Enjoying Paradise

This is my before and after photos. I bet you do not recognize me? When I looked at the photo of me behind the photo prop, It looked just like me. I am going to start that diet one day. We are having a really great time. I am any way. It is hard to get Mr. Fred to relax and go with the flow. Poor baby. He is stressing now about signing tax returns. His office manger sent him the e-mail about it. I hate her, why does she do that when he is out of town? Enough of that. We are really having a good time. The picture of sun set was at dinner last night. It was so beautiful. Marlee, when you see the sun set we are looking from the same cost. I am going to hate to go home. We are off to breakfast and a little down time before our jet ski tour. Hope everyone has a great week-end.

Chillin

Hello to Friend and Family, I am in Key West and have had the most wonderful day. I have been by the pool since 1:oo. Enjoying the sun and drinking Corona's. Yes, I have one beside me and can see the correct spelling. Sorta of. The weather is beautiful as always in Key West. Warm with a slight breeze. We are going on a jet ski trip around the Keys tomorrow. 26 miles and 2 hours of sea, sun and fun. I can't wait. Freddy and I each have our own jet ski. We will see who sprays who the most. I always get him in Shell Point. While I speed ahead he is wiping his eyes. Ha Ha Ha Hope everyone has a great week-end. I have not down loaded any pictures as of yet. I will do that soon. We spent yesterday at Hemingway's home, Hogs Breath (hog breath is better than no breath) and Sloppy Joe's. We are having a great time. Send me some love. Chere

Last week-end, Freddy and I got to see Sheryl Crow at Chastin Park. It was a perfect evening and a great concert. Sheryl Crow is an amazing performer and a joy to spend the evening with.

The song below is the title track to her new album, "Detours". This song made me think of my daughter. She is a beautiful young women trying to find her way. She reminds me of me. We were all looking for our place in life and someone to share it with. You wonder, will I ever be settled in life. A lot of the time it is very scary. You avoid the people who love you the most because you do not want to hear what they have to say. But in your heart you know that they love you the most and only want the best for you.

I truly believe all Mothers and young people have walked in these shoes. The words of Sheryl Crow's song sums it all up. And yes, most people do find their way. That is what makes up our civilization that we live in.

DETOURS

SHERYL CROW

Mother, can you hold me together

It's so dark and I'm losing my way

I took all of these detours to find love

But when I did, it just faded away

Now what do I do

With the sweet love of mine

Do I give it away and

Hope someday I'll find

Someone half as awake

As the moon and the stars

Mother, teach me to love

With a paper-thin heart

Mother, your words are so healing

You speak of love and of light and of peace

But I've made it my course to avoid you

Just to hide from these feelings of grief

Now what do I do

With the sweet love of mine

Do I give it away and

Hope someday I"ll find

someone half as awake

As the moon and the stars

Mother, teach me to love

With a paper thin heart

Mother, I know you are with me

You were there when I took my first breath

I can't stop looking back for the answers

I just keep coming up with regret

There are some things I just can't forget

Now what do I do

With the sweet love of mine

Do I give it away and

Hope someday I'll find

Someone half as awake

As the moon and the stars

Mother, teach me to love

With a paper thin heart

Winds of Change

To all my fans, I am sorry for being away for so long. Life has been very busy for the Mortensen's. As you guys know I love to talk to little kids and parents in stores. I know that the reason for this is that I miss my two when they were little. I miss the little princess who used to dress up and grace me with her company. And I miss the sweet little boy that was my darling Dusty. I tell parents so often to enjoy every minute of there children's life. In a blink of an eye it will be gone. They will be graduating from high school and turning new pages in their book of life.

They love to move in and out of you house and disrupt your nice calm and peaceful empty nest. Marlee has decided to move to Orange Beach, Al.. She is working there at a magazine and is very happy. She will be moving into a little one bedroom house or in with two girls that she knew at AU.

I have spent the last four days in Savannah helping Dusty get set up in his condo. He is so proud of it and want to do everything right. We were in Target buying cleaning supplies. This is the conversation that followed:
Dusty: how often do I have to clean the bath room.
Mom: at least once a week.
Dusty: But why? It is only me and all I do is take a shower and go to the bathroom.
Mom: you still have to clean the bathroom.
I hope he will want to take care of his stuff . I am sure he will not be a Martha Stewart but somewhere in that range would be nice.

