Spring Done Sprung

While the northeast is getting pounded again and again and again with nor'easter and still pretty chilly back in Georgia with snow and freezing temps, Spring has sprung here in Otown. We've had a couple of days when it dropped to the forties overnight but once that sun comes up, so do the temps. I was listening to the news early this morning, the weather dude said "Grab a sweatshirt on your way out the door this morning."

That's all the winter I need anymore.

Living in Georgia for well over half a century, I experienced enough cold weather to last me a life time.

                                   If I want winter now, I simply go back home for a visit.



I like living in the land of eternal flip flop season. Only downside is I have to keep my toenails polished year round. I'm so old the hair on my legs apparently went somewhere else to live.

My chin and upper lip.

One at a time...literally.

Note to post menopausal women everywhere: Keep a pair of tweezers and magnifying mirror handy when you hit your late fifties.

At least I only have to shave my legs once a month now (if that often) and they still look like Massey's, which she shaves daily.

                        I guess what I'm saying is growing old has its good points and bad points.

Heck, life has good points and bad points...with the only actual bad point being not waking up.



The great part about living in central Florida is that you can plant or grow anything pretty much year round.  Even though we're still renting (for now) and had to extend our lease one more time, whoever moves in next will have a terrific yard waiting for them with about twenty different types of perennials blooming almost twelve months out of the year.



One thing I miss is my big yard back in Georgia, especially this time of year.

 I've never been really picky about how my house looks on the inside but am a fanatic  about my yards.

Our front yard here in Orlando is pretty small. The backyard is even smaller. The landlord pays a guy to do the yard work but is never up to my standards. They miss spots, which drives me nuts and aren't the best weed eater operators. I remember one time back home when I used to cut the front of our subdivision twice a month. I was taking the kids to school one morning and was at the stop sign at the end of our street, waiting to turn on to the main road. I put my car in park and got out to pull one tall weed I  had inadvertently missed the day before. I looked back and Massey was sitting in the car, shaking her head, while rolling her eyes.


I don't have my weed eater here with me, it's still in the garage of our old house. If I did have it here, would most certainly go out after the yard guys left and trim all the weeds they missed myself.

Instead I focused on the front yard which was pretty dull when we first moved in. I pulled weeds by hand for two days straight in an overgrown former flower bed and planted a ton of seed packets I had from my nephew's wedding. They had given them as gifts at their wedding and I took home every single packet guests forgot to take with them.

I planted them all about the second week after we moved in (mid October) and two weeks later they were popping up like crazy... in November!


Unfortunately I didn't keep up with the clipping of dying ones, drying them out and replanting the seeds from the center and by this spring once again had an empty flower bed. There was one type flower, totally in the center that did come up again this year. It's the tallest green one in this photo, which blooms red.

I caught bulbs on sale at Big Lots. Three dollars, with three bulbs in each packet!  Gladiolas, Brown Eyed Susan's, Lillie's of the Valley, and about ten other varieties.

 The last time I stopped in they had a roll out, ten foot long organic mat for flowers which attract hummingbirds. That's right...on sale for $3.99.

I went home and dug out the hummingbird feeder from a box in the garage that Massey had given me for Mother's Day a few years back, took it apart, cleaned and washed it and loaded it with homemade nectar. It now hangs outside, over the center of my kitchen window.

I wasn't real crazy about cleaning out the area underneath the window, I saw a snake back there one time, but put on shoes instead of flip flops and did it anyway.

It's not a fancy house. It's a tiny house. But it's our house, for now. If I have to live there another six months, so be it...but if I have to back out of that (also) tiny garage every day to leave that tiny house, I want to look at an awesomely groomed tiny little yard.

We don't really have a winter season here.We have a dry season. It rains every day (usually for about twenty minutes) all summer long and makes everything lush and beautiful. During the dry spell, wildfire season occurs. Our grass is barely existent now.


BINGO!!

Big Lots also had bags of grass seed on sale for five bucks.

What kind? I don't know.

Oh yeah I do.

The cheap kind!

So I'm also spreading by hand (the push spreader is also in my garage back home in Georgia) two bags of "I don't care what kind of" grass seed and watering the yard and my flower beds twice a day.

Going back for another bag tomorrow to randomly toss  in our back yard. The dogs go to scratch their backs on the grass and get up looking like they rolled in a hay stack. With all their pooping, that grass ought to be well fertilized and green as grass in no time!


Baby steps.

Be happy where ever you are in life.

It could always be worse and sometimes may be, but if you keep on keeping on and give life your best shot...the chances for success always increase.

