This time of year there is an amazing amount of yard work! Bushes are growing, trees are budding, plants are sprouting, and bulbs are bursting forth. My mind often wanders as I get into the rhythm of pruning and cutting and trimming and weeding.

On this particular day I was trimming a very-overgrown holly bush - taller than me and much larger around - when it struck me that my life is very much like that holly bush.

While it is sturdy, heartily growing, providing berries for yard critters, and healthy, it was also way too big, full of tangled runners and snarled-up branches, and loaded with tree litter and pine cones from the towering firs overhead. It was basically a holly-mess.

As I carefully (darn those leaves are sharp!) clipped each branch until I could finally see the main stalks I realized that much like that holly, it's time to trim my life back also, get back to basics. Trim back what I don't need. Get rid of the mental "litter". I'm not killing the plant, I'm helping it to go forth and thrive, and next year it will be full and lush and far easier to maintain. And a whole lot smaller!

The really nice surprise was that the bush was so overgrown it was hiding two landscape lights I had forgotten were even there! Talk about hiding your light... This, too, resonated within me. I've been hiding my light.

The other nice surprise was the sheer cacophony of birds chirping away as if to say "Please don't take our little red berries!" but I promised them that they'd have them anyway. I left the berry branches where they could feast, and feast they did. It was fun to look around and see so many outdoor critters monitoring my yard work, I'm not sure if they were approving or disapproving, they're not used to seeing me outside working. I like to think they were just saying 'hello!'.

It's wonderful to see something so simple - trimming an overgrown bush - produce such a feeling of peace and harmony, a symphony from within that said, "This too, shall be okay. You're not killing the bush, you're trimming to down to its most basic so it can grow back thicker, fuller, stronger, happier."

Go forward knowing that you, too, can heartily trim back what you don't need. Thin your clutter. It'll all work out.

Watch your step!

Have you ever heard of a sugar scrub? Once you try one (especially if you've made it yourself) you'll be a convert. Gives ya baby-soft skin for days!  Mmmmmm... they're pricey to buy but very, very cheap and easy to make. I have a 2-cup size plastic container with a lid so I can make a couple cups at a time - lasts maybe 2-3 applications. Then it's on for more experimentation.

At its most basic, it's just sugar and oil, maybe some scent or essential oil or liquid glycerin soap (easy to get at health food stores or organic markets, so is jojoba oil mentioned below). If you do a Google search for sugar scrubs you'll find a plethora of homemade recipes. There are also salt scrubs but I have not tried those yet.

I like to improvise... the latest concoction I have to admit is the best-smelling and most nummy so far. It was about a cup or so of raw sugar, couple tablespoons of brown sugar, little bit o' fresh squeezed lemon juice, walnut oil, jojoba oil, Neutrogena oil, lemon oil, couple spoonfuls of white sugar (because yours truly put too much oil in the mix and it was far too runny hehehe) and a tiny big of liquid glycerin soap. It should be like cookie dough - kinda clumpy, not runny, falls apart easily. Have to say, that stuff smelled great!

Word of caution - watch your step in the shower! That oily sugary mess on the floor can be more slippery than, well... oily fiberglass. Stand on an old terrycloth towel, it'll give you traction and save your noggin.

Last week did a white sugar, olive oil, jojoba oil, glycerin deal with some lavender oil that was very nice. And no, I didn't smell like a Greek salad, but that was one slippery floor (hence the towel). 

Go ahead and knock

Do you know what happens when you ring my doorbell early in the day and my household is still asleep? I have five cats... it's not pretty.

Think chaos and mayhem times five.

I had about 1.25 seconds to absorb the doorbell sound when I heard a mass of thundering kitty feet. Something crashed to the floor. Something large thudded against a wall - hard. Pictures fell. Glass broke. And someone screamed like a little girl (that'd be me).

And who was at the door? A pair of door-to-door gospel types in nice clothes with briefcases, they could have been insurance salespeople too but I'm guessing they're from the new church just around the corner. On an early Sunday morning, too.