Dusty presented me with a beautiful self portrait for Mothers Day. He was very proud of it. My mom was with me and she loved it. When Fred saw it his comment was "what is this? and it looks just like him."

Freddy and I have gone from having Marlee at home and Dusty part time to empty nester's again. For now it is nice. I will always worry about Marlee and Dusty. My pray every night is "God please keep them safe. Watch over them and protect them. Through you let them find their way in the world and happiness." What more could any Mother wish for.

To all my friends who are Mothers, Happy Mothers Day. Enjoy each moment of your child's life no matter how old they are.

Backyard Tour

Fayetteville is enjoying the most beautiful spring weather ever. The mornings are crisp and clear with a bright blue sky. It is cool and the bugs have not discovered my arms, legs, neck and anything not covered . I love spring mornings. This morning I was out taking pictures again. A bird was singing the most beautiful song. I looked above me at the a charming male red bird. By the time I had my camera focused he was gone. I missed him by a heart beat.

Yesterday I took photos of my Bearded Iris but this morning I toured the whole yard. Please do not misunderstand. Some of these bushes are just blooming and some are new with only a few blooms. This is the first year ever that my iris have bloomed like this. This morning a yellow one was waiting for me. I also enjoyed my snowball bushes, encore azaleas, Camilla, knock-out roses, day lillies, clematis, a small white ground cover and my rhodium's. It was wonderful walking around my back yard. Please click here to enjoy the trip with me.

I am still trying to present this as a slide show. The click here should work. I could not get it to but try and let me know. If not you can still go to Photo Collections and click on Backyard Tour and slide show. I think I need lessons from my scrap book buddy. Hope you enjoy the tour.

Tuesday Morning

Yesterday was such a fabulous morning. The weather we are having is perfect. If only we could have this year round. I have been really excited about the landscaping in our yard. I is finished and the painters are painting away. For the past 10 years I have had two patches of Beard Iris's planted in a flower bed. They have not done well. I will get one or two blooms a seasons. When we re-landscaped they took out several big bushes, giving my Iris's more sun light. You should see them know. They are beautiful. I have at least 20-30 blooms. My ferns and hosta are also waking up from a long winters nap. I am going to try to direct you to my Flicker account. You will find a link at the top of my blog under Photo Collections. Please try to have a look. I also had my assistant gardener with me. That is a leaf in her mouth. Katie is such a sweetheart that I can't get on to her. Happy Spring

Finally

I can not believe that we are on our way to Nashville and Scrap Etc.'s big Event. Debra, Jamie, Judy and I have been planning this since last Oct. 07. We have faithfully read all the home work e-mails and worked on some of it. We have talk about it, planned, scheduled vacation time and it is here. Happy! Happy! This picture was taken by Jamie on our way to Nashville. We had beautiful weather for the trip. Need eye glasses, got sun glasses. Hey, it works and who cares. We have jeans and scrap book t-shirts and ready for a fun week-end of girl time. We all live very different lives but we looked forward and cherish our girl time. This car load of scrap book divas made the trip in Debra's Ford Expedition. If you could see the very back you would see that it is packed not to the top yet. We have mapped and planned several stops along the way. On our trip home it was packed to the top. We did have access to the cooler and snacks. Hey girl friends travel prepared. This trip was perfect. Yes that is a content smile on my face while reading a scrap book magazine. I just love my scrap Divas. Looking forward to our camera trip in October. I will post more pictures.

I have finally up loaded CS3 to my lap top. This is a Photoshop software for modifying pictures. I have no idea what I am doing. The picture on the left is the original. The photo on the right is I added filters. Do not ask who, what when or how? I do not know but it was fun and I love the picture. I can't wait to really learn what I am doing.

We are in Chicago for the Kitchen and Bath show. It is rainy and cold but I love this city. We are off to have a drink and dinner. Let me know what you think of the picture.

This is the new installment of "Lay-out of the week". I know I am behind. I was going to go back and do a count on lay-outs. I am sure it would only add stress to my life so we will just skip that part. Maybe I should have set the goal for Lay-out of the month.

These pictures were taken in Yosemite Park in December. Marlee want to do toe touches. Yes, she is forever the cheerleader. There is something about the sport of cheerleading that gets in the blood of cheerleaders. Ballerinas gone retarded. It was a great day and we had a lot of fun. We always enjoy Yosemite National forest. This is the second December that we have spent there.

You can surly see where my kids get all there talent.