Day #181 - Pampered piggies...

Oh joy! After a change in management and much on again, off again with nail people, the salon I go to finally has a pedicure person. It's the little things in life that count, so I got me a major dose of tootsie pampering today.

Day #180 - Last lily...

Well, it took its own sweet time to do it, more than a week after its buddies put in their appearance, but this one finally bloomed today. I'd forgotten what it looked like so was delightfully surprised with the beautiful mix of color. It's so pretty in among the deep orange and lighter peach lilies. Well worth the wait!!

Day #179 - Refreshing fountain...

Lord, it was oppressively stifling out there today! Me and my compromised lungs wouldn't have been out except for another unplanned trip to the dentist. But, we made it worth our while. On the way home, we stopped in town to take a picture of and enjoy the cooling mist of this fountain.

Day #178 - #365

Lew pointed out a neat thing about our address numbers. If we use 3 of the 4 numbers in our address and invert one of them, we end up with...

heh, heh, heh - isn't that cool? The numbers never made it back up on the house after we had it sided. They're freshly painted and ready to be reattached now.

Day #177 - Hair night...

The goop my hairstylist mixes up to color my hair almost looks good enough to eat... if you can get it past your nose.

Day #176 - Tootsie tip...

This is the best stuff! Granddaughter gave me a boxful of Earth Therapeutics foot care products for Christmas a couple of years ago and I've been using it ever since. (You can get it at Kohl's or on the ET site.) Really pampers these old tootsies of mine and helps keep them soft and smooth. (you know I've run out of ideas when I'm taking pictures of foot cream!!):D

Day #175 - Kitchen Kraft

The beginning of another kitchen project. Since we just happen to have some left over red paint and I just happen to have these letters that spell "food" for over the pantry door, I guess it's time to get 'er done! ;)

Day #174 - Color Me Red...

Earlier this month, I talked about trying to choose a red paint for the front door. Well, we finally decided on Ruby Ring by Behr so Lew bought the paint, prepared the door, and did the deed today.

One more coat oughta do it.

Whoooo ... it is soooo RED! heh! It'll take some getting used to but we really like it. I'm glad we did it.

Day #173 - More lilies...

They're really blooming beautifully this year, only the second season for them all. I think we have one more species that hasn't opened up yet but the yellow one is on its second blooming. I am so pleased with their prolific prettiness!

Day #172 - Anti-ants....

Time for the bug man again. Between him and us, hopefully we'll win this battle of the ant brigade. We've managed to keep them down inside to a vagrant "scout" on the counter a few times a week. At least we don't have an army of them marching across the kitchen. They're on the move outside though, and relocate to new headquarters every time we invade one of their camps. Tenacious little buggers!

Day #171 - I'm walking, yes indeed...

About a month or so ago, Stacy told us about her new pedometer that she was pleased with. Needing a decent one myself, I got the info from her and finally got around to ordering one for myself. It came today and I'm looking forward to trying it out ... after I read all the instructions. ;) Thanks, Stacy!

Day #170 - A place to sit a spell...

Sometimes we just need a little more seating outside so we got a pretty good deal on this simple cedar bench from Amazon. Now we're trying to figure out if we want to seal it or let it weather naturally to that silvery gray that cedar gets.

Day #169 - Rear Window view...

Another in my collection of lilies, this peachy prize is in my line of sight as I gaze through the family room window. The munchy critters haven't migrated to this part of the yard ... yet.

Day #168 - Big Bird...

They grow 'em big here in the fields of Maryland. Caught this monster taking a leisurely dip today. The beast could eat my cat with no problem!

Day #167 - Wrinkle free...

I can think of things I'd rather do, but these annoying little necessaries need attention too. Thank goodness for air conditioning on hot June days!

Day #166 - Pedal pushing...

Taking a 'spin' around the family room on my trusty stationary bike. Along with the treadmill, I try to use one or the other or both every day. Don't always succeed, but I have good intentions. :)

Day #165 - Lilies for lunch?

