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Here we are on a Monday again lol...i can't believe how fast the weeks go by. Yesterday was great...we had a lazy slow do nothing day and it's been awhile since that's happened.
I made a new homemade incense and I really liked it so I thought I would share it. It's a combination of herbs and oils for relaxation and it just plain puts you in a good mood.
In a bowl mix 5 fingered pinches of the following dried herbs:
Jasmine
Lavender
Rose Petals
Sage
Add 5 drops each of:
Rose Ess. Oil
Lavender Ess. Oil
Add a heaping teaspoon of salt peter. (If you don't have salt peter, that's alright, just use a charcoal circle)
Mix well and put about a tablespoon in a metal dish or bowl and light.
This week has absolutely flown by!! And I'm having trouble getting wireless signal when the sun is shining...must be some kind of interference and it's driving me nuts!! I may just do my blogging at night, at least i'm still doing it right? lol
Well...the black snake apparently is a mainstay here. He comes out every morning and sun himself in the same spot. I'm not freaking anymore and actually go check in the mornings to see if he's there. My mom and I names him Bentley. lol
I've also been feeding the birds down on the dock and one of the birds (i think it's a gull) hovers just over my head and I toss him food. He catches it in the air, then flies right back and hovers over my head. It's the coolest thing....i'm feeding them dog food lol and they love it.
It's been so fun getting to know the species of birds in Florida. I even picked up a bird guide at a garage sale so I can identify them. Mom and I put up bird feeders around the resort and we are having a blast watchin them. We have red headed woodpeckers that come to the suet regularily now. Do I sound like a nerd?? hahahahaha
Well off to the garage sales...it's Friday!! WooooHooo
Since I've gotten down here, my mom and I have dubbed Fridays our garage saleing day. She gets so excited and gets the paper right away in the morning to check where they all are, then she maps out our route. We have coffee then head out at 9:00.
This morning The Ladies Club is having their annual garage sale and she said there was some "good stuff" there last year. lol She's so cute.....
I love garage sales and its so funny when other people think what they have is junk and to me it's a total treasure. In fact, I've decorated and set up my little cottage here solely on garage sale and junk store finds and everyone that comes in calls it a "doll house". :)
And one thing I've learned from my hubby is the art of negotiation....well lol if you don't ask you don't get a lower price! lol
Here is some of my ultimate garage sale finds over the years:
A mens solid gold coin ring surrounded by diamonds - $1.00 (the ring was worth about $500)
A 30 gallon fish tank with stand, heater, filter and all the goodies - $5.00
4 large windows of pink and white long sheers - $1.00
Antique carnival glass candy dish - $1.00 (I collect carnival glass, turned out the candy dish was actually worth $480)
Antique dressing table - $5.00
Antique secretary desk - $30.00 (these are worth hundreds!)
Write me a comment and tell me about some of your ultimate finds. I love this stuff!!!
Still some nasty viruses going around...3 of the tenants here at the resort are very sick with respirtory yuck (hope I don't get that crud). So I thought I would share my homemade vapor rub recipe, works great and easy to make.
Homemade "Vicks" Vapor Rub
In a crockpot or double boiler on high, drop two huge tablespoons of vaseline and 2 T of beeswax.
When melted together, turn off the heat and add:
10 drops of peppermint oil
10 drops of wintergreen oil
3 drops of tea tree oil
10 drops of eucalyptus oil
5 drops of thyme oil
Break open 2 Vitamin E capsule and pour that in.
Blend well and pour into a sterilized glass jar and let set.
Cap tight and use for congestion and colds.
Hope you all have a blessed and sunny day :)
First of all, I want to say thank you for the sound wonderful opinions and advice about my dad yesterday. You are all right...he's depressed and really does need some counseling or meds or something. He never used to be this way...it started about two years after he and my mom moved down to manage this resort. I think he's just plain ol burned out....and needs to either get away from the resort or let me handle all the monkey business.
Soooooo...on to my story....When I was a little girl, we lived in a very small town in Iowa. My dad was transferred there thru J.C. Penney's and was the manager of the little one level store (he was with Penney's 31 years). This town was right out of a movie, complete with a town square and a Ben Franklin dime store. Every year, we had a rodeo, parades and alot of small town functions, everyone knew each other. My parents were the head of THE social circle there. One of their friends had horses, so my dad decides to buy one of his horses...that lead to a Tennessee Walker, a Shetland (JoJo, my sisters pony) and Dandy (my 4 year old quarter horse).
We kept our horses in the pasture behind the nursing home, which was really a two story white farmhouse complete with a beautiful white wooden barn. My sister Wendi and I would go everyday to play with our horses. She would cut JoJo's bangs, brush his teeth and would have taken him to bed if she could have. lol I was a little more practical with Dandy.
One day, we led our horses down the street, across the road and up the hill to our house. There was a little dirt "alley" running between the houses and we were riding the horses up and down that. Dandy tripped in a pothole and we both went flying. I never got back on a horse since that day.
I love horses, they are beautiful and majestic, but because I fell and never got back on I was afraid to. Yesterday, I went out to this non profit place here called Heartland Horses for Handicapped. They do riding for handicapped children, it's just wonderful!! I'm going to be their new volunteer! I had so much fun with the horses and I'm hoping after I spend time with them and the children, I will get back on and ride. I've already picked one out to ride....lol...he's 19, named Simon and acts like a dog! lol
I start volunteering next Tuesday and I'm on the feed and grooming schedule! I'm really really excited about it.
I need help, advice, a shoulder and some strength.....
