Cross Your Fingers!

I mailed my front yard plans to the HOA Friday on my way home from work and according to the USPS’s website, the envelope has been received!  Now it’s time to wait, with fingers crossed, until they send something back to me. 

I’ve been talking about doing this for more than a year and though I’ve taken lots of workshops, toured lots of gardens and chatted with lots of people, I’m still concerned about the project.  Not the layout or plants, but whether or not I’ll get the OK to do it.  Though many yards in my neighborhood have expanded garden areas, I’m the trailblazer as far as the drought tolerant angle goes.  Included in all the info I sent it were pictures of houses within the county where I live that have already done this – and it looks spectacular!!!

Doesn’t this look awesome?????

The only fly in the ointment on this project has been the one neighbor who refused to sign the Neighbor Awareness form.  He called/e-mailed the HOA last Monday so they know he’s aware of my plans.  I have to admit to being stunned by his about-face as when I first mentioned the plans to him he was even thinking of doing his side of the narrow grass area between our driveways.  He thought it would also spur him on to add the blocks to the edge of the driveway to make it wider (plans I signed off on last year I think, but that he hasn’t done ‘cuz he wasn’t working this past winter).

When he came over to talk last Monday night he was really intrigued by how little I’ll have to use my sprinkler system, saying that it was something he should consider.  Though he still refused to sign the paperwork, he told me that he hopes I get approval.  At this point I had rolled up all my paperwork into a tube so I playfully hit his arm and said “No you don’t” to which he replied that he really did.  I’m left thinking that it’s his wife that doesn’t want the project to move forward, but it really doesn’t matter.  They have the right to voice their opinions (they want to see lawns in front of houses, not just plants) and to make them known to the HOA.

I addressed their concern as best as possible in all the stuff I submitted, and I included the offer I made to NOT transform my lawn between our driveways so that the plants are not “in his face”.  Even though he declined it, it’s still on the table as a compromise.

So folks, the wait has begun!!  Please cross your fingers for me and hope that if I forgot to dot an “i” or cross a “t” that the HOA contacts me so I can correct myself!  I read and reread all the paperwork I submitted so many times but I have this nagging feeling that I overlooked something. 

As soon as I know anything you’ll know too!!!

It’s Morning Already?

How utterly devastating!

At least it’s FRIDAY morning!

Why am I complaining?

I was out way past my bedtime last night, walking into my house just a few minutes before yesterday turned into today.  Add in my still being wired after a most awesome Martina McBride concert state, I couldn’t fall asleep right away.  This morning I hit the snooze button 6 times, the first two without even waking up!

The concert review post won’t show up until tomorrow but here are some O.C. Fair non-Martina tidbits…

First, I finally had one of those ultra-famous Pink’s Hot Dogs!!  I had a chili cheese dog with mustard and onions and let me tell you, the dogs ARE all that and more!  I’m having another Saturday night when I’m back at the fair for the Faith Hill concert.

For dessert, Friend and I both had chocolate dipped frozen cheesecakes on a stick!  OMG – it is a slice of cheesecake on a stick, dipped in chocolate and in my case, then dipped in sprinkles!  Another do-over on Saturday!!

Here’s Friend…I was surprised she took popped her head into the circle before first seeing what was on the other side!  Guess she trusts me!

Do you know how Brussel Sprouts grow?  I do now!  Here’s the plant from a distance…

…and here’s a close-up of these green orbs of tastiness!

Don’t you just want to break off a few and eat them?  No??? GREAT – more for me!! 

Lastly, here’s a picture of what I want to be doing right now instead of heading to the office after a measly 4-1/2 hours of sleep…

Snoozing while sunbathing, oblivious to everything around me!

Happy Friday everyone!

Little Bits IX

Tire Watch

I followed this white Honda for 3 miles before we both turned down Bumpy Road (that’s not the actual name of the road, that’s my nickname for it thanks to layers upon layers of patched potholes).

At the end of the road I caught up with White Honda again and sighed…

That hanging license plate frame was horizontal for the first 3 miles I was behind the car which means somewhere along Bumpy Road a screw popped out.

Given the magnets that seem to be in my tires I am now on tire patrol…listening for clickety-clacks and watching for flats.  So far so good…

Work Entertainment

Assistant and I had a nice break from work the other day watching this guy clean up his mess.  We didn’t see how it happened, but all the boxes on the forklift had somehow fallen off and scattered themselves on the ground in front of the gate to our office.

