Once again, I am cancelling a cruise (rather than making final payment).  It breaks my heart -- truly, the situation as a whole brings me down pretty hard.  The timing of the neighbors just returning from their cruise probably doesn't help my sadness on the whole thing.

Avery had her first dance recital last weekend.  She danced!  She wasn't over the top (we've all seen the viral videos of kids that get way into it), but she did her thing.  Speaking of which, wanna hear more about how poorly I juggle life lately?  I had it in my head that it was at a different high school auditorium.  We went to the wrong one -- which was also having a dance recital.  After a short period thinking "gosh, I don't recognize any of these people or costumes" we were enlightened and dashed out the door and 6 miles down the road with about 10 minutes to spare.  *smacks self*

The garden, which continues to be in individual containers, seems to be going well enough.  Even the tomato plant that fought it's way back from the brink of death a few times seems to be growing nicely.  The sweet 100s and the roma have started to develop fruit, but nothing turning just yet.  The carrots and turnips (both from seed) have gotten large enough that the second type/shape of leaf has started to form on each.  The potatoes look like they'll offer us a couple of meals.  There was a small pepper started but it has disappeared (glares around at the rabbits).  Basil (the third) and the mint are booming - so much so that I pulled and dried a small harvest of basil last night when I pulled some for an eggplant dish I was making.

Nothing else really to speak of other than work, which has me feeling exasperated all too often as of late.

Another sad example of how far I have devolved from being on top of things:  At 11am this morning my reminder went off on my phone that I was to be at a bridal shower at noon.  Oh crap.  Why didn't past me help future me out by setting a reminder the day before and for something earlier than an hour out?  Mind you, the event was nearly an hour away.  I dashed around getting myself and Avery dressed, slapped paper on the present (thank goodness I bought that a while ago) and we hit the road.  We managed to arrive a mere 10 minutes late, but dang.

This meant I didn't get the things done I wanted to today.  Not all of them anyhow.  I did get some done, which is why I am now completely exhausted.  There is some limoncello started and an ice batch of strawberry lemonade cooling in the fridge.  I also have some strawberry applesauce cooling on the counter at the moment.  To make myself feel a bit better I also got the vacuum out upstairs and down.  Here I sit for a minute with the massager on my lower back lamenting the end of my weekend and trying to get a bit of reading done for work.

Tomorrow is Avery's dress rehearsal for her first (and perhaps last) dance recital.  We haven't practiced.  It's my fault.  Fingers crossed for the event.

Somehow I have already been back to work for two weeks.  I have not, in that time, gotten basics achieved like I should - like cleaning and organizing.  I have had a few minor wins though.

I finally got a few more pictures up on the dining room wall - I mean, it's only been a year since everything was painted, what do you want from me?  I snagged a few sturdy shelves to help facilitate some organizing in the basement and put them together.  I also got prints of Avery's school photos and slid them into cards which got mailed out to my aunts and uncles.

I also got some gardening related things achieved, including getting some quick to grow seeds planted.  I already see sprouts from the lettuce and radishes starting.  Still waiting to see the carrots, which would be super fun if we got those to grow.  Today we snagged some pepper plants and yet another basil plant.  I say yet another because... I had two basil plants started from clippings that were doing well that both suddenly died off at the same time.  I assumed the cat was messing with it.  I bought another plant and hid it away in my bathroom while I was on vacation to avoid the cat issue.  It didn't come back out of the bathroom but it too has decided to die.  It never did start getting any bigger.  This time -- new soil for sure and in a pot outside instead.  The tomato plant that Zero tried to destroy early on was growing nicely but then something dug in the soil breaking off some roots and it looks like it is on life support right now.  If it continues to grow this plant is a miracle.

Today we also went and picked strawberries at a local farm and hit the local pool for the first time this season.  Yeah, I should be cleaning etc, but I sure prefer doing the fun stuff with the kid.  May as well while we still can right?

After more than two years, I finally had a real vacation.  It wasn't a cruise, but it was nice - I didn't take my work laptop!  Avery and I joined up with my sister S and we went to Texas to visit our sister J for a week and two days.  We did a wee bit of shopping, way too much eating, and did a bit of touristy stuff.

In no order whatsoever, we went to the Fort Worth Zoo, and yes we saw the baby elephant and baby giraffe.  We went to the stockyards and watched the cattle drive, and poked into Billy Bob's for a drink.  We hit a playground... and more.  My sister snagged a bike off of the marketplace, so Avery was ripping it up and down the driveway.  If we had another week we prb could have taken off the training wheels.  It was pretty darn (unseasonably) warm (high 90s) while we were there, up until the last day when it dropped to the 60s.

When I got back this afternoon I found that my lawn was not tended to as I had anticipated... so I launched into emergency mode.  I mowed what I could before the mower batteries died (that at least covered the front) and then ran the weed eater over most of the back yard to get the bulk of it cut back.  I raked and filled a large garbage can.  I will mow to even things out and address the high spots in a day or two, but I did buy myself some time.