So all in all, it hasn't been the best past couple of days. After a major screw-up by Comcast, we finally have our cable and Internet back (if you're curious, I wrote about it on my blog,) but I noticed today that something is majorly munching on my lilies. Whatever it is is non discriminating - it likes the leaves and flowers. Erg!

Day #164 - Aaarrgghhh!!!...

I'll let the dead screen photo speak for itself. Suffice it to say that Comcast is not one of my favorite organizations right now. Monumentally incompetent people should not be allowed anywhere near the rest of us!

Day #l63 - Snoozing on plastic...

Oops! I can always count on one of the cats for a last minute photo when I forget! We keep a piece of plastic on the newly reupholstered chairs when we're not sitting in them to try to discourage the beasties and their furry leavings. Obviously, Buster doesn't give a rip, he's going to snooze in his favorite spot anyway, with or without plastic. Oh well, at least it's easier to clean up after him.

Day #162 - Porch pleasure...

The posts are all vinyl-clad, the railing is complete, and we finally have a finished porch. I'm a happy camper! I took the photo from this angle because Lew pointed out the flag reflection in the front storm door and I thought it looked cool.

Day #161 - Out of reach...

Not my best effort, the picture's about as good as the match was. I thought it was some rather uninspired tennis - Rafael Nadal didn't even have to play his best game to win. Roger Federer will have to wait another year for a chance at the French Open title.

Day #160 - Mini coffee table...

Since my coffee goes where I do, we needed a small table for me to set it on when we're on the deck and not at the big table. Lew picked this one up tonight while he was out. It gave me a chance to take a night time photo too.

Day #159 - Cat pause...

Beastie boy Buster surveying the outdoors that he can't go out to - maybe he's wishing he could use that mat!

Day #158 - Basket of pretty...

I loves me some hanging baskets but usually don't have a whole lot of luck with them on the deck for some reason. I think we've got us a winner this year. As long as we religiously keep it watered - sometimes twice a day - this basket of verbena has been performing like a champ. If it's not watered within 24 hours or so, though, it droops like wet hair on a cat!

It was in full bloom when we brought it home a few weeks ago and is now on its second go 'round of showy blooms. A bit of dead-heading when it's finished and it should be good to go again. It's even nice without the flowers - a pretty ball of green. Definitely a repeat purchase for next year!

Day #157 - And on a brighter note...

It's a glorious day in Maryland today! The sky is blue, the birds are singing and the temperature is delightful. There's a lovely breeze tickling my wind chimes and all is right in my little corner of the world. :)

Day #156 - Progress in action...

Sort of. After many weeks of delays, postponements, and suppliers who didn't deliver, we finally have progress on our porch work. They've added a post, replaced another corner post, and covered them all in a maintenance-free, weatherproof vinyl covering. They've also started adding on the railing, but of course the pieces don't fit together right or some such nonsense, so they have to go back to the supplier to see if they have more in stock, which we already know they don't or else we wouldn't have had so many delays, yada, yada, yada. And on and on it goes. Have I told you how much I hate dealing with contractors??

Does the rest of the world have the endless problems we do with these people?

Day #155 - Purple and green...

We're really pleased with the performance of our purple lady this year. It still has beaucoup buds and some of the flowers, I swear, are almost as big as saucers. Spectacular display!

I really don't do anything special with them - water them, keep the roots protected with perennial snow on the mountain ground cover, and cut them way back around November. They don't even get fed as often as they should. Just lucky, I guess.

Day #154 - Raindrops keep falling on my head...

... and make it real hard to take an outside picture! I wanted to get a shot of the clematis today, but Mother Nature had other ideas and was NOT cooperating. So, I got raindrops on the umbrella instead. Maybe tomorrow.

Day #153 - Decisions, decisions...

We're seriously considering painting our front door red so have been collecting various paint chips for comparison. Jeez! There must be umpteen bazillion shades of red! After awhile I start seeing spots and they all start looking alike - maybe we'll just leave it as is. :)

Day #152 - Ballsy beast...

We had fish for dinner tonight and Miss Thang was right up there in Lew's face, practically snatching the food right off of his plate. She's such a cheeky kitty!