Though I didn’t think to grab my camera until he was just about done with the clean-up, he did put on quite the show.  Receptionist heard his swear when the boxes first took their spill, then after putting the first couple rows of boxes back on the palette on the forklift, Guy sat on said forklift and did some serious texting.

I called Receptionist and suggested she get his rear in gear by opening the gate, getting in her SUV and trying to drive out.  Assistant and I thought that was a very funny idea, Receptionist not so much…

When putting rows 3 and 4 on the stack, Guy put the first box closest to him, then had to walk around the stack when adding the others for each row.  Assistant and I were wondering why he didn’t put the first box on the far side so he didn’t have to do so much walking.

After the fourth row was complete the pile was very wobbly and all Guy’s pushing together of boxes, either with his hands or his butt, didn’t secure them so he grabbed the roll of shrink plastic and walked in circles until the boxes were secured in a tight blanket of plastic.

The next act in this little drama was a confrontation between Guy and fellow Girl employee.  We couldn’t hear the words but the gestures were very entertaining…

Unfortunately for Assistant and me, the final act was not as entertaining as all the previous ones as Guy had the mess cleaned up before our Boss arrived at the office.

Neat Retreat

This is one of the seating areas at the shopping area near me.  At night, the big ball on the right has a fire at the top to add even more to the already neat atmosphere.

Awesome View

When I walk to the outdoor classroom at the nursery where I’m taking my garden workshops I have to see this.  It’s such a chore…

…to walk away and actually attend the workshop.  The picture doesn’t really do the view justice – it is breathtaking!

Anticipation

Yes, a singer, two in fact,  but neither are Carly Simon!

One is Martina McBride!!!

She’s in concert tonight, Thursday, and Friend and I have tickets!  The concert starts at 8PM – a mere 14-1/2 hours from right now!

I saw Martina at this amphitheatre 2 years ago and her performance was INCREDIBLE!!!!  So incredible that I don’t mind going to another concert, +/- an hour away (depending on traffic) AND on a work night!!!  Friend and I are both Martina fans and we have good seats so an awesome time should be had for sure!

The only thing I’m anticipating more?

Her!

That’s Faith Hill and I have a ticket to see her in concert Saturday night…at the same venue…and I’ll be in row 11!!!!

I see two concert review blog posts in our future… 

The Laptop Trio

Pardon my silence over the weekend — I had company arrive late Saturday afternoon which meant that after my gardening workshop Saturday morning I did the food shopping and the cleaned, cleaned, cleaned!  Remember me?  I’m the person you don’t want to visit without at least a couple hour’s warning.  Ummm…make that a couple month’s warning — I’ve known about my company since May!

So, who’s visiting?  My cousin Jeff’s 22-year old daughter Meghan and her boyfriend Davis.  They’ve been on an around-the-country driving adventure since June 1st, racking up 10,000 miles so far!!  They took the northerly route to get out to the west coast, stopping at national parks or other places of interest along the way.  Most of the time they’re camping but they  did stay in a hotel in Vegas and with other strategically located relatives.

Saturday they were at the beach in San Diego before heading up here to the blast furnace (102 degrees when they got here).  They took some time getting themselves organized, took showers then we had pizza for dinner and sat around and chatted for a few hours.

Sunday morning their alarm went off at 6AM so they could get themselves out the door to go zip-lining in Big Bear.  I knocked on their door at 6:30 to rewake them, they got up at 6:45 and were on their way at 7:05AM.  They had asked me if I wanted to go as well but since I’m 3/4″ shy of their harness requirement I passed.  I wouldn’t be able to watch them so it would have been going with them for the ride up and down the mountain while doing something else during their adventure.

Instead Scarpetto and I worked on the backyard pathways for 2-1/2 hours.  The second path is all done (YAY) and the third path is about 1/2 dug up.  Once it’s all dug up putting in the blocks will be quick and easy (hopefully).  I put Scarpetto in the house, did some backyard weeding then took a shower and went to Target.  Once back home I puttered a bit, worked on a project for a friend for an hour or so then started doing more research for my front yard overhaul.

Meghan and Davis were back by mid-afternoon so that they could get an oil change, relax and get some laundry done.  We chatted for a while and then settled into a comfortable silence.

Why?

Meet the Laptop Trio!

In this picture Davis was actually multi-tech-tasking.  I think he was texting on his phone in the middle of doing something on the computer…  This scene just cracked me up, probably because I live alone and am never in this situation, because it did seem to be a normal thing for the other two.

