Ok, I've been remiss again....

I'm WAY behind in blog posts - summer has been busy and loads of fun so I'll attempt to catch up. Keep an eye on the blog as I try to update with Gert's adventures from, oh, a month ago...

Here they come...

Groupon

Just discovered this cool site, Groupon. If you're in DC, they offer some incredible deals. The idea is that they send out daily emails with different deals, everything from $199 rooms down at the new National harbor hotel (rooms go for $600 - I know as I looked into them) to half price dinners or sometimes even less. I just missed a $24 one hour wine tasting which normally goes for $75 (drats), but I love this service! The deal is that enough people have to go in on the offers for them to be available but, so far, I haven't seen many pass without getting bought.

Groupon is in different cities around the US also but not sure how successful they are. I checked into Fort Lauderdale and they must not have taken off there as there's no recent offers. But, Peggy, I think they're in Phoenix. Click HERE to go to the site and look around. I think you'll love it.

You MUST watch this:

This is the most amazing video I think I've ever seen. Click here to view. Brought a smile to my face and tears to my eyes.

If the link doesn't work (because I might be an idiot and not know how to link stuff in blogger..) copy and paste this into your address bar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4HGQHgeFE

Salad days

To anyone over 40, 'salad days' means a time of youth, innocence and inexperience. To me, salad days means I planted the garden! Yes, and, this year, it's a dedicated garden in the back 40 again instead of being jerryrigged around the pool area. So, in went tomatoes, radishes, arugula (LOTS of it), summer squash, zucchini, patty pan squash (mom loves those), cantaloupe, cucumbers, peas and beans. All is looking quite well at the moment as the garden area is contained by a 6 foot tall fence to thwart the deer and rabbits - seems to be working at the moment. Everything is flourishing.

I have a nice herb section on the deck - Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (there's a song in there), sweet stems of basil (one of my favorites), lemon sage. Speaking of herbs, here's a nice article about growing rosemary which grows so s-l-o-w. This is from a friend, Susan Golis, on ehow: How to grown creeping rosemary. It's a nice article and a good herb to try out - love it on roasted pork. And, if you have a garden and plant carrots, here's my friend Peggy's nice article about how to make a great carrot cake. I love good recipes like that. Yummy.

Now, the most interesting part of this story is that I've fallen head over heels in love with tomatoes, having spent 50 years of my life deploring the red, spitting things. It wasn't until Dad died, that summer of 2007, that I started eyeing tomatoes with a different, well, eye. Somehow, and this is akin to someone who has been blind waking up and seeing one day, I fell in love hard with tomatoes. I just couldn't get enough of the things. If they didn't get so soggy, they would have been inserted in my coffee cup. No one was more surprised than me, except, possibly, Gert. I truly believe it was my Dad's spirit engulfing me. His love of tomatoes was so strong that he used to take a salt shaker into the garden and sit and just dine for an hour or so, picking the ripest, reddest fruit. At those 'pick you own stands' we always used to kid that they should have weighted Dad at the end of our visit instead of the paltry 4 tomatoes he held out like a kid in his paper sack.

I've also got Dad and my sister's memorial garden going pretty nicely this year. I lost some trees in the blizzard and, as with anything, the loss of something is the gain of something else. So, the loss of those towering pines means the sun shines down more freely into my small garden and I have more of a choice of plants. So, I started tending it with relish this year and added in some more flowers, hostas, and even 2 hydrageas for those beautiful blooms that will adorn our picnic table.