It took me a long time to feel comfortable enough to call Orlando home but is now...and that's okay too.

                                         Can't wait to post pics when all my planting blooms.



Negativity brings nothing but negativity, so why focus on it?

My husband always says (used to drive me nuts) "You can't go back" but he is exactly right.

You can't.

Move on, press forward, hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.


'Lather, rinse and repeat.'

That  should be life's mantra.

I'm getting old, actually seventy five percent of the way there, but trying and keep a younger mindset...even with all my wrinkles and batttle scars.

Along the way I have learned one very important thing.

As long as you fill your life with family and true friends; they will be warriors who will always have your back...and you will be okay.

And I am.

                                            Older, a little bit wiser and grateful to be both.



I'm not going home again, unless for a visit and will try and do so often. Sometimes you can't get it out of your head...but I've always been a slow learner.

Till next time...COTTON

The Blade on My Mower Goes Round and Round, Round and Round...

I wish my Johnny looked this clean. Then again, if he did he wouldn't be doing his part. Mine is mud splattered and covered with grass. My next door husband gave him a tune up, fixed his broken switch and bolted down all the rattling parts. He sharpened the blade, told me I needed a new one but I  happily jumped on him (Johnny) and started to cut.

I got my front yard cut but the grass was so high, at one point I hit a rock and the blade sound went up about twenty decibels. Not one to give up, I clattered along as I noticed blade marks in the lawn behind me. Luckily I was almost through and just told myself I was not only cutting but aerating  the lawn as well.

I couldn't ask my next  door husband for anymore favors (I like to save him for desperate pleas) so I simply parked Johnny in the garage and hoped that a good night's rest  would heal his wounds.

I got up this morning and attempted to cut my elderly neighbor's grass on the other side of my house. After mowing and plowing up his front yard on the first  turn I cut the blade off and went back to my house. I went to the John Deere store and bought another blade. I came home and my elderly neighbor loaned me his jack and attempted to jack up the mower. No go.

I called my brother in law, he came over and had the blade on in less than twenty minutes. I cut my neighbor's yard and went out back to cut the field growing behind my house. I took thirty minutes to scour the ground for rocks and dog bones. In low gear I mowed the back only hitting one tennis ball and one rock.

There is nothing more pleasing to me than mowing my yard unless you  count how much more wonderful it looks when you  go back and weed eat.

I spent five hours in the yard today. It felt great..I even shaved my legs last night for the occasion...not a small task after ten months of growth.I was starting to feel like my Spanish  teacher in elementary school. Note to self...don't wear pantyhose if you  don't shave your legs for a year. (we made fun of her)

Got my neighbor's yard cut, got my back yard cut and got all of it weed ate. (not the correct term but you know what I mean)

Ran my buddy Mr. Weed Eater til  eight thirty. The family had to wait for dinner but didn't seem to mind. It's not like they were going to scrounge around for  themselves. (wimps)

My toes are green with grass stains, my legs have so much  grass on them it reminds me of how they looked last night before I shaved them.

I'm a happy, tired and worn out woman. I can't wait to back out of the driveway tomorrow morning and see how neat and trim my yard looks....not to mention the old man's next  door.

If my new furniture gig and serving job don't work out... think I may start a lawn care "Bidness." There is nothing more refreshing and great to look at  than a freshly trimmed out lawn.

The down side is...there was a house behind all that growth.

Now that I have the outside looking good unless I hit the lottery  guess I'll have to run the vacuum inside too.

Does that suck or what? (Huge Pun)

Sounds crazy but going to bed whooped from yard work is one of my favorite feelings.

Still have tomorrow...if I'm lucky.

Til next  time...COTTON

Yard Work is Good for the Soul

Went to bed late last night with a wet washcloth on my forehead...These night sweats are turning into nightmare sweats. Got up and jumped on Johnny to cut the front entrance of our subdivision around 11AM. Cut for two hours and came home covered with red Georgia clay. It has been so dry here that I seem to kick up more dirt than cut down grass. I dreamed last night that I owned this transformer in the above picture...could I cut some crap with that or WHAT?

 I drank a huge cup of water and went next door to cut my neighbor's front back and side yard. Fixed a bologna sandwich and felt revived enough to ride ole Johnny back up front to weed eat the huge ditches on both sides of the subdivision entrance. My weed eater ran out out line and I sat on  the ground to wind on some more. A car whizzed by and honked long and hard on their horn and I heard a  scream... "Get off yer ass, Cotton!"

