There Is No End In Sight But At Least...

Den is home...and he can monitor the painters...they are painting today and tomorrow and hopefully finishing on Monday. And now...because they were unsupervised yesterday...there is white paint all over the deck...they already told us they are restraining the deck...I seriously no longer care!

Really! Truly! Maybe!

Happy thoughts!

We have Monarch butterflies everywhere! We can sit in the family room and see them actually on the deck! I love butterflies!



More happy thoughts...

Lucy guarding Northbrook Farms donuts!



Even happier thoughts...

this yummy book...




Up next...this yummy book!




I am in the mood for mayhem!

Happy Reading!

Life Goes On...

I am determined to try to ignore what is happening on the outside of my house...I am going to deal with my discombobulated deck...ladders...thuds...strangers...by pretending that they are not there.

This morning before work...Den moved all of the deck plants and watered everything...something that we should have done earlier...also...I am staring at at least 7 more days of this...sigh!

Just one more teensy weensy...why me?

Oh...Den also had plans to have the driveway redone...so not happening this year...

Now...on to fun stuff!

S'Mores Dip? OMG! This one is from Bran Appetit! I think this could be done without a recipe!




From Mel's Kitchen Cafe...OMG!



Single serve rice crispies treats? A brilliant idea from One Good Thing!







Reading this...quite yummy! I love sarcasm in a crime novel!



Happy Reading!

Just A Bit Frazzled!

I was stupid to try to think that that outside painting would not affect my life. I am letting strangers into my bathroom, my deck is totally a mess, my deck flowers are dying because I can't get to them, wreaths and benches are scattered all over, the pine tree disaster still looms over us and I am stressed! I have to have the access door locked because Roxie slipped out yesterday and it was my fault! So every time anyone needs something I have to stop what I am doing and race to the door. I will be in lockdown forever. I can't even see an end to this.

Is she saying sorry?



I warn everyone...Dennis, Diane my cat sitter, everyone...and yet I am responsible for a near disaster with Roxie! I opened the deck door an inch and she walked out...I didn't even know she was out until the painter said "your cat just ran out"...

Then I had to scream her name, scare her, and lightly smack her itty bitty nose and say bad bad girl! It broke my heart and Roxie stayed under a chair in the study for an hour! I finally had to lure her out with a toy and an apology. I probably scarred her for life! She will never let me forget this...I will be buying her new toys daily to make up for this! Even Lucy was kissing her!

Oh my!

Still reading this...reminds me of a more grown up Harry Potter...love the names of characters...Horton "Tiger" Prawns, Youthful Perkins, Amazing Dennis "Full" Price and his brother Half-Price, and so many more...plus my fave character The Quarkbeast!


Buona Lettura! I have relearned this fact about me...I need order to function well!

Farm Fresh!

Yellow and red grape tomatoes...
Huge yellow tomatoes...
Just picked corn...
Local plums...
Just picked peaches...
Baby zucchini...
Sweet local onions...
Shallots...
Baby fingerling potatoes...
Yukon gold potatoes...
Yellow local watermelon...
Red seedless watermelon...
One local cantelope...
Local jumbo brown eggs...
1 huge bag of just picked spinach...
Baby sweet potatoes...


Glen Willow Orchards...I love you! I barely spent $40.00!!! It's a wonderful farm!





I am making a Zucchini Pie for dinner! Yum!



Reading this...magic...wizards...a Quarkbeast! I think I am getting my reading groove back!
Loved the first book in this series!






Painters are actually painting today...not tree cutting...there is no way to fix my beautiful pine tree...but we are getting another one to sort of cover up the missing part of the wounded tree. Still sad...

Buona Lettura!

Misery...Day 2...

Well...it's not the worst thing that cold have happened but it's not the best thing either...and it's why we do not leave the house when workers are here...

We planted this tree. Now half of it is gone. Don't be fooled by the tree behind it. When you look at this beautiful pine tree from the front of our house...the painter sawed off half of it before I could stop him. I won't even let Dennis trim it. Because I loved the way it fell...Elmer our Amish tree trimmer was so careful with its trimming...he analyzed each cut. We planted this tree and the one behind it. They were a majestic duo together...now rather than two trees that we hang white fairy lights on during the holidays...we have 1 tree and about 1/2 of the other one...so sad...so very sad.

