Getting Ready

Just letting you know that I have purchased my first official Christmas gift and am working on one while I am watching the game.  Yes, I am making a gift.  And, it is still September.  While I may gloat a bit, I hope not to forget where I am stashing the gifts.


Happy Holidays!!!!


Love, Leslie


PS ~ what a game!  I had a momentary thought about leaving the game when the Athletics had such a big lead, but I remember we never left a game early - no matter what the score - so I stuck it out until after 1am when the Royals came back from behind, tied and finally won! I will be watching the game tonight (and working on my Christmas gift) ~ Go Giants!

Success - in a Variety of Ways

Yesterday, I got a call from a friend who still works at Ginger Cove.  She told me that "the new administrator came onto the Health Center and escorted Denise Burt-Hall off the premises".


She knew of no other details.  I also got a phone call and an e-mail from two other people at GC - one employee and one resident, who called to ask me if I knew that she had been fired and what did I know?!!


I know nothing and I don't know that she has been fired, but Lori and Amy are thrilled with the news!  They have my back.  (For those of you who have already read this, I was asked to remove the missing part, for fear of stuff coming back to bite on butts.)


And then, Mom has been having trouble with facebook, Ancestry.com, etc, and I fixed the problems.  Since she can't see, she enlarges the view on her laptop and ipad.  That means that she can't see everything, because the screen isn't big enough.  Then she hits the wrong buttons, screws up passwords - it is amazing how much can go wrong with big fingers, small screens and small buttons.  I see a desktop with a 23 inch screen in the immediate future.


Now, time for a beer and the Oakland vs Kansas City baseball game.  In my perfect world, I see the Orioles, the National and the Giants advancing - any of the three or one or two.  


Enjoy the world of playoff baseball and Celebrate that the Yankees are not!
Love, Leslie




 PS ~ Mom is having a much better day!  The antibiotic is working!!

A Not Good Day

Mom did not have a good day.  She started the day off by digging thru her dresser drawers looking for the king sheets.  She asked me if I had taken them or put them somewhere.  I told her that after I wash them weekly, I put them in her room and ta da.......there they were on the sofa in her room.  Mom told me they weren't the ones she was looking for.  But then she called me and said that she "guessed she would have to get on her knees and apologize because those were the sheets".  I said it was ok.  (Really, on her knees?)

Our next trip was to the doctor for her B-12 shot.  I reminded her to ask if she had gotten the flu shot.  Don't forget to get yours!  Mom came out of the office and I asked about the flu shot - she had forgotten to ask the doctor, but she went back and got it.  Why is she acting so crazy?  Turns out she has a sinus infection and started the antibiotic this evening.

I wonder if there is a medication for me?  Yes, I believe there is - alcohol, a lot of alcohol. Luckily, Lori and Jim are driving up for the weekend - Lori always makes mom better. Maybe I can convince Lori to let mom move in with her.  I can hear the screaming of NO NO NO from here!  Just kidding!!!!!  

Happy End of September and Don't forget to get YOUR flu shots!!!!!
Love, Leslie

Now It Is Really Lori's Birthday

Well, now I have it right.  Today is really Lori's birthday!  I hope you had a beautiful day!

My neighbors had their 4th Annual Octoberfest ~ David makes his own beer and it was delicious!  They had an enormous cooker ~

 

 

He cooked pork, a stuffed ham and beef - I know you vegetarians are turning up your nose, but it was fabulous!  I had a good time.

 

 

I haven't heard from Amy about the final details from her 30th reunion weekend...........I do know that she remade some connections that are important.

 

 

Hope your weekend was great!

~Love, Leslie

 



PS ~ I watched a Property Brothers episode last night and I saw a version of Amy's new chandelier!  This one was pewter and had clear crystals.  Very nice!!!!

Party Pictures

Ok, sorry to be late, but I left my camera at Amy's house last night.  So, a late start.

What a good time we had!  But, I will say we had way too much food and drinks.  Who knew?  But, here are the photos of the house right before people started arriving. And, I started with the front door.

Next, as I entered the house, I looked to the right, to Amy's office - you can see her new desk and computer.

