Motivate Monday # 1

Good Monday morning! Oh I 'm sooo excited to share with you this new 'feature' on my blog - "Motivate Mondays" :)

What is Motivate Monday?

Well it's my opportunity to share with you some FABULOUS sister bloggers and the great things that they are sharing on their sites. You see I subscribe to many blogs, and see so much inspiration.

My Favorite Blogs List

Every morning I grab some coffee, and browse through many of these great sites, and I learn so much, from painting to crochet to cooking to raising kids and encouragement in my faith. I'm so thankful to have all of these great women to learn and grow from.

It occurred to me that perhaps I should share some of it with you! So here we go.

Every Monday I will post links to my 7 favorite blog posts from the last week. I will also post a Motivate Monday Link Party for you, my readers to share your own projects or motivation. Anything goes!

These are the Party Rules. Remember to play fair :) We just want to have a little fun!

a.) Share a maximum of (2) motivate projects for each Link Party
b.) Only share NEW Motivate projects for each Link Party (please do not share the same projects every week)
c.) Only share your own projects, from your own blogs. Please do not link back to someone else's blog. 
d.) Link directly to the post of the new motivate project. Please do not link back to your Blog's home page.
e.) Go back to your Motivate Project link and link back to my Party Link


Ok! On to the Motivation!

My first motivation was actually found on Pinterest.

I love love love the awesome Typography of the chalkboard variety and I am loving the idea that I can do this in PhotoShop, or PhotoBucket, Or Gimp, or any number of other Photo Editors out there. (Confession? Yes I need to learn Photoshop, as evidenced by my severely lacking in quality pictures I continually post here!)

The Blog is Foolish Fire and the project can be found here - so have a lot of fun with this and don't forget to share what you've learned in next weeks link party!

April 30th, 2011

The day that was so busy! Some days I can't believe all the stuff you can cram into a 10hr period ya know?

This morning I was up early for a meeting at the School who's board I sit on. We're working on Parent involvement and Community Focus projects and Saturday mornings work well for everyone apparently - but do I really need to mention that it really IS the only day I get to sleep in? Jeesh. lol

I also had a Bridal shower to go to for my good gal pal Tracy. I didn't take any pics, so sorry no updates. There were enough people there with cameras that if I want any copies of anything I'm sure I can get my hands on them. It was a great time and I got to scrapbook a page of Advice, and a recipe for her. I'll have to find a small pic of us together to add to the page later. And no, I didn't take a pic of that page either...lol but I did advise her to have lots of sex, and play lots of games. Not necessarily in that order... haha!

I did get into my garden a bit. I've been growing seedlings in the kitchen and it's about time they got into the ground, at least the ones that I know where they are going. I have some larkspur that I started growing, and didn't think about where I might put 4' delphiniums! LOL Ah well... lesson learned. Time to dig another garden!

In the meantime I have some great pics to share with you - so I hope you'll enjoy...

So first up are the tulips I planted last year. I planted 12 of them, but only the 5 in this garden are actually coming up. The others have leaves, but I doubt I'll get flowers this year. Next year is much more promising I think. And isn't this just the most peculiar "Tulip" bulb you've ever seen? LOL

Now I'm excited about this flower, because as you can see it actually has not one, not two, but THREE blooms coming in. That just thrills me!

Can someone help me out here, and remind me what the heck this is? I planted (2) of them last year, and they are coming in nice and strong, which is great - but I honestly can't remember what they are! LOL

Well I sure know what these are :) My Black Eyed susans, which are doing much better in this very sunny spot than the other set. I put these in last year, and they are coming in just great! The other set, which is in a more shady area of the yard, hasn't even sprouted leaves yet. I was hoping that it would recover this year, being it's 2nd year in the ground, but it doesn't seem to be cooperating :(

And another on the list of "can't remember what you are" is this flower. I remember being super excited when I bought them last year, and I know they are planted RIGHT next to the Pink Chinese Astilbe, but I still can't remember what it is!

