I’m sure that I’ve mentioned that I have a herniated disk in my lower back. It’s been on the touchy side for the past two or three months, talking to me when I rise from a chair.
The past week or so, as I’ve been doing more gardening, I’ve half expected it to flare up, and make movement difficult. But, oddly, as I’m gardening, it seems to be fine. It’s when I come in for the day, and have been sitting at the computer, or in the rocker for a while, and then rise, that I have more difficulty.
When I rise at the table, I pause to be sure that none of the muscles are complaining. If something is uncomfortable, I take the time to “suck it in,” and slowly stand up straight. It seems that those two things help to support the disk, and ease the discomfort.
I noticed that I have been slumping in my office chair. I talked with the doctor about it, complaining about a knot of muscles over my shoulder blade that hurt. He says that good posture is one of the ways to alleviate the pain. Another is to rise from my chair at least once an hour and do some of the same warm up stretches we do at exercise.
So, as I get more time in my gardens, I’m also working on improving my posture throughout the day. If you catch me slumping, give me what for!

Those of you who read here know that my youngest sister has taken up blogging this year. You can visit her at Just My Opinion. Actually, I hope you’ll go to visit, and wish her a Happy Birthday on Thursday, April 27.
We won’t be together to celebrate, but I’ll see her in a week, when she comes home for a family wedding. If I’m a GOOD sister…..I’ll remember that I need to call to wish her a great day.
If I miss, sis…….Hippo Birdie Two Ewes!

FROST WARNING for tonight. Anyone in the Chicago area who was foolish enough to plant tender annuals or half-hard perennials before May 15th needs to go out and cover them up!
We’ve had the heat on today. Chilly weather moved in with the rain last night. We need the precipitation, so we’re not grousing about the rain, but it would be nice to be just a bit warmer. Thankfully, the temperature will rise to the sixties for the coming week…..just about where it should be at the end of April.
I told you that the egrets have returned, didn’t I?? I think I did. This is the time of year when I have trouble staying in my own lane because I’m busy watching for the egrets in the marshes and ponds. I need a warning sign for the motorists behind me.
We may have had the last of the dinners with my niece and her sons. There are just too many things on their calendar for us to stick to the same night of each week, band concerts, baseball practice and such. I’m going to miss those dinners. It will end for sure in June, when she moves south about an hour.
I need to call the Geek Squad. I think I need to have both the CD player and the CD burner replaced on the computer in the office, OR, I need to uninstall the software for making CDs and reinstall it. The darned thing wouldn’t let me close a newly burned CD, then wouldn’t let me take it out of the burner, and THEN told me that I couldn’t turn my computer off because Windows was communicating with a program, when nothing showed up on the task manager. (muttering) Time to do something about it!
I have to apologize for all the whining lately. I had a much better day, today, despite the rain. I don’t deal well with mess, or with dozens of unfinished projects hanging over my head. The CPA’s assistant came this morning, and to be ready for her, I had to clean off my desk (and clean the desk), and make odds and ends of entries. That simple act of making things tidy lifted my spirits, and made it easier to get things done. I worked on my side of the desk while she worked at the computer, and between us, we got loads of stuff done! Who knew that being tidy was such a good thing!
We have birthdays to celebrate! Two today, one tomorrow, Nan’s birthday is April 27th, and my brother’s birthday is the 30th. We plan to celebrate without him. And there are easily 8 more coming in May, I think. My granddaughter will be two soon! If you have a moment, visit Just My Opinion and wish my little sis Happy Birthday, won’t you?

I have come to the point in my life where the product in gardening is more interesting than the process. I love having my gardens look manicured and eye-catching, but the work to do it is no longer what I’d call fun.
I spent three hours working outside today and accomplished perhaps 1% of what needs to be done. I need a CREW of able bodied young people who know a weed from a flower who can make and spread mulch and compost, use a weed eater, cut down volunteer trees, water, and plant shrubs. I also need someone to help weed, and plant, and mow. I have a spare bedroom, if you know of anyone who is willing to work for room and board.
I spent two of the hours on my hand and knees, cutting back the lavender, trimming back a shrub and a sage bush, and weeding one small area of the front garden. I hope to get an earlier start tomorrow morning. If the weather is good, I may try to get to the nursery for the first round of plant buying. If not, I’ll have to squeeze that visit in soon.

