Proverbs and Petunias

Vertical Stripes Galore!

2010-08-24T13:04:00.004-04:00

Its been so long!! I am obviously a very erratic blogger. Seems like I will go months with nothing to write about and then BAM! I have a million! I have had a hard couple of months, but its getting better : )

Lately I have been doing a lot of loom knitting, the plan being that my MIL is going to try to sell some at the flea market. So whatever feedback I get will be much appreciated, even if you have some ideas I will gladly accept!

This personally is my favorite. I made a garter stitch brim with the standard e-wrap for the rest of it. The bow was my first, but I think it turned out pretty good.

I wish that I had a baby or a toddler with a small head
model these. My sons head is way too big!

As you can tell I love the pink/green combination

It seems like pink and brown are very popular lately.

I will have lots more to come. Different, styles and colors!

ps. ignore the date/time stamp, I took these pictures today.

Revelation 3:20

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.

2010-01-17T20:52:00.007-05:00

So I have something else to show you! I made this a week or two ago and I am really proud of it because it is for my niece, Brinna, who is 7 months old. I don't have a picture of her wearing it, so I had to have a model, who better to model it than my two year old son Alex, and if I do say so myself he looks really cute in pink : )

I am really in love with this one because it is my very first hat in garter stitch, actually its my first in purl and knit stitch so the entire thing is basically a first : ) For those who don't know what I am speaking of, the garter stitch is a combination of knit stitch and purl stitch. One row of knit stitch's and then one row of purl stitch's. You have to keep track of them and since this is my first I did have a lot of trouble. As you can see there are two lines where I did the wrong stitch, at first I was kinda aggravated especially after I put in two days worth of work into it, Yes it takes FOREVER to do these stitches! Loom knitters out there who know there are much more complicated stitches, have mercy on me, a beginner! (pardon the biblical reference, no comparison intended!) Anyways, back to the point, the two lines actually ended up in the perfect place, so it looks like I intended for it to be that way. (P.s anyone loom knitters that can offer advice, I will graciously accept!)

I am really in love with this hat!!!

Up close garter stitch (sideways)

The flower that I just had to add!! I love flowers, reminds me of Spring.

My adorable baby Alex modeling his cousins hat! His heads a lot bigger than hers, so by my estimate it will fit her perfectly!

Hope everyone has a great day and God bless!

This is a song that is really blessing me, I hope that it blesses you too!

“For YOU created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, Psalm 139:13

2010-01-15T10:50:00.004-05:00

I just wanted to share with you this little hat I made for my son Alex. Its a very simple hat with a very cute little face : ) I did google elmo and knitting hoping I could find something that he would like and I think I hit it right on. At first when I made it I wondered if he would know what it was. Joke was on me. He seen it and got really excited so I figure he knew who it was.

Watching Elmo with his Elmo hat on!
(self explanatory, right?)

All it is, is a simple e-wrap hat in red (I used red heart, even though not my favorite yarn) I had to work with the eyes and nose to make them look right. I made that little nose twice. And even though they have a million different shades of everything, apparently orange is just something no body cares about. I am still not that happy with the shade of orange I ended up having to go with, but it works. The eyes are simple white balls with a piece of black felt glued (fabric glue) in the middle for eyeballs. At first I had been going to try to sew black circles on, but that didn't work.

(ignore his little dirty shirt : )

All in all I think it turned out pretty good for my first try. I am thinking about making a cookie monster hat next, but we will see.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has set eternity in the hearts of man; yet they cannot fathom what God has done beginning to end.

2010-01-07T12:11:00.005-05:00

This is the pom-pom wreath I made a week or two ago. I used "I love this yarn" from Hobby lobby in white and peacock. I used the clover pom pom makers in large. Its very easy to make.

You just take a plain wreath (in my case I used foam) and wrap it in cloth (I used a cut up pillowcase!) LOL Then you just make bunches of pom poms! As you can see I had no definite pattern, just randomly placed pom-poms. If you are familiar with the Clover pom-pom maker then you know that you have to tie the pom pom before taking it off of the device. Well, when you do that leave enough yarn that you can tie to the wreath. (approximately 6 inches, depending on the size of wreath you use.

You may be asking why teal and white? Well, last year at Wal-Mart right after Christmas we found these really great teal and white snowflakes. This year we hung them up where we hang our hanging baskets (on yarn no less! ) So it made the most sense to just match those!

At first I ran out of yarn ( it took 4 skeins, two of each color) I had only bought 2 skeins. At first I wanted to be stingy and just leave it the way it was, but I knew every time I looked at it, that I had not done the best I could do so I decided just to finish it.

As you can see its pretty scrawny looking and as far as God goes with people scrawny is okay! But for a wreath its NOT acceptable! : )

So in the end it had three layers of pom-poms. On the outside, inside and on the front.

In retrospect I wish I would have used Valentine colors. I didn't even think about it : ( And I LOVE the color pink! I would have used a heart shaped wreath too! How cool would that have been?! But anyways, I didn't and now I have other things to do, so maybe I will make one next year!

My next wreath I want to make I want to do for Easter, in pastel colors, pink, yellow, blue, white. Maybe find some type of Easter figurine to sit in the middle, A cross, maybe? I don't know. We will see : ) Stay tuned!

When you read God's Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, "It is talking to me, and about me." --Soren Kierkegaard

2010-01-04T12:10:00.007-05:00

.3+

Woo HOO! 2010! I really can't believe! I remember where I was 10 years ago, I never imagined I would be here where I am. With a wonderful husband and the greatest little 2 year old boy, a home, and being a stay at home mom. Its like God has fulfilled everything I ever wanted! I just feel so blessed. God is amazing!

Alex's birthday party was yesterday, even though his birthday was last Monday. We spent all day Saturday cleaning! ALL DAY! Taking down Christmas stuff, organizing, cleaning again, shampooing carpets, mopping, laundry. You name it we cleaned it LOL. My husband helped me the entire day, hes such a great husband. But I knew we were going to be wore out after all that cleaning so the entire week I prayed that God would give me the strength to get up and go to church even though I wanted to stay in my nice warm bed. Once again he proved faithful and I was able to get up! (today I'm feeling it, though) Although we had to rush (we got up a little late) we did somehow manage to get to church only 5 minutes late!

I had been so nervous about Alex going to the nursery. I had prayed all week about it! I was just a wreck. How was he going to do? Was he going to scream and cry? Was he going to pitch a fit? But amazingly once again God came through and he did great. We got him signed in with our little beeper. And we weren't even that late! YAY! I was so happy!

Little did I know that the sermon was going to touch me as deeply as it did and move me to such action. The preacher had such fervor and passion! It was so wonderful. He was speaking of reading the Bible and went through why and all that it encompasses! I am also very passionate about reading the Bible and the way that when I read the Bible, God works through that and changes me! Its amazing! So when he challenged us to read the Bible through in a year we jumped at the chance. He created the plan and it involves a chapter or two in Genesis, a chapter or two in the new testament, a couple of verses in psalms, and then a couple of verses in proverbs. I wasn't sure how that would work, I tend to stick to one book. But surprisingly it kept the reading very interesting! Then we have a verse every week that we are to memorize.

I do pray that we can keep up with it. It seems like on Friday and Saturday nights we stay up to late and by the time we go to bed we just don't feel like it. So those nights are going to be our biggest challenge. I know that God will be faithful to help us.

The other part of the challenge is that each week we do something to help someone else. This is the part of am wondering about. I stay at home, what can I do? But I have prayed that the Lord would point out what he would like me to do and I pray that I will be willing to listen and obey when he lets me know!

Please Pray for me and my family that we can stand up and be the Christians that God knows that we can be : )

http://www.life-community.com/Connect/empoweredtowin.html

This is the link for anyone who would like to join in on the Bible in a year plan!

When the world says, "Give up," Hope whispers, "Try one more time." - Author unknown.

2009-12-31T17:50:00.002-05:00

Wow. I really can't believe that 2009 is almost over and by almost I mean 6 hours and 9 minutes. I am sitting on the couch with my honey covered in a blanket and seriously considering having a large mug of hot chocolate.. with LOTS of marshmallows. Yum..
I haven't been on here in awhile. I have been busy getting ready for and then cleaning up after Christmas. December was a very eventful month for us. Starting really badly and turning out pretty great.
First of all, we have been wanting a wii since it came out, but the moment when we REALLY decided that we just HAD to have it was when my brother in law and his family went on vacation and left it at home. So they were nice enough to let us use it while they were on vacation! All they had for it was wii sports (remember this was when it cost like $400). We used it all week, I was so sore! But we had so much fun. So this year we started thinking that its about time we get one. Winters coming up and there's just not really much that you can do.. other than watch movies and eat. So honey had the great idea of taking his games to Game stop and trading them in for credit for a wii. So that night we got all of our games together and when he got home from work we were going to go trade them in and see. I wasn't very hopeful. But when he went to work a guy told him about the deal from Wal-mart which was buy the wii ($200) and get a $50 Wal-mart gift card! Oh my gosh, right?! I was so excited all the signs were pointing toward yes you are going to be able to get it!!! That day was the last day of the sale and I was worried it being around Christmas that they would be sold out. Obviously my husband was too because he came up with the idea of me and Alex going before he got home. So I got us ready and we got on the road. It was So cold! First of all we went to High Point Wal-mart. Big store, gotta have it, right? NOT. I asked a sales lady and wow was she rude!

"Ma'am, do you have any wiis left?" smile.
"No were sold out." very gruffly, like shes smoking while she says it. Turns away and dismisses me. I'm still standing there, not moving.
"okay, so do you know if the other stores are sold out?" So I know that this woman is a low level cashier at best and I know that she doesn't personally communicate with the other stores, my bad.
"I don't know, were sold out," looking at another cashier and the cashier saying, "no were sold out." Umm... kinda got that.
"How long have you been sold out?" Once again smiling, hoping that she would take the hint and be friendly.
Wrong, she was getting so aggravated. "Ummm.. a couple of days...," ok I can take a hint, you don't care. I walk away, and she says " the sale ends today." yeah kinda knew that.

By the end of all that I was kinda aggravated, but I was persevering! I knew if I was persistent I would find one. It would just take a little driving around. Next store.. Randleman. 15-20 minutes away. I walk in and go straight back to electronics, no wiis. I walk out of the store. Feeling so bad about dragging my poor pitiful baby around that I go to McDonald's and buy lunch. I call the honey and tell him.. I can't do it anymore, I'm done. Yeah, persistence my butt. I was cold and hungry. I was sick of driving around. I wanted to go home and watch Wendy Williams. So I get home and look at the Wal-mart website to see if you can still get the gift card if you buy it online. That's when I see the little area that says "find in store" enter zip code and whoosh, you know which store to go too. UGH.... extreme aggravation ensues. Finish chicken nuggets or go to the Asheboro Walmart and get the wii. It take approximately 2 minutes to realize that if I didn't go then I would regret it. Bundle baby up.. put the lone chicken nugget in his hand to snack on going down the road... grab my drink and we are gone! Wendy Williams will be on tomorrow, no big deal.

I get to the Asheboro Walmart and they are there!!! I wanted to weep with joy! They were really magnificent in there square white boxes sitting there proudly with my name written all over it : )

Now all I had to do was get someone over there to open it and then I could buy it and go home!
So I'm standing there with a fussing baby, who has been very good up until now. A guy has come up and is opening the door for the woman standing next to me. And this part was quite funny since I have worked retail and I knew what was going on.

She was fidgeting excessively she was nervous and couldn't look anyone in the eye.

The guy who is really big opens the case and hands her a Nintendo DS.

"Can I open it?" She flips it over and scans the box.

"no," he says patiently.

"Umm.. can I pay for it up front?"

"no, you have to pay for it back here." calmly.

"okay.. "

She is still looking at it when I ask him to get my wii. (my wii! hahaha) He waited til she handed it back and then he got my wii : )

When I finally was able to hold it in my hands and finely able to go back home I was so happy!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

P.S. I love Wal-Mart.

