Kadie is turning "21"

The emotions that go through your head when you realize your daughter is turning "21". 1st of all it makes you feel older then you should as "the parent", then friends of the family who have watched your kids grow up tell you something like "no she is not turning "21" Kadie is still "12" don't mess with me like that", thank you, Michael for your continuous support on getting older.

Kadie doesn't actually turn "21" until this Friday, but we celebrated yesterday. We started out by going to town, shopping for that perfect outfit. Boy did we find the best buys and I was glad to see most of the stores we went into were quite busy, yeah for the shoppers. I am in retail you know:) We also had to pick up some ingredients for Kadie's birthday dinner. At Kadie's request the menu was:

Sushi

Shrimp/Beef Kabobs

Rice

Apple Crisp

Vanilla Ice Cream

Sparkling apple cider

I made the California rolls but I wanted to pick up some shrimp nigiri (I think that's what you call them). When we got to Rays Market, I didn't see any after standing there the sushi maker, Morris came up to us I asked him about the nigiri he told us they were sold out and he had no more shrimp. I must of looked disappointed he them said I can get some frozen shrimp from the market and make you up some, my response was great. 2 hours later when we returned, I was pleased I was given double batch of nigiri, and another type of appetizer to try with Morris's special mustard and soy sauce mixture. Morris was very accommodating and wanted me to leave happy. He then explained "anytime you have special needs call me and I will have it ready for you by the time you get off work". Well 1st of all, WOW and 2ND he recognized that at times I do have special needs, WOW!

If you are ever in Bend make sure you visit Morris at Southern Tsunami Sushi in the Newport Market. He will do everything he can to make you happy, even when you don't expect it.

Back to Kadie's birthday, I sure enjoyed spending time with her, dinner was wonderful here is the photos to prove it.

Birthday Table!

Dustin's plate of sushi.

Looks at all those Kabobs!

She isn't going to like this picture, oh well....

Kadie and Lucy opening presents.

Happy Birthday to you Kadie, I Love You, Mom

As a side note; I have been told before from "my loved ones" that I have "special needs" but I really didn't think so. But when a stranger tells you "when you have special needs, call me" I guess you need to wonder, am I really that needy? I guess I will think about that for awhile, well maybe for the day:) B.A.

The Joy of Reading!

Every now and then you find a book that is worth the time you put into it to read. At least for me that is, I am a very slow reader and I don't read a lot of pages at one time. So when I find a good book to read I like to tell everyone about it. I use my oldest Step-Daughter Amanda and Virginia and Lady at work as my resource on good books. They have never let me down yet, so keep up the good work.

There are times I am going to blog about books that I liked, and would recommend to other people. Maybe blogging about my reads will keep me from going into great detail with Glenn about the books I am reading. I am sure at times my conversation can get boring.

The book I am currently reading is:

One Thousand White Women

The journals of May Dodd

by: Jim Fergus

The category is historical fiction, the author took a true life event from the 1800's which supposedly ended quickly, but the author put a real twist on the story and made the event happen instead.

The event; The current Chief of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe traveled to Washington to ask the President Ulysses S. Grant to trade One Thousand Horses (500 broke and 500 wild) for One Thousand White Women. The Women were to marry the eligible Indians, and that is where I will leave you. I am just getting started I will let you know, more at a later date or if you have the time go ahead and by the book at your LOCAL bookstore and read it for yourself :)

Gardening - The Planning Stages!

This time of the year is when I get anxious to start my outside projects. The sun is out, so I go outside an access the backyard and realize the ground is still frozen. Or I take a walk in the front yard to see if the crocus are coming up and see that the ground is also frozen in the front yard. So I decided to stay indoors at my desk with my seed catalogs and start the planning stage.

Every year I try to get a little more growing time out of our soil, my Husband keeps telling me I only have approx. a 60 day growing time, if you know anything about growing time that isn't very long. With the price of produce so high and not to mention the ideal situation of "growing your own":) I want to make the most out of my garden this year.


With that said while the vegetables are very important to the garden so are the flowers:) I am trying to plant perennials more, and since I live in the high desert I am using a lot of wild flowers mixes that just come up in random areas of the yard. For the past two years I have had the most beautiful cosmos come up in the driveway, everyone knows to drive around them and what ever you do don't back over them!

Raised bed in corner of house, and Juniper Berry!

To start with I have a raised bed that is about 5x12 feet and has its own watering system , it gets the morning sun and is sheltered by the house and is shaded most the afternoon. I have tried strawberries there - no good! When we moved into the house it was their rose garden (for the deer). I am not a rose garden person, it takes to much work. I like the natural looking plants not ones that have to be trimmed all the time to look pretty. So with the 3 rose bushes left, they are going bye-bye this year. But I don't know what to put in this spot. Does anyone out there have any ideas, IE, Amanda? I would like to plant a vegetable since I am able to cover it with cloth to keep the deer out. Maybe there is a cloth that keeps the heat in also and keeps the deer out, I will have to look into that.