Now I'm not anti-religious or anything like that and I realize they have a goal to bring new members in, meet the neighborhood, get to know peeps... I just won't open the door in my jammies early in the morning, not unless it's an emergency or a neighbor or a friend in need. Sorry, them's the House Rules. 

I'm finding that people generally just don't understand that "to solicit" means "to ask". They're asking me to open the door, they're asking me to listen - they ARE soliciting. Even if they don't sell a product, just the nature of going door-to-door and asking for anything is soliciting. I have a "no soliciting" sign and it's big.  No one sees it.  So I'm adding a new sign next to that one:

"We are illiterate, diabetic, unemployed, inarticulate, atheisists. Don't bother."

Is that too harsh? *grin*

A cowboy is a cowboy, right? Nope.

So there we were at the local Friends of the Library Annual Book Sale.

What is that, you ask? It's the basement of the local library filled with long tables and thousands of books laid out for purchase. Thousands. They even sell sealed boxes of random books, kinda like a nice grab bag surprise - you can pick romance, horror, non-fiction, etc., it's pretty cool.

Anyhow... there we were with 35-40 other people in this cavernous room. I was drooling. Hubby was drooling. We were in Book Lover's Heaven. Everyone was quietly drooling and snatching up their favorites.

We worked our way over to the paperbacks at the back wall when hubby (about 20' away) suddenly holds up a book like it's the Holy Grail and says loudly "LOOK!!!"

Naturally, everyone turned to look.

Me, leaning around the lady beside me and whispering: "Shh... what?"

Him, still at volume: "I found a book for you!!"

I could see the cover from there and now that everyone was looking, I felt compelled to respond. Quickly.

Me: "Thanks but it's not an author I read."

Him, confused, looks at the book and back to me: "But... but... but it has cowboys! It's in Montana!!"

Okay at the point I coulda just crawled under a table and hid because the two people in between us were snickering and half the room was giggling. Since the under-table area was packed with more boxes of books, I turned crimson instead.

Scooting over to his side, I took a closer look. "It's historical and it's Wyoming cowboys from an author I don't know. I read contemporary Montana cowboys." At the time I was reading a series based in Montana so he thought it was part of the series, but alas it wasn't. It looked like a good story, just not one I'd read.

He put the book back, and I know he meant well, but really - did he have to announce it to the room-at-large about my romance-reading preference? Yes, he did. He's a guy.

Actually I read anything, but I do have quite the fondness for cowboys. *smile*

We walked out that day with about 20 books for $10 - such a deal!!! I love those library book sales. I can pick up hardbacks and paperbacks for a steal, read and pass them along, donate to charity, or keep it and collect their backlist.

On the way out, one elderly lady leaned over and said to me, "My husband does the same thing to me, dearie..."

Gotta be a guy thing.

Reminds me of a song...

I love this kitty-cat picture... it's so cute! It looks just like two of my cats too, but it's not. I don't know who took it or I'd give credit where credit's due.  Cute picture!

There was a great song in the 70's that Bette Midler sang, it was about friends and it's rambling through my head today, something along the lines of "Well ya gotta have friennnnnddds..."

So... what makes a friend a friend?

Whether through schoool, work, neighborhood, family, online, offline, hobbies, sports, social clubs, or any other association you can think of, what makes a friend a friend?

Is it their ability to listen, to share? Is it their openness to want to celebrate your victories and mourn your losses with you? Is it shared likes and dislikes? Is it that soul-deep connection that tells you you are truly never alone in a world that's increasingly busy, disjointed, filled with conflicting schedules, demands, and stress?

Friends do come and go over the course of our lives, that's for sure. Some come for a day, a week, a year, or a lifetime. Each one's a gem in their own way.

Thanks for being my friend.

Ice Cream Ramblings

Yeah RIGHT "there's no such thing as a dumb question".

