Spring Cleaning Part II

Well - Mom and I worked on the front of the house today - what a mess! For whatever reason our yard is a garbage collection area... (My Mom also did cleaning in the house too...insane~)

So - some "before" pictures...

The front side yard and neighbors driveway - you can see the plastic bag stuck to a weed.

The front porch and the more of the front side yard.

Lots of matted down leaves, dog POOP!, and just yuckiness...

I was out there for about 2 & 1/2 hours, Mom lasted for 1 - the sun was quite warm.

The following picture is the one thing that I had to get out of there - a pricker bush that has gotten far too much of my blood in the past...Of course I had forgotten to take the picture before I started - but at this point it was just clipped back and I'd just gone around it a couple of times with the shovel and fork. It took me about 40 minutes - I broke the craftsman shovel. Lifetime warranty though, so I'll bring it back tomorrow to Sears.


The following pictures are the "after" shots.

The Cedars, the Smoke Tree, and Hydrangea
all have been uncovered and cleaned up

The Wegalia bushes are all cleaned out

The border is back up and everything is cleaned out...

Now I just have to wait for mother nature to get cranking...the lilys and tulips are poking their heads out...

Next week - the BACKYARD!

Spring Cleaning

My mom has been spring cleaning my house for the last week. She's not up to full strength yet, but every day she gets another cupboard or drawer completely cleaned out. I love it! I have a hard time cleaning after working all day long and at night sometimes I am so stressed out that I can't imagine cleaning (thoroughly) I don't mind vacuuming and dusting but the full on cleaning out stuff - not on my list of things to do.....

So..onto the spring cleaning that I do like to do - Playing in the mud! I'm going to take before and after pictures of my poor yard - you'll have to see if I got enough work done. There are pricker bushes that I am so incredibly tired of getting stuck by - so I'm going to tear those buggers out. I'll be a sweaty, muddy woman, but it will be way worth it....

So - look tomorrow for pictures of yard...

Dominoes = Insanity

About 5 weeks ago I was taught how to decorate a domino. Sounds innocuous, innocent, fun...Yep it was except that I fell in love with it. I bought a ton of stuff right after learning and a box of dominoes - the double 9's from Walmart. There are 55+/- dominoes in a box of double 9's and I decorated 28 that night and my friends decorated the rest.

I think it only took me a few days to buy a Double 12 box - 91 dominoes - they are all decorated but 11.

You're probably wondering what on earth one would do with a decorated domino...Let me show you some of my finished dominoes...

Pins

Pendants

Keychains

I love making these - and I have wonderful friends who help me and give me ideas. If you are interested in any of them, please let me know - you can send a comment my way. Or you can email me at mishi_math AT yahoo DOT com. We've also made keychains for the Autism walk and have them on sale at Dr. Pinto's office in Utica - Genesee Street. If you are interested in those please let me know. And...my sister-in-law does the 24 Hour Relay for Life every year and we are going to make keychains, pendants and pins to sell and raise money.

Anyway - it is insanity - I just bought a Double 15 set - Woo Hooo - more ideas every minute!

15 Minutes

There is a saying in Upstate NY - "if you don't like the weather wait 15 minutes".

It was beautiful yesterday - blue skies and lots of sun. It was still chilly out, but with the sun it was wonderful. Mom and I walked about a mile in the early afternoon and then at 4:30 I decided that I had to have another walk. I have learned that if I have a goal - as in a place to go - I'll walk a lot further. So - I decided to go to Joann's and buy some satin cording for my dominoes. (That is another story!) Well that walk was a 4.5 mile one and it was wonderful. The air was crisp, the sky shockingly blue and the birds were chirping up a storm.

And then...I woke up this morning to snow. Yep - SNOW! but thank goodness it's just a dusting and it's supposed to get warmer throughout this week. I hope so... Oh wait - I just have to wait 15 Minutes!

C'mon Spring! You can do it!

Wishful thinking....

Spring...



...it feels like it's coming....



...these pictures are just a lot of wishful thinking...


I was looking through my pictures and thinking about camping. All of these pictures were taken near Seneca Lake over the last few years. I've made camping reservations already for July 4th weekend. Can't wait! I'm going to head to Taughannock Falls on my first day - to scope out the camping sites for later in the summer or next year - and to hike the trails there.

Hefner's in Syracuse

Jerry Berdan (from Quigsey and the Bird and me)

My friend Ash and I went to Syracuse yesterday, Hefner's Restaurant specifically. Hefner's has Quigsy and the Bird there every year for St. Patrick's Parade day and St. Patrick's day. Ash and I know "the Bird", Jerry Berdan, because we both worked with him for years. Jerry and Quigs have been playing Irish music for a long time together - and they are a staple for St. Patrick's day partiers.

This was the first time I had a chance to see Jerry play and sing - they are really good, of course the bar atmosphere with all the drinking made it difficult to hear them at times - but it was great fun to see them in action.

Hefner's has great food - Ash and I both had Haddock Jake - very excellent!

And me being an "old fart" we left there at 9:30 and we were home at 10:30! I don't do crowds well and the Syracuse game started and it was PACKED! I don't do crowds well either.

Seth Horan Part II

The first time I heard/saw Seth Horan play was in 2001/2002 at Virgo Bat & Leo Phrog's on Genesee Street in Utica. He plays a bass guitar and sings - and does it in a way that it just unforgettable. He manages to get notes out of that bass that I've never thought possible AND the way he plays it sounds as though he has percussion as well.

Every time that Seth was in town after that first meeting I went to hear him play - well as often as school and work would allow. I bought all of his CD's and even had a couple of email conversations with him. Yes, this is leading somewhere....

The last time I went to see him, he had van trouble in NYC (or in that vicinity) and didn't make it. I haven't had the opportunity to see him again in 4+/- years. He got married, lives in Vegas, is all over Europe playing and it just didn't happen.

Then last night...he finished playing. I went over and said, "I don't know if you remember me?" and he said he did and gave me a big hug. Now I will admit that I figured he "thought" he remembered me but just figured he was saying yes... But, he really remembered me, it meant a lot to me. He mentioned the email address/yahoo id that I used to email him from and it stunned me. This isn't about "he remembered me", this is about what a genuine, talented, very nice man that Seth is, and how that really comes across in what he sings and plays.

I sincerely hope for the best for Seth and his wife. They are moving to California soon.

Here are a couple of places to look for information on Seth and hear some of his music.
Reverb Nation - with some of his songs

Wiki information on Seth

These following songs are newer ones and mellow compared to Something Pretty and Conduit. I love the second one, I heard it for the first time last night. I hope you enjoy!







This one isn't the full song, but it shows how he can get a lot of sound out of the bass.

Seth Horan

Tramontane cafe - my favorite place in Utica with my favorite bass
player.

This is the life!

I'm jealous of my cat. There, I said it! Einstein gets to sleep on my bed all day, all night, he's fed whenever he wants food, he gets treats when he asks nicely, he is petted and coddled to no end and he comes and goes as he pleases. I love the furball to death - but I am mightily envious of his lot in life. Especially since it is really, really, really cold out this morning, 9 Degrees - with a windchill below 0 and the high of 15 today. But that being said, the sun is shining and the sky is blue.

I'm trying to figure out camping times for this summer. Would love to go July 4 weekend - but not sure if I can swing the time off. Camping for less than three nights is no fun!