Last Fling of Summer & Happy Birthday Jeannette

Fall has definitely arrived here in southern California. The temps have been in the 70's all week. NICE!

But last Saturday it still felt like summer & was on the hot side. So I invited Eric's family over for one last summer fling and an outdoor movie.

Jeannette was the only one who didn't come. She had worked all day & was tired. Too bad as I had made chocolate cupcakes to celebrate her birthday. Which by the way is today.
Happy Birthday Jeannette!!!! Or in other words, happy 32nd anniversary of your 18th birthday.


I promise not to divulge how old you are today.


Just have a grand day. And don't forget your cane, you might need it now.

And now back to our regular scheduled post. Taylor & Michael arrived in their very first car as a married couple. They had just purchased it the day before.


Here is Taylor showing off the car.


Too bad Taylor can't drive it. She let her permit lapse & has to get a new one. So for now, only Michael can drive the car.

We had a fun time swimming and then BBQing hamburgers. I never seem to get any photos of the food. Probably as we are always too busy eating it.

After dinner it was time to relax in the jacuzzi & watch a movie, pool side.

We even invited our neighbor over. Her hubby had a tooth ache so he didn't come. But Roxanne and her sons Reinhold & Hayden came over. Even Jesse's girlfriend Brin was there. And Cade brought one of his friends over as well.

Our pool has this shallow area that is perfect for sitting in a chair. You can keep your feet in the water to stay cool. Or better yet, sit in the jacuzzi to watch the movie. Except you get quite wrinkled by the end of the movie.

Michael & Taylor actually left before the movie started. Party poopers!!!


Here is Mike setting up the projector. He is waiting for Jesse to bring out the Xbox to play the movie.


And here is the movie screen all set up over the pool. Just waiting for it to get dark enough to show the movie.

And what movie did we watch?


Danica & I love, love, love this movie. We have to watch it every year. This has become an annual event for us. Gets us in the mood for Halloween.

Gary Oldman is so sexy in this movie. Be still my heart! Don't tell Mike.

Even a couple of doves wanted to watch the movie.

You can tell who the die hard Dracula fans are, as Danica & I were the only ones who stayed & watched the entire movie. Everyone else either got tired, too wrinkled or too scared to stay.

Oh well. They missed out on some killer s'mores. Just kidding. We didn't make s'mores. But now that it has become cooler, they are sounding pretty good. Maybe this weekend.

It was a fun night spent with some of my most favorite people in the world. Can't wait to do it again.

I love spending time with my family. They are the best. Too bad everyone else in my family wasn't here.

Well I better go get ready for work. Just wanted to get this post done & to wish Jeannette a Happy Birthday!!!

Spring, we miss thee

Today is Wednesday & do you know what that means? It's hump day, What's on your Wall Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday & to top it all off, it's Earth Day too. Wowza!!! This day has a lot to live up to. So I figured I would talk about the weather today.

I live in southern California where we have been experiencing a heat wave. Can you say "Global Warming"? For the past 3 or 4 days the temps have been in the high 90's to low 100's. That is pretty hot for April. That's more like summer temps, not spring temps. Where did spring go? I want spring back!!!! But you know what, this is pretty normal for southern California. We don't really get much spring weather here (at least where I live). We usually go straight from winter to summer & vice a versa. So I wouldn't call it "Global Warming". I would just call it "Normal".

So for What's on your wall Wednesday & Outdoor Wednesday, I thought I would show you a pic of our outdoor thermometer which is on the wall (imagine that). I took this photo last night at 6:07pm. Notice the temp? It says it was about 97 degrees at 6pm. Can you imagine what the temp was at noon? Luckily at noon I was in an air conditioned office at work. Not that I was lucky to be at work, only that we have air conditioning. Wait a minute, I am lucky to have a job in this day & age, so stop being an ingrate Kim & thank God you have a job!!!! Ok, Ok, I repent, I am lucky I have a job to go to & I am doubly lucky that it has air conditioning. Is that better? Is all forgiven? (I better knock on wood for extra measure too.)

I got this thermometer at the thrift store a couple of summers ago for I think $5.00. Works pretty good.

