Update!

So, the word on the street is that everyone is tired of looking at the turtles on our blog. I don't blame you one bit!

Things have been pretty busy at our house. We got back from vacation about two weeks ago. We went to Atlanta for a few days and then on to Savannah to finish out our trip. While in Atlanta, we saw our favorite group the Dave Matthews Band. We had great seats. Little did we know that we needed to take into account Atlanta's 5:00p.m. traffic while trying to get to the show. The traffic was insane. We survived and are very thankful that all we really have to deal with is Hardy Street! Anyways, we also went to Stone Mountain. It was Shawn's first time to see it. It is still amazing for me to see it...no matter how many times I have been. We were able to drive by my mom's old house. She lived in the city of Stone Mountain when she was a teenager. It was pretty cool to check out her old running grounds!

After two nights in Atlanta we went on to Savannah. It was absolutely beautiful. It only rained once and that was the last night we were there. We went on four different tours...two history tours and two ghost tours(two of which we on a horse-drawn carriage). I am still shocked I agreed to go on the ghost tours. I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to things like that. I really enjoyed them, though. It is amazing how much history is in Savannah. We saw many of the Forrest Gump landmarks and other famous places while there. It would be absolutely impossible to actually list all of the things we saw!

The day before we headed home, we drove out to Tybee Island. I think that was the first time we both saw the Atlantic Ocean. While on the island, we went to Fort Pulaski. There was even an alligator swimming in the moat!.

While we were on vacation, Shawn's chest was bothering him pretty bad on his left side. It hurt him to look over his shoulder while driving, to sneeze and to take a deep breath (not all at once). The day after we got home, I made him (I'm mean!) go to Immediate Care to get it checked out. They did x-rays and the whole 9 yards. Turns out he had pleurisy! There really isn't much they could do about it. He just had to keep taking anti-inflammatories. It finally cleared up earlier last week. Thank goodness!

** Y'all wanted pictures, so y'all got pictures! Enjoy!

The Turtle

I walked outside this morning(by morning i mean 1 o'clock) to let the dogs out, and Gus found this turtle...which he hates. It looked like it might be laying some eggs, so i took some pictures of it to send to my brother-in-law, Chris, who studies gopher turtles, to see what kind of turtle it is. They turned out pretty good....

Doghouse/suite

The dogs now have an outside cozy abode along with their inside cozy abode. A couple of weeks ago, Shawn decided to undertake the project of building a doghouse serving as shelter during hot summers and shelter during stormy weather. Though there were definitely some lessons learned through the process, Shawn did an excellent job! Kudos Shawn! Now, I just need to paint it...give it a little flair as some would say!

a.ka. "Betsy" Crocker

Well, I have officially baked my first dish as a married woman! Hootie hoo! As most of you know, I am not the most seasoned chef. I decided today at work that I wanted to bake something "different" with our abundant blueberries from the backyard. It is called a Blueberry Bubble Loaf (loaf is such an ugly word, by the way). I twisted the recipe up a bit and it turned out well. It is loaded with blueberries, brown sugar, biscuits and BUTTER!! I was even brave enough to send some of it to work with Shawn to share with the guys. Aren't I sweet?

Glorioso lily

So of you may or may not have heard us question this strange plant in our back yard. At the beginning of spring this year, a strange "creature" began to emerge from the ground. We watched it and watched it. We were thinking at first it was one of those weird weeds, but then we began to think otherwise. It has been such fun watching it grow into a beautiful flower. Aunt Jean told us a few weeks ago it was a Glorioso Lily. So, I had to Google it that night and find out as much as I could about this lily. Apparently, it is pretty rare and not very tempermental....that's my kind of plant. Hope y'all will enjoy the pics!

Spring "fever"

Spring is one of the best times of the year...if only it lasted longer. We have continued to keep ourselves busy around the house. All of our new plants are getting accustomed to their new homes. The azalea blooms have come and gone. They were absolutely beautiful. For about a week, we worked at trimming the azaleas back and clearing some undergrowth. Well, about a week ago, Shawn had to be at work early and I decided to work on some of the trimming by myself after work...which is usually no biggie. While I was going to town hauling branches and leaves, chiggers were going to town on my arms and legs. I just thought they were mosquito bites until my legs began to swell. Insect bites have never really bothered me. I guess since I got so many bites so quickly, I had a huge reaction. To make a long story short, my legs swelled like crazy. I had to have a steroid shot, tripled up on antihistamines and slathered myself in ointment. Now I look like I just got over a case of chicken pox. Oh well!

Spring Projects

Now that the weather has begun to work in our favor, we have have been busy as bees. We have been doing small projects around the house. I "revamped" a breakfast cart by putting a mosaic on the top part of it. It was a bit tedious, but it turned out well. Shawn has thoroughly enjoyed using his chainsaw to clear out some of the Katrina debris closer to the pond. With plenty of begging, he finally let me try out the chainsaw. Don't get me wrong, I loved having the power to chop down trees, but I'll stick to clippers or a hand-saw for the smaller stuff. I was definitely overwhelmed. Chainsaw -- no more, for me.
As most of you know, our grass got about knee-high over a two-month span. One small problem...the old lawnmower wasn't very motivated to tackle the grass this year. Needless to say, we ended up buying a new riding lawn mower. Shawn has tackled the massive front yard and it is beautiful. I have only sat on the new addition, but have yet to attend Shawn's Mowers Ed seminar. I'm sure it won't be long before I am out there with my straw hat riding around the yard.