Little boys & their bikes

My grandson is 11 and is finally old enough to take his bike from the backyard. He has been riding it since mid-summer and having a ball. Well, yesterday, he came home and had to leave his bike outside chained to a lamp pole. WHY? do you ask. It seems he "accidentially" rode his bike through dog crap on the sidewalk. His landlady would not allow the bike in the hallway (and I don't blame her). Well, when I found this out this morning, he said he was just going to ride his bike until it all fell off. I immediately got him a bucket of water and a long handled brush and insisted he go out and clean the tires of his bike so it could be brought inside. He relunctly agreed to do this. My daughter and I were inside. She brought over her cupacoffee and we were peeking out the window to see if he would throw up!! HeeeeeeeeHeeeeeeeee, are we awful??? Nope, he did not, he was like a grown up boy, just cleaned off his bike, and then decided to wash the whole bike. Of course, I insisted he come inside for a clean bucket of water before he continued going from the wheels to the whole bike. Even though he insists he "accidentially" rode through the dog crap, you can be darn sure, that "accident" wont' happen again. Oh, how I love this little boy.

Update on my knee troubles

Ramblings of a mad women who is antsy to get outside. Thank goodness, my knee is starting to feel better, actually, it has been the calf muscle more than the knee. After the cortisone shot in my knee, I left the doctor's office and walked back to work. Little did I realize, that was the worst thing I could have done. You are suppose to stay off the leg the first day. I had such a cortisone flare, somehow, the liquid from the shot settled in my lower leg, causing the muscle to cramp up and NOT release. The muscle was such a hard knot, it prevented me from bending my knee and walking without pain. In addition, it looked like there was some sort of infection settling in, so I had to keep the leg up and had to apply heat to the lower leg. I've been laid up all weekend with a few exceptions, but I think I will be ready to return to work tomorrow. I swear, I will NEVER again get a cortisone shot. The muscle still continues to cramp up on me, but it will release as soon as I stand on it, but if you've ever had a leg cramp, you know the pain in the muscle after one, it has not been the week-end I planned on. I go for my MRI in 3 weeks.

Online friend met in real life

I met mamajoy - Joyce! She was in Boston for a few hours on a cruise boat. I was able to meet up with her and her delightful husband for dinner. We had the best time, it went by so fast. She is just the sweetest lady and I got the biggest kick out of her husband, he was so quiet and watching us talk non-stop with his soft eyes just darting back and forth at both of us. He took pictures of us and the waitress Jill took this picture of all of us. She brought me a gift package with a large stuffed frog, some southern must have creole seasonings and rice and the most beautiful card. I thought of taking her something but where she is on a cruise, I figured she didn't need more "stuff" to lug around. Last night was definitely a delightful one. I feel so special that she thought enough of our online friendship to take the time from her cruise to want to meet me. Here is a picture of the 3 of us.

Update on Leo

Thank you all so much for your words of concern for my Leo. After much soul searching, my daughter has convinced me to give him the appetite pill, along with the antibiodic. Leo does seem to be improving and the appetite pill seems to be working. He ate pretty good yesterday and he is starting to follow me around like he use to. I can tell he is still not 100% yet, but I do think he is on his way back. I love this cat so much.

I picked 5 pounds of tomatoes tonight

I stopped by the garden on the way home and I picked a big bag of rippening tomatoes. I weighed them when I got home and it was 5 pounds. I will be swimming in tomatoes pretty soon. I have to say, my Okra, Broccoli and Butternut squash plants are looking good so far, growing nicely. Did I tell you I have one cantalope plant that is growing a lonely fruit? Don't have a clue as to where it came from. After cutting back my zucchini plants to practically nothing, would you believe they are growing up again, with actual fruit growing? The peppers are getting big again. The green beans are on their fourth harvest, but I don't like the taste of them now. I will probably pull them out without harvesting this last round. That is about it for my latest garden report

