And their gone....

I managed to make it through the week, slowly recovering but still not 100% which still leaves me a little weak after awhile I just need to lay down.

Alex's birthday was on Monday, we took her for dinner, but we still needed to have her party, the only day that everyone was available was Thursday before spring break began. So Thursday after work, her and I were off to the store to pick up party supplies and her cake, it was to be a little more laid-back affair this year. We tried several other options, but timing and friends availability did not allow any of those to happen. She had 8 girls over to hang and celebrate, 4 of them ended up sleeping over. They were both pleasure, amusement and pain sometimes. One kept insisting she was going to TP me while I slept, I informed her she wouldn't be living after that and then the lighter seen below needed to be confiscated after they decided to burn things, cake, plates, etc....Ahh kids, don't 'ya love them. They finally congregated in Alex's room chatting, IMing other friends and playing DDR.

Early Friday morning, Alex still needed to pack and I had 4 girls to get on their way home and myself into work. We managed with Kelsey taking Ashleigh home so she could see Jarrod before she left. I past their dad on his way to the house in the RV on my way into work. They are headed to St. Augustine, though Alex truly wanted to go to St. Pete.

The house was not to bad and some early morning picking up while the girls were slowly waking up, I managed to make it look decent again.

After a day of work, no kids and the house to myself, guess what I was ready for....party!!! Uh no, BED!!! and that is exactly what I did. By 6pm, I was in bed, cell phone off and no communication...rest was in order.

I woke up early Saturday, hmmm wonder if it was the 6pm bedtime? Still slow and walking like a pregnant woman whose belly hurts, I began working getting the rest of the house done. After almost 2 weeks down for the count a few things have gotten out of hand. It was a good day, storms ran throughout the day, some quite strong and the lightening hitting close, I had the windows open, I do love a good storm. In between cleaning and laundry, I rested, still getting my energy about me. Though I am hungry, it generally hurts after I eat, so I have been waiting until I can't stand it. I know, not smart, but hey you deal with the aches & pain I have. And yes, I know, what about the dr., been there, same story, pain relief, heat and time.....don't they know I am not a patient person and have things to do? I stuck close to home all day and went to bed early again, but at least my house was clean and I was feeling good about that. I am not a neat freak, but I do like some order and when chaos prevails, it truly throws me off balance, this would explain why I keep Alex's door shut -lol.

Today was a truly beautiful day, sun, light breeze and wispy clouds. My neighbor trumped me again by mowing his lawn early, this left mine looking about 2 feet to high. I know he is excited about his new 42" deck mower, but come on, at least one more week? It was time to mow, dad, you would be proud of me, I cleaned the mower deck, check the spark plug and added oil. One pull and it was running, this much to the chagrin of my other two neighbors who were attempting to start their own mowers, they weren't having much luck. Off and mowing, I like to mow, it gives me a sense of being done with something...but...problems; as I mowed a straight line from the front to the back, the water became deeper and deeper. Opps, the backyard is a moat, guess it will have to wait. I continued on with the front, finished and rested.

This is my Bradford Pear, they are all over in our neighborhood which is called Bradford Place, think there is a connection? This tree was all but dead 2 years ago. Mine and two neighbors were lost from some boring beetle. Mine started to re-generate from the base and now has come back as this beautiful flowering display.

Not to keep me down when I am on a roll, it was time to plant all those beautiful plants I picked up at the garden show before they died in their pots. Evaluating, moving and watching the sun patterns (most like partial shade) I decided most of them would do best in my big side garden, the planting began. They are all now happily resting in their new homes with expectations of rain this evening to give them a boost, if not, I will water them tomorrow after I get a new hose, mine didn't make it through the winter - I got soaked finding this out.

This is a Japanese Pieris, I fell in love with the tiny hanging rows of cockle shells when it bloomed and its an evergreen. Seeking information with my mom's help on where to plant and to know a little more about it, we discovered there is an American version called Andromeda or Moutain Fetterbush and guess what, it's highly toxic....oh well, need to tell my kids no Yule Gibbons acts on this plant...like they would even know who he is...

Once done, I rested again dozing while a wonderful breeze flowed through my windows only to be suddenly awoken by incessant ringing of my doorbell. My neighbor, the one who mowed to early, we swap equipment all the time and he was needing my spreader, for this, he took his new bad-ass mower and took care of my backyard saving me the headache and backache (the grass grows even taller & thicker back there). So laundry almost done, the house cleaned with no expectations of it getting messy this week and my yard ready for Spring, I feel I did get something done despite my slowness.....hopefully this week will be a continued recovery so I can be back to my old self, on the move, getting things done.