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Oh!!![Image]Oh!  Ah Ha!!  Hello to all of you!  I'm out of breath.  This is just bull that I can't sit down.  Computer problems (and I won't bore you...please don't let me hurt your feelings but I really don't like to hear of computer problems...they happen.  Move on).  Just time...so fleeting, running away before I can document it.  Should I start to post every other day?  Just short activities/adventures ( I like the sound of that!), the usual ramblings?
Okay.  Enough.  We had our big group at the lake this past weekend.  One of my biggest joys is seeing anyone play in the sand.  That's what lake life is all about.  Okay...among other things, ahem.  Let me introduce you to Emmett.  He loves the sand and rarely left it...only to go on the boat.  And the one thing he talked about over and over when he got home was the swans.  And we have plenty of them.  They seem to multiply each year (but the huge turtles in our bay are making them diminish a bit, if you know what I mean).   Anyway, what a cutie!

[Image]This is Nora, his mom on the left.  She is my daughter in law, Mary Clare's sister,  She's a single mother, very independent, has a successful, happy career, and beautiful on top of it.  She wants to meet a smart man!!    Love it!  Her mom, Peggy, (my partner in crime, and son in law Kevin), not to be confused with my Kevin, all pictured here.

[Image]A wee little story about Kevin and Mary Clare's sister, Katie, (you've heard of her...she does my hair at her home even though she  owns a very successful salon in the trendy Lincoln Park area of Chicago).   Katie had kissed a lot of frogs.  Finally, a mere three years ago, she signed up with Match.com.  She kissed a few more frogs.  And then she met Kevin, fresh over from Ireland and very happy in a truck driving job.  He's a happy, funny and positive guy...very laid back to Katie's big time energy! I hate to say it but he has such a huge brogue I can hardly understand  him.  But to look into those big blue eyes... What a match! They clicked.

[Image]They were married in Ireland two years ago and...

[Image]...a baby girl is arriving in October!!  So we had Katie and my DIL, MC, pregnant at the lake last weekend, and sister Nora with her little guy, Emmett.  We're wondering what next year will be like!  Babies galore!
As usual...fun in the sun.  Out on all the water toys, lots of great food and snacks...a few naps for myself and Peggy (the matriarchs) and a lot of fun keeping multiple dogs separated (no, they don't always like one another, although Milo has quite a love affair with that Golden across the creek...she's now crossing over to see him!!  Brazen hussy!!)

[Image]I promised you pictures of my big "landscape" project and I'm feeling a little too "brazen" myself  (I have to look that word up!).  It looks a little sparse and insignificant but you have to realize the plants have to grow.  Okay...the hosta's have been here a long time.  I brought them as divisions from my house here years ago.  They should bloom white in a few weeks.  The difference between the white and lavender blooms is the scent.  Just a small bunch of white in a vase in a small room will knock you over...very strong, but nice if you keep it subtle.  The light purple have a very light subtle scent.

[Image]This is the right side of the porch.  Sorry about the hose...I was soaking it all to death.  Everything looks so tiny yet I hauled those plants in.  In the background is a Weigelia shrub and it will get flowers in the spring.   Daylilys and hosta's.  I also have some Tickseed mixed in.  I dug and turned over soil, added peat moss, planted everything, made a few runs to the nursery and hauled out 8 bags of shredded mulch from my car and did my thing with it.  You know what?  I think I am very strong.  I think I could lift boulders on my shoulders!! I'm psyched!  I may need to lose some pounds but I'm strong!  That makes me feel SO good.  I worked my arse off for 7 hours that Sunday.  And I loved being sore.  I loved everything about it! :)

[Image]Okay...back on home turf.  I never told you the story of THE GRILL.  In a nutshell (yeah, sure), I have been wanting a backyard barbecue grill.  We had one years ago and it was seldom used.  Look...we LIVE outside on weekends and 99% of our meals are cooked on a grill.  When we have those 4 days home for the rest of the the week, I seldom want to be out in the flora and fauna, much less be cooking in it.  So when our Weber, or whatever it was died, I said "Be gone", and all was well.  So, I've turned a new leaf and I am back to livening up the flora (and the fauna, maybe just my dogs and a few stray cats, squirrels, opossum and a brown lab that knows how to lift the latch on my gate and let Layla and Milo loose).  Anywho, I begged and bribed for a grill just this past spring and when I threatened to go out and get one on my own....lo and behold a truck pulled up one day and there it was!!  So I spend a lot of time out tending to the flora and cooking up scrumptious meals.  Okay, I'm off track...

 [Image]I really, really wanted to have a backyard barbecue...like we used to have before the old grill died and we resorted to eating my dreary meals at the table...not enjoying any of the F & F other than the wilted, dyed daisies from the grocery store (those bright blue daisies should be outlawed...sick) on the dining table.  I wanted to enjoy all the plants and flowers and mulch and cute little garden signs and votive citronella candles while we dined.  No matter that I had no idea how to cook on a gas grill.

[Image] The Husband has always been in charge on the grill at the lake while I make a simple salad and busy myself along with putting paper plates and plastic forks out.  Every once in awhile I take over and make hockey puck burgers or hotdogs that are unrecognizable.  We use them for kindling.  
Anyway...never one to back away from a challenge...with my brand spanking new grill and all my pretty flora (fauna only if I fill the bird feeder which I am cruelly selective about),  I have invited a mere 32 close family and friends for a BBQ on Saturday.  I am so ready!!  Armed with a list and my right hand woman, Abby, we hit Home Depot, Target, Binny's and the grocery today.  We have it all...we have family who will be bringing tents and tables and chairs.  We have the good old bean bag boxes and a new game...something involving throwing a Frisbee at a beer bottle on top of a Tiki torch.  And you are required to drink something if you hit it or not.  You know, one of those "beer games" I just don't know about.  And Abby, our little waitress and bartender (she has had as a supplemental living) is making some sort of tropical drink that we all get a shot of considering the whole "B" family will be there.  We did find cute, trendy striped straws that we will be cutting into 2 inch segments for this little shot of Bali.  And  we have trendy colored plastic tablecloths and votives from the Dollar Store. I will try to get pictures...my family really gives me h*** when I interrupt a good time with random shots.  The best I can do is get people to pose and that takes away from my fun.  Ha!!!

 [Image]In spite of all my lightheartedness in this post, Milo had his surgery today.  Funny, I wrote in my last post about how I didn't like to get into the personal or serious.  Well, I have to digress here.  It was HELL getting up at 6:00 a.m.  Personally, I don't do that much at all.  The last time I remember doing that was a good 23 years ago and that was only to go to the hospital and have Abby.  Sheet.  I would have slept through that, too, except my water broke and I hate sleeping all wet and cold like that.  Again, I digress, I got him there and my lovely Dr. Fisher (hey...shout out to LePar Animal Hospital!!!) called at 10:00 a.m. (yes, I was awake and at the liquor store by then...don't judge...see above).  Although they were having a red wine tasting, and thank the gods, I really abhor red wine, I was able to hear from the doctor that all was well with my main man.  Thank you, God.
Five teeth gone and still barking at the hot UPS guy...I think he's fine.  I may save his pain pills for my own personal use...like this barbecue. 
Joining Alice at Thoughts From Alice Sundays
XO,  Jane