Peer pressure

Apparently the concept of peer pressure is ageless - not only for the young and foolish.  I've watched everyone in the neighborhood plant flowers and baskets.  I didn't want to be "the new kid on the block" who didn't play the game.  

So against my better judgement I succumbed today and hit the garden centers early this morning. Naturally I waited too long and all the pretty annuals were long gone and all that was left were some straggly plants, and I'm not even sure what some of them are.  But after the third garden center I just grabbed anything.  Oh the shame!

I figured boring plants would be better than none.  Do you see the cute white picket planter inside the garage?  A friend made it for my birthday and today I painted it white and put in a few flowers.  It now sits by my back door

And I got the second coat of paint on my steps.  I have to admit for a few days I had "color regret" about the red paint but after a second coat, it's starting to grow on me. 

Note the pretty pit of flowers on the step.  Now I wish I had bought 2 of them

I had some plants left over so I just stuck them in a few pots by the back door.

I have to admit, albeit begrudgingly, I feel better with a few flowers around.  Maybe next year I will do better and start earlier. 

And I found this cute decoration to hang on my front door at the Dollar Store 

I forgot to mention in my last post that I think the water problem in the basement has been fixed.  The Permacrete people were here and did their thing.  They fixed the bad corner and part of the side wall.  They were polite, efficient and the price was reasonable.  And they have a great warranty so hopefully that is the last of my water woes.  

One of those days

It didn't start well.  I got up a little late, spent a bit too much time sipping my morning coffee and then I realized I forgot to put the garbage out last night and the truck was due by any minute. Ugh, I always laugh at those people that run out with the garbage in their jammies.  Today that was me.

And with only a few minutes left I had to get dressed for work.  It's supposed to be "casual Friday" but we were having a big infrastructure funding announcement at work so I had to dress up.  Grabbed a skirt and a nice blouse and ran out the door.  

I worked the first 2 HOURS of the day with my blouse on INSIDE OUT!  And it was a button up blouse so I don't even know how I did it........OMG

Good grief!  I survived the rest of the day and came home to try and figure out a quick supper and then mow the lawn before the bugs got bad.  But then a nice invite came in for a bbq with a friend.  Beer Can Chicken or as I like to call it "Butt Chicken"

A happy ending to a rather disheveled kind of day.  Happy Weekend 

Hello Noah, I'd like to make a reservation

Well it's been quite a day.  There was a weather warning yesterday for "rain, heavy at times" but not a warning to book passage on Noah's Ark!!  When I went to bed it was raining quite hard and soon I could hear pounding rain outside. About 1:30am I heard a noise.  The sump pump was running.  I debated going to the basement to check things out but was almost scared of what I might see.  I decided there was nothing I could do anyway so I might as well go back to sleep. (Of course I didn't sleep).  It was torrential rain all night 

So this morning I meekly descended to the basement and on the bottom step I heard water running.  Oh My heart fell into my stomach.  The floor was dry at first but the further back I went I started seeing some water and then I saw the source.  Water was literally spouting out a hole in the foundation wall near the corner.  

You can't see it from this picture but it looked like there was an invisible man against the wall, peeing on my oil tank!  Just one constant stream.  You know in cartoons when there is a leak and someone plugs it and then 6 more leaks spring up around it?  I was scared that might happen. Ugh, like I need this kind of trouble.  All the way upstairs I muttered about how stupid I was to think I could own a house, etc etc .  

Then I checked my phone.  All kinds of messages about flooding across town, street closures and worse.  So now I knew my work day wasn't going to be much better than my wake-up discovery. 

This photo is off my old street where I lived with Mom.  Looks more like a river.  I've lived here my whole life and have never seen anything like this here 

And a retirement/nursing home in town had to evacuate 85 residents in the middle of the night.   It is still raining but all streets have receded enough to re-open but no word on when the nursing home might be open again.   The sump pump here was stopped running and I have called a permacrete installer to come and look at my basement Wednesday.  Thank goodness for lines of credit! 

