Hot pink .......My favorite pic. of this bush. 

Poison IVY blues...
It was a nice weekend so I decided to mow the lawn. I usually leave this job to the hub or our son. But, they were both busy helping someone build a shed. Such handymen to have around and I have two of them. Well, anyway, I couldn't figure out how to make the mower move once I started it and ended up calling Mike to ask him how to start it. Possibly my blonde was coming out. He says "mom, all you have to do is start it and take it out of neutral. I told him I knew that much and had it out of neutral but it wouldn't move. So he kindly walked me through it on the phone and laughed whispering to his dad what was going on. Boys will be boys.
I got it started and I was enjoying the ride and managed to mow it all in about an hour and a half. Not bad except I was too afraid of the two little hills we have and left those for Mike to do the next day. I'll have to take some pictures because you would laugh if you seen them. The entire time I mowed the lawn, I was on the lookout for the dreaded poison ivy. I thought I saw a couple of patches of it and stayed clear of it.
That night my left arm started itching like crazy and man, was I miserable. I only got 3 hrs. of sleep and had to get up to work a 12-hr shift the next day. ICK! Well, it is now Tuesday and I am even more miserable and it has spread all the way up to my shoulder. I have to work tomorrow and Thursday too. I finally have a doctors appointment on Friday morning to have a steroid injection if need be to get rid of the stuff. So, now I am singin' the poison ivy blues........ My husband is too cute, he says "don't touch me with your arm and geesh, you better go in, that is really swollen and looks nasty." Thanks hon, for the love and support. Just thought I would share my lawn story and my poison ivy with everyone so we can all comiserate together.

I want to see what is going on, Meg says. She always thinks I have to hold her up so she can look out the window. I usually give her to the kids to hold.  

So wild and carefree, don't ya think? Too bad they weren't still in bloom.  

More flowering bushes 

"Flaming enthusiasm,backed by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success." (Dale Carnegie) 

Blue pansies make me smile and bloom a little longer- this is the first year I have grown flowers. 

Purple-closer 

Purple too- I think it needs a good trim job! 

This is a red flowering bush with a very short bloom-time(maybe 2 wks)  

Stuck in the grass!
Thursday of last week I had the day off and decided to finish weeding and mow the lawn. It was in dire need after the rain we had the previous week. I asked Michael to help with the rider when he got home from school. Of course, he gladly agreed. We have a brand new lawnmower that he loves to drive.
So, I sent Deanna out to help with the push mower. She proceeded to put her swimsuit on and play in the sprinkler,not much help. Not surprising from her, though. I got Mike set up and showed him where to mow. He started and everything was going along fine. I ran in to get a quick drink of water. Deanna comes running in the house with grass stuck to her butt and says "Mom, come quick Mike is stuck and he needs you to help get him out." I said how did you get the grass stuck on your butt?" She said I fell down trying to help him get it pushed out. Luckily, he had enough presence of mind to shut it off first before they tried to push it out.
I was walking down to the ditch and all I heard was Michael saying, "No Deanna, not like that, they were turning it on and shutting it off and pushing and pulling."
Mike says, "Mom you help me push this out before dad gets here and sees it." He had tried to mow the ditch and had went at it straight on and got the deck hung up on the edge of the ditch so the one back tire was just spinning because it had no contact with the ground. I told Mike to help me push and we tried to no avail....
After a few agonizing, backbreaking minutes of this, I decided to have him put it in neutral and steer it to the left and we pushed it off the ditch. I was teasing him so bad about getting the lawnmower stuck when there wasn't any mud around! I haven't said anything to the hubster about it, but the perfect opportunity is just around the corner.

Spring is awesome!
The weather here has been pretty good the last couple of days. Sunny and about 78 degrees. The perfect capri weather for me and shorts for the kids! Of course Mike thinks as long as it isn't snowing it is the perfect time to wear shorts. He is our hot-blooded one.
I have been cleaning up the yard and doing some spring-cleaning inside. I am not quite sure why on nice days, I am inclined to clean indoors, but I am. I throw open the curtains, open the doors and windows and clean,clean,clean. It is a good feeling at the end of the day to know that I have accomplished something on my day off.
I took a trip last week and came home to some gorgeous flowering trees/bushes in our yard. Before I left, we had discussed taking a lot of the trees/bushes down that we thought were just cluttering up our yard, but I am glad that we left them. Now, all we will need to do is to trim them up and they will be fine. I took some pics of them, of course and will post them in the next couple of days. I better get back to work because times a wasting and this day will be over before I know it.

"A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such speed. It feels an impulsion...this is the place to go now. But the sky knows the reasons and the patterns behind all clouds, and you will know,too, when you lift yourself high enough to see beyond the horizons."-Richard Bach (Illusions) 

"Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four Cs. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably."
-Walt Disney

"May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand."
Irish Blessings

"The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and heart of the child."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadows of our burdens behind us."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The sun is reaching out of the clouds......it looks almost like northern lights in the daytime. 

The Mountains shadowed by the sun and clouds. 

Sunrise through the trees.....Oh what a lovely day! 

Blue skies, nothin' but blue skies from now on..