As I looked to the right, into the dining room, the new chandelier throws this great pattern against the walls.  In the kitchen, I caught Chris - who graduated first in the class and now lives in Homer, Alaska.

Here is the Martha Stewart touch.  I used a brown grocery bag to put the plant in to hide the plastic pot.

The outdoor cushions - the patio looked so nice!!!!

I brought over the lava lamp - can't have a party without it!!! I didn't get to paint the wall, but I will do it next week.  The mirror is a terrific TJ Maxx on sale find.  

The new drapes in the master look great.

Amy hid the exercise equipment and then was masquerading as a lamp.  I honestly didn't see her when I took the picture.

   

We moved the picture that Amy took of the dolphins to over the bed in the guest room.


And then the party started.  The best thing there?  Nancy made a HUGE Death by Chocolate dessert - and everybody ate it and I believe the empty bowl will make it back to Nancy, with no leftovers.

Amy looked fantastic and there were so many stories and so much laughter.  It was a great party.

~Leslie

Party Prep

Today is Amy's party.  It seems like we have been working for weeks and all of a sudden, it is today.  I know, trite ~ but true.
I am making two batches of brownies, pulling out cake plates and crystal dishes and, yes, the lava lamp!  We are going to put it in the desk area in the kitchen with the wine.  Nancy brought over the coolest and nicest pewter buckets (not really buckets, but not bins ~ I will take a photo so you can see) to put ice and wine bottles in to cool them down.
The house is ready and looks fantastic.  I took Amy to the liquor store, grocery store and Homestead Gardens and my car was FULL!.  The kid at Homestead said "You must be having a party" while putting pots of mums on top of the liquor in the back.  Yep.  However, I am sure we have too much stuff so there will be leftovers - hopefully in the liquor category, so it will carry thru the holiday. 
Got to go, brownies are done.  More later!!!!

AND, not to let this pass.........HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LORI!!!!!!!

Well, Amy says I am demented.  She says that I am incorrect about Lori's birthday ~ and she is correct.  I am early.  Amy also says that Lori and I have the weird birthdates:  Leslie is June 9, Scott was August 1, Lori is September 28, Amy is May 1, Nancy is November 25, and Carole is June 25.  Well, that does make sense.  So, I am early.  So, celebrate early and often!!!!!!!!

 

Love, Leslie

PS ~ Amy's house looks so gorgeous for the party tonite!  Pictures and hopefully video to follow!

Preparing for Amy's 30th

Today, more work at Amy's house.  The guys finally came and took away the hot tub - they were ragging Amy because she called Randy five times.  He had to call extra guys and they cut the hot tub into pieces in order to get it out of the yard.  The lesson learned?  Always ask if there is water in the hot tub.

The hot tub is GONE!  

Electricians are coming tomorrow to hang the new dining room chandelier and they are going to put together the new desk.  It never hurts to ask!!!!

This is the old lighting fixture - and please not the wooden sailing ship behind on the wall - it goes also.

The new chandelier - it is gorgeous!

The new design of wall art.

I am finished with the bathroom and tomorrow we hang the mirror and pictures - and I will add pictures to this edition of the blog.  Then, we rehang some pictures and move some stuff around.  We did a quick trip to Home Goods and came out with some lamps, pictures, tablecloth and a couple of runners.  The house will look fantastic!!!! And some pictures that belong to the carbuncle will be boxed up and put away. 

This watercolor is on the Tibetian Orange wall.

This is the new mirror.  The lighting doesn't really show the wall color ~ but it is so pretty!

It has been such fun to work at Amy's.  By the way, Nancy has been doing some work at her house ~ the downstairs half bath was given a face lift and Nancy repainted the walls (that also may have been the impetus to re-do Amy's).  I have heard that she is going to re-do the columns in her den and dining room. I need to get over there and get some pictures. 

Oh, and Mom found her eye drops.  She had put them in one of her ZILLION bags!!!!!!

I watched the Orioles clinch the American League East last night and watched it again at Amy's house this afternoon.  It was great to watch.  Go Orioles!!!!!!!!


Love, Leslie

Why Are Some Things So Small?

