Andrew & Savannah Sledding

After our big snow a couple of weeks ago, Andrew & Savannah went sledding on our front "hill." It's not much of a hill, but they had a blast anyway for about an hour!! Oh to be 4 and 6 again and not have too high of expectations! (just click on the video file below)

100_0439.mov

Southern Bella

Meet... Southern Bella... she was born Aug 23, 2005. She arrived in Northern Illinois just over a week ago after being rescued from a high-kill shelter in Georgia. Her given name was "Bella", and since she is from Georgia we added "Southern" to make it more appropriate. She's already house-broken, very lovable, does very well with the kids and LOVES DOLLS! (See below... We'll be sure not to let this become a habit... she has a nice new comfy bed right next to Savannah's princess couch, but for some reason was attracted more to the princess couch where Amy Baby was laying... isn't that cute!!) She is very healthy and lively, but we've yet to hear her bark... she cried for about 10-15 minutes last night when we put her down, and it was actually very light crying. No accidents yet in the house, either... I know, we'll get it yet. She did take the time this morning to hide two chew-bones in the house, from Andrew & Savannah I guess (one in our coat closet and another behind Laurie's desk in the living room)... it was hilarious to watch her do this.


When she's playing hard she likes to lightly "nibble", but you can't really feel it... she has a good sense with her teeth while playing... she basically just wraps her mouth around your fingers (or for Savannah it's her arm) and doesn't even squeeze. Savannah hasn't liked that too much, though. To her, a "playful nibble" is a BITE.


Anyway... she's doing well... I'm sure she feels a little confused by her move from GA to IL (she's still not too sure about snow), a stay at the shelter for awhile, then to a foster home for about a week and now to our house. But, I think she's going to adapt just fine.

Robin Arrival!!

Woo Hoo!! I saw my first Robin yesterday... Maybe word got around the animal kingdom after Groundhog's Day. I also had 4 male cardinals at our bird feeders this morning... no females. I guess they had a little male pow-wow to discuss spring coming, too.

My jasmine plant is in bloom and W-O-W!! Savannah and I counted 44 open blooms this morning... And it smells SO sweet!! It's probably my favorite flower scent. We don't have to burn any candles for a few days at least. I put it in the same window every winter getting the most sun possible, away from any vents and watering it quite often to keep the soil evenly moist... when it starts developing it's buds it takes even more watering, about every other day (the soil mixture allows for quick drainage so it won't get soggy).

I took some drastic steps on a couple of plants recently... I always hate to do it, but now is the time when I cut back those that need it before they begin their spring growth spurts.

My Night Blooming Jasmine was the first to be "reduced" to twigs... it hasn't taken long for new sprouts to start appearing.

I also removed the main stem of my Dwarf Cavendish Banana (above)... I had three new pups coming up and the old stem wasn't producing new leaves and I wanted all of the plant's resources going to the new pups. This morning I saw a fourth pup peeking through the soil and the old original stem has begun to push up a new leaf. I'll be transplanting all of the pups shortly into their own containers. I'm hoping to find a nice partly sunny/partly shady spot outside to put them in the ground. I had one in the ground for a customer last year and it did very well. I'll probably keep the orginal stem in this container, though.

I de-leafed my "Mini Benji" (that's my name for it, not the real name) a couple of weeks ago... I've had this little guy for about four years and I pinch off all of the leaves when they get to be full size... Usually about three to four times a year.

I LOVE this orchid (Oncidium Jiuhbao) that I bought a couple of weeks ago. This is probably the most beautiful orchid flower I have ever seen. I wanted something bright and colorful but I wasn't expecting THIS.

I originally wrote this blog on Wednesday, but spent most of the day on the couch sick. I woke up Tuesday night with an upset stomach and it continued to get worse. By the time I got up Wednesday morning I was really feeling sick... cloudy in the head, nauseated, all of my joints aching. Such a wonderful feeling!! I even went to bed early (I never do that). I'm feeling better today, but still not 100%... and with the little warmer temps, my sinuses are bothering me. I strict orderes today from Laurie to not overdo myself. :)

Another Cub Flub

Is it just me, or do others think they really should have given Wood the boot during the off-season? And people wonder why I started wearing a White Sox cap rather than a Cubs cap in 2000... My fury with the Ivy Covered Beer Garden is justified once again.