Poor Leo - sick again

My poor Leo. He has been so lethargic and eating very little for the past week. He still was using the cat box with regular deposits, but he didn't follow me everywhere or greet me at the door or care to come visit with anyone who came into the house. This was so out of character for him. As you all know, he has feline leukemia and with his actions, I had him dead and buried. My daughter took him to the vets for me yesterday (she told me I was over-reacting) and I had all kinds of blood tests done, everything is normal. So, the feline leukemia is NOT rearing it's ugly head. He was running a fever so he was given a shot of antibiotics and given a Vitamin B-12 shot to perk his appetite. The vet checked his mouth, felt his stomach, said everything looked quite normal, just a fever. I guess the feline leukemia cats tend to do this. So, Leo is on more antibiotics by mouth and more pills to help with his appetite. I don't know if I'm going to give him the appetite pills. I guess I feel that if he is feeling better, he will eat. I just hate giving medicine to the cat if he doesn't need it. I sure am hoping to see an improvement in him soon. If you've read this post this far, you must be a cat lover too.

I'm so excited

I am going to meet one of the ladies I've known online since 2004 on Sunday. She and her husband are on a cruise and will be in Boston on Sunday. We are going to meet and have dinner together. I've only met one other lady from being online, and she and I have remained friends since the year 2000.

Tell me who you've met in real life from being online.

Garden - vertical planting

Back in July I said I would report back on how I thought the vertical garden was for me this year. Well, for the most part, I think it was a disappointment for me. The zucchini and squash did not seem to like it, anywhere I had to tie them up, the plant died. The plants on the vertical cages (tomatoe type cages) did not grow as full or produce any vegetables at all. I lost all my cuke plants, both in my garden and my daughter's. They did not like it at all. One of the other gardeners had planted cuke plants in a raised bed and even though they started out great, as the plant started to set veggies, the plants died. I am also disappointed in the tomatoe cages I used this year. They really did not support the weight of a fully loaded tomatoe plant, the cages bend under the weight of the rippening tomatoes.

I've got to find something else for next year if I am to grow squash and cukes. My tomatoe plants are so tall, 6 feet tall, all loaded with green tomatoes. After the theft last month, the plants have gone on to give me more tomatoes than I'll ever be able to eat. My one heirloom plant, the Brandwine, did not set any fruit at all, having suffered the broken branches of the thiefs. Funny, it has grown taller since the theft, but has not set any flowers at all. All along I"ve been tempted to pull it up, but just couldn't for some reason.

The okra, brocolli and butternut squash plants are growing marvelously at this time. They were planted from seed on Aug. 5th. Since they are cold weather plants, I am hoping for some yield from them this year.

Oh yes, my green bean plants have been so proflic, I've picked all I can possibly eat, given away lots, and the plants are still producing beans like crazy. Next year, I will add some type of support for them even though they are a bush bean.

My flowers are just lovely and have been my one constant joy of the garden this summer.

I will report that garden theft has hit most everyone in the community garden. Sometimes, entire plants have been pulled up (herbs). I am going to give the garden a go next year, but if the theft continues, I don't think I will have the desire to continue. Too much work to just have outsiders climb the fence in the clock of darkness and STEAL the veggies!

