Thank you veterans for your service!

That means you too, honey!

International Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Awareness Day

Hoping for a cure!

Happy Earth Day!!!

I know I said I wasn't going to post anything until I got all my stuff updated, but I just had to wish everyone a very happy earth day!  Found this photo online, but don't know who took it.  If you did, let me know & I'll give you credit!  Love your Mama everyone!  ♥

Happy Spring Equinox!

Here's hoping you all have a beautiful Spring Equinox!

Blessings on you for a fruitful season!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well, it's 2/14/14 and it's 77 degrees here in New Mexico!  Our crocuses are blooming as well as some of our other bulbs.  So I just had to share a pic I made of a photo I took in our yard today.  Hopefully I'll be able to update my blog soon!  Been busy with art lessons and watercolor paintings!

Life is wonderful!  Hope to see you all soon!

Balloon Fiesta!

This month is the annual International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque!  It's fun & pretty, but can be dangerous.  There were a few accidents this year.  One morning we woke up to a bunch of balloons heading to our neighborhood in Rio Rancho!  There's some good spots for them to land here if they're careful.  So here are some pics from the other day:

The invasion begins

One over our neighbor's house

ACK!  It's the alien one!

There are so many fun shapes to see!  If you go to http://www.koat.com/news/new-mexico

And click on the header that says Balloon Fiesta, it will take you to a bunch of sites with pictures of the special shapes rodeo, splash & dash in the Rio Grande, etc.  Have fun checking it out!  And watch our for that "Wicked" one!  Maybe you'll get to see the Bee family or Clarabelle or the Wells Fargo Wagon!

Potpourri!

In between classes I made some potpourri!  Every few weeks, Ron has been bringing home a dozen roses...they run cheap down here.  I remember when I was living in Cuernavaca, my "brothers" would bring home roses every Friday to their wives & my mamacita!  It was a nice tradition.  So I gathered up all my saved roses and leftover herbs, spices, etc, bought some orrisroot to use as a fixative & some essential oils to help infuse the petals with a wonderful smell.  Here are a couple of pics of the process:

This batch made 7 quarts of potpourri!  It is now curing before it goes into large storage containers.  Then I can take some out, add a drop of essential oil to reinvigorate the smell & use!

Now on to me! (And ME)

OK...the first thing I did was not the most fun.  I spent a lot of time working on getting better.  For those who don't know, I was diagnosed awhile back with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia.  For information on ME, you can go here:  www.name-us.org  Scroll about 1/2 way down for a definition.

There's a lot I learned about the medical system, our government health issues and alternative health care.  So much was hard to understand, especially with the brain fog that comes with the illness.  I found this little doodle online somewhere and I think it helps explain things a lot better than I can.  Especially for those of us who are more visually oriented.  ;)

I have done a lot to improve my health, but it is a long haul!  And alternative medicine is expensive when you can't use your health insurance to cover it.  I am just grateful for being able to be well enough to still be creative!  Hopefully, I will be able to use my creativity to refill our coffers that dwindled like melting butter!  Wish me luck!

What have we been doing all summer???

Well, let's start with Ron!  He spent most of the summer outside landscaping, working in the garden & building a new shed for his tools!  His garden was such a success, we gave bunches of tomatoes to all our neighbors & pals!  We're down to his teeny pumpkin patch right now, but it was all wonderful.  The following are some pics:

Early garden & raking up berms

First tomatoes with medicine wheel in background

 Flower bed with bougainvillea and petunias 

Lots of various tomatoes

 Black Hollyhock

 Pots of geraniums and herbs

 Pink Hollyhock

Volunteer squash?  Pumpkins?

 More veggies & potted herbs & flowers

 Getting to the end of the harvest

And now for his shed!

 Peek a boo!  Can you see him?

 2 man job done by one man!

 Tools starting to fill the shed

And then the end of the harvest

Volunteer sunflower from bird seed!

 Marigolds that protected the tomatoes

 The squash on the left was great!

And the pumpkins on the right are now almost ready to harvest!

It was a great season!!!

Ron's Playground

Now we're up to date!
While I've been busy inside, my DH has been busy in his backyard playground!
When we bought our house, only the front yard was landscaped.  Which left him the whole back yard to play with!  Here's what he's been up to so far:

Here's one path he made from our gate to our patio.

Here's looking from the opposite direction.

You can also see some of the planting beds

he made, and plants he's planted.

They actually grow bougainvillea here!

Here he has started a retaining wall to help

keep our soil from sliding down our sloping yard.

Here's a bed of bougainvillea and petunias he planted.

Here's some potted plants he got for our patio.

You can see he's also starting some seeds.

Some potted carnations on the patio.

Can you see the pohaku on the left?

More potted carnations!

A close up of some carnations. 

They smell wonderful!!!

Next time I'll have to take pics of his veggie 

and herb garden!  He's having so much fun!

International Awareness Day and Mother's Day

May 12th, 2013 was International Awareness Day for ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia. Trying to get the word out so people can understand about these diseases & hopefully help in any way they can.  Here's a couple of pics from that day I found in Google Images & from my health sites.  I want to thank everyone who has sent me well wishes, prayers, energy & support!

Even Niagra Falls got in on the action!

Blue for ME and purple for Fibromyalgia!

And this day also happened to be Mother's Day!

I hope all of you moms out there had a very 

special day!

I wish you all could smell these wonderful carnations!

Ron's 70th Birthday!

This was during March 2013...

My oh my!  It's hard to believe my DH is 70!  I decided to make him a scrapbook with notes, cards & pics from his family & friends.  So I sent out an email & had everyone send their stories, wishes, memories to my sis in WA state so he wouldn't suspect anything.  Then she sent me all of them in one box!  (Thank heaven for good little sisters!)  :)  I got busy with the book I called "A  Little Rough Around the Edges"!  Here's some pics of the process:

Set up on a table with pages, letters, stickers,

stamps, inks, cut-outs, glue, etc.!

First page...A Little Rough Around the Edges.

And there was a lot of overflow in the studio!

And here's one of Ron reading each page!

And he really did read each page!

He also got a new pal for the year!

And of course he made a wish!

Thanks to everyone who helped make his birthday special!