Luckily the heat wave is ending today. It is only suppose to be in the 80's today. Then by the weekend we are suppose to be below normal in temp, back to the high 60's. I know, I know, those of you that are still experiencing winter are thinking that I am an ingrate for complaining about warm weather. But I am a woman, I need something to whine about. So don't take that away from me. I'd be whining if it were too cold as well.

While I was out in the backyard last night I noticed something else on my wall so I took a pic. I figure it qualifies for "What's on your wall Wednesday" & "Outdoor Wednesday" as it was on the wall & it was outdoors.
We have a lot of lizards at our house. Usually they hang out on the retaining wall, but this one was on the wall of the house, so I hurried up to get a pic before he scurried off. Isn't he cute? Well at least for a lizard?

So there you go. I don't have much on my backyard walls. I do have a lion fountain but it was too dirty to take a photo. I kind of showed it in my Target birdies on holiday post, you can find it here.

Now be sure to visit Barb at Grits and Glamour to see all the other participants in "What's on your wall Wednesday".
And then stop by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer to see all the participants in "Outdoor Wednesday".
Oh, have a Happy Earth Day too!!!

Where or where did my little birdies go?

By now I'm sure you've heard about the mass exodus of the Target birds salt & pepper shakers. It was almost as big as the Jews exodus out of Egypt with Moses, but not quite. If you didn't hear about it, you need to hurry on over to Susan's at Between Naps on the porch to find out all about it and to see where everyone's birdies went to.

Well my little birdies Harold & Maude just got back. That is why I am late in posting, they got delayed on their flight back home so they barely walked in the door. We hurried up & downloaded their photos to share with all of you.

So I will hand off my post to them so they can share all their fun adventures with you.

Hello everyone out there in blogland. This is Harold here. Glad to finally meet you all. Kim asked me & Maude, or should it be Maude & I, anyways, she asked us to tell you what we did when we were on our little vacation, or holiday.

First off, we were just sitting on the table like we normally do when we got the word that all the Target birdies were taking a holiday. A holiday is something we haven't been on in a real long time. But where should be go for our holiday? Maude said "We should take a trip around the world!". That was perfect. Since we couldn't make up our minds as to where to go, we might as well see everything. Well everything that we could fit into the little time we were away.

So we hitched a ride with Teddy. He was already all packed & ready to leave. He said he had room in his suitcase for us, so Maude & I packed up & away we went.
Our first stop was Las Vegas. Teddy had a convention there. So while Teddy was busy at his meetings, Maude & I decided to do a little gambling.

Maude was my lucky charm. We hit the big jackpot & won enough money so that we could travel around the world. "Where to next?" I asked Maude. She said, "How about Venice? I've always wanted to ride in a gondola." So Venice it was. We said goodbye to Teddy in Vegas (he lost all his money gambling so he wasn't able to continue on with us).

Next stop, Venice. Here is Maude & I on our gondola ride in Venice Italy. It was so romantic. Just what the doctor ordered. Since I'm a pretty good singer, we didn't need the gondelier to sing to us, so I kicked him off the gondola to give Maude & me some privacy. Kim had told me how romantic Venice is & she was right. Everyone should go to Venice & ride a gondola. And if you can't get to Venice, you can ride a gondola in Vegas too. But Venice is soooo much better.
Next Maude wanted to go to Paris. Since we were in a romantic mood, what place is more romantic than Paris? So off we flew to Paris, the city of lights. Our favorite spot in Paris was the Eiffel Tower. There's one in Vegas too, but the real one in Paris is a lot bigger & has better views. Plus it's Paris!!! No comparison!
While in Paris we decided to see the Paris Opera House. Maude loves the musical Phantom of the Opera & wanted to see where the story was suppose to be about. We even got to play the phantom's organ. But we never saw or heard the phantom. Maude was a little dissapointed.
After Paris we went to London. Here we are visiting Big Ben. We went to visit the Queen, but she wasn't at home.
Maude next wanted to go to Transylvania to see if we could see Dracula. She loves Dracula and vampires. Here we are at Count Dracula's castle. We couldn't find Dracula, so Maude wanted our picture taken with one of his gargoyles. If you can't have Dracula, I guess a gargoyle will have to do.
Next we went to Budapest as Maude had heard about the famous Turkish baths. A little too old & grungy for me. But Maude felt rejuvinated afterwards. And that is what is most important.
By this time Maude had seen most everything she wanted to see in Europe. She was a little cold & wanted some warmer weather. So we stopped off on a deserted island. It was deserted all right. There was no living thing on this island. Luckily we found this piece of driftwood so we had some shelter for the night. We got off this island as fast as we could the next day. Deserted islands aren't all their cracked up to be.

