Jeanne’s Thoughtful Spot

It is rare when making plans ever work out for me, especially lately. I’ve decided it is time to get rid of the plan and just go with the flow! It doesn’t help much either when the weather doesn’t cooperate… hot and humid or rain.

Project Beautification has been slowing going this week. Well, a lot slower that I wanted. We don’t have our lilac bushes yet because finding muscle help on the weekend when there is a lot going on in the area is not panning out. So Bonnie (who is the lilac project supervisor) decided the best thing to do was to get help during the week. This week? Next week? I’m not sure but whenever the project goes, I’ll be ready!

This week’s accomplishments…

• I filled a planter with white flowing flowers.
• Ken built a pole/stand for a sign with our last name on it.
• Ken built another stair coming off the front side deck. Yay! No longer will I have to stretch to step up those stairs.
• We bought five shrubs to accent the yard. The best part of that was the trees were 50% off! I love a deal!! Ken was going to pick up a few more today but when we got to the store, all the same kind of shrubs were gone.

We have a short work week (3 days) so I’m hoping the weather cooperates so we can get a lot accomplished.  Click here to see the pics of Project Beautification!

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Project Beautification is going nicely. This weekend we picked up a whole bunch of flowers and put them in pots on the front deck.

Also, with the help of Bonnie and Kit-Kat we planted most of the almost free plants in front of the shed and in front of the front deck. I was amazed that none of the plants we had died, considering we picked them up 10 days before planting them! We had a lot of fun planting! Especially just as I was rinsing my hands with the garden hose, I dropped it to the ground… the girls got an unexpected shower! As Kit-Kat says, “I got hosed!” and then she showed me the “proper” way to put down a garden hose.

There are still more pictures to take and those will be coming later this week.

I am soo excited for this weekend! We are getting a whole bunch of almost free lilac bushes!!! It is going to be a job and a half but once the lilacs start blooming, it will be worth it! My plan is to take a before and after picture of the yard.

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Now that he’s stayed put for about a week, Ken finally put in a claim this week for the hail damage to his Cruiser. The insurance adjuster stopped by last night to assess the damage. I almost hit the floor when Ken told me what the adjuster said… between $3,500 to 4,500!! Ken thinks his vehicle has bad luck. In just under the two years he’s had it, rocks put cracks in his windshield twice, he hit a deer, a dog, two birds, a person and two hails storms. Yeah, I’d say that is a bad luck vehicle.

And since we are talking vehicle repairs, Ken’s Tahoe is finally getting fixed. He got tired of waiting for this guy he asked months ago to fix it and asked someone else. The new guy picked up and diagnosed the Tahoe the next morning! It wasn’t the head gasket, which is what we were told several months ago, it is an intake gasket. I don’t know the difference but I do know the head gasket is a big job. The guy explained to me the repair is about half the amount of work (which is good), will costs less to fix (also good) and it should be done by the end of the weekend. Yay for that!! The guy told Ken while he is working on the vehicle he might as well do an oil change and replace the spark plugs and wires. Total cost for parts and labor… $300. This guy that is doing the work really does a good job and never charges a lot for his labor. Once he fixed the oil pan in Ken’s Jeep (broke by Rachel when she was baha-ing in the field) he only wanted $20… Ken gave him a little more.

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What has been keeping me so busy I’ve been neglecting my blog? I haven’t really been that busy… not really. So here’s the scoop…

• I don’t know why but for the first time in many years I started watching basketball… the NBA Finals. Something just sucked me right in. Could it be because there isn’t much else on television to watch these days? I think the last time I watch basketball for any amount of time was when Aaron was a teen when he was totally into it.
• Work has actually been busy. You can definitely tell the weather is getting nicer! Nicer weather + more people out and about = more tickets. And lots of computer work. My eyes have been going buggy and my neck is feeling stiff. I certainly am not looking forward to court tomorrow. For the the first time in months we have a jam-packed full docket. Anyone wanna bet I won’t get a full lunch break or leave work right at 4 p.m.?
• I finally got into that book I bought way back in November. Although it is a good book, I have to take my time reading it because of my buggy eyes and stiff neck.
• Keeping my hummingbird feeder full and intact has been quite the task. Not because of the hummingbirds… the wind keeps blowing it down. I have also found that since I started using a sugar water mix instead of the nectar, I only have one hummingbird visiting daily. Think I’ll go back to buying the nectar.
• Project Beautification has been slow going. My brother came over early Saturday morning with a tiller, dirt and the plants. I had no clue he was even coming and I had not even figured out where the plants were going. I told him coming over to my house on the weekend anytime before Noon and expecting me to be motivated was not a good thing. I go to bed very late on the weekend. Anyway, he left and later that day Ken and I figured out where we wanted the plants. Ken was going to attempt to use the tiller but he couldn’t figure it out. Oh well, another day.
• We went to a community Wellness Fair on Friday because we heard they were giving away some good prizes. There were tons of booths where we got free stuff… pens, chip clips, water bottles and NOTE PADS!! I was in note pad heaven!! Laugh at me if you want but if you ever need a note pad, I have some. And while we were there I found out I was very well. Ken on the other hand found out he needs to keep an eye on his sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol. By the way, we didn’t win any of those good prizes.

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The kids came over for dinner tonight and as we were finishing I thought I heard the dogs wrestling around outside. I asked, “Are the dogs outside?” Aaron said they were and they went out when he and Rachel arrived. The whole time I thought they were being good boys and staying in their beds while we were eating.

I went out back and call them in. As soon as they ran up on the back deck I said, “OHMIGOD!!!” Zeus and Tank were happily running around… all covered in mud! I have no idea where they found the mud but they sure had fun in it! I think Tank more than Zeus.

I just had to add this one just because Tank looked so funny.

It wasn’t long before both dogs hit the bathtub!

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