And here we have the chinese Astilbe. I know it's not pink yet.... but it will be! :) At some point this summer anyway! LOL

Well the garden walk isn't quite done.... after all that's just one very small bed on the side of the deck. Grab some lemonade, there's more to show! Here's a full shot of that particular bed. Of course, everything is just coming up. And I planted (2) sunflowers towards the back which should be in full bloom by July - Pollenless hybrid so that the bees do NOT abound on my back porch...

Also planted in this bed are some Gazanias (10 of them) and (3) Nasturtium. Since they are just seedlings... and very weak, it's not worth taking pictures of them yet. I really hope they make it though!

Moving on - you may remember that over by the garage, there were literally HUNDREDS of Tiger Lillies that take over every year. They expand, and grow and are very very mean to any OTHER flowers around them. We've been diligent in getting rid of them.... and finally after 3 full years here, we're seeing progress. About 6' of the right side of the garage is now fully dug out, with the exception of the back back row, which I want to keep (I think). We're mulching and planning new beds in front of those lillies.... and hopeful it'll all work out. Since we really have NO idea what we are doing...lol

Up Next? Oh I can't wait to show you! My Lilac tree! There were actually (2) of them on this side of the fence. They were crowded and fighting and neither of them were exceptionally healthy. Actually they were both pretty sickly. Last year I decided to sacrifice one, for the health of the other, so when we got all those rains this month, and the ground was super soft, Tye helped me yank the more sickly of the two, and we got rid of it. Well a little miracle grow and some space, and the stronger one is REALLY taking off. :) Another 2 years and she's going to be quite the beauty. As you can see - she's really enjoying having a place to stick her feet in the dirt!

About 3' to the left of the lilac bush, I planted (2) Columbine plants last year. The one you see here in the foreground did bear blooms last year, but it was pretty pathetic and didn't really go anywhere. Well already the leaves are easily 4 times as big as last year, and I'm guessing that I'll have some great growth. (Hint, you can kind of see the other Columbine in the background, and the stray Tulip leaves that haven't really gone anywhere). Really excited to see these two plants take off :)

Awe... Crocus... you won't be with us much longer!

ok now on to the more serious business. And this is important, and personal. We moved in about 4 years ago... we knew when we moved in that we would seriously need a roof. Well, 4 years have passed, and I am specifically aware that THIS year, has to be the year to put the roof on. It's going to be about a 18K job because of the height of the house, the repair to some of the eaves, the replacement of the gutters and well, the front porch that is collapsing because of the bad gutters which are pouring water under the foundation of the porch.

If I came right out and said it - I'd have to admit that I've been in fear of the roof caving in due to damage from the roof not being secure, and the gutters are in such bad shape. I mean seriously - THIS can't be good right? LOL

Well truth is... God has not GIVEN me a spirit of Fear... I have to repent because instead of putting it in his hands... and trusting him to show me the solution - I've been begging and pleading and in constant fear that the house will just pretty much collapse! Yeah I'm admitting it...

So here's where you all come in - will you all believe with me for the Roof? I have the new shingle sample on the back porch - Every time I walk out that back door I thank Him for the new roof - and everything that is needed with it. Just add it to your prayer list if you feel led. Thank him for giving me wisdom and showing me the doors as they open, and for giving me a spirit of Peace, Love and A SOUND Mind about the situation! :) This house is a BLESSING!

Aren't ya'll awesome friends? Thanks for taking the walk around with me.... and helping me stand in faith for the thing that God has given me.

Mary Mary quite contrary

How does your garden grow?

Well I'm not Mary but I believe it has to do with planning and preparation ;) Or a little pre-organization never hurt.

And if you don't have any of that - then run to Home Depot, pick up a few of these cool Jiffy kits, and start that way! LOL

I'm growing an herb garden to put in one of my window boxes, that'll have Cilantro, Green Onion, Oregano and Basil in it. Then I also have a number of different types of Annuals. Sunflowers of course, Nasturtium, Gazanias, and a bunch other I can't remember right now.

