Mini Vacation

The artist has arrived and we are enjoying her company immensely! I wish it was a little longer than 3 days but honestly a week might kill her with this family. Today we are "chilling." Here's what we've been doing this week:

Rowing around in Explorer 100
Here's a surprise...you actually don't get very far in a 15 foot above ground pool.

Sinking Explorer 200

May I have your attention please: One year in Haiti I was desperately flailing in the water off of Grand Godet' (Latitude: 18° 55' 60 N, Longitude: 72° 39' 0 W ) in a kayak which kept sinking. I noticed the adult male medical clinic interpreters rolling on the sand laughing and pointing at me. Eventually, Gerard Prevot my favorite interpreter, called me aside. "Sister, do you know why you sink?" I was seriously stumped! No why? "Because you have a BIG booootom." FYI: My fat butt BIG booootom had nothing to do with the sinking of Explorer 200

Enjoying the pool:

Making yummy food at home:

The Artist, The Genius, Haggie Maggie and I had a big girls night out wihout kids. Whoop! Whoop! We ate at The Artist's favorite Vietnamese establishment. I passed on the "Condense Milk + Egg York" and went with the Thai tea instead:

Weigh n' Pay trip:

And my first Weigh n' Pay injury:

I know you're impressed with my makeshift tourniquet. A strange bald man informed me the last women who sliced her hand at weigh n' pay got SARS. Seriously.

Re-inventing our thrift treasures:

We've managed to pack a lot of fun into a very short time! Happy 33rd birthday Ms. Artist!

Oh, and PS...Famous NYC based photographer, Lois Greenfield just called the artist to tell her she will be in Lois's 2011 dance calender, Breaking Bounds again this year. What an honor! You all know what you'll be getting for Christmas this year right?

Fall Garden Countdown

Our fall gardens should go into the ground in August which doesn't leave me much time as the garden is now nowhere near ready. I've already mentioned that I'm a Plunker not a Planner so this is a teeny weeny challenge for my plunking personality. I have most of my seeds and have a few i can't wait to try like the Heirloom Garden Berry Red Wonder Wild Strawberry.

In the meantime I am still working on the front yard water-wise plantings which have been a physical challenge in this heat. The completed garden (one of three) is looking good and tending to itself.

The Gulf Fritillary butterflies LOVE this area which is nice as I haven't seen many Fritillary's in the back butterfly garden this year. Lantana is always a butterfly favorite. In this heat you simply can't go wrong with Lantana.

I did have a major blessing recently when a neighbor and his son called and asked if i needed some yard work done. They stopped by last week and dug out the weeds from the other two gardens so now all I have to do is plant. Whoo Hoo!

Big trip to Home Depot is planned for this week and one to Jene's to pick up some Surinam Cherry bushes which will go along the back of the fence. When I was very young I remember gorging myself on these "cherries" at my grandfathers house as he had an entire hedge of them. Like I said before we can't grow cherry trees here so we grow the tropical substitute! I'm going to have to bite the bullet on this tropical substitute as Surninam Cherry bushes are a tad expensive. It might be cheaper to move north.

Appointment Marathon

Disney backpack!

It's been one week since I posted because I've been in the midst of a project to get all of those annoying appointments out of the way prior to the beginning of the school year. In our house that amounts to a lot of annoying appointments. In one week we have accomplished:

1.) A wheelchair modification evaluation for the boy who has out grown his first wheelchair from 2004. He has ordered a new, glow in the dark chair of which I approve wholeheartedly. The last time we met our OI buddies at Downtown Disney I couldn't find him in the dark. Except for the occasional "screeeeeeeee" of a tourist he had just mowed down I had no idea where the child had rolled off to. I asked Rick from Custom Mobility if he could also install a tracking device.

2.) A first time wheel chair evaluation for the baby who when presented with the color chart pointed to purple three times. It seems she wants a purple wheel chair. Apparently it's a good thing I said yes as I have to interject here that today while we were making some drug runs the baby had her very first ever temper tantrum in XYZ pharmacy. When we walked in she pointed to a shopping cart informing me she wanted a ride in sign language. I said no as we were just zipping back to pick up one script and zipping out. She signs "PLEEEEEEEEZE!" Um. No, again."PLEEEEEZEEEE!" Nope. Boom! Temper tantrum ensues. How sweet the glimpses of normalcy are. I was terribly proud at that moment.

3.) We've been to orthotics to have a shoe lift made for the boy who has a significant leg length discrepancy after his horrifying 2008 femur fracture and 2 major surgeries that followed. Tonight I found the other two he had lost. Of course.

4.) We've had a school physical for the baby who will start public school pre-k in the fall. She needs a new DAFO so a new script was obtained while we were there. Her physical therapist recently asked what in the heavenly realms had happened to the foam piece on the top of her current DAFO. I hadn't noticed that someone had taken a big bite out of it. It probably wasn't her as I don't recall seeing any pink foam turds recently. I have a mental image of one of her friends at the learning center she attends gnawing on her leg during circle time? As part of her school physical she had to have a TB skin test, Prevnar immunization and a hemoglobin. We had to return in 48 hours to have the TB test read and pick up our paper work. Another trip. Of course.

