My love of NATURE

The weather was perfect this weekend for playing in the DIRT! Last year I didn't have to plant anything new in the front yard -- I just added some mulch and let nature do it's thing. But, this winter was harsh on lots of my plants -- the agave did not survive, neither did my lavender plant. Some of my perennials along the walk way did not make it either ... so, I needed to get working to spruce it up. I did not finish, but I hope I can work about an hour so after school this week to finish up.

Cleaning out the flower bed along the walkway.

All cleaned out and new plants planted.

Need to add the mulch to give the bed a POP of color!

The tiny green plants will spread out and get a little taller.

They are called Blue Daze - they have tiny blue flowers that will

bloom all summer long.

I added a trellis and am excited to see this Carolina Jessamine bloom!

I love the red mulch - it makes the green, greener and brings out

the red bricks in the house.

Taking a break -- drinking some Hibiscus Tea,

getting ready to rake out the front flower bed.

Man ... winter did it's toll -- many weeds and leaves!

The pic on the left shows all the junk I raked out of the bed.

The pic on the right shows the bed after I added some mulch.

I will add more to the other side this week.

Now this bed needs TONS of TLC!

The agave, lavender and a couple other perennials

perished during the really rough winter.

I'm in the process of pulling weeds and turning the soil.

Can't wait to finish this one!

You never know what you're going to find cleaning out

the flower beds! The white thing is the molted skin from a

snake!!!  How cool is that!!!!!!!

It was a little over a foot long!!

I truly love finding treasures in the garden!

I wore my crocs for planting and put these flip flops on to go back

into the house

WOW!!!  I got DIRTY!

 CALGON .... here I come!!!!!

More pics to come as the garden grows ....

Good Night

When we moved to Texas, we bought a new mattress and I loved it! After a couple years ... it seemed to be losing it's firmness! In the last 6 months my back has hurt so bad that there are times I didn't even want to sleep on the bed. Can't believe it only lasted 4 years -- it is lumpy and just not comfortable.

So on Mother's Day we went to the Sleep Number store to check it out! Well ... I really could have fallen asleep right there in the store. We ordered our bed about a week later and yesterday ... it was delivered.

I couldn't wait to get home today to help Steven put it together!!!

Foam inserts

A very important piece -- THE AIR!

Looking for the holes for the air pumps.

I was a little creeped out -- thought it looked like a coffin!

THE P5 ....

I love how the pillow top has the up & down

arrows like you're selecting your sleep number.

At the store the guy said I should be a 55/60

but I told him I liked it when it was up around 90

I'm going to try ...

 80

I suppose I could have just slept on the floor!

ahhhhhh ... the cushy cover

Steven's a 30 ....

I can't wait to go to sleep tonight!!!

It was really easy to put together

So if you are considering a Sleep Number Bed

I would NOT pay the extra money to have them

put it together for you -- it took us about

30 - 45 minutes (that was with moving

the old mattress out)

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT MY DAUGHTER!

or .... WHY I AM BLESSED TO GET TO CELEBRATE MOTHER'S DAY!

When the doctor said "it's a girl!" .... I actually think I went into shock! After 29 years of trying to take care of myself, I thought how am I going to take care of a baby! 21 years later, Ashley is married and living in Virginia Beach, VA, I'm amazed at all the things we've done together in the past 21 years! I've truly been blessed!!!!

I've captured, in pictures, why I LOVE MY BABY GIRL!

She is full of innocence and loves life!

 

She is very helpful and makes me LAUGH!

 

She let me tag along with her to ITALY!  I'm so glad we got

to share that!!!

 

She's BRAVE and INQUISITIVE! lol!

 

 

She loves having her picture taken!

 

She has a HUGE heart and LOVES children and will make a wonderful

teacher and mother someday!

 

She puts up with me being a BEARS fan!

 

 

She has a FLAIR for the DRAMATIC!

 

 

She's a fashionista and I miss going shopping with her!

I love her VERY MUCH and I'm glad she chose ME

to be her MOM!

 

My Passion & Some

Upcoming Events


For those of you who know me, you know that I love gardening. If I could have a house on 5 - 10 acres I'd be a happy camper! But, I live in the city, so I play in the little bit of dirt in my backyard as much as I can. I soon will have a new greenhouse that has REAL WINDOWS, a REAL DOOR, and REAL VENTS! I cannot wait ... but, right now I've got my tomatoes and peppers growing in the raised bed and my strawberry experiment is thriving! This strawberry plant is doing amazing!! It's tripled in size since I planted it Easter weekend!

I have been trying to make the front flower beds Texas(y) since we moved in ... prickly pair cactus are so cool to watch grow and now that they are really well rooted, I've added some Texas wildflowers to the flowerbed. Here is what one of the cacti looked like last summer.

And here is the same plant in which I took a picture of about 15 minutes ago ....

 

Isn't that amazing!!!!!

I planted the wildflower seeds last year and had very minimal flowers.

This year it is really a nice burst of color against the prickly pears.

 

 

Here is one of my other prickly pears ...

I need to finish cleaning the bed and add new mulch ...

hopefully over memorial day weekend it'll be all cleaned up!

I did have some blue bonnets in the flower bed this year, but I kept

forgetting to get a picture!

 

HERE ARE SOME UPCOMING EVENTS

PLEASE STOP BY AND VISIT IF YOU CAN!

 

MAY 10

WRITER'S ROUNDUP

First State Bank Conference Center

837 E. California Street

Gainesville, TX

9am - 5pm

Meet your favorite Texas/Oklahoma authors and celebrities here at the 2014 WRITERS ROUNDUP and BOOK FEST in historic Gainesville, Texas

 

MAY 17

 Merge Kid's Camp Quarter Auction

Merge Community Church

3503 N.W. Loop 820

Lake Worth, TX

6:00pm - 8:00pm

Bring a roll or two of quarters and your friends - win some great prizes

and help raise money for a great cause!

 

JUNE 1

A Walk in the Park for Homeless Animals

Trinity Park Pavilion - 7th Street

12:00pm - 4:00pm

Come take a stroll along the Trinity with your four-legged friend

and help raise money for our fluffy friends looking for a home

 

JUNE 7

Shreve Memorial Library - Author Faire

Shreve Memorial Library

424 Texas Street

Shreveport, LA 71101

10:00am - 3:00pm

 

 

FINALLY

I will be walking again this year in the RELAY FOR LIFE

MAY 31 - JUNE 1

1pm - 1am

If you could help - please click the link and DONATE!

THANKS!

RELAY FOR LIFE DONATION PAGE