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I was laying in bed this morning thinking about how I was going to do a Mother’s Day post, what I’d say, etc. Oddly, the dogs let me sleep until 8:15! Hubby must have told them it was Mother’s Day and that they should “let Mama sleep in.” (Only the dogs call me “Mama.” I’m “Mom” to the human kids.)

When I logged on to the Internet (Google is my homepage), I saw that Amy had a Blog post I had to read. Of course, I got all teary-eyed at that one.

Then I saw that Shannon had a blog post, too. I got all teary-eyed there, too, not because the post was super-mushy or anything, but because I miss her.

Then Hubby got out of bed and gave me the card Amy had mailed and he intercepted. Yep… teary-eyed again.

Jeez…

So I STILL haven’t managed a post for my Moms. That’s plural because I am lucky enough to have two Moms. A Mom that gave birth to me and a Mom I inherited when I married Hubby. She’s not the mean, vindictive, stereotypical, you’re-not-good-enough-for-my-son kind of Mom.

I started looking through old Blog posts for pictures and I discovered I actually have a sort of recent shot with both Moms in it. Handy, eh?

Here’s another picture of my Mom, which I posted on her last birthday.

And one of my mother-in-law from her last birthday.

Now that everyone knows who you are and what you both look like… HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!

Thank you both for all that you do and for being such good Moms. I’m lucky to have both of you.

For about a nanosecond, I contemplated posting pics of all the other Moms I know, but I knew I’d end up leaving someone out. So I’ll just say, Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms I know.

The job is a tough one at times, especially when they are young and you really have to be a parent, but it gets much easier and much more rewarding with age.

Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

This video is an example of K waking me up.

She does this EVERY day.

Some days, she is more vocal than others.

This video was shot on one of her more vocal days. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…

[youtube B4i7nbXM2rQ 480 385]

If I didn’t think it was so darn cute, I’d be really pissed off.

Hubby gets up at 5:00 AM on weekdays. Why K can’t survive without me past about 6:40 every day I’ll never know…

It was a pretty quiet weekend at the WV place. Not that I mind quiet, it just doesn’t make for a very entertaining Monday morning blog post.

I did get a couple of good nature images on Saturday while enjoying my morning stroll with the dogs.

If you look closely at the image provided above, you can just barely see the last of the Redbud flowers barely clinging on. The tree is now mostly covered with leaves. But they’re heart-shaped, which I think is pretty cool.

At first glance, you might find this picture of green leaves boring. But I like it, because it captures the early-morning light as it barely kisses the edge of the leaves. It reminds me of the quiet. All you hear in the morning is a few birds chirping here and there, maybe a cricket or two, and the dogs walking through the leaves. Off in the distance, I might hear a cow lowing, or even a rooster crowing. Saturday, I even heard a wild turkey gobbling not too far off in the woods. Lucky for that turkey the girls don’t understand what “gobble, gobble, gobble” means. And, yes, wild turkeys sound just like domestic turkeys.

Speaking of wild turkeys, here are a couple of shots from earlier this year. They’re not very clear, unfortunately, because it was pretty foggy, rainy and dark when I shot them, but it’ll show those who have never seen a wild turkey what one looks like.

There was some excitement yesterday. Well, okay, it wasn’t really “exciting,” but at least it’s something out of the ordinary to report. We had a spa day!

All of the girls needed a haircut, but Belle was especially in need. She gets this really fuzzy-looking fur I’ve been told is a spay coat. CeCe used to get it, too. It’s not very attractive, so we try to keep Belle trimmed.

Belle is VERY good when it comes to getting her hair done, which is why you’ll see an action photo of her and not the other girls. Meg is too impatient and K is not used to us giving her a trim, so she was a tad freaked out.

Afterward, I tried to get a nice shot of the three of them. But they really are like kids. YOU try getting three dogs to sit still and look at the camera at one time.

And, for the final dog shot…

This one is actually from last weekend when just Brianna and I were at the WV place with the dogs. I was busily packing up the truck, getting ready to leave, and noticed that there was not even one dog on my heels. That is highly unusual. I looked behind me into the garage. No dogs. I looked into the backyard. No dogs.

“Girls?” I said. No dogs.

That when I noticed I’d left the truck door open. And sure enough, that’s where they were.

Having dogs is so much like having kids. Really. This isn’t a great shot, but at least you can see them sitting in the truck. I didn’t tell them to get in there. We were nowhere near ready to leave. They were just making sure they didn’t get left behind.

I hope you have a fabulous week!

Nothing at all of interest has happened around here over the past few days, so I am just going to share some pictures.

But first, I just gotta say, we’ve had some strange weather of late. As I reported here previously, back in early April we were treated to a spate of days with temperatures in the 80s. Since then, it’s been much cooler and far more Spring-like, which is fine by me. I HATE it when we go from bitter cold winters right into sweat-inducing temperatures. Last night, however, we regressed to Winter.

I turned our heat off weeks ago (when it’s 80+, who needs heat?). So my poor Hubby has been walking around dressed in sweatshirts, sweat pants and a baseball hat to stay warm. About a week ago, he put the big, heavy comforter back on our bed because it’s been rather chilly at night. Again, that’s fine by me.

However, when I checked the weather last night and saw the low was predicted to be 30 degrees, I finally decided to switch the heat back on. But, get this, temperatures this weekend are supposed to be in the mid- to upper-80s. I may actually get to play soccer in shorts this week instead of long pants and long sleeves.

Now, for those pics I promised. (NOTE: if you click on an image, you’ll get to see a larger, clearer image.)

I took this picture on Sunday just before we left the WV place (see the remote in my hand?).

