So as I walk into the kitchen poor myself a cup of morning sanity (coffee), turn on the tv and sit down in my favorite chair at the table, take my first sip and what comes on the TV? I bet you already know!!  More Michael Jackson stuff!  ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!

The media is funny, I remember how they made him look so bad back in the day when he was accused of child molestation (twice) and now they are making him out to be a saint.

Lots on the list of things to do today!  I really need to weed my poor garden today!  It’s screaming, “HELP ME THEY ARE CHOKING ME!” Guess what? NEW PROJECT!!!

Here are the before pictures and I will post the after pictures when it’s finished.

I’ve been playing around with the macro on my camera and I thought I’d share some of the shots I’ve come up with.  Nothing special but not bad for my first try.

First, what a shocker in the entertainment world, huh?  Ed Mcmahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. I just read that Billy May (the oxiclean dude) was found dead in his home this morning.  R.I.P Ed, Farrah, Michael and Billy.

Speaking of the entertainment world I’ve been reading more and more about the Jon and Kate saga.  I’ve come to realize just how phony reality shows really are.  According to court documents they have been separated for two years!  The show had them renewing their vows a year ago. Interesting.

In the real world, my world…things have been extremely busy.  I’ve been organizing like a mad woman, cleaning, baking, gardening, ect.  While taking care of things here I’ve been going down to the house in the city and trying to take care of things there.  We are trying to get the house ready to rent but it’s taking time because I can’t get away very often.

As promised here’s a picture of the new railing.

These are two of the planters I put together

The railing is finished and it looks fantastic! I will try to get photos of it tomorrow.  Now we have some painting to do and then get a new fence.  The fence here is over 20 years old and it’s in bad shape.  We could repair it but being that it’s so old it wouldn’t pay because you would just have to keep repairing and repairing every year.  So everyone we spoke to said it would be wise to just replace the fence. I need to do something because Sparky can’t run and play.

When it rains it pours!  Both of the tractors today decided to be stupid and put themselves out of service.  The smaller tractor decided that it would just stop running and not start up.  The BIG tractor decided to break a front rod while going into the barn.  Dave and Mike worked practically all day on the smaller tractor and managed to get it working. Yay!  The big one is down for the count because it needs some welding work done.  So Dave’s best friend knows a guy who can come and weld it.  Sweet!

Does anyone watch Jon and Kate Plus 8? I used to watch it from time to time because I thought those kids were too adorable.  I’m ashamed to admit that I watched it last night to see what their “big announcement” was.  It was indeed that they were getting a divorce.  It’s sad but it’s reality.  It was a marriage that was doomed from the beginning.  I’m not quite sure how old she is (I know she’s older) but he is 32 which means he was married at 22.  They immediately started their family and ended up with eight kids.  I find it sad that so many people talk so negatively about Kate and putting all the blame on her and the TV show.  The TV show didn’t ruin their marriage, life ruined their marriage.  I’ve never been a big fan of Kate, to be honest, but after watching Jon’s cold hearted comments last night, I feel really bad for her.

Today begins the day of construction.  The project is tearing down an old rusted out railing and replacing it with a wooden-metal railing.  We went to Home Depot and rented a core drill and drilled 6″ holes to set the posts in.  Talk about loud! For the first time ever my ears were actually ringing!  I’ll post pictures of the railing when it’s finished.
The boys went home today. I miss them already but they will be back for the 4th.  Then they are staying for a couple of weeks to celebrate their dad’s birthday with us.

sometimes seems chaotic to put it lightly.  My lack of blogging lately is due my busy schedule and spending time with the boys.  The boys are from the city so the only time they get to run around is when they come here.  They aren’t quite sure where to start and they love to ride in the back of the tractor.  So yesterday evening I rode them around the field for a little while and they were having a time of their lives.  We stopped along the fields of corn to snap a few pictures of the rolling fields.

Over 100 people have been invited to the 4th of July party and so far about half of them have RSVPed.  This is going to be a HUGE party! Whoa! I’m not quite sure I’m mentally prepared to cook for that many people.  I’ve already done some of the shopping and planning out the decorations.  I subscribe to the Country Gardens magazine and they have some brilliant ideas for outdoor decorations.  I have some really cute country mason jars that I’m going to put candles in, hang from tree’s and set on the tables.  I bought some cute things for the tables that will hold all the food.  I’m always looking for ideas so if anyone has any ideas or recipes on some tasty yet inexpensive side dishes please share!

Rain is the story of our lives lately.  I know I shouldn’t complain about it when there are people out there who are in desperate need of rain but…seriously.  SOMEONE TURN OFF THE FAUCET! I checked the garden last night and we have tomatoes coming in but they already are splitting and getting fungus. I’m presuming that it’s due to the large amounts of rain we’ve been getting.  I’m going to have to get some advice on what to do.  Speaking of the garden, I have thought about maybe bringing my garden blog back but who knows. I’m busy enough and that would be just one more thing to add to the “to do” list.

We had horrific thunderstorms sweep across the region yesterday. Dave was on his way when I called him up and said, “The sky is really black here” and we were talking when I looked out back and saw a lightening bolt hit somewhere in the back. I swear I heard the thunder before I saw the bolt. I screamed like a girl (duh) and dropped the phone. lol I’m not afraid to admit that it scared the crap out of me. lol

So it seems that I just can’t get away from leaky basements. During the storm Dave went down in the basement to check on something. He yelled up and said the famous words “We have a little problem down here!” I knew what he was going to say. Though this leaky basement appears to be an easy fix (thank goodness!) it does seem these basement woes are following me. lol