Last week, everything was all roses and lillies.
This week has been good, too. As you can see…
…it’s just peachy.
When we moved into our home a couple of years ago, it needed some work. We ripped out carpet, refinished floors and tiled bathrooms. We painted a few rooms and decorated here and there.
We payed no attention to the outside of the house that first year, except to trim the lawn and bask in the glory of both a front and back yard, after years of apartment living.
The next year, I realized I had 100 square feet of flower beds. I am not kidding. That’s a whole lot of skill, and patience and creativity I just don’t have, folks. Apparently, neither did the previous owners, because they had just planted about a million bulbs all willy-nilly and let them run wild.
After the daffodils, iris and day lilies had moved on for the season, I no longer had 100 sq. ft. of flower beds. I had a jungle.
I hacked, dug, weeded and pulled up football sized clumps of bulbs, until there was nothing left in our sandy soil except the worms. I replanted the bulbs in neat rows towards the back of our beds, and my husband gamely planted grass seed to fill in the now 3-foot gap.
We washed our hands of that dirty garden business and waited to see what would happen this spring… And waited. And waited.
The first determined shoots peered over ground in late winter, but only three daffodils showed their faces. No iris. Only leaves and stems. More jungle.
And then…
She’s a little late. But she will get along fine with the roses.
…roses.
They will only last for a week, but it will be a beautiful one.
Welcome back. I missed you.
I ran a little race with my friend on Saturday. It felt so good to be outside in the sunshine, moving freely, and just for fun. It reminded me of how much I love running, and why I began to run in the first place.
So this morning, I laced up my shoes and embarked on my first 5-miler of the season.
In other news:
Sorry, Huli. I’m not taking you with me, no matter how cute you are, or how much dog hair you get on my shoes. I want a workout, but not the kind that involves dragging a 50-lb slug behind me on a leash. No can do.
But I promise I’ll let you lay on those shoes and get in the way of my picture taking when I get back. Because you’re the sweetest. Even if you can’t run.
I have a problem. Ok, more than one, but let’s just focus on this one today.
I love water. I never go anywhere without my leaky trusty CamelBack, even if it’s just a short drive to the grocery store. I never know when I might need a drink–but actually, I do know–about every five minutes.
I drink almost two gallons of water a day. It’s kind of disturbing how impossible it is to quench my thirst. (No, I don’t have diabetes. Yes, I’ve been tested for that, along with a myriad of other things.)
There are some days when I literally can’t stomach the idea of drinking one more sip of water, but I’m still SO thirsty that I have to have something. I had to laugh today when I glanced over and saw this lovely beverage assortment next to my keyboard.
Can you say hydrated?
You can imagine that all this beverage imbibing leaves me with another P(ee)roblem. I like to look on the bright side of that though, too. With all my running to the bathroom, I can consider that my cardio workout for the day 😉
Questions:
- Why am I so thirsty? If you know what’s wrong with me (besides the obvious), let me know.
- Also, what is your favorite thirst-quenching thing to drink?
…is where your heart is.
Two weeks of living like a bachelorette, when you are actually married gets old. Sure, eating roasted vegetables and lime popcorn for dinner is nice. I quite enjoy making only one side of the bed. I haven’t had to turn on the dishwasher once.
But I may need a steak. Or a nice burger. I miss the man on the other side of the mattress. And I would do dishes every day–by hand– if it means my husband is home with me.
Because he is where my heart is.
My husband is out of town for work this week. To keep myself busy while he’s gone, I try to schedule as many things as possible with everyone I know. He has been gone quite a bit, so I’m pretty sure all my friends, family members and even my dog are sick of me by now. When that happens, I have to find other stuff to do. So I clean. I know, it’s a miracle.
I also update my blog with stuff that I should have posted a long time ago. That’s a miracle too.
Earlier this spring, I received a generous package from the folks at Swanson Health Products. The box was loaded with all kinds of goodies, most of which I still have yet to try, but included Tom’s of Maine toothpaste, Soyjoy bars, Green Tea Supplement, Smart Pill, Cocoa Butter Lotion, and Mrs. Meyer’s Surface Scrub.
Why haven’t I tried the Green Tea pills yet?? I forgot those were in there! Maybe with those, I could cut back to three cups a day. Evidently, I also need some of the Smart Pills, too.
Anyway, what I have tried, since I’ve been a cleaning machine, is the Mrs. Meyer’s Surface Scrub.
This product is a definite LMLer!
We have charming, but easily marred, porcelain sinks in our kitchen, which are terrible to keep looking nice and clean. The slightest brush with a frying pan or scrape of a cookie sheet leaves a long black scratch against the surface, and the delicate color shows even the slightest speck of debris.
My aunt taught me to use a heavy powdered cleanser on the surface to buff out the scratches and remove the discolorations. This worked really well, except the strong chemicals left my hands gray and cracked, and the acrid smell of the cleanser would burn itself into my throat every time I did the dishes for a week after.
I loved that Mrs. Meyer’s products are as natural and gentle as possible. This particular scrub is 98% naturally derived, eco-friendly and biodegradable. The lavender scent was a much sweeter alternative, and I felt better knowing that I wasn’t inhaling chemical fumes.
And guess what?
It works! Since Mrs. Meyer’s Surface Scrub is a softer formula, it did take a little extra elbow grease to remove the imperfections, but no one ever said we were afraid of grease around here.
Are you interested in getting some free Swanson Health Products goodies to review on your own blog? Then check out the Swanson Health Blog for all the details.
Thanks again to Swanson for allowing me to review some of their products!
Hopefully my husband’s not reading this post during his travels–he may be shocked to learn that I actually do housework while he’s away. Sorry honey, I didn’t say the house would stay clean!
You may have noticed that this is not one one of those blogs that gets updated all the damn time every day. Sorry about that. I’m busy LMLing, and sometimes I don’t have time to post about everything that makes me happy, even though I can assure you I’m appreciating it as it happens.
Or sometimes I get kind of overwhelmed by all the things I’d like to say, and so I don’t end up saying anything at all. But that’s not a very good way to keep a blog, is it?
Well, even though the blog doesn’t get updated every day, I can tell you one does happen almost daily.
Peanut butter. Or almond butter. I’m pro-butter, equal-opportunity nutter, over here.
I can’t tell you how excited I was to spot this mixed nut butter on the shelves of Target a few months ago. I resisted the impulse to buy as long as I could. $5, people. That’s a lot to pay for an itty-bitty jar. But we all know I’d pay more.
I finally bought it last week. The verdict…
Ugh! It was horrible! I don’t know if it was me, or the butter. But it tasted like chemicals and soap to me. I’m pretty sure it was the butter. It’s a good thing I’m not poisoned, because that’s what it tasted like. I made everyone else I love try it, too. Just to make sure. I’m so thoughtful.
Me: “Oh my gosh, this tastes like acid and I think I might die. Here, try it!”
Sad. Disappointed. Crestfallen.
Until I remembered that I didn’t need to waste $5 on mixed nut nasty butter from Target. I could make my own!
And I did.
1 c. toasted almonds*
1 c. lightly slated, roasted peanuts
1/2 c. pre-ground pecan butter (probably equal to 1 c. whole toasted pecans)
This, I would pay $5 for. But now I don’t have to.
todayilovemylife 
