SHOPAHOLICS - ODAT - Thursday

Good afternoon ladies, hope all is well.

Arlene - Thank you for starting us today, glad you made it there safely. Enjoy your poop scoop free days, and be sure to have fun.

Not much going on here, we are taking our dogwood tree down, it has been blighted for a couple of years now and the branches are starting to die. We are going to replace it with a different kind of tree ( not sure of the name) but, it flowers in the spring then goes to leaf. Of course being the tree hugger I am we had to replace the tree.

Well not much more here, hope everyone has a great day.

Oh what a great idea to buy a chair at Walmart!!!

Oh no about the tree. I have been losing large branches off one of my trees. Stressed from our prolonged drought. Last week I noticed the neighbors had a large tree that split. It was full of leafy green leaves---and then down the street a neighbor lost large limbs off a tree by the road. Came out after bible study at church to find a large limb had broken off next to my vehicle. I'm thinking I am not good luck for trees.

Too bad about your dogwood tree Susan....we have three of them and this year they bloomed about 6 weeks late..there is a Dogwood festival in our town that falls on Mother's Day every year...the festival went on this year but trees were all bare! I noticed my hydrangea bushes are getting buds on them..they are usually infull bloom in June....they better hurry up and bloom before the frost gets them. Nice sunny day here ......can't complain. Yanks have an afternoon game so am watching that. have a nice afternoon everybody.......Marijane

FHG, I am glad you made it safely to FL. Every me I think about buying chairs at Walmart, it reminds me of when DH & I attended one of the Statler Brothers July 4th festivals. Living in the Midwest. we didn't take any chairs as we thought we would be sitting on bleachers. We had to go to Walmart & buy 2 chairs. The only colors then were blue & green. I had to also buy duct tape to put our initials on them as there were probably 20,000 blue & green chairs like ours.

This is definitely the Dog Days of Summer. It started getting humid on Sunday & each day is getting more humid & hotter. 90's starting tomorrow & lasting until next Monday. Today so far we have had 4 severe thunder storms. Total rain so far is about 5" & they say more rain all week. It is black now again too.

DH has recuperated from his ordeal on Tuesday with our good friend. I have also got the Kia all cleaned up & ready to go on vacation next week. I have never seen such a mess in an automobile.

Tonight our niece, her DH & 9 mo. old baby are coming for dinner. They moved to our hometown two weeks ago, so we want to welcome them with open arms. We haven't seen them since Christmas. They are both music professionals & have gotten jobs in our hometown.

Tonight for dinner it will be peach jello w/ mountain dew & baby oranges & red grapes. I also made a rhubarb strawberry cream pie yesterday. This morning I made meatballs & spaghetti sauce & put them in the crock pot. All I have to do later this afternoon is cook the spaghetti & pop some garlic bread into the oven. I tried to make the meal as cool as possible.

Hugs to all of you.

Good Morning/Afternoon! Thanks for getting us started Arlene. Glad you made it there safely, and thought of that chair from Wal-Mart idea. Definitely sounds like a good solution. It is a shame the condo isn't nicer, but I guess you can't complain.

Sorry about the dogwood tree Susan, but glad you are getting a new one. Good luck with your tree issues LindaR. I had a lot of trouble with trees a few years back, but now we don't have a tree, just bushes. I have considered getting a tree (another tree hugger here), but there aren't many trees that work well here in the desert unless you irrigate, and I don't want to go that route since water is so precious. I noticed a lot more trees up in the Phoenix area.

Hi Marijane -- that is something about your dogwoods and hydrangea. Certainly hope the hydrangea bloom before the frost comes. I'm a big fan of hydrangea.

I drove home yesterday since we reached the area where we planned to stop early (before 1:00), and I just didn't want to spend the money on the hotel, etc. The drive home went fine -- no problems with the flooded roads or anything. And, I managed to do some laundry (not ironing yet) and go to Curves yesterday afternoon. (Patting myself on the back for that -- LOL).

We never got to do the jeep tour -- bad timing, but Sedona was pretty despite the rain. That is when the clouds didn't obscure the mountains.

DD has her "new" (reconditioned) washer, and is busy doing laundry. She is very happy about that, and I don't blame her.

DH and I had a nice walk this morning, and we will be meeting my newcomers group for lunch (at least a few members and their husbands.) Hope to go to Curves later, and maybe do that ironing.

I've been back and forth about the TSV boots, but I am leaning against them at the moment. It is just too hot to think about boots, and I have never tried this brand. Are any of you purchasing them or have experience with this brand?

Waves to Jean (happy you are working again), Kathleen, twinny (your DH is such a good guy), Karen, Gayle (hope things are okay with you and your Mom -- what a struggle), Rosa, Gina, Nancy, Val, Jules, Kathy, and all of our posters and readers.

Have a good day everyone!

Hugs,

Linda

ETA -- Just saw your post twinny. Sorry you had such a mess in the car. Have a nice evening with your niece and family. Glad they have moved near you.

. Twinny I hope you have a great dinner tonight with your niece and family. it is nice that they will be living near you.

LindaL: what lovely pics you posted on FB--such beauty in the desert/mountains.

I know family who went to Destin early June. They stayed at a Holiday Inn--across the street from the beach. Sure it was much less expensive than the condo!.

Hi girls! Well, I was concerned that my friend said she didn't want to shop, just vegetate on the beach. Funny thing is, we haven't made it to the beach yet - we've pretty much just been shopping! My friend wanted to pick up a tropical charm for her bracelet, so we went to a couple of gift shops to look for one; unfortunately she was unsuccessful...but I found some gorgeous jewelry and some totally adorable bears. At one of the shops I got a bear dressed in Army fatigues and one dressed in a Marine uniform, and when I told the shop owner that teddy bears are my favorite thing in the world, she gave me a $35 bear for free! He's supposed to sing and dance, but the dancing function isn't working...which doesn't bother me at all - he's dressed as a policeman and sings "Bad Boys." I also got two beautiful hand-painted T-shirts that were half price. I got a few things for the friend who is taking care of the furkids - a mug, some salt water taffy, and a dolphin pendant, but then today I saw some little kittens that are very realistic looking, and one is sleeping in a bed. When you press on it, it meows and says "I love you." What better gift to remind her of her litter box duty?

We had brunch today at a place called The Pancakery, and they were the best pancakes I ever had - mine were filled with strawberries, bananas, and chocolate chips. My friend is in a lot of pain with her knee and has been hitting the booze since we got back to the condo, so we're just eating things that we have on hand for dinner tonight since I won't drive with anyone after they've been drinking.. We have reservations for tomorrow night at a place called Fat Costanza's - the reviews all say it's very good authentic Italian food, and the owner has a thick Italian accent (as we found when we called), so hopefully it will be the real deal.

So sorry about your tree, Susan. I had a tree in my yard that I loved because even though some of the branches were dead, it was perfect for hanging bird feeders from. Unfortunately it came down in a storm a few months ago.

Marijane, hydrangeas are my favorite - I love them.

Twinny, that Jello sounds interesting.

Well, after I get home I'm getting serious about my diet, but until then...pass the chips & salsa! We're headed down to the beach in a little while - it's been super hot all day, and after dinner it won't have many other people there.

Have a blessed day, everyone!