It was one of the women I worked with over ten years ago when I was doing my stint as a "Lunch Lady" at my kid's elementary school. She's a pistol...from Alabama and reminds me of Peppermint Patty with  attitude. I cracked up when I heard her yell  as she flew by with her hand waving out the open car window.

Only in the south!
I wound  new line on, "Got off my ass" and finished the weed eating. I can't imagine women up north riding around honking,  screaming out their car window "Get off yer ass" which to  women in the south means "Good to see ya still kickin !"

Her pep talk got me through the task at hand. It was ninety four degrees outside. Add in my hot flash effect and it was a hundred and forty. I've been cutting the front of the subdivision for a couple of years and have had numerous drive by shout outs. One of my old managers from work flew by me one day and honked his horn scaring the crap out of me because I had my back turned to the road. When I got home I had a text on my phone from him "Looking good slinging that weed eater, Mama!"

I don't know why I like yard work so much...maybe I was an illegal immigrant in a past life or part of a prison work detail.

It kills me when I am doing it but is so satisfying to see my handy work when I am done.

Zach took me to work today and when we got to the stop sign at the end our street he remarked how nice it looked. I said I  missed a couple of weeds by the water meter but would stop and pull them up tomorrow. He gave the slow shake of his head that means "You are totally crazy" and turned out of the subdivision.

Don't think I won't stop on the way out tomorrow to snag those weeds...little buggers trying to make MY handiwork look slack. I'll show THEM!

My car got sick on Friday and is currenty in ICU at the car hospital. Why do things like this happen on a holiday weekend?

 On the bright side the check I kited for Massey's fundraiser on Friday won't go through either so it is a win/win situation. I have until Tuesday to make everything right and tight!

Hopefully ole TS Lee will cancel everyone's cook out plans and they will all decide on coming to eat at the restaurant I work for.

If my check for cutting the front of the subdivision comes in and my luck holds out  with customers at work showing me their love, it will all be okay.

You know what? It will be okay anyway.

 After the past two years,  I have learned a few lessons that will last a lifetime. Number one...be honest. Number two...be humble. Number three be grateful and most importantly... Number four, Always Pay it Forward.

My life has been quite the journey... and you know what? I look forward to what the future holds and can take anything it throws at me. I've made so much lemonade out of lemons with so much help from friends family and strangers that the rest of this trip oughta be a BREEZE!

"Get off yer ass, Cotton!"

I'm gonna have to send ole Peppermint Patty a thank you note!

Til next time...one extremely lucky  lady!

What Time Zone Am I Living In?

I seem to be living in the "Black Hole" time zone.

When I work a lot I tend to stay up way too late and sleep way too late as well. I get up to take Zach to school and come back home. I piddle around the house, eat and take a late morning nap.

I have always been a night owl and just enjoy the solitude of a quiet house with no sounds except the snoring of three dogs arranged around my feet. It's when I catch up on the laundry, do the dishes that have been left in the sink that no one claims to have left and do my blogging. If they could invent a silent vacuum cleaner I would REALLY have something going.

I have a full day tomorrow (today) planned. I have let the island in my front yard grow ridiculously out of control and my bushes seem to be over taking the front of my house.

I am cutting it ALL back tomorrow...my front yard and bushes will make my hair cut look like Crystal Gayle's.

I have the day off so I will work in the yard all day and have volunteered to chaperone at Massey's guard practice tomorrow night from 5:30 to 8:30. That means I sit out in the parking lot and in the gym making sure Teddy (their coach) doesn't kill one of the guard with his always gruelling workouts and demands.

Thank the Lord for crock pots! I have my roast thawing in the sink and will throw it in before I go out front to cut back the jungle I have let take over my front yard.

I added some widgets to my blog...had no idea what "Widgets" were until a dear friend of mine (who is super smart...A Tech Grad) told me to add them to my blog. It's kinda like shopping from my blog page. They (Amazon) read my blog and add things readers may be interested in, pertaining to what I write about and if things are purchased I get a cut.

Sounded good to me... and if I can make $300 by tomorrow afternoon the check I am taking to EMC for our power bill might just clear!

I'm not really counting on that but you know me...I wait until after four to take the check, scratch over the electronic account numbers on my check with a spoon so that it doesn't go through automatically but gets kicked back and has to be processed manually ( my mother in law taught me THAT trick) and then hope that Oprah comes in to eat dinner with her posse at my restaurant , asks for my table and leaves me a tip bigger than her hair do.

HEY! It could happen...

You gotta stay positive.

At least my yard will look good, at least Massey will be happy I am at practice with her and at least dinner will be done when we finally get home at 9:00.

