June is around the corner!

The color of the month is yellow and the theme at the cottage is, "Garden Fun!" We are all busy bees, creating and making, "Blooming Plates Garden Sculptures" for our cottage and others who visit our web site @ www.rosepetalr.com.

I love the sunflower ones we have. We are trying to make our Garden Sculptures a family business. The girls and I love making them. It is the marketing that is giving me issues. I am out going and love to meet people but good gravy, I have a hard time with those cold call meetings trying to market these things. I do have them in three shops up here in the desert and try weekly to find new ones.

Things here at the cottage are going well. My grands are as adorable as can be and of course their parents are too!

I really will be trying to update more!! Leave a note and let us know you were here!!

Over a year! Oh my!!

I cannot believe it has been almost TWO years since I blogged here! Not that there are tons of followers, but it is a fun place to just write and try to a bit creative.

OK, in those almost TWO years not a lot has happened. I had to ditch the Medical transcription course in the second semester. I did finish the first and got to use it to complete my requirements to keep my LVN license active. Which is very important to me. There are several reasons I quit; I hated it! LOL! I just couldn't stand listening and typing. I knew from the start that I am not an "audio" personality, but thought I could over come that. I did not want my home to be my work place! It is my sanctuary and I couldn't imagine dreading getting out of bed to work all day, typing and listening to a Doc drone on. I also spoke with a friend who has done it for very many years and she told me she was ready to be done. The field has changed and she felt the need for "human typists" was going to be replaced with technology that will allow Docs to dictate and have the document automatically typed. All of that was enough for me. The first reason was enough!

Sadly my hubby was not impressed as he saw me working several days a week as a bonus to his being unemployed. He had me go on several other, nurse related interviews. I finally had to tell him I was not going to work! There is a reason I have been on medical retirement (hate the word disability) for over ten years!! He isn't really happy with me over it, and I am not happy with him for not understanding that! he is still not working. The Lord has protected and provided for the past two plus years. Bob is in school, doing a computer class and has a zippy resume now. Please pray he can find a job that includes benefits! I pay over $700 a month for my insurance and he has switched to VA benefits. Praise God he could do that!!

I have started mosaicking again and as a result of my plate collecting fever, you should see my garage, I have begun making garden sculptures, using plates and pretty copper pipe. They are selling well! We are planning marketing blitz for Spring! I hope to be able to add some income to our household using my little business. I have my things in two local shops now :)

OK, I will be done this day. if you are reading this, thank you :) Please make a comment!

Oh, and visit my website if you like! All of my pretties are listed for sale there! www.rosepetalr.com

The best gift on Mother's Day is being a MOTHER!!!

Isn't life grand?! Look at those roses...so very beautiful! We came home from Vegas on Sunday to our home filled with vases in every room of beautiful bouquets of roses from my garden. Nicole and Breanne's gift to me for Mother's Day! What could be better? Well of course being home with them and my grands would have been the BEST but we stayed and relaxed by the pool all day. I missed spending Mother's Day with the two, now so grown up, women who made it possible and wonderful to be a Mom!

I love my girls more than any words could ever express! They are beautiful from the inside out! I am truly so blessed. Thank you Lord for them!

The roses in my garden are bursting forth in grandness. I haven't been able to really get out and see them this week but the evidence is all around me in visual and aroma therapy. The top picture is one I took from the top of a vase in the family room, the girls used to float some blooms in. It is a fun picture.

The picture at right is a beautiful red bouquet that is on my nook table. It is full of Mr. Lincoln roses in full bloom. It is now Thursday and they still look and smell wonderful! There is another vase of them, pictured above, on my dresser.


The white one's above are my favorite all time roses! They are Iceberg's. Years ago, before he passed away, my dad gave me three bushes of them. We tried to keep them when we moved but they did not make it so I was sure to plant more of them in my rose garden...a whole slope of them! Aren't they gorgeous?! I will take pictures when I can get out to them (I came home from Vegas in a bit of a flare) so you can see them as they cascade so beautifully down the slope. Oh dad I miss you!!!

<------ Yellow roses always make me think of my good and loving friends, it is the rose of friendship!

These pretty and oh so fragrant purple blooms are on my night table. I can smell them when I sleep :) -----> <------ And these beauties are sitting in my living room :)

So now you get to enjoy the roses I have in my house. Soon you can see what is blooming in my yard!! God is awesome!

My First Rose of Spring :)

Each rose that comes brings me greetings
from the rose of an eternal spring! -Rabindranath Tagore


Here she is! My first Rose of Spring! It is an Antique English rose and she has several friends growing along side her. A beautiful yellow one and several pink. Each of my beds has blooms in it and there are hundreds of buds ready to burst forth! I absolutely cannot wait. I have my vases all washed and ready to hold them!

We are leaving for Vegas on Monday for a week and I am sad that many will burst forth while I am away. Bob will be here until Friday, so if they do open he can be reminded of my love for him and my missing him!!