Tonight I had my Victim Impact Panel and mom was supposed to go to Amy's house.  Mom didn't want to go, so I caved and let her stay at home.  Amy called her and invited her to dinner, but she didn't want to go.  So, when I got home at 8:45pm, she hadn't eaten and, for some strange reason, has managed to lose the antibiotic eye drops that I had to get yesterday.  And is being very pathetic.  She told me that she was going to try and stop being so unable.  Hmmmmm. 


Now, the eye drop bottle was on the VERY TINY side, so it very easily could have dropped down some mouse hole, if we happened to have on.  I moved the furniture, but could not find it.  I was very nice and told mom not to worry.  I would call the doctor and re-order.


I also made mom some lovely pasta with a white sauce, gave her a strong gin and tonic, her pills and now I can settle down and take the dogs out.  And watch the Orioles play the Blue Jays.  This is the night the Orioles could win the American League East division!  So it is a good night, no matter what. 


On another good side, I finished painting the walls in Amy's guest bath.  2 coats of the brown paint and 3 coats of the orange.  And, with a TINY brush, I corrected the places where the paint leaked through the tape.  A couple of more touches tomorrow and the pictures go up and......ta da.......her guest bath is now a showplace!!!!!!!!! I give credit to Lori who lobbied for a darker color and she is correct!!!!!


The new dining room chandelier comes tomorrow and will be installed tomorrow, the new desk has arrived and her house is coming together nicely. 


So all is well in sunny Davidsonville.


Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.


Love, Leslie


PS ~ This is from Wednesday morning ~ as I was searching for the lost antibiotic eye drops, I was searching in those little tables that look like books and guess what I did find....a letter from the MVA, dated 8-22-14 containing my lost registration and updated sticker for my tags.  I wonder what else I might find if I do more searching?  The lost city of Atlantis, Cortez's gold, or the leprechaun's gold.  The mind boggles.

Just A Note

Today, on September 11, 2014, we stop to remember a memory ~ one good and one bad. 

The good ~ Happy Anniversary to Nancy and Drew.  A beautiful wedding!  I love to watch "Say Yes to the Dress" and I remember very clearly going to Country Miss Fashions to see Nancy's dress.  And I had the "Wow" moment and I will never forget it when Nancy stepped out in the most gorgeous blush pink gown.  And the wedding was so lovely.

And the bad ~ I was driving to work and was listening to the radio and they broke to report on the airplane crash into the World Trade Center tower.  And I thought that it was a joke, a bad joke because Mayor Gulianni was in the middle of a bad divorce and Mrs. Gulianni wouldn't leave the governor's mansion and that was his attempt to get her out.  I know, it doesn't make sense, but it made sense to me at the time.

So I have many clear memories of where I was on this date.  And, most of them good.

Here is another good one ~ Carolyn took her medical license exam today and she said she survived!  We all have to wait one month for the results, but I know it will be good.  (See, way more goods!)

Love to all!

~Leslie

Being Helpful

Amy and I were out getting ready to start the painting project in her guest bathroom.  We got the paint, Egyptian Pyramid and the glorious Tibetian orange.  And we went to the frame shop to get her watercolors of Jake and Buffy matted and framed.  I had a print of Annapolis matted and framed.  I love doing that - it is so enervating to get art matted and framed your way.  Don't worry.  I will have pictures - before and after!!!!!!
Time to go.

What fun Mom and I had at Amy's house. Painting the bathroom, unpacking the new drapes so they can hang up and get out the wrinkles.  The drapes follow Stacy and Clinton's rules of texture, shine and neutral - I believe more are going to be purchased, because they were for the bedroom, but Amy and Mom hung them in the dining room and they look great.  Sort of a cross between a burlap and heavy linen texture, light taupe with a definite shimmer in the material. 

First, here is the new garden that Amy planted:

Amy was putting in the mulch.  All are perennials except for the lettuce and broccoli she planted for the box turtle that has been in there.

Amy said that she had to tape the ceiling - so all the edges would be straight.

This is the horrid mirror and light fixture that are being replaced, as well as the crazy painting the previous owner did.

This is the Egyptian Pyramid, which actually looks like Hazelnut coffee or milk chocolate - next to the old paint job. 

