Hi Everyone! I hope you all have weather as nice as mine. It was absolutely wonderful out this morning. I have been gathering commuter clothes and my latest purchase was a Squall stadium jacket from Land's End. It has windbreaker properties, but has a hood and a soft thinsulate lining. Perfect for what feels like a spring morning. I highly recommend it for anyone who has to stand on a windy train station platform. Or for tromping around outside. I am looking forward to March, and it is right around the corner. I think that my roses I ordered from Pickering will be arriving at the end of March. I got a Vilchenblau for my mom which I plan to give her for mother's day, a Sweet Bess, and one other one I can't remember. I will have to check my order. I am so excited to see my garden this year, because I moved a lot of plants to new areas and am looking forward to seeing if they like their new home better than the old one. I just wish I had planted some crocus or snowdrops. Martie, my thoughts are with you today. Hope all goes as well as you wish. Sue, I hope Zoe is doing better. And that the surgery issue works out. Somehow I can't find your posting with details of what happened with the insurance company, but hope it gets straightened out. V, did you bring Olive home? A couple of weeks ago my daughter and SIL were at a restaurant and there was a cat hanging around their car, meowing. They went inside, came out, it was still there. SIL asked the workers about it, and they said it had been there all day. My daughter got in the car and it jumped in her lap... They took it home. The vet said it is perfectly healthy, and 8 mos old. My SIL thought it was an old abandoned cat that he was going to offer shelter for the last couple of years of its life. It also explains why he was leaping on their other two cats, and playing so much. It is a very cuddly cat. They were going to name it OH Boy... because that is the name of the restaurant, but settled on Ziggy. Deanne, I just loved your fluffy birdy card. He was adorable. I have noticed little bugs on my Elephant ears that are determined to sprout in the basement. Must be that time. T- hope your car is fixed quickly and inexpensively. I am looking at getting new shocks and struts on my car. I have been driving Skip's van to work, and I don't like to drive a big car like that. Michelle, nice to see you! Good for you on getting projects completed before the warm weather. I thought I might get my kitchen finished before spring. We will see. Roof is leaking in three places, so that will probably be next project. Skip spent a month working on it last fall, but it must not have taken. I think He is going to have a major job on his hands. He took the whole roof off of one area right to the rafters, but it still leaks. I wouldn't have a clue how to fix that. Kathy, your front garden is really shaping up. And that camellia is huge! Is that a normal size? I don't think I have ever seen one in real life before, just the flowers. I am out of time, hi to those I missed! D.

Thank you for the birthday wishes. I had a very nice celebration. I left work several hours early and spent the day with DD#2. We mostly shopped and she made out like it was her birthday LOL - I did manage to get a nice pair of tiger patterned peeka-boo toe shoes (they sound tackier than they are LOL). DD#1 had flowers delivered to my office - so that was a nice surprise. DH gave me some spa treatments so I can indulge in a day of beauty. We had a lovely dinner at a favorite restaurant. Marci - thank you for the decorations - how appropriate. Zig - you make me feel so special. Amy - I am honored that you should happen to pop in at my birthday - it is always good to hear from you. Donna - thank you, I did enjoy the day even with the leftover ice and snow haha. Have a great Sunday - there is no laundry for me today.

