Oh, aren't those things a pain!

I need my mower!! and I need it now! I'm going to get in the truck and drive down there. I can't unload it here but I can nag there. It's been 2 weeks and it's not supremely broken. Needs a couple of spools and a belt. Couple of hours. Just do it! And $450. He must charge $100 an hour. I'll know better next time.

So sorry things aren't going very well this week. I'm late to tea, but I'm so glad the thread is already started : )

Today, I had some Jasmine blossom tea with my mom. That was nice...but now I'm in the mood for some Earl Grey. We are focusing on the garden this week, so of course the temperatures are up in the 90s. But it should cool off in a few days.

When it does, we'll be planting around the arbor with benches...and moving the purple raspberries. Maybe next week, I can put a little tea table out there. That would be fun!

Today is too warm to do much outside, so I'm working on my next book. Two actually. One is a group of short stories about my mom's great-grandparents and the other is a fairytale that is not gender specific. In other words, either character could be the boy of girl...so they're both strong, capable and honorable people. Thought it might be fun. And I'm tired of seeing people just re-write existing fairytales. Can't they think of anything original? So I thought I'd try it!

I am super late to tea. Sorry long day at the chemo lounge for hubby. Shopping before hand and since we were so late getting out of chemo we dashed home to let the dog out as fast as we could go 45 miles.

So tomorrow I have to go back down to Weiser. Only 20 miles and do the grocery shopping and take dog and kitty to the vet and gas the car. The vet will hold dog and kitty while I do the errands because we are about 100 degrees here today and tomorrow. Like LL we are supposed to cool down. Sure hope so.

Still drinking iced tea. Harneys Spiced cinnamon or maybe it is Hot spiced cinnamon. Very good. A gift from a dear friend. Joe loves it both hot and iced.

So long busy day and I am so pooped out. Want to work on my chair.

I unveiled Lizzzie last week waiting for grout. Here she is mounted to the dinning room wall. OOPS I forgot to pull the table away from the couch. I pushed it up close when I was cleaning under it yesterday or maybe it was the day before.

Lizzzie looks amazing! I love the accents of purple on her and how it goes with your room : )

My aunt says they had a gekko in the Philippines when my cousins and I were all little girls. It hung out on the wall and caught lots of bugs. Lizzzie reminds me of one...but much bigger. She looks like she could spring into action at any moment. She's awesome!

Imhappy invited me to tea, I hope you don't mind. I brought cucumber sandwiches! Can I have a cup of Earl Grey please?

Amazing Aunt Audrey- Welcome! Of course you may have a cup of Earl Grey. Cucumber sandwiches are so good...thank you for bringing them...and the recipe : )

I think we need to bring more food more often. Maybe raspberry tartlets?

Here's the recipe....
http://www.crazyforcrust.com/2013/06/raspberry-tartlets/

Hello Ladies; I am so pooped I can't even hold a teacup right now, I'll have a belated cup with you on in the morning.

The past three days I've been working as hard as possible in the gardens. I am so weak and move so slowly, but I will keep plugging along as much as I can.

Today I watered the tomatoes and set three Wave petunias into the front garden - and dug out a five-gallon bucketful of weeds.

Yesterday I set out six Cleomes, six Cosmos, three nicotianas, a yellow squash, and dug out another five-gallon bucket of weeds.

Sunday I worked on attaching netting to the obelisk so the tiny clematis and lush thumbergias could climb it more easily - and dug out a bucketful of weeds!

My hands and feet are swollen from digging with the garden fork. My shoulders and feet are aching - and I'm simply a mess.

Oh Caroline I hope you were able to get some good rest last night. I do know the tired you are describing. Hope today is easier for you.

Eld6161 - Thank you for hosting our tea time this week. I hope your foot is not causing you too much pain. Keep in mind that wearing the high-fashion :) "boot" for a while is far better than a fracture that does not heal properly!

