The Delights of Spring

It doesn't matter how many springs I live through, I never cease to delight in the tree in my front yard. It bursts open with white, fragrant blossoms that fill my entire yard with their scent. Ah, the wonder of new life..........

A closeup of the blossoms. They are so delicate and gorgeous.

A full view.

Don't you love spring?

Better luck next time!!

Alyssa had her first track meet on Friday. She was so excited because she qualified for hurdles. She was planning on running hurdles, the 4 x 100 relay and the 800 M races.
After the first hurdle, Alyssa slipped and fell. She had to get up and finish the race and still completed before two other runners. She had some pretty serious road rash on her knee and elbow.
She didn't run the rest of her races so I came home early. I was proud of her!

Just starting out the hurdle race. I caught just the edge of Alyssa (in blue) behind the other runner.

The results after turfing it. They don't look as red as they really were.

Springy vs. Funereal

In the middle of last winter I decided it might be a good idea to look for a purse that had both black and brown colors on the outside so that it would match whatever outfit I was wearing, whether that be black or brown.
I looked for a long time and found this Liz Claiborne purse and bought it. From the day I made the purchase I wasn't sure if I liked the purse but it matched everything I was wearing during the winter so I stayed with it. One day I had had enough. I felt as though this purse was appropriate only for attending funerals and began a hunt for something a little more upbeat. Here is the result.

Springy..........

Funereal..........

Which one is your favorite?

Warning!!

I went to a new gym with my friend on a guest membership. They have a room called the Cinema Room. Inside, they show movies while you exercise on a variety of stationary bikes, ellipticals and treadmills. It's a cool concept except for one thing: it's completely dark. I could barely make out the up and down arrows on the treadmill. I got on and finally got it to go the speed I wanted it to. While watching the movie, "How the Lose a Guy in 10 Days", I got caught up in the music and the story line and forgot about what I was doing. The next thing I knew I was thrown off the treadmill. I had stepped on the side platform that WASN'T moving and it threw me off. Talk about shock! I was grabbing onto the sidebar for dear life. I wrenched my shoulder and side and scraped my leg all the way up to the knee. The worse problem was that I couldn't see a darn thing to turn the treadmill off. I finally spotted the down arrow to slow down the speed and was able to get back on. I had the most incredibly sore muscles for two days but my mom brought me a heating pad that made everything all better. Thanks mom!
The moral of the story: wear those safety clips and don't treadmill in the dark.

This is one of those injuries that looked much better than it felt. It killed my leg.

Easter Sunday

Easter with older children is different than with young children, but I have discovered that they love to find eggs and baskets as much as as anyone. The Easter Bunny hides the kids baskets at our house and Court found two of them before we left for church, one of them being his. I came home before church and hid Court's basket again.............and he was the last to find his basket.

My favorite scene of Easter....Court and Alyssa's backsides scrambling to find one of the last Easter eggs.

This picture of Brock makes me laugh.

Alyssa was trying to get out of getting her picture taken and I snapped it just as she moved the movie. This is the result.

Court being goofy as usual.

Oh Heaven!

Every once in awhile I get a bit of inspiration and this week was one of those moments. I had some asparagus sitting in the fridge needing to be eaten and some English muffins in the freezer. I also had some hollandaise sauce mix packets tucked away. My thought was to make eggs benidict with hollandaise sauce on the top served with asparagus with more hollandaise.

Oh,the pleasure! Try it one night for your family and see if they don't think you are the coolest cook ever!

Mine did.....

Here's a picture of asparagus minus the eggs.

Looking forward to May

This is in answer to AmyLee's question: What are you looking forward to?

I thought I would ask each member of my family to see what they are most excited about as May is on its way:

Boyd: He is looking forward to our trip.........and no we did not talk about our answers beforehand.

Marciea: Going to Arizona the first week of May to see Kalie graduate from Flagstaff University with her Master's degree.

Brock: He's at work but I know that he will say that he is looking forward to the Winter Semester being done and over with.

Court: The Star Trek 11 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine movies. He's totally a movie buff.

Alyssa: Her birthday!!!! She will finally be 14 and can do some boy/girl activities! AND her dance recital.

So there you go, besides the above thoughts, I am excited for spring weather, blossoms on my tree in the front yard, wearing flip-flops, and yes..........I am making the leap and getting GLITTER toenails done. (I am just waiting until I wear flip-flops on a regular basis so I can look down and smile at my toes.)

Happy waiting......................................

O Happy Day!!

Boyd went to Dr. Richter on Monday. After looking at the x-rays, Dr. Richter announced that it was OK to keep the cast off and put on a walking boot. Boyd has to wear the walking boot all day long but he can take it off to sleep and shower. Day by day his foot is looking better and he is walking a little better. We are now on the road to a full recovery.

The cast getting cut off.

A closeup of the leg. You can't see the scar too well because of the steri strips.

The cast is gone! Notice the smile....

Getting the walking boot.