Projects

Productive morning all before 8am. Walked out to deadhead the lilies..wandered, picked a few weeds..discovered there was enough rain to loosen up the nut grass balls...pulled a few handfuls in the backyard and they came up so easy I decided to head to the front and pull the HUGE forest of them in the front flowerbed. Mission accomplished. 1/2 a black garbage bag of nutgrass pulled. Noticed lots of little weeds...decided to poison. Grabbed the Roundup and headed out. Poisoned along the front of the house, down the driveway and ALL the way around the property in the front in the road (where road meets the curbed always get clumps of grass and weeds) AND the fence line (just the outside front). Feeling pretty sweaty, but well accomplished. Sitting here debating if I want to hit the inside fence line while I’m sweaty and it’s not too awfully hot...

Ok so renewed energy levels are a GREAT thing!! I opted to NOT do the inside fence but did decide to do some lunch bag overdue painting.


Before


1/2 way after. I will do a blog post with the true before and after when I get there.


After. I need to FIND my before as it was at least a year and a half ago when I bought the lamp to put in the little house. Well it didn’t end up staying in the little house and with kids moving out I find myself wanting a new lamp in one of the guest rooms. So, here we go!!

And some trimming. The wisteria has gone wild!!


May 26th


April 23


Today. After it’s haircut.


Now to clean the leaves!! Sigh. Never done... sitting for a minute before going in to fold three loads of towels and put my laundry in the dryer. Time to move inside for the rest of the day and clean the first room for company next week. And a NAP. Yes, a nap IS in the plans today too :)

Another run to Kennesaw and yuckies

Today was another run to Kennesaw....and a bit of grossness.
So Liz was going through stuff in the garage in prep to move and found an almost FULL pack of cookies. How LONG have those cookies been out there? A YEAR and the are not buggy OR moldy. Does that tell you we should t be eating them or what? Talk about a TON of preservatives in those things. YUCK...but they taste sooo good. 😜


The other thing was a package of Hillshire farms sausages.


The only thing really gross in there was the sausage....the rest was scarily intact. Even the cheese is without mold. Again scary!!


Moldy spots!! Yuckie!!

Then off to Kennesaw!


Angela’s roommate Chuck picked up a washer and a dryer in our town so having a truck we nicely drove them north for them.





I got the easy part and supervised and was only talked into lifting the dryer off the truck. They are super light and I kept screaming in my head “lift with legs ONLY”. Success. Thank goodness Chuck and Butch lifted the washer out!! I was NOT going to try that. Nope, nope, nope!

We then went to get a new plug for it with them at Home Depot then took them out for a great lunch at Tin Lizzys. Great tacos and even better guacamole! We went back to the apartment and Butch helped Chuck out the new plug onto the dryer, then we headed out.

In the way home we HAD to stop and grab pizza from Antico’s on the way home. Of course. We hit a few rainy spots on the way home but made decent time all in all. That trip and odds and ends takes a WHOLE day. But that’s OK the kids have a washer and dryer in the apartment - yay for them.

Flower updates

My poor avocado. Not doing so hot but it’s still alive...and the next one that is just now sprouting so I put him outside to make sure it’s acklimated to the hot weather so it won’t die like this one did!  Maybe it will work and the “dead” twig isn’t really totally dead, so I keep hoping he will come back...but maybe not...

 The lemon is doing well. Lots of new leaves and blooms came and went...I have hope for a lemon this year. I had two last year!

 Sneaky late blooming amaryllis hiding in there!

 Wisteria is coming back well after overzealous trimming last year and cutting the wrong lower limb. Whoops!

 Note the pop of red in the corner ..those are my dollar tree gladiolus!

 The daylilies are blooming nicely now as well.  

 Volunteer snapdragons

 There are some of my Dahlias are sprouting, but not enough to zoom in on them. They are only 3” tall.

Close up of my pansies and purple lilies. They’re doing so well with all the rain we’ve gotten and I swapped away from the natural grass liners as the birds kept stealing it all for nests.

