Blue Skies, Butterflies, & Blue Birds

I am happy to report that Mr. & Mrs. Bluebird are back and have decided to "camp out" in the camper birdhouse that I received from my sister Jan last year. Syd saw them flying in and out when we were in the back yard today. Then we saw some little white butterflies, so she had to go and get her butterfly net. Didn't catch any though. We went into the people camper to see if any critters decided to make it their winter home. I am happy to report they did not. Lovin the weather!
Tomorrow Syd is coming early, so we decided to have a big breakfast buffet. Pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, O.J. and coffee. Syd wants chocolate chip with "smashmallow" pancakes. Oatbran with nuts for me. Probably go to the park tomorrow. :)

From 19 to 57

Degrees that is. 19 degrees with a "hard" frost this morning. Then a slowly warming day, high up to 57. Nice. Even sat outside for a while. Need to go for a walk, really. Weather dude says temps are onward and upward for the rest of the week. Might hit 70 tomorrow, woo-hoo! And talking 80 for Thurs. or Friday. Went to CEC today. Fun! The kid is still a bit frightened of ole Chuck. She scrunched real close to me in the booth when he walked by. That's it for now.

Hey, That's My Nephew

GENOA TWP. - Josh Russell knows he will attend college, but how to finance his goal was problematic because, he said, his parents "wouldn't be able to offer me a lot of money for college."


The 17-year-old Genoa Township resident found a solution — earning his own money by teaching drumming to children ranging in age from 8 to 14.


"It is rough, sometimes, to have to work and put in hours here and there," Russell said. "I've sacrificed things here and there ... but, like I said, it's helped me to learn responsibility and to grow and mature.
From the Lansing State Journal

Ten Vehicles (Machines) I've Driven

Car
Dirt bike
4 wheeler
Snowmobile
Boat
Combine
Skid loader
Antique tractor
Antique truck
Go cart
*Bonus Flew an airplane (momentarily)

Twelve Things You May Not Know About Me

Twelve Things You May Not Know About Me (Borrowed idea from My sister's blog.)


1. I am a bit of an astronomy bug.
2. I never wanted to birth a baby.
3. I like to eat organic foods.
4. I’m deathly afraid of heights.
5. I think my feet are cute.
6. I detest lying.
7. I hate mushy stuff.
8. I love the smell of campfire!
9. I enjoy entertaining.
10. I can’t sew.
11. I dislike regular M & M’s.
12. I can’t do a sumersault.

Whats That Bright Star Next to the Moon?

In case you didn't know I'm a bit of a weather and astonomy buff. So, here is some cool stuff.

On Thursday night, March 25, many people may look up at the sky and ask the question, "What's that bright star next to the moon?"
The answer for Thursday night is Mars, but that answer changes night by night as the moon travels along the ecliptic, the path the sun, moon and planets follow across the sky. If you ask the question again on Monday night, March 29, the answer will be the ringed planet Saturn. This will be your last chance to get a good look at Mars until it approaches the Earth again in 2012

"Falling" Apart At The Seams

I fell again today. This time in the driveway. Tripped over a piece of wood. Messed up my leg, knee, ankle, hip, back. etc... Ouch. Now I'm hurting. I've got to quit falling. I was outside supervising the guy who came to pick up his snowmobiles. Yes, they're gone. Apparently, it was a neighbor of the house we were working at. He was quite glad to come and pick them up. He was afraid they were stolen.

Exhausted!

Still tired after all the rukus. Last night we tore down the set. Kind of sad. Ate pizza and salad. We're supposed to have a reunion party and watch the "real" movie or the video of our play. Sometime after Easter. Not a bad day. Tromped around outside for a bit with Syd. She was checking stuff out with her binoculars. Cute. Tomorrow we'll go to the library. Spent a million bucks on Nicole tonight. She needed cleats, a pitching toe to protect the cleats, and an ankle brace. Oh yeah, she made the varsity softball team! Hopefully, no. 2 pitcher.

Strike!

