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Ahhhh. May. The month of steady sunshine, planting gardens and a nagging desire to take a trip to the beach. It is also the month of my wedding anniversary. Tomorrow, the 3rd, will mark five years of marriage for me and hub.

Wow. Five years. Seems unreal. The first year of our marriage was spent apart. He was in Iraq fighting the war. The second was more like most people's first, I think. The third year was the year from hell. We came so close to splitting up that year. It seemed that we couldn't get along to save our lives. My depression came back. He drank a lot. But things got better. After we walked up to the edge and looked over and realized that if we jumped there would be no looking back, we made it work. We tried harder. We tried to remember why we even liked each other to begin with. And now, after five years, I look back at our relationship and it just keeps surprising me.

You know, marriage is a bitch. Let's just be honest. Some days are wonderful. Some days you just want to rip each other's throats out. And it keeps on changing. He wants to believe that some day I will change my mind about not wanting to have kids. I want to believe that some day he will quit acting like a pouting 12 year old every time he has to mow the yard. Sometimes the seven year age difference makes me wonder what the hell I was thinking. Sometimes I realize that the immaturity is exactly what I need, being that I am sort of a kid myself.

It all comes down to this...... It is what it is. Marriage is like every other thing in life. Sometimes it's great. Sometimes it sucks. And there is one thing for certain, we can never know what tomorrow will bring until we get there. So here's to life and a five year anniversary. Have yourself a drink tomorrow in my honor. But don't get too wild. ;)



*photo from la la lovely.

April Showers

Hello again friends. I hope that you all had a beautiful Easter weekend, whether you celebrate the holiday or not. The weather here was gorgeous. Saturday was spent at the motocross track. Sunday has been spent with family. Quite nice, indeed.

I thought I would share a few more photos of the flowers around my house. We are right now wrapping up the month of April. Unbelievable, right? And I am hoping that all these showers we have had are going to bring a bounty of May flowers.


By the way...... I just want to say "thank you" for being such great blog friends. Some of you have left the most thoughtful, supportive, kind comments for me lately and I truly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. You guys are the greatest and, if I could, I would send every one of you a huge bouquet of the prettiest spring flowers to brighten your day like you brighten mine.

xoxo ~Jo~ xoxo

Confirmed

I mentioned this little quote to my husband recently. He thought it was a bunch of crap. Apparently, my husband is not a nice person.

I've been busy with family stuff lately. The last of the hubby's great-grandparents died over the weekend. I've been in dress clothes for two days straight. Thank goodness I can get back to a pair of jeans and a tank top tomorrow.

Just dropping in to say hello. Hope your week is going well.



*thanks again, Jen, for the great quotes. Bits of Truth

High Hopes

One of these days, my friends, I hope to be able to build a house of my very own. A nice little cozy home. With plenty of windows and a hella security system. A smooth, green yard. Flowers and vegetables. A porch out front and a patio in the back, with a big fire pit. Maybe some rock work. Maybe an art studio. A bright kitchen and an open floor plan.

But there is one thing that will not be found in my happy little home. And that thing is shower doors. I HATE THEM!!!! I loath those sons of beaches from the bottom of my heart. As if cleaning the damn bathtub wasn't difficult enough! Let's add shower doors! Being forced to clean a bathtub with shower doors has to be a form of torture in some societies. I mean, come on. I'm not going for martyrdom here. I'm just trying to keep the house clean.

So, here's my list so far.

Things That I DO NOT Want in My House:

*spiders
*snakes
*pornography
*prostitutes
*shower doors

Yep, that pretty much covers it.

Ring Envy

It's been a loooooong time since I have made a Ring Envy post. Those of you who have been around for a while already know that I have a little thing for rings. Odd, being that I hardly ever wear rings. But let's not dwell on that fact.

I have seriously been lusting after these Stand Firm rings from Rosy Revolver for quite some time now. The two unfortunate things about this little love affair are that A. all of Jess's jewels get sold as soon as she lists them and B. they cost a tad bit more than I want to let go of at one whack. That is not to say that they are too expensive. On the contrary, they are nicely priced for such a beautiful festoon made by such talented hands. I'm just not real good at spending money; especially on clothes, shoes or jewelry. Don't make fun.

With all that said, I think I am going to start saving a dollar here and there (and count my change) to buy myself one of these rings. You see, my loves..... this is not just any ol' ring. This is a talisman. A reminder. A secret source of courage. This is a Stand Firm ring. A ring which proclaims boldly on the face in Latin "Don't let the bastards grind you down."

tee hee hee! Now you want one, too, don't you?

Who the What?

So....... I've been reading back over my own blog this evening. Why do this, you ask? I really don't know. It just seemed like a good idea. But I am glad that I just wasted a few hours doing it, because I learned a few things.

I learned that there are a lot of things about me that you really don't know. Maybe it's best that way. Maybe not.

I learned that I crack myself up. My sense of humor runs a tad bit on the snarky side. And, honestly, I keep it pretty reserved on this blog. I actually have a pretty dirty sense of humor and I clean it up a good dose for all of you and omit several choice words.

I learned that you may think that my life at home is way better than it actually is. I'm not divulging any details on that one, but suffice it to say that things are not nearly as damn rosy as I have probably made them out to be. I don't tell you about the holes in the cabinets from me throwing things or the fact that me and the hubby do NOT always get along like peas and carrots. You know about the depression, but you do not know that I used to daydream about hurting myself. Why tell you that? I don't know. Maybe someone needs to know that there IS a frigging rainbow on the other side of the storm.

I learned that I feel better! Holy wow! No kidding. I hadn't really thought about it lately. You know how I'm always talking about how tired I am and how I feel like crap pretty much all the time? Yeah. I don't feel as much like that since I quit working at the shop. As a matter of fact, the last three times that I tried taking a nap, I couldn't! I am blowing my own mind with this one. News Flash: THE SHOP WAS LITERALLY KILLING ME!!!!!!

I learned that I talk a whole lot about art and inspiration and projects and such, but then I never show you what I am talking about. Actually, I tend to not follow through on a lot of things. It still shocks me that I even blog. I have NEVER kept a diary in my entire life. I just can't commit to writing on a regular basis. Which is also odd because I love to write. ( I also learned that I apologize way too much for not blogging regularly.)

So, loves. I just thought I would fill you in on that little revelation. Oh, yes. And the fact that I have been working with my brother for the past week. And I haven't taken one single nap! or even wanted to! I'm sorry, but I just can't get over it. Now if we could fix my girl parts and make sure that I never have a depression relapse, I would be cured!!!! Hells to the yizzeah!

Well, I feel better about life. Thanks for listening. And as always, Hugs and Sunshine to YOU ALL. Every single one of you. :)

Spring Fever

"It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"
~Mark Twain


I ran across this quote the other day and felt that it perfectly put into words the feeling that I get every time the sun pokes through the clouds. I get that ache in my heart every spring. And what a beautiful ache it is.

Happy weekend to you all. I hope the sun decides to shine wherever you are.