Christmas Crazies!

So, are you done with Christmas shopping? We pretty much are, mostly due to my wonderful shopper of a husband. Weird right? Heres the gist of it....

He doesn't like to shop the rest of the year but will go with me.....just if you ask any questions about how things look you always get the same answer so you might as well not ask.

He adores, no, loves....no, pretty much worships Black Friday. Its totally weird to me. Before we were together I hardly shopped that day at all. Our big day was the day after Christmas.

Two years ago he went with his aunts to an Outlet center 1 1/2 hours from here for their midnight madness Black Friday sale.....I stayed at home and slept like a normal human.

But honestly, most years he is out by 4 or 5am and I meet him around 9.

This year, with Old Navy doing their craziness, he was there at 2:30am. I still didnt' meet him till 10:00 am but we were out till around 3 or 4pm. That means he literally shopped for about 12 hours!

Are you jealous? I would be.....I mean, its the weekend before Christmas and I think we only have 2 more gifts to buy. Its a very nice situation.

Now, unfortunately, wrapping is still my job!

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge

This week's challenge is Pets only and since I took this of my Somoa just over a week ago, I had to enter it! She's a great model and loves the camera but I absolutely loved how the colors and glow came out in this picture in front of our tree!

Dog Sleepovers

Its been a couple of weeks now, but we had a Bassett Hound named Daisy stay with us for a few days. It was fun and interesting. Many of you know that Somoa thinks she rules the roost so we knew that we needed to watch her. She snarled a couple of times and showed her ugly side but all in all, it was a fun adventure.

While they were not fond of it, here all three of them are in our front doorway. It was a lot of sit and stay commands and notice they aren't all in focus. It was a good try anyways.



This is definitely Daisy's favorite spot......other than my couch! :) I usually came home to her waggin her tail standing on the sofa very excited to see me! She was way more excited when Jeremy came home though. Definitely liked him!


Oh and see, Somoa is lying peacefully next to Daisy!


I couldn't resist capturing a few classic Bassett Hound pictures. The ears, the feet, the sad sad eyes!



These feet are strong but unfortunately not long enough to keep poor Daisy's ears out of everything. She has a special water bowl for that but the week she stayed with us it rained a bunch and the grass would get her ears wet every time! I felt bad for her but I guess she is used to it! We had fun with her visit! She's a real sweetheart!

Changing times

Okay not really I am just changing the look of my blog to a fall theme! Bear with me as I don't have the time to sit down and do it all at once so inbetween its going to look a little ugly and disjointed!

Blue Skies, Yellow Jackets and Changing Leaves

In only 11 days I will be having surgery on my ACL so I have been doing a bunch of stuff I won't be able to do for a while. Unfortunately, fall is my favorite time of year and I have a feeling I won't be able to do a bunch for a month or so during the nicest part

Last weekend we tailgated for the Bengals game and then watched them beat Pittsburg at home for the first time in 8 years. Since it's fall, there were yellow jackets everywhere and I was lucky enough to tick one off! This is the remains, a week later. I forgot to take a picture a couple of days ago when it was purple! Apparently I am a little allergic! I looked like some kind of crazy between my knee brace and the bee sting on my other leg!

I have also been trying to do as many photo shoots this weekend and next before surgery. I am not sure how long I will be unable to do them. This weekend was just beautiful for them. Check out a couple of the shoots http://www.erinjacksonphoto.com/

I have also been thinking about getting another tattoo for a while. I had designed one that is inspired by my favorite Bible verse and my fascination with flying. The word soar comes from the verse which says "those who trust in the Lord will soar on wings like eagles" I wanted it to remind me that even though I might be able to get through my day to day life on what I think is my own, if I trust in my Savior, I can really fly.

So, I went in to check on sheduling and prices and stuff and well, long story short.....

here it is! Its not completely healed which is why it looks a little scaley. (Eww, scaley? why did I describe it like that?) Oh well! Its on my wrist if you can't tell from the picture. It hurt but I really like it!

So, I met with my doctor this week and he said I was looking really good for surgery so I guess we will be ready to go on the 15th! I can at least be glad to catch up on books and movies over my break!

MRI'S, ACL'S and Adventures!

So, I know, I like to do stuff that some people consider "extreme". (ie: skydiving, wakeboarding, snowboarding, etc). I just consider them fun and there are plenty of people who do stuff waaaayyy more extreme than I do. But, I guess it caught up with me this time.

