Leaves of Red

It never fails. No matter where we move to, there is always some plant or tree that acts weird in my yard. I had a calla lily that Hubby bought for me when Son was born. I planted that outside our front door, and that thing bloomed like it was on radioactive steroids. I blamed it for giving me false hope about ever growing plants. In Germany, I had dusty millers that grew into bushes, causing my German neighbors to take me to task for letting them get out of hand. In reality, they were supposed to grow to 5 inches in height, not take over the garden. I ended up yanking them out completely. Oh, and foxglove made an appearance in the back garden. My next door neighbor kindly pointed out that it was poisonous. I kindly pointed out that it was a feature, not a bug.

And now, my tree won’t give up its leaves. I thought it was a fluke last year, since it was warm late in autumn here, but no. My tree is the only one that is clinging bitterly to its leaves, even after the windstorm we had last night.

There are other trees in the neighborhood that still have leaves, but not many deciduous ones. Sigh…. my tree can’t even defoliate right….

Dog Days

I am not the most knowledgeable when it comes to dogs. I feed them, and make sure they are bathed, and give them their heartworm medicine, and whatever else needs to be done. But lately I have noticed that I am no longer doing the training.

About a month ago I noticed my big dog, who is still a puppy, sit over by me and whine to get my attention. So, I would get up to take her outside, thinking that she needed to relieve herself. But no…. she would just lay down by the kitchen doorway and just look at me, and I would close the door, come over to her, and give her a “momma hug”.  Things would be fine for a while after that, and then the cycle would start all over again.

Now, I know I am spoiling her. I know that! But she is so devoted to me! So it came as no surprise for me to notice that she no longer comes to sit near me and whine. She goes straight to her spot, whines, and I automatically go over to her to give her a hug.

My dog has trained me.

But I figure I owe her in some small way, for all the joy she gives me. Besides, I am still mistress of my domain, and she respects that, especially at feeding time 😉

Dream a Little Dream

For me, dreaming is an adventure. Last night I dreamt I was in Paris, France!!

And that’s where the romance ended.

I’m in a boutique salon, run by my sister, who isn’t there, because she is off touring a canal for a pair of shoes (??), and I am waiting to have a dress fitting and a haircut, because there is no such thing as nepotism, and someone steals my purse and my dog, and I can only find the purse shell, which has a bunch of markers in it, and I’m walking around in a smock, with my hair in weird rollers, asking people if they have seen my purse, and someone points outside, so out I go, only to see two Mexicans (they had shirts with Mexican flags and they read “Proud Mexican” in French) walking my dog, and I run over and ask them why they have my dog, and they give me the dog and tell me the PLO was giving them away over at the park, so I run to the park and see them distributing dogs that they are buying on the internet with my credit card, causing me to call the Embassy to cancel the credit card, which makes the PLO very mad, and they in turn put a fatwa on my head, and I yell at them that my head isn’t very pretty right now so they have to wait, so they pencil me in for Tuesday.

This is the part where I wake up, look at the clock, and realize I have one more hour of sleep to enjoy. And as I drift off to sleep, I am jolted awake by the thought that today is Tuesday!! But eventually I calm down and fall asleep again, because I am not a machete-wielding zombie killer for nothing 😉

Sooner or Later…

I knew it. I just KNEW I was going to get sick. I avoided a full blown cold during the holidays, but eventually it will out.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

I don’t mind being sick. I mind having to slug through the ordinary chores like playing taxi and grocery shopping and running to the post office and laundry and cooking. Just once I would love to lay in bed while the kids catered to me. That would be awesome! Not going to happen until the weekend, though, and hopefully by then I’ll be fine.

I’m l’exhausted, and thinking that passing out on the couch is a wonderful idea.

Ok, it’s always a wonderful idea, but this time I have a great excuse 😀

Guess Who I Would Invite to Dinner?

Well, not really a guess, but another list. This time it’s the Five People With Whom I Would Like to Have Dinner™. Our blogger friend Yabu left a list at his blog, and this being a Sunday, I thought I would follow suit and post mine. It’s either that, or my latest scrapbook project. I figured y’all would like the list more.

Dead People:

1. Nikola Tesla
2. Winston Churchill
3. Leonardo da Vinci
4. William Shakespeare
5. Marilyn Monroe

Living People:

1. John Ringo (author)
2. Chuck Norris (obvious)
3. Sarah Palin
4. Paul Simon
5. Neil Gaiman

Bloggers:

1. Laura
2. Soylent Green
3. The Glorious Lemur King
4. Nurse Myra
5. Bunk Strutts

Ok, now to explain a few things on my list. When I invite these people to my table, they have to bring their significant other if they have one, because in my opinion they help to define the person they are. So no, I wouldn’t just have the one person here. And as for the bloggers, I have met quite a few of you already, so my list was decidedly shorter than most. Also, I opted to not have big name bloggers on my list, mostly because the image versus reality thing would clash too much for me. We little bloggers are far more realistic 😉

If you decide to make a list, leave a link or list here, and also over by Bad Bad Juju!