...Happy...IOWA... Isn't it a pain having to deal with over-priced repair people. I get so frustrated since I could do so many small repair/rebuild jobs myself...if I still had the strength and movement in my hands.

Lavender Lass - I'm so in awe of your books. What a wonderful gift you have, and it's even more wonderful that you're able to share it with the world.

And those tartlets...my blood sugar numbers went up just looking at them! I'll take just one (or six!)

Shades - That is one huge, wonderful, beautiful, enchanting lizard you have going up the wall. I love, love, love her. I saw the photo you posted of her on the kitchen counter; she didn't seem so "big" then. What did you use for the base of her form?

And speaking of "forms" - the show girl outfits are to die for. I especially like the one on the cabinet with your TV. "Once upon a time," in another life, I had a similar silk-and-lace garment. It made me giggle when I saw your version...and I am not the "giggly" type.

Do you stay with Joe while he gets his chemo? Do they provide you with a comfy recliner, too? Can you nap, or read, to pass the time? It's so sad for both of you that he's having to fight this terrible battle.

I slept the sleep of the righteous ( or passed out cold ) last night! - after the neighbor's husband stopped by at 9:30 p.m. with a load of hay/straw for me to use as garden mulch! So I'll be back out with the spading fork again this afternoon!

AAA - Your cucumber tea sandwiches recipe sounds so rich and wonderful. That recipe is nothing like the thin, plain, boring, cucumber sandwiches I've made in the past. I can't wait to try it.

It's only been in the past couple of years that I've developed a taste for goat cheese. Now I love it so much; I'd love to get my hands on a nanny goat. Of course, I don't have anywhere to keep her safe, warm, well grazed, and happy so she could produce all the milk I'd need to make my own chèvre. I wonder if my hands could manage milking a goat? I've read that have to be milked 3-4 times a day. And what to do with the little by-products, the kids? As tasty as I find roasted cabrito, I could not do that myself! (I tend to overthink things on occasion!)

Maybe I just better find a farm family with goat milk to spare!

- - - - - - -

In about an hour I'm making the third trip this week to the base clinic (Grand Forks Air Force Base, 20 miles away) to pick up my insulin. Every...Single...Time the prescription has to be refilled they find new and inventive ways to mess it up. It can be "not enough bottles for the three months;" or "insulin but with no syringes," or the "wrong type of insulin." It's never a straight forward and easy refill situation. My doctor's office is about 18 feet from the pharmacy window, but they can never find her to straighten out the problem of the day.

I just called. They said "they believe" everything is straightened out now and I will get nine vials of Lantus insulin. It's supposedly filled and ready for me to come in and pick it up. I did get test strips, a BP medication, and Novolog pens yesterday.

We'll see. I'm not holding my breath, but I will take the little cooler and ice pack with me just in case I really get to bring it home. I need syringes, too; but I have plenty to last until after the 4th so I'll call the doctor on the 6th and start the long process of getting that prescription straightened out and refilled then.

Caroline- Thank you.

I just found this on Facebook...and it's so true : )

Lavender, I love that. Shades, I love your room. I can see a lot of talent there! And Caroline, thanks for summing up so nicely everyone's doings. And Amazing Aunt Audrey, welcome. I, too, am a bit late, but here at last. This morning was the first one decent enough to spend sitting on the front porch for a spell. I did have coffee instead of tea though. I have either had early morning activities or it has just been way too hot.

I did get a very nice surprise on Saturday. I told you all that I had a graduation open house to go to for my great niece. Well, it was very nice and I enjoyed catching up with various relatives. My niece (the graduate's mother) gave me the most beautiful coffee mug/tea cup. I had given her a chair that had belonged to my mom and she wanted to thank me for doing that. I'm just happy she wanted to take it and I know she will cherish it. It's a side chair that has needlepoint seat and back. It's probably at least 50 years old and in perfect condition. I don't have room in my house for it, so I was thrilled when she said she would like to have it. It looks great in her house. She's very good at putting things together in a wonderful way.