Maybe when Massey and I pull in the drive, Ed McMahon will be standing there with a fist full of balloons and a huge cardboard check..."HEY..It COULD Happen."

I am going to paint my nails and shave my legs...and watch me some Soaps and go to bed. Great therapy for a woman...nothing makes me feel better than fancy looking toe nails when I am slinging a weed eater around.

Off til Wednesday so I will post pics of my trimmed down yard tomorrow.

Til next time...COTTON

Oh Brother Why For Art Thou Here?

Had to be at work for a meeting at 8AM. By the time it was over the doors were open for business at 11AM.



During the meeting my cell phone began buzzing in my back pocket. The server next to me reached for hers and I quietly told her it was mine. I looked discreetly at my phone and saw that it was Massey calling. I put my phone back in my pocket only to hear it buzz again...this time with a text: "When are u coming home?" I put it back into my pocket once again only to hear it buzzing again not five minutes later with a voice mail. After two hours they gave us a bathroom break and I took the time to call Massey back and see what was the emergency was.

She wanted to know where the throat spray was...her throat was really sore. For Pete's sake...I am at a meeting in Peachtree City and the throat spray is somewhere in the house in Newnan. Should she ask her dad who is in the living room or should she call me in a meeting at work where the Vice President of the company that I work for is speaking to us about a million dollar renovation of our store?

If you have a teenage daughter, I guess you already know the answer to THAT question.

So back to the draining, droning meeting I went. My doofus co worker (the one who most likely owns an UZI) asked the most inane and idiotic questions time and time again adding at least thirty minutes to the meeting. I started to say "You know, you probably won't be here that much longer so don't bother with the stupid questions."

If I could have been sure he hadn't already brought the UZI into work with him , I would have said it, but since I am the only currently employed person in our household, I just bit my tongue and continued to screen my constant texts from Massey.

I went home after the meeting to see Massey sprawled across her death bed. Cleopatra came to my mind the minute I walked into her room. She is such a drama queen that I never know when it is actual pain or just the angst of a 14 year old girl making everything more dramatic than it needs to be.

She did had a slight fever and I gave her some Advil and a glass of water.

I cleaned house for the two hours I had to spare before I had to be back at work at 3:00. My manager had already called and wanted me to go by the Newnan store to pick up some Swiss cheese and to go bags. That meant I had to leave thirty minutes before I planned to.

Zipped by the Newnan store and went to work.

My husband told me last night that his brother was coming to stay with us for a night from St. Augustine. That is why I went home and cleaned like a demon.

What the HEY...one more person to feed, that is JUST what I need. I felt like asking my husband if he might want to ask his brother to bring a friend? Maybe by that point we could get some help from "Hosea Feeds The Hungry."

I love this brother in law...he is my favorite of the five brothers that my husband has...but this is not the greatest of times for an impromptu visit.

With the house clean enough for a man (that doesn't take much) I flew back to work my 3 to close shift.

When I came home, I almost started crying before I pulled into the drive.

I had already thought about the parking...Tim knows I get ticked if people come over and block my entrance to the garage. I am not picky about a lot of things (well maybe I am ) but I hate it when people come over and park like no one else has to get into the garage .

I keep my space clear in the garage so that I can pull in , get out of my car and walk four feet to the kitchen door.

Tim "Kinda" helped me...KINDA.

I pulled into the driveway with my headlights shining on the horrible tracks I had left in my side yard when Zach's friends had made me squeeze out of the garage the other morning running late for work and got stuck in the mud.

I pulled in and my brother in law had driven a van up from St. Augustine...an "Econoline." It was the size of van that a church would use to go pick up invalids or orphans.

Guess where he had parked it to give me access to my garage?

Not on the street...like a sane person. He had pulled it into my FRONT YARD....you know , the one that has seen five inches of rain in the past three days.

I could see the tracks where he had backed up and re positioned the big clunker (Dang, just park it once if you're gonna "F" up my whole front yard.)

I was sick about it.

I truly love this man and he is a great brother in law...but doesn't ANY man notice how trim, neat and carefully cut I keep my yard...and maybe parking a Shuttle Van in my grass may cause some damage to MY lawn?

While I was cleaning the kitchen tonight my husband came downstairs and I told him that I almost broke into tears when I came home and saw the Land Yacht on my grass. He said he would go tell his brother to move it and I said "NO...I'll look like a bitch."

I mean the damage is already done..I told my husband to just ask him to park on the street tomorrow...so I can get a landscaping rake and try to save what I have LEFT of a yard.

Why is my life this way?

