Handsome Caleb at the beach.

Slightly grumpy/tired Tristan at the beach. :)

The Primrose Path

Me and my boys at Myrtle Beach. Fun times.

Shasta Daisy from my garden.

We got the new stove and refridgerator today! :) Yay. They look great. We now need to have our dishwasher delivered tomorrow and get a new hood for the stove and we're finished. The kitchen looks so nice! Scott and I worked hard all weekend getting the cabinets all shiny and adding new hardware to them. It was fun. We had beer and worked. Fun, fun.

In addition, I'm taking a new spiritual path....well, not so new to me, but in the past I'd only dabbled in it. These days I'm taking it very seriously and enjoying learning the history and all the aspects of it. I think I'm happier than I've ever been because I'm taking control of my life and no longer care so much what other people think about me. :) Yay. It's very liberating and empowering.

I am trying to not only enjoy watching my garden grow, but utilize the plants I grow by making all natural body care products. I recently made a lip balm that I really like a bunch. After using it, I can't wear commerical chap stick anymore...it tastes so gross! I found that my lip balm stopped my lips from peeling (after a week at the beach). I was surprised by that because when I use commerical chap stick, I feel the need to put it on constantly....they almost seem to take away my lips natural moisture. I don't get this feeling with mine. :) Yay.

I need to figure out the exact measurements and get my tins so I can start making them. I'm planning to order the tins this week. I also want to order bottles for my refreshing rosmary mist.

It's all pretty exciting to me.

My garden is coming along beautifully!

The irises above bloomed a few weeks ago and are still doing well in the front.....the thing about irises is their short bloom time leaves me wanting more, but it's okay. :)

The roses are blooming in the backyard and the clematis is about to bloom. It's going to be beautiful as this year is is climbing the fence, not just the post! A pleasant surprise that will be gorgeous in a few weeks.

Just to add.....Tristan and I had fun passing football in the yard the other day....here are a few pics to share. :)

Annoying

This weekend I was called a Renaissance woman. What a strange thing to be called. Sure, I have a lot of interests, but I am not a master of anything and more like a dabbler in everything, so the title of Renaissance woman is really not accurate. It was nice to hear though.

My garden is coming to life, but I have spacing issues in the front that need to be addressed. I want to get more bleeding hearts and have fewer daylilies out front. I can't believe how well the bleeding hearts are doing. It's awesome.

I'm a little annoyed by something that was said this weekend. My husband's aunt made the point of mentioning more than once that I've yet to "start my career." You know, the way I look at it, I've had a full-time career for 13 years....I'm a mother and a damned good one at that. I am embarking on a second career.....that of a teacher and will begin in one year. The fact that she said that really annoyed me. The path I've chosen is my own. If other people don't like it, I really can't help that, nor would I want to. Grrrrr....

Other than that the weekend has been wonderful. Scott and I hung out and had a great time. The boys were with Scott's cousins and went to see National Treasure 2 again. They had a blast. So it was a great weekend except for the nosey rich woman whom I truly adore....but she was really annoying this weekend.

Starting from the bottom

This is a wreath I made for the front door....I think it sings Spring! :) It's raining and while I tried to diver the runoff from the new bed, it's not working the way I'd really like it to. I need to get rocks from my mom's place to build a small retaining wall, but the ground is still so wet there that we can't get to them. Grr.. It's okay. We need the rain and the fact that my yard is so lush and green and everything is looking beautiful makes me less upset about the water situation. Luckily monarda doesn't mind the super moist soil.



Can't say much for the Gaillardia, but it is a little higher and less water is getting there. As a matter of fact, since I put in the pipe, the water is simply following along the bricks and less soil is being taken away. Still, it bothers me and I can't wait to be able to do the rocks. It'll be lovely when it's finished and the flowers will be happy. :)



In front, bulbs are on fire! I love them. The house looks so pretty and inviting and it seems my neighbors are noticing, because they wave to me more....weird, I know but true. :) After all, before we moved here, it was dark and filled with pachysandra and vinca. I like both of them, but there are so many lovely plants that it's a shame to simply fill an area with those. I added a few more pansies to the front and so it is finished until I add summer annuals. I'm free to watch it grow and evolve into whatever it is to be. So fun.



In the back, the roses are postively loaded with leaves! Last year they were not nearly as lush and I hated seeing the old wood in them. Well, I pruned them lightly and added coffee grounds to all the beds...apparently that helped them a lot. I'm just so amazed with how lush everything is. Thankfully we've had a lot of rain and I've amended the soil like a madwoman! Both have helped a lot and my hard work paid off for sure.



So when people say to start from the bottom that is absolutely true when gardening!



It's really easy to add things to your garden to help it too.....Here's what I've done.



In autumn:



Rake leaves in yard, chop them with mower and add to beds as mulch.



In spring:



Work in leaves from autumn

Add coffee grounds from Starbucks (free Grounds for Your Garden see http://www.starbucks.com/) or other coffee shop



Honestly, that's all I've done and now anytime I scoop out some soil with my trowel, I get a scoopful of earthworms! It's awesome....even though I feel bad for hurting the worms when I dig. :(

Gardening!

This is a pic of the new bed. It's small, but I only wanted a little room for some Monarda and Gaillardia. Spring-flowering trees are the best!

Okay, I've been sick for several days, but the weather is so lovely and it's so warm outside that I couldn't resist going outside to enjoy it.

Finches played in the yard today and a few stopped at the feeder, even a lovely yellow finch. I love them. I can't wait for the echinacea to bloom again this year, because the finches really loved them last year. I was so surprised when I looked out the window and saw a yellow finch eating the seeds from the flower! It was great.

So I'm having trouble in the back with rain runoff. I created a new bed, or rather extended and existing bed, but the runoff from the rain is washing away the topsoil. I tried to use a pipe to drain the water away, but it was too short. So, I have tried to fix it again today. I'm not sure it'll work and it's less than aesthetically beautiful. Still, if it works, I can deal with it. Besides, when the Shasta Daisies fill out, they will cover it. I can also get some mulch to cover it as well. Hopefully it'll work, or my Gaillardia and Monarda may be in trouble. While Monarda likes moist soil, I doubt it'll be able to withstand what the runoff is doing. Grrr....