Yeah Lizalily! Glad to hear that you are doing great! I can appreciate some of what you are going through. I had my left knee rebuilt 6 months ago (moved bone and tendons around) and have 2 big screws all the way through my upper shin bone (tibia). What I can say is...it's so worth it! I attached a photo of my amaryllises that are in bloom this morning (with labels). For the past 2 years, it was too painful to stand and work in the yard; kneeling was out of the question. Anything other than mowing the grass was too much! Now I am so excited to be able to spend time working in the veggie garden, flower beds, and with my hippies!!
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Keep on keeping on!!

Kristi

Oooh Kristi, (My youngest daughter is Kristie), I Love the look of the Amies against the grey wood fence. IT really sets off the colors nicely. I Know I AM going to be so happy I had this done...already am with the left knee that was done in Feb, but this one is being more painful. I imagine you had a lot of pain healing from your surgery too! Well, I Made it outdoors and picked buckets of lilac and tulips and late daffodils and apple blossoms for Mother's Day bouquets for our business, and was able to sit and get caught up in the flow of creating beautiful bouquets for a couple of hours. (Sure feels great to rest afterwards, LOL)
I figure in one month I will be doing great and outdoors at least nearly all day in my garden. It is going to take a long time to catch up...buttercup is growing like a maniac!

We're only too happy to help keep you happy, Lizalily! That's what friends are for! That's what we do when one of us is down... we rally to the cause!

I'm a little behind in photo posting for you... we've been having a lot of rain, and I can't get out there to get new pictures taken! I'm behind in everything lately, it seems... I haven't been feeling too great. But I'm trying to keep moving forward.

I'm just glad that you're healing so nicely, and so quickly! At this rate, you'll be gardening in no time! I sure wish I could have surgery to cure my health problems! I'd love to be cured! But... such is life... I could be a lot worse off, so it's not that bad!

If the weather improves, I'll get a new batch of photos! We stopped today while out and about, and picked up a few new plants... and I completed the corner garden the other day, and there are new things budding and blooming! Pictures are in order!

Lovely hippis, Kristi! Being part crippled must be a hippi thing... there seems to be a lot of us here that have trouble getting around, or are having surgery to correct things so we can get around... what a group we are!

It's been a long day for me, so I'm off to bed early... keep your fingers crossed for sunshine tomorrow!

Jodi, I wish I could send you healing vibes that would reach deep into where the darn lupus resides, and just...shatter its molescules or what ever! Not fair for those of us who love growing things to be disabled..makes a good whine doesn't it...It's not fairrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

But then again, where would we be with our pain levels without the gardening, and the hope of new growth and beauty! Who needs the excitement of growing scapes and opening buds more then we do? And who else can sit and contemplate their beauty and rest without guilt!?

Much as I Like the thought, as the age of 62, I can not really get back the 30 years I have been sidelined by knee problems, and I will still have arthritis in other joints, and aging of other joints, and fibromyalgia, but the pain level should go down so much and my endurance level improve.

Now, where to find patience as I start rehabbing both my self and my badly overgrown gardens!?? And to remember, no garden was built in a day and no garden will be rehabbed in a day! But if I can see progress, I think that will keep me going. Plus I have become an early riser since getting off my sleep medication, and what a grand time to be in the garden on a summer day!

I see this week it is going up to 85 degrees for one day then dropping back into the 60's where we seem to be stuck.
It always does this when the rhodies are in bloom and fries them in that one day! But oh how nice a little heat will feel. Maybe I can be out at the crack of dawn doing something in the garden that day, even sitting and scooting along, Sounds like maybe sunflower planting weather!

YAY Lizalily! So glad you are mending, my dear! I actually am improving greatly myself. I never believed having just the one hip done would make such a difference. So silly me, being crazed with allergies, went and bought a new Bissell Hepi filter cyclonic vacuum and vacuumed the whole house this morning!! Boy, my bad side is aching...mostly the knee. But hey. this new vac is GREAT!! I can't believe all the dirt and dust our old bag Hoover left behind! The carpet looks like new and I feel like OLD! They had mother's day special orchids at HD, too. So I treated myself to a beautiful Phal for $4.99. Two blooming spikes too! Happy Mother's day to me...wait I ain't a Mom!! lol

So much for sunshine and warm weather! It's chilly and raining, and the wind is gusting at about 35 mph... we lost power for about an hour, or so... just got it back!

