with me. I must say its gone well and she still tells me she loves me on day 6. I did have a melt down while golfing but I feel it was more due to the pain I was in and the terrible golf I was playing.
I have been going to PT for the extreme pain in my neck which I have been dealing with on and off for over a year. They tell me the muscles in my neck are angry and irritated and feel like rubber bands ready to snap. I am miserable mainly because of all the things I cant do right now. Do you know just how painful swinging a golf club, holding your head up to bike ride, hiking...etc when your neck is screaming at you that your damn head weighs too much?! I just hate getting old and having life be about one ache or pain after another. I played hard when I was younger so this is killing me...Ok enough pity party. I sent my man and my bf off to play golf with another couple this morning. I am not suppose to golf right now and I thought it would be a great last day for Ingerlise. I did have this crazy thought after they left. You know how you hear about people losing their spouses to their best friends all the time? How does that happen? When do they have the time together to figure out they want to crush someone...who loves them both... so they can be together? I picture Shania Twain while I am writing this....seriously how does a man leave her for the bf?!?! I sure hope its not something simple like saying "oh you two go golfing and have fun!" haha! I am feeling confident that Jerry chewing me out after a day of shopping with her will keep her from wanting him! I will never leave him for his bf mainly because he is so much younger than me. If you dont like the aging process you see in the mirror why in the world would you go for a man years younger? Tell me Demi...how did that work out for you?!?! Ok I seem to have gone to the dark side with this post but I feel a positive swing coming in....wait for it! Phew!

This is the final block in my story quilt (26 of them!) and I must say I just love it! I am not done of course and will add details like rocks etc~ but it makes me smile. :^>
To be honest with you this is a dream I have...a small little trailer we could pull behind the Explorer and just camp along rivers and streams, beaches and lakes, forests..wherever our hearts desire. I like this idea because Buster Boy can come along which is his favorite thing to do. Jerry invested in some beautiful fly fishing equipment and I just don't see any opportunities arising to make use of it. It seems to me you need to find those cool out of the way camping spots where you just pull in and relax and enjoy the quiet. I am visualizing some hip sporting catalog with the couple looking amazing along side a lake or river and a kitty in the trailer window. Please let me be airbrushed in this photo op!!!  I know this wont happen but its still something I wish for. A cute little trailer with my family hitting the road to nowhere.

Last but not least..doorbell just rang and Grace further announced the chiming, AGH!  and it was a package from Fed EX for me! Don't you just love the excitement of opening a box in the mail and not having a clue what it is?! I know me too! I had an expensive pair of shoes fall apart way sooner than they should have and for the first time I acted on it. The box held a brand new free pair of Jambu sandals!! Woohoo...even though they are not the right color I will be happy. Just like my rose bush!!
Thanks for dropping by~

something intriguing here

Do you know how difficult it is to come up with fun interesting titles every post? Sometimes I stop and sign out because of it...
Been a busy week around here..the usual endless projects of course. I told my mom the other day there is simply not enough time in my day to accomplish all I want to do. Unfortunately my creative work ends up taking a back burner and that kind of makes me resent the list. I wake up early every morning saying today I wont stop and then somewhere after I finish my two cups of coffee I have wandered off into something time consuming. We have planted several more palms and a few colorful plants. Couldn't resist a big sago palm at Costco and also a not so big clementine mandarin tree. Its so loaded with blossoms I couldnt walk away but its just a baby. Hopefully one day I can simply go out to my yard for a cutie instead of the store. I am a bit hooked on them right now and that is crazy for me because I rarely eat fruit. I don't know why...just not my first choice. My bad.
We have one of our best friends arriving tomorrow for a week. I am looking fwd to her arrival and yet today I have become anxious over it. I tend to want everything to be so freaking Martha Stewart perfect and fun things planned to do that within 2-3 days I am burned out. I then stop being the fun entertaining hostess and actually quite a bit of the bitchy woman. When company leaves I can't decide if I feel more relieved they are gone or sad that I can't be a kinder person and more fun for longer. What's wrong with me?!?  We have actually had company never return after a visit and I just know its me..or Jerry talking politics. Either way we kill em. Oh well. The booze and food are free so there has to be a wash in there.
Skipping onto something I am better at...we have decided this house will be the one we use everything that means something to us and get rid of anything that doesnt fit in. These two things have been in our closets for as long as I can remember and we just keep moving them to the next life.

