I'm sure you've all had one of those "hair experiences" where your stylist doesn't listen and you've left the salon disappointed. Well, my new stylist is now my "old" stylist. First appt. was 3/13, I mentioned a couple of times I wanted to grow out my old style because I wanted it long enough to put up by October (Italy trip) so could you give me a few layers and this is what I want. I left with the SAME style and she gave me layers in the back which had already grow out significantly! She mentioned if I wanted more layers to call her, which I did so off I go again and try to explain what I wanted.........Oh, you don't want your current hairstyle? No, just give me a few layers in between it growing out. Well, I said layers and I got layers!!!!! If I don't cut it for 7 months I might have some length I can put up! Well, she was a nice girl, but didn't have very good listening skills, that's for sure!
So if you kinda think Anita and I are looking alike you're right.

SCORE!!!!!!

Anita and I (and her girls) went to Macy's on Saturday and I bought these 2 pairs of boots for $67.00!!!!!!

I wasn't sure if there would be anything left in clearance since I missed a lot of sales during my surgery, etc. so I took a chance on going to look and boy, oh boy, I did well.

Some of you know by now that I love a good bargain and by good I mean "nice" stuff but I don't want to pay a ton of money (it's the New Yorker in me). I also managed to find a nice sweater jacket and a nice bolero sweater for...................$29.95. Yes folks they were practically giving things away, lucky for me!!!

Our front path Pete did last Fall
Plants!!!!!
More plants!!!!!!

The plants are rolling in thanks to Brooke and Paul at Valley View Nursery. Pete sent all the info we got from Karen Marshall (our lil 'ole Landscape Designer) and sent it to Paul to order our plants. Pete is doing it in stages since he is doing ALL the planting. He picked the plants up on Friday with hopes of starting to plant on Saturday (we are missing a few from Phase 1 which should arrive shortly). He did as much as he could until the weather got bad and of course you saw our pictures from Sunday! He did manage to place the plants where they will be planted. On Friday night I did some research on the internet to make sure that we plant them with enough space for their growth. I have to say that we will have some interesting plants, lots of color, even in the Fall. Our target is to finish the front yard and next year do the back. I'm so excited to finally have some color-yeh!!!!!
p.s. This post didn't come up on Wednesday like it should have. Update: Pete is planting, planting, planting, by jove I think he might be almost done by this weekend and then on to the next phase!

Pictures of the CraZy weather we had on Saturday. After each dumping, the sun would come out (or not) and everything would clear away...........very strange. There is not snow left, only in the mountains (which we needed).

Happy Friday Everyone! I made it to the end of the week - yeh!!!!

Okay, photography class, this "manual" stuff is going to be hard and take a tOn of practice!!!! Audrey if you bought his book, it's a lot of the stuff in his book. We mostly talked about the "manual" and the other modes, of course Aperature, Shutter Speed and ISO. I got a little of it but of course it takes practice, practice, practice! I hope to apply everything I learned by the end of the class, cross my fingers!

Pete dropped me off today and was on his way to Valley View Nursery to pick up some of our plants and to start planting - yeh!!!!!! I'm finally going to have some color. He needs to do it in phases since he is only one person and he will be doing all the planting.........mmmm maybe Rocky will help when he gets back :)

Baby Boy is on his way to San Francisco. Pete dropped him off at school to meet the AHS orchestra at 6:30 a.m. He will be gone for work and fun. The first stop will be at the Jelly Belly Factory. The main part of the trip is to participate in a concert with the San Francisco Symphony, how about that! They will also be doing a concert with students of Mills Campus School and then touring Mills College, sightseeing, and a day at Marine World. The bad news is he will be coming home Sunday around 1:00 AM! So do we try and stay awake until then or take a nap anticipating his call.............All in all I'm sure he will be having lots of fun!

I'm baaaaaccck! Yes folks I'm back to work! Can you believe that it's been over 5 weeks since my surgery! Today I started Aquatic Therapy at the "Y". Ashland Hospital has an office there, by the pool. It was great, I even got to walk (at the 50% level of water) like a real person. It was great to even exercise my left leg which was really bothering me last night (the good leg)! I've definitely over compensated with that poor leg. I was in the pool for almost an hour and will be back on Monday a.m.
Work is great, still going through some emails. It's still quiet and very quiet since my partner up front, Karen is out until Friday.
Everyone is happy to see me, so that's nice. Pete is dropping me off and picking me up, although I drove today for the first time, back and forth to the Y. Tomorrow I have a photography class after work so I will be driving on my own. I should be pretty worn out by the time I get home!
Feeling great. In 15 days I will be crutch-free!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Cindy (the blonde next to me) and many more!!!

My dear friend Diane, one of the "Vegas Babes" recently lost her dear, Schnauzer named Karl. Karl was a handsome dude and Diane's ever faithful companion. He was 14 years old. It's not easy losing a pet, Frosty passed away in '99 and occasionally Pete and I slip and call Shadow Frosty and we always reminisce about him. I don't look forward to the day that my sweet boy, Shadow will pass away, it will be very hard for the whole family.
I wanted to make something for Diane and I put together this little accordion book that is housed in a folder. I hope that Diane and her family use it to put some of their favorite photos of Karl and enjoy it for many years.
Diane was also one of the scrapbooking babes who in May is graduating from Law School. Diane decided to go to Law School when she was about 40 years old. We are all so proud of her!

Here is the project I'm working on.................
Kristi, I don't have your email at home please send it to me at janie.lapierre@gmail.com.....

