mace. my son. not cool.

my boy was maced last week.

no he didn't break a law-he didn't run from the police or start a riot.

it made my stomach hurt to think about it-and the worst part is...in about a week he's
going to have to be tazed too- you see he's about to graduate with a degree in law
enforcement and this is all a part of it.

go ahead then instructors-do what you have to do... if you must----but don't expect me to be o.k. with it o.k.??? that's my baby you're messin with- i will sic a bear after you if you hurt him bad- i will.

sincerely, his momma

be still my heart~

my beautiful, bleeding heart.

can you even hardly stand it? my sis snuck out and cut these from my plants and had them all arranged
in an antique mason jar. simple~ beautiful~ perfect. oh and she also brought me the most GoRgEoUs bouquet of iris, columbine and other pretties from her garden~best hostess gift evaaar.

my flower seeds had sprouted~in the worst soil i've ever seen, up north and i was so excited i had to do a happy dance!!!  i'm looking forward to cosmos and zinnias and wildflowers to stick in vases later in the summer~ now if i could just make time to weed my gardens at home!  : )

                                    xo, beth

p.s. did i tell you that the hubs and my bro saw a real live bear up there? it's no longer just a fantasy- smokey is out there~for real and he is most likely wanting me to join him for a picnic. i have a basket, what should i put in it?

makin memories~

over the long memorial weekend we had our first company at the "lodge". 11 of us slept from one end of the building to the other and my heart was full. it rained so hard that our basement filled with water...(but it sits NEXT to the building-not under it, ready if we ever want to build-haha so it really didn't matter) and it provided a pond for 4-wheeling fun and one very loud frog to croak from. our old doggie spent alot of time laying in it-using it as water therapy for his sore old hips.

we shared a lot of good meals and we explored the woods. on one long walk i seriously felt like i was in the jungles of vietnam-minus the mosquito's the size of humming birds that is.
my boyfriend tricked me into driving a 4 wheeler thru some deep mud and rushing water that had i known was coming- i would never have dared. afterwards i was proud of myself and felt like i was "da man".   : )

here's a whole bunch of pic's from the weekend~

 old doggies soaked

young men played

boyfriends got introduced- (finally!) : )

bonfires were shared

guys tried to act tough, but i made them laugh...

little brothers grinned from ear to ear~

little boys and little puppies played till they were exhausted...

food that was almost too pretty to eat, was eaten

family lined up and drank their morning coffee

walks were taken...

small doggies were carried over streams~

 rooms were painted more masculine colors-

and new gardens got hoed.

*altho we worked some, we played more and memories were made. how bout you? how was your memorial day weekend? i hope you all squeezed in lots of time to relax too.

i love the photo below. it spoke to me. it made me pull my car over to the side of the road and dig my camera out of my purse. don't you just love that people take the time to hang flags? 

                               LET FREEDOM RING!

                                      xo, beth

it's prom time. prom is a rite of passage ~right? once upon a time in a tiny little town, it was a big deal to me. it was a big deal to all my friends too. oh it was different then-many of us sewed our own dresses -my gram made mine-. we did our own hair and makeup-we rode there in our parents "good" car-probably a pontiac. we polished our own nails and if we had white skin, we had white skin.
white skin was in!!!!!

because i will be gone this weekend, there won't be any blog posts from muwaaa-but i decided i'd leave you laughing till next week. below is a picture of me and the boy i went to prom with. i went with him my sophomore, junior and senior years of high school. and then i married him and gave birth to his 3 crazy and remarkable kids.

the end.

i'd just like to note that i had not shaved my head, my hair was pulled back in some very stylish style and i never thought the boyfriend would have anything but thick luxurious hair.

                                                                          *********

thank you to anyone who ever served in the armed forces - i honor you and appreciate my freedom!!!