Meghan and Davis were organizing pictures from their trip, catching up on Facebook and playing games while I was busy with front yard planning, e-mail and Facebook.

Dinner was salad and leftover pizza with a saltwater taffy dessert for the visitors.  We hung spent the next couple hours chatting and multi-tasking:  Meghan on her laptop, Davis writing postcards and me watching Army Wives and computing.

This morning I’m writing this post while my company is still snoozing.  I’m not sure exactly what time they’re getting up but they want to be on the road around 9AM – and that’s when I’ll head to the office.  They’re meeting one of Davis’s cousins for lunch in L.A. then heading back up the coast to Oakland/San Fran before leaving CA later this week for the Grand Canyon and their eastward journey via a southern route.

It was great having them here for a visit, and I think they enjoyed their time as well.  The visit plans were very loose, just “whatever”, and though they did get an adventure, they also had some catch-up on things time as well.  And best of all?  We had the opportunity to hang out, chat and get to know each other better!

Saturday Part 1 of 3

Did you ever have such a super day that you had more to tell than attention spans would allow?  That was my day yesterday!  In deference to you my readers, I’ve opted to spread out the day over three posts so I don’t overwhelm you.  OK, I benefit as well because I don’t have to sit for hours to write the long post in addition to the hours spent sorting out and labeling 370 pictures.

Just before writing yesterday’s blog post I headed down the hall and glanced out the window as I passed by.  Though my brain instantly registered “stripes” it took my feet a few yards to catch up and return me to the window.  Excitement flowed through me as I grabbed my camera and headed outside, yesterday’s blog post instantly scratched off my to-do list.

I don’t know why hot air balloons still fascinate me since I see them all the time, but they do.  Of course this one did because it was being launched in the field behind the house at the end of the street.

While snapping away at this one look what happened!

Yep, another one showed up!!

I sat myself down on my sidewalk and waited for the launch.  Even though the balloons were “up” they weren’t inflated enough to take off.  I could hear the propane burners being turned on and off, and each time, the balloons moved a bit, bobbing along the ground.

The burners turned on and off a lot, but no balloon took flight, so I turned my telephoto lens on my nearby gardens while I waited.

Here’s a blanket flower…

and a white Lily of the Nile (Agapantha)…

the wall of morning glories…

one of my Lantana plants…

a white petunia…

…and wait!!  What’s that???  The burner noise didn’t stop!  Could it be???

YES!

We have lift-off!! 

The purple and green one went up high right away so the pictures I could take were kind of boring.  But the pink and yellow one was co-operative in the photo-op department.  Not only was I able to get a picture of the passengers and the flame…

…but I was also able to get a picture that makes it appear the balloon was going to land in the field behind my house (it didn’t).

All that awesome unplanned excitement set the mood for the rest of the day.  I knew it was going to be an awesome one – and it was!  Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 in the next two days!

Under The Influence

I spent almost the entire day Saturday working.  Granted I was at home and comfy as could be in my new jammies, but I was working…all day long.  There were a few potty breaks, an hour-long break to make my yummy soup, a half hour break to do dishes and another half hour break for dinner, but other than those times the day was spent staring at my computer monitor doing work.

Why?

Deadlines!  The trade show deadline  combined with my Thanksgiving vacation back east equaled a lot of stuff to get done this weekend.

After a total of nearly 12 hours of monitor staring, I’m sure you can feel the headache that I had when I finally shut down and went to bed at 8:30PM.  I rarely take aspirin, motrin or anything so I’m never able to use up a bottle of even 50 tablets before its 2 years from date of purchase expiration!  However, Saturday night my head and eyes hurt so badly that I took one Tylenol PM.

Yes…ONE. 

Just one…

I was out before 9PM and slept soundly.  So soundly in fact that when the alarm went off at 5AM Sunday not only did it have to wake me up, but I hit the snooze button – 6 times!!!  So much for an early start on more work!

I semi-blindly stumbled my way to the kitchen, yawning the whole way, made a pot of coffee then realized that I was cold and I needed my nice warm polarfleece bathrobe.

When I walked back into my bedroom I put on the light then burst into laughter.  I have absolutely no idea how I could have slept as soundly as I did since my bed linens indicated that I ran a marathon, kick-boxed or engaged in some other very active something or other…

It may be unbelievable, but really, when I went to bed Saturday night all the covers were neatly in place.  The foot of the comforter was hanging between the mattress and the footboard; the blanket was stretched the length of the bed, not hanging off the side and the pillows were side by side across the head of the bed, not half on top of each other one one side.