Things are great, feeling better every day, still have a little numbness on part of my thigh but that will be gone eventually, that is actually the only thing that bothers me the most, occasionally a twinge here and there from my incision but no pain anywhere else!!!!! I feel so good I want to toss the crutches but know that I still need to take it easy because of the grafting. Speaking of that I was told that he used some bone material and surfaced the ball of my femur with it and drilled 35 holes and supposedly my bone will grow in with the other bone. Apparently I am a "case study", don't know if I mentioned that. I have to take Fosomax (please let me know if any of you are taking it and are okay) and still the 50,000 iu of Vitamin D. Also, I can now sleep on my side (good hip) yeh for a new position!!!
Yesterday Pete and I ran (ha) around and did a couple of errands like picking up my new Handicap sticker, meds, mailing some packages and the bank and a stop for coffee and a muffin at the Apple Cellar.
Today I am sewing a quilt I started (hate to tell you when).........January 2006! I'm going to have to stop at Calico Junction and check it out (hopefully she still has it hanging somewhere) because I don't have a picture. It was Vicki's creation, the instructions were type written but no color photos. I took notes but want to make sure I put it together correctly. I did make a sample block so that part is good, I'm just worried about the sashing, etc. (photos to come)
All is good!!!!!

Yeh!!!!! Today I am cumadin-free and surgical stocking-free, today is a good day!!!!!

A note on my last post..............I did not do all those pages while I was recuperating! I had a pile sitting on my desk since the last few crops and I probably only did about a dozen while home, what I did do was finish up pages with titles and journaling and guess what???? they are now in albums I'm done with that project. Today I am making pocket pages and putting cards and memorabilia away and then on to sewing but if it's 8:00pm you will find me watching "Dancing With The Stars" because I've been waiting for it to start up again.

Karen, Cheryl, Freda and Linda Fern stopped by Friday night with food and a bottle of wine. We spent a few hours eating and chatting, it was so nice to see them.
On Sunday afternoon my neighbors Nan and Pat stopped by to see me also with goodies........so nice!
Tomorrow I have an outing with Pete to the DMV to get a new handi sticker, to mail a couple of packages and to pick up prescriptions. Since I'm done with the vampires I don't have an outing early this week.

Good news I am not anemic anymore - yeh!!!! All is well.

THE PILE! (Actually I added six more pages since I took this photo)
THE CARDS!

I will probably start sewing next week and try to finish up at least ONE quilting project. The doc said I can drive so I can also sew (actually I could have sewn earlier).

Yeh, I will be crutch-free on April 2nd!!!!! Dr. Boyd was very pleased with my progress but I can't start a real exercise program until I see him on April 9th :( My abs and core are shot since I have not been able to go back on my Pilates machine. That was actually my first question when can I use it and he said "we'll talk about it".........:( The only exercises he wants me to add is a thigh stretching (while sitting) and he wants me to be using a pool..........okay I need to investigate that one.

The ride going up and coming back was actually okay, other than my butt being tired, but that happens at home. I can swing in and out of the car easily, pain-free. Other than Pete and I pigging out yesterday everything was great (we stopped at DQ going to the doc's office and at Costco after to get a berry sundae)! Of course it was on and off rain all the way to Salem, ugh, it is so wet there!!!!

I'm actually feeling really good today and know I will be ready for work on the 16th (with crutches, but not for long)!

Told Pete I am done with staying in bed I will do my stuff at my desk and if I'm tired I will lay down for a bit. He still has to help me with stuff since I have to use the crutches.

All in all life is good!!!!

Sorry I have no photos at this time........busy cutting stuff out on the Cricut untill I get tired, which will probably be soon. The stack of my layouts is huge so I'm working on titles so I can put them in albums. Pete ran out to check out our rental, I guess the renter is having a problem with the garbage disposal.
On Thursday we'll be driving up to see Dr. Boyd and then I guess I will get the scope on my progress. I still plan on going back to work on the 16th unless he tells me different. I made an appointment on the 13th with my hairdresser for a cut and color. Changing the hair style a little, going to grow it out a while since I think it might be easier when we travel this Fall. I want to spend more time sightseeing instead of styling my hair.

For the retreat gals.........I need your checks by the 20th, if you don't remember how much please email Anita. You know my address, I've sent it to you a thousand times. Thanks.

I made 4 of these, a couple are for gifts.

Revamped these earrings since I never wore them with the other stones.

This color doesn't show up too well, they're a dark brown.

A simple red strand and earrings that I re-vamped to match.

Hard to see the great stones and beads I used on this one (bought this stuff at my favorite store in Henderson, Bead Jungle) (all turquoise)

I have had some of these stones, beads, etc. sitting around since I went to Vegas in '06, so these projects have been waiting a while. Unfortunately I took these in my bathroom and the coloring is off.

How lucky am I to have the best girlfriends! My long distance gf's have been calling me to check up on me as well as gf's from work. Yesterday, Anita and Audrey stopped by to bring me some entertainment! Anita lent me her portable DVD player and some movies, dear Audrey bought me movies and DVD's from a couple of TV shows and some books. I also got a beautiful handmade card from the girls that were cropping last weekend and beautiful flowers from Audrey. After they left I watched the "Sex and the City" movie and have watched 8 episodes of "Moonlight" and I plan on watching the rest today (Audrey). I have also started a new series of books by Charlaine Harris (thanks Audrey). Audrey and I (& others) are big fans.

Feeling better and better everyday. I almost have complete feeling in my thigh, so I think in about 1 week it will all be there. This Thursday is my appointment with Dr. Boyd in Salem, hope I get to get off the cumadin by then! I'm tired of getting stabbed every Monday and Thursday! All in all life is good, catching up on all types of crafts I can sitting up in bed, no sewing yet, we'll see what he says. I'll post photos tomorrow of some of the jewelry I made.