                                                                            xo, beth

it rained cats and dogs...and one big turtle~

-last night my hubs was getting into bed and he yelled to me out in the living room "hon-look out on the berm!" (if you don't know what a berm is, it's a man made hill, we have a pretty good sized one in our back yard to block the road.) I hurried to the window and looked out. it was raining, and i DO mean raining....it was raining cats and dogs. i thought maybe he'd spotted deer on the top of our hill-but low and behold...it was a snapping turtle and it was a BIG one. it was crawling slowly but steadily right along the top of the berm and the street light right behind was back lighting it in such a way in the pouring rain that it was like something outta jurassic park-and i'm not kidding!!!
i yelled to lars "hon, will you run out there and take a picture?" he didn't even hesitate before yelling back "no, i won't!!!"  (guess i don't blame him, it was- might i remind you-poooouuuuring rain and he was all showered, dry and crawling into bed.)
*** and he doesn't even have a blog. what e-v-e-r!!!

well being the dedicated nature lover and blogger that i am, i didn't hesitate- time was running out-after all, the old crustacean was crawling steadily away from my house....i slammed my feet into my flip flops, grabbed the camera and went flying out the door thinking "this can't be good for my camera, or my hips and i hope i don't fall down and break one, how will i explain that to the paramedics" - (we have a big back yard and the water runs thru it like a creek during a good rain.) i got a few pictures and bid him ado- and booked it back to the house- sopping wet but happy.
man what i don't do for you people huh? i am willing to go out on a limb and up on a berm. : )

*****************

            well take a look at the old girl (-i'm thinking it was a female who just crawled up outta the pond to lay her eggs.)

there were raindrops all over my lens-duh.

and then she was gone.

good luck crossing the road now buddy-and maybe we'll see you again some time~

5 inches of rain later,
beth

bedsnacks...

i'm hungry. it's almost time to shower and head to bed-but i'm hungry! do you eat after dinner? for most of my adult life i didn't-but heeeeeeey- now i'm often hungry closer to bedtime and if something's hungry you need to feed it right? : )


                               *****************************
i'm going to let you in on a little secret-have you tried the new multigrain old dutch tortilla chips? i see no reason to eat the plain jane corn variety ever again- my bedsnack tonight is  salsa con queso with the multigrain chips. try them, you'll thank me------------ they are extra crispy-- extra grainy and extra good!

                                                       plus
                                                                       

                                             = delishishness. period

at work today we were talking about what our absolute favorite food is. i didn't even have to think about it- i always think like this-
"o.k. so if you could only eat ONE more time in your life-and you could have ANYTHING you wanted, what would you choose"? the drama of it being the last supper makes it all the more fun to ask someone.
* it's shrimp-crab or lobster for me-they have been my favorite foods since my teens. (i hadn't even tasted them until then-how pathetic is that? think of the years i missed out-haha)

what would your last supper consist of? we're not talking calories here-or price, nutritional value or availablity- just pure pleasure---- i really want to know~

                                                    doesn't this make your
                                                          mouth water???


                                                      me here- salivating, b.

my friends R-o-C-k

every summer my friend annie (technically she's also my boss-but we take turns bossing each other around-it's a good mix-she's the least bossy person i've ever met) : ) has a party for her girlfriends. her guest list tops 50 woman. that's alot of friends man. do i even "know" that many people? annie draws people to her-she quite fabulous if you don't mind me saying. it's such a blessing being able to work with someone like her.

well~ take a look at the spread of desserts and confections she whipped up for all of us last week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yes, she made all of this herself-and you wondered why she had so many friends?)

well she didn't actually make the cotton candy i guess.... and my favorite of all these sinful pleasures? THE STICKY GOOEY POPCORN! yuuuum. the coconut mounds bar like dealybobs were a close 2nd tho.

**************************************

fri. night friend marky mark of the infamous band, 3 drink minimum rocked chanhassen. they play classic rock and they are fun to dance to. i don't always feel like dancing-have always been self conscious out there- but after observing for quite awhile-i gave in to the temptation and got out there and boogied with the best of them. my hips hurt like a son of a gun the next morning-must need to dance more to loosen them up.

 here a random crowd member took the mic and sang along.... (thanks cheri) girlfriend was in her glory!

until tomorrow then,

xo b

so, you know i recently had a birthday right? well lookie here

what one of my besties gifted me with on fri.!  be still my heart- i'd admired this at her casa and teased her that she should have a garage sale and sell this real cheap a.s.a.p and her generous heart decided that she'd enjoyed it for long enough and she'd pass it on to me! seriously! and check out the daily planner next to it- also from her-and from (as i call it) anthro-freaking-pology. : )

*mama likey*

this is another good friend of mine. she's loved mini ponies her whole life and she recently found a great opportunity to volunteer with them. she's got a servants heart and i think this is going to make her heart very happy. this is mary and cocoa- how cute are they together?

now, can we talk about these divine pillows? ummm hmmm- yard sale find! $3 ea.  and they had removable covers so i could take them off-wash and iron them and they're april cornell and they are going to my cottage themed boudoir at the cabin.

i love olivia. i may be a little old for cartoons, but what the heck? i don't often actually watch her show-but when i do my socks are pritnear charmed right off! i have a treasured small collection of little stuffed olivias and i had this one on the bed to welcome a dear girlfriend when she stayed overnight on sat. (she gave her to me in fact) she's in her p.j.s too!

*bedprizes are a tradition with she and i-her momma started it- when any of us stays over with the other-there WILL be something sweet waiting for you on your pillow- and the anticipation is almost more than we can stand. it doesn't have to be expensive-just a little somthin-somethin to give you good dreams. well take a deep breath and look at what i got (of course from a yard sale--haha $3 ea.) for her and i------- fossil purses!

it's time for me to head to work-

have the best of days - it's supposed to be

B-U-tiful!

xo, beth

friends! i have a computer again!!!  i am not too proud to admit that i may be a bit addicted to it. going without it for over a week left me a bit shanky, cranky and discombobulated. (now that's a great word!)
my good ol'cousin mikey fixed it for me. dude's a smarty pants-he can fix most anything-i owe him-big time-  : )

trouble is tho, now i can blog again and i don't even know where to start-it's like whoa-a whole lot has happened-but now it's old news maybe? should i go back and to what?

well here's what i've decided, i'm going to go random- crazily random...what follows is a whole bunch of pictures as usual-but they're snippets of what's been goin on in my life since "the big crash".

we'll start with moving into the cabin and proceed from there, o.k.?

********************************************************
here's the view as we drove down the driveway on the day it was finally ours~ can you see the deer on the right? two of them darted across the way and it seemed like a sign to me- a sign that we had found the land we were meant to find-almost a blessing from my mother and father in law to us.

the previous owners were still moving out as we were moving in-they were even nice enough to help us unload our trailer for a while! this room you're looking at? our living room. how great is that? bet you don't have a extra big garage door in your living room. let's just say it's "industrial". we'll be able to move a pool table in real easy someday right?

********

it may or may not be all about the new puppy our son just got. he had us all lovin him within about 2 seconds of his arrival-hello duke! (doogie to his friends)

 here is the black beauty-the cupboard i refinished for the cabin. we will paint or jazz up the wall it sits against when we get time.

this here is heaven for my hubs...he took his best bud, blaze and the new pup duke out for a walk and he's packin heat in case smokey the bear (whom we now know lives on our land) comes a knockin.

so here's a pic of lars and i after hours of unpacking and cleaning-sharing our first meal there- i had canned soup, he had ravioli-cold straight outta the can. i at least poured mine in a bowl and heated it. we were-admittedly exhausted and it showed... haha

*********

well, it took me a looooong time to post this-having some annoying issues with the picture uploads so i'm saving the rest of my catch up photos for later in the week,

toodles,

 it's GREAT to be back!

xo, beth

hello????????????????

friends, i had a dreaded computer CRASH last week....it's traumatic-but i just need to breath and be patient- my wonderful cousin is going to attempt to retrieve my data and get me all set up again...in the meantime- don't write me off cause "I'LL BE BAAAACK"   : )  

xo, beth

are you my mother?

i had a mother.
 i had an incredible mother. her name was laura. my momma was a wife, a mother of 4, a nurse and many have told me-one of the kindest most faith filled people they ever knew. she lived only 30 years.
when she died, way to young her mother irene took on that role of mother to me.

my gram could be a tough one. she didn't take any sass. she worked hard and expected
her family (all of us) to work hard too. i know now that hard work never hurt anyone : ), in fact
i like to think it builds character. my gram was quite a character. if a whole bunch of her kids and grandkids sit around a campfire and reminisce about her-we can tell stories-man can we tell stories! she was a free spirit--with ideas and opinions that were rare for a woman of her era.  she had raised 7 children and didn't have to take on two more, but she did and i think i am about the same age as she was when she became not only my gram but my mother. i don't know if i'd have the energy to start over- but i'd like to think i wouldn't hesitate for even a moment if i were in her shoes.

