I hate that creep, Charlie.

I spent hours today pulling it out - I am fighting a war with the stuff. Michael is fighting the war with Canada Thistle. We never had it until three or four years ago and now it is SO bad. Michael did research on it today and learned that the tap roots can grow up to 22 feet deep! It has EVERY defense mechanism a weed can have. I swear it shoots poison thorns in your eyes when you try to remove it. Michael has been faithfully digging and pulling and digging and pulling all these years and it just gets worse and worse. The tap roots actually SPIRAL so you can never get the entire thing, the thorns are poison and make you itch like crazy if you even just brush against one. It's horrible. Creeping Charlie is horrible, but at least it is not painful!

Usually we try to get the dirt and garden spot ready and then on Mother's Day we go to the greenhouse and get out plants and get them put in. This year we have been so busy, however that we started from scratch today. So Michael got his little side plot ready and planted six sweet potato plants - our first try at those. I got my little corner flower spot ready and planted some sweet peas from seeds. I usually put Alyssum there so this is also a new adventure. We have to work on the other garden spots before we can put in our peppers and tomatoes and I am so afraid we won't have time to do it with all the trips and stuff. Growing tomatoes and peppers saves us a TON of money because we eat a lot of them!

I'm all for a little Round Up on that thistle, by the way, but Michael still wants to try to garden more organically. That's why he is so willing to weed, to keep me from using herbicides. I DID buy the kind you spray on the grass with the hose to kill the clover and the creeping charlie. We're not going to eat the grass, and maybe it will poison the dog that keeps pooping on my lawn! :)

Today for Mother's Day I slept very late, had a little breakfast. We went to Aldi and spent a gazillion dollars on groceries. When we got home I made a nice lunch of corn on the cob, tomato salad, and strawberries. My tomato salad recipe which I love I have started adding fresh mozzarella so it has some more protein. It doesn't have a strong flavor so it doesn't change the taste of the salad a lot. My problem is it has the same appearance and texture of tofu, which I hate...

Okay - my chocolate has probably cooled enough to put into the cream cheese mixture without cooking the eggs. I'll be back. I am multi-tasking, as usual!

After lunch we went to Lowe's to buy top soil. Too bad we forgot it while we were on that side of town at Aldi! Duh. Every year I put another 400 pounds of top soil down in this yard. The soil in Southern Indiana is red clay. The glaciers didn't come down here before they started receding back up north, which left some beautiful hills, but didn't smash all living things that make up that nice, rich, black soil up north!

Then I was completely exhausted and heck, it's Mother''s Day! I ordered a pizza for dinner and we were both starved by the time it got here. I haven't eaten half a pizza in like forever! I did today, though! I must have really needed it, because it didn't make me sick the way I have been getting if I eat too much at once lately.

I got a digital camera for Mother's Day (from me). Michael started getting it ready to go, but I don't think he's done yet. I got a BIG commission check because of the special project where the guy from the ad agency made me cry. Now you guys will probably have to put up with more stupid pictures from me than ever! My food, my yard, my son winning a National Science Olympiad medal this weekend...

Now I am baking cheesecakes for our party at work tomorrow. I am experimenting with cupcake sized individual servings. Market research shows that the hot new trend is "mini" desserts. So this is my attempt. I also have MINI muffin pans and could make TINY ones too, if these work. Then for events to cater serve the minis. They are more labor intensive, however, filling each little thing and smoothing it, etc. So I will have to remember that the labor costs will be higher for small ones, and charge more per serving than for a regular size cake.

Our party tomorrow is the "Cozy Corner Cash Bash" we were looking for a reason to celebrate Johnny Cash and May 11 is the anniversary of his first arrest, for picking flowers on private property. We are all wearing black tomorrow and all the treats and beverages are supposed to be black. I even bought black paper plates and napkins! Maybe I'll get some pictures.

I have no idea how long to bake these little cheesecakes. I hope I don't burn the hell our of them! I set the timer for 15 minutes, which should be soon.

Life is good. Elwood is playing women of the blues on House of Blues tonight and it is wonderful.

The house smells like chocolate cheesecake and I have a three day workweek this week and then a trip to Georgia. I need to make sure I have summer clothes that fit to wear! The shorts I wore today I had to keep hitching up. I don't want to walk around all day holding my pants up. Timer. Time to go check. I think a few more minutes.

Positive thoughts toward good little cheesecakes with a high profit margin. Now when I bake for work and buy special ingredients it's product development and samples so it's all tax deductible. :)