Hi goils! Besh--your MIL is in my thoughts and prayers---(((hugs)))!! How is Happyto? I was thinking about her a while back, and was hoping that things were good for her-- Tikanas--happy belated birthday! :):) Well, I got the auction--I signed it on Monday, and have a good chance to maybe get the real estate--it's been rezoned as commercial, so it would be a goooood thing for me--and I'd appreciate any and all good thoughts for me to get this--it can literally change my life-- Things are good here--the weather is great--I can't believe it's this nice--78, and low humidity. Raeanne--since you liked my sticky chicken mishap, I think you'll enjoy this one--I decided in June to enter a cake in the KY State Fair (which started here on Thurs). So I sent off the $, got the rules, and waited until last Sunday morning to make the cake (it was due by Mon at 5pm, but I had to work...). Let me preface all of this by saying that I have never made this cake before--I found the recipe in a box of stuff that I bought at an auction(now, **that's** a surprise!), and so therefore had no idea just what I was walking into. On Sat night, after getting out of the bath, with wet hair and no makeup, I realize that I need a bottle of bourbon--well, actually, just 2 tablespoons. So, off the the liquor store I go, and find an airplane bottle of Maker's Mark, and then realize that I have no cash. So, I charged $2.50. I was sooo embarrassed. Anyway, I got up at 6am on Sun morning to preheat the oven, and off I go. I'm just a mixin and a stirin, and raisin all sorts of h3ll, and I pour the batter into 3 brand-new 9" pans, and they go into to the over for 45 minute. DING! They're done--whhoooboy--they are done--burned on the bottom, that is. I'm standing in the middle of the kitchen, hot, tired, and just bawling. I was just so mad--and I had a raging case of PMS to top it all of, and poor ol Rog--didn't know whether to hug or to laugh. He wisely chose to hug, and then told me that we can cut the botteom of the layers off, and noone would ever know (true.) So that was our plan. Now--to top all of this off, the entry department opened at noon, and I was supposed to be at work at an auction at noon, so I had to keep an eye on the time. I made the frosting following the directions, and dumped into way to much powdered sugar, which gave it that funny, sugar-y taste, so then I added more bananas, which changed the texture. THEN--my cat decided to love me as I was dropping in the yellow food coloring (did I mention that this is a banana cake?), which made my icing look like a horrible mustard color (made worse by the fact that it had lumpy stuff like toasted coconut and chopped pecans in it), only sicker. What a freaking mess---I wanted to throw the d@mned thing aqgainst the wall, but managed to refrain. I iced it, and it is sitting on my countertop, glowing like a d@mned lighthouse. Sigh..... Anyhoo--I hope all is well with everyone--and where is Amy and John??? Hugs, Maddie

Hello Ladies, Happy B-day Jen, I hope you had a lovely day and got some time to relax and enjoy it. Maddie- sounds like you are busy but having a great time, I have a friend that goes nuts over led trinkets based around St Patricks day, he looks like a goofball to start out but after a few beers he appears almost normal ;) I used to enjoy corn dogs when I was able to eat them, little mustard and ketchup mixed togeter to dip them in and I was in heaven, yummay! NHSuz- Sounds like you are enjoying whats left of summer, my GF's family has a cabin we use in VT near Barton, it is nice up there. The interesting thing about VT though is you will see a wide variety of wealth in the same towns. We would drive past run down mobile homes right next to 1/2 million dollar homes/camps. They say land is selling for 3 or 4 times its worth to people moving up from Mass and NY. Im with you on not fearing wild life, there was a black bear warning where we went camping, animals used to people make me nervous but out in the wild they will leave you alone unless they are cornered. Im back to work after our camping trip, it was fun but wore us out. We did 43 miles in the kayaks and camped along the sandy beaches. The first day of the trip was filled with drunk college students in canoes, they kept on asking us where we fit the beer cooler in our kayaks :) The second day was a lot quieter and we logged a lot of miles so that we only had about 3 left for the last day. On the third day as soon as we got off the river for our pickup it started to pour, we jury rigged up the tent fly and called the pick up service to come get us early. They showed up, but about 5 mins down the road the guys truck died, so we had to wait on the side of the road for help.. after that we decided to take a break and get a hotel for a good nights rest and hot showers :) We stayed in North Conway and had a fantastic meal at a place called Coyote Rose. We had all kinds of interesting and delish items, ostrich, boar sausage, and New Zeland lamb chops were divine. They also served a prickly pear sorbet that was very spicy and yummy! I ate the whole thing though I probably shouldnt have. I also had a peach margarita that tasted like fresh peaches, it was a nice change from all the camp food we had for 3 days. We then spent 2 days camping and hiking in Franconia Notch. We did a 6 mile hike up one side of the mountain and back down the other. There is a lake at the top of the mountain and a couple water falls along the way down, it was a tough hike but lovely. Of course on the way back to camp I was worn out and winded and my GF got mad at me because I wasnt chatting with her. Bah women :P it wasnt because I just hiked 6 miles and over 1500 feet of elevation that I wasnt talking, it was because I didnt care about what she had to say, you know! ;) All and all we had a nice trip and learned a lot. We know what gear we can do without and what we need to get for next time, and have a better idea of how much food and water to bring. My compact air mat has certainly got to go and I will make the room next time for my real air mattress, my back paid for it and sleeping on the hard ground doesnt cut it anymore, im no longer a boy scout. Other than that not a whole lot is new, this weekend its the boys time to play. We are golfing on Sat and Sunday going to a Red Soxs game. Its rare the 4 of us can all get time to spend together. With wives, kids and work keeping everyone busy this will be a treat. I hope everyone is having a good week, come out and say hello if you are lurking! John