My Dad & WWII

This is my dad, as an enlisted guy during WWII. My dad was always a smart ass, and when he got Alzheimers towards the end of his life, he was the other kind of ass. I loved my dad, but he tortured me! The other thing I love about my dad was he documented everthing. My dad liked to document many of his photos as you can see with him, the ass, and his friend. Leave it to my dad! You know this photo kind of illustrates the type of guy my dad was. . .a bit off. Even when he was old, the things that would come out of his mouth were amazing. Guess I know where I got "that" quality from. I have another picture my dad took of their platoon dog, and on the back of the photo he has the dog's foot print. My dad, what a character. I'm really grateful though that he has left me all these pieces of not only his past, his life, but of history! I hope to find the time to organize it some day and get pictures scanned, organized and burned to CD' for my kids and grandkids. These pictures and memories make us and mold us who we are today! And as I've said over and over, I just wish my mom and dad had lived long enough to see the Obama's in the White House. I know it would have warmed their hearts to see the family picture of the Obama's and the new puppy! My mom and dad were just that way, simple folks that liked and cared for people because of "who" they were as person, never about the color of their skin!
to participate: contact Deborah at cashgirl_56@yahoo.com

When Little Kids Are Sick

It's always tough when little kids don't feel good. We've been blessed that Riley, at 2-1/2 years old, has hardly ever been sick. Today she spent the day with me. I was getting her all squared away to eat lunch in one of my chairs, rather than at the table because she didn't feel good. As you can see, Riley thinks that's pretty cool. With eyes closed, Riley hugged her Little Einstein Globe. I told her to wish we were in Maui right now, wading in the crystal clear water, and watching a beautiful sunset! By late afternoon, Riley was LONG over due for a nap, especially since she had a cold. I had given her the "binky" which is only for naps. But still, with a bit of energy, she grabbed the binky and another pair of my glasses and was running in circles until I could catch her. About five minutes before her mom walked in the door from work, Riley was sound asleep on me snoring! I didn't want to let her go. Little ones are always so sweet when they are asleep. I'm also thinking Gramma may be going to bed a little earlier tonight!

Garden Talk & Garden Blog

Yesterday, I did some heavy duty gardening out in my front yard. It needed it, and it feels good to work hard at something you love! Above is a vintage french sink that I finally replanted with some sweet peas from Annie's Annuals. I hoping the snails don't return! I felt bad for my favorite mermaid, so I freshened her up a bit with some new plants all around her and some fresh soil as well. My house kind of sits on a curve, so I have a wide front area. This is some empty space that was kind of a mess, so I decided to do some container gardening out of old vintage tubs, etc. I planted two pumpkin vines along with the lavender. The pumpkin vines are for my little Riley and soon to be grandbaby Morgan who will be here in early June. The thing that is cool about pumpkins, is once they start to grow, you can carve into them. And as they grow,the carving will grow with them. Last year Bryce wrote RILEY and we watched her name grow with the pumpkin. This year we will include MORGAN and I'm hoping for bigger pumpkins, and more since I got an earlier start on them this year. These are just some more random buckets I started to plant. I also need to bring home some old picket fence to cover up my neighbors chain link fence! This is a cement heart with my bestfriends name written in cement. It is a reminder to me daily how much Country Roads means to me!

Now, on to my other blog. Actually, it was my oldest daughters blog. Brande owns Johnnye Merle Gardens & Nursery. It sits behind the store and is just a cool little place. Because Brande's time is limited, I'm also posting on the blog as well. On my side bar, you'll see a picture of my mom, Johnnye Merle. Click her on, and you will be on our garden blog. I've done a little slideshow of my gardens here at home because over the years that was where all my plants have come from. It's kind of fun to see how they have matured! I hope you have a chance to visit us often, and leave us a comment when you can, or a plant question. I'm not saying this because it's my kids garden and nursery, it IS truly a unique little piece of paradise in a wonderful setting. Hope you get a chance to stop by!

"Our Actions Define Us"

I was reading something the other day when I came across the quote, "our actions define us". Four small words with such power and meaning. Those words have been on my mind lately. This morning I was reading the Orange County Register newspaper. I kind of pick an choose what I read these days. I can no longer read the "economy" related stories. The one thing I always read is a section called, "The Morning Read". It's usually a positive article about people. This mornings article was called, "A Racist Says Sorry". Basically it is a story about a very prejudiced, hateful man that has lived his entire life being a racist, supporting the KKK, beating up young blacks and many more horrible things. Now at 72, he is dying and seeking forgiveness for his "actions". He wants to be "saved before he hears his last chime". It's not my place to judge. But it IS my right to believe "our actions define us". I have a very, very difficult time understanding prejudice. To me, it's unacceptable to be prejudiced against someone you do NOT know. If you want to dislike someone because of their "actions", I think that is a little different. But to hate someone without even knowning them because they are black, white, gay, or whatever other reason, is troublesome to me. How many people will look at the two pictures above the same? Here we have two young Presidents with their children growing up in the White House. They are both celebrating the joy of a new pet in the family. The only difference I see is the sadness that JFK's life was cut so short. It saddens my heart to know "why" others view these two pictures differently. I want this to be a better world for our children, our grandchildren. If you get a chance, read the article I mentioned. You can go online to www.ocregister.com and its on the front page under The Morning Read, "A Racists Says Sorry". The second part of the article will be continued in tomorrows paper. One of my very favorite songs is "Wonderful World"! I believe in songs and stuff like that. I'm far from perfect but that's just the way I "choose" to live my life.