I’m going to have to add a “Wine of the Week” category.
My sis brought a bottle of wine for us to enjoy when she was visiting, and so we did!
Rosemount Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 Coonawarra, Show Reserve.
Very nice!

Okay, this is going to display to everyone my total ignorance of all things computer, but what the heck!
My sister, Nan, at Just My Opinion, would like to learn how to embed pictures in her blog, and how to create links. I’m going to try to explain how to create a link, and if any of you have suggestions on ways to improve this tutorial, please share them with us in the comments.
1. In your blog, highlight the blog or text that you want to link.
2. Open a second window and go to the blog or text that you want to link.
3. At the top of the screen, in the Internet Explorer section, copy the address of the blog/text.
4. Go back to your blog, make sure the highlight is still in place, and click on the small box at the right top corner of the Entry Body that has the letters “URL.”
5. A box will open with a place for an address. Click on the address line, and then right click and select “Copy.” Click on OK.
6. The link is done. You can check to see if it’s working by going to “Preview.”
Any corrections or suggestions?? Oh, Nan, I usually save my entry in Draft mode first, and then go back to do the links before I publish. I forgot that today and had to go back to retype the entire entry. 🙁 And, you can highlight the address on the text and THEN highlight what you want to link….it works both ways.
Happy linking, sis!

…Of the big family gathering, and all through the house not a creature was stirring.
They’re all too pooped to pop, let alone stir, but they had a GREAT DAY!
When everyone was seated, I think we had twenty-seven people to dinner. Several of those people will not have to cook for a day or two, or will have plenty of ham for ham and eggs, ham salad, ham croquettes, turkey and ham tetrazini or bean soup!
It was wonderful. Nan and her family came in last night. We rose before dawn to get ready for church, and filled one entire pew. We made it home for a little breakfast, and Dear Husband and Son #2 came in from the airport around 10:30.
We worked from 11:00 to 2:00 getting tables set, making room for desserts, cleaning shrimp, setting out appetizers, washing and tearing romaine for Caesar salad, and all the things you need to do to feed 27 people.
My sister took over the flower detail and created four beautiful bouquets for the tables, cleaned off the things on the foyer table and organized the decorations, and folded a load of clothes for me. She also found my “To-Do” list, and kept me on track. Her daughters were my slave labor, and they did a fine job of getting the tables and salad ready.
My oldest sis came in with loads of hot veggies and potatoes, and all the girls brought desserts. I have never seen such a collection of sweets, and do not expect to see such a collection ever again! It was absolutely astonishing!
Brownies, iced sugar cookies baked on lollipop sticks, standing in a”garden,” a chocolate FOUNTAIN with angel food cake and strawberry dippers, cupcakes, something that looks like Snickers in bar cookie form, white chocolate dipped pretzels, chocolate dipped strawberries, cream and berry pies! There was almost no end to it, and we tried to send it all home with our visitors. And we have enough candy that we could open a candy store.
The best part of the day was the chance to talk to so many of my family members, and that my sister’s families got to meet my stepdaughter, her husband, and their two year old daughter. It was a long day, and it took a lot of work to pull it off, but it turned out fine.
I’m going to toddle off to bed. I’ll check on all of you tomorrow.

