June beauty

My sisters flowers. Aren't they gorgeous!!

Summer time flowers (and fruit!)

(The last one just to show I really WAS working....and did you ever try to take a picture of your right hand with your camera???--at least if your picture button is on the right side of the camera too!)

The problem with having flower beds is that they need constant up-keep. With all the rain we've gotten, the grass & small ground weeds have been worse this year than the big weeds, and they don't get noticed as soon as the large ones either.
Yesterday I decided to mow the lawn. Notice I said Decided. I do not mow the lawn. In fact in a conversation with my daughter she mentioned when she heard this, that she stood there with her mouth gaping open in shock & said she didn't remember her mother ever mowing a lawn during HER lifetime! Well, it took a little thinking about, (26 years is no small thing :*) but I guess other than showing my 11yr old son that "Mom really did know how to mow" and that I could mow more than 3 strips at a time before taking a break because "it's SO hot"...no, I guess I haven't.
Yesterday I mowed the lawn because #1--I wanted some outdoor exercise. #2--I wanted some sun--(read tan!) #3 my three guys are out of town on a job, and although the lawn did need mowed, it could have waited till they were back today or tomorrow, but #4--I felt like proving to all three of them that I REALLY COULD MOW IT!
Am I in danger of having to mow it all the time now? No, first of all my husband likes to mow & would rather do that than many other things. Next of all, boys in town need SOMETHING to do.
Last of all, No one is volunteering to make meals, clean the house, do the laundry, grocery shop, weed the flower beds & do the "mothering" thing with the younger kids in exchange for mowing the lawn.
Oh yes, one more thing. You know how Mom's excel at multi-tasking? Well, along with mowing the lawn yesterday which by my pedometer I walked 15 miles....Along with it I did the flylady missions, washed clothes, did some office work, had lunch with my scrapping buddies and fixed supper. Got 2 little girls to work on cleaning their room and do some outside chores. So really it's not that I couldn't do it and everything else, just that I choose NOT to do it and everything else.
I don't know about you, but most guys I know can not mulitask. They mow, they work on the car, they do their "8-5" job. Sometimes being a woman can be a mixed blessing!
To the guys in my house; I love you dearly, & appreciate all you do, but don't challange me by telling me the lawn can't all be mowed in the same day, or I don't know what hard work this much space is to mow. I'm not likely to feel too sorry for you!!
Oh yes, and it's always a good thing to prove to yourself that you can do something too....It's no fun having to eat your words!

My garden work

Last week we had a couple of really nice days, so on Thursday the garden/dirt bit hard enough that it sent me out to work. I have a problem getting seeds planted. I like to buy them, but then they sit here, and by June, somehow they usually still aren't planted, and the Nurseries call loud & clear. I usually end up satisfying my craving for flowers by buying way too many plants. Even tho I try to buy perennials, they don't always survive, and my *budget* always feels the pain. This year (once again) I swore to do differently. I got one flower bed planted, and spent a good 3 hrs on some yard work exercise...for what? We'll see if it's worth it, two days later it snowed again, and got quite chilly. If this weather doesn't improve, I'll be buying plants again after all!!