Life in the poop lane (skip if you're grossed out by poop talk)

I had a horrible diarrhea experience yesterday. glossed over with the "used my spare pants today" comment on Facebook..
I had a purging day yesterday, which usually just entails multiple trips to the potty doing a lovely "cluster" of pooping (aka the clustering that is referenced a bit in literature). . but yesterday was a bit different. I had a few clusters (5+ (should count one day)) that eventually turned to diarrhea. OK, that's different, but "do-able" I only had one slight accident (I always wear protection), so I just changed the pad and went on with life. and some butt cream, the HORRIBLE side to clustering in a raw bum.
Anyway, I'm used to this (sadly). so I just trundle on and make quite a few hurried trips to the bathroom in the afternoon - again, not that horrible, not too out of the ordinary. The diarrhea makes me think "OK, I'm done now.there's NOTHING left in there!". I went to the potty a little bit before leaving work "just in case" . nope, nada.
I get my stuff packed up to head on out to get my hair cut.
I get out of the building, get my phone (lock box at floor level - yeah not sure anyone told them I was TALL when they assigned me that particular box!).
I get all the way out the door and 1/3 of the way to my car when the urge hits.. As I was un-forwarding my phone, I paused and stepped off the sidewalk. knew I didn't have full control as it was still way too loose to control.
OK, it's just a little bit. I debate going back into the building and all the way back to the bathroom with all my crap (large purse and a carry bag. The nearest building with a bathroom that is unlocked is WAY farther away than my actual building. Nawh, I'm feeling confident that that was just a little "residue" of prior issues, so I start to walk to the car. 2/3 of the way to the car and WAY too far away from ANY building to make a hoot of difference and my body decides NO it is not done with this issue and I can just TELL this is way worse with ZERO control. I walk the last 10 yards to my car and just pray that my pads are truly as absorbent as they say they are and opt to drive off base to a fast food restaurant. Sigh. nothing right off base, the nearest is about ½ mile away, BUT it's not convenient and it's NOT on the right side of the road and it's parking is weird. so I drive on down a little further because, you know - hey, the deed is done and I go to Arbys. I didn't FEEL like I was leaking everywhere. and I really wasn't - thank goodness.
I ended up with just a small spot on my pants, but enough to make me clean up and change into my emergency pants (gray sweat carpi's) and go on with life.

pickin and a grinnin

Just a pickin and a grinnin. That’s me. I decided it was a good day to pick Friday and hit a jackpot! The vacuum was a return trip... I debated it because the last one I picked up and cleaned was a dud. Then after I got half way to work I thought I SHOULD have gotten it for the back porch as the hubby had decided ANY vacuum is fair game for use outdoors. Uh, NO my Dyson is NOT an outdoor vacuum. He would beg to differ and used it as such. Sigh. So. I didn’t remember it was a holiday this week and when I ran out to get dinner I swung back by to see if it was still there. It was. Chucked it into the back of the car.



The one shelf is missing hardware however it will still go to thrift as a bargain.



The tote is one I have always wanted but it will probably go to thrift as well.



And this lovely watering can


The watering can was missing it’s mouth piece so I chopped it back and smoothed out the edges with a bit of flame.

Research studies

I was a part of a research study at Mayo for just this effort:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/holy-grail-of-cancer-research-doctors-positive-about-early-detection-blood-test/ar-AAy5aFj?OCID=ansmsnnews11

Here's hoping that the blood and tissue samples I donated will help them develop a better blood test for colorectal cancers!

Potty talk...

Today’s potty issues tested my sanity! (And my supplies!). I survived...but it’s so hard to get through to my boss just exactly what is going on without having to get downright gross...sigh. I finally got honest with just WHY I needs him to take over for me on visitors duties...meaning I was the escort...cause I kept having to dash out to the potty...sigh. He relieved me for five minutes..then dropped the visitor back in with me...yeah, not helpful in the long run as taking him to the front door lead to one MORE dash to the potty ...one more accident earlier than the last (end of my work day as well) and I would have been going home as I was on the LAST of my supplies. Sigh. Time to restock..

What I wasn’t comfortable telling said boss is my cubicle is super tiny having someone physically IN my cube when I’m having bowel issues is mortifying. I hope I don’t stink, but I’m having accidents as I’m dashing to the potty. Frequency is one issue, but there is also the issue of incontinence at tones as well, so squeezing past someone jammed in my cubicle with me is NOT comfortable for me.

Part of that is this individual and him not getting a clue that having him literally in my back pocket is NOT working for me. I’m wondering if there is an issue with spectrum or what...but it’s weird and not what I’m used to dealing with. Add to this, he’s really seeming to be panicking about every detail of his working fir the government will be. He just freaks about the details and isn’t happy with the fact that he will be waiting for a computer and access for a while. Im not sure I’m going to be able to hang with his quirks in my very, very limited personal space. See post here: https://donnasworddoodles.blogspot.com/2018/04/so-one-of-things-that-i-discovered-when.html
About how freaking tiny my cube is, then picture TWO chairs crammed in there and wondering if you smell of poop....yeah, fun times.