Ahh Monday, you were a hateful witch today.

Sweet and savory

I love to cook and try new recipes but it can be a bit risky. Especially if you are trying to stick to a food budget and plan meals for a few days of leftovers.  However the other day I saw a recipe online and it sounded so good I decided to risk 2 pork tenderloins and try it.  Maple Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin.  Here is the link to the recipe. 

http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/crock-pot-brown-and-maple-sugar-pork-tenderloin/

I worried all day that if this recipe was a bust, I'd have nothing for supper.  But I worried for nothing.  This one is a keeper.  It was incredible.  I even made the sauce at the end.  I served it with French onion scalloped potatoes and artichokes.  YUMMMMM

And look at this pretty omelet I made for breakfast - mushroom, chicken and chives.  And it didn't even break when I flipped it 

I thought today I should step it up in the kitchen and eat properly.  Since yesterday I had a donut for breakfast, birthday cake for lunch and cheese and crackers for supper.   Sad but true.  

The calendar says it's the first day of summer but I think it took a detour.  I had my furnace on this morning for awhile.  Cold and damp is getting old, really, really old.  

That's all the news from here.  Have a great week.

Seeing red

No, I'm not angry, just wanted to brighten things up a bit. I thought the white and green steps were a little bland for me so I decided to shake things up a bit.  This was the front step before 

And now it's a little spicy.

Only the first coat of paint applied but it's a change.  Tomorrow it's supposed to rain so I guess it will be another week before I can finish.  My other chalk paint for my inside projects arrived today.  That will be another weekend project.  I have a sweet flower planter to paint tomorrow but I can do that inside the garage despite the rain. Then I'll pick up a few more flowers.  I hope the garden center still has some left.  

In other news, last night a few of the girls gathered for supper at the pub  to celebrate Deanne F.'s birthday.  Here's the little centerpiece we made her for the table.  Lol

Then we went downtown for "Movie Night in the Park".  They were playing Grease. 

Being the wild women we are, we felt compelled to sing along.  We gave a rousing rendition of "summer loving". But we got a lot of strange looks, so we soon skedaddled. Lol. But we had a blast 

I love Girls Night

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I haven't disappeared, although I've been blog-absent.  I've just been busy.  Once Lola vacated the premises it took me a bit of time to put the house back together.  And on the weekend I went on a cleaning binge. I tore the place apart and then the urge to change things took over.  I know......again?  Yes again. 

It's difficult putting a home together from scratch.  I'm still looking for just the right pieces for certain places.  I had my little hooking/reading corner set up with the recliner I had purchased for Mom's room.  It wasn't what I wanted there but I had hung onto it for sentimental reasons.  Well, last week I sold it and began the search for "my" chair.  I swear my butt print is in every chair this town had for sale.  Finally I sat in one just knew I had found it.  Comfy, squishy in all the right spots, perfect.  And here is the best part...... It was $699 and marked down to $400.  But I thought there might be a Fathers Day sale if I waited a few days.  Sure enough at the beginning of this week it was an additional 20% off and no tax!  I got it for $320.   SCORE!!

I have a little stand for the corner but it's still in the garage waiting for a little TLC.  

Next, the bedroom.  Once the weather warmed up I put the heavy duvet away and needed a light weight bed cover.  I couldn't find what I wanted, plus I haven't decided on the wall paint color so I just threw on an old light quilt.  But it was ugly and too small (single size, not double). Just barely laid on the top.  Drove me nuts.  

Yuck!

 I'd been eyeing a quilt in the LLBean catalog but kept resisting.  I broke down the other day and it arrived today. I love it and now I think I know what color to re-paint the walls.  I wish I had the pillow shams but they were ridiculously expensive.  2 pillow shams were almost the same prices as the quilt.  No way! 

Close up

And last but not least, I popped into the used furniture store on my way home.  I was just browsing but then I found a great old dresser that I'm planning on refinishing.  I'll show that progress another time.

