Happy Monday!

Wow! What an interesting...week!? (My days tend to run together between working and trying to enjoy my summer break.)

Mom ended up going to the hospital this past Wednesday, because her blood pressure went up and she became very dizzy. Ken and I were up at the farm, so we floored it back to Tampa to find out what was going on. When we arrived, Mom was getting and EKG so we had to wait outside the door. They had already started her on a Valium drip (!) to help rehydrate her. Then , they decided to take her to get an MRI done in one of the tubes. I told them that they would need to knock her out, but they didn't listen--at first. A little while later she was returned, completely knocked out. In fact, the nurse that had given her the sedative double-checked on her to make sure she was still breathing.(YIKES!) After she slowly woke up, the ER doctor decided that she had vertigo and sent her home with a prescription. Trying to help her get dressed was a trip. She kept falling over--just like in the cartoons. Then, she decided she wanted to walk down the hallway--thankfully, one of the nurses decided that she needed a wheel-chair and we managed to get her out to the truck. She doesn't remember any of this, and I wasn't allowed to take pictures (although the EMTs were gorgeous), so you'll just have to trust me on this one. She's doing better--although we're hoping her stress level goes down, which is what we think caused the vertigo.


Here are some pictures of pH-Farms:
Trees:

Hay Growing:

Hay Cutting:

Hay Rolls:
(This roll is taller than I am!)


Mowing:
Yep--that's your truly on the mower...in the middle of summer...in Florida!


(Yep--I mowed the whole zone--10 acres!)




This past Friday, we had a few more helpers at the farm--especially since we're on the emitters for this new tree zone (a couple thousand)--we needed all the help we can get!



Yep--all of those little orange things are the emitters. We've really only finished a fourth of the field...(whose crazy idea was it to do this during summer?!)




On a funnier note--we passed this sign on the feed store lot as we were going home:


No wonder all of the guys are so polite...they have to mail order chicks! Hee!Hee!


(Yes, I know that they really mean the fuzzy yellow kind, but for us city folk it's pretty funny.)



Get this--by Wednesday I'll have had 5, yes, FIVE days off of work--in a row! Can you believe it?!



Yes, I had a family function on Saturday, but that was a good thing because I had to get the scoop on my cousin's Europe trip--especially since I really, really, really, really...want to go there.

Today I had a brief meeting at Borders (I know, a real hardship), and then decided to take advantage of their sale.....maybe I should have asked to work tomorrow...hmmmmm....

After reading a lot of the book lists from the Spring Read Thing, I made my own and used it for some of my purchases today. Although I must admit, I did purchase some of the books because I thought they sounded interesting and they're not my normal genre(s) of books:

A Girl Named Zippy (Haven Kimmel)-recommended by one of my friends
She Got Up Off the Couch (and other heroic acts from Mooreland, Indiana)
(Haven Kimmel)-the sequel to Zippy
100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed (Melissa P.)--DON'T BUY THIS BOOK-IT'S SMUT!!!! HAD I READ THE FINE PRINT I WOULD HAVE NEVER PICKED IT UP--YUCK!
Miss Match (Erin Mangum-this book was on several reading lists and sounded like a great book!
Conspiracy Game (Christine Feehan)
Deadly Game (Christine Feehan)
Veil of Roses (Laura Fitzgerald)
English As a Second Language (Megan Crane)
In Her Shoes (Jennifer Weiner)--My firend informed me after I bought the book that I could have just rented the movie...oh well...hopefully the book is good.
C'est la Vie (Suzy Gershman)-I SO want to live in Paris (France)for a bit, and this woman is living my life (ACK!)
Body Movers (Stephanie Bond-an interesting twist on mystery stories.


Of course I still have my gazillion and one books that I brought home from work to read this summer...(If I don't read them before the kids get them, I'll never see them again)...so I can be found in my comfy chair by the window over the next few days--probably with Madison in my lap--if anyone needs me. :)

In interesting news--Dracula's castle is for sale! No, really--if the right buyer comes along, the castle will be theirs for a mere $135 million or so....

Speaking of castles, Harry Potter #7 is only a few weeks away....I'll be in Borders at midnight waiting for the last book in the series. According to the sales clerk today, she said that the "party" will last until around 3am. Three A.M.!!!!! I hope to have half of the book read by that time--so all I have to say is stay tuned...you'll know what I think as soon as I finish it.

Speaking of opinions...I went to see the Nancy Drew movie last week with April. She's never read the books and said that she thought it was "cute, but could have easily had about 45 minutes chopped off of it and it would have been better." Having read the Nancy Drew books since I was in the second grade, I have to say that it was okay. It's a great movie for kids and will keep their attention, but any hard-core Nancy fan will be a tad disappointed at the results. It was cute, but I felt like I was in the theatre for three hours--the running time is only 1 hour and 39 minutes--if that tells you anything. Oh well--just go in with no preconceived notions about what you think it should be like and you'll be okay. As I said, it's cute, but a slow story-wise.