Feeding my Reality Show Addiction

Did I mention I like reality TV? It is my favorite form of mindless TV. You have to wonder why it is so popular. My take is that people’s lives are so complicated these days that watching a reality program may help take some people’s minds off the their own daily lives. I am very sure many people had to give up paying for TV because of losing jobs.

I recently had to give up my Netflix in order to same some money. However, to my delight I have discovered I can Watch TV Online legally! Since Corvette can watch the same movie repeatedly, I tend to get very bored sometimes. I also fall asleep pretty early and then I miss many programs I like to watch.

Now I can watch the Real Housewives of Atlanta anytime I want. Hey, maybe I can get rid of my expensive satellite TV. Although I do not think Corvette would be too happy about that. Since he only watches about 10 channels maybe he will not notice. Nah, I do not think so!

Decorating Woes

My furniture is probably over ten years old. So I have been thinking about either replacing it or maybe covering it. It has a southwestern theme which is fine but I am kind of tired of it. I am striving for a simple decorating solution for my house. Although keeping Corvette from sitting out toy cars and machine gun shells from LCpl Honda is a challenge in itself.

I want to have a mix of Southwestern décor with a touch of modern motif. So of course, I resort to internet searches and I found a site that offers many options for my decorating dilemma. The Furniture Store has solutions for every room of the house. I really liked the selection of living room furniture.

I checked out the dinette sets because when we moved to our new house I bought a set that just does not work in our house. I want to sell it and get something that will work better in the space we have.

There is even a section for pets. I have been looking for a new affordable dog bed for Lucie for awhile now. I love my puppy but I am not willing to take out a loan for a dog bed. I found a large, plush dog bed for about $44.00. Not bad.

I am sure I will find what I am looking for. It just takes some time, but I will persevere in my quest to have my perfectly decorated home!

Planting Our Fall Garden

After a scorching summer, our garden has finally rebounded and we were able to harvest a few peppers, one lone cucumber, and a giant radish. Corvette and I have concluded that planting early spring and late fall is probably our best bet for having a more productive garden.


I decided to do a little research to see what vegetables do the best in the fall months. I came up with a list for fall planting. Snap peas and snow peas, broccoli, cabbage, collards, carrots, parships, beets, onions, lettuce, mesclun, spinach, turnips & chard to name a few. Now some of these need to be planted no later than August in order to get a good harvest. However, since I live in the Desert Southwest we do not get many hard freezes and I am hoping that if we do get cooler temperatures I can just cover the garden. Just as this summer was a learning experience with the garden, winter will be too.

I hope that by next year I will have a real good idea what to plant during warm weather and cooler weather. Now if I can just get Corvette to stop picking the vegetables before they are mature I might actually have eatable veggies! Seriously, we had green leaf lettuce that even though it was taking a bit of a beating from the heat he thought if he picked it early he would save it. Wrong. I tasted it and it had a horrible sour taste. Please Vette baby, let the garden grow!

The Lone Cucumber

Corvette and I planted a garden this year. We planted a little late and since we live in the Desert Southwest it has been pretty hot. We managed to harvest a few varieties of peppers, cherry tomatoes and radish. We planted cucumbers, bell peppers, snap beans, carrots, spinach and green leaf lettuce, none of which produced. But, now that it is cooling off a bit we seem to have a resurgent in the garden. Yes!


When we planted, I told Corvette that we have to thin things out. But, no he would not let me thin and he would not either. Soooo, we did not get a good harvest. Well I will be taking control next year. Corvette's attitude is to plunge in no matter the cost. Ok, well that did not work out so well.

Currently we have one cucumber growing. As far as Corvette is concerned you would think we are feeding the world with ONE cucumber! Like I said I am taking control.

Sunday Brunch

Yesterday, family and friends came together and we planted Lolly's tree. The week before, I prayed for cooler weather and that prayer was answered. I was a little worried a major storm might interrupted the planting but that did not happen. The tree was a little bigger than I expected. I have a VW bug. The tree is about 5 feet tall and it actually fit in my car. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. LCpl Honda dug the hole in the yard. Everyone arrived and we feasted on sub sandwiches and potato salad. Grandma M brought a carrot cake. Lolly loved baby carrots. Everyone took turns shoveling dirt into the hole. Then Butterfly and my friend's daughter, Big Brown Eyes helped Lolly's dad Tango make a well around the tree. Finally, we made a circle around Lolly's tree and said a prayer and asked God to bless the tree.

It was a wonderful day.

After the planting, I gave everyone a picture of Lolly's name in the sand.