and then there is my aunt dar. she too has been like a mother to me. she and my mother were very close, and dar spent a lot of time with our family before she got married. my sister and i have been very blessed by her in our lives. we took turns staying with her and her family on their farm when we were in our early teens and while our aunt worked outside the home my sister and i practiced being a mother-by cooking, cleaning for her and trying to keep her 3 wild boys from killing one other. some days it was harder than others to accomplish that task!!!  we both love to tease them about all the trouble they caused us and how they have us to thank for the fact that they even survived -but all kidding aside, her boys are like 3 more brothers to me and i adore them.  after my grandparents were gone dar included my sis and i in their family's holidays and made us feel like we belonged.

i have been blessed by friend's mothers too, thank you leslie and cindy for sharing your sweet mamas and letting them mother me in the way i craved. i don't think any of us every outgrows our need to feel nurtured and "mothered" by someone.

if you are one of those remarkable woman who has loved a child that you did not give birth to, then thank you from the bottom of my heart- it has meant more to me than i could ever tell you to have had several woman who so graciously and lovingly took me under their wing and
shared their love. 

do you remember when you were little and you'd think about what you wanted to be when you grew up? i do, i wanted to be a mommy. i wanted 3 children and i got my hearts desire. i love those three kids of mine something fierce. they are what i live for. when they are happy i am content. when they are sad i am miserable. when you become a mother you wear your heart outside your body.

this is a week that is all about mothers. if you have one-please let her know what you love about her-tell her while you still can. heap love on her till she yells "STOP" like she had to a million times when you were young!  : )

                        "if you have a mother,
               there is nowhere you are likely to go
      that a prayer has not already been."       robert brault

xo, beth

here's a picture of my kitchen window sill at the cabin.

 the last thing i grabbed as we hurried to the truck to head north on fri. night was a clippers. i ran to the garden and cut these beautiful bleeding hearts. my bleeding heart plant is very special to me. i moved it here from alexandria over 20 years ago and it has grown and brought me joy each and every spring since!

wherever i am-i am a happier camper if i have a little vase of flowers. well guess what i found

blooming at our new place-yep you guessed it~ bleeding hearts!

i also found rhubarb, strawberries, wild raspberries, snow on the mountain, apple and plum trees.

i hope to get in my gardens here and start splitting hostas and other plants to move up there, because i MUST have gardens there to tend to. i just must : )

and check out these gardening boots i scored at a yard sale for $2 and have already worn in the wet grass up there....

and this little vintage vase was also a new/old find.

have the best of good days my friends,

xo beth

little ball of fur

a little puppy has joined our family!!!! he's our son eric's pup, but we get to share him~ i hate to admit it but i am not the biggest animal lover in the world. i wish i was and admire those people who just LOVE all animals, but guess what? i saw this little guy when he was 3 weeks old and my reaction was- oh all these puppies are cute that's for sure, but they hardly had their eyes open and there was something on this ones head that i'm pretty sure was poop and so they didn't smell all that good, and i left thinking "he was all right".  well, eric picked him up on tues. and when i saw him my heart just melted! he's so sweet and just loves to be held and he smells GOOD. i mean it- he smells good and he's just so cuddly and darling-i truly felt like i loved him after about 1.5 minutes. eric and our grandson seth picked the name duke for him. it may suit him when he gets big and doesn't look up at me with those darling puppy eyes but for now i've nicknamed him "doogie" (like in hauser m.d.) when i like someone or something i give them a nickname, it's just what i do.
WELCOME TO THE FAMILY DOOGIE-
I THINK YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE BEING A LARSON!

anytime one of us stands still, the little fella comes and sits between our feet. awwwwww

speaking of animals, it's kentucky derby weekend right? do you have a party to go to? don't forget your hat--and drink a mint julep for me too o.k.? it's also cinco de mayo tomorrow---i once had a big party to ring in a BIG birthday on may 5th.

i hope wherever you are and whatever you have planned for the weekend-that it's a good
one. our family will all be at our new place for the FIRST time together...exploring and 4-wheeling, painting, eating and laughing, teasing each other and bonding and i could not be more excited!!!!!!  our blessings basket is truly overflowing and the day cannot go fast enough till we all head north~

hugs to you~ xo, b.