Maude said she wanted to see some wild animals. So we stopped off in Africa to go on a safari. Wow! Seeing the animals in their natural habitats was amazing. We got a little too close to a lion during our safari (see below). But it was totally worth it as we got such a cool photo. I'm just glad we weren't dinner for him. You might not want to try this one yourself, we had some other birdies on the safari with us who did become supper. Just glad it was them & not us. Is that selfish?
After Africa we decided to give the Carribean a try. Found an island with people, a nice hotel with a nice pool. We met Rex while hanging out at the pool. Rex is the local celebrity. We lived the high life while hanging with Rex. We got kind of bored hanging out at the pool and beaches while in the Caribbean so Rex suggested we go to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico & see the Mayan ruins. So off we flew. Here we are with one of the artifacts found there. Is that statue sticking his tounge out at us?

Here we are climbing up the steps of the Pyramid Kukulcan at Chichen Itza. It is the most visited ruin on the Yucatan penisula.
During the Spring and Fall equinoxes, (March 21 & Sept 21) the setting sun creates shadows down the steps of the pyramid that resemble a snake descending. This is a popular event to see and usually draws big crowds.
Next we decided to fly to Japan. Here we found pachinko machines to play. They were quite fun & entertaining. It was almost like we were back in Vegas playing on the slot machines.

By this time in our holiday we were ready to head back to the states. We stopped off in Florida so we could swim with the dolphins.
Tried some white water rafting on the Colorado river while visiting the Grand Canyon.

Stayed in a haunted house down in Louisiana. Didn't see any ghosts though. Big disappointment. Maude was happy, she doesn't like ghosts (unless it's the Phantom of the opera).


And finally we arrived back home. Stopped off in the front yard to see if the strawberries had grown while we were away. Nope. Looks like no strawberries yet. Too bad, we love strawberry smoothies. We are just glad that we decided to fly instead of taking the boat we were originally booked on. Looks like Christopher Columbus was wrong. The world is flat!!!
Oh well, Maude & I are happy to be home. There's no place like home. The end!

And since most of the photos were taken in my backyard, I am also linking up with Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. Be sure to visit her blog & see all the participants there as well.

The metamorphosis begins-Backyard sprucing

Welcome to another edition of Metamorphosis Monday hosted by the fabulous Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. So be sure to visit her blog to see the list of this weeks participants.

Spring has definitely sprung in sunny southern California. Saturday was the perfect California spring day. Temps were in the mid 70's and there was a slight breeze. Great weather for working out in the yard.

This is the first year since we have lived in our house that we have decided to grow some veggies. This was brought on by a purchase hubby made from Home Depot earlier in the week. He bought some hanging growing thingy for growing tomatoes upside down (don't remember what it is really called, but I like hanging growing thingy better anyways). Now we don't have room for a regular garden, so we are doing a pot garden. And I'm not talking about the kind of pot you smoke, so I don't want any DEA showing up at my house. I know California is progressive, but not me. I guess I should have called it container gardening.

So before starting outside we went to Lowe's to get some flowers & veggies. Hubby couldn't wait to get a tomato plant for his upside down hanging growing thingy. Then our son decided he wanted to grow jalapeno peppers. Then we decided to get some cilantro plants. That way we could grow our own salsa. We love salsa!!!

Then I saw the sugar snap peas. I remember eating fresh peas that my Grandpa had grown & I loved them. Especially if my Grandma made creamed peas. I could just taste the peas in my mind. Then I remembered seeing on another blog (sorry that I don't remember whose), where they took a tomato cage & turned it upside down & used a fleur de lis finial to put all the pointy ends together to make a cool trellis of sorts. Hey! I have one of those fleur de lis finials. I could make that trellis for the peas. So we got a tomato cage & the peas.