5.) Saw the fabulous orthodontist who is part of the USF/CMS cranio-facial team the boy is followed by. Children with OI have severe dental issues. In the boys case he has miraculously never had a cavity or severe tooth discoloration but he does have the typical OI malady of adult teeth erupting and baby teeth not budging. We have already had 8 baby teeth extracted at once in the big city hospital and now we are looking to remove 4 adult teeth that have absolutely no where to go. Two of the four teeth, however will require an oral surgeon along with the pediatric dentist and another hospital admission. And then... in about 9 months...."he will be ready for his braces." Oh joy.

In the quest for organizing my house, ridding it of clutter and making the patrons of Freecycle very happy with my discarded treasures, I have managed to misplace my appointment calender so I have no idea what is on the agenda for next week. It's just as well. In addition to everyday torture life, we are gearing up for school. We found this fabulous Disney backpack pictured for the baby. Not only was it purple but it also has fairy wings attached! Fairy wings! Could it be any more fabulous than that for a family who leaves room in the butterfly garden for the fairies to dance? I had already purchased the boy's white polo shirts for school only to be informed that they have changed the uniform top to a blue polo with logo. Of course. I. Could. Have. Cried.

Hopefully, we will be graced with a visit from our favorite vegan artist this week so I'm cooking ahead. Garbanzo bean soup is in the crock pot and some Basil Pesto with fresh basil from the garden and whole wheat linguine is on the menu. I truly hope she shows up because we really miss her and no one else in this family will eat this crap healthy stuff.

So what's on your agenda for this week?

In The Pink Friday Thrift Finds

Yes, I realize it's really Saturday but this morning when I found the above arrangement that had planted itself in my garden I was inspired to list our pink Friday finds beginning with this hideous mirror purchased for $5.00 at a local church thrift store:

Hideous mirror after:

Eventually hideous re-purposed mirrors will line my stair well. It's an inspiration I found in a shabby blog and the final results were breathtaking. At least in the shabby blog they were breathtaking. I'll post my project when finished which hopefully will be as impressive.

In the meantime I am off in search of more hideous mirrors to transform and in my travels found this pretty treasure which is now a saucer for a...you guessed it... pink plant:

Did I ever mention I like roses? Here's the next Friday treasure acquired from the same 40 cents a pound weigh n' pay dumpster. This will hold sewing notions in my....you guessed it...pink sewing room:

Total Cost: $5.25

How Did This Happen?

Happy Birthday Dear Baby! Happy Birthday To You!

Now What?

I'm at a place in the garden where I'm out on a limb like our friend, Phoebis philea. Let's just call her Phoebe for short. Like Phoebe, I've done all i can do this summer and there seems to be no where to go. I've gardened all my life and have been interested in gardening all my life. At the age of seven I was begging for space in my parents yard for a garden to grow tomatoes. Popi, who is an everything in it's place, everything linear and symmetrical man, banished me to the alley full of nothing but oyster shells. I remember his lecture about the benefits of sand and oyster shells vs a plot in the well-tended yard. At the age of seven it was clear to me that he was full of compost. Undaunted, I did the best I could with what i was given and we had a stellar tomato crop that year. I don't remember harvesting or eating tomatoes or any other details regarding the situation. I do remember vividly however, how shocked Popi was. Sweet, sweet tomato revenge!


Gardeners are like that. If any one can make chicken soup from chicken poop (or in our household, horse poop) it's a gardener. I admit though, having spent my formative years in Portland, Oregon has posed a significant challenge for me. After 50 years of stubbornness I finally surrendered to a terrible tropical truth. I can't grow lilacs so I grow crepe myrtle which kind of looks like a lilac. I can't grow cherry trees so I grow Surinam cherries. I can't grow apples so I grow Myers Lemons. I finally surrendered. It was a truly, terrifying moment in my life.

I keep looking over my shoulders for the flying monkeys.

It's now too hot do any gardening so I'm at a standstill. I'm sure there are hardy souls out there digging but not me. In our state the summer months are planning months. For those of you who are non-gardeners there are two types of gardeners. Planners and Plunkers. I'm a plunker. I will move something around 5 times before it pleases my eye. Spending weeks planning is not in my nature but I'm slowly surrendering to that as well.

The exciting news this summer is that I've been approached by a few families who are interested in working with me to turn my little plot into a community effort. Working together, planting together and harvesting together with a group as adamant about forming community ties as I am sounds very exciting! We are getting together over pizza and seed catalogs soon. Hopefully, there are some non-plunkers in our gardening group that we can farm out the planning to! So maybe summer in the tropics isn't so bad after all. I think Phoebe would agree.