Garden update - good and bad

This week has been an interesting one at the garden. My squash plants all have perished to the ugly mildew. I just did not have the time or energy to fight this. It seems that it has swept through the garden attacking everyone's squash. I pulled up completely two of the 7 plants. One of the others *appears* to be trying to set some fruit, will have to check today to see if they have developed. I did pick over 2 pounds of green beans last weekend. While watering on Wed. I noticed that I need to pick some more, the plants are very prolific. Our pepper plants are heavy with peppers, I know I will be picking some today (if the looters didn't get them over the past 2 days). I did pick one eggplant which my daughter said was the best one she's ever eaten. The tomatoes are still holding their bright GREEN color, and if they ever decide to turn, I will have a bushel of tomatoes. The herb bed I planted is growing like crazy and gets tons of comments from the gardeners. Unfortunately, it looks like my much hoped for butternut squash plants already have the mildew virus and look doomed, but the Okra and Brocolli looks good. My beets never even sprouted. Radishes will be ready to pick on Monday (29 days). Our flowers are just glorious (both mine and my daughter's). Nothing exotic, but who would have ever thought that Marigolds could be so stunning. These flower heads are the size of mums! There has been a lot of theft from all the gardens, it appears that people are helping themselves to everyone's garden, from my tomatoes to celery. Squash, tomatoes, cukes, radishes have all be stolen from people's gardens. I'm telling you, when someone jumps over a locked fence area, under the cloak of darkness, how can they NOT know what they are doing is wrong!! I'm telling you, if I ever caught anyone, I would be writing my blog either from the hospital or heaven, because even at my age, I would go NUTS!! and probably get the s*** beat out of me. I hear there is a Fall Festivle on Sept. 9th at the other park where the gardens have been for 11 years, but I will have nothing to compete with. My friend Linda has sent me her favorite apple pie recipe so I can enter the pie baking contest. If anyone would like to share their favorite pie recipe with me, please do.

Happy Anniversary Leo

Today is one year since I adopted my scrapping partner, Leo. It seems like he has been with me forever. Been the best year, he is still the perfect cat, does not get into my stuff. Happy one year anniversary Leo.

More trials and tribulations of my Leo

Poor Leo, he had to go back to the vets for his excessive licking and itching. It had been just a month since his last visit. The vet said everything looked fine, his weight was the same as last month, he has been eating, playing, going to the bathroom, all very normal. He was fine, except for his itching and licking. I was worried that this might be a sign of his Feline Leukemia acting up. But the vet said he sees a LOT of cats and dogs at this time of the year with allergies. Unlike people, who get itchy eyes and sneeze, cats don't do that, they itch and lick excessively. Thank goodness, this time he had not broken open his skin anywhere. He had his booster shots and was wormed, so he appears to be itching less already this morning. It is coming up to one year since we found this wonderful kitty and I do believe God sent him to me. Words cannot tell you how much I love this cat.

Friends

This is what blogging is all about. I believe that

you treat everyone the way you would want to

be treated. I've met a lot of people online that

I call my "friend". This picture shares my

true feelings for two special ones. Who is your

special friend you've met online?

My dinner date last night

I had the most wonderful dinner date last night, with my 11 year old grandson. I've been on vacation, just hanging at the house (which I love to do) and I asked him last week what would be his favorite dinner to eat. You know the old saying "be careful what you ask for", well, this was his reply:

Chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, steak tips and pork ribs.

Sooooooo, I said OK, how about a dinner date next Monday night. He jumps at the idea and said " SURE".

So last night him and I had a dinner date (with a few extra friends). We ended up eating with his mom, auntie, and his best friend. I about dropped dead when his friend asked for spinach and cauliflower and then HE asked for some too, AND ATE IT! Peer pressure, it goes both good and bad. We had frosted brownies for dessert and what a grand time we all had. This is something I must do more often. Just had to share a good day with everyone.

What kind of squash is this

What ever this is, I have more of this growing than the summer or zucchini, which are doing terrible.

The most beautiful rose color portulaca. I have 6 different colors growing in my garden and each one is absolutely stunning. The white pole is the 4 foot fence sorrounding that part of the garden.

The marigolds are taking over this part of the garden, but I love them. Notice the mums to the left, they aren't doing well, they will be pulled today and replaced with larger red and pink mums. That area gets wet and so far, all the flowers I've planted there have died from excess water.

Part of the perennial garden flowers.

My prized white garden mums.

A clump of pink cone flowers, you can barely see the yellow ones just opening in the lower pictures.

Garden pictures

One of my favorite flowers, the black-eyed susan.

More pictures of the park

This is a picture of one of my tomatoe plants, still green and so far, no one has taken these ones.

Boston skyline on a cloudy night

I hope this is clear enough for all of you to see one of the views from the park of the Boston skyline on a cloudy night last week.

