We started working on the outside garden this month. It’s such a mess. The doves are happy we are back. The bees are getting lots of pollen, everything is covered in yellow dust. It’s very happy out there at the moment.

My husband bought me a hanging strawberry plant. So far we got one strawberry but we have 7 more growing. I have a garden post coming up later on what’s been happening out there. It was not looking so nice there for awhile, not our typical Arizona garden. So glad it’s all coming together again.

I went to a church sale this month. There were all kinds of collectables, kitchen items, crafts and even a plant table. My camera’s battery died after taking one photo and I forgot to bring a replacement battery. There were some nice items there too. All I got was a photo of the church.

At one of the tables a woman walked up and grabbed a Lenox ceramic gravy dish.

” Is this Lenox?” she asked to no one in particular.

So I answered the empty air question…I was the only one at the table with her.

” Yes it is.”

She was still speaking to the air without looking at me, now saying that she had the perfect plants for the Lenox dishes. Does she realize she is speaking her thoughts out loud I thought to myself. Earlier that morning, I had gone over the table we were both now at, and there was nothing there I wanted.

“Oh, I love plants. I’m always buying pots and containers too.” I spoke back to the one speaking out loud.

She grabbed the two dishes quickly after she heard me say that, almost protectively, again without eye contact, and this time she said out loud…

” I’m taking these home with me.”

Hmm, okay…you do that. I didn’t say that part out loud though. I didn’t want the dishes, I had already seen them minutes before. I had arrived at that sale very early in the morning before the crowds, and now the crowds were showing up. The woman walked away from me, hugging her new Lenox treasures. She must really love Lenox I thought to myself.

” Hey, there’s some more Lenox on the table over there.” I said as she walked away, pointing to the table behind me.

She never looked back at me and never went to that table. She instead got in line to buy her treasures.

And this is our city now. People from Phoenix and people from somewhere else trying to figure out their new home. In the parking lots there are California, Oregon and Washington license plates. There are still some people wearing masks and some that don’t. In case you are wondering…I’m not wearing one.

May get hated for writing that. Not new to me, I know what hatred feels like. Coming from strangers is a piece of cake to handle. Now coming from family, that’s a whole other ball game. Point is, is that I know it, and I understand it. I also know it’s something happening world wide. There are a lot of us in this boat right now.

Arizona is a state of many strangers trying to figure out their place now. Some people are just not so friendly in big cities, then you have the after effects of the Red Monster… the C19. Some people are still a little shy I suppose.

I didn’t buy any Lenox, What I did buy was yards of cotton fabrics for my son’s sewing projects .50 cents for 3-4yards each bundle. A small oven (air fryer) that was still brand new never been used for $7, a 1980’s rubiks cube snake puzzle .25cents…my son loves it. A clay nativity set (I collect them) $1, a wooden gardener man .25cents, very Scandinavian looking, and a stone Rhino $3.

We did some Scottsdale window shopping. Just for fun though. Everything has gone up so much. The smart way to spend money now is vintage shopping or church and rummage sales. Even if you have the money to buy $100 Pj’s please put it away for the rainy day coming…there’s always some raining day coming, be smart.

We went to the new Daiso store that opened here in Arizona. It was crowded. I waited in a long line, and then waited some more. Only so many people were being allowed in the store at a time.

Reminded me of the Cabbage patch craze from long ago where people waited in long lines for a doll that smelled liked baby powder when you took it out of the box. And what ever baby you got, that was what you got, and you had to be happy no matter what.

People would look over their shoulders wondering if the person in line with them got a better deal then them, and if they did….oh boy, then green monsters secretly started simmering inside many of them I can imagine. This also happened with beanie babies, and tickle me Elmo, Pokemon. Lines to get something before someone else does.

You think hatred is a terrible feeling to pick up in others, actually jealousy is, it’s a thousand times worse. It’s the infection that starts the beginning stages of hatred. So much more sinister to me. Both bad, but sometimes you can talk someone out of their hatred…jealousy has deep roots that are harder to pull out of someone.

