Birthday and Business...

Hello! Well, I've been thinking about starting a blog for quite some time, but never actually sat down and did it. Finally today, I did! Yay! Step one of my twelve step program. I'll let you know when I figure out what the other 11 steps are. This is primarily to keep our families appraised of all that is going on in our lives, as their time allows, and to share pics... things the telephone is not always good for.

Today is my kiki's birthday... wow! 4 years old! It makes one ponder upon the passage of time. She's so old. Debris has tortured her endlessly today, and she has accepted phone calls from family constantly with the age and conversation of a child, no longer a baby. Frank Castle called and asked her what kind of pizza she wanted for dinner, and she told him, "My heart wants pepperoni!" She is an old soul. *Grin*

This was one crazy week, I tell ya what. Monday I painted the front door orange. I love orange. It goes with the family I married into, they're all orange-crazy, and I've fallen right in line. I now really want an Orange Land Rover, but that is a story for another day. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, Orange Door. Check it out!

Just a side note, aren't my petunias GORGEOUS!? Petunias make me so happy. As of this year, they are my favorite flower. Everyone should aspire to be more like a petunia. They are so bright and cheerful, zany and wild, and yet at the same time, simple and dignified. And very plucky, as well. I have tried to kill them several times, and still they thrive. I also love my Yarrow, but we'll cover that later. :-)

Then, Tuesday I answered an ad on Craigslist from a nice lady up in Cashmere who has more strawberry plants than she can handle. I dug all day, first at her house, and then at mine, and now my annoying hill in the backyard hopefully will be overtaken by strawberries. They were huge and beautiful at her house, her soil is to die for, but hopefully I can make them live and prosper. I will be working on my soil as I go along.

Check out my composter! Love it!

Wednesday I canned for the first time. SO fun! Except for the canning AND being a mother part. That's hard. So, now I have my very own secret recipe for stewed tomatoes, all canned up and gorgeous. I got 7 dozen canning jars off craigslist for a steal of a deal, they're all the old style, beautiful mason jars. I just love them. And then, Thursday, I canned again. Pickles. Now I need to do Apple Butter, Pears, Peaches, and so on and so forth. I really like doing it tho. It's fun. Who knew?

It's Friday, I'm in love! And also buried in a dirty house, and laundry. Canning cancels out all other household activity. So, this is what my laundry pile looked like Friday morning. I didn't take pictures of my house, cuz well, it would be too embarrassing. The laundry pile was ok tho, cuz I figured at least it's clean, I just didn't have time to fold it!

So, I've been whipping my house into shape today. Before we go out for Pizza for Kiki's birthday tonight, I must have a clean house. Very important. :-)

Here is a picture of my birthday girl and her sister this morning, helping to make her chemically pink birthday cake. Sigh.

Here is the finished birthday cake...

Not bad for a cake mix, and planters of flowers, huh? Kiki said it was gorgeous, so that's what counts. She originally wanted a SpongeBob cake, but I couldn't see paying $10 for a cake pan that would be used once. Besides, SpongeBob's arms are very skinny, so I didn't want them to fall off. That would be traumatic. For me.

Ok, before I sign off, I will give you a few pictures of my yarrow. I know you want to see them. Too bad we don't have scratch and sniff computer screens, cuz it smells great!!

Have a lovely weekend!