I have no recollection of moving around or of dreaming.  All I remember was 8:55 on the alarm clock and then nothing until the beeping started at 5AM.

I was under the influence of one Tylenol PM… can you imagine what would have happened if I had taken two????

 

Power Outage

A couple weeks ago the power went out in the middle of the night.  Based upon local newspaper accounts of the outage, I woke up within minutes of it going out.  Must be that same radar I had back in MA that would go off within a few minutes of the snow starting (for those of you in non-snow areas, snow does not make any noise when it falls so I have some sort of “super radar”).

Anyway, once I figured out that I didn’t have power I was wide awake….and I do mean WIDE awake!  The worst thing is there was absolutely nothing I could do to occupy my time since I didn’t have any power!  For a crafter who cannot deal with idle fingers this was the most horrible of horrible situations!

After an hour of tossing and turning on the sofa while trying to figure out how to have night lights without electricity (or candles should I fall asleep) it dawned on me that I have a backyard full of solar lights!  Sooo….I went outside and grabbed three of the lights (minus the stakes in the ground).  I took the top lamps (the part with the bulbs) and set them on top of on-the-rocks glasses.  I put one glass in the bathroom, one on top of the buffet table  (1/2 way point to the bathroom) and the other on the coffee table.  Not only could I find my way to the bathroom but the glow on the table was an unexpected feast for the creative eye!

I was very proud of myself for thinking of this and was quick to share my inventiveness with my co-workers.  They all responded with the same question —- do solar lights work indoors?????

Hhhhmmm…..they work outside when it’s dark so why wouldn’t they work inside when it’s dark????

OK — truth be told, I posed the same question to myself when I first thought of bringing them indoors, but I have 2 excuses.  First, I’m Polish on my Dad’s side, an excuse I readily use whenever I do/think/say anything that is less than intelligent.  Second, it was the middle of the night for me….not the middle of the day!

Long story short….solar lights DO work inside so the next time you have a power outage, instead of burning candles, wearing down batteries or walking into furniture, bring your solar lights indoors!

Continuing on the Donation theme….

This December will be the third year that I drive to the Ontario, CA set of ABC7′s Stuff-a-Bus toy campaign.  The local morning weather guy, Garth Kemp, really gets into the spirit of the holiday and dresses up as an elf.  And they have the BEST Santa!  There are 3 different drop off sites on 3 consecutive Fridays.

Since my Christmas shopping for 2009 is well underway, and the gifts I have to make are 1/2 done, I’m now also purchasing gifts for this year’s donation!
This is my stash so far…

I try to pick up a goody or two whenever I find toys/books/craft kits on sale and then I set them aside until December.

This year in particular I am going to do my best to donate as many gifts as possible.  $5 here and there doesn’t hurt me, and though none of the gifts are expensive or electronic, the ones I donate will put smiles on the faces of some children in my area of Southern California.  And knowing that I might have made some child’s holiday makes ME feel like a kid on Christmas morning!

Locks of Love

Friday morning when I got up I knew it was “time”.  I’d had enough with getting my hair pulled when I put my briefcase strap on my shoulder; had enough with not being able to lean forward in my car & turn my head left and right to look for traffic before pulling into a street and had enough of waiting for my hair to dry.

Sooo….out came the ruler and sure enough, my frustration was going to end the next morning!!!

Even though I woke up with another nasty sore throat, my enthusiasm was not dampened one bit.  I washed my long hair for the final time then hopped in my car and drove the 4 miles to the salon.

Imagine my surprise when they didn’t have a rubberband OR a ruler!!!  Thank goodness I had both in my purse!

Twenty minutes after I entered the salon I left with a “new do” and this bag containing an 11″ ponytail!

This is the fourth donation I’ve made to Locks of Love and I couldn’t be prouder.  It’s a super organization that uses donated hair to make wigs for kids who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments.

The best news of all?  My fifth donation has already started growing!!

Just Checking In

Just quick note that I’m still around! Though my life may be ordinary it really IS interesting.
My current silence is caused by my incredible hostess abilities. I had a severe sore throat 3 weeks ago and after 2 weeks of antibiotics I was fine….for a week.
Memorial Day weekend was spent swallowing while grimacing, eating soft foods (or very small bites of solid foods), avoiding yawning and generally doing nothing.
I’m full of antibiotics again so I’ll be catching you up on interesting things over the next few days….