You all know that I've moved to Florida to help manage my brothers resort. It's a good size resort....43 cabins on the lake. My parents have been managing it for 4 years, mostly my Dad, but he is 78 years old with COPD and has had one knee replaced with the other one needing it. He doesn't look 78 at all and is still really active. He golfs, plays tournament ping pong and goes to the gym 3 days a week. But he's become this grouchy man in the last few years, that swears alot and says whatever the hell he pleases to whoever he pleases.....He says almost daily that he doesn't give a "shit" about this place and he wants to turn the keys in.
A typical conversation between him and a tenant:
Rob: Hey Jerry, how are you??
Dad: You better not have that whore of a girlfriend of yours in your cabin.
Rob: Nope...she's not here but we'd like to have that empty cabin.
Dad: She's nothing but a f**king whore and she's the only female that I've ever met with no tits and a whole lot of balls.
Alrighty...you get the idea...
My brother wants me to take on more responsibility here, but everytime I breathe my dad is yelling at me. It's all little stuff...and he's doing things behind my brothers back that is hurting the resort. For instance, yesterday, he just decided he didn't want to run the "no deposit" ad in the paper anymore and called and canceled it!?! wth
It's a sticky situation...I think my dad feels like he's losing control and I've been very very careful not to step on his toes. I've been running everything thru him and trying to stay out of his way.
Last night, i was talking to my mom about something (gossip about one of the tenants that is being stalked by another tenant) and my dad freaked out!! Told me to mind my own f**king business and blah blah blah. Then 5 mins later asked me if I wanted to play chess with him. I went home and cried out of shear frustration. :(
I don't know what to do or quite how to handle this....advice and help please!!! I feel my patience slipping away....
This is the sunrise I saw out my front window when I woke up this morning...it's beautiful and I truly love it here.
I was sitting on my mom's front porch yesterday and I heard a cardinal! Call me dumb, but I didn't know there were cardinals in Florida lol It gave me a little pang of homesickness for Minnesota. I spent so much time watching the birds and I'm not familiar with them in Florida yet.
One day, mid winter a couple years ago, I was photographing a male and female cardinal that showed up alot at my birdfeeder. I started calling them Mister and Misses. I wasn't getting a good enuff photo from the window. It was freezing outside so I was trying to catch them thru the dirty screen. I got this brilliant idea to take the screen off my bay window, sit on the ledge and photograph them. So I did of course, furnace running and my dog shivering.
I leaned too far and fell out the window!! Flat on my face in the snow...camera and all. hahahaha But I did get some good photos!
So in honor of the cardinal I heard yesterday, I'm going to share the poem I wrote about my cardinals...Mister and Misses:
Mister flies in first and when the coast is clear
Misses flies in, beneath him, but near.
Ever so watchful, he looks after his love
They're as close a fit, as a hand to a glove.
Misses wanders around and pecks at the feast,
not bothered by Mister at all, not in the least.
He protects her and tends to fuss and hover,
keeping close, but back under the bramble cover.
And when he thinks the Misses is almost through,
down he goes to join her as if on que.
Still keeping an eye on the joy of his life,
after all, his Misses compares to a wife.
Happy and content, Misses flies up,
Mister follows quick and abrupt.
Settled on a limb, leafless and long,
the two burst out in a beautiful song.
They will raise their young, together as one,
When the icy snow melts and the winter is done.
Their love fills the air, what an amazing pair.
Suddenly take flight and soar away,
Mister and Misses will be back to enjoy another day.
I'm sitting here in the warm Florida sun and watching them harvest the oranges in the grove across the road. It's actually quite the process and I never knew that. They are picking them by hand with ladders. Then a crane comes and lifts the buckets full of oranges and dumps them into a big truck. It's kinda cool to watch so I said to my mom that it might be kinda fun to do that....
She chocked on her coffee and said "are you kidding me?" Well no...why?
She told me that the orange trees are full of thorns and the workers get bit quite often by snakes. Eeeeeeeew ummm okay then....no thanks!! lol
On the other hand...I've also been watching them fly over the groves in planes spraying pesticides and I'm sure they get into the oranges no matter how much they are rinsed after being picked. And we are probably drinking the pesticides right out of the carton that costs an arm and a leg these days. So I'm goin to be passing on the oj now lol
But I'm told when the trees blossom the smell is downright orgasmic so I can't wait to experience that part. lol Enuff about oranges...i'm rambling now lol
I bet you've all been wondering where the hell I went lol Well....i'm going to tell you...
I decided to move to Florida with my son about a month ago to help manage my brothers resort. My husband is still working in Colorado, but will joining me here sometime in March.
It's been a very crazy, crazy month but things are settled down now and I'm able to get back online and start blogging and doing what I do again. LOL
With that said......ooooooo wow I just love it down here. I'm already growing vege's and herbs and it just blows my mind. In Minnesota, I'd be sitting there staring out the window wishing the snow and cold away.
We took a trip to the gulf Sunday and spent two hours walking in the surf collected shells...it was so fun! We found 11 sand dollars too!! lol
Glad to be back and I'd love to hear from you all, so catch me up!!
We decided to go out for dinner last night but wanted something different. So we drove over to Wisconsin to this very cool truck stop. It was like something out of a movie!! I know...I know...those of you that see them alot probably think I'm nuts, but we just don't get to experience this. lol
It was packed full of running semi trucks and it even had a semi truck that was a chapel!! We walked in and it was like walking into a restaurant in the south. (I grew up in the south) Truckers were sitting around gabbing in their plaid shirts and john deere caps. The truckers were talking to each other from their tables and it was so friendly and informal. The waitresses were sooooo nice and they were wearing white waitress dresses!! And we had southern fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy on HUGE platters....and it was all you can eat! hahahaha omg I'm still full!!
It was really fun and we joined their conversations and laughed alot...great night!!