The violin belonged to Jerry's grandfather in MN and the guitar was my brother Rande's from his days of living in Hawaii.  I got this idea from my ever so wonderful cousin, Janet, and we love having them out and ready. Of course we need to find someone wanting to play them which has not happened yet. No matter tho I like them being part of our decor. Adds a bit of style I think...

Here is another...I have collected lighthouses since we lived in Minnesota and unfortunately everyone thought it the perfect gift for me...which of course it was at the time. Well now I have enough of them to go retail and simply no where to go with them. I went to Ebay to try and sell them but they were worthless. It seems collectibles went out with my generation...our kids want nothing tying them down and I have been told this numerous times by my boys. So instead of throwing them away we bought beautiful shelves from Pottery Barn and now they are all on display in their finest glory. I did not stop loving them or what they represent...a guiding light in a storm. Poor Jerry just knows if there is a lighthouse on our road trips, we are going by it. This is in one of our hallways and so not overbearing and just a lovely touch. It also got rid of THREE DISHPACKS in our garage and I am sure for Jerry that was worth the price of shelves.
I am plodding along on my story quilt and still loving the process but so wishing to see it come together faster. I have this vision of it when its done and think it will be amazing...I have not had the same response from friends that see it...bless Jerry for his positive comments. Yesterday I had an anxiety attack wondering what if 'my people' dont like it?!?! Being an artist is so difficult because your soul is on the laundry line for everyone to judge. Will I ever believe in me and see my worth? Probably not. Such a goofball.
Thanks for dropping by.

coffee and a new post

I have been waiting until the front yard was completed to post again and then I had to wait two more days for the rain and gray skies to go away. I just hate wintery gray skies in my desert photos because the sky is simply too gorgeous blue the rest of the time. So here you have it...
Before....

....and now.

In order to keep our costs down we bought some of the smaller size plants so it will take a bit for the mature vision we have but you get the idea.  We did find out after moving our bouganvilleas that they go into serious shock quite easily but are hardy enough to come back. Well they are just plain pathetic looking right now and the waiting is hard for us to do. We would like to add a few more boulders and colorful plants here and there but basically we are done.Its the perfect low maintenance desert yard so we can go play or travel whenever we choose.
I have my fingers crossed the rock landscaping keeps some of the dust and sand from blowing into our house because dusting is a daily chore right now. I forgot how windy the desert can be and how often it kicks up.
We (Jerry) are now painting the guest room and simply amazed how dirty the walls are. What DID they do in this house before us? Yesterday we had new blinds put up in our mstr bdrm and they look so wonderful and clean. We had hoped the old ones would work for a while and immediately the pull cords broke on two of them. What the heck huh? That about does it with house projects for the moment.
We have company arriving Wed for a week so should get lots of golf, hiking and desert fun in then.
xo

roses and grass

This is what our yard looked like when we moved in...

This is Rande in December creating a rose garden for his mom in the same location as above.

Ladder must go!!

This is my rose garden and new grass as of yesterday.
We shall have crushed rock where you see the dirt in background by next week and that is where our garden railroad will be.
Life is good~

cleared that one up

After golf yesterday my artist friend and I asked about the 'art competition' and where they were looking to hang it. First of all they seem to be looking for an old fashion desert scene and its going to hang in some room rarely used. Good to know and no thanks because my stuff doesnt fit the criteria. I do think I will make a southwest piece next just because it was great fun to put together.

Does anyone see anything wrong with this photo (besides my messy nightstand?!) Well obviously Buster doesn't either...why can't he lay on the wide open pet beds?! Damn cat! Well I'll tell you why...because then he does this and is so adorable I no longer care~ Definitely the CEO of our house and don't get me started on his morning Cheerios or as we call them Bustos.