Saturday I went to use my gift card from my sister for Wake Nation, a really cool wakeboarding park. Google it, its pretty cool. Anyways, I had been there for an hour already and Wendy and Caleb showed up. I went back to get out on the water, got off the dock went about 30 feet and heard something pop! I went down and screamed! I dont' consider myself to be wimpy but this hurt! It swelled, we went to the ER, got a brace, crutches and went home. Stupid holiday weekend meant I couldn't get an MRI till Tuesday which turned to Wednesday. Then I went to the orthopaedic doctor yesterday.

He came in, moved my leg around and said, "Well dear, I'm afraid you don't have much of an ACL left, in fact its pretty much non-existant." What! Oh jeeze, I thought I read enough on WebMD to diagnose that it was only my MCL. Guess I need to go to medical school after all! Then he showed me the MRI stuff. I will explain it below.

These are all from the side of my leg. The large black things are my femur and tibia. The black band that is circled in this first shot is the Posterior Cruciate Ligament, or PCL, meant to keep your tibia from going too far backwards. My PCL is fine.

This slide shows a large white area that is where there should be another solid black line for my ACL. All the white stuff is swelling. Notice, no sign of any ligament! Nice!

This last one is what he said is textbook bone bruising from a ACL tear. The two white areas on the bone are where they banged together when the twist and ACL tear happened.

Hope none of that was too graphic for anyone. I think this stuff is cool so I thought maybe some of you would too! (I was given the CD of my MRI scans and have had fun playing with them on my computer!) I might have to make some crazy artwork out of them or something!

So, I have 3 weeks of Physical Therapy to reduce swelling and get mobility back in my knee before they do surgery. Another adventure!

I Heart Faces Entry

This is the first time I have entered in a I (heart) faces blog photo. http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/. Nostalgia brought to mind so many entries but this is what I chose.

A young girl picking flowers behind Grandma's house. It could be me or my mom or her mom. (Its not, its actually my friend's adorable little girl) but what I love is even though she is picking flowers, she's got dirt under her fingernails, a sign of playing outside, not watching TV. Enjoying the smells of summer and the feel of the sun on her shoulders. It makes me want to go pick a few daisies myself!

My Birthday Adventure!

Last Friday for my 27th birthday, Jeremy surprised me and took me skydiving! Okay let me go back a few weeks.

We hang out with a group of friends once a week. Over two weeks before my birthday Jeremy had my surprise planned and was telling everyone...except me! The thing is, I knew they all knew, which was torture. Well, through comments he made I figured out how much he was spending. I started doing what I do and trying to figure it out! I thought it might be skydiving until the day I asked him if the activity depended on the weather and his answer was no! Well that threw me for a loop.

Fast forward to last Monday before my birthday and he came home with a gift bag. In it I found 4 little toy parachute men! What a cute way to tell me! Yeah he was yanking my chain about the whole weather thing.

So Friday we drove up to Xenia, OH to Greene County Skydiving. Its in the middle of a cornfield but Jeremy told me highly reccommended by lots of people. We were the first people there being that it was only 9:30. We walked in and "Shaggy" gave us paperwork. He is apparently the resident DZ (that's Drop Zone) hangout. He goes on a plane anytime there is an open seat. He also packs the chutes and usually signs everyone in. They got me suited up and explained a few things, oh and I had to watch this hilarious video and sign my life away basically.

The jump was awesome. I have no words to explain it. I have never felt that big of an adrenaline rush. Brandon was my tandem partner and Chrissy was the videographer, not from the ground, she jumped right with us! She actually hangs off that strut you see in the video until we jump! (By the way, still trying to figure out why the video is squashed and cut off on the sides.)

We did have a couple of funny/scary incidents! When Brandon pulled the chute I yelled up at him, " Are we good?".....no reply! yikes. I said it again...and then I could hear him struggling with the canopy. All of a sudden I felt it straighten up a bit and catch more air, then his reply, " Now we are! " Our strings or the canopy got a little twisted! Kudos to Brandon for fixing it! Then when we got down on the ground Brandon had me sign his jump log book and said, "I am glad I didn't look at this before we went, Do you know what jump # this was for me? 666! " HA! Just goes to show you God is bigger than a number!

All in all, the coolest birthday ever! I told Jeremy last night I am not sure how he is going to top that b/c that was pretty much the thing I wanted to do most! I love to travel and see places too, but I sure do love flying now! I will close with a couple of cool quotes. One funny and the last one that is now my favorite!

Saying you've flown because you've been in an airplane is like saying you've swam b/c you've been in a boat. Get in the medium!

