Happy Mother's day to all my friends; whether they're mothers of the two legged or four legged variety, or simply a mother-figure to people in their lives.

We were going to go to the Mo's Day buffet at the local horse races track. I know it sounds tacky, but they have a really nice setup. We did it one year before and it was really fun, but "we" waited too long to make the reservations this year. So, we've decided to wait to celebrate Mother's day until we can make reservation at a nice table at the track sometime in the near future. I think Riley will *LOVE* it.

Yesterday it rained most of the day, and today it's sunny. Go figure.

Oh wait- weather update- now it's overcast. Hmm....

I just got a call from Jessica, Casey and Riley to wish me a Happy Mother's day. How cute is that? You know your son has a great woman in his life when you get calls on the important days.

Since the phone call, the weather has turned to sunny.

Just after the call from the first team, Cameron called and said he wants to come down to spend the day with us- so we're going to hook him up with some nice steaks and all that goes with it. Gotta give the kids a reason for coming back, ya know....

Oops, it's overcast again.

I slept for 13 hours SOLID last night and do not feel even a bit groggy. I do believe that means that I needed the sleep, right? Happy Mother's day to me with my 13 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Woo!

I guess I'd better hop in the shower and gussy up for the kid.

Weather update! It's sunny again.

I just signed up for a MySpace account for the sole purpose of being able to comment on my friend's blog.

Linda? I hope you're happy. You're responsible for me lowering my standards. This just proves how much I luvs ya.



PS- no offense to the MySpacers... I just feel kinda old to have skin in that game. You won't be seeing me there AT ALL.

PSS- have I made enough disclaimers yet?

PSSS- Oh, I hope nobody finds me.

I've mentioned it before, so it's no surprise when I write that I really REALLY like my co-workers. This is, without a doubt, the most cohesive group that I've ever worked in. It's an interesting cohesive though. It's almost family like. I think they've all been together for quite a while before I came along, and it shows. The cool thing is that I feel 100% accepted by all of them and it's a great feeling.

This week I've had some awesome conversations with a few of them. I think many of them see me as someone they can trust with whatever they tell me (which is true), so they share a lot of their feelings about things with me and they ask me for advice. I also have several 'playmates' in the group.

One group LOVES to make me paranoid. They're always poking at me about things that make me think I'm going to get in trouble for something or another. They have me pegged for sure.

My manager? She's awesome. I told her the other day that she is one of the best managers I've ever had when it comes to communication. She has great communication skills and she's been very kind to me during my bad brain days. She tells me it's because even though I was having difficult times, I was still performing. I don't think she realizes that the 'performance' wasn't even close to what used to be able to do. Still not quite there, but she makes me feel appreciated and that's worth a lot, especially with what I've been through over the past few months.

There's another gal who is just about the cutest thing on the planet. She dresses to the nines and is smart. She's the whole package. If I were a guy I'd stalk her....(oops, too much info?). I was intimidated by her in the beginning too, just because she's so gorgeous- but man, she's fun! She calls me "Miss Thang".

Then there's Top Dog's assistant. Geez, she's such a sweetheart and just darling. She used to sit across the aisle from me and we had so much fun. Now she's moved with Top Dog to another floor and I miss her. When she pops down to my floor and visits, it just brightens my day.

Of course there's my goofy co-worker that makes me laugh all day long. Most of our co-workers don't know he's funny. He kind of keeps to himself and doesn't talk much to other people unless he needs something from them. I can see why people haven't figured him out yet. I'm glad that I have. He's made things that would be boring really fun. We both are stupid at math and Excel and we're muddling through it together. I don't think I would have thought math would be fun. OK, it's still not fun. I take that back.

I think the icing on the cake for this week was the last email of the day today that I received from the project manager in our department after I helped him with something. It simply read, "Lori, you're a good person".

Knowing him, I know that he didn't just throw that out there as a thank you. He truly meant it and that meant more to me than he'll ever know. Especially after that nightmare.

Hey, log in! I have something funny to share...

I've been making GREAT progress on my yard over the past 3 weekends. The worst part of it is done- the cleanup of the stuff that died out over the winter, and the danged weeds that think they're pretty enough to be showcased (they're not).

I've been doing something different this year and I hope my yard doesn't overdose on preen. I go over the areas that have already been weeded each time I garden and then pour another light dose of preen. So far, it's taking me about 10 minutes to re-weed those areas. Y'all have seen my yard by now- when I say areas, I mean BIG areas. The preen makes a HUGE difference.

Stuff is starting to grow back and the yard is not depressing to look at anymore. I tell you what, I have the MOST beautiful and relaxing yard until winter comes. Then it just depresses the heck out of me. I guess dead and brown would depress anyone.

Anyhoo...

I'm really hoping to FINISH the major stuff tomorrow- I don't care HOW long it takes. I was gardening for six hours straight last Sunday. I'm not talking namby-pamby gardening, I was hacking at things most of the time and filled my 48 gallon yard waste container with stuff that was no bigger than my hand. That's a lot of stuff. Trust me.

I still haven't used my prized rototiller yet. The area that I plan to till now has that nasty stinging nettle higher than my head. I need to wack that stuff down before I can get to where I want to go. I suspect I will have the same story to tell that I tell every year.

"I got smacked in the face with the nettle again".

You'd think I'd learn, but when I'm on a mission- I'm like a machine. I sometimes envision getting my garden to the point one day where I can have a cute little basket and a nice gardening hat and just pick the pretty flowers; weeds being a thing of the past. I have a feeling that if that day comes, I will have hired someone to do the 'dirty' work- and that's just not going to happen. There's something very therapeutic about wacking things.

Oops- did I say that out loud?

With every plant that comes back to life, my gratitude meter raises another few notches. Within a month, there will be no living with me because that's when EVERYTHING starts going to town in my garden and it different things bloom every few weeks until fall. That's a lot of joy, my friends.

I"ll take some pictures of "now" and upload them to my flickr account later on today. Every year I try to add something new (that also means removing something I didn't care for very much from the previous owners), and even though it'll probably look the same to y'all- it becomes more beautiful and more 'mine' every year. This is 'our' (me and my garden) third anniversary and it still takes my breath away.

No wonder I've become such a homebody. It's hard to leave a place that brings me such peace and joy.

If you haven't been with me long, here's the entry of when I first saw this place and had to rely on my faith that my gut wasn't steering me wrong.

I kid you not... every time I walk past this robin's nest, I want to take some scissors to it to trim it up a bit.


I do have to give her props for using some pretty colors:


I know... I know.... I really have to let go of "everything must be neat and tidy".