I LOVE entertaining my family. I really do.
BUT……..there are times when I’d like to throttle them!
All through today, I was fairly confident that I could set three tables with eight place settings and have plenty of room to seat everyone. Then, my step-daughter called tonight to confirm that they would be joining us.
No problem, I’m delighted they are going to join us. I’ll get to show off that adorable pixie of a grand daughter of mine!
So…back to the drawing board, counting on fingers and toes…making sure I have enough chairs and room. NO PROBLEM! I’ve got it covered.
A quick call to my oldest sis to talk with her about plastic Easter eggs for an indoor Easter egg hunt. In the process of the call, I confirm who is coming and I’m just about ready to hang up, when I realize that her son-in-law’s brother is going to be visiting. IS HE COMING ON SUNDAY??? No…no…he’ll be going home Saturday. But…….her son-in-law’s MOTHER will be with us. Talk about last minute notice!
Sheesh…..back to the drawing board…..getting out the abbacus…..
Yup…we can do it. 24 adults and 2 toddlers at dinner, 2 adults joining us after dinner, and one uncertainty. I have two tables that will seat 10, and one more table that will seat eight. I have 17 chairs, and I’ve reserved 9 more at the rental place (more than I though I’d need….just in case), and I have three bench style seats that can be used in a pinch.
Does every hostess go through this?? I would NEVER turn a guest away from my door, but there are times it gets really crazy trying to seat everyone. I can remember the Thanksgiving I ate my dinner at the desk in the office. I shared my desk with a handsome 18 year old who was really eager to be included in the adult population, and ended up talking my leg off. I don’t know how the planning went awry that time, but I think my brother slipped a couple of extra bodies in when I wasn’t looking. It didn’t matter….everyone got fed, and they all talked a mile a minute.
I’m planning on running my errands tomorrow, doing a little cooking, and then handing out jobs left and right on Sunday!
I hope you all have a wonderful day, and get to spend it with family.

Ya know…..~T~, who hosts me at RedEagleSpirit, told me recently that I had just posted my 1,000th entry! I was really surprised. Despite the doldrums this past year, I’ve still managed a thousand entries.
I suppose I started repeating myself around the 25th one. *G* Don’t tell me….I wouldn’t be able to remember it anyway.
It’s good of you all to come and visit!

I’m sorry to have gone missing again. Everything is fine. We’re just in the midst of getting ready for a family dinner this Sunday. Two of my sisters and their families will be here, about 24 people, I think. I have to find a couple of table cloths in pastel colors. And I may have to reserve chairs at the local rental place.
I was pondering flowers, and I think I’m going to do something with bunches of tulips. They don’t last long once they are cut, but they carry out the pastel theme well.
I have two hams holding down a shelf in the new refrigerator. I have condiments. I’m going to make baked ziti, and a pesto-goat cheese spread, and Elegante Mother is contributing her famous brownies. We’re steaming harricot verts for a green veggie. My sisters and some of their children will bring the rest of the meal. I’ll post a list of the entire menu later this week if I get the time. My youngest sis, who blogs at “Just My Opinion” (see my blogroll for a link), has been missing in action in the blog world. I’ll have to nag her about it while we’re cooking on Sunday.
I made it to the new doctor today, and was told that the problem on my two middle fingers is fungal in nature, and that my beloved latex gloves may be the culprit. He’s also advised me to leave the computer once an hour and do stretching exercises to address a problem of muscles knotting over my shoulder blade.
I got to spend several hours outside on Sunday, and can tell you about muscles I haven’t felt since last year at this time. I managed to get most of the sidewalk gardens, and the herb garden cleaned up. I still need to get to the lower driveway garden. I’ve asked Dear Husband to bring the trailer around to hook up to the lawn mower. I can make just one run with the cuttings, rather than piling things into the wheel barrow and having to make four or five trips.
The maple DH planted in the front yard shortly after we moved here has died. I think it must have had some type of insect infestation. Part of the tree was blighted, and this winter the bark rolled off the trunk, and the top of the tree snapped off in the high winds. What a loss! It was truly beautiful, with a fiery orange-red tint to the leaves in the fall.
It’s late. I need to get to bed, but I wanted you all to know that I was thinking about you, even if I haven’t posted a great deal lately. I hope you’re having wonderful Spring weather!