The Little Tree

Gotta tell ya about this.

I did much work today. Much too much work I think!


See this tree? Well a few weeks ago I bought about 14 of these, two are getting very close to dead and so I decided to get someone to dig my holes for me and then I could do the rest.



Did you hear me say 14? Let's just say un-digging a hole is not as easy as it looks. I did eight trees, (the captain helped with the other 6 the next day and he was done in no time) one of them was a possible waste of my strength and energy since it's looking very dead at this point. I'm going to pray over it, and it'll probably turn out to be the biggest one.



Even before the digging though, I went to Lowe's and bought 7 bags of this top soil and 7 bags of manure, and 2 bags of potting soil. They told me 1/2 soil & 1/2 manure for each tree. So I switched my cart for a double decker shelf on wheels looking thing, and loaded all 16 of my 40 lb bags up onto it, then I dragged it down the aisle until I saw a super turbo trolley thing, this was like a lumber hauling cart, just what I needed! So I re-loaded all the bags of, well, crap, onto the new cart from heaven and hauled it right up to the check out. The lady was mortified to see me. I guess she had assumed that I was asking about the amount of dirt I needed because I was buying the trees. So I explained to her that I already had my trees at home and now wanted to plant them, in dirt. She humbly said that a guy could have "quick loaded" them right into my car and pointed out pallets and pallets of the same stuff I had just spent 15 minutes tossing back and forth. My eyes crossed. Then I went home and made 16 trips back and forth across my yard, 40 lbs was about my max at that point, delivering the bags to the approximate area that I thought I'd need them.

By then the sun was high and burning my neck, but I was not ready to give up. All I could think about was that poor tree, dying in the heat with shrivled roots and no one to care for it. Must. Plant. Trees. Nothing else mattered, until that brown little guy was in the ground, after that, it was all about me again, those other green giants could wait!

Strawberry Banana Cupcakes

These are the cupcakes I told you about long ago! V8 and fresh strawberries make the major difference in these cupcakes from a box! As you can see, this is your average cake mix. I replaced the water with the V8 Fusion and added about 4 lg strawberries.



The batter was such a yummy looking pink and it smelled so good! I'm a typical over-stirrer and so I really tried to watch that this time because I wanted to see what kind of difference the ingredience really would make.



I used a regular (or not so typical since I seem to make it up as I go along)buttercream frosting, since it's my favorite and because I love the way it pipes on and looks so pretty. The batter turned out beautifully though lost a lot of the pink hue, I suppose I should have tried it with egg whites only so the yellow of the yolk didn't take over the light pink... I'll try that again and let you knowhow it goes.


Although I did not see my mother-in-law, this was in honor of her birthday.


That brings up a question I have in my mind now and then. I've been saying my "mother-in-law" when it's really my father-in-law's wife, and not actually my husband's mother?


I just wish she could have tried one!

Strawberry Banana Cupcakes

These are the cupcakes I told you about long ago! V8 and fresh strawberries make the major difference in these cupcakes from a box! As you can see, this is a typical cake mix. I replaced the water with the V8 Fusion and added about 4 lg strawberries.



The batter was such a yummy looking pink and it smelled so good! I'm a typical over-stirrer and so I really tried to watch that this time because I wanted to see what kind of difference the ingredience really would make.



I used a (or not so regular since I seem to make it up as I go along) buttercream frosting, since it's my favorite and because I love the way it pipes on and looks so pretty. The batter turned out beautifully though lost a lot of the pink hue, I suppose I should have tried it with egg whites only so the yellow of the yolk didn't take over the light pink... I'll try that again and let you knowhow it goes.


Although I did not see my mother-in-law, this was in honor of her birthday.



That brings up a question I have in my mind now and then. I be saying my "step-mother-in-law" when it's really my father-in-law's wife, and not actually my husband's mother?


I just wish she could have tried one!

Lake of the Ozarks

After taking my step-son home last Tuesday I found myself driving to one of my favorite destinations, at a very high rate of speed! My sister-in-law and my brother had each, separately, urged my mother and I to accompany their adorable family on a boat ride with them! So, off we were, to The Lake of the Ozarks! Here's what it looked like from my angle:


While sailing along (not really, we had a motor) I captured a quick shot of the Assemblies of God camp grounds, where I attended 5 exciting days of youth camp with all my friends each year of my teen years, and then a extra year as a Jr counselor because I just couldn't leave. Come to think of it, I guess I'm old enough to be a regular counselor...camp never has to end!

and "The Blob" where the heights were higher and the water was deeper! The idea is that one person hops off the platform and onto the blob, then slides, crawls, slips, claws all the way out to the other end where and when, if they make it that far, another person (or three) hops off the platform and catapults the first person right off the end, up into the air, and down into the deep, blue, sea. Or lake, but when you're in it, there doesn't seem to be a difference.

Doesn't seem that intimidating you say? Well, my friend, it's bigger up close, you gotta give it a try.

Check out this new development called Atlantis Island. It looks pretty impressive to me!

From what I understand, there's a ferry that can take you from the mainland (where you would park your car) to the island, if you didn't bring your boat, that is.

This is a local hot spot called Lazy Gators, which is actually a part of Shady Gators. It looks like a nice way to enjoy the sunshine or the shade.


Here's a relaxing view to leave you with

Wish you were there!

Oh yeah, neither the Lake of the Ozarks, Assembly of God church camp, Atlantis Island, nor Shady/Lazy Gators asked me (or paid me) to tell you about this. I just thought you should know.