I believe I have to do another coat and we did some spackling that needs some more work, and then I paint the orange wall.  And, it looks so much better!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Even if it is not red like Lori wanted, it is so pretty.  It looks great with the new mirror and light fixture.  Those pictures are coming.  I will show all of the re-do.

And, of course, my dogs went on the field trip to Amy's.

 

Ok, time for bed.  I am "volunteering" to help at a swanky golf tournament tomorrow and I have to be there by 7am.  Better set the alarm.

Love,
Leslie

PS ~ here is the cartoon, from the Washington Post, that I found to be quite funny.

How Our Garden Grows

Here are some of our tomatoes:

We don't have as many as we have had because it has been so cool - but they are delicious.
As you know, Mom loves orchids.  I have three that I am nurturing in the kitchen window and one is getting ready to re-bloom:



 

 

I am looking forward to seeing what kind and what color the orchids will be. 

 

Now I am on the way to the MVA.  I had ordered my new registration stickers on-line and guess what....they have not arrived.  A major pain.  So, I went on-line again to inquire - and the information I got was not helpful.  The site that I was sent to for a 15 day temporary notice was "no longer there" - so I am going to do this in person.  Yippee.

 

PS ~ I survived the MVA.  I went, was given the number I 97 - not 197, but "I (eye) 97.  That differential was very confusing to a lot of people there.  My non-helpful clerk, was a tad snippy ~ and I owed them $5.00!  Never mind that I had paid $187.00 already, and had taken the time to go down there.  But, I got my sticker and now am not a candidate for getting pulled over.

 

Hope your day is better!!!

~Love, Leslie



Good Morning!

I just came in from watering the tomatoes and hydrangea in the front yard.  It is so humid!  Drip, drip, drip.  I kept the dogs on the porch, so they were in the shade.  Now it is inside to cool off and then out to the back to water the pots on the porch. 
Mom has an appointment with a cardiologist - her old one left the practice, so she sees a new one today.  And, mom wanted a pain pill this morning - she said her leg and hip have been hurting for "a while", but today it is worse.  She has said nothing about pain.  I wonder if she will need the wheelchair for the appointment. 
Amy and I had a wonderful time wandering around Macy's looking for some black pants for me to wear to work a golf tournament.  I don't want to wear any good ones and luckily I found a pair and on sale!!! Amy found two very cute white tops to wear under sweaters.  She also looked at the mattress department upstairs because she is getting a new one.  According to Real Simple magazine, always buy a mattress at a department store!
Ok, the drips are dry so it is time to go out and drip some more!


Ok, we went to the cardiologist.   Now an echo is scheduled for Thursday at 11am, have to schedule blood work (because Mom hasn't done it) and a chest X-ray (I will bet to rule out pneumonia, because she wheezes and her Lasix needs to be upped - if she takes).  Her doctor also asked her if her hearing was giving her trouble, but he didn't make any suggestions to her.  I said that she needed to get her internist to give her a referral for an audiologist.  Mom said "why can't my regular doctor check my hearing?"  I said that is what an audiologist does.  Mom said "He isn't a regular doctor?" When did mom become brain dead????????????????????????????????????????


Now I am fixing her dinner.  She requested:  rice, white beans and roasted tomatoes.  I need a drink.


~Love, Leslie

September 1st

Here it is, September 1st ~ and it is summer again.  We have been so balmy, cool nights, nice days.  Maybe the heat will push my tomatoes.

I was out watering ~

Here is my supervisor.



This is our ONLY hydrangea this year.  The Polar Vortex wiped them all out.




The Toad Orchids are beginning to bloom - usually they bloom in August.

 

So, all is quiet, but I do have to report that Mom's riding the bicycle....not so much.  She does get on it and will pedal for about 5 minutes.  And that is it.  Not good.  But, she only tells us that she rides it, so she is not lying.  So that is good. Just not for any healthy time.  So that is bad.

 

I am off to meet Amy.  I have to get a pair of black pants to wear to a golf tournament.  A friends husband is on the board for what used to be Christmas in July.  Which is when volunteers go out in mass and work on houses that are in need of a lot of rehab.  And they asked me to help with the tournament - should be fun.

 

Enjoy your September and the beginning of Fall.

~Leslie