"When once you have tasted flight,
you will forever walk the earth with
your eyes turned skyward, for there
you have been, and there you will always
long to return." -- Leonardo da Vinci

Meal Plan from a Week or So ago.

This is a couple weeks ago but when I am looking for recipes it helps to have lots to choose from.

Meal 1: Porkchops and Baked Potatoes

The porkchops come from Sam's. They sell marinated pork loins...enough to feed an army. I bring them home, cut them into generous steaks and freeze two in a bag. I usually get 10-12 out of a pork loin. All you have to do is defrost and grill!

You can make your baked potatoes any way you like but this is how we do them. Poke a few holes in the potato, drizzle olive oil on the potato and sprinkle with kosher salt. Wrap up in aluminum foil and put on a medium grill for about 30 minutes. You will need to turn every 7 minutes or so. The olive oil and salt makes the skins crispy and yummy. Like momma always said, the skin is where all the vitamins are. So eat your vitamins!

Meal 2: Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf--Holy Moly

This looks like a heart attack waiting to happen but if your husband is as big a fan of meat and potatoes as mine, he is almost guaranteed to like this one.

I think we had potatoes of some sort with this and a salad. We did the meatloaf without the french's onions but you use your own tastes!

Meal 3: Greek Chicken- just like the Greek Wings but with a whole chicken. I can't for the life of me remember what I made with it. Try grilled zucchini. Slice the zucchini lengthwise into 1/2" strips, season with olive oil S & P and grill. Yummy and easy.

Meal 4: Grilled Sweet and spice Salmon & Corn

Combine dried oregano, seasoned salt, parsley, and brown sugar in a small bowl. Just a little bit of each, Sprinkle on the salmon. We use filets with the skin on but don't put the seasoning on the skin side. Grill skin side down for about 5 minutes. Bring in and finish cooking in a skillet, skin side up. The heat of the grill usually causes the skin to be very easy to just peel off by hand. The skillet sears all the herbs onto the meat. Be careful not to overcook. Fish doesn't take very long

The corn is another easy one. I put these out of order on here b/c I woudl start the corn before the fish. Buy corn in the husk. This is important....LEAVE IT IN THE HUSK! I can't tell you how frustrated it makes me when I see people shucking perfectly fresh corn. People, the best way to cook fresh summer corn is to grill it in the clothes it comes in! There's a reason God made it that way. Seriously, don't do a thing to it, unless there are a ton of the silks hanging out the top, I usually rip those out b/c they catch on fire but just rotate it every so often and cook on a medium grill for about 30 minutes. Just be careful when you go to shuck it after its cooked. Oh and by the way, don't worry if the husks get brown and crispy, that's how you should know its done!

Meal Plan Late!

I know, its Wednesday. I had a meal or two left over so I didn't get this together on time this week and I only made it to the grocery store yesterday. So here goes:

Meal 1: This was easy, Grilled Sausages ( cheesy metwurst for Jeremy and Chicken, asiago, spinich ones for me) The ones I eat are from Sam's and are awesome! The package acutally says gluten-free, they have a ton of flavor and only 110 calories per sausage! Anyways, I digress. I just grilled these and cooked some french fries in the oven. Not a very healthy meal but it was quick.

Meal 2: I actually never got to the Chicken with Marsala Mustard sauce from last week so it made it to this weeks list.

Meal 3: Slow Cooker Pork Tacos

4 lb Pork Roast

5-7 Tomatillos, diced

1/2 vidalia onion, diced

1 Can of diced tomatoes

3-6 jalapaneos depending on how spicy you like it

1 pkg of taco seasoning

Chicken stock or water

Rub the pork roast with the taco seasoning and put everything in the slow cooker on low for about 6-7 hours. (mine cooks pretty hot so if yours doesn't you may want to adjust the time). Now I would say "shred" the pork but it usually just falls into pieces! Yum! I serve on warmed corn tortillas but if you aren't GF you can use flour ones.

Serve with rice, refried beans, sour cream, cheese and other toppings you like on your tacos.

Meal 4: Tilapia with a Shrimp "stuffing"

This one is going to be a trial. I will make pockets from aluminum foil to put the fish in. Probalby season with cajun seasoning. Chop up shrimp, oh and don't buy the expensive ones, the tiny ones will do since you are chopping them. Mix in GF bread crumbs and parmesean cheese and I will probably add some herbs. place that mixture on top of the tilapia. Put a dash of white wine in the packet and close up. Be sure to roll the ends up. Place on grill or in oven for about 15-20 minutes. Oh, the oven would be at 350 if you are doing it that way.

