Today is National Dress-Up Your Pet Day

So here are my two little buddies all dressed up for the big day.
Freddy the Football Player

Freddy the Ballerina (no wonder he gets so mad at us:-)

And Maui going out dressed in his bunny pajamas.

Happy Wednesday...and Happy Dress-Up Your Pet Day!

Life at the Zoo...

You probably thought I meant my life but I am really talking about the zoo. HaHa!!!
Friday, we took the afternoon off and went on a field trip to the Naples Zoo. It's a small zoo and while we are not really zoo people...it was a great day! They had a small but good selection of animals and most important (to my animal lover Taylor) they all lived in large areas so they could at least "pretend" to be free.
When we went near the Lions, we were the only ones there and the male lion started roaring like crazy. People came running from all over to see and hear this ferocious animal, asking how we got him to do that. I don't know...maybe he likes blondes:-)
We saw 2 monkeys who were hysterical. Their names are Jeffrey and Taylor and they are "married". They live on their little island, swinging through trees and walking around holding hands. At sunset, they climb their favorite tree and once the sun has set, they walk hand in hand to their little hut. It was the funniest thing.










The alligators were massive...and scary. This is what we share our state with? (There are over 1 million alligators in Florida) I have to say, our favorites were the zebras. I mean, they are really beautiful. And check out the perfection of their stripes:-) You should have heard my girls as I climbed on a bench to get this shot without the fence in the way..."Mom, you're the only one taking a picture of the Zebra's butt." Or "This is so embarrasing!!!" I told them it would be the photo of the day...and I believe I was right:-) It was a fun day and it reminded me that you are never too old to enjoy the zoo."Do these stripes make my butt look big???"

Is it Best to Know a Little About a Lot or Know a Lot about a Little?

Yesterday, I received a wonderful email from my old friend Pam, updating me on her life in Georgia, her family... It made my day to hear from her! We used to live together in our old neighborhood until we both moved away. Pam was my salvage-yard buddy. I think we thought we were Rachel Ashwell going to the salvage yard and thinking about all the cool ways we could re-use some old thing. We brought home old windows, tin ceiling tiles and who knows what else. It will always be one of my favorite memories and I wish we had done it more.

Now, Pam asked me to tell her what I had been up to. Did I have any new projects I was working on...that kind of thing. I was walking my dogs this morning and thinking about what to tell her, because as usual, I have at least 20 projects I have started and stopped since we were last together. What a flake I am! I constantly beat myself up over how I am not an expert on any one thing. Why don't I just learn one thing really well??? I could say I get bored, which is true. I could also say that I have so many ideas flying through my head that I will never live long enough to do them all. I even have plans for new things to learn. I have this gut feeling I could paint and hope to take a class some day.
I came home and picked up my new favorite book by Alexandra Stoddard called "Things I Want My Daughter to Know". Hey, this is the book I had planned to write some day for my girls. I still will...even if they are the only ones who ever read it! (This was a gift from my stepdaughter, Lindsay and what a great gift! And by the way, every one of Alexandra Stoddard's books are incredible.) Anyway, there is a chapter titled "Be More a Generalist Than a Specialist". She says that it is too bad that society pushes us all to be experts in life. For those of who are not experts on anything, this is so stressful. She suggests that to know a little about a lot of the things that interests us leads to a richer life. Thank you! On that note, I decided to make a list of things I know a little about. I am not an expert on anything so we'll leave that for now:-)

My list of little things I can do:
1.Cook...a little...with a cookbook. No experimenting here.
2.Decorate
3. Throw a cool children's party
4. Make jewelry...my new charm bracelets are kind of cool.
5. Fix jewelry...because I have not always been a great jewelry maker, I have become good at fixing broken jewelry:-)
6. Use a glue gun...hey, not everyone can and I can do amazing things with this!!!:-)
7. Paint my house...even faux finishes, if I have to
8. Refinish furniture...yep, stripping it and all that good stuff
9. Photography...I'm just learning but love it
10. Shop for vintage stuff...most people wouldn't want to take the time or effort, right?
11. Knit...a tiny bit
12. Scrapbook...well, I KNOW what to do, just don't get to it.
13. USE a computer...and waste time on it
14. Hang pictures and other simple stuff around the house
15. Garden...but I hate doing it in Florida...creepy things!
16. I love to drive...can drive anywhere...and NOT get lost:-)
17. Embellish almost anything...flip-flops, purses...
18. Make tu-tu's:-)
19. Play tennis...a little
20. Ski

I guess 20 is enough. I suggest everyone do this if you feel like me. Now I know that I haven't been wasting my time after all, I've been experimenting with my time. Big difference!

"Have a variety of interests...These interests relax the mind and lessen tension on the nervous system. People with many interests live, not only longest but happiest."
George Mathew Allen