Kerry Wood hurt in fall from hot tub
By Associated Press

MESA, Ariz. -- Oft-injured Kerry Wood is out again - this time because of a flub in a hot tub.

The Chicago Cubs pitcher is not expected to throw off the mound for a few days after he slipped this week getting out of a hot tub at home. Wood landed on his stomach and chest."

It was just a little spill," Wood said Thursday. "I didn't think anything of it. Nothing's wrong. It's just going to be a few extra days. My arm feels great. My body feels good."

Wood said he probably would not have thrown off the mound until Friday had he not gotten hurt. He participated in most drills on Thursday when pitchers and catchers worked out for the first time.

Bothered by an injured right shoulder the past three seasons, Wood is being converted to a reliever after being limited to four starts last year.

Blizzard of '07

Here's what we woke up to on Wed. morning... 13-inches of snow was nice to look at for about... 5-minutes!!

Ok, so it wasn't all that bad... until I had to start shoveling, and shoveling, and shoveling. So maybe it was nice for about 15-minutes.

The car didn't get out until today (Thursday) due to the city forgetting about our street. After a few calls and some detailed explanations of how nice all the other streets in our area looked... two trucks with plows finally showed up.

It took about 2-hours of work to get the truck out... Having rear-wheel drive and no weight in the back didn't help!! Though I did find that throwing the shovel and kicking some snow clumps did seem to help :) And it was very entertaining for the neighbors, too.

The bad part was that I had to park it 2-blocks away to leave room for the street to be plowed. The last thing I wanted was for the plows to come by and bury the truck back in after I spent so much time digging it out.

I had a good time this morning taking the kids to school and Laurie to work... I had a little trouble getting onto our street since the intersection had a 2-foot snow mound blocking it. See the fire hydrant in that picture? Our street is just beyond that... of course, you can't tell because the snow mound continues from one block thru our intersection and to the next block.

But once I broke thru and found my way onto the tire ruts made by a few other trucks that had driven down our street, I was in good shape... until I had to break through the snow mound at the other end of our block.

So... I picked up Savannah first and took her to pre-school, then came back and picked up Andrew and took him to his school, then came home and got Laurie and took her to work. You would think by then I would have some good tracks leading onto our street, but as I pulled onto our street to run into the house and get something... I got stuck again and spent a couple of minutes rocking back and forth.

Needless to say, I was VERY happy to see the plows come down our street... My neighbors might have thought I was a little crazy, though, when they saw me jumping up and down on the sidewalk cheering for the plows like a kid at a Fourth of July parade. Just kidding... :)

LET IT SNOW!!

IT`S A BLIZZARD - litterally. We are to receive a total of 10-15 inches by the end of the storm tonight. We`ve had wind gusts up to 50 MPH, too - hence the reason the storm is being called a blizzard.

Kids are home from school today, of course - ISU even shut down so Laurie is home, too. I really wish we had a fireplace today.

I`m just glad we don`t live in northern NY. The report this morning was that parts of NY had received 140+ inches of snow in the last 10-days - THAT`S NUTS!!

OK, I`ve got to do something today. Have lots of work to do on the computer

Andrew Quotes

"Andrew quotes" from today that made me smile and cry:

1) "Someday, Jesus will find a way to make it snow more often."

2) "Daddy, I`ll always want to hold your hand." (While we were walking together tonight and in response to me saying, "You know Andrew, it won`t be long and you probably won`t want to hold my hand like this any longer.")

I LOVE BEING A DADDY!!

Neighborhood Watch :)

Sometimes isn't it just fun to sit arond and watch your neighbors? They can provide better entertainment than the TV!!

There is a rental house across the street from us that has been vacant since November. We had heard rumors from a neighbor that a son of the owner was going to be moving in, but we were warned that he was trouble. Our neighbor told us that she had warned his parents that she won't hesitate calling the police if he's acting up (and we don't doubt that she will). Well, we've waited and waited for someone to move in, but no one ever has. So, we wondered if our neighbor's threats about calling the police on their son made them think twice about that decision.