That's what it's called when you tear the set down and put it all away. That's tonight. Oh my aching body already. All the up & down and back & forth, I'm sore and exhausted. One more night. The director will buy us pizza and salad tonight for the Strike. It was fun, but I'm glad it's over, whew! Trying to get back to "normal." Got to see a preview of some of the pictures. My sister took some illegal pics yesterday. Then Her & her husband and my brother and his wife came over for tea & crumpets after the play. We hooked up the pictures to the tv and had a good laugh over them. Renee Renee came over with the fam to meet my fam. Good times.

Lights, Curtain, Action

Finally the debut of, "Any Number Can Die." A full audience. Thanks to everyone that came. The girls, Richie's family, Mike & Chris, Tom and Bobbette, and my dear old friends Laura and Betty. I hope everyone enjoyed the dinner and show. Sarah did a great job with the music and sound effects, AND as the mystery person in black. The show went pretty well and was lots of fun. Now we have to do it all again. Hopefully we'll all be more relaxed today. Marlene & Don and Mark & Laura will be coming today. The funniest thing that happened, I was changing my clothes just off stage at the WRONG time. Another actress tried to push me on stage because i was supposed to be on. I said, no I can't. I had stripped down to my underclothes. Whew! Close call! After putting my dress back on (it was dark so I didn't even know if it was inside out) I made an entrance and just sashayed into the scene.

Garden Ideas

Sunday I bought the Old Farmer's Almanac, Garden Guide. Very exciting. Full of ideas and tips for many interesting types of gardens. Some of them are: How to bring butterflies or hummingbirds into your garden, How to grow tasty tomatoes, 4 easy mailbox plots, a cook's garden and The almost instant garden. I'm thinking about using this technique for the garden this year. You put down 4 layers of newspaper, then 2 inches of compost, then plant your seeds. You make 36 inch wide beds with wood-chip paths in between. This method is supposed to block the weeds.

Blue Skies and a Few Bugs

Niiiiiiiiiiiice day today. Even saw a few bugs flying around and even a squiggly worm on Renee's driveway. Sat outside for a while and soaked up a few rays. Renee and Sydney came over for a bit and then Syd decided she wanted me to pull her and Dora in the "new" wagon. (Sarah found at a house) A neighbor came by walking her daughter in a wagon and also her dog. So Syd decided that we should talk Bailey with us. She ran and got his leash and off we went. Bailey was going so fast he was actually pulling the wagon~ I couldn't keep up with him. Then it was time to go inside and run my lines. Still have a couple of slippery spots. Practice every night this week. Went to Salvation Army today to get a part of one of the 3 costumes I need. Speaking of that does anyone have a pair of size 7 1/2 flats or ballet slippers I can borrow?

A Time For Everything (Even if we don't think so)

A Time for Everything
1There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3 :1 - 8
In memory of Paul Jeremiah Ovitt

Busy, Busy Saturday

Got up early and went to the Flint Farmer's market. Started with a cup of coffee and a raspberry/white chocolate scone. Bought some cukes, asparagus, an orange pepper and some baklava, oh and a loaf of bread from Great Harvest. Saw some organic flours from a mill out in Argentine. More about that later. Then went to the stage to finish putting up the set. Painted, put up the molding and other odds and ends. Lunch at Panera in Fenton. Then a trip out to the mill in Argentine. West Wind Milling Co. You can find them on the web at: http://westwindmilling.com/index.html Very interesting. Check it out. We bought a buckwheat pancake mix and a bag of multi-grain flour. It's all locally grown and organic. The baked goods looked absolutely yummy. Now, in for the night. Maybe a nap! Then a run-through of the play. Maybe a movie later. Peace Out.

Lights, Action.....

Bam!
Coming down the "stairway" at play practice in the dark, I missed the bottom step and crashed to the floor. Luckily I only ended up with a few ouchie spots and bruises. The bottom step is only a 1/2 step and somehow on my entrance I missed it. The lights were out for that particular part of the play. They said on Saturday we're going to paint them white. Thank goodness. I'm also glad I didn't land on or twist my already bad leg from my fall several years ago. That leg is still messed up. Well, anyway the play is coming along nicely. I think it's going to be better than last years. It's actually quite funny and has a few surprises. Tomorrow we are going to do the finishing touches to the set.

Painting Party

Painted the walls of the "set" last night. We went with a nice baby diarrhea color. Yuck. The walls are supposed to look old and neglected. They sure do. It was fun. I don't normally paint, so that was kind of a first for me. I got a little bit on the french door curtains. Opps, don't tell the director. She told us to be specially careful of them. I tried.

