Peace and Quiet

This year, with July 4th smack dab in the middle of the work week, things have been very empty around here. So many people either took yesterday and today off or will take Thursday and Friday off so it's kind of a ghost town! Unfortunately, I will not be one of those lucky folks to have an extended weekend. I used a lot of my vacation for Mexico and moving and will be going on vacation with Dennis' family in two weeks so my vacation balance is kind of tapped for now. Oh well, I feel pretty productive during these quiet weeks because I can work on projects for long periods of time pretty much uninterrupted......and I can dream more about how I am going to decorate my house! :)

In other news, last Friday I took the day off so I could get our townhouse clean before moving and this is what I found....

I am just so thrilled that after months and months of care, my violet is happy enough to sprout a bloom!! You can still see the leaves on the left which were damaged from it's day in the sun last fall. But it appears she has grown a new tier of leaves, so I wouldn't be surprised if those just continued to get brown and whither away. I would prune them but it would take away a lot of the volume on the left side so I think I will keep them for now.

Sunday night I decided to get studying again since I am taking the next section of the CPA exam in 9 days! I was sitting on the couch with my book on the ledge of the bay window and noticed a sight that I just had to take a picture of.

This is the front yard of our house! I thought it looked so peaceful and serene. There is landscaping rock around both of the trees so I think I am going to get some impatiens to plant in there to give it some color. I think I will go with purple, pink and white. Our lawn is pretty brown too since we haven't gotten much rain, so we have been diligently watering it in the early morning and late evening. This morning we noticed it was getting much greener. Dennis and I are turning into bona fide greenthumbs! Watch out world!! :)

Last night before Dennis and I went to bed we were talking about nicknames. He has a laundry list of nicknames for me: Bubba, Bub, Shanners, and honey to name a few. I frequently call him Bub and bubba along with Den and Dennie. For those reading this with spouses/significant others - do you have nicknames for your mate? How did they originate?

I suppose that is it for now. Have a safe and happy 4th!!