Kitty love.

I always kind of dread going to the pool, but don’t mind it so much once I’m there. (As long as no one’s whining, or saying they’re hungry, or drowning.)

Our baby chicks are hatching!!

At music with frick and frack. It’s chaos when I have to take them with me.

Late night cuddle.

Shadows.

Ready for senior pictures! Send your senior my way.

The tv show in the background of this shot= irony.

Shared with Life Rearranged’s InstaFriday link up.

Our apricot tree is full of fresh fruit. They had their first taste yesterday and it inspired me to do a quick art project with them.

I arranged some fruit and leaves on the table and set everyone up with watercolors, pencils and oil pastels. The interpretation was left up to them.

I love how everyone sees things differently. I love how that’s reflected in their art.

Earlier this year we made the goal of beautifying our yard. This was also a huge goal because we could see so many areas we wanted to change. But our yard was becoming a disappointing place to be especially when it the dogs started digging out of the dog pen and the yard started channeling Sanford and Son when all the bricks, buckets and anything we had on hand was being used to block their escape paths.

We made the first step in yard beautification when we decided to rebuild the dog pen, move it away from our house, and most importantly, hire it done. My husband is not a builder at all, and if we wanted it to look good we were going to need professional help.

I love the way it turned out! I also love that the dogs are off the back porch now and have their own covered sleeping area, a nice shade tree and plenty of room for when we need them penned up.

We did have to run an electric wire along the bottom of the fence. We can’t stop our digger (Mr. Darcy, our only male) from digging. Especially during a storm. We used to have an outside the pen dog who would actually climb the fence during a storm, but Mr. Darcy MUST GET OUT.

Recently I was contacted to try out The Instant Trainer Dog Leash. I said I’d be happy to give it a try and give my honest opinion of how it worked. Because really, I had low expectations. I’ve trained many dogs to a leash and it’s never easy and never instant.

Because we don’t walk them on a leash daily, they tend to forget to walk properly when we do. And we haven’t worked with our newest dog, Hazel, near as much as we did the others.

I followed the instructions and attached the leash to Daisy first. She walks fairly well on the leash, but she can be a puller. My dogs are big. Australian Shepherds and when they pull there’s not much you can do but hang on.

I was surprised to see how well The Instant Trainer worked. At first I thought it was because she was a little freaked out about the way the leash went around her body. But the more we walked the more I noticed that because the leash went around her body, it gave me more control over her. As she began to move ahead of me, the leash tightened on her abdomen and she immediately gave me her full attention.

Next, I tried it on Hazel. I thought it might be a little more difficult with her since she’s still new to a leash. But once again, I was happily surprised with how well the leash worked. She did seem instantly trained and I’ll be using it more when we take Hazel on trips with us.

Hazel

Now if I could only find an instant trainer for digging. And one for not vomiting in the car on the way to the vet. That Mr. Darcy is a very sensitive soul.

Daisy & Mr. Darcy {warning: Mr. Darcy should never be put in a moving vehicle.}

This is how I make laundry detergent now and I love it. I used to make the liquid but it was so messy. Now it’s simple: one box of borax, one of washing soda, one of grated Fels-Naptha soap, one of oxyclean. The oxyclean scoop is the perfect measuring spoon.

I got this for Mother’s Day. I really like it. I’ve wanted one for years, but appliances are never fun purchases.

Miniature car wash. Good for 14 minutes of uninterrupted work time, or until they run out of bubbles.

Paint on her face, not blood.

We got two kittens. I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of them.

Blue sky.

My friends came over! I’ve missed them.

We let our chickens out every evening. We are on this crazy rotation now. Big dogs get out of the pen for about 3 hours a day. The kittens who get terrorized by the dogs right now, get let out in between dog time. The chickens get let out at the end of the day and they put themselves up at sunset. We are so going to have to hire a caretaker when we go on vacation this year to manage our “farm”.

Sunset over baseball.

I’ll admit, I haven’t been this attached to a television show since Moonlighting was on. I taped every show of Moonlighting and watched them over and over again. I memorized the witty one-liners. I adored the characters.

I have even stronger feelings for the cast of Mad Men. Times have changed, but the habits are basically the same.

I DVR every show. I own seasons 1-4 on DVD. I type my favorite Don Draper one-liners in my notes on my IPhone.

This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened.

You are the product. You, feeling something. That’s what sells.

Lots of people who haven’t taken LSD already know that, Roger.

I stumbled upon a show on Bravo one late night called Inside the Actor’s Studio and they were interviewing the cast of Mad Men. I have to say I felt like it was meant to be that I turned on my TV at that particular time and it was on that particular channel. I enjoyed the little extras that were revealed in that hour.

There are so many things I love about the show. I love the writing. With so few shows on television that I enjoy, a well-written drama is such a treat. I love the costumes, the realistic touches (all the smoking, no seat belts, tossing trash in the park), I love the bit of history that sparks my interest even further in that era. I love that Peggy has a picture of the president on her wall. How long has it been since anyone admired a president enough to hang a picture of him in their living room? I love that it makes me think.

Did you know there are Mad Men quizzes? I think it’s the only quiz I ever aced.

What do you love about Mad Men?

All photos from amctv.com.