Yiphee Skippyyyyyyyyy

I figured it out, I had my settings set wrong, I fixed it and now am able to use direct links. Feeling a little stupid that it took me so long to figure it out, but with the wrong setting selected, it was no wonder I could not add links. I'm all set now!!

Garden update

I am feeling a little down today. While at the garden this morning I discovered that someone had jumped the fence and stolen all my large green tomatoes, they were no way near ripening. All of them were taken off the plants. What would someone want with green tomatoes? On top of this, they had stepped on my heirloom Brandwine plant and nearly ripped it in half! There has been more than a few instances of theft at this garden area. It is becoming a real problem and one that all of us are attempting to deal with. I've not had a lot of luck with the few vegetables I am growing, but my flowers are beautiful! I need to get some new pictures to share soon.

More marigolds

I planted the marigolds in a half moon and close together as I wanted them to mass as they grew for an effect and I am pleased to say I am getting it. The marigolds are the first thing anyone always says upon walking up to my garden. The colors of orange and the orange/red are so vibrant against the green leaves of these plants, plus they help repel bugs in the garden. A win-win plant.

Green beans

The green beans don't look too big yet, but here is my first green bean, won't make much of a meal all alone now. This picture was taken before I watered, since I don't have mulch down, I water every day.

My blue fish windchime

Raindrops in the garden

drops of water on the vegetable cages after watering. I am trying to grow my squash and zucchini upright instead of on the ground. I hope to get more produce out of a little bit of space.

This is some of my perenmial flowers, growing nicely.

Marigolds

This is just some of the low growing marigolds I'm growing for ground cover. Since I fertilized them with my organic chicken doo doo they have just taken off.

Tobacco Road

No, this flowering plant is not of the smoking kind, but this tobacco plant has the most beautiful, abudent red flowers I've ever seen. I think it loves the organic chicken doo doo I fed it.

My first summer squash

Zucchini growing in vegetable cages

The zucchini are getting so big I had to move the S-hook with the windchime to a different part of the garden, near my flowers. I had just watered and you can see the water droplets on the cages, click on the photo to get a better view. I can't wait to report on my vertical growing in a month or so, by then I'll know if it has been successful way to get more out of less space.

Updated garden pictures

Here are some new pictures taken tonight at the garden. Everything is looking so good. This picture is my favorite, my cream color dinner plate dahlia.

A bit of a scare

My scrappin partner, Leo, has feline leukemia. He had been itching over the past month, to the point of being obsessive. I did not know if this was a sign of the leukima acting up. I had had to change his kitty litter as the company had stopped making what I was using. UGH!!!!!!!! I hate it when a company does that. They had a new and improved variety, which I tried. BAD IDEA! He refused to use the box, only when necessary (I have 2 litter boxes for him). He would only use the box that still had the old variety of litter in it. I gave him 2 weeks, then went to an unscented litter. Well, according to the vet, he was having an allergic reaction. He was given an anti-inflamatory injection, put on antibiodics and hopefully, in a day or two, the scratching will stop all together. Thank goodness, the vet says he is in good shape, a beautiful cat and weighed in at 10 1/2 pounds. He is my baby.

Don't you just hate it when you absolutely love a product and then the company stops making it, but comes out with a new and "improved" variety, which ends up not being as good as the old one!!!

Garden Pictures

OK, keep in mind, the garden is newly planted and nothing has spread out yet. Here is a picture of the garden looking at it from the front, the vegetables are in the back, all the flowers are on either side of the brick path. The garen is 8 feet wide by 19 feet long. The black rail fence is the fence that encloses the entire 40 plot garden area. I put up the small white wire fence to keep out my "bad" next door neighbors, who have already stepped on one of the flowers. Click on the photo and you will be able to see everything close up. Notice the garden next door to me, that is fully planted.

Asked and Answered on my Garden

I PROMISE, I will have pictures this week-end of my Community Garden. The brick pathway is probably 3/4 completed.