"I have come that you may have life." John 10:10

2009-12-08T15:06:00.004-05:00

continued...

After going to church and being obedient to the Lord I was felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulder. I had been wanting to go back to church for so long and every Sunday that passed, it got harder to go back. I knew I needed to go back, I wanted to go back, but I was scared. So after going to church I knew I couldn't go back and I just had to get online and do some research. The first thing I was looking for was where was it? I knew that if it took longer than 25 minutes to get there, we would have an easy excuse for not going. I didn't want excuses. The second thing was I wanted to non-denominational, but leaning towards Baptist. The third thing was that I wanted them to have stuff going on. A youth program, a good nursery, community outreach, etc. I didn't want to approach looking for a church like shopping for groceries, but you have to consider these things.

The church that I went to before me and my husband started dating, was very small. There was only 3 people in the youth group, 1 of which was my brother. I was the only single person in the entire church and let me tell you, when your single and you have absolutely NO ONE to relate to, its hard. Thankfully I went to church with my parents, so my situation (being single) was not so bad. I honestly respect those single people who go to church by themselves. I know that it must be hard. So it was very important to us that Alex have peers at church, who could encourage him and he could relate too.

I looked for a day or two. I was starting to think that we would be on the church search for a lot longer. When I found Life Community Church I was estatic! It has a million different things going on. It really seemed great. I was excited. I was apprehensive. I looked up directions on Map quest and it is 25 minutes from our house! As I said before, I was really excited! I told my husband when he got home. His unemotional response was, "okay we'll try in on Sunday." He is always like that, it drives me crazy! I get so emotional and he is just like... dead grass. He just doesn't get excited, at all. But on the flip side of that when something bad happens, he is the calm in the storm, and for that I am extremely grateful.

Back to the subject : )

Once again, we dropped the baby off at his mothers, which was on the way. I wore the same outfit as the Sunday before. The service we were going to started at 10:30, we got there at 10:20. It probably took 5 minutes to walk from our car to the front door. When we walked in people were standing around everywhere, and there were monitors in the entry way that had a countdown. I assumed that that was when the service started and we were waiting for the previous service to let out. I kinda liked how synchronized it was. It was cool. I like having a plan and an order. My husband later would tell me that he liked some spontaneity. At about three minutes till the service started we were able to go in and sit down. It was not a normal church, per-se. It was big, there was no stained glass windows, it was rather plan with beige walls and a long platform in the front. The choir was already moving to the front. I knew that had this down to the minute when the second the timer stopped the singing started. I loved it.

I really felt good during the singing, but then I remembered I had felt pretty good about the other church too. So I reserved judgement until the end. The sermon started and well. whoa. I loved it. The sermon was "why do bad things happen to good people?" Whoa. He did great. Hard topic, but great explanation.

http://www.yourlifecommunity.com/?p=669

There's the link so if you want to listen to it! How cool is that?!

Anyways one of the things that really stood out to me, was when we prayed the preacher actually knelt down. I have never seen anyone do it, but I was very effected by the humility of the gesture.

They sent around visitor cards during the singing. (you stay seated if your a visitor) we filled it out. We got a letter like two days later : ) We were also invited to meet the pastor in the hospitality room right off of the sanctuary. Which was nice because sometimes you get lost in the crowd and never really meet the pastor. We even got a $5.00 coupon for Brewster's Ice cream! You can't tell me that that's not really cool. Talk about treating visitors right! wow.

Needless to say, the church made quite an impression. If you live anywhere near Jamestown North Carolina, then you need to come see! Its great.

We talked about it and as usual, my husband, was, "it was okay. it was a good sermon." yeah that's his equivalent of fireworks. LOL

The next weekend we weren't able to go because the entire family was sick. : (

But that is my church search experience. I hope that you were able to glean something from my experience to maybe help with yours. God Bless!

The Cross, a Bible, and Jesus.

2009-12-04T21:15:00.003-05:00

I seen something today that I wanted to share with you. I posted this morning, but this is pretty great so I want to share now. LOL

Today I went to visit and have lunch with my mom at work. She is a manager at Salvation Army. I am a HUGE thrift store lover so its really great that she works there! I was looking for some clothes to wear to church. I mean who wants to wear the same thing every Sunday?? Not me. And amazingly I actually found something!! I couldn't believe. I have the hardest time finding clothes anywhere much less at thrift store, then its almost impossible! But I did! I found a really great red and black blouse to go with my one pair of black dress pants. It fit perfect and I LOVE IT! But the real find of the day was this beautiful dark gray pant set from Sag Harbor!! It looked so good when I tried it on, I almost cried. God knew I needed clothes and he provided them, for $11 no less! That's a pretty huge God moment. I was really overwhelmed with gratitude.

We had a really great time, having lunch and talking. Sometimes it feels like we are more sisters than mother and daughter. As you may know, my father died in the middle of January. So she is really having a hard time. They were married 27 years. And although he is in Heaven now and out of pain. I know it still kills her to go to bed alone every night, and come home to find him not there. I know its killing her. But thankfully I also know God. The will of God will never take you were the grace of God won't keep you. Although sometimes its hard to remember that when the emotional pain is so hard to bear. Please keep her in your prayers.

On the way home, on the side of the road, there was a man. A young man with a life size wood cross that said Jesus and a Bible in his hand. He had this huge cheesy grin on his face, but it was beautiful. Because he was doing something that was just absolutely amazing. He was on the busiest road in the entire city and he wasn't ashamed. That's beautiful. I was astounded by the simplicity of his message. A bible, a cross, and Jesus. I loved it that he didn't see a reason to wear a sandwich board with a bible verse (although there is nothing wrong with that!) or a message of condemnation! It was absolutely amazing. I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it.

But it made me wonder.

Would I be willing to do that? On the busiest road? I doubt it. I don't even know if I would be willing to do that in my small neighborhood, much less the busiest road in town!
Then my next thought was, why? Was I ashamed? No. Was I too concerned that people may look at me like a freak? Maybe. Or was it that I was too concerned with myself to worry about someone else's salvation? I hope not, I seriously hope not. I know that I wasn't the only person that man effected. I know that I wasn't the only person amazed at his courage. I know that I am not the only one asking the question. "would I do that?"

All he had was a cross, a Bible and Jesus, but I think that's all he needed.

Theres only one song that can be here.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

2009-12-04T09:25:00.005-05:00

....continued

That Sunday we woke up and we got ready. I was so so nervous. I kept rushing everybody along and trying to get there early. We did end up getting there early. 20 minutes too early. lol. We drove into the parking lot and there was an older man who was sitting in his car, waiting on the time to go in I guess. (we were only going to preaching) So we waited and waited and waited. It felt like forever. But 10:45 did eventually arrive and we got out of the car. Where did we go?? The front door, the side door? We didn't know. I ,of course thought well that's easy go in the front door. Yeah not that easy. See on there website they had two services for there 11 o'clock service, one traditional, one contemporary. Which was one of the reasons I had thought this church was a good option. I didn't mind traditional , that was how I grew up. We didn't have contemporary services. I mean we were BAPTIST! Drums? umm.. no. that would surely send you to hell. A song that wasn't wrote back in 1755? nope.. obviously these young whipper snappers who write these songs today are led by some young radical God that we don't know! The God back then, can't be the same God as now! Okay, so maybe that was a drastic example, but still.
As I said, there was a traditional service and a contemporary service at 11 o'clock. We walked up to a side door and heard music so my husband, the logical non nervous one , led us there. I was having a hard time trusting him, I wanted to blend in! Act like we had been going there forever and it wasn't a big deal. I didn't want to ask for directions! Just go in the front door! Anyways, thankfully I just followed him and shut my big mouth. He went in and there was a young woman singing with a band made of teenagers! It was pretty cool, seeing these young kids being the band.

There was a large wood box thing on the back wall, when we walked in. (where they run the equipment) There was a guy there so honey asked him. And he said the contemporary service was held there and the traditional was held in the sanctuary. So we just say down and stayed in there. We sat in the back , of course, blending in and so we had a quick escape route! The service started with singing. It was pretty great, I knew the songs. I felt confident. I was praising the Lord and it felt great! I was were I needed to be! I was so happy!

The associate pastor got up on the platform and made some announcements. One made me pause. He said "next week we have something special planned for you. The preacher will be preaching live over here and I will be preaching live in the sanctuary. The preacher has asked me to preach a sermon about my vision for the church.." Okay did you catch that? Live, we will be preaching live? I already had a pretty good idea what he meant. But I was still hoping it wasn't true. It was putting A LOT of emphasis on it being LIVE. But I was like okay cool no big deal. I just assumed that the associate pastor would be the one preaching the sermon in this service. It made sense. I mean he seemed like a very easy going, friendly guy. I was still optimistic.

But then.. the associate pastor sat down on a chair in the corner of the platform and the projector was turned on. oh my. And the next thing I see in the preacher.. on the screen... preaching.

This next part may seem overly critical. It may seem like I am judging him. I'm not. What went on is between him and God.. and his congregation. I am only an observer honestly seeking a God-fearing, people loving church.

He started with a loud, orators voice. You know what I'm talking about. There voice goes up and down and up and down. It was like a roller coaster. But no big deal. as I said I'm baptist. Baptists probably invented that move! Next he introduces the topic for the sermon. Tithing. Now before you draw conclusions. I know that we are to tithe. Its a basic biblical principle. I also believe it should be taught in love.. and compassion and understanding. It wasn't, at all.
One of the first things he says, " I hate television evangelists..."

Umm.. Billy Graham, Joyce Meyer?? umm.. Charles Stanley? Are you serious? umm.. serious doubts are coming up now. Very serious doubts. Later on in the message he says, " you give money to TV evangelists?? Then next time you get sick call THEM and ask them to visit you when your sick!" ummm.. okay.. shifting in my seat.. very uncomfortable. You mean that's why we tithe?? To pay the preacher to come see us when we are sick.. hmm.. well, I didn't know that. I thought we did it in obedience to God and you visited out of love.. yeah crazy concept.

Then he talks about if you pay your tithes that God will bless you. God will provide all your needs and then he kept repeating, "Blessings don't mean bucks, blessings don't mean bucks." umm.. I understand that to a point, but if we are serving the same God. Then God def does give money as blessings, IF you can handle it. If its in his will. He just kept repeating it. Then he says "God will provide your needs not your wants." WHOA! What?? are you talking about GOD? Because in my experience God has provided a million of my wants, some of them even before I want it! God is constantly proving that HE is a giver of needs and WANTS. I could right now, at this very moment give you a list of the wants he has provided in the past month!

In the bible it says, "speak the truth in love." "without love you are as a clanging cymbal!"

I am by nature (human nature) a critical person. I know that. I pray about it and I'm honestly trying to work on it. That's why when we got out of church (running) and into the car (with the windows rolled up) and out of the parking lot (in case they could read lips) We discussed it.
My husband agreed with me. He seen the same thing I did. It seemed like the preacher was the controlling element of the church, nothing happened that he didn't want. Like maybe letting the associate pastor preach to the contemporary service. I can only imagine the battle that went into trying to get the contemporary service! And the drums to play in the service! I honestly can't imagine.

We prayed about it, seriously discussed it, and we decided later than evening, that we would not be going back to that church. I was extremely discouraged. I just didn't understand why God didn't bless our search and let us find the right church the first time! Then my husband said something that put it all in to prospective. "We did what we were supposed to do. we obeyed God." And that's when I realized that, that was the real reason for going.

Joyce Meyer has a sermon she teaches about mountains. Mountains being problems. When we have a mountain there is a lesson to learn every time. You learn the lesson, the mountain moves, you don't learn the lesson, the mountain stays and you just keep going around it. In this case my mountain was just obeying God. Do the right thing. Why do I know that? Because the next week.. that mountain was GONE!

...stay tuned for Part three, the final conclusion to our family church search!

I am the bride of Christ!

