June 28 Ouch So, forget the thing about not being able to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. Apparently, I can’t even *talk* and chew gum. I was walking to the car with Drama, and she spoke to me and I looked at to answer her and sprained my ankle on a depression in the sand in my yard. Not even an actual hole, people. A depression. Only marginally less embarrassing that getting caught reading colonix reviews by my kids.

June 29 Oops I guess that when I spend the day blogging, I kinda forget the picture taking. Sorry.

June 30 Dead This is what my roses looked like when I got back to the garden shop last week. That just aggravates me to no end!! I did figure out why later in the week, though. Apparently the young man they are putting in there while I am gone did not understand that you water plants gently. He was using the power wash setting. Yeah, on my flowers. No wonder they looked beat and bedraggled and dead and ruined.

July 1 Buttons for a Baby Sweater Pretty self explanatory, right?

July 2 Sleeping I absolutely love it when I get to come home to see this. I could try to explain that, but I won’t bother. But it’s totally worth sleeping on the couch for!

So now that I am turning my attention back to my writing, I am wondering once again about keywords, and which ones to choose to enable folks who would enjoy my little blog to find it. The thing about search engine optimization and this blog, however, is that I blog across such a wide range of topics that it’s hard to choose keywords: the words I would choose this week might not even apply next week. Add to that the fact that I seldom know what I am actually going to write about when I open the blog, and you can see how it could quickly become something of a dilemma. As an example, the META on the site still contains the same keywords that I chose when I started the blog, which do NOT include “photographs”, “divorce”, “depression”, “garden” or any of the other things I have spent most of the last year talking about.

Now, if I were smart and had plenty of money to invest in this site, I could hire someone like Search Engine People to do a Organic Search Engine Optimization for me. Since I don’t, I’ll likely end up doing what I have been doing: concentrating on content, and hoping the search engines are able to decipher what I am actually talking about. It’s probably not the best strategy, but it’s what I can afford for now.

Of course, there’s another method of attracting readers, too, and that’s where you guys come in. If you like what you find here, how about recommending me to a friend?

Wow! I can’t believe I’m almost caught up. In fact, I am so caught up that I am only giving you three pictures in this post, but that is also partly because I am so proud of the last one. Not that the picture is so great, but just that it represents something really good for me.

June 15 The List On the 15th, I wrote my list. I hope I properly conveyed my excitement about it when I posted it, because I am truly, very excited about my life list.

June 16 Hot, Tired, Pissed It has been very hot here, folks. It has been excruciatingly hot. And on days I work in the garden shop, I am out in that heat for most of the day. I find it interesting that many of the other people who work in that area manage to stay inside. In fact, I had someone say to me the other day that I was lucky because it was so nice and cool back there. Umm, yeah, yeah it is, inside. But I’m not inside, because the plants are outside. It takes me 3-4 hours to water them all properly, and since I work 6.5 hours and get a half hour lunch, that will tell you how much of the airconditioning I get to enjoy.

But that’s not the part that bothers me most. What really aggravates me is that I have to argue every.daggone.day for my lunch break. And one day last week, peeing suddenly became optional. WTH? I am 42 years old, I have given birth eight freaking times, and I don’t even sneeze without crossing my legs, ever!! And you think I can wait 45 minutes to go to the bathroom? Umm, no. It’s gotten to the point that I love my work, and hate my job. The plants and I get along just fine, but……….the rest, not so much.

June 17 Hydrangea On this day, I did the first thing on my life list, with the exception of the publication. I planted this hydrangea that I’ve had here for a couple or three weeks now. I actually have two of them, but the other one is burned even worse than this one and I am just not sure it’s gonna make it. But people, HYDRANGEA! And it’s time to edit the life list.

Now, then, I want to talk about something else. Do any of you buy gold bullion? I’m thinking about small investments these days, not because I have any money right now, but because I hope to have some eventually. I know it’s pretty, and I know that it’s practically been an object of worship since it was first discovered, but I am actually more interested in it’s staying power and growth potential than it’s beauty.

If I do decide to invest, should I go with coins, which have a currency value, or ingots which do not? The initial investment is higher for coinage, I think, but does that mean I can sell it for more later, or will the ingots be just as valuable down the road? Is it a matter of aesthetics or is the actual weight the bottom line?