It's all very exciting though!

plantin seeds... sowing a garden!

Well, we're going on our 4th summer in this house, and every year I get more and more excited about my gardens and yard :) Every year we've done one or two things to enhance our outdoor living space, and man...is it paying off.

First things first, my lupines are already bigger than last year, when we only got one plume of flowers out of each of them. My daisies and azaela's look very healthy, which I was concerned about since I moved them both last fall... My tulips faired well, and 2 of the 3 hyacinths I planted are coming up. I do believe I will need to plant daffodils and more hyacinths and tulips this fall. Everything looks good! Yesterday, I trimmed down the small set of hedges and raked them out so while they look sickly, at least they are neat and clean. Hopefully this will give sun to the roots and encourage growth from the bottom up.

So I bought some Jiffy planting kits and have now planted so many things - the 12pc kit I used to plant my herbs, Basil, oregano, green onions and cilantro. The 72 pc kit has much more diversity: Canterbury Bells ; Giant Princess Asters; Zinnias; Larkspur; Pollenless Sunflowers; Nasturtium; and last but not least Gomphrena.

The whole setup cost me about $20 and that is exciting. Last year I spent SO much money on annuals, and this year I'd rather spend that money on soil and compost for the new gardens... so to be able to start my flowers early, and get them all myself is very exciting :) I'll keep you posted as soon as I have pictures to post!

The craziest thing

So Wed night I went to Home Depot and picked up one of those little Jiffy growing kits for starting your own seedlings. I picked up a tray that does 72 seedlings, though I don't have all the seeds I want yet - and followed the directions to plant 21 of the 72 peet pots.

I've decided that this year I'm going to start as many of my annuals as possible, because I spent so much money on annuals last year, and I believe that by starting them myself I can save a ton of cash.

Well - as I said, on Wednesday night, after dinner I went to work and started my little Gazania Seedlings. Would you believe that three of the plants have already come up? I know! I was like you've got to be kidding me? It was supposed to be a 7-14 day germination but when we came home from Church this afternoon I saw that 3 of the peet pots actually have little seedlings started. So cool! I can't wait to start planting and gardening. Come on warm weather... hurry up! :)

this n that

The Hastas are really coming in now :) I'm so glad. They get limited sun in the morning, and I see the neighbors having great success in more sunny area's, but I imagine by July that these will look fantastic. I hit them with some miracle grow on Sunday, and will repeat this saturday or Sunday, and I think that really helped them along! :)

Just a quick shot of my deck box. I actually have 2, but need to get a 2nd set of rails for the other box, which has petunias in it. It's not growing as thick and full as these are, but arent they fun? Don't mind the mess around the deck, it's kind of my storage/work space! LOL
These I believe, are the Russell Lupine's I put in this year. They will grow 3-4' tall and have lovely pinkish purple blooms - long and narrow. I was instructed to plant them at least 18" apart, so the other one is about 3' away... but they will add a nice splash of tall color I believe.

Our new seating area. In the past we utilized the more central area of the yard which is directly behind the back door, and looks directly into the neighbors yard. I realized last year that I truly wasn't enjoying my yard anymore back there, since it is quite 'busy' in the neighbors yard. This year I set us up on the side of the house, which, with the trees actually feels very homey and cozey. Tye loves it and has sat out there 3 out of the last 4 nights reading. I pulled some stakes I bought several years ago which were supposed to be candle holders, and am using them as cup holders instead for our drinks. Kinda artsy fartsy but I really like it! :)

Azaela's 6 days later...

Six days later and the light pink Azaela's are blooming! The two plants together look amazing! I love it! I'm thinking of seperating them a little bit, so that they will grow a little bigger, but I'm not sure. I really like their compact size, with all the amazing blooms they have on them. I'm so blessed to have them coming in so nicely :)

Today we went to home depot and bought 4 Patriotic Red Adirondack chairs, which we put in the side yard near the bird feeder and off to the left of the deck. We tried to have a litle fire tonight but it didn't go so well. The fire wouldn't really start, and the neighbors were a little disruptive. Oh well we can try again another night. I am really excited about the chairs though! :)

Garden Visitor, or is it home?

