Wordless Wednesday ~ hello goodbye

 I know it's not officially fall yet, but it seems once the kids go back to school .... well, summer is over. 

I struggled with my flowers this year. Seems we either got too much rain at once .... or we went days & days without ... & we were so busy I just didn't have time to tend to them as I had planned. So, soon I will have to say good bye to these .....

But thankfully, these are waiting in the wings .... 

~ Linking up with ~ 

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Wake Up Wednesday

Outdoor Wednesday 

Wonderful Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

I love where I live. This little scene happened right in our back yard a few weeks ago ....

My husband said there was a fawn in our yard having a snack & to grab my camera. When I zoomed in, I saw a few extra legs.

What's better than spying a fawn drinking from its mom?? Spying TWO of them. And then .... how cute are their behinds as they're walking away? 

Linking up with: 

Wake Up Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday

Outdoor Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday ~ Happy birthday

This was actually going to be a Wordless Wednesday post .... as in, I was just going to post this photo: 

I took this a couple of years ago & it's one of my favorites. I know the focus isn't perfect ~ I think I was still learning how to use my camera at that time ~ but I still like it. 

Anyhow ~~ today also happens to be my son's 13th birthday!!!! I couldn't post just a photo & not say Happy Birthday to him! I can't believe I now have 2 teenagers ~ yikes! I'm thankful they are such good kids.... kind (well, not really to one another, but to everyone else which is what counts lol), helpful (see above) & so far not hormonal at all. I'm pretty sure I have boys for a reason. I couldn't have handled a teenage girl. A teenage ME. {shiver}

Happy birthday Michael! Congrats on becoming a teenager! 

Linking up with: 

Wake Up Wednesday

Almost Worldess Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday

Outdoor Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - HOT

Happy hump day! And hump day = Wordless Wednesday! 

This about sums it up for me. I like summer & all it offers, but I don't do "hot" very well. I feel like I'm melting. I actually took this photo a few summers ago. Clearly, it was a steamy day. This poor squirrel just sacked out on our deck railing & didn't move. I think if I had gone out with a mister & some ice water, he would have welcomed me with open arms. Paws. 

Linking up with: 

Wordless Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday

Wake Up Wednesday

Almost Wordless Wednesday

A quiet weekend

For I think the first time this summer, we didn't have a ton of plans for the weekend. Well, we HAD planned to go to the county fair on Saturday, but a big ole storm came through here Saturday afternoon, & I pretty much lost my desire to leave the house even after it stopped. The humidity rose sky high & everything was .... well, WET. Ick. So we skipped it. This is the first year in 5 years we haven't gone. We've been in 4H the last few years & the boys have always had projects in the fair. We sorta decided to NOT this year. Fine by me, there was a lot less stresss in the house than there usually is the week of the fair. 

So .... we stayed home & just enjoyed the yard. I really have so much work to do in the yard, but I don't do well in humidity. I will not be moving south any time soon.

I have no idea what kind of bug this is ... but he was enjoying my flower & I thought he was rather unique. 

My lovely petunias .... one of the many plants that do well in pots for me, but not in the ground. I'm thinking we have B-A-D soil.

Rose breasted grosbeak .... nice of him to pose for me!

And these guys .... omg they made me laugh. The turkey babies were taking dirt baths :)  They are SO cute when they're little! 

We're building a fire pit & my kids had just finished raking the dirt smooth so we could lay the brick. This guy probably thought "Hey!! Really nice of you guys to make it pretty for us, thanks!"

That's really all I did this weekend ... take pictures in my yard LOL. We all need to just relax once in a while, right? 

Linking up with:

Monday Madness

Merry Monday

Something To Talk About

What did you do this weekend?

Wordless Wednesday ~ Blood Moon

When my son & I were coming home from a festival the other night, he said "Holy cow! Look at the moon!" I looked up & saw this:

Whoa ..... a blood moon!! So cool! I was "oohing" & "aahing" all the way home. Even though it was almost midnight when we got home .... I trekked outside with my camera & tripod, & got this shot:

This blood moon was a bit different than the usual ~ this one was caused by the wildfires in Canada rather than a lunar eclipse. You can read about it HERE. 

Linking up with: 

Wordless Wednesday

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday

Wake Up Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Ha! This week I'm posting Wordless Wednesday ON Wednesday :) 

Oh, you thought Wordless Wednesday meant no words?? You must be new here.

This is my mom's cat, Puddy.

Not Putty, as in Silly Putty. Puddy, as in Seinfeld. 

She adopted him a few years ago from the Humane Society where she volunteers. We think he's part Maine Coon.

Whatever he is, he is very photogenic. I love taking pictures of him! 

He definitely has kitty ADD.

Linking up with:

Wordless Wednesday

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday

Wake Up Wednesday

It's not Wednesday, it's Thursday!

Which makes me late for Wordless Wednesday! My bad ...

Moss rose from my garden ..... one of my favorite flowers. Maybe because they remind me of my grandma. She used to grow them all the time & when we first bought our house & I started gardening, this is what she would start indoors for me. 