I will serve with yellow saffron rice and a veggie or a salad. Haven't decided yet.

Meal 5: Chicken Saltimbocca with seasoned potatoes

Meal Plans

A friend of my sister's starting putting her meal plans for the week up on her blog a while back. I thought it was great but wondered how she had the time! Well, now that I have been eating gluten free for almost 2 months (more on that later), I have found that I have to be more prepared for dinners or I won't eat! I can't just run down to Wendy's if I don't feel like cooking. (Well, I can, but I prefer not to!) Anyways, I thought I would share my plans and recipes, and recipes I steal from others. Enjoy!

By the way, I dont' always follow the days to a "T". I usually end up feeling different and switching them around.

Also, I just realized this is an especially Italian heavy week. I think I watched too many episodes of Giada's show last week. I also have a couple weeks past that I will post when I get to it.

Monday-Portebello Parmesean (like Chicken Parmesean with Portebellos), grilled zucchini

For the grilled zucchini i slice the zucchini lengthwise, drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper. I just grill them for about 5 min each side till they are a little mushy but still have a firmness to them. Feel free to sprinkle these with parmesean too! Pretty good and surprisingly good as leftovers. I thought they would be chewy but they weren't at all.

Tuesday- Migas from this fabulous web site. Fair warning, you may become addicted to reading her stuff, photography, cooking, farm life, this is a girl after my own heart. By the way, if you don't like brinner (read: breakfast for dinner) you may not dig this meal. Its not pancakes or anything but its a brinner meal all the way. These turned out great!

Wednesday- dinner out with friends

Thursday- Rachel Ray's Roasted tomato and garlic pasta (made with rice penne of course) and homemade meatballs. The link has her steaks, and feel free to make those too, I just couldn't find the recipes seperate.

For my meatballs, I use:

Ground chuck or ground turkey (1 lb)

About a 1/4 cup breadcrumbs (gluten free)

1 egg

handfull of basil, oregano, parsley

1 clove chopped garlic

1/2 tsp red pepper

salt and pepper

Combine ingredients with your hands, yes I said your hands. I have yet to find a kitchen tool that does better for meat stirring. Roll into 1" balls, put on cookie sheet and bake for about 30 minutes in a 350 oven. Please be sure to check for doneness, I don't promise my cooking time is accurate. Now, mix with pasta or cover with tomato sauce. Yum!

Yum, yum, and yum. I thought this dish was delicious. I added my meatballs to the pasta and sauce. The flavor was very sophisticated! Not at all like a normal tomato sauce.

Friday- Chicken with Mustard Marscapone Marsala Sauce This just looks yummy, no two ways about it. Not sure what veggie we will have with it. Maybe just mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. Yeah that sounds good.

Mashed Potatoes:

4-5 idaho potatoes cut into 1" or less cubes (this makes them cook faster, oh and you can leave the skins on if you like dirty mashed potatoes)

Sour Cream

Butter

Tony Cachere's Cajun seasoning

S & P

Cook potatoes in boiling salted water. Drain and add about 4 tablespoons of butter and 3/4 cup of sour cream. Again, I never measure this stuff so start small and add. Add in seasonings and mash to your hearts content. Sometimes I put cut up scallions and roasted garlic but I figure this chicken has too much flavor for that.

Branching Out

I have been doing photography on the side very sporatically for the last 3 or so years. I love photography....always have, even since the days of my polaroid and the funky disposable underwater cameras that I would take on vacation.

I would like to think I have progressed a little since those days.....:) With a lot of help from a good friend, I have finally gotten a website up for developing this little side business.

www.erinjacksonphoto.com

Its really just a blog right now, but you can view galleries of work and keep up with the shoots I am doing.

Right now is a great time for all sorts of pictures but especially senior portraits. If you know anyone needing them please feel free to pass my name on! Thanks for checking it out!

Baby Blues!

I photographed one of my friends and her beautiful family last night. Unfortunately I am at work this morning so I can't work on the edits yet, or so I thought. Our server is down so I couldn't resist at least posting one of the photos. Have you ever seen eyes that look like the ocean? Well here you go! (If you want to see them even closer up click on the picture!)

Greek Wings

A couple more recipes!!

This first one is actually my friend Andrea's. I work with her and she cooks up some fabulous stuff!