Well, here we have a very pretty little garden snail. Actually he's not all THAT little - he's probably about 2" long. I was highly surprised to find him, and am quite pleased that he chose my lilacs for a resting place. Though I doubt after the agressive trimming I gave them this morning he'll stay for long. He was so well hidden and I believe I've removed just about all of his covering!

The pictures really don't do him justice. His chosen shell has a creamy yellow base coloring, with brilliant brownish red stripes. He's very lovely! I figured I'd better snap a picture quickly since by afternoon I'm sure he'll be gone. Hopefully he'll take the rain with him!

I don't have a picture but I REALLY trimmed back the lilacs. A gardener's magazine I read last year highly suggested it. So I did it last year, and yeilded twice the amount of blooms this year, over last year. Now I've trimmed them back significantly and am hoping to train them more towards the garage than towards the fence.... There is a ton of new growth coming in from the bottom which would be great as well since I want to keep it more of a bush than a tree.

yeap - the yard is coming along, slowly but surely! :)

Just a quick morning update on my Azaela's. We had a lot of rain this weekend, and it was pretty gloomy - but I got some sun thsi morning and thought I'd show off their lovely blooms. The back bush will flower any day I'm sure. The blooms are large, and there are just SO many of them :) I'm really enjoying this gardening thing. I can't imagine what Next year is going to look like!

Good morning!

ok so I'm up :) Been up now for over an hour. Got my facebook time in, got my breakfast, and took some pics in the yard. I'm really liking this online journaling of the spring flowers coming up. It will be awesome for next year to see what is supposed to come up when. If you can't tell - having little gardens makes me happy.

So here we go. The hastas are really coming in and are about 3" tall now. There are 4 plants coming in, which is a good thing because that's what I planted. The cool thing though is that 2 of the plants have multiple shoots which means by summer they will be nice and full. Next year I should be able to split them a little and extend them a little bit. I have about 25' of space that I would like to have Hastas in. Very shady area of the house, with very early morning sun, so perfect for a Hastas area.

Do you like my new planter? This thing was a little expensive once I got all the pots, and the plants, but it is really cool. I've always admired these on other people's porches... I'm excited to have one on my deck :)

There are pink and white Fuschia in the top planter, gerbera daisies in the 2nd planter, pansies in the 3rd and white something or other in the bottom. I am sorry I don't remember what they are called. I'll have to check the tag later.


Oh! Mystery plant... what color will you bring? It has tons of little flowers on it starting to bloom but they are all green and no one is peeking anything yet! This little darling is being very modest. Not sure when she'll reveal her slendor, but I await anxiously!


my garden partner :) Jilly actually isn't much of an outside dog. She goes out, does her business and comes right back to the deck.
If I make her wait outside while I work, she stays super close to the door. Crazy dog!

And my Azaela's - as I said they are definitely coming in beautifully :) Sooo cool! A lot have budded and bloomed, with still plenty more to come. I'm expecting by early next week the back plant will have blossomed as well and we'll have beautiful color from both.

Garden update & Prom

Ok so the flowers that I have no idea what they are, that are coming back up are starting to bud. I can't wait to see what they turn out to be. Then I will take pics so I can remember for next year. There is actually some room to the left of these flowers that I can extend the garden about another foot or foot and a half. I might build over and around it :) We'll see!

These are a bit of a surprise, 3 yellow tulips with red stripes. We've lived in this house since July 2007 and I don't ever remember these coming up before. My mom found them last weekend when she was here - and I am waiting for them to die then I'll transplant them to the back yard with the fire & ice tulips.

These are the Azaleas I planted last year. The first set is starting to bloom, even though the back plant has buds, nothing is peeking yet. Still they both look pretty :)

Ok and here is what you're waiting for - Shiori in her prom dress! Isn't she stunning? Oh she was the belle of the ball - how beautiful is she? I just love her :) So cooperative and sweet. I was very proud of her.