2009-12-02T09:34:00.005-05:00

I am a christian, in case you didn't notice. : ) I am not perfect, I have a million flaws, but thankfully through Jesus I am without shame or guilt. He's still working on me, making me what I ought to be. I sang those words when I was younger, not understanding what they really meant, but in the past couple of weeks I have really started to cling to those words.

Since Alex has been born we have went not went to church, hardly at all. I have been really convicted and I know that I can't be what God wants me to be without it. I have struggled and come up the excuses, and I have struggled with my own insecurities. But I had finely decided that I needed to put those excuses away and go, for Alex's sake. I don't want him to go through life and not understand Jesus, not have Jesus. He is always watching Veggietales and I am always singing about Jesus and talking about Jesus, but that's not enough. I knew that we had to do something. One of the excuses was I didn't have anything to wear, I didn't. I did consider wearing jeans and a nice shirt and I knew that if the entire congregation frowned upon that , I would probably say, nah. not for us. I didn't want that pressure, I was nervous enough. I wanted to blend in, not stand out.

So I told God that if he would find me a shirt the next day (it was Saturday) we would go to church. I knew that God would help me. He always does.

We went to Carolina thrift in search for something to wear. I have not lost the baby weight from Alex, if anything I have gained, so its not a small task to find me something to wear. I found several things but they didn't look like they fit, and the others I found didn't match anything I had. So back to square one. I knew as I stood there that God would provide. He's constantly providing and surprising me with his generosity and love.

I decided that I could get away with my black dress pants, but what about a shirt? We went to Wal-mart next to get groceries. I found this really great Norma Kamali Blouse for $5!!! I absolutely love it!

Some of you may say that God doesn't work like that, but I disagree. I know that God knows all my needs and amazingly he understood my battle, he understood the way I felt and he said, "its okay, I'll take care of it."

Part 1 church battle was over. Clothes, check.

The next part of the battle was whether to take Alex to the first service. I wanted to, I really did, but the logical side said that it would be easier to try to out before we get into the whole nursery thing. I mean what of the church we went to were wackos? (Trust me, there out there!)

And not to mention hes never had to stay with anyone that wasn't family! So my husband called his mom and it was set up for him to stay with her during our adventure. (by now, that's what it was!)

Part 2 church battle was over. Alex, check.

I had already found the church I wanted to go to, it was Baptist. We where set. I was so nervous! I hate going to new places like that! But that night we prayed and I had been telling God about my battle, he understood. Because that night after me and my husband had had read the Bible and prayed about it, I laid down and tried to think about it logically.

Why was I going to church? To worship God and be obedient to him.

That was the bottom line. I wasn't going to do anything more than that. I didn't have to worry about people not liking me or not thinking I was dressed appropriately. That didn't matter!

And that's when God showed me the perfect illustration to get me through it!

Preparing for our wedding was kind of a nightmare. If it wasn't one thing to worry about it was the other. The church, the bridesmaids, the honeymoon, hectic, craziness! I was stressed out a lot of the time, We pretty much done it on our own. But even in all the craziness, when I walked through those church doors and laid my eyes on my beloved, none of it mattered. I didn't care if people were swinging from the chandeliers. All that matted was that I was marrying the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with!

And that's when the light bulb came on! As long as I kept my eyes one my beloved, nothing else mattered! I was his bride! I could handle this! Its amazing that God used that illustration to show me what it was all about, because in the bible, the church is the bridegroom of Christ! I am part of the church. I am saved and sanctified and every other thing that goes along with being the church!

Stayed tuned for part 2 of the Church search!

Hope everyone has a great day : )

Eclectic, thats me.

2009-12-01T16:06:00.003-05:00

So I haven't blogged in a while and now I am back. : ) I was getting frustrated with coming up with only blog posts about my garden, since this is pretty much the first year of my garden. There really wasn't that much going on. Plus, I have hobby A.D.D. , meaning that after a week or two of doing something I need something new. Its aggravating and its frustrating. I see these people who are constantly blogging about there gardens and that's pretty much all they blog about. I am trying to be like you! But I can't. I am just too extremely eclectic. I am interested in everything! I have a million different ideas, plans, and interests. I want to start one thing and stick to it, but I can't!
For example, my husband found this really great (FREE) online game for us to play. No I am not a gamer, but in this situation, I was, BIG TIME! It took us a month and a half and we got to level 50. I was devoting way too much time to it, it took time away from things that were much more important, so I slowed down. And that was the death of the obsession. I haven't played in over a week and can't say that I will be again for awhile. Yup, A.D.D.
My current obsession is knitting! I found some really great Knifty Knitter looms and wah-lah. Obsession begins. Within a day of realizing that not only did I love it, but I could make Christmas gifts with it! So I started the project of knitting wonderful knit hats for everybody in my husbands family! Yeah, my family? another story all together. It took me a week and a half to knit 16 hats! When I get obsessed with something I go all out! LOL!
So the entire point of this rambling about my eclectic obsessions is that I now understand that I have to embrace the way God made me. Things always work out better that way anyways.
Now I will blog about anything, and everything. Well, except politics.

Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death. ~Author Unknown

2009-08-01T19:39:00.006-04:00

I want to start this post by thanking everyone who commented about my last post. I really appreciate your comments. Thank you : )

If you have been following me this year or if you have looked at past posts then you will know that I started this garden from scratch this year and it has taken off! But as you can see from the bottom right corner that is where the down spout is, so the mulch has washed away. My honey is in the process of creating a french drain so we will not have that problem again.

This is the cockscomb I started from seed this year. I really need to divide them... Plus this is the only flower that honey has liked. ( the red one)

This is the limelight hydrangea before I cut the blooms off to use as cut flowers again. I can't believe they have bloomed again this soon!

This is one of the three Lisianthus's I bought on clearance at Wal-mart. This is the only survivor. : (

This is more cockscomb that needs dividing. I really love the fluffy blooms!

This is the frosty cherry hydrangea I planted last fall

I just love this watering can/planter. It has orange Ice geraniums planted in it.

LOOK! My $1 hibiscus tree bloomed! I LOVE IT!

Remember those really tacky* decorations from home interiors that EVERYONE owned?? Well, I found some at Salvation Army and just knew that they would be great as garden decor. Well, after I painted them of course.

*- tacky is a matter of opinion please do not be offended if you have some hanging in your house.

Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn't know that so it goes on flying anyway. ~Mary Kay Ash

2009-07-29T12:47:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in awhile so I have a lot of pictures I want to share with, but I don't want to bore you with all of them in one post. So stay tuned : )

This is from the "Limelight" Hydrangea that my honey bought me for Mother's Day! I love using these blooms for cut flowers!

This is a cloche I got at Salvation Army for $1.99 and I couldn't resist after seeing everyone Else's vignettes with cloches. (sorry if I didn't spell that right) So here is mine that I filled with cherry Magellan zinnias.

This is a crappy picture, but these are the Zinnias near the driveway. They are great cut flowers!

This is the wall of morning Glory's.

I really didn't think it would ever get this full!

Here is the cherry Magellan zinnia.

I had to put the cherry zinnias with the marigolds since the all the seeds for the zinnias didn't germinate!! I think it looks happy : )

This has turned out to be my very favorite part of the yard. When I walk out the smell is intoxicating along with the butterfly's and bees that are constant visitors. Which was the entire point of the garden.

My husband thinks we should line the driveway with the balsam next year. What do you think?
The balsam is on the left side of the steps.

I trimmed down the Snapdragons that were in the front of the zinnias and they are currently sitting in the garage so I can steal the seeds : ) YAY! Hopefully they will re bloom in the fall!

I hope you have a great day and Happy Gardening!

Love is like a butterfly: It goes where it pleases and it pleases wherever it goes. ~Author Unknown

2009-07-14T13:10:00.000-04:00

I haven't had much time to post lately, but I will soon. This is just a collage that I created and I wanted to share with you. You can click on the image to enlarge it. Enjoy : )

Hope everyone has a great day!

"Strive for excellence, not perfection, because we don't live in a perfect world." ~ Joyce Meyer

2009-06-29T13:18:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to show some of the things we have been working on. We as in me and my honey, who helps cutting wood and other manly stuff. LOL not really I'm just scared of the skill saw!

That's me!

I think maybe this should of said "beware of the snap dragons" but alas. no more room. : )

My favorite quote from Joyce Meyer!

Anyone want any weeds?!

That is my fantastic husband staining the boards for our raised bed shade garden.

Now I'm just bragging. My husband built this fold down work bench for the garage because he was sick of me using his work space, now we have separate areas. Now if only I can convince him to paint it....

Its amazing what a coat of paint will do

The trellis my honey made me!!! But what do I put on it?? Clematis or climbing Roses???

The bed with the snapdragon sign...for obvious reasons : )

I hope everyone has a great day and Happy Gardening!

PS. We need a rain dance too!

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. ~Eartha Kitt

2009-06-23T16:45:00.000-04:00

Its been pretty hot lately so needless to say I haven't been out working in the yard. The flowers seem to be doing okay. Right now it feels like I'm kinda trial and error with the flowers. Like I'm really hating that I got plain impatiens instead of trying to find the double impatiens seeds. I am also regretting starting a lot of annuals instead of focusing on perennials. But what can you do? besides store it away and remember it next year.

These are the impatiens that I wish I would have done as double impatiens.

This is the Balsam I started from seed (direct sow!!) and they are doing remarkably well. Even the heat and humidity they keep on trucking without even wilting!

Okay so this a complete mystery. I planted morning glory's along the entire length of the trellis and only one side decided to germinate. ??? idk.

I have NO IDEA what happened with this rose?? Its so... pathetic.

This is the Blue Girl rose I had ordered from... Gurneys??? or Michigan Bulb?? I don't remember. Either way its not doing very good. I mean the entire rose garden seems to be suffering, but this one is REALLY REALLY BAD! Any ideas as to what's wrong??

This is the direct sow cut flower garden. I have been working to weed it and thin the seedlings out, but as you can see I am only half done. : ) I am waiting on some rain to make the job a little easier.

Yay! My little Limelight hydrangea bloomed. But I do have to get some kind of hoop to hold those heavy blooms up.

Just a pretty little Dahlia. Such a happy little flower : )

Well look at that! My little clearance Hibiscus tree is leafing out! YAY!

These are the little Daisy tree with some Alyssum threw in. (not the best combination : ( )
Behind it is the Mock orange that is growing so FAST!

So thats pretty much all thats going on here.

Hope everyone has a great day and Happy Gardening!

The North Carolina Zoo Since 1974

2009-06-11T22:12:00.000-04:00

I love the zoo. I had been waiting to go since my husbands company Christmas party where we won 4 free tickets. Its not expensive, but it gives me a reason to go, even when we have no money : ) I have been trying to get there since the first of May, but our weather has been awfully unpredictable. raining or too hot. So finally my husband just took a vacation day and this past Monday we went! And boy were we in for a SHOW!

Here is some information about the North Carolina Zoo.

~Located just south of Asheboro, the North Carolina Zoo is seated on a 1,500 tract of land in the Uwharrie Mountains. Approximately 500 acres of this property have been developed into one of the largest "natural habitat" zoos in the United States. You won't find cages made of steel and concrete here! Our animals are given enclosures that mimic their natural habitats to include trees, ponds, rocks, grass and dirt.~

This was taken in the Pavilion from the video above.

They have a lot of Orchids!

The pink is my favorite.

I don't know what this is.

One of the Seals!

I'm not exactly sure what this is, but I want one!

This is the desert Pavilion. Its HUGE!

The Flamingos are my favorite, well along with the Puffins, that I could not get a picture of!

Hibiscus!

I hope you enjoyed some of the pictures from our Zoo trip. If any of you live anywhere close to The Piedmont of North Carolina you should make a trip. Its a really great experience and its fairly cheap!

Hope everyone has a GREAT day and Happy Gardening!