You try being around the same person for as many years as I have, and say that again... with a straight face. I can't. I break out laughing hysterically every time.

Take, for instance, today after lunch. Hubby goes to the door to the garage, pauses, looks back at me (why, I'm still not sure).

Me: "What?"

Him: "Umm... I'm going to... get a couple popsicles..."

Me: "Popsicles?"

Him: "Yeah, in the mood for something sweet."

Now why he didn't automatically think of me, not sure there either, but there ya go. (Don't answer that, I know the reason... I'm not sweet, hahahah!!)

Me: "Okay... popsicles... hmmm..."

Immediately I was thinking of the homemade ice cream in the freezer in the kitchen, not the deep freezer in the garage where he was headed. I knew he'd like it, it was raspberry chocolate-chip. Awful darn tasty stuff too. Tangy, sweet, chocolate, and fruity all at once.

Anyhow. Back to hubby-paused-in-doorway. He says, and this is where the string of dumb questions started... "Do you want me to get you anything?"

I was in SHOCK, I tell ya... s h o c k shock. He never asks if I want anything. I really mean that. It's not that he's rude, it's just he never thinks about anything other than his own sugar-based-requirement at the moment. It's okay, I'm used to it. *grin*

Me: "Me? You want to get something for ME?! You never offer to get anything for me!"

At this point I might have wanted to check his temperature to see if he was running hot. Or look in his eyes and see if he'd been replaced by a droid. Or maybe he really did have a doppleganger or identical twin... one with the sensitivity to ask if there was something I wanted too.

Him: "Yes, you... would you like me to get you something from the deep freezer while I'm out there?"

I shook myself out of that shocked state, blinking at him.

Me: "Umm... no, I have what I need inside the house..." I murmured. He resumed his progress through the doorway. What I said next froze him (no pun intended) in his tracks though. "...but I thought you might preferraspberry chocolate-chip ice cream instead of popsicles."

I'm an evil child, I tell ya. Evil. Eeee-ville.

He froze (again, no pun intended), turned to me with a look of ice cream lust if I ever saw one. I'd hit the nail on the head three times... he LOVES raspberries, chocolate chips, and ice cream. To have all three in one... that's food lust, there's not other phrase for it.

Him: "You have that?" (see? dumb question!)

I got up, went to the kitchen freezer, rolling my eyes the whole way, pulled out a small single-serving-size plastic container and handed it to him with a spoon silently. At least I'd had the smarts to put the ice cream in little tubs.

Him: "Where'd this come from?" (again!)

I can't make up stuff like this, he actually looked at the reusable container, which is obviously not a store-bought ice cream tub, and asked that question while he was standing next to the ice cream machine, too, which just happened to be sitting out on top of the microwave at the moment... in plain sight. Can't miss it, the thing's not exactly SMALL.

Really. I can't make this stuff up. He not only asked if I had it but where it came from! D'oh!

I still didn't say anything, just pointed to the ice cream freezer machine about a foot to his left. I could see him wanting to ask another question, but instead I just turned him gently and nudged him out the door so he could go devour the ice cream before it melted. The only thing I can think is that he had gone into some sort of state of food shock.

P.S. That flavor's probably the best ice cream experiment to date, too, came out sooooo yummy. Mmm mmm mmmmmm. I hear it's called something like "raspberry rumble", definitely gonna do it again!

Cupid Tour Stop 4

The Cupids continue their reunion tour, flitting through the internet and stopping at As The Pages Turn. I love that name!! They're giving away a copy the anthology (in print). Couple more stops to go, follow along and you could win a free book.

The Boss Wore Red by Delle Jacobs and SamMarie Ashe

For city fashionista Alexandria Bergstrom, there's nothing worse than learning her crazy parents' past, unless it's having to re-live it herself on the ranch she's inherited. It's the worst possible time for her heart to tumble, especially for hunky, city-hating ranch manager Clint Riordan. But does her heart listen? That's what Cupids are for...