Then on Saturday Laurie looked out our front window and saw people going in and out of the front door, but there appeared to be something wrong. Since the front door was open Laurie noticed something all over the floor... and something hanging from the ceiling. She called me over and I could see drips of water coming from the ceiling.

Apparently the pipes had frozen and burst and there were long icicles hanging down from the ceiling of the first floor. We're wondering if they had left the heat off since no one was living in the house. Laurie called our neighbors to tell her what was happening and they started laughing.

So today... Serv-Pro showed up (a cleaning and restoration company)... I can't imagine what mess they're having to clean up and "restore." Funny thing is... they were only there about 30-minutes and left the front door wide open. Hope they get back to close it up before we start getting this 6-12 inches of snow tonight!!

Now answer this question, please... if you own an investment property and it's currently empty, wouldn't you be concerned of it's condition when it's as cold as it has been? Can we say "insurance check?"

Survivor 14 - Fiji

Woo Hoo!!! It's that time again... SURVIVOR FIJI!! Starts tonight at 7!!

I don't think Laurie and I will EVER get tired of this show. We've been "with them" since the very first show and missed few. We usually have to record it... it's on right when we're either eating or putting the kids to bed.

Sounds like this season is going to be a good one. But, have any of them been bad? Keep up with the action at http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor14/.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me

Yes... it's the 12th anniversary of my 29th birthday. :) You figure it out... It's older than I want to be and older than I feel. That's a good thing, right?

Just a simple celebration at home with the family.

I just figured it out this year with all the hoopla of the super bowl... I was born the same year as the first super bowl. Now I'll never forget my birthday!! I just have to look at the roman numerals for the super bowl a week before :)

We ended up gettin about 4 inches of snow yesterday. Andrew and I went and bought sleds a couple of nights ago, so I figured since we were buying them it probably wouldn't snow. But, it's still so cold to go sledding. It's suppose to "warm up" tomorrow to about 20, but Laurie and the kids are taking off to Laurie's parents to stay the night. So, I might have the kids take the sleds with them to Indiana. But... I kind of wanted to take them the first time with their new sleds :( We'll see...

Savannah stayed home today from school... pink eye. Poor thing... but, she's been in a pretty good mood today. And (this is a strange one) she loves getting the eye drops!! HA!!! She says it tickles when it lands on her eye ball.

Before I go I've GOT to share a couple of pictures I made up today... it all started when our worship leader at church made a comment about watching the A-Team last night rather than have choir (actually, choir was cancelled due to the weather)... so then someone in the choir shared a picture of the A-Team but with our worship leader's face photoshopped in place of one of the character's faces. I couldn't leave it at that... so... I had to find a more "appropriate" group that he would fit in with rather than the illustrious A-Team...


I liked Charlie's Angels a lot more than the A-Team! But, I'll never remember them the same way now.

Super Bowl After-Thoughts

Two post-super bowl comments...

1) (Laurie said it best) I now know I'm much more of a Bears fan than a Colts fan - because I'm just not getting any satisfaction from the Colts winning. We had thought that if the Colts won we'd be ok with that, because we cheer for them behind the Bears. But... WE'RE NOT OK WITH IT.

2) CBS got what they wanted.

Super Bowl Beauty Shop

Laurie and Savannah play beauty shop during the super bowl.

CBS Broadcasters

Is it just me or does everyone else think the CBS broadcasters want the Colts to win?? Grrr... The broadcast sounds a little heavy on the Colt side to me. Maybe they think they have to make up for there being more Bears fans at the game.

GO BEARS!!!

Makeup Artist (LITERALLY!!)

Laurie and Savannah had a little fun last night doing makeovers. Well, let me correct that... SAVANNAH had fun last night giving herself and Laurie makeovers :)

Check these cute pictures out...

Is there a future in Mary Kay for Savannah?? She even refers to demonstration pamphlets as she does Laurie's makeup.

She works with GREAT detail in making sure Laurie's makeup is done correctly.

Savannah reveals her own makeover... :)

Then, Laurie's makeover is revealed :O

The combined work of our little makeup artist

One more look at Laurie's new look... I'm sure Cosmo will want to use this for their next cover model!!