Am I just destined to ALWAYS have something to write about?

I thought the horse messed up the football field on Friday night...You should SEE my yard now...Maybe Princess Senoia brought "Chief" over for a tromp while I was at work.

It sure looks like it.

Til next time...COTTON

My Yard work

This is my handy work at the front of the subdivision. It's not like pulling into Callaway Gardens, but it is a lot of work. I trim around all the trees, pick up trash and weed eat a fifty foot long ditch on either side. I should have taken a "Before" picture but I rarely wait for it to grow too long before cutting it.

After these few pics I included a video of my tour of yards. I cut my yard and then go to my older neighbors' to do theirs as well. Then we end up with a shot of the three stooges lined up in the gap in the gate that Charlie has chewed. He is whining the whole time (you will hear him.) He sounds like a new born left by a dumpster, just wanting someone to notice him. We had a torrential rainstorm tonight so I will be back on my John "Dear" tomorrow doing it all again. My neighbor two doors down has bought and moved to a house in Grantville and her yard is starting to bother me so I guess I will add that one to my list as well. Enjoy my mutts peeking through the gate (THEY CRACK ME UP)

BATH TIME !

Boy, do I NEED a bath! I took a rare Sunday off because number one: I needed a "mental health" day, number two: a co worker called and begged me for the shift and number three: I had yard work to do!

Now that I am getting paid to keep the front entrance to the subdivision neat and trim, I intend to do just that.

I had yesterday off, but it turned out to be a wash. First off, I slept til noon. After nine straight days working I needed the rest. Then my husband reminded me that we had to go to a wedding in Athens for a good friend of his' daughter . I tried to get out of going, but after really ticking my husband off decided that I couldn't back out .

Massey went with us (of course) and the wedding was held at the Botanical Garden in Athens. It was beautiful. A chapel nestled in the woods full of nothing but windows and skylights...all you could see from the inside of the chapel was nature at every turn. After the ceremony, we all took the path from the chapel to the conservatory for the reception. The path was full of every flower, plant and herb you can imagine. The conservatory was magnificent and a perfect place for a reception. We had originally planned to leave right after the ceremony to go eat at the Varsity, but once the chafing dishes were uncovered, quickly decided to stay. Quail, roast beef, turkey, crab cakes, mashed potatoes, grits, tomato and mozzarella salad, lobster dip, fresh vegetables, fruit, yeast rolls and free wine screamed "PLEASE STAY!"

I had four plates of food and a glass of chardonnay. Massey and I both slept on the way home and enjoyed the trip back home immensely.

We left home at 4 and got back after 10...after sleeping til noon I had shot the entire day. That is why I decided I needed to take Sunday off as well.

One day to please the hubby, one day to please myself.

I got up this morning and gassed up my John "Dear" and headed to the front of our subdivision. There's really not much to cut on the mower because a lot of it is down in a ditch on both sides of the entrance. It is more weed eating than anything...but that is the exercise I enjoy the most. My stinkin' weed eater's 'fender' fell off (the thing that keeps grass and tiny rocks from flying into your face.) I went to Walmart to discover they don't sell spare guards, went to Lowes to find the same. Finally went to Home Depot to find ANY kind of part that might work.

I went to garden... got sent to hardware and back to electrical to finally find a guy nice enough to at least 'try' to rig my weed eater. We decided on some clamps that hold electrical wiring conduits and I took them home to try and fix my baby.

Two hours later, my son came into the garage and asked if I needed the duct tape. He's so funny that I forgot to laugh, but I think the look on my face and the grease on my hands told him it was a good time for him to go back inside the house.

I went to my older (really older) neighbors house to borrow his weed eater but his is an electric and unless I had enough drop cords to wire a Pink Floyd concert...I was out of luck.

I called my 'next door husband' but he was obviously screening his calls in case I needed him AGAIN. I have abused this man so much I expect to wake up any morning to the sound of him putting up the "Great Wall" between his house and mine.

But he called me back and told me that he wasn't home but I could use his weed eater that was in his shed.

So on my fourth trip back to the front of the subdivision, I finally got the job done. I am so proud that I may go up there tomorrow and take a couple of pictures to post just so you can see how great it looks!

When I came back home, my husband said "I thought you said you needed a day off for yourself."

You know, it may sound crazy...but it WAS for me.

To drive into my subdivision and see it looking trim and neat makes my day!

Tomorrow ...my own yard !

Tonight...my own bubble bath.

Til next time....COTTON

PS this pic is another one of my faves...Zach in a bubble bath at his Aunt Cin's house when he was six