"Money grows on the tree of patience." - Proverb

2009-06-09T22:01:00.000-04:00

As you may know, I am a Stay at home mom. My husband has a good job,but when supporting three people and a mortgage it can get tough. That is why I try to be a very thrifty plant shopper. Out of necessity and out of greed probably. I just want more for my money. But there are some things that I have picked up in the small amount of time I have been gardening that I want to share with the rest of you.

1~ As you may know. The biggest tip is to find the clearance section in your gardening center. Mine mostly being Lowe's and Wal-mart. Sometimes however I do get lucky enough to find moderately (notice I didn't say cheap : ) priced plants in nurseries. The clearance section is usually the ones that have been over watered or been in the sun when it need shade or vice-versa. They usually look like crap , but a lot of times they do have hidden potential you just have to find it. Plus, when its $.50 I mean why does it really matter? : )

Take this weekend for example. We went to Lowes (like we do every weekend) and of course we DID NOT have extra money, so I headed first to the clearance section. I was in luck upon walking up there were already people surrounding the carts of clearance plants. The one that was getting the most attention were the annuals in peat pots for $.10. People were going CRAZY! They were all excited and giggly. But being the somewhat greedy gardener I am. I went in search of the Perennial clearance plants. I really didn't feel like planting anymore marigolds or impatiens anyways. That's when I spotted the Calla lilies for $. 50! They didn't have any blooms and to say I know nothing of Calla lilies is putting it mildly. But it just so happened that the weekend before I was at my neighbors admiring her one Calla Lily that she didn't even know she had! So it proved to me that it was hardy in zone 7 and that was all the incentive I needed.
So I ended up with 3 of the small Calla Lilies and 1 big pot calla Lily (that retailed for $17 for $1!!) So all in all I ended up with-

2- Pillow Talk Calla Lillies (red bi-color)
1- Amethyst Calla Lily (purple)
1- (big one!) Crystal Blush (white)
1- Park Princess Dahlia (pink, of course!)
1- nearly dead Strawberry Sunset Hibiscus tree (with a braided trunk!) Oh I hope I can keep this alive!
1- Double wave Petunia (for $.50)

2~ PATIENCE. A hard word, but in the end its just smarter. Whenever I see a plant, I want it in the smalled size possible. (aka. the cheapest) it may take a while to get to the size you want, but that's half the fun right? Patience inspires appreciation. Right now I have 7 hydrangeas that are not even a foot tall that I planted last fall. I paid probably between 5 and 8 dollars a piece from Michigan Bulb. Where as had I went to Lowe's or even a nursery it would have cost twice maybe even three times that! Now they may be small, but they are there and I didn't go bankrupt trying to buy them. Plus it left me money to buy more plants : )

3- I know that all of you gardeners know this one. DIVIDE and SHARE. There are so many Perennials that you can divide and split up and scatter them in other places of your garden. Like the Iris's that were beside our house. I dug them things up divided them and now they are all over the yard!

Plus you can dig them up and Share with someone else. You never know maybe they will have something that they can share with you!

4~ One of the things that many of us thrifty gardeners have to learn the hard way is that saving money is not always the thrifty way. For example. I have clay soil and it is horrible. I have to amend the crap out of it by adding peat moss and manure to help it drain. Well, at first I didn't want to spend the money to buy the amendments. (trying to save money) but in the end it ended up not being the thrifty way because my plants suffered and some died. So the forth tip is to going ahead and spend the money and take care of those plants. That's the thrifty way!

5~ My favorite thrifty tip, EVER is this. SEEDS!!! Even if only half the pack germinates your still only out the price of a plant and you get so many more plants! Seeds are trial and error. Some germinate easier and faster than others and some just aren't really worth the time. Which leads us to the 6th tip.

6~ Knowledge is Power. The thrifty girl knows all about googling and reading up on the plants she tends. She knows that when your planting that knowledge can make a world of difference.

For example. My hydrangeas. The Greek root "hydr" is a reference to water, like hydrate. So it needs A LOT of water. I didn't know this last year, but I guess it wouldn't really matter since we were going through a drought! Get a library card, use the Internet for something other than Myspace : ), Magazines are a great source of information. and of course read blogs. Get other peoples experience with their garden!

7~ Buy self-sowing annuals/biennials such as Marigolds and Hollyhocks. One years cost, many years of pleasure. But be diligent about thinning them out. They could be a good thing eventually turning very bad!

Thats all I can think of right now. I by no means think I know everything about gardening, these are just some of the ways that I save money and I hope that it can help you too!

Hope everyone has a Great day and Happy Gardening!

“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.”~ Martin Luther

2009-06-08T22:14:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I got out again and took some more pictures! I couldn't resist, it was SO beautiful!
As you can see everything seems to be loving the very unusual wet weather we have been having and we have been saving a lot of money, not having to water the crap out of the plants! LOL : )

Ahhh... snapdragons. every time I go outside I see these and I can't help but stop and notice all the different colors!

You just have to love them with a name like snapdragon.

So many colors on one bloom!

This is one of our five Endless Summer Hydrangeas. Why is it white??? IDK! Its not Blushing Bride either. Its just white. I would complain, but I do love it!

This is the climbing Joseph's coat rose blooming. Another bloom with multiple colors.

Limelight Hydrangea about to bloom!!

When I took the picture of this Dahlia, I didn't really pay attention to the water hose, but I think it turned out pretty good with the yellow center matching the yellow hose.

This is another Dahlia

Of course..another Dahlia : ) They are great those big fluffy blossoms.

As you can tell I have several Unwin Dahlia's and for that is we started them from seed. Another reason why I LOVE seeds! For the price of one plant you get an entire garden full of plants.

I have more, but I will save them for another day!

I hope everyone has a Great day and Happy Gardening!

PS. If at anytime you want to enlarge it.. Just click the picture : )

"An addiction to gardening is not all bad when you consider all the other choices in life."

2009-06-03T10:37:00.000-04:00

Finally, I'm back! Every time I decided to go out and take some pictures, I couldn't find my camera! And the back yard had to be mowed, I mean what is a rose picture, when the grass is taller that the roses?! LOL Well, finally yesterday when it cooled off enough that we wouldn't pass out from heat exhaustion, I grabbed my miracle grow and my camera and honey grabbed the lawn mower! So as he mowed the back yard I miracle growed and took pictures.

This is the well that my honey made out of scrap wood. He is pretty new to wood working but I think he did pretty darn good! We both realized that the roof was out of proportion when it went up, but its not really that big a deal. The middle has a planted so I can put flowers in it.

We decided that we wanted it to have a barn look to it, but after painting it I thought it would be a good idea to make it a patriotic planter. Of course later I plan on putting a flower bed around it.

This is the area on the side of the house with clematis and morning Glory's. As you can tell it has A LOT of weeds! I hate crabgrass!!!

Here is another clearance Lantana I got at Wal-mart. Its purple!

I am extremely proud of these Petunias. They are the Dolcissima Flambe Petunias. And the reason that I am SO proud of these are because I started them from seed and they are blooming! To some of the more advanced gardeners this may seem trivial, but to me it is simply amazing.

Another Dahlia... from seed!!!! And its...blooming!! So exciting!

Three of the six herb containers! This is German chamomile (left) Lemon basil (middle) and cilantro (end). I don't cook with herbs, but I love the smell!

No I am not showing off my pretty little car LOL.

Thumbalina Zinnia. The first bloom!

Snapdragon...from SEED!!

So there's not really that much going on in my garden. It seems like every ones having trouble adjusting to the heat!

I hope everyone has a great day and Happy Gardening!

I may not be there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. ~Author Unknown

2009-05-24T11:04:00.000-04:00

Once again I was unable to move the photos .... still driving me crazy, but here are my photos in a very random order. Sorry : (

This is the daisy tree from direct gardening. I think I'm suppose to prune it in to a tree.

Here are my tipsy pots you can tell that they have been really busy growing.

LOL. Random HUH? This is our veggie garden. Well,, veggies and some others.
we have tomato's, cucumbers, veggie squash, (you can use the inside like pasta) birdhouse gourds (YAY!) I can't wait to paint them suckers! cantaloupes, corn, ornamental corn (for Fall of course) with Sunflowers and Nasturtiums threw in for good measure.

This is the brick pathway with the very little hydrangeas (Annabelle and raspberry parfait (tech. harlequin)

This is the clematis blooming! YAY! Clematis Viticella "Royal Velvet" from Michigan Bulb.

I LOVE this Lantana.

Columbine "Swan blue and white"

Endless summer Hydrangea. I am going gray waiting for this thing to bloom!! What is going on??!!

Another random shot. Starting seeds. Once again. A test in patience. I am ready to plant them!

LOL! Another shot of the daisy tree! That is going to need some serious pruning for it to be a tree!

For love of country they accepted death... ~James A. Garfield

2009-05-23T17:58:00.001-04:00

I have been trying to post this all day! I don't know whats going on with blogger, but its driving me CRAZY!! I couldn't move my pictures around on my blog like I usually do so its kinda random. But to keep it simple I stuck with roses so it doesn't look so jumbled.

I have NO idea what rose this is. I don't remember buying anything that looks even similar to this ??? So my guess is that it was mislabeled. Oh well, I think the mistake turned out pretty great. I LOVE IT! It reminds me of an English rose (my fav) and it smells delicious!

Those miniature roses are blooming like crazy! I have never seen anything that was so... bloomy : ) LOL

This is a close up shot of the mystery rose.

This is the Liv Tyler rose that has finally bloomed. I don't think it looks like the picture so I'm kinda worried. It smells really good, but I am kinda confused.

I think this is another shot of the Tropicana rose.

Another shot of the mystery rose. I do love it!

Yeah... you guessed it. Mystery rose.

I know everyone has to be sick of looking at my roses by now. But I will post other pictures (not roses) later : )

If only I could get this blogger figured out.

And I think our new computer could have something to do with the mumbo jumbo. We have Vista now : (

It looks fancy, but everything is a lot harder to do! Why can't anything be simple??

Anyways no more complaining!

I hope everyone has a great Memorial day Weekend! Be safe!

And while you are eating your hot dogs and hamburgers between taking dips in the pool remember the men and women that made that simple pleasure possible.

And I'm proud to be an American,

where at least I know I'm free,

And I WON'T forget the men who died,

who gave that right to me!

Lee Greenwood

Handbook for Life

2009-05-21T09:13:00.000-04:00

Today I received this email and I just had to let all my blogging friends read it!

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E's - Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time for prayer.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2008.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

11. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't overdo. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:

25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
7. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy.

So, be happy.

Perfumes are the feelings of flowers. ~Heinrich Heine

2009-05-18T19:17:00.000-04:00

I haven't really had much going on lately. Seems like the only thing that's got any "get up and go" is the roses. Seems like everyday I have another bloom. I do have to say that it tends to be the best part of my day. Walking outside and seeing whats germinating or blooming. And the roses never disappoint. Its always a surprise when that little bud appears. I did not label or write down what is where. Mostly because I didn't want to go all OCD and obsess over what colors looked good together. I just let it flow where it happened to flow. So far it has worked out pretty good.

I am sad to say that I have absolutely no idea which one this is. Maybe Tropicana???

This is the World famous Peace Rose. The bloom is HUGE!!!! My husband asked me yesterday if I had looked at it. I hadn't so he proceeded to tell me that the lone bloom was as big as his fist! If you knew my husband you would now that him saying this was a BIG DEAL! He never ever pays any attention to flowers unless they really stand out. So when he told me that I ran back and looked at it and sure enough that baby was as big as a man's fist.
Some of you may have noticed that the bloom looks a lot like the Angelique Tulips I had posted previously. ??? I love both the rose and the Tulip so its pretty cool!
_____________
- From Wikipedia.

