Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made

1. What are your favorite kinds of flowers? Let me put it this way: I never met a flower I didn't like! I'm especially fond of daisies, daffodils, roses, peonies, bluebonnets and lilys These are my favorite pretties that grow in my yard:



They're "Pink Charm Daffodils" and The Viking calls them "the quintessential Erica flower" because they're "dainty and pretty and so charming".

2. Do you have any cut flowers in your home or office right now? What kinds?
Just some daffodils and tulips I pulled from the yard. Usually by now I have lilacs comin out my ears and the pretty, heavenly smell is filling the house. But this year, my lilacs have done terribly.

3. Are you growing/planting any live flowers inside or outside your home? What kinds and where?
Well I have a bed of daffodils and tulips that'll get a wildflower mix. I've also got a bed by the front door that's filled with hollyhocks and black eyed susans and white gooseneck. This year, on the opposite side of the door I'm putting in a new bed instead of the seating area that's there. I haven't decided what to put in yet but will probably do some sweet peas, some rudebeckia and some hydrangeas. I'll also do some lamb's ear and some lavender (despite never being able to get it to grow) and some various other herbs.

4. Which flowers do you associate with specific people, places, or events?
My Nany's daughter, Donna, always loved yellow roses. I always always think of her when I see a yellow rose.

5. When was the last time you were given flowers as a gift?
Well, a few years ago The Viking brought home the most beautiful bouquet of a dozen red roses. Since then, he's brought home (several times) wildflowers that he's picked on the side of the road. I daresay I like those even better than the beautiful red roses.

If ya drink don't drive, do the watermelon crawl!

Hope everyone is loving this weather as much as the Holtry's are! We've got plans this weekend for a big ole bbq with friends and family. Burgers, brats, watermelon, tractor rides, craziness and utter silliness. If you're in the "hood", drop on by!

We've been out walking all the time and enjoying the (mostly) bug-free-edness of walking down by the creek. I saw some skeeters last night when we were out walking but I'm refusing to acknowledge them until I absolutely have to break out the bug spray. Also the addition of 2 1 hour walks has got me losing about a lb a day. So that's nice.

Fighting a touch of a migraine today. Thinking about gettin the boy and goin to bed in a dark room for a bit. But I took some Excedrin so hopefully I'll be feeling a touch more human here in a bit.

Before I skedaddle off, another installment of Overheard on Ho Hum Drive:

Me - I sure love Kirstie Alley. She is completely crazy. She has lemurs.
Viking Mike - Is that a disease?
Me - laughter...and then some more laughter...and then enough laughter that my belly is starting to hurt and my eyes are watering. No! Lemurs, they're like monkeys...
VM - I know what lemurs are. It could be a disease like crabs though, right?! HAHAHA.


Meat is murder....tasty, tasty murder

Sittin on the porch drinkin ice cold cherry Coke, where everything was black and white

I don't think it's any secret that I love Nebraska. I mean love Nebraska! My mom always teases me because I talk about Nebraska like it's "paradise", but to me, it really is. Nathan and I have been taking the dog, Shelby of Flop, for long walks in the mornings and evenings. We walk down our block, turn down a dirt road and then bam we're on a walking trail that lazes through the prairie along Plum Creek. A few quick things I'd like to point out. I grew up in the New Mexico desert. There's dust, and there's tumbleweeds, sticker bushes and oh yeah, a pile of crime. When I walk here, I am first and foremost, perfectly safe in doing so. I can't imagine ever walking, just the kid and the dog and me, anywhere in NM and feeling 100% safe. I also can't imagine taking a deep breath of fresh, cool air that not only has no smog in it, has no dust in it. And well, let's just say I'm pretty sure that Plum Creek has more water in it than any place I've ever seen the Rio Grande!

So once again, another Spring has dawned here in Nebraska, and I am once again feeling grateful to God for bringing me to this place that I love so much. I don't feel that I was ever meant to live anywhere else and I'm grateful for the journey God put me on to bring me here. It feels very much like "Mayberry" to me. Springtime is a great time for the family. We all eat lazy dinners at the table or outside, with the fans lazily circling and the windows and doors open. We leave the windows and doors open all night and that crisp air in the morning feels just delicious. We plan our vegetable garden and my flowers start to bloom.

In fact, just yesterday when we got home from our walk Nathan told me "oh mama your daffodils sure look pretty, can I pick one for you to put in your hair?". So yesterday I pinned a pink charm daffodil up in my braid for the first time this season!

"My wife was delighted with the home I had given her amid the prairies of the far west."
--Buffalo Bill

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way

It's been a remarkably quiet day here on Ho-Hum Drive. I've done 3 loads of laundry, emptied the dishwasher, picked up the living room and stripped the beds. Nathan forgot his lunch this morning so I ran that up to him, as well. Another reminder of how much different things are when your Mama is at home. When I forgot my lunch, I didn't eat. Anyway, I'm finishing up some more laundry while I watch The Hand That Rocks The Cradle on Netflix (the instant viewing is *awesome* through the XBOX and the nice tv!). I'll pop over to the laundromat to wash our comforters and take Nathan to the library after school. Then I'll start some chicken (I'm looking for a new recipe) and some rice and broccoli for supper. Hoping to get a nice long walk in after supper as well. This is the perfect time to go down by the creek because the skeeters ain't out yet.

I'm just enjoying the fresh air. My curtains flap so pretty in the breeze and I am so in love with my door being open in the kitchen. It was 5 years and just a few days ago that we moved into this home after living with my mother-in-law for a year. I slipped *right* away into the swing of running a household. I remember how happy I was to have all the windows open and smell fresh air and to be able to take Nathan outside to play all day long in the grass and yard. Every spring I think about those days and how awesome it was to have my baby in my own household and to be getting things set up and taken care of, etc. I love spring especially for that reason.

I've also managed to stay on my eating *and* exercise program, WOOHOO!!! I'm not really "dieting" but I'm working really hard on 4 things: water, exercise, portion control and remembering to eat (I have a tendency to forget to eat all day long and then just eat at dinner, SO BAD FOR YOU!). I saw Dr Oz giving out tips and the two I'm implementing now are 1)to drink a glass of water before every meal and a glass after the meal and 2) arrange your food on your plate so there's an inch left around the rim of the plate and your food isn't piled up more than 1/2" high.

I hope everyone else is having a blessed Monday instead of a Manic Monday!

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
-- Percy Bysshe Shelley