The size of my Community Garden is 8 feet wide by 19 feet long. I have a corner garden spot, next to the fence, but way away from the available water. It takes 2 75 foot hoses to have it long enough for it to reach my garden spot.

I do not own the garden, but have it as long as I take care of it, and don't break any of the Community Garden rules. Water is provided free and there is no rent charge for the garden either.

I have divided the garden into "areas", the garden for vegetables takes up 3/4 of the garden, then the front is planted with both annual, perennial and herbs. I've added a brick path for the first 5 or 6 feet at the front so I don't get all muddy each time I water.

I planted 6 different tomatoe plants, a different variety to try out this year to see which one I have the best luck growing and like the taste. I have many different color pepper plants, red, yellow, orange, green, no hot peppers at all. I then have an eggplant, zucchini, summer squash and green beans planted. All appear to be doing well. My cuke plants are looking sick and probably will not survive.

I've had gardens of flowers plenty in the past, I've never grown vegetables at all, so this is a true journey for me.

The community people who walk the park are coming to the garden in droves, all having questions and many wishing they had known about this so they could get a garden spot. This is a great way to bring people together.

You will see pictures of the early planted garden this week-end. Stay tuned.

Yiphee Skippy!!!!!!!!!!! I have planted the garden spot and just need to add the garden path. I am laying down bricks for the path. The weather here has been overcast and wet, as soon as the sun shines, I will take a picture to share. This picture is of one of the flowers I planted.

I'm so disappointed

This is turning into my journal about gardening, I'm so sorry. BUT, today it is raining!!!! I'm so mad. I have today and tomorrow off of work, was hoping to finally get the garden planted. I don't mind a little rain, but it is raining hard and suppose to do the same tomorrow. I feel like I have 2 wasted days. My youngest daughter also has a garden plot there and she had to work today. She didn't start to work in her plot until yesterday, so she has more work than I do to still complete her spot. Grandson is home from his vacation in NH and I was planning on putting him to work on his mom's spot. The people who walk the park are stopping by to see what everyone is doing, it is quite the conversation spot these days. I am meeting people I never would have even nodded my head at that I've seen in the neighborhood at the subway and bus stations. This venture is turning out to be nothing but a win, win situation for me. There is another garden meeting this evening. OK, enough of this talk of Gardens.

YIPHEE SKIPPY! I GOT IT!!!!!!!!!

I had posted a couple weeks ago that I was hoping to get a plot in our community garden at the new park where I live. Last night was the lottery drawing and I got a plot!! I am now the proud owner of an 8x19 size piece of land to plant on. Now I know for those of you who live in rural areas, this does not sound like a big deal. BUT, for us city dwellers, this is like getting a piece of heaven. It is kinda late in the season for planting, but I will be out selecting plants from the garden centers to plant this weekend. I may not be able to make any new cards this upcoming weekend, but don't rule me out, be sure to check back.

Life Long Friends

I made this card based on a card I saw in the July Cards magazine on page 84 by Diana DiGennaro. The paper is K and Co., the flower is Making Memories, the button is Button-Ups, the ribbon from my stash, the flower leaves are picked from a bouquet from AC Moore flowers. The rub-on is K anc Co.

Graduation is over

My grandson is only 11, graduated from Elementary School. The day was picture perfect, everyone was their perfect self, leaving all issues at home for this special day. His parents are divorced and his dad came. I was so happy for grandson that everyone was there. It was a special day for him. He is so excited about Middle School, can't wait for the Summer to be over so he can start back to school! At that point, I checked his head to see if he had a fever or something. LOL! He said there was to be a surprise at his graduation and boy, were we surprised. I thought perhaps he might have received an award for the best reader, but nope, someone else received that one. What he did receive was an award for school spirit.. There were 3 5th grade classes graduating. Now we've always known he was probably the class clown, but this award examplified (sp) a student who had leadership and showed compassion with/to his fellow students. The entire class cheered when his name was called. Thanks for listening to me brag about my life's breath, my grandson.

