Dallas with her beads

Here are a few pictures of Dallas after she came in from playing in the yard. She loves her beads. She was 19 months old on the 25th, two days ago.

Where, Oh where could they be?

I can only see a couple of lady bugs today. I wonder if my neighbors have them all. Maybe they're hiding under the mulch. Oh well, maybe there aren't enough aphids for them to eat. My gardinia tree has beautiful smelling flowers on it. It's on our front porch because we don't know where to plant it yet. I want it where I can smell the flowers.

Ashley, my teenage granddaugter had her tonsils out yesterday. I hope she's doing ok now. I remember when I had my tonsils out. I went across town on the bus in my pajamas with my mother. (she didn't drive). My aunt picked us up after surgery. They didn't have many outpatient surgeries back in those days. And I didn't go to a hospital. I went to a doctor's office! I woke up and my mother was eating a chicken salad sandwich and she asked me if I wanted a bite. Oh sure! I got a couple of boxes of candy from my aunts. My sisters ate all of the candy. I think I was around 10 or eleven.

Ladybug, Ladybug, make this your home

Yesterday I bought a bag of ladybugs. The guys at Home Depot thought that I was crazy when I asked where they were. After all, there was a sign with a price so they should have them, right? Anyway, one guy asked another and the people checking out looked at me like I was released from the hospital when Reagan released them all to live on their own. The checkout guy called the manager to ask about them. His part of the conversation was "Do we have ladybugs?" (pause) "Oh, we do? In the refrigerator?" So, anyway, I bought a bag with 1500 ladybugs and released them in my yard last night. Today I went in the yard and found some on plants and a lot of them on my fence. Soon they'll lay eggs and hatch into more ladybugs. I could buy praying mantis' but I think I'll pass on them.

Spring hasn't sprung but it's springing!

I got the front yard ready for spring, new mulch, new flowers, etc. It's beginning to look a lot like 'spring'. And Easter is next week already. Here's Dallas' picture with the Easter bunny and pictures of my front yard.

Dallas at the park

Jamie takes Dallas to one of the big parks near us. There are three parks that she can take her to play. There were a lot of little kids there yesterday. We'll have to be sure Dallas has a ball with her next time because she wanted to take the other kids balls. Here are some pictures of her at the park.

Planting

I got my mulch down in the front yard but I have the whole back to do yet. Big job.
My plants are blooming and I even have flowers already. I planted grape vines and blueberry plants. Dallas loves blueberries and since they're so good for all of us, I thought that I'd plant some. It takes 3-5 years before they get berries. That's a bummer. Any gardening tips would be helpful. I want more vines. My perriwinkle vines are really doing great. A couple vines that I planted last year didn't come back. Oh well, I'll replace them with something else. It's supposed to be 90° this week so I'll be able to shop for more plants.

Kidder and Sollie

Kidder and Sollie visited the center today. Jan Phelps is the 'mom' of these two beautiful dogs. She and her husband trained them for helpers for handicapped people but they didn't pass the test so she got to keep them. She now takes them around to nursing homes and she brings them to the senior center. They are wonderful dogs and they obey her any time she tells them to do something. In the picture besides me are Joyce, Lena, and Nancy Pacheco who was at the center to interview us for her three newspapers that she owns. Her husband, Mark, is running for mayor of Allen. He is a wonderful person and we're going to support him in his campaign. Our present mayor has been in office for 11 years and it's time for a change.

Another cousin Diane story

I wrote about our cousin Diane in my posting about our trip to Florida. I mentioned that she makes us laugh all the time. Well, she did it again. We don't even have to be with her to laugh at her. Here is what she wrote to us today:

Well, you girls missed a good one today. Sharon and I were going shopping at 9 AM this morning as she wanted to get a new sundress to take to Cancun. She was sitting at the table by the pool and it was really windy out and quite cool. I walked over to the pool, took my shoe off and stuck my foot in to see what the temperature was. I don't know what in hell happened but I fell in! I had black slacks and a black cotton knit top and I was standing in water up to my boobs! Sharon laughed so hard I thought she was going in hysterics. There I am standing in the pool with all my clothes on! I got out, dryed off, changed my clothes and we laughed all the way to the mall! I will never hear the end of it, believe me!