The Peace rose is the most famous and successful garden rose of all time. Over one hundred million plants had been sold, as of 1992. It is a Hybrid Tea rose with very large flowers and a light yellow to cream color. It is very hardy and resistant to disease making it popular in gardens as well as in the floral trade (Beales).
It was developed by French horticulturist Francis Meilland in the years 1935 to 1939. When Meilland foresaw the German invasion of France he sent cuttings to friends in Italy, Turkey, Germany, and the United States to protect the new rose. The rose became known as 'Peace' in the following way. Early 1945 Meilland wrote to Field Marshal Alan Brooke (later Viscount Alanbrooke), the principal author of the master strategy that won Second World War, to thank him for his key part in the liberation of France and to ask if Brooke would give his name to the rose. Brooke declined saying that, though he was honored to be asked, his name would soon be forgotten and a much better and more enduring name would be "Peace".
The name "Peace" is a trade name; its formal cultivar name is Rosa 'Madame A. Meilland'. The adoption of the trade name "Peace" was publicly announced in the United States on 29 April 1945 by the introducers, Messrs Conard Pyle Co.. This was the very day that Berlin fell, officially considered the end of the Second World War in Europe. Later that year Peace roses were given to each of the delegations at the inaugural meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco, each with a note which read:
"We hope the 'Peace' rose will influence men’s thoughts for everlasting world peace".
Peter Beales, English rose grower and expert, said in his book Roses:
"'Peace', without doubt, is the finest Hybrid Tea ever raised and it will remain a standard variety forever".

_________________

This is the Chicago Peace Rose a variant of the Peace rose. I had questioned whether to buy roses that were pretty much sisters, but thankfully they look very different! The peace rose looks more white right now and the Chicago Peace is more pink.

This one looks a lot like the rose at top. once again I am wondering if it is Tropicana. I think the chances are better that this one is since it looks more coral than the more pink one at top.

Ummm... wondering if maybe I should have labeled them... oh well.

One of the lilies received on Mother's Day from my mom!

Too much fertilizer was making my hydrangeas not bloom so now that I have laid off of it, its blooming!!! If your hydrangeas are very very green, but no blooms . Too much nitrogen could be your problem.

To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat. ~ Beverley Nichols

2009-05-14T11:16:00.000-04:00

For weeks my husband has promised me that he was going to take me to a nursery. Well, last weekend was the best time because he owed me a Mother's day gift : ) So I was actually able to buy something. Of course when we got to the one that I had been really wanting to go to.. it was SO expensive! Like 6 marigold's was $15! I definitely couldn't pay that. I know that nurseries are always more expensive and I'm sure that there quality was alot better than, say... Wal-mart or Lowe's. But I had to draw a line. I mean these were annuals! Perennials I will pay a little more, but not annuals.

I was sorely upset but thankfully I was able to find the Hydrangea "Limelight" that I had seen the last time I had been there. So I bought that. A disappointing trip, considering I had been waiting so long to go back.

On the way back though we found a little Country Store that made the entire trip worth while. It was small and it had any kind of preserved food you could think of. But what made it so great was all the flowers outside the store. We had not been there very long when I spotted the biggest, most beautiful rose I had ever seen. Plus it smelled like Heaven! There was no price on it so we had to ask someone (I hate that). But when the guy came over and we asked him he pointed at the huge sign behind us that said ROSES $12.99. OK before you start wondering about my intelligence. It was Mother's day and I assumed (you know what they say about assume?) that since the price was so low that it had to be cut roses. After I got over the embarrassment I grabbed that big red rose (Janice Kellogg rose) and searched for another one to go with it. That's when I found the "Liv Tyler" rose. I have been wanting one and to find it that big for $12.99, well, it was very exciting! I was still on the lookout for Bee Balm, but I had pretty much reached my limit after the Hydrangea and the roses!

This is the Janice Kellogg rose. It stands out a little in the rose garden since it's so big and the others were bought this Spring bare root

Another shot of the Janice Kellogg rose. Named after former President of Kellogg garden products.

http://www.greenarrownurseries.com/gallery/album294/Kelloggs_Rose_PUB2

The "Liv Tyler" rose. Not in bloom yet, but I am waiting anxiously!

Hydrangea "Limelight" I am so excited about this blooming!

I bought this "Barbarini rose Dianthus" because it is highly fragrant and I think that that is an important part of a garden.

My moms gift to me. Asiatic Lily that I split up and made three from! YAY!

This just bloomed and I thinks its the Chicago Peace rose. It is a lot prettier in person!

This is one of the miniature roses in bloom.

This is the "Snowfire" rose about to bloom.

This is the same rose in bloom.

Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it. - author unknown.

2009-05-07T12:22:00.000-04:00

I have always wanted a rose garden. I started it last year and unfortunately I put it in the worst place in the yard! They got almost no direct sun. Like all flowers location, location, location is the first ingredient in growing flowers. Of course now that I think about it, I really didn't put that much thought into where I was going to plant them. I guess it was a good thing that I only paid $3.00 a piece for them. Because had I paid more I would have been very upset when they all died!

Well, now its a better year. I didn't just have a baby and I now have time to plan.
So of course being the persistent person that I am, I just started again.

New location- back yard where we get sun pretty much all day!

New plan= (its actually a circle contrary to the awful picture.)

Arches covered in roses will be on the right and left side of the rose garden. Then in the middle we will probably get a bird bath and a bench??? Idk.

We already have the the roses put in the places they go, now the hard part... putting down all that edging so that the gravel stays in. Now that's going to be a job!

This is Snowfire.. I think. I will have a picture tomorrow of what it looks like open, Its a beauty!

This is one of the roses I got on clearance at the end of the season last year.

Knockout roses... blooming like crazy!

I am not sure which rose this is. I guess we'll be surprised when it opens! I LOVE surprises!
I am thinking its a Floribunda rose since it has so many little buds on one stem.

Iris's are blooming and they are BEAUTIFUL! I have added more Iris's for the list of bulbs to buy this Fall!

My little bitty shady lady impatiens from park seed.

Purslane from my tipsy pots.

Hollyhocks!!!

Another Salvation Army find! A little... idk what. But I am going to use it as a mini-trellis.

Did you really think I could go one post without saying something about my Wave Petunias???

Petunia the playful kitty!

2009-05-06T15:47:00.000-04:00

After a long cloudy weekend its FINALLY raining! YAY! Our poor grass was pitiful! But during the break in the rain I got out and took some pictures.

This is Petunia. She is a prissy cat that I bought a Salvation Army last week. She was glad it quit raining so she could go play.

She likes to hide in my iris's. Can you see her? : )

I told her to watch out for the thorns but... she didn't listen.

This is Moocher. Petunias Sister. (from another mother)

Gardening 911!!!

2009-05-03T17:11:00.001-04:00

Problem- I have a shade garden in the middle of some trees. Its really hard to work the soil since there are so many tree roots plus it stays SO DRY! We planted caladiums and elephant ears there last year, but most of them never came up and if they did they were PUNY! I thought it was because they didn't get enough water (we were in a drought Spring - Fall) But now we are getting plenty of rain and they aren't even coming up. So my dilemma is... do I try planting again or do I try to do raised beds? I have astilbe, hosta, impatiens, and coleus that I want to plant there and they should be ready to plant in a couple of weeks. I have also considered doing the raised beds and surrounding them with rocks to kinda naturalize the beds so they don't stand out as much.

PS. These are pictures from last year before we put in the bench and everything.

Do you see the neighbors burn can in the bottom picture? LOL

Where flowers bloom so does hope- Lady Bird Johnson

2009-05-02T10:33:00.000-04:00

Last year I bought two bi color butterfly bushes from Michigan Bulb. I planted them in the Fall and waited. A couple of weeks ago one started leafing out and growing and the other.. did nothing. I had already read that they sometimes were the last to leaf out so I just gave it some time. Yesterday I finally got fed up and I tugged on it to see if it had roots. Well, it came right out of the ground and snapped.

The thriving butterfly bush.

RIP. butterfly bush.

This area started out as just the bench. I didn't really plan anything I just wanted to add something. Well, as simple as it is. It has turned out to be the most peaceful area of the whole yard. The trees provide the perfect cover to escape from the whole world and sit in front of the trellis that is (soon to be) covered with fragrant sweet peas. This is also the area where I have the 6 Rose of Sharon's and a row of peonies I just planted.

My aunt and her boyfriend are in the moving and remodeling houses business and they had all this extra brick that we were able to get! Did I mention it was PAVERS?! It was HARD work moving it, but it was worth it. We are now going to be able to make the large patio that we planned plus have some left over!

This is my husband and our son on his first lawn mower ride. You should have heard him talking (jabbering) as they rode around the yard.

My first collage made with Picasa 3! YAY!

"A garden is never so good as it will be next year."-- Thomas Cooper

2009-05-01T16:00:00.000-04:00

This is the Snowball bush from Gurneys that I planted like 2 months ago. And its BLOOMING!

Its scientific name is Viburnum "opulus roseum" sterile (no berries)

This is the tip of my snowball bush and the neighbors tree.

Miniature rose bud!

My first rose bloom!!! They are really small!

Strawberry plants!

My pink tipsy pots! Its not full yet but it will be overloaded with.... Wave Petunias!

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/Tipsy-Pots-Project/detail.aspx

Just a pink feathery bloom from my celosia

Our brick pathway leading from the back porch. When we went and got our HUGE batch of brick we went ahead a picked up the broken ones. And of course we just had to use them (waste not want not LOL) so honey chipped up some more brick and Wah-lah! We added some stepping stones of, course. I mean who wants to walk on brick chips. OUCH!

Peony's are about to bloom! I can't wait!

I love this pot! Its perfect for another strawberry plant!

Now if I can only find some more of these planters : (

Gardening requires lots of water -- most of it in the form of perspiration.- Lou Erickson

2009-04-30T14:11:00.000-04:00

Walking in the Garden!

This one of the six rose of Sharon's that I planted a couple of weeks ago. I had been scared that maybe they were dead and wah-lah! I was so HAPPY!

This is one the many unkillable Iris's and now its finally blooming! YAY!

My pink hydrangea that is coming back really slowly.

Yellow lantana that I bought at Lowe's!

I really love this lantana though! From Wal-mart!

My pink wave petunias that are growing like crazy!

Hardening off frizzle-sizzle Pansy's (gurneys) and Dolcissima Flambe Petunias from park seed.

This is the view from my bathroom window. The right side of my circular rose garden. (ignore the stumps LOL)

The left side of the same rose garden.

Just a picture of our Moocher. ( really that's her name LOL)

And the award goes to.....

2009-04-28T16:39:00.000-04:00

I recieved an award yesterday from my friend dirt princess at

http://northmobilegardensociety.blogspot.com/ and I must pass it on to eight bloggers.

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggranizement. Our hope is that when ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

So here are my 8

Susie from digging in the dirt.

http://digginginthedirt-susie.blogspot.com/

Lona from Hocking Hill's Garden

http://lonadawn.blogspot.com/

Becca at

http://beccasgardenspot.blogspot.com/

Debra at

http://texasdaiseygarden.blogspot.com/

Lynn at

http://bestinbloomtoday.blogspot.com/

Brenn at

http://bestinbloomtoday.blogspot.com/

http://gardenthymewiththecreativegardener.blogspot.com/

And Dirt Princess Because the feeling is mutual.

http://northmobilegardensociety.blogspot.com/

Ps. this would have been posted yesterday, but my computer has been acting CRAZY!

Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

2009-04-18T13:16:00.000-04:00

The last couple of days I have been working really hard in my flower beds trying to get them ready for flowers. With some of the flower beds I am pretty much working from scratch so its taking awhile (needless to say LOL) But I have got some hollyhocks and dahlias planted so that now I do have room on my kitchen table so that I can transplant more flowers and vegetables to bigger pots. So that's a good thing.

I was walking around the yard the other day and I couldn't help but show you some of the flowers that are growing in the yard.

Gotta love those pink tulips!

This is actually a yellow miniature rose, but for some reason the flash messed up the color *frown*

Thankfully this one didn't. But this is another miniature rose.

This is my Celtic skies clematis 'Vyvyan Pennell'. I never thought it would bloom this small, but I'm not complaining

This I believe is the Angelique tulip.