Shabby Rose Therapy Works Every Time

Sometimes you just have to treat yourself, toss the Excel budget work sheet to the wind and go have some fun. Worked today to make up my 4th of July "holiday" which wasn't much of a holiday when it is unpaid and POURING down rain the entire time. My fantasy of floating in the pool in our Big Lots blow up life boat, hiding from the children and sipping sweet tea never came to fruition but we did have our cook-out with our great, close-knit neighborhood community. Good food and good friends always brighten up the dreariest day. Even if the cookout becomes a "cook-in."

Picked up the kids after the last client and we ate out AND went thrifting. The teenager and the boy are avid thrifters. Could they survive in this household if they weren't? Probably not. The boy found a treasure trove of equipment I can use for work. Who needs an expensive medical equipment vendor when you have the boy and the Weigh n' Pay? I've been looking for a therapy ball for two of my preemies who have no clue as to their place in space and here comes the boy hop, hop, hopping past me on one. He found a sit n' spin for my autistic clients. How does he do that?

The teenager (who is still quite wobbly today) headed straight for the books. Her passion.

I found shabby treasures. Shabby is by far my favorite decorating style: The 12 piece or more china sets were 50% off so this set cost me $5.00 for 6 dinner plates, a serving platter, 5 salad bowls and a large serving bowl. I love roses.


The last shabby sheet I found at the weigh n' pay for about 40 cents, I sold on e-bay for around $38.00. I love roses and I'm keeping this one:


A somewhat smelly, vintage, cabbage rose bedspread. This is so going in the shabby chic, vintage pink room I'm designing in my head. I think I had one like this in the 80's but I traded it for a juicer. I still have the juicer. Comes in handy when the lemon tree is spitting out bushels of lemons.


This was tucked away in the Hospice Thrift Store for $1.00 and is so going to be a shabby pink pillow some day. I am such a sucker for someone else's embroidery. Why was it discarded? So much work went in to this one and did I mention I love roses? I have to admit, though, I'm not exactly sure just what this is supposed to be...is the blob on the bottom a quilt?

Ah, the mystery of discarded treasures! It doesn't get any better than this.

No More Lucky Charms For You Bubba...

It's been a rough day. When I went in to wake up the teenager for an appointment this morning she was barely responsive obviously having had a big bad seizure in her sleep. When she was finally able to walk hours later she had no idea where she was going or what she was doing. Even the boy was sad and said, "Mom she's really confused isn't she?" Fortunately, I recently hooked up with a new pediatric neurologist thanks to some nurse friends of mine. He likes his patients to e-mail him with progress and/or problems so we've been back and forth all day via e-mail. He decided to double her evening dose of seizure medication. Hopefully, this will take care of it.

In my attempt to garden in the heat and humidity yesterday I had a 3rd Meniere's attack in 2 weeks. What a drag.

Today there are two grouchy, postictal folk in our family weaving around the house. Talk about needing a good laugh.

Fortunately, a friend of mine posted a video today on Facebook that did make me laugh. Out. Loud. I'm not sure why the double rainbow in my front yard did not elicit in me a response like our little leprechaun friend has regarding the double rainbow in his front yard.

It was pretty but...

Orgasmic? Um. No.

Maybe if I had any hormones left? Um. No. Perhaps Double Rainbow Man has eaten one too many shrooms from his "front yard?" No matter. He made me smile.

Treat yourself to the entire video for the full effect. And BTW, Double Rainbow Man, I'll have what your having.

Ever Wonder What Other Parents Think About Parenting?

-Raising kids is part joy and part guerrilla warfare.
Ed Asner

-I figure that if the children are alive when I get home, I've done my job.
Roseanne Barr

-Never raise your hand to your kids. It leaves your groin unprotected.
Red Buttons

-I am not allowed to sing, dance, laugh or wear short skirts. Having a teenage daughter is like living with the Taliban Author Kathy Lette

-Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers. Socrates

-The truth is that parents are not really interested in justice. They just want quiet. Bill Cosby

-We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.
-Most children threaten at times to run away from home. This is the only thing that keeps some parents going. Phyllis Diller

-No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior and I'm not talking about the kids. Bill Cosby

-A child is a curly dimpled lunatic.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

-A two-year old is kind of like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it.
Jerry Seinfeld

-Mothers are all slightly insane. J.D. Salinger

-If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands? Milton Berle

-You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance. Franklin P. Jones

-When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out. Erma Bombeck

Feel better? I know I do.

And The Winner Of Anne Elizabeth's Diary Is....

Congratulations to the winner of our very first give-away:

of 3 Pretty Girls blog fame!

Your book is on the way and I know 3 pretty girls who might enjoy it. Well, 4 pretty girls if you count Mom!

Happy Anniversary Dr. Not-Very-Nice!

I have to pause and reflect when I see familiar summer scenes such as the ones above, and remember the lovely orthopedic physician who after the boy's first femur fracture stated, "How did this kid really break his leg? He doesn't walk and he NEVER will." You were partially right, Dr. Not-Very-Nice. He doesn't walk. He flies.

This one is for you: