Sweet Brown Lavender

For quite a while now I have wanted to grow lavender.

The greyish blue leaves.

The hint of purple.

The sweet perfume.

I researched which type of lavender I would most likely be able to grow.

I read about proper care and hydration.

I debated and dreamed about the perfect place to plant them.

Images of lavender fields danced in my head.

The wind swaying the perfect delicate blooms ever so gently.

I would build a tiny white-washed fence to put around my field of lavender.

I would be the envy of shabby-chic divas in all the land. 

Finally I found some lavender plants at Lowe's and the lady said these do well in our climate.

I bought 4 plants.

I decided to only try a few, and if that was successful, I would then start living my dream of having a lavender farm.

Look at how beautiful it is now.

The leaves are so lush and brown.

The blooms are so beautifully tan.

I know you are green with envy, aren't you?

...Unlike my lavender...

So, when you are deciding where to start your lavender field...

Don't pick the place that your dad has been Round-Up-ing for years.

Birthday Tiramisu

For my birthday last weekend, Mr. Z polished up his talent for cooking great Mexican food.

He made barbacoa, salsa, cilantro-lime rice, and guacamole all to mix with the tortillas, homemade chips, black beans, cheese, and sour cream. We had sort of a Chipotle nacho bar.

That is exactly what I wanted.

I'm already suffering from withdrawal symptoms from some of the awesome food I grew accustomed to over the past 3 and 1/2 years. 

Great Mexican food is definately at the top of the list. 

But for desert, I wanted a tiramisu.

Mr. Z, being the wonderful man that he is, took it as a challenge and made an awesome one.

It warrented photos.

Several photos, in fact.

But apparently just holding it will rot your teeth out.

Even while taking 2 photos...no one noticed.

The second half of the journey to 50 is looking like it's going to be just grand...

50 dozen roses

I like to think that Mawmaw left gifts for us to enjoy.

One of those gifts is her rose bush.

It is growing next to the wash house.

She fretted and worried over that rose bush, and I think she almost killed it.

She would pick worms and bugs off of it, spray it with pesticides, but still it would only bloom a little.

Over the past 6 years, no one has really taken care of it.

It has been left alone to do as it pleased.

Well, it flourished. So Mr. Z and I decided to continue to leave it alone and just enjoy it.

It has broken through the lattice and heaped over from the weight of the buds.

Thank you, Mawmaw. I miss you.

The rose bush makes me think of you every day.

Some how I think I could be easily convinced that was her plan all along.

A Mother

So, while my computer was out of commission I missed a few big days I wanted to post about.

First of which was Momma's birthday and another was Mother's Day.

In our family we have come to understand that you can celebrate any occasion any time you want.

For instance, since Daddy works offshore we have had to celebrate Christmas in November, birthdays when the person of honor is actually 1 year and 12 days older, or Easter before Good Friday.

I'm sure Momma will not be offended in the delay of the posting of the post in her honor.

Still this post is difficult to write.

I have so much to say about my Momma, but I am sometimes without words.

This is my favorite picture of Momma

I thought about writing a short biography or a ballot for her.

However, I believe a list would only be fitting for such a fantastic list maker.

Here are 50 things I love about my Momma, in no particular order, of course.

