Random, Random-ness

I was awake at 5 AM this morning. I'm RARELY awake at 5 AM.

I sanitized, brushed down and skimmed the pool, had oatmeal, toast and coffee by myself on the back porch, while watching the birds flit around in the sprinkler that was watering our so-far-pesticide-free Garden.

Today is the end of the pesticide-free garden. Worms are eating some stuff so I'm off to buy Seven, which I've been assured by a local, well-known Cotton and Pumpkin Farmer whose kids attend the same school as our kids, is about the best pest repellent, as well as, the least pesticide-containing pesticide you can put on "crops". Apparently, some of the organic stuff is worse than Seven. I've heard that--weird, huh?

Now, if I could just get hubby to go out and start peein' around the garden to keep the rabbits out of it.

No doubt my boys would do it but they'd probably kill the whole garden as much as they pee in a day.

I've also read to sprinkle used cat litter around the garden. We don't have a cat anymore. Would it be too weird to put an add in the classifieds for used cat litter? :0) Wednesday's adds are free.

Did you know that Starbucks keeps their coffee grounds to give away for your garden? I picked up a bag of grounds that must have weighed 50lbs and we tilled the grounds into our gardening soil. Our veggies are rapidly growing--maybe it's luck, maybe it's the grounds, maybe it's because our land used to be part of a cotton plantation.

Occasionally, we have a cotton plant sprout up from nowhere. They're ugly--look like weeds.

I am HOOKED on Lipton's Raspberry White Tea, which is new--at least to me.

I made our coffee WAAAAY too strong this morning. A good reason to add more sugar, no?

I bought three HUMONGOUS bars of vegetable soap for $21.00 at Target three months ago; three months later, I'm still using the same bar of soap and it's NOT getting any smaller! I was hoping when I bought the soap that my "investment" would pay off. Paying $21 for three bars of soap is too crazy not to be an investment...or, at the least, an experiment.

Did you know, Vegetable soap leaves your skin moisturized so you don't have to use much lotion, which saves you money in the long run.


A fun blog women should read about SBE's.

Gave the dog a bath yesterday and then pried his feet from the edge of the pool so we could throw him in...just to show him how to get out in case he accidentally fell in--we had a dead rabbit in our pool recently because he jumped in at night and couldn't find his way out. I found him...it was GROSS! More chlorine sanitizer, please!

Our dog is so petrified of water, even knowing the way out, he would still panic and drown. We keep him locked out of the pool area when we're not out there but you never know what ornery dogs will do.

We saw two 4-D movies this past holiday weekend and I LOVED them.

I think the kids did too, but who cares?!?

I've been on an Oatmeal-For-Breakfast-For-My-Health-And-Weight "Diet" for about three weeks.

I've been on an Eat-As Many-Prunes-As-I-Can "Marathon," so as to counteract the Oatmeal Diet for about a week.

For the third (or fourth?) week, we've had money leftover at the end of the week--all thanks to our new budget plan. It's been surprisingly easy and we have some savings for the first time in a long time.

We haven't had any ants in our house this year so far.

My Coffee Buddy is coming to visit June 10th and I CAN'T WAIT! Coffee here we come.

My kids are visiting my parents in Kansas City for a week and a half, come June 23. Two days ago, only four school-days into summer vacation, I could not wait for that to happen; however, yesterday was much better.

Time-Out from the pool and the wooden spoon sitting on the outdoor table are amazing little encouragers to good behavior.

Huntsville's jobless rate dropped to 2.1% last month. Be sure to check out the handsome Mattress King. Remember when Elaine dated him?!?

Our backyard neighbors have a sort-of cute Lab puppy they inherited from someone. He had a bad habit of barking NON-STOP whenever there was a single noise in our backyard. There was only one time a day when there was no noise in our yard--2AM or the middle of winter. Two weeks ago, he was sent off for barking/obedience training. It was supposed to last one week. He's still not back. What does that mean?

I'm ready for a new hairstyle. I've had the same one for about four months.

For Mother's Day, I was given a "rare" hosta. The green leaves, or sometimes variegated leaves, have a blue paint stroke on them. Seriously, they look like someone took an artist's paint brush and brushed a stroke of blue onto each leaf.

I also was given a HUGE, decorative, outside thermometer by my hubby. Our Dollar Tree thermometer broke during the freeze in March. We didn't need the thermometer because I bought a new Dollar Tree thermometer but hubby thought the big one would look nicer. It would. It does. We tried to take it back yesterday to buy something more practical, although I'm with Tammi in that gifts should not be practical. But this time, we were going to be practical. Hubby lost receipt and Target's policy is that, without a receipt, they will not refund anything over $40, which is just crazy. $100 sounds more practical, don't you think? Return policies should definitely be practical. Anyway, the thermometer was $60 although, it looks like it was cheaper online. What's that about?

When you come to visit, please be sure to make mention of our lovely, outside thermometer to make my hubby feel better about not keeping track of receipts.

I like gardening and plants but I have NO IDEA what I'm doing. We bought this house last year with an acre yard. It's ALL landscaped, which we loved until we had to start weeding and trimming. It took us three hours, two Saturdays ago to weed JUST AROUND THE POOL AREA!

I have Jackson Vine. I love it. It's hard to find if you want to buy some. It's usually given--a southern-hospitality thing, I suppose. It grows as fast as a weed. I cut ours all the way back into the ground and two days later, it was two or three feet tall. I'm not kidding at all. Want some?

We got a new car, at least new to us, this week--totally unexpected. Another blog about this later. The picture is just a suggestion; actual vehicle may differ in color and price...and does. :0)

Our old car. It's for sale. If you're interested, please let me know otherwise, we may be eating PBJ for awhile. It does NOT look like the picture; we have five kids for goodness sake. It comes equipped with stains on the carpet, handlebar marks down the sides, no rearview mirror--it recently fell off but we still have it! It smells not so bad and the AC and heat only blow on high. We've replaced almost every major thing on it in the last two years, except for the motor...knock on wood. Brand new TV and DVD player included and possibly a kid or two.

If you're a Mom (or not) AND a blogger (or lurker), check this out.

And this.

Random Friday. I think I like.

Although, it ended up being much longer and much more work than I intended it to be.

So many links, so little time.

Comments are solicited, please.

Have a GREAT weekend!