From there I had to hurry to cook some frozen chicken and french fries, per Avery's request, and dive through the shower before running to dance class.  They FINALLY got her dress for the recital, so we had to be in make up and ready to get the outfit on for pics.

Church is super happy to see us.  I had someone coming to see and play with him each day as they tended to him.  The dogs come back from camp in the morning.  I am whooped.  It's been a very long day.  But I do want to cuddle with the kittie while the dogs (read:  Zero) aren't here to make this harder to do.

Shady AF.  I'm going to add this to the list of times where actually HAVING health coverage (or dental in this case) actually results in shit costing more.

When you get a statement of benefits that indicates several hundred dollars as "This provider has agreed to not bill you for the difference between the PROVIDER'S CHARGE and the ALLOWANCE for this service" but they sure as hell DID charge you that several hundred dollars you would think that the insurance company would want to know.

Nope, instead they said "that is between you and your dentist".  Seems a little fraudy to me.

Happy mother's day to all!  Avery and I were up early this morning to go to church.  We were out to celebrate my niece Kate's college graduation last night, making it impossible to make that check in yesterday.  It looks like things are warming up, but the yard is pretty darn soaked, so I am not sure I can mow.  I guess that means I might have to just chill in the hot tub while Avery plays on the swing set.

I am trying hard to relax a bit an back off of the crazy amount of extra work.  This bought me the time -- and miraculously the motivation -- to do a little bit of sorting and tidying yesterday morning.  Avery's downstairs books have all headed up stairs and her games are now in the bookshelf area of her toy box.  Several kitchen cabinets were pulled, cleaned, and sorted.  I pulled the last of the little kiddo stuff from there.  Progress!

At last I have 3 sweet 100, 1 sun sweet orange, and a 1 roma tomato plants.  I got them into the pots on Saturday night.  I am hurrying to type "have" instead of "had" because of the crazy-ass dog.  I may need to bring them up on the deck so I can keep a better eye, at least until they're larger -- but that definitely makes watering a bit more complicated.

I did have the buckets up on the retaining wall to keep them out of reach of said crazy-ass dog.  But when the rains came in on Sunday I wanted them under cover (under the deck).  I did set up chairs and a small barrier around them in an attempt to deter.  This morning I went out and saw the sun sweet orange was plucked from the bucket.  I knew it wasn't a rabbit or other animal... I know who is to blame.  So I searched the yard and found it half decimated.  It is back in the pot, but my hopes are low.  Thanks for eating the equivalent of a $5 bill crazy-ass.

I never did get anything else planted.  The onions and chives I attempted to grow died off.  It is most definitely too late to start anything else from seed.

As of yesterday the cat no longer wants to leave his room and will jump out of my arms in order to stay upstairs.  I have no idea what happened that I missed... but I am none to pleased and can only assume that the crazy-ass dog did something that now has Church leery.  He is still walking with his tail straight up and looking confident, he is willing to play and remains lovey with me -- so I at least don't think it is that he isn't feeling well.

On Friday morning Saffy had me up in the wee hours to the sound of vomiting and again an hour later.  They say nothing gets you out of bed faster, but I still wasn't quick enough and had to clean up a spot on the carpet both times.  I was half asleep when the third round began a mere half an hour before my alarm was set to go off, so I managed to jump up in time.  At that point I decided to stay up -- and fortunately that was the end of the issues.

While my day off fell short I tried to make up for things today.  I did get a load of laundry done -- don't ask if I am going to have the motivation to get it away tonight -- and the lawn mowed and weed-eaten.  The kid once again blew my mind.  When I pulled out the weed eater she told me to be careful and made mention of the baby bird from last spring that had fallen from the nest... one I didn't see before weed eating.  I had forgotten, now I am heartbroken once again.

Now I am getting to sit with the kiddo while we watch Noah, which she received on DVD for Easter.  She seems to be as enthralled as she was last year, which is awesome.

I have nothing figured out for the weekend.  I am sure I will work a little... which in 2 hours would mean I didn't need a single hour of vacation this week despite having had 2 full days off scheduled.  The weather was finally decent again today.  I'm almost afraid to look at the forecast for the weekend.  I can hope that there will be some time outside relaxing and perhaps a dip in the hot tub while kiddo plays.

Fooey.  I was waiting to hear I needed new tires for inspection.  We even found a good deal on the tires in advance - but not the case.  Instead 1k for new brakes.  Oh and the leaking washer fluid is the pump; to the tune of another couple 100.

I opted to not fix the switch that causes the turn signal to trigger the other direction when it kicks off to avoid that 300 bill.

I am off with kiddo today; we were supposed to go do something fun with her bestie.  That too was up-ended.  As she tells the story she found a bead on the floor by one of the classrooms yesterday.  She gave it to her bestie, who put it in his ear.  Long story short they were at medexpress and then childrens overnight to get it out.  Needless to say they are tired and the trip into the burgh for a museum or something is scratched.

While a bad day at sea always beats a day at work... the vacation days I get to take lately sure don't fare as well.