Flowers flowers everywhere

Ok not so much flowers as potential flowers?


The lemon is sprouting new leaves and is starting to bud again.


Not sure what this one is, but it’s little blue flowers come out every year without fail.


The iris below are getting ready to bloom and the petunias are looking a little battered from the rain we’ve been getting. - 1.25 inches over the last few days.


Love these Daisies and the iris on this side are blooming away!


New plant this year. Doing really well!


This one had a tougher start but looking good now, although a little pink rather than red (?) they were both red to start with. Wonder if the color is health related or soil? This side was a LOT harder!!


Day lilies getting ready and sending up flower stalks!!


My transplants. Maybe they will like this pot better? To their defense they were in the hanging baskets and as they were made out of coconut fibers the birds had pretty much destroyed the hangers making nests this year!

That’s my morning on the porch today. With a little weeding tossed in as I walked around checking on the plants.

Farewells...a little late...

so, yeah...I got my new job the 2nd week of March...and physically went to the new position the 1st of April...and my farewell was the 27th of April...yeah. A little delayed, but I was game for it...sort of. I’m not really hip on being the center of attention, but was willing to go after a friend informed me it wasn’t really about me, but about those I used to work with. Ok, I’ll buy that and really I DO miss the people.  I worked with the same group for the last 17 years. Since a January of 2002 I have been with what was to become IT on this base. Yeah, I know, it’s a shock to my system too to no longer be a part of that organization.

Anyway, here are some of the pictures from my farewell lunch.

Dave Poffenbarger picked out the cake. It was delicious. 

 All in all a great turn out

Dianne Smith and Cynthia Clarke

Janet Dowd in blue Debbie Deckert in Black, Vanessa Lurry and Willie Rice

Angela’s move to college

Well it’s that time. Time to settle Angela into her first apartment in Kennesaw. I encouraged her to get a furnished apartment...year, that didn’t happen :(

So the car is loaded with a new boxed mattress, her cube storage unit (tallest thing in the truck) and a bed frame. Along with that was all her stuff from her dorm from last year.

And with that she’s loaded in and sort of settling into summer there, although she’s home again after staying north just long enough to go to three job interviews.  Maybe she’ll get a job this summer if she’s lucky!

Neuropathy, gardening and henna

I had gone to Lowes last weekend looking for plants and NOTHING screamed “buy me” so I left empty handed. This week I went to Home Depot and found quite a few plants to put in the ground!!


First the petunias! I had picked up the liners Ina whim AGES ago and just now put them to use! They aren’t the woven ones, they are like a burlap. Hopefully this will keep the birds from stealing them for nests!!


The other side isn’t as “full” drat it! But I’m sure they will perk up!


What is this spindly little twig? It’s my avocado tree. We shall see how he fares outside. I must have missed a few waterings as his main trunk died off BIT I plan on keeping him short and in a lot so maybe it won’t matter? Let’s hope not. I have another starting in the house as well so we shall see how far each of them make it!!


Then the side yard. This place never seems to do well so we shall see if these plants do OK here and survive. Please ignore the weeds. Last year was horrible and NO weeding had been done since VERy early summer of 2017 so I have a LOT to catch up on. I’m just not quite up to TONS of bending and pulling just yet so I work it a little at a time and poisoned this area once - this the dead things everywhere.


This should be PRETTY if it bushes out and grows!


This was a weird one. But what the heck. Why not, right?


And a cherry tomato


And a Big Boy. No literally that is the type this is :)

Then the neuropathy Home front. We are trying the henna. So far I think there is a minor difference in how much I’m feeling.

Not a huge difference but a little. We will try this as long as the henna lasts then move to acupuncture. Yep. We’re experimenting a bit on this.

Angela does a nice job on the decorative aspect of henna. :)


Why the blobbed dark spots? That would be MY waves. They aren’t as pretty as Angela’s :)


The true part that I’m after is the bottoms and the spot between the ball of my foot and my toes.


Feels like balled up socks there all the time. Or sand jammed in there. It’s weird. And my toes FEEL. Old all the time. Even though they are physically NOT cold. As in you can touch them and they are warm. Sigh. I guess I’ll just have cold toes for a while. Let’s hope not forever.