Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Playing catch up.....

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Boy it's been a weird couple of days. The cold knocked me off my feet, literally, I found myself in bed or walking around the house hunched over because my body hurt so much. Thankfully the brunt of it came during the weekend where I had a wonderful husband confine me to bed and take over.

For me, it was sheer frustration, listening from my bedroom as the kids and daddy laughed, ate take out and played together....for them it was great, it was a change from the normal routine, a change from homemade food and NO cookies for breakfast. It feels good to break the rules once in a while, it's called *living*.

So this morning I'm almost back to normal, I can still feel that my body is slowly catching up, my chest feels heavy and I have a cough and a pretty banged up nose from all the nose blowing I did the past few days. I'm quite the sight I tell you LOL

I went into my bloglines a few minutes ago and wanted to run away, seems you've all been very busy posters and I don't know how I'll catch up with everyone, part of me wants to just hit "Mark all Read" but then another part of me, the wussy one, says it's not right, not fair, and imagine all the cool blog posts I've missed while sick. So I'm going through the list, slowly, methodically and hopefully get to stop by everyone.

One of the posts that caught my eye was this one from Aiken House and Gardens. Uhhhh YEAH I'm a huge Anne of Green Gables fan, along with Kelli and Sarah and some others I'm sure. Just go look at this post. It's amazing enough that Carolyn lives in Prince Edward Island but yesterday she took a trip to Cavendish, oh come on, if you know Anne of Green Gables you KNOW what that means.

Yesterday I started noticing that I had ONE specific hummingbird perched on one of the Honeysuckle branches near the feeder. He flew in and out but for the most part, just sat there and I couldn't understand why, so I went online and did a little bit of research and found out not only the species but why he was doing this. Turns out that he is a male and has claimed the feeder as his own, he's marking his territory and chasing away any other birds, bees, butterflies etc that may come near it. LOL
He's also become very used to seeing me near the kitchen window and just sits there facing me, watching my every move and posing for photos, I mean, what more could I ask for?

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I also realized the feeder was empty and didn't want to wait to go back to Walmart when I could make my own. And no it's not rocket science and you don't need any weird ingredients, it's just sugar and water.

Hummingbird Nectar

4 cups water
1 cup superfine sugar
3-5 drops red food coloring (optional)

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Allow sugar to dissolve and remove from heat. Let the nectar cool and then pour into your feeder. Store remaining nectar in the refrigerator.

I refilled the feeder and had 3 hummingbirds come charging, amongst those I ended up with a huge bird trying to eat out of there, it was the funniest thing ever.

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I mean really??? LOL

Curt is working a weird shift this week, he goes in at 1pm and doesn't get home until 11pm or so....it's one of those annoying night flying shifts. It's not really swings or mids or days, it's just whatever and it's frustrating because the kids don't see him at all. He's asleep when they leave for school and they're asleep when he gets home from work, so there's some crankiness going around and some "I miss daddy". It's just another of the sacrifices that come with being a military family.

My coffee is calling me, so I guess I should get off here and start my day. I have laundry to put away and some paperwork to file and I need to get my ground turkey out of the freezer for tonight's Turkey Burgers.

As soon as I can get all this done, then I can maybe sit back down on the computer and try to answer my emails, reinstall MSN messenger, visit some blogs and watch my new episode of Paranormal State that I missed last night.

Have a great day everyone!

22 comments:

Linds said...

It is good to hear you sounding more like our Sandra! Don't do too much today though.
Great photos of your birds. I love Anne of Green Gables too!

heidi @ ggip said...

I've been to PRince Edward Island and it is lovely. That was a long time ago though and I've heard it is much more built up now.

Cathy said...

Im so glad you are mending!!! Praying for you still!

Unknown said...

I hope you keep feeling better.

That is a gorgeous picture at the top of this post--where did you take it?

My kids get cranky when dh is working long hours too.

Anonymous said...

Glad you are feeling better. We have been making our own hummingbird food for a while. Seems silly to buy it now!
Toni

gail@more than a song said...

Glad you're feeling better! I need to fill my bird feeders; but haven't tried hummingbird ones yet!

Anonymous said...

You'll have to give the hummingbird a name if he's going to be around everyday.

Off to visit Anne of GG now, thanks for the link!

Hugs n' love

Sarah x

Blessed Beyond said...

I'm so glad you are starting to feel better. That is wonderful to hear! I will continue to pray for you. Hope you have a wonderful day! Hugs and Blessings,

Pennies In My Pocket said...

Keep resting and taking care of yourself. I hope you're feeling much much better soon.

You are amazing...researching the hummingbird and then posting a recipe for hummingbird feeder! A-MAZING!

~melody~

Anonymous said...

Oh MAN! You're a trooper! LOL Good Luck!

Desia said...

Hi Sandra
Thanks for so promptly directing me to the apple puff recipe I asked about recently! I made them and they were very good, thanks.
That first picture of the tree is just gorgeous!
I see you mention South Africa someplaces on your blog, are you also an expat, or did you visit/work there?

Hill upon Hill said...

Take it slowly, glad you are feeling better. Love your photo with the Autumn leaves.

Renee said...

Glad to hear you're feeling a bit better. Take it easy.

Karen said...

Glad you're up and about. Very cool pictures!

crystal said...

I haven't checked up on you for a while; I think I'd better get a snack and sit down with a beverage to read all your posts I need to catch up on! Your hummingbird pal is so cute.

Cheri said...

Glad you're over the hump and feeling better. Wish I had hummingbirds!

Tammy ~ Country Girl at Home ~ said...

Glad you're feeling better!

We have several hummingirds too! I love to watch them!

Have a great day!
Tammy

Anonymous said...

*sigh* I loved looking inside Green Gables! I used to have a bed like Marilla's and I've always wanted another! Maybe someday?

Glad you are feeling better,

hugs,

Sherry

Anonymous said...

i love anne of green gables. i've always wanted to go to pei. one of these days i'll make it up there...

Elizabeth said...

So sorry you've been sick...sounds like you are on the recovery side of this nasty cold. Now, I know you're a tad overwhelmed to keep up with all us blog-buddies(!), but your pic of the Hummmingbird Feeder visitor got me to thinking you might want to check out this post I did from last year...

http://desertsparrow.blogspot.com/2007/10/worlds-largest-hummingbird.html

Feel well.

Lavinia said...

Hugs, tea and sympathy for the cold....and the sore nose...been there and done that, sister!

I am so envious that you have a hummingbird for a friend, and so impressed that you made your own hummingbird food. Don't put any pressure on yourself to catch up on the blogs...we all understand if you give us a pass for as long as it takes to devote to your health and well being.

Hope you're tip top soon!

Barbara said...

My tip: I have a "First" folder that I have all the blogs that I definitely want to read in. The rest are organized by categories. After I've gone through my "First" folder, I can safely "Mark All As Read" with no remorse. There are a lot of times when trying to catch up just takes too much and gets you farther behind.

The big bird trying to eat out of the hummingbird feeder is hilarious. I hope you shake this cold/ickiness soon!