Who's Related to Who at "Roads"??

 

I sometimes forget that some customers may not realize that all of us that work at Country Roads are "blood" related to each other in one way or another. I thought about that yesterday because myself,Bryce my son and Brande, my daughter were working. Next there was Darcy and her sister Dawn who were working, and lastly the sisters, Pam and Hannah. Because we are all SO use to arguing like we do at home, or saying a smart ass comment to someone that is related to us, we sometimes catch "that" look in a customers eyes that says, "what the hell is wrong with these people"? Then we can say, "oh, that is my son", or "they are sisters", and when we say something smart ass to each other and we aren't blood related, we just say, "oh, we're fine, we're all family here". I guess that is why we all work together so well. Plus we are just use to each other and as I've said many times we celebrate special occasions outside of the store as well as working together.

In this picture is me on the left and my good buddy Darcy on the right. Malisa, from over at Moonlight Hollow, made a comment on my last post that there was finally a photo of me. First, I figure because of the store most people know what I look like and its just not that exciting!! And secondly, I hate having my picture taken, and lastly I would feel really weird if I posted pictures of myself all the time on my posts. It would be like "look, here I am doing this, or here I am doing that", you know? It would just be weird for me! But mostly I just don't like having my pix taken. This picture was taken a couple of years ago. Brande was working with the ONE campaign with Bono and U2 on their tour. In this picture Darcy and I got to be volunteers to help work on the ONE campaign at the U2 concert in LA that night. It was a lot of fun, got to have passes that allowed us to get down on the floor level by the stage to listen to the music up close and personal.

This is one of the main reasons why Country Roads just works! We've all worked together for so long it just seems natural working doing something that we love so much. And as far as my pictures go, I guarantee this will be the last one you see for awhile. Of course you can always come visit me at Country Roads!!

My Easter Sunday

I worked today, and we were SLAMMED, which means really busy. So, I know Malisa is into Easter bonnets, so I thought she might appreciate the one above, the back view. This is the front view, sorry it's blurry, I didn't have my glasses on! This woman collects hats, she has like 4000 she told me. I just thought this one was really special. After work, my family got together at my house for Easter. We had planned on cooking, but because we were so busy at work today, we decided to order pizza and Brande made cupcakes. It's not about the food you eat at Easter, its about who is at the table, you know? In this picture,Uncle Bryce helped Riley with her Easter basket from Gramma. Riley shares her Easter basket with Uncle Bryce and Auntie Justine. Uncle Bryce comforts Riley as she is a tad afraid of the growling dino Gramma put in her Easter basket. Riley's buddy Leonard happily wore an Easter ribbon around his neck as Riley hugged him! The Easter egg hunt is on as Daddy (my son-in-law) and Auntie Brande watch! Riley had Uncle Bryce help her on the Easter egg hunt!Riley and Auntie Brande share an Easter moment, meaning how all the chocolate was making Riley crazy and Auntie Brande was trying to find some peaceful time for Riley! Yep, good luck with that.Gramma was trying to convince Riley to not throw the orange juice and for Bryce to turn the damn tv off or at least turn the volume down. Wow, Happy Gilmore on Easter, awesome!

First Easter Bunny Pictures

First Easter pictures, like any of our kids first pictures of special events in their lives, mean a lot to us. For some reason, I only have one picture of Brande, pictured above with the Easter bunny. Katie and Bryce were terrified when they were baby's, and can you blame them? So, I was never able to have a first Easter bunny photo of either of them. This is Riley's first picture with the Easter Bunny! And like her mom, and Uncle Bryce, Aunt Brande, that was Riley's last picture as well. We have cute pictures of her from last year with her Easter basket, but these shopping mall photos are somehow classics which I wish I had more of. Props to the kids that are brave enough to go up and sit by these huge scary creatures and "smile" at the same time!! Hope you all enjoy your Easter tomorrow, and don't forget, Country Roads is having a big sale between the hours of 10am-4pm. Happy Easter!!

