Round Two

Now that the marigold garden has been planted, it was time to go buy more flowers.  You see I really love flowers, and the more flower gardens the better as far as I'm concerned.  Next on the planting agenda are my zinnias.  This year I will be planting them in my two big flower boxes by the front door, and in two smaller gardens just as you walk through the gate into our yard.  Those smaller flower beds are also lined with white alyssum.  So back to the store I went and purchased three flats of zinnias, one flat of alyssum, as well as a few smaller plants that will go into my pots.  My daughters were with me, and since they are in charge of two very large sections of flower beds that I have, they thought they should get more marigolds.  So we loaded up all our pretty flowers in the back of my car and brought them home.  Now I am just waiting for some sunshine to return so I can finish planting up this batch.

Marigold Time

Last year, because of circumstance beyond my control (i.e. weather, etc.) I was unable to plant my "marigold garden".  I have planted this garden for so many years, that probably the soil was happy for a year off.  However, this year I am back in business, and my goal yesterday was to get it all planted. 

I'm really not sure how long the garden is, but two cars can easily park alongside it with more garden on either side of them.  Here is a shot of it right before I began planting:

Yes, there is a HUGE boulder that sits towards one end of it.  Actually in this picture it looks like it is smack dab in the center, but it is much closer to the end I took the picture from.  You may wonder where that boulder came from ---- well, when we were preparing the ground for this garden, it was unearthed, and because of its huge size, we decided it would look very nice if left in the garden (or maybe it was because it was way too big to move).  And you also may note all of the large rocks lining the garden ---- well, all of them were found in our yard and garden area.  We literally have rocks all over the place, and every year I am digging up more. 

In this picture I obviously still had some weeding to do around the edges, but after that was accomplished, and the soil all raked smooth, one of my daughters and I got busy planting.  I use nearly 4 entire flats of marigolds to fill this garden up, and here is the variety I chose this year:

In year's past, when my kids were younger, they would all come out and help me.  It was really quite the process as everyone had a job, and after each row was planted, everyone rotated into the next job so that all jobs could be experienced by each one of them.  It was actually very fun, and each year we would time ourselves to see if we could beat the time from the year before.

Here is the garden after it was all planted yesterday:

Not too amazing yet, but if all goes well, as it usually does, it will look like this in no time:

This picture was taken a few years ago from the other end of the garden.  See that big boulder at the other end......

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there.  I hope you spend your day being pampered by your kids, enjoying sunshine, setting all calorie counting behind you for the day, taking a nap, reading a book, doing some sewing, eating some chocolate, and whatever else it is that makes you happy. 

Laundry Duty

I learned long ago that laundry was going to be a necessity of living.  The first time that the temptation came along to grumble about doing the laundry, I told myself that I might as well enjoy it as grumbling about it would never, ever come to any good.  So I don't mind doing laundry a bit.  In fact, I kind of enjoy taking the piles of dirty laundry and turning them into neat and tidy little piles of folded clean laundry. 

Today as I was folding clothes I was thinking about how much of a responsibility the task of laundry holds.  Everyone depends on me to get it accomplished.  Of course my older kids can do their own laundry, and they do sometimes, but I have always thought that if I need to wash a load of "whites", why run the washer and dryer an extra time just by having them do their own load of "whites" later on.

I also always do a few things just so doing the laundry never seems overwhelming.  Approximately twice a week I pull all of the clothes out of the hamper and sort them.  My preference is to then layer the clothes back in a laundry basket, by load, so that I don't have laundry spread out all over the place while it is waiting to be washed.  And then my biggest rule of all is that when a load finishes drying -- I always pull it out of the dryer and fold it on the spot.  That way the clean laundry doesn't just get piled up and wrinkly.  And this includes socks.  They need to be sent back to whomever they belong right away just so no one is wishing they had a clean pair of socks to put on.

To me, this really is a great service that I can do for my family, and to hear them thank me when I pass them a freshly folded batch of clothes really does make it all worthwhile.

Spring

I was gone last week visiting my sister in Southern California.  The climate we experienced there was so much different than the climate that I left behind.  She has flowers in full bloom, but I left home with no flowers except a few dandelions, and some tulips that were promising to bloom soon.

The tulips did not fail me.  They greeted me very cheerily when I returned.  And the one positive point about the cool, rainy weather that we have been having, is that the tulips last a nice long time.

A Solution for Sprinkles

At my house we really do love sprinkles.  We have a growing collection because, quite frankly, when walking down the sprinkle section in a store, it is a bit hard to pass by the different jars filled with various colors of sparkling sugar without obtaining a new one.  They just make cupcakes and cakes all the more festive.  Currently I just keep my sprinkles in a little plastic box on my pantry shelf.  But this week I discovered a new way to store them.  My sister keeps all of hers in spice jars on display in her kitchen in a spice rack that used to be her mother-in-law's.  This way not only are they used as a cheerful decoration, but I'm thinking it would be a great reminder to me to bake more often just so I could use them on a more regular basis.  I don't think I would hear any complaints from my family if that were the case.

Vacation Time

I am currently on vacation visiting my sister in a much warmer climate than I live.  Where I live it is still very early spring weather, meaning rain, no blooming flowers, Trees still without leaves, and temperatures too cold for planting.  On the flip side, I am in a nice place where the farmer's market is going in full force selling beautiful strawberries:

And artichokes which we can't even grow up in our neck of the woods:

And speaking of flowers, my sister's flowers are gorgeous, and her roses are in full bloom:

A Stuffing Solution

Have you ever purchased a big of fiberfill (aka stuffing at our house) and after you used what you needed, wondered just exactly how you were going to manage to store the rest of the bag?  The bag always seems to be such an awkward size, and just lightweight enough to always want to fall off of a shelf.  My daughters came up with the perfect solution ...... stuff it into a jar.  I'm not really sure how long they have been storing it in this fashion, but it was only recently that I saw what they had done.  So I just happened to have a jar (approximately 8 inches high and 6 inches in diameter) that wasn't being put to any particular purpose.  I grabbed my large bag of stuffing, and proceeded to stuff it into the jar.  And you know what ..... it all fit!  It's amazing what little things can bring joy to me sometimes.  This jar now takes up so much less space, and is so much easier to store than the opened bag.  Besides it looks a lot cuter than the ugly old bag sitting here and there.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone.  I hope your day is spent with family, friends, good food, and fellowship.  It is a glorious day you know for He is risen!

An Alternate Use

Recently while shopping in our local Staples office supply store, my daughter and I noticed that they sell business card holders in their $1.00 bin.  After picking one up, my daughter had an aha moment.  You know that kind of moment when something just clicks in your mind.  She mentioned that these card holders would actually make great fingernail polish holders.  So I bought one, and actually have since returned to purchase more, to use for this new purpose.  I must admit for me it actually works great.  You can organize your bottles by color or however you would like to organize them, and you don't have to dig through several bottles to find just exactly which product you are looking for.  They make transporting them from room to room very easily as well.  And on top of it all, there is even room to store a few cotton balls behind the bottles.