We did have another visit with the Easter Bunny at our favorite consignment shop.  This photo is epic, one we will -- for sure -- share with her boyfriend someday.  She didn't cry, but sitting on his lap was definitely displeasing.

Our weather finally warmed up this week.  I still have nothing growing.  I did plant some onions and chives, but what came up died off -- I am blaming the cat.  I will be snagging plants from the hardware shop as soon as I spot them there.  I'm wondering if I need to get more buckets and grow a little more this year.  Ya know, when they toss about the word famine it seems appropriate.

Work hours remain long.  I do have a couple of days off in the next week, which is coming at a decent time in the grand scheme of the mayhem, but I doubt I'll be charging much to my vacation number as I am getting extra time in in advance.

Of course on the one weekday I was forced to waste some of that day off with a car dealership appointment.  My washer fluid was reading near empty a few weeks back, so I stopped and added a gallon.  I saw some of it on the garage floor and I just knew.  Needless to say the friggin light is back on.  I'm due for inspection too, so at least I can deal with both at the same time, but daggum that's annoying.

It's cold.  It's been pretty cold ever since my last post.  Snow even showed its face on April 1.  Things really need to warm back up.  I didn't get plants going yet, honestly, it's too cold to find the motivation to do it.  I did however get all of the items that needed mending addressed here today.

We had a pretty busy weekend.  There wasn't a day I got to roll back over, instead the alarm went off at the weekday time on both Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday we headed out early to get to the Easter egg hunt at my sister's church in Beaver Falls.  While it is cold, it was at least sunny and not frigid.  Avery came home with yet more goodies to pile into her junk food bag piled on top of the fridge.  There was a side trip to a place called Kraynaks which had lots of interesting items to shop and a lovely walk through Easter display.  We also had some ice cream at a neat little shop there.

Today we were up to get to church.  After making breakfast we went to see the Easter Bunny at our favorite consignment store.  4 years later and I'm still getting photos of Avery frowning and trying to crawl off of that rabbit's lap.  When we returned I finished that mending I mentioned and now -- here I am, tired, but I have so many other things to tend to.

Last week Avery and I got our hair cut one night and the next morning the mobile groomer came to get the dogs freshened up.  That of course expedites the massive shedding.  I took my time vacuuming towards the end of the week and doubled the amount of crud dumped from the vacuum bin but the house is still a mess.  I've been working my share of long hours still.  It takes its toll in multiple ways.

Parts of the yard have grass starting to grow, heralding summer.  Only in the back yard, as always -- one area tends to require attention before the entire lawn is ready for mowing.  Our weather has been pretty decent, but it is to turn cold and potentially snow again this weekend.  As the sky turned white and the temps plummeted I got the first pass with the lawn mower checked off.  I got back in just before drops started appearing on the windows.

The time has been flying.  I continue to work longer days and on the weekends.  I do look forward to my Friday night when I relax with the kiddo and get to cuddle watching videos in bed while she falls asleep.

I caved and dropped my taxes at H&R Block after running my own guestimates on their online goodies.  They more than earned their keep.  I was guestimating a significantly smaller amount back and the token couple of bucks owed to PA.  Turns out they multiplied my guestimate by 5 and got me a couple hundred back from PA!  THAT is a first.  I don't know why I didn't know that putting money into a 529 for the kiddo had such benefits.  The crappy thing is their online tool does base some of the questions off of your previous year's details, but still it appears you have to be aware of things and hunt them out to get it right.

I also got my temporary crown earlier this week.  The process itself wasn't awful, but the anxiety that I have about the dentist, the drill, and the gosh awful smell came along with me to that appointment and had me twitching and in tears before he touched me.  It is pretty remarkable that it doesn't feel different to chew or close your jaw -- but there is a little bit of 'feeling' at the bottom that I certainly hope won't be there when the perm one is place.  At least for that they need not numb me so I will be able to provide this type of feedback.

I tested Zero by (inadvertently) leaving him out while I ran to pick up fish fry today.  I did discover the banana he jacked form the counter and partially ate.  *shakes head*  I know it took years to get some of the sibes to the point where I knew I could trust them out of the crate when I was gone, so I shouldn't be surprised.  Maybe my expectations are too high.  It's best to lock him up just to give Saffy and Church a break.  That's one thing I can't tell when I return, but neither one of them flipped me the middle paw when I returned.

I booked flights to visit my sister in Texas, thus making this a banner week.  It was definitely a long week, so I needed that boost.  It is remarkable what having something to look forward to can do for you.

I needed that boost because my visit to the dentist earlier this week was less than desired.  So one of the molars with a filling in the middle has a piece missing and they are concerned with the whole thing crumbling.  Hence, I am sentenced to a crown -- and not the kind I deserve.  I'm not thrilled.  I am such a bad dental patient.  I'd rather go under for a colonoscopy or frozen shoulder treatment again.  Hell, those things were cheaper too - so I guess in a way I am getting routed up the rear like a colonoscopy.

I need to get a good night's rest so I can try to finish my taxes.  I may do them myself this year as to avoid the $300+ fee from HR Block.  It just makes me anxious.