I really love the colors

This is my little bitty morning glory that is (hopefully) going to provide massive amounts of color to the front porch

More pictures of the fantastic Pink Wave Petunias

Optimistic Endeavor!

2009-04-14T15:19:00.000-04:00

A couple of days ago I briefly mentioned that I had started cuttings. Well, here is the full story.

We live in a community where the houses are pretty close together. Now I don't mind this, but our yard is in the middle of like 6 other houses! And it just so happens that the butt of there yard is right up on our back yard. They do all have fences, so our backyard is kinda fenced in, but its definitely NOT pretty. Did I mention that people throw all there crap in there backyard?

One house has last years Christmas tree right up against our yard!

(the h is where the house is) See my problem??

It didn't take long for us to decide that we HAD to have something to add some privacy to our backyard our options were quite limited. We didn't have the money for a fence and really couldn't afford the $20- $50 price tag on the gallon hedges. (We would need 76 placing them 4 ft apart!)

Our neighbors have these great Leyland Cypress trees around there back yard. I have looked at that hedge since we moved here yearning for the privacy that it provided.

So when I came upon a book on propagation (I want to save money any way I can) I just had to have it that's when I found that the only way to start a cypress is to root the cuttings. That's when a light bulb went off in my head and I realized that I could start our hedge from there hedge!

That was a couple of months ago but since then I have been planning. And now finally I have been able to execute my plans!

1st of all asking for cuttings, I was so nervous that they would say no. I mean all this planning hinged on the cuttings! I had my husband ask (because I am chicken) and they had just happen to have two HUGE branches that had broke off and they were just going to throw away! But even if that didn't work they said I could take cuttings from there trees! They are the best neighbors a person could ask for!

See, its PERFECT!

Rooting hormone to ensure good rooting!

Used pots from last year!(see the red clearance tag? I am a sucker for a bargain!)

Of course the first step was to get good cuttings. To make sure that it had some new and old growth)

This is one of my cuttings measuring about 4-5"

I cut off the bottom inch or so of offshoots.

Then I notched it so that the water could soak in easier

Then I wet it and dipped the cutting in rooting hormone (tapping off the excess)

Then I just stuck it in the pot filled with sand.

I am not exactly sure how many are here, but my guess is a lot. Hopefully at least 76. LOL!

I still need to cover them with plastic to keep in the humidity, but all in all I am very optimistic about my future hedge!

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;

an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Winston Churchill

Just a quickie post.

2009-04-12T10:25:00.000-04:00

This is just a quick post to show the plants that arrived yesterday. All of them are either bulbs or bare root. So they look like sticks with roots. (really exciting, right?)

These are the rose of Sharon's, the 2 hydrangea trees, and the fairy pink cushion rose.

Plants to Plant!

2009-04-11T23:52:00.000-04:00

It was a beautiful day today. Sunny and in the 60s. Last night.. well, that is another story. It rained cats and dogs LOL.

Several really great things happened today (besides the beautiful weather). My plants came from direct gardening and I started my hedge cuttings.

Okay so first of all, my plants finally came. I didn't get any type of shipping notice it just said "Please allow 1-2 weeks for processing then it will be shipped according to availability and proper planting time for your area" Pretty vague, right? So when they arrived today needless to say I was kinda surprised.

I received 6 rose of Sharon's (for hedge) which is in the Hibiscus family.

50 glads

1 fairy pink cushion rose,

2 hydrangea trees (still not sure how to do this).

Plus bonus plants, 4 flowering shamrock bulbs,

Although this was free I have my reservations with anything that is even

remotely like a weed. Clover, for example.

3 peacock orchid bulbs??? It says exotic (idk??)

And to make things even better I actually got everything, but the bulbs planted. Of course I also planted a Queen Elizabeth rose and I have a candy stripe rose soaking so it can be planted tomorrow. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!

I did start my hedge cuttings, but that post will have to wait til another day. I am pooped!

Good Night and Happy Easter!

~One of the most delightful things about a garden

is the anticipation it provides.

~W.E. Johns, The Passing Show

Hallelujah! He is Risen!

2009-04-10T13:27:00.000-04:00

Today it is Good Friday!

There are no words that can ever be spoken to honestly relay the true meaning of this sacred holiday. It means so much more that we could ever understand. There is no way that we could EVER understand the significance of such a day.

This is will be day of redemption, grace, sacrifice and absolute eternal love, not by us but by the one who gave himself for us.

Easter Means Eternal Life

A perfect God demands a perfect justice;

He cannot let us get away with sin.

We used God’s gift of our free will to trespass,

So heaven’s gates were closed; we couldn't get in.

Our sin required our blood, a sacrifice,

To atone for all the wrongs that we had done.

"But I love them!" cried our Father, filled with sorrow;

"I’ll send my only Son to be the one."

Good Friday marks the slaying of our Jesus,

The unblemished lamb, the perfect sacrifice.

He took our guilt and blame upon Himself,

So we could be with Him in paradise.

On Easter morning, he came back from death;

He vanished from the tomb, the empty grave.

His resurrection means eternal life

For us, the ones he came to earth to save.

This summarizes all the Easter story

And because of it, we’ll be with Him in glory.

By Joanna Fuchs

You will never be good enough on your own for Heaven. That's why we need Jesus.

Hallelujah ! He is RISEN! Praise God almighty He is Risen!

Blank canvas, no more.

2009-04-08T16:16:00.000-04:00

I was looking though my photos stored on our computer the other day and I found some pictures that I would like to share with you.

We changed our counter tops last year so my honey bun built counters so our old counter tops could go in the garage!

He worked really hard!

And I painted it! (I'm no Monet but I thought it was cute) Now its a perfect potting/ work counter! I love it.

This is the tree I painted (see the apples) and the baby jars for holding screws and such.

This is the beautiful brick pathway my honey installed after finding the brick on craigslist! We had to load and unload all of it! But it was worth it!

We had a lot of chipped brick so honey chipped it up smaller, then we found some stepping stones on sale at Wal-mart. Wah-lah! A pathway.

The rest of the brick- patio for the pergola we are going to build later.

~When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed

and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground

easily, it is a valuable plant. ~Author Unknown

LOL

Just a windy day frown

2009-04-07T14:53:00.000-04:00

The sun was shining in my window this morning when I woke up leading me to believe that I would be able to work out in the yard. So after getting the baby changed and putting him up in his room to play I went to feel the temperature outside. Unfortunately I was not able to actually go outside because the wind was blowing too hard. Yeah, no planting today. *frown* Yesterday I cleaned ALL DAY just so I wouldn't have anything to do today. Oh well.

On Saturday we went to Lowe's. *YAY!* I LOVE Lowe's! I was able to find my Wave Petunias! *but* They were $4 a piece!!!! Yuck. I couldn't afford that and even if I could I didn't want to pay that much. Needless to say I was very upset when we left Lowe's empty handed. Then on a whim while driving home We drove by Wal-mart. I love Wal-mart too! So I whipped that car into the parking lot, shocking my poor husband who thought we were going home. But I wanted to buy some plants! (stomping my feet right now) So we went into the garden center and BOOM there they were...my WAVE PETUNIAS!!! Nope they weren't $4 a piece either! They were $5.50 for 6!!!! YAY! Omg I was so HAPPY! *big smile* I was positively giddy. So when we got home I got to work planting my hanging baskets with my beautiful new pink wave Petunias!

You can't really see them yet, but hopefully soon they will be overflowing!

Like this one *pray*

Then I was able to get a lot of work done on Sunday. Of course not nearly all of it, but there's always tomorrow. I finally planted those Sweet peas on the trellis, the assylum behind the mailbox (need more seed!) and planted my balsam and zinnia seeds around the driveway. Mowed the yard (it really needed it since we just fertilized), planted pink geraniums in my newly painted pink pots.

Plus my honey bun tilled the compost and peat moss into the veggie garden! Did I mention he also built me a holder for my strawberry bags in the back yard? Hes the greatest.

Ps. I would have gotten better pictures but its so cold and windy!

~The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the birds for mirth,

One is nearer God's heart in a garden

Than anywhere else on earth.

~Dorothy Frances Gurney, "Garden Thoughts"

Just WAIT! A post on patience.

2009-04-04T12:26:00.000-04:00

These are my beautiful hanging baskets filled to the brim with morning Glory's. (photos from last year). Although they looked really beautiful I plan on planting wave petunias this year. I have not had a lot of luck when it comes to this new variety. I had two packets and only 9 germinated. Idk??? The packets were like $3.50 each so I wasn't very happy. But considering you can't buy the plants around here (Trinity, North Carolina) or so it says on the website, I guess that the 9 will have to do *frown*.

We have a front porch that extends the length of our home so I have a lot of places to hang baskets. I mean it looks so bare with nothing hanging up there right now. I so had wanted to buy some yesterday when they were on sale at Wal-mart, but considering that I already had baskets and flowers... I figured it wouldn't be a very economical solution. Oh well.

See I have 8 places to hang baskets! Rights by the door I have the double tier and I love them.

I try to do things differently that everyone else. You see the houses in our neighborhood look pretty much the same. There is 2 designs of houses in our area. Now granted some have different shutters, colors, or garage doors. But they are a lot alike. Now this presents a problem because the last thing I want to do is blend in to every other house. So how do you do that?? I don't really know. Hopefully the small things will set it apart, but we will see.

The previous owners used this as a "starter" home so they did absolutely NOTHING to the house or the yard. Our backyard was full of trees and not bushy pretty kinds either. There were so many trees that they had no room and they just grew up. So the first 50ft was trunk... yeah they weren't pretty at all. The brush was so thick I was honestly afraid to go back there. I mean snakes love that kinda mess. I wish I would have took pictures when we first moved in, but I didn't. *frown*

Now its 2 years later and this is what it looks like:

We call it the stump graveyard. Turns out cutting down trees is not as hard as getting rid of the stumps. My husband is to thank for this clear back yard. (he only left trees around the perimeter of the yard) Last fall we seeded and that's the grass you see. Its not exactly what I am envisioning for a backyard, but its definitely a start!

"Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal. Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure. Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success.
Brian Adams "

Remind me of this...later. LOL

Plant nurse?

2009-04-03T23:29:00.000-04:00

I bought this today Salvation army for $1.99 its called a "Plant nurse air machine". I have absolutely no idea how its works except to know that it is "supposed" to put air into the soil I guess kinda its kinda like an aerator. ??? idk. But I thought for $1.99 whats the harm in buying it? I was sure that I could google it and find out if it worked or not. Now I know that this is pretty old. Probably from the 70s at least. I looked up the name of it, the company name, even typed in air compressor for plants (yeah weird but that's what it is...) and NOTHING came up. Absolutely NADA, zilch. Now that's what is really weird because you can google ANYTHING and come up with some thing at least. idk maybe I am putting in the wrong thing.

And with it being that old you would think that it would be missing some parts, but no, its like brand new. The instruction booklet is even there. I'm going to try it and if it doesn't do anything oh well...

______________________________________

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf49967099.tip.html

This is my post at thrifty fun.com its about starting seeds cheaply. And as you can see my project takes up the entire kitchen table. (we never eat at it anyway) My husband is the best. He made these out of scrap wood and a florescent light. In the catalogs carts to start seeds with are really expensive. and plant lights, forgettabout it. use fluorescent.. its cheaper. I started everything out in the seed trays then graduated to the peat pots. they are the best! They are biodegradable, which mean they will just break down in the soil, plus the roots grow right through them. So not only are they very "green" they eliminate transplant shock because the entire thing is planted in the ground (or pot..)

I started out with one row which held three trays .. 72 cells each... I expanded to 2 trays... then 3 and wait... I have to start veggies...then 4. of course the only problem with this is you don't have room to upgrade the plants to bigger pots... (I didn't think of that *oops*). Now you see that where as the trays hold 72 the jiffy pots hold 18 for the exact same space so if you total that up it leaves 54... yeah.. where do I put those???

Now this is my first year starting seeds inside...well.. actually its pretty much my first attempt at gardening period. So I feel that its okay for me to have been a little greedy.