Weather All The Time

So.... I installed the Weather Channel Desktop to my computer. Now, I can access all sorts of weather info at my fingertips! My dad would have loved this. He used to watch the weather channel for up to the minute updates. I'm not sure if he still does or not. I'm pretty sure I have inherited his love for weather info. For instance, did you know there is a waning crescent moon tonight? That means If the right side of the Moon is dark then the light part is shrinking, and the Moon is referred to as waning (moving towards a new moon).

Speaking of the weather; it was so warm yesterday that Sydney and I took Bay for a walk, then we cleaned up a Beauty Salon play thing that Sarah got from a house. If you're lucky I'll post the pictures from later when she, "did my do". What a fun afternoon. We were all being so silly. Oh yeah, we even grilled turkey burgers outside on the grill. Yum-o!

The Snow Is Melting

At least on our side of the street. It's weird. Everyone on the other side of the street still has several inches of snow. Grass on this side. Another sunny, almost warm day yesterday. I went for another outdoor walk. It really feels good. One more day of sunniness~ says the weather dude. Then the rain comes. But, it will still be ABOVE average temps. How nice. Not as nice as the weather down in SC where my sister lives. In the 70's. Can't wait til that happens here. They play is coming along nicely. I have a much bigger part, so I need to keep at it every day to make sure the lines stay in my head. It's really kind of fun. There are going to be a few surprises. The people are nice and it's kind of like a camaraderie thing. The crew has an eviction in Dexter today. So glad I didn't have to go! Thanks Renee! I'm pretty sure Sydney and I will go for a walk today ~ it's supposed to be over 50 degrees!

Field Day Saturday

Freezing cold, but sunny start. First a trip to Donna's doughnuts. I know, I know, bad, bad, bad. But, it was my motivation for going to work. Then a trip to the metal scrap yard. A check for $89 for depositing other people's junk. Thank you very much. A couple quick bids in Flint. Then a stop at an old but awesome house where we had to remove 100's of pop and beer bottles and cans. I love those older homes. They have so much personality. This one had a Michigan room, where I could see myself sunning in the summer time. A sewing room upstairs, plus a funky bathroom behind a wall painted to look like an outdoor garden. A rooftop deck. Oh the flowers and vegetable I could plant up there! Oak floors and solid oak stair railings. I felt sorry for the people because they left behind a lot of items that I guess they couldn't or didn't have room for. A pair of work boots, oh they're Sarah's size. Grab those. A room full of books. Ah, the library.
Today, we're making home made whole wheat pizza dough. Got a rolling bar, some thin cutting mats, on which to build the pizzas, and an olive oil spritzer. Can't wait to try them out tonight.

First Outdoor Walk of the Year

Beautiful blue sunny skies, not a cloud in sight. Warm rays of sun. We're off. Just me N Bailey. A green van stopped so the inhabitants could say "goodbye" and Bailey and I wished them a nice weekend vacation. Probably walked 1/2 mile total. Not bad for the first walk of the season. Here's to many more.

Cooking tip I learned today: Don't use fat-free cream cheese when making cheese cake. It was all chunky and wouldn't whip up too well.

A Maddening Day

Thought about throwing the ole computer right out the window. But then I fixed it. That was satisfying. I had to reinstall the printer. For whatever reason it decided to remove the printer drivers. The computer geek is in Mexico so I had to do it all by my lonesome. whew! Had a mediocre lunch at the new Chinese Buffet on Miller Rd. Don't bother, it wasn't all that good. Stick with the one on Linden Rd. Did crappy at rehearsal last nite. I was the worst one. So, okay time to turn up the heat. I have many more lines this year. I am having some alone time right now and I am really enjoying that. If ya know what I mean. Just me n the dog and a cup of (lite) hot chocolate. ahhhhh.

First Day of March Brings Blue Skies

So far. They are calling for clouds and some snow, but for now it is sunny and beautiful. Gave the birdies some new seed and the woodpeckers a suet block. Now, just waiting. Just doing the usual. A very busy week ahead. We are supposed to be "off book" for the play, so I'll be spending a lot of time memorizing.