Finding Long Lost Online Friends

This blog hopping sure can be interesting. Back in my early days of card making, I belonged to a now defunk message board. We had a group of ladies who did a one-on-one card exchange each week. I met this lovely lady and we exchanged cards and life's stories. She developed breast cancer and due to her treatment, she dropped out of sight. All of us ladies wondered how she was doing but never received answers to our emails. Eventually, that board ceased to exist and we all moved on to other places and new friends. Well, don't you know, I found her blog and could not believe it was her. My joy at finding out she had beat the cancer and was back at making cards was overwhelming. It is so strange how we can have a feeling for someone we barely know, but will think about so often about after touch has been lost. Has anyone else found a long lost friend through blogging or a message board?

Garden Lottery

I found out that the garden plots in the new community garden are given on a lottery basis. I submitted my name and information, so the wait is on. Cross your fingers for me.

Oh Happy Day

I have been waiting for a new 18 acre park to open in my neighborhood, living in the city I don't have a nice green yard to relax or plant flowers in. The park has a community garden area, not sure how it works, but tomorrow is the official opening of the community garden. I will be there to see if and how one claims a piece of the garden. I've been walking once around the park each evening after supper this week in an attempt to try to shed a few of the winter pounds I've acquired. It is just so nice to see such a pieceful place in the city, sorta like centra park in New York.

First Published Card

This card was my first published card in the now defunk Paper Works Magazine. I'll never forget the joy I felt when I saw my very first card in a magazine.

Grandson Birthday Card

This card is for my grandson's birthday. All Daisy D's paper and embellishments. He was getting a gift certificate to his favorite Game Stop, so the video games on the side was the perfect touch.

Out of the mouth of Babes!

When my grandson was little, he use to see the ads on TV for Vehix.Com. When I was wishing I had the money to get a new car, he said he could help me get a car, all I needed to do was go to Vehix.Com. He thought from seeing the ads that all one had to do to get a new car (for free) was to go to the web site.

Leo, my scrappin partner

Leo is a stray cat who I fed in the yard from a porch for about 18 months. I never petted him or tried to get close to him. I fed him and any other stray cats who came to eat. One day, he appeared on my back porch and the only way he could have done that was to jump up on a 6 foot fence and then jump another 2 feet to the railings on the back porch. He was friendly [to a point] but he would just eat and then jump off the porch. He did not come every day and I got to the point where I would call for him, I called him Meow Kitty at that point. This went on for probably a year. I would see him climbing in the trees and climb on top of a building to keep away from the other cats who probably beat him up. One day we saw him get beat up pretty bad. That was it. We decided that I would grab him the night before the spay wagon was to be in town and keep him in a dog crate in the house because we did not know if he was litter box trained. He was soooooo happy to come in my house and layed right down in that crate and did not make a fuss at all. Next day, off we went to get his shots and get him neutered. My nerves were raw that day, hoping he was healthy. He'd been a stay for a long time. We did not get good news, we were told he had feline leukemia, but that he was very healthy otherwise and could possibly live a long time with the disease. I wanted to have him put to sleep, but my daughter said no way! So Meow Kitty came home with me while we decided what we would do with him. His name was changed to Leo because he looked like a lion with his color and big ruff on his neck. He was skinny and needed attention. After he recovered from the neuter, he was allowed to roam my house. This cat has NEVER had an accident, does not get into any of my scrappin things and I have a LOT of things hanging around. He is like a little dog, following me everywhere, content to lay and watch me, when I move, he moves. I've had him for 9 months now and he has grown into the most glorious cat, with the sweetest temperment, loves everyone who comes in my house. I cannot image life without him, and to think I was the one who wanted to put this dear cat to sleep. I cringe at the thought now. Oh right, that is enough about Leo, but he will grace my homepage as long as I have him.

Out of the mouths of babes

Over the years, my grandson has come out with some good things.

Once, when probably 6, he was asked if he knew his phone number, we were trying to teach him to know where he lived if he ever got lost. His reply "I would but mama keeps changing the number". I am going to post one every day. Some of his sayings have been gems.