Next year I will remember this and not make this mistake again... Live and learn!

FYI.. annuals grow ALOT faster than perennials and biennials... yeah I didn't know that.

There's a second tier... and I put some in the middle. LOL

Now all I have to do is finish hardening them off and plant them babies! *yay!*

Yearning for the dirt!

2009-04-02T10:43:00.001-04:00

Today it is raining...again. last night before falling asleep I had already planned what I was going to do today.

I was going to trench the edge of this flower bed (refer to Toostietime. blogspot.)

Plant sweet peas on this trellis (I can already smell it!)

See my roses?? yeah I cant either. That's why I was going to weed and get it ready for the lavender I plan to plant in between the roses.

Trench the far left edge of this flower bed and get it ready for FLOWERS!

And last of all.

Till this garden again and add the manure and peat moss.

And of course another million things to do.... but that will have to wait til another day.

*whew* is it just me or did it wear you out getting the garden ready?

Oh ..phewwy its not done!

Bloom where you are planted

2009-04-01T15:36:00.000-04:00

Rain rain go away...oh wait...we really need the rain...ugh.

I am always tired and cranky when it rains and its always been that way.

But this year its a little better because in my minds eye I picture my shrubs and trees, and bulbs growing because of this dreaded rain and then I don't feel as bad *smile*

For the last 2 or 3 years we have had a drought EVERY Summer and well its depressing. My hydrangeas droop with the heat, they all but stop growing and they definitely won't put forth the energy to bloom. The grass turns brown and brittle so much that it feels like we live in a desert. Astro-turf anyone?

On such a days as this I turn to my trusty garden plan and

visualize my hydrangeas when they are in there full grown glory,

my clematis when they have overgrown there trellis's,
(and the tree is gone from the back yard *honey!*)

my tulips so multiplied that I can divide them and have a whole yard full of tulips. *sigh*

So the point of all of this is probably just to whine but as Joyce Meyer says "Bloom where you are planted" even if its a Rainy day.

Which reminds me... have you ever noticed that the biggest blooms come from the crappiest places? (manure) *Laugh*

A Gardening Journal. Well worth the time.

2009-03-31T19:34:00.001-04:00

Since I was around 10 years old I have wanted a garden. I absorbed everything in my mothers Better Homes and Gardens magazines and dreamed of what flowers I would grow. I had visions of hollyhocks and dahlias, petunias and beautiful mop head hydrangeas. I fantasized about white picket fences and wisteria covered arbors.

Now that I am 25 (going on 26 on April 9Th) and I have my own house I am finally able to satisfy my inner gardener. Much to my husbands consternation I have decided to do much more than most people do in one year especially since I am a beginner gardener at best. My husband has given up trying to convince me that "I have enough seeds." LOL "I will never have enough seeds" and I laugh maniacally.

But thanks to the Internet, the library, and fellow gardeners in the family I am feeling more that able to accomplish everything I have planned and I do mean PLANNED. Last year I didn't plan what I wanted to do and now this year I am moving EVERYTHING I DID! ugh..

So in pursuit of the ideal garden. I have planned everything. No more moving peonies for me. (Did I mention that they don't like to be moved?)

A little while ago I found a checklist for the year so each month I know what to do. Well for January one of the tasks was to create a garden journal. And this made perfect sense to me because well.. the notes I had were erratic at best. So I went through and alphabetized and categorized my seeds, bulbs, shrubs and roses. making an index. every bit of info I found on each plant that was in my possession goes into that journal. Now all I have to do is open that book and I know everything about it. Height, width, shade or sun?, how much water? fertilizer?

Needless to say this endeavor took three days. and every time I add a plant, a bulb, or a seed it has to go in there. But let me tell you! It is SO WORTH IT! convenience! ya! And an added bonus is that with these last weeks before we (zone 7) can move plants outside, I have a little burst of Spring right on my coffee table. Every couple of days.. when I am yearning for Spring so much that I can feel it, I pick up my little homemade gardening journal and look at every picture and envision it in my garden.

Cover of my beautiful Journal!

Roses!!

Shrubs!

Gotta love delphiniums!

Bulbs!

____________________________

Proverbs 31

30Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,

But a woman who fears the LORD, she

shall be praised.

Jesus IS the reason for the season.Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T11:26:00.000-05:00

So once again a lot has happened in the last 21 days since my last post. Yeah my life has periods of absolute craziness. I honestly believe that I am a magnet for drama. But I guess that it's just a part of life.

*first of all the worst news. My dad has had lung cancer for three years he has went through chemo, radiation, hes lost his hair and now I believe he is on the last leg of his journey. He was in the hospital for about a week when mom called 911 because he had become unresponsive. He would have died right then had mom not called. His cancer is in his lung, hip, spine, brain and I'm sure other place in smaller doses. But they have called hospice in and they go over to there house on mon, wed, and fri. His is just about completely out of his mind and he can hardly walk. but they say its just a "process". His mind goes before his body. Therefore he retains the strength of before but he is incapable of doing the right thing with it.

On to better things..

*Last Saturday we went to the dart Christmas party. YAY! It was actually pretty fun. It was in a beautiful ballroom with a DJ and FOOD! But even better than the party was buying a new outfit for it and of course shoes. (because pregnancy took my normal size 8s to 8 1/2 . yeah it made them BIGGER! so now I cant wear ANY of my shoes :(

But I mean I was able to get new shoes so its not THAT bad. Did I mention that they are BEAUTIFUL???

and just as a side note. I am SO SICK of hearing happy holidays!!!!

I want to hear Merry Christmas! I mean that's was Christmas is about CHRIST!!!

so OK I'm done. but truly

Merry Christmas

Jesus is the reason for the Season

Can I push pause on my life and stay here forever?

2008-12-02T17:01:00.000-05:00

I am alive... I swear!

So I have bunches of updates! yay!

*Life is still going on...no matter how much I wish it would stop so I could savor my baby but it won't

* I watched the Twilight movie and I LOVED IT!!! Omg it was so good. And what is so funny is that I knew it wouldn't be as good as the book and I was afraid they wouldn't be able to caption the emotion, the turmoil and the just absolute greatness of the book. But I am glad to say that they did a really great freakin job!!! Kudos to the Twilight Movie!! oh yeah.

*Alex is... trying to walk... :( and while that may be good I am not exactly happy about it.

Although he looks really really cute when he walks with his little chunky thighs (awwww..)

on a side note,

On Thanksgiving we went to my grandmas and my cousin was there with her two little boys.

One of which is two months older that my Alex. And when asked if we wanted to set the baby up to eat we said "nah, we'll just give him a bottle and put him in his pack and play"

Tasha (my cousin) puts Caleb (her son) in his little chair and hes feeding himself, with a fork...

yeah I haven't even tried to let him feed himself. The only thing he does with it is sling it around like.... finger paint...yeah finger paint. Yeah Caleb is two months older but... I couldn't help but feel like a crappy mother.

And then I realized... My baby is so much cuter and I felt better :) LOL

Back to the list...

*My brothers fiance is pregnant... and even though I am extremely excited about Alex having someone close to his age to play with I am worried about them. Neither one of them have a job.. actually I do think my brother (Nathan) may have a small job... nothing to be able to support a baby with. Thankfully she is getting help from the government.. usually I am really against the welfare and medicare But in this case it really was a life saver.

*Since the weather is so so cold I have become obsessed with reading again! Yay! and the library.. thank GOD for the library. I read like 4 books last week. I owe that in part to Twilight that reminded me of my love for literature!

*Lost a friend... although it was inevitable. Things change and time keeps moving. Even when you wish it would just stay the same.

*Ps..something about the library makes Alex scream really loud. ??? Idk

*My honey is really hot! (oh wait... that hasn't changed) <3

Virginia is for Lovers <3

2008-10-29T10:35:00.000-04:00

I'm BAAACKKKK!

Yeah I have been lazy. I keep coming up with ideas to blog about and well... like I said ... I was lazy. So here we are in the midst of the most BEAUTIFUL season of the year, the Fall! I absolutely love fall! I mean there's absolutely NOTHING I dislike about fall.... well except that its going to end.

Last Sunday we took a trip up to Virginia to see the leaves, leaving baby Alex at his grandmas. I had spent two days looking up everything I could on tourist spots in Virginia and finally I found something that really looked interesting and it was pretty close to the border.

We decided to go to Patrick county and see Lovers leap (great legend http://www.virginia.org/site/description.asp?attrID=34979 go look)

It was gorgeous! You could see the whole valley! So that was great (other than the fact that sometimes mapquest Sucks) Then we decided to see Fairy stone park http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/fai.shtml

and I had really wanted to go but like I said, mapquest kinda sucked so we didn't get to see it :( . And we just happened to find the Blue Ridge Parkway. And yeah at first we were like YAY! I mean it was beautiful and had some great stops to see Nature and that's what we had wanted. What we didn't want was to be on the Blue ridge Parkway for two hours without finding a road to get off on!!! I am so serious! Not One road just driveways until we hit Roanoke and thank God because I was HUNGRY! but it ended up really good because we found the Once Upon a Child so we bought some toys for the baby. And in case you have never been its basically gently used items for kids. It was pretty great. So we are planning on going to the one in Greensboro soon.

On the way back we bought a big bag of juicy golden delicious locally grown apples and munched on them the way back :)

These are my two favorite photos that I took in Virginia. The water mill looks like a painting and as much as I would like to take credit for these its really not me but Gods creation that makes these so Beautiful!

TWILIGHT OBSESSION!!

2008-09-26T12:07:00.000-04:00

My first Hydrangea bloom!!!
The hydrangeas in front of the porch
The walkway my honey installed on Sunday and Monday! Isn't he GREAT?!
Its Beautiful thanks to my very mechanically inclined husband!

So I haven't posted anything in a while and that is for several reasons. The first reason is I have been obsessed with the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. My sister-in-law was the one who introduced me to these books. I had heard several conversations between her and my other sil about "vegetarian vampires." That really had me skeptical to try these books well that along with the fact it is young adult. And I hate to say it, but I don't really like teenagers and I was afraid that the characters would be really immature and childish. On the contrary I started it and discovered to my utter amazement that I was becoming obsessed with Edward Cullen!!! Yeah the "vegetarian vampire"!!! So I read the first book (Twilight) on Thursday and the second book (new moon) on Friday/Saturday . So I was ready for the third book on Monday. (we had been working out in the yard so I didn't have time to read it on Sunday and my honey took a vacation day on Monday :) So we call my sil and ask her if they have the third book and her son was reading it!!! I was like getting to the point of jitters by this time b/c I wanted it so bad!! He said he would be done by today, but I had already been bitten (lol) so we made a quick stop by wal-mart to buy the third book. Yeah I now have my "thirst" lol under control so I am trying to slow down and savor it.

The second thing is on Sunday I went to see MAMMA MIA with my other sil Amy. The movie was the sing a long version. Which meant every time and I do mean EVERY TIME they sang a song they put up the lyrics like karaoke! And when Amy called to ask if anyone had actually ever sung they said no. well lucky me. The woman who sat behind me decided that she needed to sing. And even funnier that that There was a sad part and I kinda got watery eyes and before I could try that 1 tear that threatened to drop they put up some lyrics and nothing makes me less likely to cry that karaoke!! So that actually turned into something funny! So I am recommended that the next time you go watch a musical at the theater get the sing a long version. Its funnier.

The Third thing is.. gardening. I have become a maniac planning my "garden" well I mean eventually it will encompass at least 75% of the back yard. My husband is of course panicking, he doesn't like flowers "he has allergies" or so he keeps saying when I ask him what he thinks of my hydrangeas. I am just so excited about finally having a garden that I can be proud of and invest my time in. And even though he has "allergies" he is very happy that I am happy. So that's all a girl can ask for. :)

So here I am now.

Best of the web = tested and approved :)

2008-09-18T13:43:00.000-04:00

I haven't really had anything to write the last few days. I haven't really been feeling good, but I'm back now. So I thought I may share some of the sites that I have found and LOVE!