Yelling at Paper, and Why I Don’t Run With Scissors

I’m trying to be more involved in scrapbooking this year, so I joined a little club on Facebook that has been a lot of fun. One thing we do is card swapping: we all make a few of the same card and then exchange them. It’s fun, and amazing to see the amount of creativity on display, not to mention we learn new techniques and shortcuts.

Normally, this is not a big deal for me. Making cards is therapeutic, and I enjoy knowing that someone appreciates the effort put into it. But sometimes, nothing goes right.

NOT my room, but close enough. Courtesy of Carfter.org

I had purchased lovely heart embellishments, since we are making Valentine’s Day cards, and now I can’t find them. Usually I resort to doing my scrapping on the floor, since I don’t have a nice, large, comfortable table from where to spread the destruction. As I was looking for the little hearts, I realized that my precious Tonic™ scissors are missing. These are teflon coated and sharp, and I tell my kids to always put them back when done. GAH!!! On top of that, as I sat on the floor to cut the paper I needed with the paper trimmer (which I call Bladerunner™), the bottle of my favorite glue tipped over against my thigh, and as I moved, my thigh was attracting all manner of pieces of scrap paper laying about. My frustration knew no bounds this morning, manifesting itself as I screamed bloody murder to sheets of paper, who in turn were lucky that I couldn’t stab them with my scissors.

So, here I sit at the kitchen table, preparing another mess, and wondering if I could convince Hubby to get a new pub style table for the breakfast area so I could use this one for my scrapbooking. There is always a plan 😉

The Twelfth Day

Most of you have already taken down your Christmas decorations. I get to do that this weekend, not because I’m lazy (though I could understand if you thought that was the reason). Today is the Feast of Epiphany, the day when the Magi delivered their gifts to the New Born King, and technically the Twelfth Day of Christmas. We celebrate the day in Puerto Rico with a large feast during the day. As picky as my kidlets are, I will just make their favorites, and then we will sit down to watch The Nativity Story. After this week, I need a nice, quiet evening.

Thank y’all so much for coming to my little blog and blessing me, and may blessings be showered unto you in the coming year! 🙂

Doing It the Girlie Way

There are some things about me that may surprise some of you. I can’t eat spicy foods, peanut butter and I have a deep hatred for each other, can’t stand driving. Another thing that may come as a surprise is, I entered a college bowl football pool.

Oh yes, I did.

Now, I enjoy college football a lot, but I don’t really know anything about statistics or odds or even players’ positions. It’s a mad scramble for an egg-shaped object that results in rather funny dances at the endzone. So, how did I go about selecting the picks for the pool? The only way I know how: I picked based on colors and mascots.

Now, this is not to say that girls have no clue about football. But I remember when I was young I would pick out a favorite anything by its color. And my girls sometimes do that, too. I call it the girlie way because that’s what it is, and I’m not one for being politically correct.

Besides, currently I am in second place, and only one point away from a tie, so I must be doing something right  😉

Wednesday Sithy

I have a sick kid at home today, so here:

Hope y’all enjoy your day!! 😀

When Songs Fail

I will confess: I am trapped in a timewarp when it comes to music. I grew up in the 80’s, so that should tell you some, and also in Puerto Rico, which should tell you more, and finally, my dad is really into Classical and Big Band, which completes the picture. But songs nowadays leave me puzzled, to say the least.

Yesterday I was picking up the kids from school when Maroon 5’s Moves Like Jagger came on. Usually, I tend to tune out wailing on the radio, but the kids seem to like it. Anyway, something told me to pay attention, that something being the name Jagger.

The only Jaggers I know are Mick, and his ex-wife, Bianca. And I only know of her because she designs lingerie.

The part that obviously caught my attention after that, was the chorus:

Take me by the tongue
And I’ll know you
Kiss me ’til you’re drunk
And I’ll show you

All the moves like Jagger
I’ve got the moves like Jagger
I’ve got the moves like Jagger

Really? REALLY??? Bad enough you want to take someone by the tongue, which can be painful if done literally, but to move like this??

THAT is what you wish to emulate when trying to woo a girl? Not Barishnikov? Not Astaire? Seriously, Mick Jagger?? Who writes this crap?

Now excuse me, but I suddenly feel the need to listen to Frank Sinatra.