I'm not gonna lie...I've been down in the dumps lately.
But it's pretty hard to stay there when your surrounded with things like this...

No, I haven't been with my cute grand kids....but I'm going to be!!!!
Besides just dying to be with them, one of the things the grief counseling packet suggested doing to get out of the funk was to try to have something good to look forward to...well I booked my flight last night and I'm very much looking forward to seeing Camille's sweet family and relaxing by the pool in sunny Arizona!.

I'm going to eat him!

Kelley and I have been working out in the yard quite a bit (finally!) and I had forgotten how much pleasure I find in just digging around in the dirt.

All the plants have been slow in growing and blooming this year...(No Sun!) but they are starting to snap out of it now too.I wish I had smellavision so I could capture the scent of these Iris.

I'm pretty sure this is what heaven will smell like.
They have filled my whole house with this glorious intoxicating scent!

Ok, this was pretty funny... Lizzy has been shedding like crazy the last little while...I know...even more than her normal freakishly sheddy self.

I guess with the warmer weather, her fur's gotta come out. Anyway, yesterday, after vacuuming up a whole container full of fur, (I'm not exaggerating) I decided to give her a good brushing.

I went went out in the back yard and called her...she usually comes running right away. It took her a few minutes to come around the corner of the house and she had that look in her eyes like "I'm a bad dog...yup, I've been bad" I was like "Lizzy where have you been?" ...(yes I've been carrying on conversations with the dog again, since there is no one here to talk to! shes a good listener!).

She was all about being a very good dog and sat very still while I started brushing her. She loves to be brushed and sits there quite nicely ( with a few thank you licks thrown in) and doesn't even try to run away. I went over her fur at least five times and still the fur was coming out. I had quite a pile of fur by this time. (don't you wish there was something constructive you could do with dog (or in Candice's case, cat) fur? Like knit it into a blanket or use it for insulation or something? I mean I have disposed of at least a truck load of dog fur in her furry life time.
Anyway, while I was going over her one more time, I heard the phone ring. I instructed Lizzy to "stay" and ran in the house. It was Merrilee. She asked me why I was out of breath. (ok, I'm out of shape...I admit it...but I did run fast!) I told her I was outside brushing Lizzy.
She said "oh good...that's why I was calling... Are you ok?"

hmmmm yes...why?

She said Lizzy had come running down to her house. Holly's kids were outside playing and Lizzy came running up to them like she was trying to get them to follow her. They were pretty sure Lizzy was channeling Lassy and coming to tell them that I was in trouble and needed help!

Those kids are so funny! They come over sometimes when they are visiting grandma to play with Lizzy. Hannah is pretty scared of her...can't blame her...Lizzy knocked her down and started licking her one time while they were running around. Lizzy probably looks as big as a horse to her! But she keeps coming back. Jeffery just loves Lizzy and they have fun chasing around the yard and playing catch...( although Lizzy has never quite got the part where she gives the ball back to you)

Anyway, all assured I was ok and not pinned under a fallen tree in the back yard with wolves lurking and snarling nearby... all is well! We had a good laugh over that. Gross right? It's almost like a whole other animal there!

This is also pretty funny.
Soooo, a little while ago, when I was really feeling the effects of this drug Dr. Rothe has me taking, (irritability, anxiousness...that sort of thing) I had a moment where I snapped.
Kelley is not really an annoying person...he does very few things that get on my nerves.
But on this day...I was annoyed! I had been outside planing flowers in the front yard
and kept finding rubber bands from the newspaper all over the place.

Yup...this is his annoying thing...he picks up the newspaper in the morning...removes the rubber band that secures it, and just tosses it where ever! Annoying... right? like the people who just drop their cigarette butts on the ground. Do they think they are going to just magically disappear or is it that they just don't care? ( I'm getting fired up just thinking about it!) deep breath.

Anyway, so after I had picked up about 10 of these rubber bands, I went in the house and let Kelley have it! I told him that it really bugged me that he would just throw the rubber band on the ground!...( He is not normally a liter-er)

I think he was quite amused at how fired up I was, but tried to not laugh in my face. He said he would try to find other things to do with the rubber bands. Oh dear.

So ever since then, this is what I wake up to every morning...

One day I texted him that I thought he could be a little more creative, but then instantly regretted it. He is not one to be trifled with as far as a challenge goes. I'll keep you posted on how that goes...