Tipper

Tipper is the one dog I have neglected to write about in this family~ and he is absolutely the sweetest.

He lives and breathes for my oldest son Cody.Tipper loves a good belly rub and/or butt scratch. He 's always using something to scratch his back...and he groans when it's a good scratch.

Tippy is NOT the alpha male but he will defend the family with heart...usually from the front door when everyone else is in the woods. He snores as loud as my husband and can't see a thing under all that hair. I have to clip it regularly. He's definitely the nicest animal at our zoo.

Rusty, Crusty, or Dusty

My boss at the paying job gave me the address for a blog that she reads: http://www.gardenantqs.blogspot.com/ . I went to check it out and OMG! It has some really cool stuff on there (I especially liked the pic of the cowboy on the right hand side~ Mercy!) Then I started checking the links listed on the side and realized there is a huge network of high end junkers out there! I also realized the half the stuff they have sitting out could be found in my closet packed up from my grandmother's house.

One of the websites had the tagline "If it's rusty, crusty, or dusty, then it's for me. I'm with ya, sistah. Look for snapdragon antiques, she's from Birmingham (AL) and what a hoot! She posted an inner monologue from an estate sale that everyone single junker has had at least once in their life.
Gaga, get Sylwia~she needs to see this.

There Is Hope For Her After All

I caught Angel snuggling with a kitten. They slept like that for at least 2 hours. Don't get too excited though...she still tries to put a whole kitten in her mouth when I'm not looking.

Want To See My Bloomers?

Again with the gutter thinking!?

Here are some of the flowers blooming in my garden.

These are some purple zinnias that reseeded from last year.

These gorgeous lilies were planted by the previous owner. Honestly, it's the only pretty thing she did to the place.

This is one of the daylilies we bought at a daylily farm last year called 'Dragon's Eye'. It's such a beautiful brilliant red! Sorry about the fuzzy picture, I didn't realize the lens was all steamed up from coming outside. Gaga requested this one and I think it's big enough to share.

I could post flower pictures all day but I will exercise some restraint and go get ready for work. Have a fun day and stop to see what your bloomers are doing!

Any Hookers Out There?

Get your mind out of the gutter!!! One of the customers at the paying job~ actually one of the owners friends, does rug hooking. The boss loves owls as much as she loves fairies so Laura hooked this owl for her. I think it's pretty cool. Especially since she took the pattern from a tote bag of all things.

I think that rug hooking would be such a great hobby. Maybe if I gave up working I would have time for it. Hmmm...

Anyhoo, check out Laura's website: http://www.beehivehooking.com/ . She has patterns and supplies for sale, along with a picture gallery to show you there is no limit to the designs you can create. That way we can all be happy hookers if we want.

Fruits of Our Labor

My how our little nursery has grown!
See my sexy waterboy!!

This is Gaura 'Passionate Blush' and Artemisia 'Powis Castle' I love the silver and pink together.

I love this sea of Artemisia 'Silver Brocade' ! I want to plant a river of silver somewhere.

Seriously, we are overflowing with plants!

Did You Know?

Did you know that Krispy Kreme Doughnuts are in Australia? One of my blogger friends~Greetings From Planet Hartwell~ is a big fan of little rings of heaven. We have KK in the gas stations here but no shop. That's part of the whole KK experience...watching the doughnuts roll down the conveyor belt.

There is a Dunkin' Donuts here and they are okay. But old habits are hard to break, and switching alliances at my age is impossible!

Dang! I need a doughnut.

Flutterbies!

We had a butterfly guy come out to the paying job a couple of weekends ago.. He was great! Phyllis had a ball! Then again, she is a little kid at heart. We watched a butterfly emerge from it's cocoon. Apparently it bonded with Phyllis.

Like I said, the butterfly guy was great!! Check out his website at www.butterflyguy.org

I want everyone to know that I did NOT try to catch any of these for my collection...but I sure was tempted.

Happiness is...

A lapful of kittens!

BTW~Kjirsten, maybe I could mail it to you piece by piece (hee-hee), it would only take about 60 years!

Dreaming Big

Isn't it sad that our society has become an instant gratification based system? I am simultaneously proud of the fact that my little nursery can support itself (still no profit though) and impatient that I can't expand the way I want. I had my eye on 10 acres that was less than a mile from my house and on a busy highway. To me it was Nirvana. Unfortunately it is sale pending so an opportunity is lost for me.
I'm still dreaming big though. I have decided that the building I want is one of the Katrina Cottages. These were designs created after Hurricane Katrina to replace the colorful (falling down already) little shotgun houses that were destroyed (condemned) in the 9th ward (the hood). These designs are fabulous! No wasted space! I think it would make a great shop/office for the nursery. Actually I'm thinking that I wouldn't mind replacing my house with a Katrina cottage. Check out the website: http://www.cusatocottages.com/

I Found a New Friend!

I was a good girl this year and started looking for a Mother's Day present early. Didn't find anything until I stumbled across this little table on Etsy.

It looked like something Gaga would like and I was right. She has it by her bench in her new little rose garden.

What was great was the seller http://vintagebutterfly94.etsy.com/ sent it right out and was very personable. I went to her shop and found that she has a blog as well http://http//happinessisabutterfly.blogspot.com . Take a look, I feel like she is a kindred soul.

I found a new friend...of course in another state.

My Baby Is All Growed Up!

My oldest son Cody (14 yrs.) just left today for a 5 day trip to Disneyworld. Not with family...with a busload of hormonal teens. The school's high school marching band is going to march at Epcot in one of the parades. Cody is only in 8th but he was bumped to the high school band in the middle of the school year (small school, few players) so he was eligible to go to the Mouse House. This is his first trip without any family. I absolutely cannot stand it!!!

This insufferable teenager left on the trip....

But this is all I see.

It was all I could do not to cry when I hugged him goodbye. Sniffle.

My Friend Flicka, Er, Phyllis

I always want to say that when I talk about Phyllis. I know she isn't offended because she's a horse lovin' cowgirl anyway. I do call her Philly. Phyllis works at the insane asylum that is my paying job. One of the bright spots and my partner in crime. She's my partner in crime with the Garden Sage as well. She's always bringing me the cute littel containers that I pot up and sell on Etsy. Phyllis has also been working on some projects and brought them in to me to list on the web. They are the most aborable things ever!!!

This is a cake/cookie plate assembled from various garage sale and flea market finds. I just love it! She made another one as well but my crappy camera (operator!) didn't perform that well. I guess I need a new camera or lessons.These are a bit of garden silliness she dreamed up. I call them 'Glamour Gardener' aprons. She decorated some carpenter aprons and made them right girly. I think they are hilarious and I know there are people out there that will wear them proudly. In fact, they just might be part of our workwear at my nursery. Let me know what you think about any of these and if anyone is interested in purchasing them go to my Garden Sage shortcut at the right to get it.