It’s been quite colorful around here. Remember the honeysuckle I’ve posted about numerous times?

Aren’t those cool-looking flowers? The plant is LOADED with buds, too. But you probably won’t be seeing nearly as many pictures of the flowers as you might expect because of this…

So I might be seeing this soon. (If that link doesn’t work, it’s because of a Flick permissions issue.)

The azaleas, though small, are particularly vibrant right now, what with all the foliage in the yard being so green. The seven truckloads of new mulch Hubby spread around last week also make things look fresh, too.

It was quite nice of this bumble bee to pop in and pose for me, eh?

The Virginia Bluebells are a repeat from my last post. They are not in my yard. But I love the colors in this shot, especially with all the pink pics I have in this post.

The next two shots are from my favorite shrub. It’s a variegated weigela. These are extremely slow-growing. I provided that link so you’d get a description of the plant. If you buy one of these in a four-inch pot, you will be VERY disappointed. I’d recommend buying at least a three-gallon size from a local nursery, if available.

I just love the contrasts between the light-pink flowers, fuschia-colored buds and really green leaves.

I’ll have to try and get a picture of the bush from a bit of a distance so you can see the gracefully arching branches. It really is quite lovely. (Lord, I am starting to sound OLD.)

That’s it for today. Nothing super-exciting, but I hope you enjoyed the nice splashes of color.

I saw something yesterday I’ve never seen before. I have yet to decide if it’s cool or ridiculous, but I’m leaning toward ridiculous.

What was this thing? A Scrolling Digital License Plate Frame.

The one I saw was obviously provided by the dealer because it said stuff about sales, service, oil changes, etc., and provided a phone number (I didn’t read it very closely).

I have very mixed feelings about scrolling digital signs in general. Like anything, I guess they have their place. One thing for sure, I HATE the new trend in scrolling digital church signs…

Really.

Isn’t there enough neon tackiness in the world?

I mean, church signs are sort of an institution. I’ve grown rather fond of the standard church signs. You know, the ones with the interchangeable messages? They’re all pretty much the same size, so it’s almost like a haiku contest that never ends. Imagine the level of creativity required to come up with new and interesting sayings to fit a finite amount of space. I get a kick out of seeing what different churches come up with.

Here’s a site with 15 examples of funny, even edgy church signs for you. My personal favorite isn’t shown there, so I’ll just have to type it here. You’ll just have to trust me when I say I saw it on two different church signs, about a year apart, in West Virginia: Body Piercing Saved Our Lives. If you liked what you saw after following that link, check out this other site I found. But be careful, some are a tad obnoxious.

Anyway, it’s not the messages on digital church signs that bother me, it’s that digital church signs exist. If a church is on the strip in Vegas, that’s one thing. But rural churches sporting digital signs just bug me. Come to think of it, suburban churches with digital signs bug me, too.

It’s just more visual “noise” if you ask me.

I’d love to hear how others feel about digital church signs. Do you like them? Hate them? Perhaps they don’t bother you at all. Do tell. It’s always interesting to learn how the rest of the world thinks.

Life in the suburbs has its pluses and its minuses.

The biggest plus to me is having a decent-sized yard. Our yard is only 1/3 of an acre. Not huge by any stretch of the imagination. But it’s big enough for the dogs to stretch their legs.

The biggest minus? Very few businesses are within walking distance. As for the businesses that are nearby — McDonald’s, Post Office, CVS Pharmacy, Exxon and a Royal Farm store — there’s no safe way to get to them. There are no sidewalks along the main road, which has a 50 MPH speed limit. I can walk along the shoulder, but I sure don’t like to with cars moving at that speed.

Another minus? Fewer mom and pop stores. There are mega supermarkets, big box retailers, and chain restaurants, small and large, practically everywhere you look. But you know what I really miss? A neighborhood sub shop. “Sub” is short for submarine, a long sandwich known in other places as hoagies and grinders. Places like Subway and Quizno’s, while okay in a real pinch, just aren’t the same. They don’t even have grills!

This past Friday, Hubby and I agreed we could go for a good cheesesteak sub. You need a good sub shop to get a good cheesesteak. After 17 years living in this neighborhood, I have never been able to find a good cheesesteak sub.

Until now.

I’m tired of sub-par sandwiches. So I did a Google search for Maryland’s best cheesesteak. The closest contender was Jeno’s Steaks in Severna Park. According to Google Maps (what did we do before Google, does anyone remember?), that is 13.2 miles (21.24 kilometers) from my house. Each way. It would take 24 minutes to get there.

It was pouring down rain Friday night. Any other night, I would have found something to cook here at home, but by then I was REALLY wanting that sub. So I hopped into the truck and drove to Jeno’s.

I am so glad I did. It was the best cheesesteak sub I have ever had. Even their boardwalk-style french fries were awesome. Of course, by the time I got back home, the fries were cold. But we have an oven, so we just heated them up a bit.

Now, all you Baltimoreans are probably thinking, “What about Captain Harvey’s?”

I’ve never been a fan. I mean, they’re big. But size isn’t everything. Their subs are just ridiculously large. And, in my opinion, they don’t really taste all that great.

The sub from Jeno’s was perfect. They take that raw, very thinly sliced steak and fry it up, with onions, right there in front of you. They use a special blend of oil and seasoning, too. There was just the right ratio of meat to cheese. And the roll was chewy and dense without being tough or crunchy.

Really, the drive was so worth it.

When I got back, I told Hubby how far I’d gone.

“That’s a long way for a cheesesteak,” he said. That was before he ate the sub. Once he’d finished, he thought the drive was worth it, too.