Any tips? Experiences you want to share? Cautions? Talk to me, people, I’m listening.

Good afternoon friends, family, adherents and haters, how are ya? Man, I am in a mood today. It’s a good mood, but sometimes I get a little silly when that happens. I’m very excited, you see. I’ve done big things today. I was going to come over here and just post some pictures for ya’ll, and I may end up doing that later, but right now, I want to tell you what I’ve done today, because these were big things for me.

Today, I developed my blogging action plan. That was the second big thing. Basically, I need to blog 2 posts on 6 blogs three times a week. That sounds like a lot of blogging, I know, but I am trying to remind myself that I used to do that *every day* and that this is indeed a viable goal, and a better alternative to standing out in the heat for slave wages. It will just have to be consistent, and it will work, the way you have to keep applying acne treatment gel to your face all the time, not just when you have an outbreak. Ok, so that was that. Second thing.

The first thing I did this morning was to make a life list. And that is what has got me in such an excited mood. After I finish my blogging for today, I plan to reward myself by polishing that list and posting it. It will probably be a page instead of a post, just because I want to be able to edit it easily and to do that I want to link to it from the side bar. And yeah, it’s gonna provide lots of picture blogging fodder. Which kinda rocks for both of us, don’t you think?

Here’s a very small review. One of the items on the list is to “post this list on my blog, in it’s entirety with the exception of one item, despite those who will be scandalized by it or ridicule it”. if all goes according to my evil plan, I will be able to cross that one off tonight!

Ok, that’s a snappier title, right? And, yes, I realize that I was supposed to start with the 16th, but guess what? No picture, and I am not going to get the camera card out to see if I used it instead of the phone. So there. The 16th will just have to remain a mystery!

May 17 Mary Jane Shoes It is no secret that I have a shoe issue, right? Didn’t think so. You know I love sky high heels, but I also have a thing for Mary Janes. I like to wear them with cute socks. And on this day, I did. Whenever I wear Mary Janes, I sing Fergie’s song to myself as I go about my day. It perfectly captures the beautiful irony of wearing this kind of shoe as an adult. It reminds me to be young, and makes me feel all grown up at the same time. And what could possibly go wrong when you are wearing your Mary Jane Shoes? I think the next pair of shoes I buy will be sky high Mary Janes.

May 18 Coloring Time Batman had an appointment on this day, and so while we waited DaBaby and I colored a picture. We teased each other about her side of the page and my side of the page. I love this age, when they are learning about social exchanges, and sharing, and all that good stuff. Sigh. I miss being the main one to teach her these things.

May 19 Shoe Shopping But not for me. I took Diva to buy the shoes for her dance on the 19th. I knew I wasn’t there for me, but I just had to try this pair on anyway. I ended up going back to get them a week or so later. Is anyone surprised by this? No? Didn’t think so.

May 20 More Roses Have I mentioned I like flowers? These three roses, all a different color, were growing on the same bush. I said “get out!!” and took the picture, because I knew no one would believe me without it.

Say, do you reckon walking in tall heels qualifies as a natural fat burner? I mean you have to use good posture and hold yourself tight from knees to waist…..that oughta be worth something, right?

Of course, I am hoping to not fall so far behind anymore!! That would be better, don’t you think? Then I could maybe come up with a title to just explain ONE picture. How cool would that be? And I just did the math: this post plus 4 more will get me current. Yay!

May 11 I was so mad! Ok, here is the part I didn’t tell when I was talking about the camping trip. I ended up working a 10 hour day on the Friday before we left. And on Thursday, I told the kids what had to happen in the house before we could leave for the trip. They had a half day on Friday, so I expected them to pitch in. After I ended up having to stay late at work, I especially expected them to pitch in. And they did absolutely nothing except bring in the camp stuff and watch tv, eating food that made more dishes and wearing clothes that made more laundry. So, after I got home, around 9:30, I spent another three hours cleaning my house, including burning stuff I gathered in the dark. Sometimes, despite the best acne treatments, you just have to bust a zit, and that is what I am doing by getting rid of stuff they refuse to pick up. If the camping trip had been for the kids, I would have called it off right then, but it wasn’t for them. It was for me, because I wanted to hang out with them.

