Crazy Busy, the mode of late
My niece used this term about how our lives have been & it seems to fit, unfortunately…”Crazy Busy”! I’m looking forward to a day when I can say it isn’t!
I missed quite a few months here on the blog-no entries for a very LONG time. Back in June, our son graduated from high school, with several other events taking place around the same time.
I went to the Nationals bowling tournament in Las Vegas. I was co-chair for our invitational bowling tourney for my 200 Club in September. I also go to other 200 club’s tourney each month. I got back into the Monday night bowling league & still do secretary/treasurer duties for our Thursday Rollers league.
We have been remodeling in the house, replacing windows…one at a time. Currently, the project is getting new carpet installed in 2 rooms. Hoping that happens this Monday, after experiencing several glitches.
I have been tackling my jungle of a garden, prepping for window installation & just trying to stay on top of it, before it swallows me up!
My dear friend, Al, passed away in August after his last bout with Cancer. That has thrown me for a loop. 
Trying to get back on track now.
One son is discovering college for the first time & I still taxi the other son to school. He’s taking drivers’ education now, so a license should be in the next year.
I still take pix of everything & time to process them is limited, so I’m way behind, as you can imagine.
I discovered Facebook, quite by accident, and was learning the ropes there…finding a new way to stay in contact with my family & friends.
I may still make entries about each (or some) of these events, but that will depend on what time I can eke out of the time frame of my regular household schedule. I know…good luck with THAT, you say! 
Gotta run…taxi duty! 
Do I Remember How to Post a Pic?
Not sure how to get the pix in the post. This is different from the way I used to do it. Guess this is a newer version of the program. I know I uploaded a photo to my gallery. Just don’t know how to get it here. Phooey!
Okay! I figured out a way-but it’s not like before, so I have a feeling I’m going to forget the next time I try this. Yikes! I just have to remember to select pix that are already a smaller size or they come out HUGE here.
Note to self: Used the direct link selection from Photobucket for this one & clicked the img button in the html editor.
Switched
Moved my blog-so I had practice at exporting from old blog & importing into this one. Now need to change background & other details. Hope I can find the time! Maybe creating entries will become a habit?!
New theme & still working on the look of the page.
What? Two Months have passed?
EEK! I recall making a note of it having been a month since I posted anything. I thought, “I’d better get some pix processed, so I can post ‘em.” The But First Syndrome took over though. But first…I should try to fix the external hard drive, so I can move pix from my hard drive to free up space. But first…I have to attend to family matters. But First…Chores, events (birthdays, kids’ school stuff…all needed my attention. Bowling tourneys, bought a car, removal of plants, sliding patio door installed…plus a variety of other tasks took precedence. Now vacation plans are under way…and I have lists galore to get into gear! Yikes!
If, the But First Syndrome doesn’t kill me, I’ll try for a post before we leave, at least.
A few of my bloomers, till I get back with more…click for larger views:
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- Echinocereus rigidissimus v. rubrispinus
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- Aloe sinkatana
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- Hemerocallis
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- Chamaelobivia ‘Rose Quartz’
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- Passiflora ‘Incense’
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- Justicia carnea
What First?
What to do first? I’m torn between my Wants & my Have To Do items on My List these days. Still working on: finishing up our tax returns; looking after a sick teen ~both kids have another week of their month-long spring break, bowling tourney coming up with brother; whacking back the jungle; installing linoleum in son’s new closet; catching 1st-time bloomers & installing a new window (in our bedroom this time). We’re also waiting on delivery of a sliding patio door. Prep for that required me chopping down a massive clump of Alpinia zerumbet (Shell Ginger). I left a few standing, but I’ll dig out tubers asap. It was sad to take them out.But eventually, we will build a deck outside this door, so I need to relocate all the plants I have in this area. Yikes! I had to find space to move all my sux that were on a tabletop that we made on our fig tree stump. It started to tilt. I think the stump is rotting. I didn’t want my sux crashing all over. Also had to move all plants outside our bedroom window. What fun!