Waiting forever in a long line and you still didn’t get to pick out which doll you wanted. That was the start of it all, this waiting in lines for things, and here I was in a line again. I was there for someone else though so I waited patiently. Trying to do a good deed.

This is a dollar store but not like old school dollar stores. The prices at this store were $1.75 to $15. A lot of the items you can still find in Dollar tree type dollar stores for cheaper, so skip the lines and go there instead, unless you want the stickers. If you are there for the San Rio items and stickers then you will need to get those types of items there.

There are some really nice coloring books, and miniature Lego type puzzles sets that you can only get at this store. A great place for artists and home schoolers. And that is what I was there for, the mini puzzle sets and coloring books.

It was a gift for someone on the Autism spectrum that lives all the way out in Alaska. He just turned 18. I know his father from years ago, when my husband and I were teens and dating at the time, before we were married. He is a friend of my husband’s friend.

I bought a tiny 2 inch bunny for my mini succulent garden and some pretty floral papers that were just for me. As my daughter likes to say sometimes…treat yourself.

I also pickled cucumbers this month. We got a bunch from a local gardener. They were either going to end up going bad being given to the chickens, or we had to pickle them in order to save them.

Our walks this month were done at Arizona Falls and lots of outdoor markets. Do you ever watch those YouTube vlogs where someone films themselves walking around cities and markets? Those are so cool to me. It’s really fun walking around places like that. Here are a few photos from our walking adventures this month.

My husband brought me home a really nice piece of furniture someone was tossing. I think it’s nice, others may think it’s trash. Another item we can hopefully save from the dump.

This month I started getting ready for Spring decor. I spent one night painting eggs from our chickens after a day of working, that’s my free time to create, the evenings. I made a huge Swedish omelet for the family one morning and instead of breaking the eggs I blew them out so I could paint them later. Art supplies used were acrylic paints with a tiny brush and acrylic paint pens.

Here in Arizona we are getting a ton of flowers, they are calling this season a super bloom. I haven’t had a chance to go out and photograph this. I want to though. Just haven’t had the time yet and flowers don’t last long. I better get going.

The stores are also full of flowers. It’s Spring time here in Arizona.

I bought some flowers for the bees. Lets see if I can keep them alive now. Sometimes my thumb isn’t so green.

Four wild hives showed up in our garden this past week. All on my side of the garden. Every time I went outside to clean up the garden I kept having bees flying around my head. I didn’t do anything at first, thinking to myself that’s just bees being bees. Then I started hearing loud buzzing above my head and I looked up and saw thousands of bees hanging out above where I work.

That has happened before. There are ways to bait for a hive but my work area isn’t one of the areas my husband did that to, but the bees keep showing up above my favorite place to work. My gazebo area.

My husband started laughing after the third time I came inside the house to tell him there are thousands of bees hanging out on my side again. I need to work on that piece of furniture. He started looking at me like I was joking. Then he would go out there and see I was telling the truth.

“Yep, thousands of bees.”

All four hives were different hives and all four hives had the most gentle bees my husband has ever worked with.

” Well, they never bothered me when I was working out there and they were right above my head the whole time.” I said to him

Looking at the photo of one of our hives above reminds me of one of my hanging baskets I make.

We went to a really unique ice cream shop. They make these cute little waffle fish and fill them with custard, Nutella, red beans, or Oreo filling. You choose one. Then you pick an ice cream flavor. Your choices are Milk, Chocolate, or Ube. Then you choose a crumb topping. The way they package it all up makes it look like the cute little fish are eating the ice cream, so funny looking.

I didn’t eat ice cream, I picked a pineapple treat from a bakery called 85c. They had all kinds of yummy treats and when I tasted the pastries they weren’t over the top sweet either. Some pastries can be too sweet. They also had breads with herbs and mushrooms too. We got some of those to try too.

Prayers this month go out to someone in my life that I can’t share the name with you. Since one of my estranged family member turned cyber stalker found this site I have to be careful with what I share now.