The worst part is that the branches were roughly sawn off and just left to fall in the tree...and stubs of branches are just left there...naked and shattered. So sad...and no one even thought about asking us if they could do this...it was just done. I still feel sick about what was done to my tree...my beautiful cherished much loved tree.







I can't even look at this photo without feeling sad. Unbelievably sad.

Finished this...it seems to be getting tons of hype and great reviews but I didn't love it...at all...




Finishing this one...and it's yummy...secrets, lies, mystery in a small town in Virginia.



I find myself in another teensy reading slump...lots to read but I am not in a reading mood. Oh well...it will pass!

Today already had us in evacuate mode...kitty carrier out and ready...tons of rain and a tornado warning barely a town away. Roads are flooded...rain is falling so hard you can't even see outside. Plus we have the added luxury of dentist appointments for both of us...and I am sure it's x-rays and other horrors.

Sigh...again...not my week!

Buona Lettura!

Undeniably Miserable...

I am pretty much resigning myself to having a miserable week. I can't even talk myself out of it. I am the one who has to be here for all of the bad stuff...bathroom renovation...I literally watched pieces of our bathroom carried down my hardwood steps and out the front door...wincing as the door slammed every single time...dirt and tiny pebbles being ground into my hardwood with very tread. The roof...the deck...every air conditioner and furnace check up and repair...adding digital cable to every room and having people crawl through the attic...dryer and dishwasher and washer repair...the time the house was barely a day old and the jetted tub in our bathroom leaked into all of the family room. The time the painter was " not sober" and literally fell off of the roof! The replacement of the pillars in the front porch area...the kitchen...OMG...the two weeks with no kitchen! The hot water heater replacements...the furnace recall...when the house was not even two years old and the furnace was replaced...it just does not seem to stop! Ever!



I am not remotely in the mood for this house painting...I know someone will need to use the bathroom...and will track in dirt from outside...leave the seat up and open which we never do because I don't want Roxie or Lucy to drown...I am in a really foul mood!

I am so sorry to vent...usually I am kind...caring...considerate...but I am not in the mood for this and someone I live with failed to communicate effectively to me that this was going to happen...this week.

I am so mad...really mad...really angry...really irritated. Sigh!

Reading this...kind of Dystopian Secret Societyish...and really good but not good enough to change my mood...not one bit.


This has not been a fun summer...at all. Even my precious girls are hovering and sensing my not nice mood. Cats are like that...they tune in to moods.






I remain miserable.

Buona Lettura!

It's Waffle Time! It's Complaining Time, Too!

Den has gone off to church...the good boy that he is...I am home with my girls...drinking coffee in bed and reading...in just a few minutes I am going to go prep for waffles.



We have been off for two weeks...well...I am always off but Den has been off for two weeks...and we have been off of our schedules...we have been across the country...happy to see family...worried about Den's dad and leaving the kitties...and now I get to stay home all next week while our house gets painted...plus we have dentist appointments on Tuesday...in spite of my optimism it's pretty much a bad week for me. The air conditioner and furnace check ups are due and Comcast has to come out because something is wrong with our main DVR box...hmmm...just gets worse, doesn't it?

Plus while we were away...

These two have secrets...and they are not sharing them...I continue to find things that have been moved...pillows upended everywhere...toys all over...and some missing things...I had a little wooden heart...in a little wooden holder...the holder was in a room that it was never in before...and the pink heart is missing! Lucy! Roxie! Confess! They refuse to look me while I am questioning/ interrogating them.






I hate appointments...I really truly do! There will be power washing and strangers in our downstairs bathroom and noise...I won't be able to sit on the deck because it's the back of the house that gets most of the painting...sigh! I am not happy! Plus we still have not picked the right white yet...who knew there were so many whites?
And none of them feel like just the right white...





Reading this...yes...it is every bit as freaky scary chilling as it looks! But I can't stop reading it...lol...



Buona Lettura! Off to enjoy my only peaceful day this week!