Crank Turning Catch Up

I'm sure I'm not the only fruit loop who likes to have everything all organized and crossed off the to-do list before a long holiday fun weekend.  Yesterday, my day consisted of getting things done.  Editing pictures, folding laundry, grocery shopping, owl decoy getting, weed spraying, weed picking, cleaning, packing, vegetable chopping, thank you writing.  Really just a good day.  And I feel like I will be able to sit back and enjoy the long holiday fun weekend because I know that all is caught up in the land of Amy.  Because I'm a fruit loop who likes organization.  I'd be the fruit loop in the box trying to get all of the other loops to sort themselves according to color.  "Oranges, you go over there.  Greens, over here.  Purples, what is wrong with you?  Get it together."  

See?  Fruit loop.  

Moving on... 

Part of that to do list was editing pictures from the last two to three weeks.  I usually stay right on top of that aspect, but with the flood and life being turned like a top, I was behind.  Not the case anymore.  And I find that I have a big built up pile of things to share that have been turning my crank.     

I didn't even know I wanted this coffee maker until I got one for my birthday from Brother, Sil, and crew.  Let's just say I love it.  Makes having a cup of coffee so easy.  No mess.  No fuss.  One cup at a time.  I've even started drinking a decaf cup in the afternoon.  Just because I can.  Sil deserves an award for knowing I would fall in love.   

Every year, my aunt seems to find a card that makes me laugh.  Last year it was the "never kick a fresh turd on hot day" card that kept me entertained for weeks.  This year it's about a stud.

I received a package in the mail for my birthday from the mom of my very best friend from childhood.  I had a feeling it would be something nostalgic when I opened it because she is a saver and one of those people who thinks of others.  I was right, the package included the newspaper clippings that made me a famous first grader and an article from the nineties about my grandma.  Is there anything that makes a person feel more special than getting something meaningful in the mail?  A little something something that lets you know someone was thinking about you.  I could not help but laugh at me looking up at the teacher with "see, see, I did good" eyes and raising my hand all like "oh yeah I know."  I've always been a perfectionist.  

There is a video of me when I'm four reading this book.  I have a kool-aid smile and I can't say my "r" sound or my "s" sound.  I also couldn't really read, but had done some memorizing so there are couple of spots in the video when I look up and say in a whisper voice, "I can't memba."  I guess I thought the whisper voice meant it wouldn't be part of the production.  Momma Debi gave me a copy of the book for my birthday.  Maybe she will video tape me reading it again now as a twenty-eight year old.  And now that I can say my "r" and "s" sounds.  I think I would put a kool-aid smile on just for kicks though.  Some things you never out grow.  

My aunt sent me this picture.  It had been hanging in the foyer of their house for as long as I can remember and she figured I would want it.  She was right!  I was running through my other aunt's yard in Arizona in the mid 80s.  My nostrils are flared and my fists are pumping and I must be going fast because the background is blurry.  And I have a mullet.  A blonde mullet.  Every time I walk by this now that it lives in my house, I can't help but smile.  Smile and remember it's a good thing to have that kind of zest.  Nostril flaring zest.   

I received so many thoughtful little gifts and cards and letters and surprises for my birthday...like I said before, it was the best one I've ever had.  So sitting down to write thank you cards was necessary.  Really any excuse to use a sharpie and cute stamps is a win in my world.  I enjoyed every second of writing them out in the warm sun.  I feel I should say I'm not usually a bottled water kind of girl, but our town still has a boil order on its water so I'm simply following the rules.    

My tomato plant is thriving.  And I couldn't resist one more of the cute stamps.  I mean really, look at the strawberry heart. 

My tomato plant is thriving but my petunias are not.  I have a deer friend that keeps coming in my yard at night to eat the petunias.  Just the petunias.  That deer friend will pick around all other types of flowers and foliage to mow down the petunias.  I would like to dress up in a black ninja costume and scare the bajeebies out if it one night, but so far I haven't.  While I was writing my grocery list in the kitchen yesterday afternoon, my doorbell rang and I walked out to an owl decoy sitting there.  

Have you ever walked out of your front door to an owl decoy staring you in the face?  

Then my cousin and her fiance...we refer to them as Moe and Joe...came around the corner of my garage laughing hysterically.  You see, at that wine drinking birthday dinner of mine a few weeks ago, Momma Debi was talking about the owl decoys she got for the garden and strawberry patch.   Her story quickly became a laughing hit.  I guess Moe and Joe felt I needed an owl too.  Little did they know that I was having issues with a deer friend.  Will an owl decoy scare a deer?  I sure hope so! 

Grilling vegetables makes me want to live somewhere it's summer forever.

A little wine glass waterfront dancing. 

A pretty swing with a pretty sunset with pretty water with pretty clouds.  Check yes to all.    

Campfire.  I need not say anything more.  Except, adding color to a campfire is like wearing jewelry.  It makes the outfit just a little bit better.   

A really cute pumpkin a few days later.  The very same pumpkin I danced around with and laughed with in the hospital room.  Seems like just yesterday.  Now she has rolls.  

Holding that really cute pumpkin on my lap while drinking an unsweetened iced tea and visiting with her momma about everything under the sun made me think, "I love my life."

And grocery shopping for the upcoming holiday weekend with a reusable bag.  I love organizing for a long holiday fun weekend because it makes me feel very adult.  And I really dig that The Market Basket gives you a fifty cent discount for every cloth bag that you use.

Just some things that have been turning my crank.  Whooiee!!  I feel all caught up and to-do list crossed off and am ready for some fireworks, fires, and forgetting to sunscreen my ears.  I hope you all have a fist pumping, donkey kicking, twirl and foot stomping kind of 4th of July weekend!