So, as I tend to my little plots of earth, I sit and think about my Dad and sister. It's one of the few times I get to just focus on memories of Dad. Oh, sure, Mom and I speak of him all the time - his presence is still quite strong between us and in this house that he loved. We still laugh at the things I used to make him do, like put on funny red hats, or the way he called those bug candles 'cinderella candles.' We talk about how he loved Killian and how much he and Rita would have bonded. And, we laugh at Gizmo's legs as they pretty much mirror my darling father's skinny legs, so skinny, so white. Yep, he might not be sitting here in the flesh, but he's here all right. And, that's quite comforting as my own salad days wane.

eHow update

Well, for anyone interested, I've been writing articles for eHow for a year now. For the last 6 months, I've made somewhere between $100-140 per month. What's really nice is that I didn't write any new articles for around 5 weeks and my articles continued to earn residual income. Theoretically, I should be able to collect for the rest of my life! Too cool. Since I write the articles mostly while sitting with Mom in the evenings, it's a fairly productive pasttime. Here's some of my latest stuff:

How to Get Cheap Health Insurance

How to Use Small Goals To Lose Weight

How to Stop Compulsive Eating

How to Keep a Diet Journal

How to Get Longer Thicker Eyelashes

How to Find Personalized Gifts

How to Check Engine Light Codes

How to spend the night before Christmas

How to Swap Christmas Cookies

How to Answer Tough Interview Questions

How to Get Work

How to Get Help Paying Utility Bills

How to Buy digital camera at the best price

How to Get a First-time Home Buyer Tax Credit

Snow storm!

Well, we've been hit! We've got about 11" right now of a nice, fluffy snow, with a projection of another foot coming! PERFECT as I just adore snow storms. Of course, I don't OWN a pair of snow boots (d'oh!) and had to shovel in small boots that barely covered my ankles. But, I had to get a path made in the hopes that Rita would use it (no go, so far). The snow is up over her back - there's some major disadvantages to being short...So, Mom and I are watching her like hawks - well, as I type, there's a question of who is watching who as Mom is sound asleep underneath the heated throw John gave her for Channukah (GREAT present, BTW) and Rita is sound asleep in her spot on top. She and Matee fight for the prime spot of Mom's lap.

Channukah was quiet around here with a nice dinner, complete with potato pancakes which, honestly, weren't my best. But, John and Mom are easily impressed so they liked them (or, perhaps they were too chicken to let on that the pancakes sucked..)

John gave me a great present for my holiday - he had a walkway built around the hot tub so we don't track in mud, and dirt every time we climb in for a soak. Ben, my handyman extraordinaire, put the thing in yesterday; just in time for it to be buried under snow! But, it came out very nicely and we're all pleased with the results.

John and I had a fabulous cruise over Thanksgiving which I'll detail in another post as there's some great pictures to share. Sharyn took a full week off work and came up to stay with Mom - thereby allowing me to really relax on vacation as I knew Mom would be fine under Sharyn's watchful eye. And, she was.

I managed to get Mom out last week for some minor shopping. Since it's cold outside, I try to bring the entertainment inside with having frequent visits from whomever I can scare up. Most nights, it's Mom, John, Bobbi and me but, since we find each other pretty amusing, the mix works!

Asberger's sydrome

My great niece, Jillian, has a mild form of autism, called Aspergers syndrome. She and Monya (my niece - my sister's middle girl) are doing a lot to raise awareness, including creating a great t-shirt. Here's a link to Jillian's blog:

http://jillianscowsoflove.blogspot.com/2009/10/launching-cows-of-love.html?showComment=1256257175773#c6819116885660518116

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Ah, spring flowers...

Spent most of today outside planting loads of pots with fresh herbs, some flowers, and rearranging such until Mom and I were just DONE with it. I need help rearranging stuff - Gert is better than I am but neither of us is Martha Stewart... We're not even Joan Rivers - although we're closer on that one...

Found out today that an age-old friend whom I recently reconnected with on Facebook is throwing out the first ball at an Orioles game in May so, of course, I just can't miss this opportunity! John and I are both looking forward to seeing Liz, aka Boom Boom, and probably making fun of her like I did - well, a long, long, LONG time ago... I'm trying to lose 40 lbs between now and then... Either that or invest in a good body stocking....

Speaking of needing a body stocking...

Sophia came over tonight with loads of chinese food for dinner so the three of us feasted. I bought some unknown green at the local chinese market earlier today and tried a new recipe I found on the internet - note to self; don't do that again. This chinese market just sucks me in though as the produce is so fresh and about 1/2 the price of the local Giant.

