Bradford Pears and Spring

Spring is almost here. Bradford Pears signal the onset of spring in the Dallas area. These trees are a favorite because they are fast growing and are beautiful when they are in bloom. Their leaves are small but abundant and they make a great shade tree in the Texas heat. We planted two of them in the back to shade our house from the afternoon sun. They are also notorious for splitting in high winds. A couple of years ago a spring storm came through with high circular winds. I walked to the back of the house to look outside and one of the trees was split in three sections. One section on our patio roof, one on our house and the other still defiantly standing. It was a very large tree as it had been there for over 20 years.

Bradford Pears in Bloom

Workers slowly cut it down working from top to bottom. When they had it cut to a stump about 4 feet tall they split the stump down the middle. They asked me to come and take a look at what they found inside the tree. Right in the middle of the stump was a golf ball. They cut it out along with it's nest in the wood. Here is my little conversation piece.

Watch where you hit your Titleist please!

Trinity Expressions

Becky and Christy

My friends Becky and Christy have a business called "Trinity Expressions". They sell fabulous accessories including jewelry, buttery soft purses and rhinestone adorned flip flops and belts.

I visited them at a huge craft fair this weekend held at a high school in Richardson, Texas. This was the largest one I've ever been to with over 150 booths. I had to get myself out of there pretty fast with so many tempting things to buy! Their space was a little small but you can get an idea of some of the cute things they have from my photos below.

I just love the tan and brown purse in the back. In front folded on the table, are jean jackets with a cross on the back that are really cute and comfy. They have just added the jackets and t-shirts and haven't had a chance to put them on the website, but will be very soon.

I bought this cute little lightweight backpack. I am always looking for something lightweight to carry my "necessities" in for outdoor outings like garage sales and you guessed it craft fairs.

I tried on the flip flops you see in the right bottom corner. I have to tell you they are not on the table anymore, they came home with me. They are so comfortable and cute.

Becky and Christy are two of the nicest and fun people I know and are really putting their "hearts and souls" into this. I hope you will take a look at the items on their website. My pictures do not do them justice. Here is the link.

No More Garage Sales!

This weekend I had my "last garage sale". I have been trying to get to this for over a year and I must say the weather was perfect for it. Thursday I worked my tail off getting everything out of boxes and set up. The preparation is the worst part. I started the sale Friday morning and had a somewhat steady stream of customers until about noon. I closed up for the day about 2 pm. My husband Tom promised not to stand by the ab exerciser below.

In fact the lady who bought it asked me who used it? Ha! I'm sure she didn't think it did me any good either. I told her my son used it, which is true kind of. She asked me why he didn't want it anymore and I told her he didn't need it because he was involved in a lot of sports now. By the way Jackson had his first swim meet yesterday and won first place in the 100 meter free-style against 5 other schools!

If you need exercise equipment it's probably best to buy it at a garage sale. Most of the time it hasn't been used very much. The exercise bike was my Dad's. He did use it but it was too hard for him to get on and off of.

I opened again Saturday morning and had just a trickling of people come by so I ended up closing about noon. It was Texas - OU weekend in Dallas, plus the State Fair is going on. How about that Texas win!

My cat Rosie has always loved garage sales! Despite being 18 years old and disguised as an overgrown rat, she still attended. I had a lot left over and took a load to Goodwill yesterday afternoon, the rest is being picked up by the animal adoption center on Wednesday. I have a few collectibles that I just can't give away so I am going to put them on Ebay. I am now retiring from having sales and instead will go to them. You never know what little treasure you might find.

My friend Carol and I have had many garage sales together, some successful and some not. Carol loves to tell the story of how she went home with everything she had left in one little shoebox. (Now that's a successful garage sale!) This one I did on my own and it was just not the same.

Doing one by yourself is just not as fun. I missed you girlfriend!

Blog Layouts and Del Monte Pickles

Let's start with layouts. I'm getting close to finally fluffing up my blog. It's so blah right now and as soon as I get the house really clean and have a garage sale that I have been trying to do for the last year then I'll hopefully have time. I've looked at a couple of free blog sites, Pyzam and I think the other is The Cutest Blogs. I originally tried using one from Pyzam but had so much trouble with it I gave up. I found a layout I really like on the Cutest Blog Site but it looks like you end up purchasing other things you need, a header for instance. I don't mind the purchase part as long as it's reasonable. So all my creative friends and relatives do you have any advice you can give me on this? I love all of your layouts.

Why aren't there Del Monte Pickles in Dallas?

I grew up with Kosher Del Monte Dill Pickle halves. I love those pickles. Eat them straight from the jar, on sandwiches (especially peanut butter and pickle) or make little toothpick appetizers with pickle, cheese, and salami. My kids really like them as well and then quite a few years ago the stores in the Dallas area quit carrying them. I have looked at all the major grocery stores Tom Thumb, Albertsons, and Kroger. No Del Monte pickles! Target and Walmart do not carry them either. Weird thing is they all carry Del Monte canned vegetables and fruit. So what's up with the pickles?

My friend Carol who used to live across the street from us has a daughter who is one week younger than Molly. Molly and Ashlee grew up together and I guess I must have introduced her to these pickles. I didn't know how fond she was of them until this summer. Ashlee went to college at Stephen F. Austin University which is in East Texas. She graduated this summer and is now working at the same hospital I work at in Dallas as an RN. (I'm so proud of her!) She found my office one day and brought me a card and 2 jars of Del Monte Pickles. I was in heaven for the short time they survived in my house. I asked her where she got them and she told me she had to order a whole case off the Internet. Now that is love for a pickle.

I found the Del Monte web site and emailed them asking why we can't get them in Texas. I haven't heard back.

They even have Organic ones now.

But not in Texas.

Why is there a golf ball in my bathtub?

The other day I walked into our master bathroom and saw some glass (actually plastic) in my sink. I looked around and there was more on the floor and lo and behold a golf ball in the bathtub. So then I looked up and there was a hole in my skylight. See what a fine job Tom did patching it up!

Cardboard, garbage bags and duct tape. No home can be without them.

It had to be a direct hit to go all the way through. I just can't quite figure out how it got past our Red Oak that covers that side of our house. We are halfway down the fairway on the right.

We moved into our house a little over 25 years ago. When we first moved in there were no trees and no patio. Initially we were getting hit a lot. At least 8 windows have been replaced, 1 french door pane, the skylight now for the second time and the patio door shattered but Molly did that when she was three with the Charlie bar so that doesn't count. The only golfer to offer to pay for their bad swing was the one that broke the french door, most of them run off in their carts as fast as they can.

Once I was sitting at the kitchen table talking on the phone and a ball came through the window past me shattering glass everywhere. Another morning about a year ago, I opened a window in the kitchen because fat Charlie (the cat) likes to go out that way because the pet door is a little tight for him. Leaving it open I sat down at the table to read the paper and a golf ball came through the open window and ping ponged all around the kitchen. Fortunately the only thing it shattered was my nerves. Woke me up!

Needless to say the glass coverage on our insurance policy was cancelled long ago. The skylight seems to be withstanding Gustov's 40 mile an hour winds. There has been no rain in Dallas because the weathermen said we were going to get rain. Instead Arkansas is getting it all.