Anyway, now that this site had been discovered by her I have to be extra careful about how much I share. It’s hard to write my post now knowing she is here. If she is capable of reading 200 posts of mine in one day, she is still here lurking…that’s just her behavior. But I’m getting through it and moving forward the best I can. There are bigger things to worry about.

I actually feel sorry for some of these family members because they have been lied to so long and things have been twisted so much, well no wonder it’s a mess. There are apparently new members in the family too, new people to drag into old drama from over a decade ago. Drama that had been resolved over a decade ago too.

And the biggest lie is, is that I am being accused of writing something the person who obsesses about me has apparently told her own children I wrote, even though she herself wrote a letter telling me she knows I didn’t write that.

This is why it’s better to stay away from toxic environments like that, the game never ends. Some people just love their drama. Anyway, like I wrote above, It’s not their fault, they just can’t acknowledge they were fooled and lied to. It’s easier for some to just continue the lies. Maybe they all forgot, it has been over ten years now.

Prayers this month are needed for someone who is very close personally to me and my family. They are being hated at a level that is at an all time high. This may sound like I am writing about me, but it isn’t…I too have had to deal with hatred like that, but these prayers aren’t for me, they are for someone else that needs them badly.

Again, I can’t leave a name about the person who needs our prayers, but God will know who it is.

Prayer update from last month’s updates:

Please go to Southern Patches https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/142396305 and read her post Hello Monday. She has quite an update to share with you all. God answered another prayer. She also thanks everyone who kept her sister in her prayers.

They were waiting in the doctor’s office for results from her sister’s latest tests and the doctor came back into the room with the best news ever, and told them the cancer was completely gone . Just read her post, you will get goosebumps. What a story. I’m not so good at telling this story, but she is.

Reminds me of my friend when her husband got cancer and she asked everyone to please pray for him. She would also tell the same story months later when the cancer was gone, completely gone.

It has been almost a decade now and he is still cancer free. She’s the friend that made me that little prayer box. It’s why I share a Sunday bible verse with everyone now. A thank you to everyone on this site who prayed for him. I used to share the verses from that box but I think I have packed it away for a move, I still haven’t found it. I use the bible now.

Please continue to keep Crystal at Faith+Gratitude (https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/135589837) in your prayers . She is the other blogger I shared a link with to pray for. Going through any health issue is a hard and scary road to go down.

Stay safe you guys, I will be taking 2-3 months off from blogging to work on a very special project I have been having a hard time finishing. Every time I keep taking time off, other things always come up to do. This time hopefully I will finally finish it. I have many post I have been writing up that are pre-scheduled for anyone who wants to stop by for a visit during the time I will be off. All knew posts too.

Sorry about the comments off, just an extra safety precaution I’m taking to prevent any hate coming my way from the haters…you know how it is. Nothing has happened in awhile and that is good but that could be because I blocked some of them. Or it could be that now that they have found this blog site they can now get their fixes of seeing what I am up to. Very creepy if you think about it. You never know how far someone will go when they need fuel for their hate.

It will be good for me to take this break. I’m still having a problem feeling comfortable like I used to when I first started blogging, when I knew I was safe from my estranged families prying eyes. Even though I am famous for mistakes and don’t write that great, I still love doing it as a hobby. For the next two months I will be focusing on doing that through another way, so I am still writing, just a different platform for awhile. It’s healing to write.

Keep praying, look for the prayers that are needed. They are out there, believe me. They are needed everywhere and there is so much power in your prayers. God answers and blesses so many, so much to be thankful for. Pray for your neighbors, your love ones, and even your estranged family and friends. Pray for Philadelphia, Ohio and the mentally ill. Pray for peace. Doesn’t matter what order, there so much going on right now. Pray for the children. Pray for unity. That right there, is just the tip of this giant iceberg, isn’t it?

“Unity in each other is a key that unlocks a door to truths, a key that exposes the lies.”

Anyway, thanks for your likes, follows and visits. I know how busy life can be so thank you for that. See you all in a few months. Spread some kindness. Volunteer with special needs children or nursing homes. Go out and get to know your neighbors. Be the solution, not the problem, help…don’t harm. May God bless you all and always keep you all safe.