1 bag frozen chicken wings

EVOO

Fresh Basil and Oregano

Garlic

Lemons

I made 24 wings at a time so modify however you want.

Place frozen wings in large bowl. Coat with olive oil. Chop up herbs and garlic and coat wings with those. Squeeze about 1 lemon worth of juice and turn to coat. I also sprinkled with salt and pepper. Place on half sheet pan or cookie sheet with sides.Cook in 350 degree oven for about an hour. Heat up grill and finish wings on grill. I like them crispy which is what the grill does for you. Squeeze another lemon worth of juice on them after you take them off the grill. I also used all the stuff in the bottom of my cookie sheet to pour over them.

Dipping Sauce:

1 container of sour cream

Crumbled Feta

herbs from before

Combine all ingredients. Dip wings. Eat!

Fries:

I bought frozen french fries and cooked them to the bags instructions and added herbs and Lawry's seasoning salt. They were good in the dip too! Now that I think of it some shredded cucumber would make that dip super good! It would be somewhat like Tsatziki.

I couldn't resist....I'm impatient

I am completely excited about these photos. These two cuties got hitched last Friday. It was so beautiful and intimate with just a few guests.....and talk about photogenic. You can really see the love between these two. Enjoy!

Oh and PS. I am hoping to have http://www.erinjacksonphoto.com/ up and running this weekend but we will see. If you look at it now you will be dissapointed. Just wait, haha, look who's talking!

Panegyri!

MMMM! So I am way behind in blogging but trying to catch up on this day off. Last Saturday we went with our friends Andy, Marie, John, and Amanda to Panegyri!

"Panegyri!"
"Panegyri?"
"Panegyri!"
"Idiot!"
"Did you call me an idiot?"
"No, I said, Dijieatyet?"

Hehe, that was a bit of the radio commerical they kept running for Panegyri, or Greek Fest.

So we went and had to get some gyros. Yes, this one has a bite taken out of it. I have been doing the gluten free thing for about 3 weeks and I went to find a fork and came back and opened what I thought was my untouched gyro only to find a gnawed off end! I almost went back to the booth! Until Jeremy and everyone else started cracking up. He took a bite and rewrapped it! Funny guy. I wasn't too worried though since all I was eating was the fillings.


It was really hot....notice my greasy hair! Yuck.

The bus back to the parking lot was a little crowded so Marie and Amanda got a little friendly!



Greek Fest was fun!

Brad and Dierks

So its been a long time since I have posted anything. Work has been crazy and I have been busy so now I have folders full of photos to edit.
I finally used some of the Photoshop Actions on my photos instead of editing every one by hand. So fun! The one above of us I used the "Seventies" action from Pioneer Woman http://thepioneerwoman.com/
We went to the Brad Paisley concert last Friday. We didn't win the Pavilion seats from work so we had to sit in the lawn. Dierks Bentley was opening for him. Well, we have some super cool friends who had 3rd row seats and since he wasn't that intersted in Dierks, I got to go with her up there.
I should warn you that the following pictures are steamy! Haha, just kidding, it was about 95 degrees and about 85% humidity so they probably are. I was super excited to see Dierks up close. He was a great performer. Unfortunately Riverbend thinks my camera is too "professional" and won't allow it in the place so I had to borrow a point and shoot to take. I kept thinking how much better these photos would have been but it also goes to show you that you dont' have to have an expensive camera to get some good shots!


This is the Sepia action

This was a couple, I think I used the Seventies with something else.

Haha, no I was not this close.....at least to Brad. This was after I went back to the lawn with Jeremy and this was the screen. So basically I took a picture of a picture. I know, not as exciting. We had fun though!

Oh yeah, and I think I discovered that I am officially too old for the lawn. Between the mud that smelled like a cow pasture and the high schoolers looking for someone to buy them beer, I was over it! :) Music was awesome though

Canoe, Run, Bike.....Little Miami Tri!