We finished off our trip to Lowe's by purchasing some flowers & 3 open bags of planting soil. Because the bags were open they sold them to us for 1/2 price. A deal on top of everything else. This was the perfect day.

So when we got home, we (I mean hubby) got to work planting everything. First he put together the trellis that I had seen. When I took a photo of the finished product. I accidentally cut off the finial. I hate taking photos outside in the sunlight, you can't see the little screen on the camera to see exactly what is in the shot. So here is a close up of the fleur de lis finial. Hubby epoxied it on so it ain't coming off!!



The black pot actually starting out off white. Hubby painted it black. It is the same pot as in the before photo photo of the dolphin topiary (it's later on in this post). Now my peas have a cool trellis to climb on. I can taste those peas. Can't wait!
Hubby also planted some sweet alyssum to fill in the bottom of the pot to make it pretty. Here is the upside down hanging growing thingy with the tomato plant.
Here's hubby with some root stimulator for the plants. Looks like he has used some on his head!
And here is my son's jalapeno pepper plant. Has anyone had experience growing in one of these upside down contraptions? Hopefully they work.
Here is our cilantro container. Lowe's only had 2 small plants left (the girl at Lowe's had to search high and low for these). They aren't in the best shape, hopefully they will survive. I guess I could play that disco song from the 70's, I will survive. Maybe that would motivate them.

Here is a before of the dolphin topiary. Sorry it is so small. I had to crop it from another larger photos. See the ugly pot it is in? That is now the black pot for the peas trellis. Here is a current photo of the dolphin topiary. This new pot is soooooo much prettier. And the sweet alyssum is really taking off. We didn't do anything to this over the weekend. I just wanted to show you how much it has changed from the before photo above that was taken last October (at least that is when I think it was taken).

Dolphin from the other side. You can see the pot better in this photo. Here is before photo of one of the hanging baskets for the lamp post. It has been sitting on the wall since last summer. The coco liner was rotting & the entire bottom was eaten out (probably by snails, I hate snails).

Here is a before photo of the lamp post (taken in Oct). Kind of plain without any hanging baskets. For those of you new to my blog, hubby fished the lamp post out of a dumpster at his work 20 years ago. It was broken in 1/2 & hubby welded it back together. The post originally came from Scotland. Hubby's old boss had brought a bunch back from Scotland & England & the broken ones got put in the dumpster. Hubby fished out 3 posts from the dumpster (yes he got permission), we still have 2 of them, but are only using 1 right now. The light fixture he got later & faux painted it to look like aging copper. And here are the new hanging baskets. Hubby put new spaghnum moss on the outside, then put a new liner inside. He planted geraniums. He loves geraniums. I'm not such a big fan, but since he was planting, he picked the flowers. He likes them as they are soooo hardy. They don't mind the hot California summers (as long as you remember to water).
Another view of the hanging baskets.
Here is one of the new flowers we got. I've already forgot what it is called. I just like the pretty yellow flowers. The urn it is planted in came from the thrift store a couple of years ago. I paid $7.00 for it. It is about 2 feet high.

Another new plant. I think this is rosemary. Hubby loves rosemary. This pot came from Walmart or maybe Sam's Club about 4 years ago.
Another new plant. I think this is Rosemary as well (I don't know my plants at all). This urn came from Sam's Club last year. We got it at the end of the season on clearance for $13.00.

Here are apples on my apple tree just starting to grow. Sorry that I don't know what type of apples they are. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to plants.

And here are the peaches just starting out on my peach tree. We also have a plum tree & an apricot tree we well, but no fruit starting to appear yet. My husband cut back all our fruit trees in January. He really hacked them up good. They were soooo ugly. I wish I had taken photos. I'm bad at before photos, I always forget. But after he was done, I was sure he had killed all the trees (it looked that bad). But low and behold, they are all growing new growth & we are even getting fruit. I guess he did know what he was doing.

I'll try & post photos of the metamorphosis of our backyard throughout spring & summer. And I'll keep you posted on our veggie container gardening. Hubby has plans to build something else for more container gardening. I'll post about that later as well. Wish us luck & lots of veggies for making salsa!!