Boring pix of a really ugly area…but here is the Ginger Whack project (before & after-well, not finished yet). I had whacked it back once already recently. The plant just about covered the whole door then!:
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- Echium fastuosum w/ Freesia ‘White Lace’ behind
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- Shell Ginger after whack
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- After whack job – Alpinia
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- Shell Ginger covering patio door
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- Alpinia zerumbet
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- Stubs left after chop
Just about every day–or every other day, you can find me taking pix of my plants & their blooms…among other things, like our remodeling projects. The time it takes to process these is getting out of hand. I no longer give them filenames in a timely manner. It’s getting more difficult just choosing which pix I want to post. Eek! I hope to get a bunch more spring bloomers up very soon.
Haven’t figured out how to get a single pic posted without having it included in the gallery of pix (like above). Oh well-more to learn later!
Echium fastuosum w/ Freesia 'White Lace' behind
Back when I’m able! I have to run…yet again!
I have a bowling club meeting & games after.
Teens ‘n’ Taxis – Life in the Fast Lane
When you have teenagers, it seems you become a taxi or shuttle service every day. All it takes is 2 events going on to get everyone in a scramble! Add in regular family doings & you have a recipe for chaos. Different schedules of picking up & taking to places can make you cuckoo! There are 4 trips a day to/from school! I’m finding more & more I have to write down exactly what I have to do each day & in what order. Yikes!
The last 2 weeks have been a flurry. We celebrated Valentine’s Day not too long after my last entry. Then got ready for a visit from a forum gardening friend from AZ. As my gardens are a jungle, nothing I could do would make them look anything but half decent. The recent rains we’ve had made grass & weeds shoot up everywhere! Hubby was nice enough to weed whack the paths for me. We had a great visit! It was wonderful to meet Gay for the 1st time. I’m hoping to one day visit her succulent garden!
It wasn’t in the plan, but I ended up putting a “toothpick” fence between us & the neighbors to the north. The Wall is coming, but this will hopefully keep the woman off our property & her hands out of my garden until I can get it installed!! So these stakes I drove into the ground in a line have no connecting wood & look like toothpicks to me. LOL
We are prepping one son’s room to put a closet back in (taken out when that room was my office). Also prepping our room to install a new window. This will be #2 of 15! We’ve been waiting for the rainy days to be over ~nice as it’s been to have them, it holds up the works, if you know what I mean.
Started looking at houses for sale, as it seems signs have popped up all over the place from folks going into foreclosure. It’s a sad thing that’s happening across the country. Many areas in CA have been hit hard. It seems there were many folks who had variable rates on their mortgages & those started to rise, making payment amounts out of their range. So, many hours spent in the past week or so have been online plus driving around looking & checking into what’s what for a possible purchase down the road. We even went to an open house Saturday to check out the floor plan & square footage. So many details to consider!
I’m in the middle of preparing our tax returns. Seems there’s more phone calls & things to get in the mail than I have time for…but I’m working on it! Many of my succulents need to be repotted. I had a load of “cart jumpers” too…you know, the plants that jump in your cart & beg you to take them home?!
Cart jumpers
Just this past Thursday, we started a new bowling league. I’m secretary/treasurer again, so there’s a heap of paperwork to tackle before Thurs. rolls around again. Still many teams in it, so it looks to be fun! I’m still working on the last of the awards from last season to get into the USBC. Oh, more tourneys coming up…have to get entries for those in! Never a dull moment, I always say!
One teen will be taking the SAT for college this Saturday. I have a bowling tourney on Monday & son has one (Pepsi Tournament in Los Angeles area) the following weekend. He will take his driver’s test next Friday, so may be alone on the road before we know it. Oh boy! Kids are growing up fast!
I wonder if there’s any place I can buy some Time in a Bottle?!? I’d better get a move on & hit My List!