So here is a picture of the mug. I love that it is round, but has a square bottom. It is beautiful and the inside is blue!

Still no lawnmower!

Oh WOW....I haven't visited here in a long time....and gosh those raspberry tarts look oh so yummy. Are there any left? I did copy and paste the recipe and our r.aspberries are slow....ly ripening. Only the smallest handfuls so far. Many Thanks

Nice to see so many familiar faces....er.... names. We used to have a small house like 800 sq feet (nice weather and a large deck helped) in the foothills of California. It turned into a second home for many years too, then bigger, now smaller. This 12 year residence is just under 2,000 ft, and I don't think of it as small....and on a 10,000 sq. ft lot. As we get older....it keeps feeling bigger, and harder to keep up. A constant "downsizing" seems to stress me every spring/summer.

Love, love that blue cup, and Caroline (nice to find you here) just want to say the Pharmacy you are dealing with is no worse than ours....every three months I have to bite my tongue.....between gov't rules and so many "old" Pharms. closing here in So Or, ones patience gets stretched. Lucky me...DS has taken over that headache and knows one of the Pharmacists....problem solved.(at least this 3 month period, again.)

Gotta try those cucumber sandwiches AAA....it has been a while and they sound so refreshing.....on sour dough bread???? That will be a first.

Thanks for the invite....I'll be back again. Love that umumum alligator ? surely not a gecko or chameleon. I saw the first one EVER here in SoOr just a few weeks ago....and he was at least 10-12inches long and chubby-fat. (DH had dug up some of the sprinkler system to repair and may have disturbed him. I hope he continues to have a long and lovely life, wherever.

Eld6161 I hope you had good news at the doctor today on your foot. And it is not paining you too much.

Hi Nanny 98. I understand the lot and house size being a problem as we age in place. I too am working to down size the effort it takes to keep this place up. House is not that big but the half acre lot even though I do not care for all of it is a lot to worry about. Good luck to you on sorting it out and if you come upon any really good way except cement to down size the yard please let me know. And I really have nothing against cement if it were painted green. LOL

Caroline. Lizzzie is 40 inches long nose to tail tips. A funny when I was hanging her up was her tail slipped into the front of my pants, yes they are a bit too loose, and I had the wire loops on her legs all hooked and went to step back and oops. I was stuck with her to the wall. I had to unhook her which was frustrating as she is heavy. Her base is metal. It is supposed to just be a metal are form and i took it one step further.

The mannequins are my passion. I just wish I had more time to do my arts but life is what it is and I have so many things I want to do and my brain never slows down.

I was working on the chair tonight. Dang I discovered the other arm from the one I already pinned had a large break in it too. More pins and glue and I wired it with tension to hold it until it dries. Some one had used very fine wire to repair it and I did not see that when I was working on the first arm. So an evening spent repairing more and sanding the wood some. Decided to stain the wood instead of painting it. But I am not sanding it down to bare all over. Just the arms most of the way and wear spots on the rest. Then some oil stain or varnish. Whatever I have that will work to seal it up and not just make it sticky.

Caroline and Shades, thanks for thinking of me! Yesterday the orthopedist told me that although it was indeed a fracture, it will heal on it's own and I do not have to wear the dreaded "boot"!

It will be painful for a while, but I am relieved at not having to wear that surgical shoe because the unevenness of my gait with it being a different height than my other shoe would eventually throw my back out.

Unbelievable what one second can do to you.

Side note: My dog has been limping off and on. Last week we put him anti inflammatory meds as well. He is on "bed rest" too.

Shades, Cher needed a Lizzie. Your place looks great!

Shades, lavendar, Phoggie, Moc, Mama, and all of my friends. I finally made the cognitive faux pas and liked my own comment. Yikes!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LIZZIE!!!

AND THE TEACUP!!!