I can't believe it but it's back!

Last night the weather predicted was rain and possibly snow tonight. Around noon today, it started to rain, turned to sleet and hail and then to snow. The snowflakes were the biggest I've ever seen, around the size of a quarter. Now I know everything is bigger in Texas but I didn't know that anything that falls from the sky is bigger here too! Everything was covered with snow and now it's melting again. But there may be more coming tonight! I can't keep up! Funny thing is that LB and Steve had no snow by them. Neither did Sue and Denny. Denny lives around 10 miles from us and Steve and Laurie live around 20 miles away. The highways were terrible! Oh well, I put my jammies on again and settled in the house. Funny but when it's icky weather, I love to put my jammies on and sit around with a hot cup of tea. Lately, it's a cup of Chai tea. Mmmmm. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I hope to get out tomorrow so I hope it's nice out. I want to put mulch around my flowers in the front yard since some of them are budding now.

It's gone!!!!

The snow lasted until afternoon. By late afternoon we shed our jackets. Snow in Texas is good for one day for the kids to be able to play in it. As for me, I'm glad it only lasted the one day. As I was cleaning off 5 inches of snow off from my car with a broom and scraper, I kept saying to myself..."reminds me of why I left Michigan". Sorry to all of you Michiganders. I know you've had a bad winter.

Snow, snow and too much snow

Well, it hit us last night. Snow! Dallas had fun in the snow and wanted to stay out there. O'Ley went out in it but hid in Dally's tent. They had to close down 75 at McDermitt. And Laurie only got a little on her roof. How unfair is that? The sun is out and it will be in the 60s today. All of the snow will be gone by this afternoon. One day is ok to get it because it'll be gone. Unlike when I was in MI where the snow stayed and stayed and got dirty from the cars.
I took pictures in the dark when it snowed and this morning after the snow stopped. At least Dallas had fun. She had socks on for mittens.

Texas has been invaded by MI

We had a terrible cold day today after big winds and rain last night. We're supposed to have snow during the night tonite but it's already snowing ice. I can tell you that I don't like it! I came home today from the center, put on my jammies, made myself a nice hot cup of chai tea and I'm not leaving the house! I won't even go to the mailbox to get the mail! Just think. If I lived in MI, I'd be so depressed, cold, hibernated, crabby and would have all of my blinds shut. Thank God this will only last a day or two!

Our Family Pets

Here are our pet family pictures. First is our neicecat Trixie Schneider. Second picture is granddog Buster (Bob) Goble. Third picture is granddog CoCo Goble. And last is neicedog (once removed) Nikki. Missing from the pictures is nephewcat Norton, Niececat Minnie and the Randy lizard, name unknown (by me).

My lovely cats

Here are a few pictures of O'Ley and Willow. Willow is the gray cat. When I first got him, he reminded me of a Pussy Willow so I named him Willow. Denny calls him Willy or Mr. Will or Wilson. O'Ley already had his name when I adopted him from Operation Kindness. I liked the name so I kept it for him. He had a cancerous tumor on his leg a couple of years ago. The doctor removed the tumor but it grew back so we had his leg amputated since it was only in his leg. I really love my cats. We had a cat named Baby before I got O'Ley and I was really sad when she died. She was a Tuxedo cat, meaning she was black and white. Funny that those cats always look the same.

The Other Boleyn Girl

We went to our regular Sunday morning movie and saw The Other Boleyn Girl. I really enjoyed it. I think that I've learned a lot of world history with the movies I've seen lately. The two Elizabeth movies and this one. Last night I watched some of the Tutors on TV but I missed the first 5 segments of it. I liked watching another version of the same movie that I just saw.