Maybe the warmth of this day will encourage the buds to begin opening. We have had very cold nights with ice on the car windows for the past several mornings. I think all of my rose babies are saying HEY what the heck??? And now that it is getting warmer they may want to come out and show their full beauty. So I will for sure post more pictures of them as they reveal themselves :) So you can enjoy one of God's greatest gifts to us...ROSES!!

What are little boys made of....

You know the poem...well I raised two GIRLS. These boys are a hoot and a half! Last week, while at my house, Garrett caught his first lizard. In Grandma Land that is quite a happening (hence the piccy). I am excited to be a part of all of the firsts in their little lives and catching a lizard is no exception. Not just because it is a first but also because I happen to like lizards. I did find out something I never knew...in God's perfect creation, He made lizard tails segmented, so when a predator bites at their tails, with intent of eating them, the tail breaks off. They grow new ones like we grow finger nails I guess. How did I find out about this amazing little detail in life? Well, I asked to hold the first ever caught a lizard. As I was showing Dillon how to hold it...it jumped. Having the OH SO QUICK reflexes I do, I caught the slimy creature partly by the tail. I say partly because had I had just the tail he would have escaped; Nope, he didn't get away but his tail did fall onto the ground where it continued to squiggle for several minutes. I suggested that maybe Dillon should try to hold the now detached tail at which point I heard a very squimish, "Ughhh" behind me. Seems my daughter was not too impressed that the tail came off and was making disco moves on the welcome mat!

Fast forward about three days to Sunday afternoon at our house. The Cuellar boys were visiting and yes all four boys went on a lizard hunt and sure enough Garrett caught another one. He put him in a little zippered case he had. Soon they also found a cricket to join their cold blooded friend. About an hour later Gare came in and told us he was a bit worried about his lizard because he had a scratch on his eye and in fact maybe his eye was poked out. Again I hear the now familiar, "Ughhh" from his mom. Aunt Boo went out to investigate (she loves gore) and came back to inform that the eye was still intact and it really looked like a scratch with "just a bit of blood".

We pretty much forgot about the lizard until it was time for the Shaw family to head home later that night. Nicole reminded Garrett to go out back and release his lizard into the yard. Out he went. He came back in and said the little lizard must be very tired `cause he wouldn't wake up. "Mommy, he is doing just what he did earlier when I put him on my arm. He just sat there and didn't move". Good lizard?? Trained? Scared? We adults exchanged looks of knowing the fate of the poor guy. Nicole ushered Garrett to the car assuring him Papa would wake the lizard up and let him go. Papa went to the patio to check on the ill fated reptile. It was deceased he came back and told us. I once again hear the now all too familiar, "Ughh". "What do we do now?" my daughter asks. "Go home" I told her.

Let's fast forward to Monday morning...OK truth, afternoon, I go out onto the back patio to water my flowers. As I take my third step I freeze...why is that little lizard not scurrying out of my way?? Because Men are still little boys, that's why! I was certain to thank my husband for confirming the death of the lizard and NOT disposing of his cold little body so I could almost step on it!! I am now considering letting it dry out completely and then mosaicking it...

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. ² There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? ³ When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.” - John 14:1-4

What a loving God we serve. He wants to spend eternity with us. That is so hard to really comprehend! But He does. He knows our hearts. He has given His Son to us so we can be with Him. He gave His word to us so we can be ready to join Him and so we can share His love with ALL who we know!

I pray this Easter day will bring you to a better understanding of the breadth of His love for you!

Bed Head...

Have you ever really noticed that when you first wake up your hair is is not happy about it? And then after a while it calms down and is OK? I am a bit perplexed by this actually. I got up this day and looked in the mirror and almost turned to stone...I really did look like Medusa. I HAD to get coffee and as I always do, I went straight for the coffee pot. Then to my puter to read the news and catch up on email and stuff. After coffee comes potty and so there I went. As I passed the mirror, I looked at my hair and it was a bit calmed down and really laying quite nicely. I have now deduced that hair needs coffee too in the mornings! I have to qualify and say that I still need to shower and wash my hair but I am very happy that it lays down after an hour or so of being out of bed. You know, in case of a fire or earthquake, the emergency workers will be spared the horror of finding Medusa in the rubble!!

There is one exception to this new revelation; Bob Okarma. His hair does not lay down, no matter how many cups of java he consumes or how long he is up. Lol! It sticks straight up, like Bart Simpson's. It is really very comical and instead of turning to stone when I look at it, I am instantly put into a happy mood :) Yes, simple mind, simple pleasures.

OK, that is my blog for this day. I didn't wake up this morning thinking. 'I am going to blog about my bed head'...it just happened!

Do you think Jesus ever had bed head? I mean, I know the man did not sleep much, really, but when He did, do you think his hair was a mess when He got up? And did He drink coffee? He was a man afterall, and well, God...so maybe no bed head or coffee...Just `sayin...

Make it a good day. Do something nice for someone.