This is just a fun, whimsical picture of Shiori and her date, Ignacio, from Chile. It was too cute so I thought I'd share. She had a great time last night, and doesn't hate me for making her go either :) Which is a really good thing!

We got lots of traditional shots of the two of them. We both agree that this is one of the best ones. We really liked the flowers behind them.

And the HASTAS have arrived!

Gosh I'm so happy. These little buggers were NOT here yesterday when I was watering and taking pictures of stuff - But today? here they are! Happy as can be - ALL FOUR of them! Since it's so tiny yet, the pics aren't coming out great - but give it a couple of days, and it'll be awesome. I'll definitely repost when they start coming in fuller! :)

For now, it's off to take Tye to volleyball, and then I'm goin to see my friend Lisa for a little while :)

Gardening

Well, in an attempt to REMEMBER what I plant, I'm taking pics on a weekly/bi-weekly basis so that I can see what's new coming up, and what I can plan on next year. Right now I'm mostly focusing on Perennials, until they are nice and established. Then I will fill in with annuals every year...


Above is my little tulip area. I think it's more a bird/squirrel haven. That little feeder I fill with corn and peanuts for the squirrels to encourage them AWAY from my bird feeder. Doesn't work. They eat the seed from the feeder, and bury the corn in my mulch! UGH!


These are my lilacs. They are really starting to bloom - still no fragrance yet though.


This picture isn't the greatest - but the big bushy area will be white daisies when summer comes, next to it I planted these cute little English Daisies, which are bright yellow centers with Neon Pink bushy petals. They are SUPER cute :)


another shot - to the right are the yellow daisies I put in. I'm hoping that these will fill the garden in quite a bit by summer. I also added 3 solar lights (Only $3 at Walmart!)

These are my azaela's - i'm sooo happy they are getting ready to bloom again this year. I really wasn't sure how they'd take to the soil. There are two of them. the ones up front are bright pink, the ones in the back are lighter pink. They are planted really close together so they will stay pretty small. Next fall I might transplant them and move one over a little bit to give them both more room. Not sure yet.

Well there are plenty more pics I could post - but this is good for now. As I progress I'll be sure to share them! :)

ah spring

We've been having some pretty fantastic weather the last couple of days. It's really unheard of but, I sure am enjoying it! Yesterday it got up to 76, and today it's supposed to hit 80. Again, unheard of for Buffalo, in April, but I'll take it!

This morning I made pancakes for breakfast then headed out to the yard to continue working on getting it set up to enjoy for the spring/summer months. Watered the garden which needs some serious soil and mulch build up. I'm wondering if my hastas are going to come back up. I feel like they should at least be peeking out and they are not. Of course, the bed they are in was so dry it was like desert soil... can't think of the last time they received any real moisture. I have to be careful with that particular bed to make sure it's getting watered alot, unfortunately as it's sheilded from most of the elements.

My Black eyed susans look like they are ready to come back, and my daisies do as well.

The Azaela bushes faired well (They are still tiny, which I think they always will be) - and are starting to bud, but what I'm most pleased to see making a come back are my Lilacs. I have these 2 really pathetic lilac bushes which I didn't really know how to care for. They were neglected big time when we first moved in, and I was trying to nurture them back to health the first 2 yrs we lived here. Well I found out last year that as soon as they are finished blooming you are supposed to cut them way back without abandon. So I did! Wow, they have easily 3 times as many blooms on them this year as they did last year and I cannot wait till they start coming in and I can walk by and smell their beautiful scent. I fondly remember that from my grampa's garden when I was a kid.

Anyway I also pulled the grill out for dinner tonight and tomorrow, and put a bird feeder outside the dining room window. A few birds have found it - including a really pretty red headed one - of course I have NO idea what kind of bird it is, though I might hit the library for a little bit to find a couple gardening books :)

Happy spring people - I'm feelin GOOD about this year!