I am grabbing coffee and heading to the sewing room to start my day off right. Hope you all have a great day. Thanks for dropping by.

frustrated

We received an email from our golf club two days ago saying they are looking for a piece to hang over the fireplace and decided to have a juried art show. We can submit art work and they will vote on it and the winner hangs for 6 weeks in the club. You are also welcome to sell what you enter... Can you imagine what awesome exposure this is if I could enter something?! I know, right? Well, they want your work there no later than the 19th....of February!  So basically it means I would have to enter something I already have done. Darn it! Sailboats? If only I had time to make a fun southwest desert piece like my Kokopelli one. I laid awake thinking about it wondering if I could pull it off if I started right now.  The thing is I could always hang in our house and also add it to the winery show...it might be faster than I think since I have a 'pattern' to follow. Hmmm...

Well I am off to golf today so maybe tomorrow...tomorrow is another day.

random thoughts flying in the air

I am feeling extremely ADD this morning so I thought maybe I would clear the fluff and stuff out of my brain by blogging. If I write it I must release it kind of thing.
I hope you are not tiring of yard/house updates yet...we are SOOOOO close to being finished in the yard we can actually see the light. Good thing too because we are oh so tired of all this manual labor and dirt! The other day I was shoveling rocks to fill a planter and then carrying  buckets of crushed rock to the side yard. I hate to admit this because I have always been the strong-hardworking-plowthefield-kind of woman...I could barely move afterwards. Everything hurt and mostly my pride because what I use to do without thought now takes me to my knees. I just hate feeling old...well truthfully I hate looking old too.
Do you know what I wear the most when I am walking Grace around the hood? My smile.
I just received my new glasses and they are the type that turn into sunglasses when you go outside. How cool is that? I love that I can go outside and not have to go find my sunglasses and then come back inside and not have to wonder where I left my real glasses. Cool beans I'm telling you. Of course the bad thing is they do not work in the car...oh well, they do work in the house/yard. I would show you the before and after pics but I have really BAD bed hair this morning and I want no photo proof that Jerry has to look at me like this. Don't you wonder what you did or dreamed to cause your hair to get so darn crazy when you really felt like you were just lying there quietly?! My man mentioned me snoring the other night...so last night I woke up because of it...but when I opened my eyes the snoring continued...I was delighted it wasn't me after all! (Well last night at least!) There is the cause of the crazy hair to worry about...
Anyway I have before photos ready and I will post the 'completo' photos in a week or so, of the yard and then you will be up to date. We will be golfing, biking and playing in the future and no photos necessary. Timothy if you are reading this, we cannot thank you enough for all you have done to help us get to this point. Love you boy! Have I mentioned he has to use a pick axe just to dig a hole big enough to plant anything? WORSE dirt/clay ever! It has really taken the fun out of gardening when digging a hole is like drilling into cement.
I have completed 18 blocks for my story piece and I think 3-4 to go before I begin the garden scene...is it a bad thing that no one seems to get what I am doing except Cindee and me? I had a couple of friends look at it and I could tell they were thinking 'this is different' in a bad way. I try to take comfort in the fact that if an artist is painting something even I have wondered what the heck is that? When I feel really discouraged I call Cindee and we begin to talk really fast and loud about it (creative adrenalin!) and I know she gets me and my work and the world is good again!

Here are some of the blocks simply because I needed some color and visual aids for the blog. I know it seems confusing but just you wait~I am going to blow you away! (hahaha such false confidence!)


Remember that hayrake I was so excited about last summer in Minnesota? Remember me telling you I wanted to put it on a wall and every holiday I would hang things from it? Do you want me to wait while you go back and figure out what I am talking about? Just kidding!

Well here it is ready for Valentine's Day with a collection of hearts...
I just wanted you to see I did follow thru even though I didn't share it at Christmas with its delicate ornaments from Germany on it. Not sure what I will do for Easter...better look on Pinterest for ideas.
We have the blinds lady coming this morning with ideas for our masterbdrm windows. Its the only room that we didnt replace and now the one over the door is broken. Kamolz luck for sure. I am trying to decide if I should go shower quickly or just put on a baseball cap. Retirement is one tough decision after another! Thanks for dropping by!