Bush Removal

Our grass area is starting too look a little better:

Time to rip out a bush!!!  I asked Doug to stand near it so we could show how huge it's gotten:

This always seems like a great idea until we get in the middle of the project, then it's not fun anymore:

We filled a portion of the street:

All gone!!  We decided to leave the rest of the bushes for now because winter is coming and our fence is weak.  We need the bushes to hold the fence through the crazy winds we get through our backyard:

Our seemingly huge bush looks small at the dump:

We went out for a late breakfast after our hard work.  The diner up the street is pretty delicious!

Flashback

I was trying to find the picture I carried around with me to make sure I knew I liked it enough to tattoo it on my body.  It took me a bit to find it, but I found a few gems along the way.  This was a letter my little brother wrote me back in 2000 while he was in the Army boot camp:

One of my senior portrait pictures:

Becky and me on Halloween at Dress Barn:

Mazatlán, Mexico - I can't remember what year these were, but I think the top picture was around 1997 and the second picture was probably 1998:

This is a cake a girlfriend made for my birthday.  She was so sweet to do this since the get together wasn't for me.  So cute!!:

My cousin, Stacy, and my Aunt, Linda:

I spent a lot of time with this bunny.  Using it as a pillow and crying with it.  I think this was 1984:

A pencil drawing of me done by a street artist while in Mazatlán - it says 1996:

I finally found the tattoo drawing:

My bunny!  I thought it was lost since I have everything that's mine from my parent's attic.  A coupe years ago my mom was giving me more stuff from the attic and the bunny was in one of the boxes.  I was so excited!  It looked like some critters peed on it, so I scrubbed it and then sent it through the washing machine.  It's good as new!  Well, as good as it gets now that it's 30 years old!

Smoke in the Air

Can you tell there's a fire in the area??!?!?  The smoke it actually coming from a counties away:

It just sat like a blanket over the city.

The sunrise was very vibrant and pink from the smoke:

The sun rising made pink stripes through the skyline:

Cooking & Baking

Doug went to the store for me and he came back with all this ... apparently he was hungry when he went:

I made my mom's chicken fettuccini alfredo recipe.  It tasted just like home!  I need to make more next time.  We didn't have much left over.  Or maybe I just need to thin the sauce more:

These pups always want to be near us, but this is just silly.  They both slept with their nose on my foot:

My first attempt at banana bread:

I shouldn't have put the walnuts in it.  One: I don't think they were needed. Two: The recipe said to toast them, but they ended up tasting like burned walnuts:

Doug and I were in Bed, Bath and Beyond and on our way out we both heard a gal call over their employee headset system, "Roger, can you hear me Roger?"  We looked at each other and started laughing!

My grandma's cactus bloomed again this summer:

Look at me being all domesticated and wifey-like!  Two home cooked, ACTUAL meals in ONE week!  Usually dinner is something that's easy to throw together or cook on the barbeque.  I made tuna casserole:

It was easily 102 degrees outside and this poor baby was stuck in the sun.  I totally understand that people need to get place and may not have a working AC, blah blah blah.  COME ON!!!  Get the little guy some shade!!!:

Home Projects

My long, tiny pinkie nail finally broke off.  Its never a surprise when my nails break because they bend very easily:

I finished the little jean apron I started.  I added a flower applique too:

This is what happens when I pick things up that are too heavy for me because I'm impatient and don't want to wait for Doug to help me:

This is all that's left of the tomato plans I dropped....twice.  When I dropped it the first time, it seems like a dirt cloud exploded out of it.  The dirt rained down on me and into my hair and clothes.  Whoops.  So, yeah, I tried to pick it up again. LOL:

We set up a barrier around the grass and I added some grass seed to try and repair the dead, peed on and thrashed grass from the dogs running laps on these two sections:

It was finally time to repot the pineapple grapefruit trees.  I had to get them repotted before it got too late in the season.  They're getting so big!  I took a couple to Becky for her housewarming, but she gave them to her sister, so I have just 4 left.  This is before I repotted them:

Our closet has been on our list of to-dos for a long time.  I told Doug an easy, free way to make our closet a little better and he made the change:

Our helpers quit on us:

While roughhousing with Winnie, she jumped up and accidentally landed on an open bathroom drawer.  Her weight broke the wood and bent the bracket.  WHOOPS!!!!  Doug had to fix this too:

Repotted trees - hopefully ready and healthy for the upcoming winter:

Doug took the closet shelf off and cut it down to size:

He used the extra wood to brace the end:

TA DA!!!  We have another section long enough to hang Doug's pants: