Springtime in East Tennessee

Xmichra posted some pictures of how much snow they still have, so I decided to post pictures of my flowers.

These planters "guard" the entry way onto my porch from our sliding door and the stairs to other patios.








And we go around for the tour of the porch...









Tulips, marigolds, and daisies! Oh my!

(And my lil gnome.)







The sage and Italian oregano is returning just fine, but no sign of new growth from the rosemary.








The purple stuff smells AWESOME!










Spring feet!
(Brianna's)


















Brianna found these broken off at the garden center and gave them to me. :)








From a scavenger hunt the girls played.

Bad Dreams

I had a horrible dream last night, or really early this morning. And I can recall it rather vividly even though I've tried to forget. It isn't all clear, but at some point I am part of this group. A small group at first, then a bunch more people are added. We are going to rob something maybe? And it's weird that there are so many of us. It makes me remember another dream I had months ago, but only vaguely. Like this is the same group of people as in the old dream.

So at some point we are out behind the large building we have been in. There is a plane laying in the field at the edge of the woods. One little blonde girl is there, and me and two others are going to take her to safety and look for more survivors. But then I turn to the left and there is a little dog house with several puppies inside. They are dead, sliced in half. It was so vividly horrible! At that point the others know who did it and are afraid the person is still around and start running, I follow barely keeping up.

The dream kind of moved on after that, and I remember bits. But that part was the freaky-stick-in-my-head part. And I'm in such a horrible mood because of it!

And...

I finally finally finished a blanket for Brianna. I bought the material before she was born! lol. It is not quilted, I used yarn at intervals to hold the layers together. It's a tad thicker than a quilt. I did hand stitch the sides, I hate sewing machines.

While Resting...

I have finished a couple of craft projects. The first one was to put a lining in some curtains I had made a while back. They are hanging in Brianna's room.




The second was to decorate a shirt for Brianna. I am rather pleased at the result.




Now I'm going to post a picture of the awesome breakfast I made us this morning. Scrambled eggs, cinnamon toast, and fruit. Tristin and I had the berries, but Brianna opted for the last apple instead. I did put a bit of splenda/sugar mix (it's a bit cheaper than straight splenda, but still a lot better than plain sugar) on Tristin's berries and just on my blackberries. I like my strawberries plain.

Roller Coaster Day

Wednesday was very much a roller coaster of events. It started on the down end when I tried to put a skirt on that I hadn't worn in a while. Nearly two years ago I wore it all the time. I couldn't even begin to zip it...

...so I put on some slacks. I needed to dress nicer than usual to go to a seminar at the Marriott downtown. This was definitely an up. Something different to do, I always learn something new when I go, and it included a free continental breakfast...

...but they didn't have very much fruit. Some honeydew and cantaloupe slices. Very few strawberries and blueberries added for garnishment. I like cantaloupe, but wanted more berries. They had way more fruit last year. And a bigger room, more tables, etc. Damn economy. So another down...

...then I saw that they had Chamomile tea! Revolution Golden Chamomile Herbal Tea. Very awesome. I had two cups. :) I stayed fairly up for the rest of the day at work. I was pretty busy since the first half of the day was at the seminar. Then home and on to the gym. I love the gym. I love workouts with my trainer. But then...

...my ankle gave out during an exercise. I landed on my left foot then BAM, my ass hit the floor. It hurt terribly for about thirty seconds...

...then it was fine, just a little tender so we finished my workout. The rest was focused on upper body anyway. It was a really good work out and I felt good...

...until later that night when I could barely walk on my left foot. :( I iced and elevated it and it felt a little better the next morning. Today it's just a little sore and I'm sticking with rest until Sunday.

I do not like roller coaster days. I prefer smooth sailing. But things work out for a reason. Apparently I needed a couple of days rest and my body decided to tell me the hard way. :/

Things

At night, when I'm going to sleep I think of a million things to blog about. In the car too, anywhere actually until I sit down with the computer. Then I'm blank. The words just fizzle away. I think I need to go back to keeping a spiral notebook handy to write in. Then I can just transfer it later.

I do want to say this: I'm shrinking. Not in height, but everywhere else. They tell women that once you have children, or get over thirty, or both that you will naturally become larger in a few places. Breast, hips, tummy, thighs. It's natural and you should just accept it and move on. I call bullshit. I'm shrinking folks! My bras are too big! My legs are thinner! My stomach is slowly shrinking as well! I'm toning in places I didn't even realize had extra padding! It was sort of a slow overall gain. I love the gym, and I love the changes. I'm sure my diet changes are part of it too. It's been three weeks since I gave up sodas. I let myself have a can of coke about a week ago as a treat. But that's it. One in three weeks. This from the girl that would have a couple a DAY not so long ago.

Well, that's all I have for today. Except this, and I must warn you that most will not know what it means. Maybe none of you will. Some of you will guess, and may or may not be right. I won't go into explanations. It is just something I realized and wanted to "say" outloud even if nobody gets it.

I've outgrown you.

Well I was gonna...

...post something tonight, but my laptop was having technical difficulties. Now that I've wasted fifteen minutes fighting with it, I really don't have time to post. Maybe tomorrow...