Sadly, it is official

My verbena, by the mailbox, is dead. I talked to Dad when we visited Sunday; he agreed that by now it should be showing some green. {pouting} Well, life can be short. We enjoyed it for about five years. Today, the girls and I bought some petunias to fill in the space...for now. I'll come up with a plan for it by next year, hopefully.

This morning, the girls and I ran errands. The first stop was Dr. J. Jesse has had a wire continuously come out all weekend. The clipped it. Her back tooth has moved much faster than the one in front of it, so once the second tooth catches up, they will put the wire to the back tooth again.

We also went to Lowe's. Yes, we live there. lol  We bought the final bags of dirt to fill the raised bed. We planted the marigolds we bought last week. A steal! Those marigolds were in the bigger pots and were marked down to $1! All they wanted was water. Of course, they wanted that today too. I watered them this morning, but by the time we planted them (3 hours later) they were dry as a bone again. I watered them again tonight, and fed them, and found them dry again. I need to put the soaker hose on the raised bed tomorrow to get it nice and wet.

Cleaning day!

Today, I asked John to run a couple of errands. I then told the girls Dad hadn't had breakfast yet, so they went with him knowing he'd eat out. All that just meant that I had the house to myself so I could clean. I didn't get everything I wanted done, but I achieved a good bit. I even cooked another chicken and did three loads of laundry. Woohoo!

We've been discussing building a deck out by the pool area. We spent a good bit of time this morning discussing the subject. I think what we discovered is we have different ideas of what it should look like. I imagine we'll spend more time talking about it and looking at design ideas before we start anything.

John did get two shelves up in the dining room for my plants. It was an idea we came up with a few weeks ago, but hadn't implemented yet. I love them. Now, I need to repot a few plants (then I'll take a picture).

I know I need to post a picture of Hank. I have only taken one of him, while he was sleep on Chloe's blanket. I haven't really taken many photos lately. Shocking! I know.

Did I tell you I broke my toe at taekwondo Thursday night? I don't think I did, but Wendy mentioned it here. Anyway. Jesse kept insisting I didn't break it. Today, I showed my tow to all three of them. It was so pretty! All purple, lilac and black.  Now, she may believe me. LOL

I'd count today as a good day. I need a few more just like it. :)

I am very happy to be wrong

I reported last week that none of our lilies returned this year. Well, a couple of days later John pointed out a few. I started counting. Twelve lilies are coming up. I had given up on them; my Dad's are about to bloom and mine are just coming out of the ground, but I'm glad they are there.


I had another discovery over the weekend, while planting the Mexican Heather. Last summer, my Dad gave a plant he had grown from me from one of his plants. Please do not ask me its name, because I really have no clue. What I can tell you is my Dad starting growing his summer before last and I loved it. It has tiny, thick leaves than drape over pots. I thought one would be perfect on our front porch. Last summer it was on my porch and it flourished! Well, it did flourish.

What I did not anticipate was our cat, Oreo, loved that plant too. She thought it was a wonderfully, comfy spot for her afternoon naps. In other words, by last autumn the plant was toast. I was heartbroken. Then, while taking a little rest, sitting on the front steps something caught my attention. There in the rise of the top step was something familiar. Several small plants. It was my plant! Growing right there on top of the mortar. John carefully pulled them up for me. There were two pieces. One plant growing tall by itself and another on a runner that had five or six small plants. Both pieces have been in a pot on my kitchen counter since Sunday. They have grown so much in less than a week. And this pot will stay in the house. No more nappy time for Oreo!

Let the flowers bloom...please

I am very happy to report my hostas are coming back out, along with my hydrangea. They are on the side of the house I am rarely on, so I've been a little afraid of looking to see how it was going over there. I was more worried about weeds. There are a few, but not to many.

Three of my azaleas are back. One was on the wrong side of my hydrangea tree last year and just didn't get enough water. I didn't realize it until it was too late. :(  But the hydrangea tree is all green again too.

I had another idea this afternoon. (Not sure where they are all coming from lately, but I'm not going to complain.) We were going out to dinner tonight and I looked at the flower bed at the outside corner of our fence and thought it would make a great bed for azaleas. I told John what I was thinking and to my amazement he quickly agreed. Yeah! So, while we were out tonight we bought two more azaleas. I am going to move the one beside the hydrangea tree and that will give us five for the bed. Not enough, but a start.

I am very sad to report my irises did not come back this year. My Dad and I were talking about them the other day, and today, and we just have no idea why they did not come back up this year. I'll have to figure something else out for that bed. :(

Some of the girls plants from last year actually survived. I'm not sure how many, I have not been out there yet, but they tell me some are popping back up. I am taking over the girls gardens. Well, not fully. But I'm going to help them redesign them.

John is taking over my vegetable garden. I'm not sure what, if anything, he is going to do with my strawberries and blueberry bush but we'll see. I am excited to see what he is planning. We have discussed it a bit, like he is taking over, but not really what he plans on doing. I'm sure it will be great whatever he does.

Catching up #2 - Daffodils

I posted awhile back our daffodils were blooming. I also noted I would post pictures soon. So much for soon. :)

Wow! And the yard work continues...

The yard is really looking great. We are so excited to watch all the grass (front and back) start to turn green. We've waited a long time to have this and it is so exciting to watch. We are still getting the edgers, little by little. These days I'm wishing we had a truck, but then I'd be wishing we had the cash. LOL

I called four fencing companies to come out to give us estimates. I actually spoke with someone at two, so they are scheduled to come next week. Waiting for another to call back and the fourth, unbelievably, had no one answer or a machine. I am so hoping the fence can be done soon, because the grass is already beginning to grow back into the beds we created with the sod. I can't put down mulch because it will be in the way of installing the fence. I did get to buy one plant today I've been wanting for about ten years, but I didn't have a good location for it. A hydrangea. I am so happy about that one. I planted it between the two garage windows.

I have had another first in the last couple of weeks too. I was talking to my Mom a few weeks ago about how I have never had an African violet bloom before. They are my favorite indoor plants. I remember growing up my Mom had quite a few of them around the house. Me, well, I've had several over the years and I've managed to kill them all. Then a friend of mine told me you can't get their leaves wet and they like to be in smaller pots. Well, I didn't know that! A while back, I bought another one and a new pot. Two weeks ago I had my first blooms. It now has five and two more about to open.