I am posting our group picture, although we took many pictures that day. The rest I have chosen to keep private. I am also posting a picture of my dad, Grandpa DingDon, one of Lolly's namesakes. No recipe today. Yesterday was simple, kind of like a picnic. Everyone knows how to make a picnic. Yes?

We love you sweet boy. Donovan. Our Lolly Pop Kid.

I had to add this drawing, done by Butterfly, Lolly's sissy.

ps. The drawing was lying on my kitchen table today and my cat decided to walk on it. The blue background was done with pastel chalk. I just spent a whole bunch of time in my bathroom trying to wash the blue color off of my cat's feet. Fun.

Yea, I think that is all I have to say about that...

Bacon, Bacon, Bacon

Yes, we did it. We adopted a dog. Are we crazy? Maybe, but I want a companion to accompany me on my morning walks and since our new house is one of only nine in our development we just want some extra security. Nothing against Buddy my chihuahua, but biting ankles is just not going to cut it.

So may I introduce Lucie (yes Crafty, we now have dogs with the same name!)

Lucie was rescued on May 8th and has been with a lovely woman who takes in animals that are due to walk the last mile. God bless these people.

So Lucie is so far very sweet natured and loving. She took right to us and I do believe this is going to be a great and long relationship. We are not quite sure of her age, paperwork says 1 yr 7 months. Lady said 7 months. So who knows. She is housebroken but needs to learn how to walk on a leash, sit, lay down and the usual dog stuff.

And she totally looks like the dog in Beggin Strips commercial.

Corvette said when he comes home he is going to say, "Lucie, I'm home!"

Maybe we should change Buddy's name to Ricky. Tehe (;

Oh, the cat is in hiding.

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A Mouse in the House

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend and took time to honor our fallen.

 LCpl Honda made it home for the holiday and our granddaughter Butterfly was able to spend the weekend with us too. We had a fun weekend, which included swimming and movie viewing. Just let me say that if you are any kind of a Star Trek fan go see this movie. Most people my age probably will remember the original series on TV. For Corvette and I it was like a walk in the past except with different actors playing the original characters. Capt Kirk is just a hunky. Mr. Spock was dead-on. Bones just as cantankerous as always. Lt Uhura, Mr. Scott, Mr. Sulu and Mr. Chekov, all played perfectly. I will not spoil the movie for anyone but it reveals the answers to many questions and of course makes you think. Loved it.

 Well you would think that all this would be enough excitement for one weekend. But NO!! We came home from the store on Sunday and LCpl Honda informed us that we have another guest. Sort of. Somehow, a mouse got in my house and took up residence in my stove. Nice.

 So, back to the store goes Corvette to pick up some traps and after repeatedly reassuring Butterfly that no, the mouse will not get you and do not worry we will catch it by tonight and it will be over with we set out on the mission to rid the stove of the little squatter. Or so we thought...

 So first off, Corvette set the traps with peanut butter and sets them on the floor next the stove. Bad move already. I am getting dinner ready and I am not too happy about the traps near my toes but I figure I will keep my eyes open. There is only one thing we did not think about. You see we have a Chihuahua, Buddy. Note: small dog with large appetite. Likes to stand in kitchen while I cook in hopes of catching a falling crumb. Are you getting the picture? All of a sudden, we hear one of the traps spring and at first, we are overjoyed at catching the little uninvited guest. Yea. no. I look down and see my dog exiting the kitchen and a rather fast pace with a not-so-happy look on his face. More like an almost barring teeth look. I am just glad his nose was not caught in the trap or we would have added trip to the vet to our weekend activities. Needless to say the traps then were moved.

 Ok, as I said I was in the middle of cooking dinner and I turned on the stove to preheat the oven. I walk outside for a few minutes and when I come back and walk to the stove Yikkkkes! It is the mouse on its way back into the stove. Ok so after some simultaneous screaming on me and Butterfly's part things return to normal and we get on with the day and our resolve to catch the damn thing.

 Fast foreword to later that night. Corvette goes in the kitchen what does he see? Empty mousetraps licked clean. Stupid mouse. Ok so we go to bed with assurance that we will have that pesky creature in the morning. Right? Wrong. We get up and once again, empty mousetraps licked clean. Smart mouse. Same story the rest of the day. Same story this morning. Damn ingenious mouse.

 So I guess the next step is decon. Did not really want to go there but SuperMouse has left us no choice. Because we will prevail. I hope.

 By the way, we do have a cat. She apparently was off duty this weekend.

hmmm...