Linking up to:

Wordless Wednesday

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday

Wake Up Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

~ In case you were in doubt that spring has arrived ~

~ Baltimore Oriole ~

Linking up to:

Wordless Wednesday

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Wakeup Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday

Do Try This At Home: Wordless Wednesday

It's May, right??

Because right now, I have the heat on! And I wore multiple layers to work today. And had my space heater on. I was looking forward to May so I wouldn't have to do any of those things! 

I feel like I've hit a brick wall lately with just about everything in my life. I was so gung ho about getting my house organized these last few months.... & really, I've taken about 25 bags of stuff to Goodwill. But every time I walk by my husband's bedroom, I think "why bother?". He is an honest to goodness hoarder, & no matter how clean & organized the rest of the house is, I still have to look at his hole of a room, our garage that can barely fit one car (it's a 2 car garage) & our shed that looks like Home Depot threw up inside of it. 

I've also been trying really hard to craft at least a little bit. Heck, coloring in a color book would be better than nothing (side note: Did you all SEE these adult coloring books?? When I think of adult books these are NOT what come to mind but they are way cool!). I started another card about 2 weeks ago, & stopped halfway through cutting my colored image. I think I had to leave ... but I haven't gone back to it. I feel like I'm trying to force myself to get back into it. When do I stop doing that? I thought getting my work space organized & purging would really help motivate me. But I feel like I need something that's all mine. Making cards was that thing that was mine. Reading blogs & chatting on Facebook is not a hobby, but that seems to be what I do in my spare time. Oh, & let's not forget Pinterest. Wait ... I think I found the problem ....

And work ... work is good. I go up & down, sometimes I love it & sometimes ... not so much. But I guess we all go through that. I am very lucky to have the job that I have. Heck, I'm lucky to have a job at all! I will be there 5 years in July. Did that time fly or what?? Seems like yesterday I was all jittery about starting my new job! 

Anyhoo, if you read all this, thank you ~~ I didn't mean for this to be a depressing post. Do you go through periods where nothing seems "right"? Blue, but you don't know why?? It's kind of like PMS, but I don't have PMS. Must be that peri-menopause my doctor's been telling me I have for the last 92 years ....

(disclaimer .... it hasn't been 92 years ...)

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Hope you all had a fun Mother's Day with your loved ones! My kids & I spent a few hours having lunch with my mom today. Other than that just RELAXED, which is something I don't get to do too often! What did you do for Mother's Day?

Just a few random thoughts & photos on this Sunday night:

*We have one crazy bluebird nesting in our bird house!

This bugger has been perching on Matthew's bedroom window ... & pecking like it wants to come in! We had this same thing happen with some yellow finches a few years ago, but this is the first time a bluebird has done it. The poor thing is going to get a concussion with all the pounding! I taped it, because it's so darn funny, & because I don't think anyone will believe me. I'm not very video smart, so will have to figure out how to post that here.

*Only a few more weeks of school. I can't tell you how happy this makes me! Every year around this time I am so tired of helping with homework & packing lunches & picking up from & taking to activities (although since Matthew got his license, my time in the car has been reduced drastically) & getting up super early because some kids just can't quite get up on their own & need my assistance. And by assistance, I mean yelling.

*I bet Elwood will be happy when school is out too, so this scene can happen more often:

Love how he has his paw crossed :)

*This photo makes me happy on this very ugly, rainy day:

I hope you all have a sunny week! 

Can I just say....

That I am REALLY ready for the blooming season?!?!?!?

I have approximately TWO flowers I can take pictures of .... & I already posted the other one the other day. Should I see how creative I can get with these same two flowers?? 

I am ready for summer & COLOR!!!

Mitchell Park Domes {Milwaukee}

I was lucky enough to chaperone my son's field trip last week to the Mitchell Park Domes. I love the domes, but I don't get there often. Pretty much, when I chaperone field trips, lol. If it weren't for field trips I'd never get to go anywhere fun! 

It's been a crazy spring here in Wisconsin, & this day was no different. When Michael & I left the house at 8:00, it was about 60 degrees. 10 minutes later when we got out of the car at school, it was about 80 & humid. That does not make for a fun school bus ride into Milwaukee. But it could have been worse. It could have been snowing! 

So if you've never heard of the domes, there are 3 of them - Tropical, Desert, & the Show Dome which is seasonal. We visited the Show Dome first. Don't worry, I won't share all my pictures LOL.

We went to the Tropical Dome next. Why not, my hair was already trashed from the humidity LOL.

Actually, I think this was my favorite. I liked the beautiful spring flowers in the Show Dome, but the Tropical Dome had things I'd never seen before. And I'm not talking about the dinosaurs. 

Last but not least, the Desert Dome. I was a little afraid to enter, thinking I wasn't going to be able to breathe, but the temperature was actually quite cool. 

I had such a great day visiting a great place with a great bunch of 5th graders. If you are in the Milwaukee area, check out the Mitchell Park Domes. Definitely a fun day for all ages!