What a crappy day! I wanted to be outside planting all my seeds today, and potting up some bare root daylilies and iris that have arrived. Looks like tomorrow may be the soonest I can begin planting. At least, I hope I'll be able to plant tomorrow! Since we just got over 2 inches of rain, I may have to wait until the ground dries out a bit... but I can still get flats of seeds planted, and get some potting done.

It's so nice to hear that both you and Cindee are better from your respective surgeries! Rome wasn't built in a day, and no garden can be revamped too quickly, either! But little by little, everything will fall into place... I try to tackle one project at a time, and as I finish each one, the gardens look better and better!

And there goes Cindee! Overdoing it to suck up some dust! I swear! LOL! Well, at least you've got a nice vacuum! There's nothing worse than using an older model that doesn't quite do the job!

I never used to be an early riser, but when the weather is nice and warm and sunny, I love being up early! I love the quiet so early in the morning, and watching the sun rise while having my coffee and meds... then, it's out to dig in the gardens!

I could whine and cry, and sometimes I do... but it doesn't get me anywhere... you learn to tolerate a certain amount of pain, and you cover the rest with pills... and you move on and live life! And when things get to be too much, you take a nap!

And you do, too, deserve a new Phal, Cindee! You are a Mom... to your kitties, and Dennis' children, and your chids! We're all Moms to someone or something! So... Happy Mother's Day!

Jodi, well the young guys in the IT dept. I used to work in had 2 fav names for me...First was "old bat" the other was "Mother Earth". I always had any thing they needed in my purse. They swore I could row dirt!! One evening at happy hour, at an outdoor cafe, Randy ordered a rum n coke, WITHOUT lime. Well they sent it with a lime. I picked it out of his glass, sucked off the rum and chucked it over my shoulder. He said..."WATCH OUT GUYS! Next week there will be a huge Lime Tree growing in the terrarium!

"watching the sun rise while having my coffee and meds" Jodi it's so sad but true, having coffee and meds to get our juices going in the morning is a way of life ain't it? Is it sad or just so damn funny?? LOL

It is sad, Cindee, but true... and also a little bit funny at the same time... every day begins with strong coffee, a menthol cigarette, and a handful of prescription drugs! Without the latter, I'd be lucky to get as far as the bathroom... and then I'd be stuck there until Larry came to help! It's horrible to rely on narcotics to live a semi-normal life, but thank God they're available... the alternative is unthinkable!

In fact, the last couple of months have really been bad... and this is the wrong time of year for me to have problems! I have so much physical work to do outdoors that I don't have time for this! It makes me angry that my body won't cooperate... it's very frustrating! But, since whining and complaining never get me anywhere, I pop those pills and dig in, getting done what I need to... I'm pretty lucky, actually... some day, it might be a lot worse.

"Mother Earth" suits you well, Cindee... you're definitely that nurturing type of woman... strong, yet sensitive and caring... able to leap tall buildings in a single bound... it's SuperCindee! Dennis is a lucky guy! We're quite the pair... the "Hag" and the "Old Bat"! Hee-hee! How did we end up with such nicknames?!

Since my kids couldn't visit, I got phone calls from all of them yesterday! They never forget my Birthday or Mother's Day, even though I'm just the Stepmom! We clashed constantly and always bumped heads while they were growing up, but apparently, I did something right... they always remember the important days and acknowledge me... these are the rewards of raising children! It's these phone calls to say "I love you" that fill my chest to near bursting! I'm so proud of them!

Last night, Larry took me out late to grab something to eat, and he stopped along the roadside to cut a huge bouquet of Lilacs for me! When I got in the car, I wondered why there was a bucket on the back seat floor with about 2 inches of water in it... well... I should have some rooted cuttings to plant fairly soon! All different shades of lavender and purple... they'll make for a beautiful garden backdrop as they grow tall! What a scent, also! The whole apartment smells like Lilacs this morning! Mmmmm!

So, even though it rained and was a crummy day yesterday, it turned out a lot better than I thought it would! And today... the sun is shining and the birds are singing! It's 7:07 am, central time... I've had a half a pot of coffee, too many cigarettes, and my handful of medication... very soon, I'll trade in my pink fuzzy robe and slippers for a pair of sweats and my barn boots, and off I'll go to get the kennel fed and cleaned, snap some new photos of what's blooming now, and grab my little estate shovel for a day of compost pile turning and moving, seed starting, plant planting, and anything else I can think to do while I'm out there!

I hope everyone had a glorious day yesterday, regardless of the weather! And I hope today is just as wonderful! Happy Gardening!