This is the pile of stuff I gathered on a quick walk through of the already cleaned areas on Tuesday morning, when I could actually see since I couldn’t turn on the bedroom lights when I got home Friday night because some of the kids were sleeping. I don’t think I’ve actually had to burn since this day. Maybe they believe me now.

May 12 Blooming Roses So, when I got to work on the 12th, I found this: a bush with three huge blooms, looking like a small bouquet. I love to stand and just look at my rose bushes at work. The are slowing down now, but during May, it was an eye feast every day. Big blooms, nodding in the breeze. I do love working with the flowers.

May 13 Really? That’s the best you’ve got? I took a picture of this ad because I hated it so much. The tag attached to the ring says “Virtually eliminates cheating since it’s so beautiful you’ll never want to take it off.” Really? If a pretty ring is the only reason you aren’t cheating on your spouse, you need more help than money can buy. I was disgusted.

May 14 Puppies!! She had a litter of 5, of which 3 have survived.

May 15 Lunch with Guitar Guy We finally managed to sit down in the same place at the same time after weeks of too much busyness to see one another. I was great to just hang out and visit.

Geez, am I ever gonna be caught up catching up? Apparently, this week was mostly about me. Three of the five pictures are of myself. It’s kind of interesting that the better I feel emotionally, the more often I am willing to take pictures of myself. Not surprising, but lots of things that one understands on a knowledge level are interesting when applied on a personal level. Let’s hope that all these self portraits don’t leave me wishing I had purchased the extended service plan for my crackberry.

April 26 Silly Me I just love this picture. I snapped it to make That One smile, because he was having a rough day. Those of you who are friends on facebook will recognize it. And by the way, I decided last night that I am totally buying this hat, if it’s still at the store. And also another one, which I haven’t shown you yet. Time to live some dreams, people!

April 27 Crafty Me I finished another hat. I was sure this one would be too small for him, but knitting stretches. Apparently, it stretches a lot.

April 28 Amish Cockscomb I think I spelled this right. Correct me if I am wrong, please. My Grandmother used to grow this in her flowerbeds, always red. This year, for the very first time, I saw it in other colors: this light pink, and also in cream. I wonder if the other colors have always existed, or if they have engineered them through selective breeding. Err, selective cross-pollination. Err, screwing with nature.

April 29 Working Me Yes, this is what I look like out in the garden shop. It’s not quite fashionable, I know. But so far, my crow’s feet aren’t any deeper, my face is still white, and my hair in undamaged. I’ll take it.

April 30 Leeeeezard! Yet another lizard. Hey, I shoot what I see, k? K.

And, yay, a post without drama!

April 21 Dead This, my friends is the pile of dead plants that I pulled out of the garden shop when I returned from my two weeks out of their. Clearly, someone needed to check into life insurance rates for them while I was gone. They expired from a lack of water. I continued to pull plants for about a week. At one point, I set up an intensive care nursery for the ones I thought I could save, but my manager said we didn’t have time for that, and the plants I was nurturing were thrown away. Her call, store’s loss.

April 22 DaBaby visits On the 22nd, Mama was in town and brought DaBaby by to visit me. It was lots of fun getting some midday hugs and kisses. I miss my kids a lot when I am at work.

April 23 Lizard! If you look closely in the middle of this picture, you will see a wee reptile. I see them quite often at work, but they rarely remain still long enough to take a good shot. Today, I won.

April 24 Fire the Third Hmm, they still didn’t believe me. This was the day I cleaned the living room. It still looks pretty good.

This was also the night of catharsis. I continued to cry up until this night, and most of the way through it. I cried for a lot of reasons this night. For loss and betrayal and the grown up me and the little girl me and for my children and it just went on and on and on. But when I woke up on Sunday I was a different woman. Actually, I was my old woman again. The depression that had plagued me for a very long time (years) had lifted somewhat, and that laughing, fun loving girl I used to be was clawing her way to the top. Somewhere in that night, I faced the ugly truth that a lot of really bad crap had happened to me in my life, and I grieved for it, and I tried to let it go. That’s not to say I’ve been completely perky since that point, but when I get down, it’s for a couple of hours, not….for the forseeable future. I can deal with that!

April 25 Hello Old Me You may not be able to see it in my face, but I sure can!