John and his Dad turned over a pretty large plot of land for me to make a garden. Sophia has requested tomatoes, red chili peppers, and green beans. In addition, I'll plant zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers and green peppers. Am looking forward to just going out back and getting fresh veggies this summer. Also put some arugula out today in pots - love that stuff!

Killian was antsy tonight so took him out back with a frisbee and made him run for it. He got some pretty spectacular catches in and made 8 out of 10. Pretty amazing dog.

eHow updates

Still having a lot of fun writing these little bitty articles on eHow - have made some pretty interesting contacts with people all over the world. Mom and I have coming up with these ideas (some of her ideas are kind of goofy - we caulk that up to her increased Fentanyl patch...).

Here's my latest money makers:

How to Make New Memories With A Senior Citizen

How to Spring Clean A Dog

How to Dress a Dog For Your Amusement (not necessarily his...)

How to Find The Historic Stock Price of Inherited Stocks

How to Create an Electronic Filing Cabinet During Spring Cleaning

How to Barter Online For Anything

How to Save Money At Fast Food Restaurants

How to Master Your Metabolism

Updated eHow articles

Here's my latest list of bestselling articles - HA! Well, I've made almost $30 this month - it's a few cocktails at least!

How to Get Free Coupons For Key West Florida
How to Use Flowers for Garnishes
How to Buy Over-The Counter Items with a Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
How to Survive The Vacation From Hell
How to Make a Fantastic Key Lime Martini Cocktail
How to Set A Table
How to Travel Safely (For Business Women)
How to Wake Up Cheerful
How to Use Aluminum Foil Creatively
How to Support The Special Olympics Charity Organization
How to Use Duct Tape Creatively
How to Use Toothpaste Creatively
How to Use a Lemon Creatively
How to Get Free Food (or Save Money) at Boston Market
How to Know What A House Is Worth
How to Plan An Inexpensive Honeymoon
How to Drive Safely Among Semi Trucks
How to Make Delicious Atkins Stuffed Mushrooms
How to Make a Dessert Shooter Everyone Will Love
How to Get Free Beauty Product Cosmetics
How to Pack For a Fantastic Beach Vacation

Been a LONG time - again!

Our 'dainty' cat, JB in his favorite pose. Give him a beer and a cigar and he's quite comfortable...He's doing quite well acclimating to the house and the dogs and Gert. In fact, a bit too well - he's taken to following me everywhere (yes, even the bathroom). He's more attached to me than Killian is.

So, it's been quite a while since I've updated the blog - a few things have come into play: John rebuilt my computer so my photos are currently not available until I get my double-external hard drives (which back themselves up - no more lost work!!), and I just haven't had time to get to it. But I will do a quick update, at least on Gert, today.

So, I can't sleep the other night, and I've been sitting in the living room since 3 am. Mom tottles down the steps at 5 looking for a cup of coffee and a few oatmeal cookies. I asked her why she wasn't asleep. Her reply:

"Damn knee. It gets up before I do." Made an appointment that day for a trip to the doctor.

So, we went to the doctor appointment last Monday to check on sleeping pills (must have better ones!) and more pain reliever for Gert's knee. Doctor gave her the next step up in the Fentanyl patch and gave me pretty strict instructions to watch her for side effects. So, Tuesday, put on the new heavy duty Fentanyl for the first time and have had many talks with Mom about side effects (getting 'goofy' is what we call it but, then again, if you know my Mom, you know that she never was quite 'right'). So, we're in the living room, she's watching tv. She looks at me and laughs and says 'I just saw a bird fly right in front of my eyes.' Cracked us both up but uh oh! Here it comes...

But, so far, no horrible side effects. We'll phase in the sleeping pill tonight. I've had another cold the last few days and wanted to wait until I felt better to watch her through the night - I'm sort of expecting some confusion and weakness when she needs to get up. So, tonight, I'll sleep in the guestroom (aka 'the dog room') which is right across the hall and will sleep lightly. But, she's doing quite well and is still on top of her game, humorwise.

More later.