1. Her list making abilities
2. Her satisfaction in completing all the things on a list
3. The motivation a list gives her to accomplish those things on that list so she can cross them off
4. Her zebra striped rubber boots
5. The fact that she owns zebra striped rubber boots
6. The fact that she bought zebra striped rubber boots specifically for walking in chicken hocky
7. Her desire for happiness in the simplicity of life
8. Her love of God
9. Her love for her family
10. Her love of corny jokes
11. Her ability to be completely honest without hurting my feelings
12. The fact that she doesn't always offer her opinion unless asked
13. Her immaculate housekeeping skills
14. The touch of OCD
15. Her ability to joke and correct some of her OCD tendencies
16. Sensibility
17. Her lack of desire for frivilous things
18. For being uninterested in 'drama'
19. Her ability to recognize and avoid 'drama'
20. The ironic and comical situations she gets into
21. Her ability to laugh at those ironic and comical situations
22. Her eye color
23. The tiny wrinkles she is developing on her hands
24. Her appreciation for those wrinkles
25. The comedy she finds in getting older
26. Her appreciation for hard work
27. Her desire to help others in need
28. Her never failing love for her family and children
29. That she is still in love with her high school sweet-heart
30. The fact that her and her high school sweet-heart have been married for over 30 years
31. The fact that we can talk and kid about burial plots and life insurance because she has taught me not to fear death because it is not final for those who love the Lord
32. Her desire for her funeral to be a celebration because her burial plot will not be her final resting place
33. The fact that she wants to be burried facing West because she knows that her God can raise her no matter what direction she is facing
34. Her love of acceleration
35. Her hope that in Heaven she will get a chance to drive something similar to a race car
36. Her cooking
37. The smell of her house
38. Her notes of encouragement
39. Her difficulty in remembering how to copy and paste
40. How she watches The Waltons everyday
41. The fun she has with the wii
42. If the computer doesn't do what she wants and won't turn off, she unplugs it and gets satisfaction
43. The enjoyment she finds in mowing the yard
44. The satisfaction she gets from leaving straight lines when she mows the yard
45. Her generosity to work for me for 3 weeks without pay and would bring me breakfast and insist she pay for lunch too.
46. Her appreciation for family heritage
47. Her desire to learn
48. Her desire to self-educate herself about current events, such as researching the water ways and the reason for possible flooding in areas around the Mississippi River
49. Her guidance
50. Her wisdom

I love her more and more all the time and hope that I can be as wonderful of a mother some day as she has been to me.

Baby birds

Not long after we moved, a red bird decided to grace us by building her nest in the gardenia bush at the corner of the screened-in porch

We watched her work and fret to build a sturdy nest. 

She gathered anything she could find and wove it together never forgetting to make sure it was the right size and shape.

You can barely see her in the picture above, but she is there.

She decided the gardenia bush at the edge of our screened-in porch was the perfect place to hatch her little ones.

I whole-heartedly agreed.

We waited anxiously for the little buggers to hatch.

They were so uglishly cute!

They grew so fast!

And got louder.

Thankfully Beaux was completely oblivious.

Then one day, Mr. Z happened to catch them right before they flew away.

It took a little while, but I'm getting past my empty nest syndrome.

Reconnected

Tickle me pink!

My wireless internet is now up and running again!

I had been reluctant about trying to locate someone to work on my computer not because I thought I could do it myself, no I'm not that ambitious.

I simply have been too overwhelmed to try to coordinate schedules with someone to work on my computer.

Today, I talked to Daddy about trying to figure out what needed to be done.

He has been knee deep (quite literally) in his own things to fix.

To begin with, the septic tank needed to be replaced (like I said, knee deep), a hot water line leak needed to be fixed, lawn mower, bobcat, tractor, other lawn mower, weed eater, and a few other things I'm sure I missed all decided Momma and Daddy needed a refresher course in patience.

Anyway, today I talked to Daddy about my computer. I explained that the wireless internet indicator light wouldn't come on so I thought there was something wrong with the wireless chip. He sent me home with a few things to check.

According to the computer, the wireless device was working fine. I attempted to argue that it obviously was not, but then I thought maybe it was a good thing. I may not have to tear into the mother board (forgive any misused computer lingo, I'm not that fluent) Perhaps there was simply a problem with the mechanics of the switch.

I tried pushing it with force. No little blue tower light.

I tried pushing with more force. No little blue tower light.

I tried pushing with more force. No little blue tower light.

This went on for several minutes. 

I tried blowing into it like a Nintendo game. No little blue light.

OK, I was out of ideas. I know, the intuitive ideas of a renowned mechanic's daughter are astounding. 

I decided to click on the handy 'Help and Support' tab.

It explained that a switch on the side controlled the wireless internet. Turn it to 'on' to enable wireless internet.

I was about to give up.

Then the next sentence said you may be able to use the function key to also turn the wireless internet on and off.

Function + F2 = Becky's life is back in order.

I still don't know what happened to the switch, so I think I may lose about 0.00001 minutes of sleep tonight over that.

Lately...

I have so many things piling up to blog about. 

Not being able to use the internet with my computer is really throwing a wrench in my plans.

Of course Mr. Z says I can use his whenever I want, but things aren't set up and organized the same way on his computer as they are on mine. They are organized, but not with my system.

However, if I don't find time to take my laptop to someone who can fix it, I may have to start reorganizing.

So just a preview of things to come:

Baby birds

Roses

Lemon tree

Wedding box from Mawmaw

Riding a bicycle

Lavender

Porch and sweet tea

Happy Mother's Day!