A Pair of Cuties

Woke up with a sore throat today. I'm not going to work this evening. Caught it from Nicky. Here are some pictures of my friend Patty's cute Westies:

 

Lulu

 Leo

So much for 366 photos

I forgot to 'publish' my Sunday post and I'm missing a few days. Oh, well. I'll still try to post as many pictures as I can. Here are a few to catch up:

My cat Melody near the azalea I just planted:

Our friend Patty (with her son Shane), celebrating her 50th birthday:

Sunday with Family

Today was Mike's Uncle Jimmy's 85th birthday. We had a nice dinner at a restaurant in Brooklyn. My bil, John, did the driving. Michael came along, too. (The other kids had to work.) It was a hard drive for John because of traffic, but that is to be expected with NYC. I got to see the Manhattan skyline from the 'opposite' side of where I usually see it when we go to Ohio. I wish I'd had my camera for that, and for the dinner. But it was almost an hour's drive and Uncle Jimmy was already at the restaurant. (He got there very early!)
Afterwards, my nephew John wanted to come into the house to play with Rocky the Ferret. I think Rocky had fun with him, and I know John enjoyed the ferret. His mom does NOT like them.

The corner by the back door is messy with garden things, shoes and goodies for the squirrels. I think John was trying to barricade the ferret with my sneakers and a laundry hamper!

4 PM

Some views of my yard on a late spring afternoon:

 

The male has been chasing the female for a few days now. Not sure if he caught her yet.

Just chillin'...

The view from the top of our backyard. I love that it is fenced-in and private!

Lettuce Eat

Well, eat lettuce, anyway. I planted 3 romaine plants this morning. I usually have pretty good luck with lettuce.

Morning Dew

Here is one of the strawberry plants I bought, fresh with morning dew! See it on the tips of the leaves?

My House Today

Flowers are blooming all around!

I picked up two strawberry plants, a red azalea bush and a romaine lettuce plant. I hope to get them planted later this week. Meantime, I love the daffodils and crocuses!

Catching Rays

Melody was sitting behind my mini daffodils. I wanted to get a picture of her, but of course by the time I came out with the camera, she had moved. Still, she's kind of cute the way she stretches out in the sunshine! So floofy!

Sunday

I planted a forsythia bush today. It is just a few inches tall, but I hope it will grow into a nice big tree full of yellow flowers.
Michael came over for dinner. I made a ham, twice-baked potatoes and salad. Everything was delicious. The glaze was made from cola, brown sugar and mustard and was soooo good. I wish Katherine could have come, too.
Tonight is the season finale of  "The Walking Dead." Katherine and I both like that show and I wanted to talk to her about last week's episode. Oh, well, maybe we'll get together for lunch one day soon.

One more thing

The Green "Brownies" came out really good! They taste like chocolate chip cookies. Yum! Gonna have some with some cappuccino before I go to work.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! (Especially to my brother, Patrick, up in heaven!)

Suburban Archeology

It was so beautiful outside today that I did some work in the yard. Mike had taken out some juniper bushes last year. I want to plant something like lilacs up there. But it means doing more cleaning out, so I did some digging. Found lots of slate and some concrete, which I think might have been part of this house's original patio (now buried under the deck). I also found some odd, rusted tools. And pieces of toys  my kids had played with years ago!

And I got an awful allergy attack. Two kinds of meds and my eyes are still itching.

But it's still a beautiful day.

About as Green as I Get

St. Patrick's Day Green, that is. I made dessert today to enjoy tonight and tomorrow. Mike and I don't eat at home on Saturday. I was going to make brownies with Bailey's. But I don't have any brownie mix so I decided to make cake mix cookies. Except I'm making them 'bar' cookies. Right now they have been in the oven over 15 minutes with no sign of really cooking. I'm wondering if the alcohol changes things. Since I've never made anything like this before I'm checking them every five minutes or so. If they work, they work. If not, well...the ingredients were cheap enough and chances are someone will eat them, anyway. They might end up being "pudding," LOL!

Beautiful Purple

Nutmeg in the Garden

73 degrees and sunny.

Pretty

More baby daffodils! (And 70 degrees today!)

Stylin'

Katherine was cleaning out her car. Her father had told her no trunk is complete without a reflective vest, so she took it out to 'model' it. (Actually, it's kind of nice to know she has it in case she has a breakdown on a dark road!)

The Reception

The reception was beautiful, as was the bride. My friend's son looked very handsome, and his mom (Virginia) knocked my eyes out  she was so pretty yesterday. Really, movie-star pretty! She said, "I clean up pretty good, don't I?"
I had duck a l'orange for dinner and Mike had shrimp and salmon. My duck was delicious, something I'd  never make at home.
Mike and I were glad there were plenty of slow songs to dance to, as we don't do the fast thing. I used to, but now I just feel clutzy. They invited all the married couples on the floor at one point and asked people to leave according to how long they were married. Of course, Alec and Jenn left first. Finally, it was down to four couples and the host was counting into the twenties. Mike and I were one of the four, and the other three couples were at least in their 70s, or older! The host kept looking at us as he was calling out numbers and I kept shaking my head at him. Finally, he skipped from 30 to 32, and I told him, "31 years." He made everyone clap for us. I think the long-lasting couple on the floor was married 47 years! Good for them. They got a bouquet.

Speaking of flowers, we did a 'pass the buck' game for the centerpiece. Virginia's mom won, but she let me have the arrangement. They had to go back to Oregon in a few days, so there would be no carrying a heavy vase and flowers. Here it is, making this today's '366 pic':

Off to a wedding

 

Our friend Virginia's son, Alec is marrying Jenn today. I finished my blue dress, but it is only 35 degrees out and far too cold to wear a sleeveless, light-weight dress. So I'm going in my Christmas dress. 

Unfortunately, our cesspool had to be pumped this morning, so we are going a bit late and missing the church part. I hope that Virginia isn't too upset. She's not petty like that, but I do worry about hurting people's feelings. I'm sure she'll understand, though, that when a plumber is willing to come on a Saturday morning, you go for it!

Trust

Either I feed the squirrels so much the cats see them as fellow pets, or...the smell of peanuts is just too tempting!

wednesday and thursday

Skipped a day again, so here are two pictures. One is of my clean dining room. I spent a lot of time working on 'straightening up' the house today.
The second picture is a little crocus that is randomly coming up in the middle of my back yard.

Mike opened the attic for me. I brought down more St. Pat's stuff and am surprised at how much I have. I also brought down two different pairs of sandals. I'll wear one pair to the wedding on Saturday. My dress is 99% done. I just hope it fits because at this point, my only alternative is a red Christmas dress. I don't think that will really work, although it is still winter.
But, weather-wise, it is gorgeous out today!

Growing

My basil plants have just started to 'show.' They are some of the herbs the kids gave me for my birthday.

I went to the thrift store today and picked up a white jacket to wear to the wedding saturday. It's just a simple one, and it's actually a size too small. But since I don't plan on buttoning it, that's not an issue. It only cost $5. I also spent $4 on a Yahtzee game that is still in it's original shrink wrap.

Where I work, and Dr. Report

Below is my desk at work--at least where I'll be until the end of June. Sooner, if possible. A little messy but I do try to keep up with it. I also change out the 'decor' above the orange boxes with each holiday. It's St. Patrick's Day this month.

I had a meeting with Dr. P, my pain specialist, today. After several tests and whatever, it seems what I might have is piriformos (?) syndrome. Basically, my piri. muscle is pushing on my sciatic nerve. It is not sciatica since that's caused by a herniated disc and my discs are okay. The EMG tests I had last week indicate that the signal going along the sciatic nerve is slowing down when it goes past the peri nerve.

So I'm going to PT again, but this time specifically for my problem. Pray God, it works. I want to be DONE with this.

Shadow's Place in the Sun

Shadow finds a nice warm spot!

We are having a barbecue today with skirt steak and salad. I made homemade noodles the other day and I am going to mix them up with butter and parmesan as a side dish. It's fattening, but I didn't have a roll with my hot dogs at lunch and I'm being very careful about afternoon snacking. I gained a pound but I'm sure I'll take it off fast enough. When I went to get my hair cut at Patty's last Friday (Mike paid for it, as usual!) Tina (the stylist) thought I'd lost 30 pounds. Nope, just a little under 20.

Decorating for St. Pat's

I put away all the Valentine's stuff. Today I started decorating for St. Patrick's Day. I still have another box to bring down from the attic, but here are a few things I put out. The jar with the flowers actually has a little light in it that changes colors. I bought it with the last of my BB&B gift card Mike gave me.

A sign of Spring

It's still 3 weeks away, but this little daffodil didn't care. It is the first outside flower I've seen this year, a welcome brightness!

Kitchen Toy

Our microwave had a crack in the door, so Mike went and got us a nice new one. And it's red!

Wii

I doubled my step aerobics from 10 minutes to 20 this morning, and did almost 2000 steps! I also burned almost 80 calories. Not sleeping at night due to sinus problems and my back makes me tired all day, so I really had to push myself. But I am soooo glad I did this.

Right now I weigh a little bit over 154 pounds, a long jump from my original 174! Almost 20 pounds! I actually saw my reflection in a tall mirror at Target the other night and could hardly believe what I was seeing. I might even feel confident enough to wear shorts this summer...maybe.

Daily picture to come later.