For funny stuff=

*worth1000.com = photo shopped photos that are the BEST! This is a photo where the woman was naked and they put Victorias secret underwear and bra. How real does this look?

*funnyordie.com - they have some funny stuff but there is some cussing.

*killsometime.com = about the same things as funnyordie.

I have more but cant think of them.

for health and fitness I have ALOT!!

*sparkpeople.com = the meeting place for people trying to lose weight.

*self.com, shape.com, fitness.com = magazine websites.

*healthstatus.com = calorie burner estimator

*Lesliesansone.com = the BEST workout EVER!

*nike.com

*thatsfit.com

*livestrong.com

*youtube.com has GREAT exercise and health stuff (yeah its not really all about funny cats and dancing guys!)

*prevention.com and the flat belly diet!!

*dailyspark.com = sister to sparkpeople.com so thats always a good sign.

*hungrygirl.com= go look and you will be hooked!

*kashi.com = lovin the kashi!

favorite shopping websites

*amiclubwear.com= slutty clothes with great clothes! (I am so not wearing any slutty clothes!)

*amazon and ebay of course! and craiglist! as long as gas isn't $5 a gallon :(

* newportnews.com= great clothes, great prices

*look up coupons online to use for shopping online!!!

Gardening sites-

*Michiganbulb.com= my fav

*greatgardenplants.com= great stuff

*parkseed.com

*gurneys.com

for love

*lovingyou.com = so romantic!

socializing=

*MYSPACE.COM = so much better than facebook!

*babycenter.com= for baby stuff

*parents.com

*thriftyfun.com= yup thrifty thats ME!

*jacksonandperkins.com= great roses but kinda expensive

*waysidegardens.com= expensive but good stuff

Tale of Liberation.

2008-09-14T10:35:00.001-04:00

Ummm.. what do I write about today....? Idk.

OK I got it since this is called Tales of the domestic goddess obviously the point of it is to tell you about what happens in my life! yay! Aren't you already excited?? OK maybe not. Well, I do have big news to tell and that is that my beautiful 8 month old little baby Alex is standing up!!! At first he was just standing up in his pack and play hanging on the side but now hes like standing up at the coffee table! And I am NOT happy about this!!! And not just that but you know I read alot about his developmental milestones and they said that alot of babies when they start standing up get stuck there. Like they won't move. Well, my child does not have this problem when he wants to sit down he just lets go.. boom. Hes down. And usually this is accompanied by some crying and then he gets up and does it again.

And if you are a mother you know why this doesn't make me happy! Hes just getting so big so quick and hes learning so FAST!! I mean I believe his first "kinda" words were spoken last week. I say "hey kitty kitty" and he says "he ke ke" ITS NOT RIGHT DARN IT! I mean why cant they be this age longer? Its so upsetting. I just try to value every moment we have together, but its just not enough. I have gotten to the point where I really feel guilty when I'm cleaning up b/c that could be time spent playing with him. And I know that is SO IRRATIONAL. Because I am so not going to quit cleaning my house!

Well, that's it. I am done venting. There is my tale of ....anxiety...no...m/b liberation. Not mine, his. Tale of Liberation.

Amazingly Blessed!

2008-09-13T12:42:00.000-04:00

I have been meaning to write this post for about a week. But unfortunately every time I thought of taking a picture of it It was covered with dirty dishes and then I would get them cleaned up and then forget. So here it is.

About two weeks ago my microwave messed up. No it didn't really quit working it just quit... smelling normal. I mean it STANK! Well, after some thought I remembered why it was smelling so bad. A couple of days before I put a bag of chicken in the microwave to defrost it , so we could cook it for dinner. Well it leaked. Poultry juice into my microwave. And because I didn't really think it had leaked as much as it had I didn't clean it up. BIG MISTAKE. Because after a day or two every time I would heat up baby food I would smell that raunchy smell. YAY! Well, it was so bad that I just took the microwave out and put it on the porch. Yeah, smart idea, right?

After a trip to Wal -mart, we realized that we didn't have the money to buy a microwave :(. So after a couple of days of doing without it I sucked it up and cleaned it. It was so disgusting.

But it was still the same ole disgusting microwave. But I was going to have to deal with it, so deal with it I did.

The get away vehicle!

Baby Alex before the drama.

So Monday we decided to go for a walk. Me, the baby, and a stroller with two Kitty's following us as we walked around our neighborhood. Now you may think that this is pretty normal. Its not. We never go walking outside because the area we walk is full of hills. And while that may be good for your butt it is not fun pushing a stroller. So as we went down the last hill before we headed home and I spotted it. On the curb, it was black, and it was a microwave! YAY! Well, my first thought was OMG what if the mail woman thinks I'm crazy? OK who cares? Its just the mail woman. Next thought was what if they think it looks pretty on the curb and I pick it up and they come running out screaming and yelling about stealing there yard ornament (what others like calling a microwave) ? Well that was quickly dismissed since it was on the curb and they weren't home. Thank God. Because them being home would have made the next part of this story all the more embarrassing! The next thought I had was how in the crap am I supposed to get that home?? I had a stroller with a sleeping baby and no room for a microwave. Well, I done what any desperate woman would do. I somehow managed to balance the microwave on the top of the stroller while pushing a stroller... up a hill. So I am so embarrassed by this point that I am trying to run at the same time. I mean, what if they came home?? Or if somebody stopped to ask me what I was doing? Or even worse after all this effort what if it didn't work??? This is were I was confident that my really great mechanically inclined husband would come in handy. And in that mind set I continued up that hill struggling against the stroller and a huge microwave. But I made it home, no one saw me and not only that my husband replaced a fuse and bam! it worked!

YAY!!! So here is my new microwave. And it just proves that God works within no lines. and no boundaries. He really did provide my smallest needs and even alot of my wants. He is a great awesome God who is worthy of my/our praise!

Thankfulness!

2008-09-12T19:50:00.000-04:00

So last night I watched Sex and the City. Yeah I know. Very extremely out of character for me. I mean maybe when I was single I would have LOVED IT and probably would have went to the theater and watched it with a girlfriend, of course. But since I am a Christian and I am married with a baby it kinda contradicts everything in my life. Every once in a while though I like to see how the other side lives. You know the single population. Oh, I so remember those days. I loved cosmopolitan and getting my hair done and always having great skin. But alas it is no more. My cosmopolitan has been replaced by baby world and better homes and Garden and now that I am on this whole trying to lose weight thing fitness, and self. (please ignore the bad sentence structure, I really am bad at run on sentences and using the word and a million times!) My hair getting done has been replaced by buying a pack of hairbands. And my great skin has been replaced by... well... my skin really isn't that bad. Its just not what it use to be. My preoccupations no longer revolve around looking good, but more around my baby and my husband.

Ok, I know, rambling. SO back to the movie. I liked it. It was long at 2 1/2 hrs. very long in my opinion considering that they could have condensed it and been fine. But I believe that the reason they made it SO LONG was to placate the millions and millions of Sac fans. I personally never had cable so I have never seen a whole episode.

I am not going to write a review on this movie, but I do have a point. Watching this movie though made me not only remember what was so great about being single but it made me realize that the entire time I was single (except a few months) I wanted to get married or at least not be single. I never really appreciated the fact that I could engross myself in a sappy romantic comedy or a really fem magazine for hours, or the fact that I could spread green slime on my face and never wonder if my husband was thinking "is this what being married is all about? What happened to the woman that I thought was effortlessly beautiful?" (yeah effortlessly, naivete, is great, right?)

I never appreciated that I could do whatever whenever I wanted. ( I didn't, though) LOL

So the point is that this movie is not only for those singles who are desperately seeking those two L's, love and labels. This is for the wife who stays at home all day balancing trying to keep a clean house, a teething baby, and trying to look good. The one who is kinda bored and sometimes gets stuck in the routine of daytime TV. The one who is slobbered and spit up on more that she is kissed.

This is especially for the one who wants to learn a new appreciation of the man she fell in love with and the life she left behind. The absolute, amazing, perfect union that she waited so long for. The one that made her realize that all the waiting was worth it

And that given the chance she wouldn't give up those singleton years for ANYTHING.

Dedicated to the man that will always have my heart. My husband.

September 11

2008-09-11T10:43:00.000-04:00

Okay so today is September 11. 7 years from the terriorist attacks that have changed the whole country. I just thought I may say a little about it to salute those who have died and continue to die for our freedom and safety. Today is the day that no matter your political affiliation we should come together to pray for those who are in Iraq fighting and the families of those who died in the attacks.

God Bless America!

Daydream Tulips

2008-09-10T19:38:00.000-04:00

Its just about time to plant bulbs and grass and I am so very excited! Last year I was VERY pregnant so not only was I not able to move enough to plant them. We also didnt have any extra money seeing as we had to buy baby stuff $$$.

So today when we went to Wal-Mart I bought some tulips and hycianths!! YAY!

I had a very hard time figuring out what colors of Tulips to get. But I finally decided to get 12 of the big smile which is yellow and 12 of the daydream which is kinda orange and yellow. The contrast between the yellow and the green should be beautiful.

Now the problem is going to be finding out exactly where a want to put them. I am hoping a can spare a little bit of money on Friday so I can buy some more. I mean for 12 tulip bulbs is was $4 and 6 of the hycianths were $4. Anywhere else they have been 10.00!!

So this is a cheers to WAL-MART! :)

The picture is the daydream tulip. Arent they BEAUTIFUL???

Happily ever after

2008-09-10T14:16:00.000-04:00

OK, so this is my very very first blog for "blogger" and I am very excited. This is not my first blog in general though. I do have blogs on myspace and sparkpeople. But not a blog like this.My plan going into this is to talk about anything that really interests me. NOT POLITICS. not because I am rebelling against "the man" but because I don't believe it is really going to help anything. I mean how many political blogs are out there? My guess is ALOT! Although I do have a blog on my myspace speaking of why I am voting for who I am voting for. Did you get that?? :)

So maybe I should say something about myself as an introduction. Oh where to start. How can you summarize a life by a couple of paragraphs?? I don't really know but I am going to try.

I am a Christian. I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and I am trying, with his help, to live a Godly life that leads people to him. Although I do believe the most powerful testimony you will ever have is your very own life. "practice what you preach".

I am living my HAPPILY EVER AFTER! I mean truly, I am. I waited for so long for God to send me the man he had for me and I am so glad I did. He is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. He really is my Prince Charming. <3

Married on March 31, 2007 . A week after we got married we conceived a baby. I was sick as a dog the entire 9 months. I had to quit my job. Although we had already planned for me to stay at home when the baby was born. We were living in a two bedroom apartment but we had no room to put a baby. Plus I really wanted to decorate the nursery!! Well, we didn't have a nursery. We hardly had room for a bassinet much less a crib. So in August 2007 we bought a house. YAY!

Its a great little house with a front porch that runs the entire length of the house. A double garage, three bedrooms, and two bathrooms. I love it! I cant wait to raise our children in this quaint little neighborhood.

So the entire time I was pregnant I measured too large, so they thought I was carrying too much fluid. I had like 6 ultrasounds. In 3d!! YAY! I loved having each and every one! I would sit with the ultrasound and just close my eyes and imagine what that beautiful child would look like.

I was due on Jan. 2 2008. On December 28, they gave me another ultrasound. THANK GOD! Because he was frank breech (he was head up) AND he was measuring at 11 pounds! So needless to say I had a c-section that evening. And my beautiful 9 IB 15oz, Alexander Isaac was born.

A week and a half after his birth I had surgery again. I had mrsa in my c-section. Yeah that was an ordeal. I now appreciate every moment I can walk and take care of my baby on my own. Because then I could not.

So now I am on a weight loss mission to lose the rest of the baby weight to get fit. Plus I want to become a better person all the way around. And this is my journal to doing so.

So there is my last two years in 6 paragraphs. Now your up to date.