What a fun and awesome time for Laurie and Savannah... And yes, they left their makeup on all evening, through supper and a movie (at our house NOT at a theatre). Laurie had to clean Savannah's makeup off after she fell asleep on her lap.

Colts Cheerleader

Here she is... the NEWEST Colts cheerleader...

Isn't she adorable!! She was so excited to get her "Colts dress."

Bear Excitement

Only three more days until...

Is it a bad thing that I'm actually praying for the Bears to win? I'm sure God understands... He's GOT to be a Bears fan!! Don't you think?

I bought myself a new orange Bears jersey the other day... Of course I wanted orange because it is also a U of Florida color... you know... the COLLEGE NATIONAL CHAMPION FOOTBALL AND BASKETBALL TEAM... GO GATORS!!

Anyway... I tried to buy Andrew a jersey, but we couldn't find a store that had children sized jerseys... so a navy blue Bears NFC Champion long-sleeved shirt had to do :( The kids had given Laurie a white Bears jersey for her birthday... so we were all set. Notice... that I had left Savannah out. She was asked if she wanted a Bears shirt and she said, "No, I want a dress for the other team we root for." "You mean the Colts?" she was asked? "Yeah, the Colts." "Do you mean a cheerleading outfit?" "Yeah... I want a cheerleading outfit for the Colts!!"

So... guess what Daddy did for his little Princess the other night... Ordered a Colts cheerleading outfit, and even paid for 2-day delivery because I was afraid it might not make it in time if weather for some reason got bad (it was coming from Florida). Laurie started calling us "Colt-ilocks and the 3 Bears". I REALLY wish I had a Blue Bears jersey now for Andrew... because we want to have our picture taken on Sunday and a jersey for Andrew would really top it all off :)

No word yet on the bid I made... I actually re-bid it because I realized I was too high. I've made follow-up calls, but... we'll see. I'm putting a lot of time into getting things organized for Tropical Touch... I'm excited about making the changes to my business. I'm hoping that over the next year I'll be able to really grow in the interiorscape part of the business. I've been making supply contacts for the past week and am feeling good about the ability to get the plants I want/need and a wide variety of containers for almost every interior style. If you pray... please lift up my business for me. I have such a strong urge to go this direction with my business. I know it won't happen over night and that I need to be patient.

Business cards should be done by next week and that will give me something more to give than just words. And, though I've done a lot of outdoor containers with tropicals and annuals... I've done next to nothing indoors. Granted, some of my outdoor arrangements could have easily been interior... but I need some interior business so I can use them for my portfolio. I'm really limited on what I have done. At least I have a decent portfolio of exterior work.

I REALLY wish I could avoid doing flower beds all together this year... but... I don't think the new direction of the business is going to grow quickly enough for me to give that part up with my core customers. But, I will be declining perennial, shrub and tree planting... unless it's just a few perennials here and there. I really want to focus exclusively on interior/exterior tropical/annual containers and small tropical/annual entry and patio beds... and of course the weekly maintenance of them. Even if that means accepting new business and possibly saying no to some things that my core customers want done. Of course... I can always sub-contract work out... which is probably what I am going to do with some things. I'll oversee it, but I won't physically do it.

I never published better pictures of the kid's bedrooms... here they are... :)

Savannah's Room...






Andrew's room....





We still have to hang all of the framed train pictures in Andrew's room (10 pictures in all, in groupings of 3 and one individually... they're from a 2006 train calendar that Andrew had hanging in his room... he LOVED the calendar and I wanted to somehow use them) and I want to use some track and the engine and coal car from the Lionel train set I had growing up to display on a couple of shelves.

We also still need to paint several butterflies and flowers purple (with pink and yellow accents on them) to put on her walls.

Ok... Laurie's home and it's 6 pm... need to spend some time with her and get ready for supper.

Since I started with a Bears item... I need to end with one, too...

DA BEARS!!

Corrected Colors on Blog

Ok... so I promise I won't use blue against that dark green background anymore... after I got done writing the last time I didn't go back and look at it to see what it looked like... WOW!!! It hurt my eyes to try and read that blue text against the dark green background!! So... I lightened the background and it seems to help a lot :) Thanks for the anonymous tip :)