So one day Jeremy called me about a month ago and asked if he could use a large sum of money from our account. He usually only does this when he wants to buy me something. I told him I didn't need anything and he said it was for him. Well, anyways, later that night he said he wanted to do the Little Miami Triathlon with me. (I did it last year with my friend Sarah). I told him he didn't have a bike and he responded, "Yeah, that's what the money is for!" :)
Well, we found a used bike for him and last Sunday we were a team for this unusual Tri. It consists of 6 miles of canoeing together, then a 6 mile run and 18 mile bike ride that you can do alone, obviously (there's no three legged 6 mile run! ) Our friend John was doing it with his friend too we found out so we talked about it the week leading up. John and Amanda were nice enough to have us over Saturday night before the race for an awesome dinner of homemade meatballs and Tiramasu! Carb Loading!
So, the canoeing was the part I was most worried about. I thought we would kill each other. While the first 3 miles were a little rough (me yelling how to steer and Jeremy getting frustrated), we actually figured things out and worked really well together. The heat kicked my caboose on the run and Jeremy got out in front of me. The biking went much easier this year since I took water. Last year I guess I thought I was a camel and didn't take any water....I got sick....had to stop for a while, so anything was an improvement over that. Jeremy was not a fan of the biking. I think he needs a cushier seat. The boy will never have to worry about having too much junk in the trunk. That, however, is not a good thing on a bike! We only came in about 2:50 seconds apart. (Had I known that, I totally would have pushed it, after all, it would have been great to beat him! Who can blame a competitive girl?) We did great, finished and had a great lunch at the Country Kitchen.....yes I said that. Its definitley kept in business by the I-75 truckers.....and hungry triathletes!

See, doesn't he look so happy to be on that bike!

Oh now he saw Amanda with the camera and out comes the smile!

And a few minutes later, here I come

That clock was way kooky. I think our actual times were 3:46 and 3:49

Yeaaah for team Action Jacksons!

That's John minus his teammate. Chris had to go to flying lessons. I don't know how he had the energy, I just wanted to eat and sleep when it was over!

So, yesterday, after Jeremy talked about how much his butt hurt, he informed me that by the end of the week he will decide if he wants to do the LMT again in the fall. I think he will. He wants to beat his time......by 30 minutes! Crazy kid. I just want to finish again!

Memorial Day Ride

This is Leroy. He greeted me as I drove up to the house. He looks and barks big and mean but he's a big baby. He also likes to lean, which at 150lbs + starts to become a problem if you aren't paying attention.

Betsy took me riding today. I was terribly excited since its been about 6 years and one horse kick since the last time I went. I think the horses were pretty excited too.


This is Faith. I rode her. Sweet girl. Lucky for me, she doesn't like to be dirty so I didn't have to brush her too much.


Faith getting her reins on.

I took a picture of Lou too, which is the horse Betsy rode today but dagonit I still need that new lens! It was a little too dark. So instead we have this picture of Betsy!

We had lots of fun and are planning to drag the boys out to go with us sometime soon. The horses got some apple treats and a wet rubdown when we got back. The apple treats smelled so good I have to admit I was tempted to try one myself! Next time I will take the camera on the ride because the trail we went on had some beautiful scenery and wildflowers. Happy Memorial Day!

April showers bring......this stuff!

These are new iris bulbs that were an anniversary gift from mom.

You just have to love all the blooming stuff out right now. We must have had a great spring because everything is busting out.

I was kind of bummed the other day though. We did our annual cleaning of our pond and our frog, Frieda (yeah we named her, look further down the blog in the April section and you will see her) got freaked out and we didn't see her for days. Well apparently she hopped two yards over to our neighbors that have a pond also. He cleaned his yesterday and low and behold, Frieda suddenly appeared back at ours.

Now, last night we thought she was gone again because we had a bunch of friends over and Brad brought his sweet pup, Balen. Balen happens to be a lab. Our pond happens to be full of water. Do you see where this is going? Yeah, he went for a swim. But alas! Frieda was still here today. She must not have been too traumatized!

Hope all of your flowers are blooming like crazy. Enjoy the pics!

Somoa's eye

These will be tall Bengal Canna plants in a month or two. They are tropical and splits from AJ's plants. I love the blue pots!

These are my peonies. They smell divine and look so soft!

Little bitty bug on the peony bud

Goslings near my office.

More goslings

Curious ducks

Home Renovation

I have been meaning to post some pictures of all the stuff we have done to our house over the 4 years we have been here. This won't be all of it but here's a start. Before and afters

Master Bedroom


Fish Pond

After:

Outside front:

After:

Kitchen Before:

After:

Bathroom Before:

After: Bear in mind that its small and hard to photograph

Living Room:

After from a few views:

Just a list of stuff we did:

New Roof, Windows, gutters, shutters, siding

Completely ripped out the bathroom and put all new everything

New paint in every room

Tore out carpet in living room to reveal hardwood

New floor, bigger dishwasher, new countertops in kitchen

Completely redone landscaping including retaining wall in front

Other miscellaneous things.....more pictures of other rooms to follow