This weekend I might paint outside.  My front steps need some TLC and the window frames. 

So that's it for now. I better go see what you've all been up too 

A decision

Sometimes you just have to admit when something isn't working, and Miss Lola and I were not working.  She hated being kennelled all day and expressed her frustrations all evening.  So both of us were unhappy and that's not good for me or fair for a high energy puppy.

So after some hard thinking and a few tears I found a wonderful new home for Lola with one of my oldest friends.  She works from home, her husband is retired and they have 2 children and a 4 year old yorkie. 

Lola will have all the attention she deserves and a sibling to play with.   I noticed a significant difference in Lola on the weekends when I was home most of the time.  Much less bad behavior problems. But through the weekdays, the evenings were so unpleasant (for both of us) 

So I am confident the right decision was made and her new family is thrilled to have her and the update I got this morning sounds like Lola is adjusting well too. 

I guess living alone and working full time is not the environment for a puppy.  At least for this puppy.  So I'm going to take a step back and put puppy motherhood on the back burner for now.  

This and that

I don't seem to have much blog worthy lately.  Unless you consider updates about the psycho puppy.  Lol.  We have settled into a nice weekend routine, we are working on our obedience homework and she only had one time-out this weekend.  Ironically just a few minutes ago.   She even took a nap this afternoon.  I looked down and she was upside down and I wasn't sure which end was her head and which end was the other. 

I try to switch out her toys everyday.  She has such a short attention span.  I looked down at my living room today in disgust.  It's a mess of baby gates, toys and blankets.  You'd think I had 4 toddlers, not one little puppy.  I don't think my house will ever be presentable :(

In other old news, after days and days of rain I got fed up with putting my feet in wet sneakers. So I went to Deanne Fitzpatrick's ladies wear store (Thirty Church: The Women's Store) and bought these rubber boots.

Aren't they great??  Makes the rain just a little brighter and more tolerable ;).  

Sorry I don't have much left to report.  Hopefully more blog worthy events are on the horizon 

Boot camp

Lola and I survived our first private obedience training session.  Of course the little bugger was on her best behavior for about 3/4 of the hour. Lol   Jennifer was great with her (and me) and we came home with some homework on "impulse control" issues.  We go back again next week.  The good news is she thinks after a couple more private sessions Lola will be ready for a puppy socialization class.  

It was a great place.  Sorry no pictures, I was too busy listening and watching.  But there was ramps and tunnels and Lola had a great time and got lots of treats (when she behaved).  The best part was when we got home.  She was completely worn out.

After getting a drink, she found her blanket and within 10 minutes she was snoring.  She has the cutest little puppy snore :).  I got to relax and even take a leisurely bath!!  

The other tip I got was to get a Kong, fill it with kibble and plain yogurt, seal the ends with peanut butter and freeze it.   I did that as soon as we got home.  Tonight when she started to get wound up I gave it to her

That little thing kept her busy for 51 minutes.  Yes, I timed it.  Lol. She eventually got every little bit out of it.   ALL HAIL THE KONG!!!!!!

Little Lola has gone to bed early and I think I'll join her soon.  

Limited vocabulary

If you are within earshot of my house lately you'll hear only a few key phrases.  My vocabulary at home has basically been restricted to this Top Ten List

1.  Lola, NO

2.  Lola, we don't eat people

3.  Lola, no bite!!

4. Lola, stop eating the curtains

5.  Lola, we don't eat people!

6.  Lola, you're gonna get a Time-Out

7.  Lola, stop eating the sofa

8.  Lola, stop eating the drywall.  (Seeing a theme here??)

9.  Lola, let go of my (insert any body part here)

10.  LOLA, WE DON'T EAT PEOPLE

This is one challenging puppy.  Tomorrow we have a Puppy Boot Camp.  Wish us luck

This is just after a stern lecture about chewing the underside of the sofa.