Some Old Photos of Me With My Family

That's me and my dad when I was little, in the backyard of the house that my daughter Katie, Vinnie, and Riley now live in! Of course its been re-modeled a bit!
In this picture, you find me, my grandfather (my dad's dad) and my sister Teri. We called my grandfather, get this "Daddy Dick"! To this day, I have NO idea who thought that one up? His name was Dick, but hey, no wonder I have issues! Here's a picture of me and my sister when we were younger (I was probably pinching her, and that's why she is making a face) sitting on Daddy Dick's porch (and I bet you were thinking something else, what's wrong with you people) and my grandmother who went by Nanny! This is the Missouri side of my family, maybe that's where these names came from??? Here we are at the Seal Beach pier, where we take Riley to the beach at these days. It's my sister, my mom, me, and my mom's aunt Ruby. This picture was taken in the backyard of my mom's aunt & uncle here in Long Beach of me, with my mom and dad. Here we have me and my sister. I'm the tall blonde in this photo. Now days, I'm still blonde but my sister is way taller than I am. We were playing in our backyard in our swimsuits, the same backyard that Riley plays in today. Except she has a jacuzzi! I saved my very photo for last. This picture was taken of my dad, me, and Teri at Pier Point Landing, in Long Beach. Pier Point Landing is long gone, and actually I don't even know what is there now. I LOVE the way my dad looked in this photo, so handsome!

Be sure to check out Deb's Family Foto Friday. . . to participate, email Deb: Cashgirl_56@yahoo.com

One of THOSE Weeks!

Have you ever had one of those weeks when you say to yourself, "wtf"? I'm here to tell you I'm knee deep in a week like that! That picture you are looking at, BEES, in my rosebush! I was talking to Brande this afternoon, and I look out the window and in the front yard I see bunches of something flying around. Then I ask Brande, as we go outside, "is that bees"? Yep, hundreds of bees flying around in my damn front yard. So, we go back in the house, and make sure the windows are shut and "google" help me with bees. Apparently, the bees go after the Queen Bee. This has to be the biggest dumbass Queen Bee ever! I have had both in the store garden and at my house before, bees go inside birdhouses. Which reminds me I need to go get some mothballs. The Bee Buster guy told me its supposed to keep them away. Why in the middle of the damn rosebush!
So, as I'm walking back up the drive way, I notice these paw prints on my car. They're not cat paw marks, again "wtf"? A couple of years ago I saw a big fat raccoon by my front tree. Maybe that's what it is, I don't think its a opossum. And just last week Bryce was working on furniture in the driveway when a hawk dove down into a bush and grabbed a bird! I live in subarea, you know where houses are right next to each other with streets everywhere and no wide open spaces! Oh, and this is the second time I had to write this post because the first post just magically disappeared. Well, tomorrow is another day and maybe when I wake up in the morning the bees will be all gone just like magic. Oh, I just remembered it's one of those "wtf" weeks!!

*After posting this blog I remembered reading last week an article in the OC Register newspaper about these girls that rescue honeybees. Check out their blog, it's really interesting and I've e-mailed them for some HELP! You'll have to type in this because I can never get my links to work:
www.backyardbkeepers.blogspot.com

Our Furry Friends

You know, I'm always writing on my blog and wondering, "does anyone ever read this stuff"? Awhile back, one of my customers, Mary Striley, who I KNOW reads my blog asked if I would mention a pet rescue that was coming up on a Saturday. She knows I'm a big lover of animals and I was more than happy to do a post about the pet adoption. The photo above,(not sure why the dog's eyes are that color) is PROOF that people actually DO read my ramblings. Cindy Finch, one of my most favorite dealers at Country Roads, is pictured with her little rescued dog she went to get after she read my blog that day. And her husband Bill just brought home another rescued dog from the shelter as well. Rescued pets ALWAYS give so much love and turn out to be the best little pets ever! You have to look really close at this picture. These are two, of four little kittens that were born in our Johnnye Merle Gardens last week. Mama cat was in the process of trying to move them when I took this picture. We have been trying to catch her so we can keep her inside with her kittens until they are old enough to adopt. Our customers are SO cool! We have a jar on the counter to collect money for their food and when the time comes to pay for the vet costs. We intend to have the cat "altered", I think that is the right word. Apparently some little girl from the neighborhood came looking for her cat. She said her mom has two female cats that keep having kittens. I just don't understand that kind of neglect, you know? Katie told the little girl to tell her mom she needs to get her cats fixed!! Of course the mom has yet to make an appearance in the store or take any responsibility. At least it's good to know that we have the chance to try and get mama cat fixed and the baby's new homes. So, thank you Mary for sharing the information on the pet adoption, thanks Cindy and Bill for rescuing two dogs, and thanks to all of you that do the same. And while I'm at it, I want to thank you guys for taking the time to read my ramblings. It means a lot and please, leave me a note here and there so I know I'm not just writing to empty cyberspace ;0}