What I'm Up To!

Hello!

My computer is finally fixed, yay.  We replaced the motherboard and I've only been up and running with it for a couple days.  Yes, I wasn't computer-less, but like I've said before, the front computer is for shipping and day to day operations for the shop and I didn't like going very many places on the web in case I got a virus or other problem.  Broken computer = No shipping = No $, simple as that.

It's time to upgrade/change my blog background but I started with making the font larger so it would be easier to read.

I finally got out my hook and started a project!  It's a simple scarf for a friend, late birthday gift or Christmas gift.  It takes me so long to complete projects that I thought I'd better start now.  I got 2 skeins of LB Jiffy in a perfect color to match denim.  I'm using a J hook and the pattern is called "Crumpled Stitch", alternating a sc and then dc, sc then dc... and the next row you sc into the previous row's dc and then a dc in the previous row's sc. 22 stitches wide.  It's a KISS project for me!  KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.  That is what I need right now to get back into crocheting.

Didn't feel so great yesterday so one of my customers brought me a "Get Well" bouquet this morning!

It's been a whirlwind summer with lots going on.  I'll be back to share it with you.
Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

Springtime Fresh

Hey.....Blogger forced me into their new interface so I gotta get used to it.  I hope it works better, as I always had trouble with putting pictures on my blog.  I came here to do a test post today.

We had rain much of yesterday and we even had snow in the local mountains, too.  We're supposed to have 80 degree days next week so I bet the ski slopes are crazy busy this weekend.  Lovely day today, sunny, cool and fresh with a light breeze.  Gonna do some gardening when I close the shop this afternoon.

My friend Tracy is coming for a visit next weekend and we're going to a local public garden so I'll have some pics to show you of that visit.

Yup, this pic was easier to upload, yeah!

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend doing whatever you set your mind to!

HAVE A HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY

HOWDY!  
If it weren't for holidays, I may never post anything!  It's not that I live the most boring life and don't have anything to post but that life has changed from what I originally was posting about...more on that soon.  It's raining cats and dogs out right now, yeah!  So Cal needs the water.  Sorry LA Marathoners that you have to run in the rain.  Who knows, maybe it'll blow away today and tomorrow it'll be the best air quality ever for running!

Crappy pic but it's  gold sequins edged in green ones

So, St. Patrick's Day, hmmm conjures up memories to wear green or else you'd get pinched.  I'm wearing green today even tho adults don't play that game too much but just in case any of my customers want to pinch me, I'm ready.  I got this tee last year on sale and finally get to wear it.  I have a wee bit of Irish in me and my mom would make corned beef and cabbage with boiled potatoes most every year.  Whole Foods has an Irish meal for their regular dinner buffet today so I plan to head over there meet a friend tonight.  That way I don't have leftovers, cooked cabbage smell in the house or a mess to clean up!

Some pics of "almost spring" from my garden...

Lobelia

Grape Hyacinth

Have a lovely "Green " day whatever you are doing and thanks for stopping by!

Plants and Paint

Hi there,
I couldn't open my right hand all the way when I woke up yesterday morning.  I have tendonitis in my middle finger!  That hand has been stiff a bit lately with all the scrubbing, painting, gardening and yup, that's the hand I hit with the hammer several weeks ago.  Monday night I left the shop on time, got home and worked planting some more plants and then came morning and the inability to make my middle finger go straight.  So I got up and ran it under hot water and rubbed it and then it began complying with me to open and close.  No worry.  Just gotta give it a rest.  Not painful during the day or anything.  I did work Sat. afternoon and Sunday in the garden so I've just overexerted it is all.  Here's my progress:

The ivy geranium are filling in and blooming now!

Here are the Lilies that I planted exactly a year ago and they are blooming like crazy this year.

                                   Cute!

            Cuter after being painted! 
These are the thumb screws to the blue bathroom fixture.  They hold the glass pieces on.  Amazing what a little paint can do!  
                  That's all folks! 

More Plants the Merrier!

Howdy,
Lookie, lookie what I got this morning.  I got into town early so I dropped by the 99cent store and I got these plants for only for 99 cents each.  I think that this is Spanish Lavender.  They've already bloomed but that's ok.  I've never grown this type of Lavender before and I've only had some in pots and they don't really like it here very much.  I know that they like full sun, moist cool roots but not real dry hot air.  They really like the weather in the northwest; they have prolific Lavender fields up there.  SO... I have the perfect place in the new garden for them where they will get some shade at the hottest part of the day.  I also got 3 hot pink mini roses to go with the other 2 red ones I got awhile back.  I chose only one pot of the Inpatients a white one, to go with some others I have and they will get planted in the shade.

Oh and I got a small box of thin mints when I was there and I've eaten half the box already.  What could be more fun that flowers and chocolate?  Well except yarn I suppose.  Yum to the tongue but not the waistline.  I know, I'll burn off the calories working in the yard this weekend, yeah right.  Bye for now!

Transplanting!

Yay, I got the largest plant that I'm going to transplant, a Strelitzia Nicolai the common name is Large White Bird of Paradise transplanted where the tree used to be.  It grew by seed right next to the fence and came from my neighbor's plant and I didn't know at first what it was but I dug it up several years ago and put it into a pot.  I decided to plant it instead of take it with me when we move.  There are 2 reasons for that: One- It must've been a healthy seedling because I read they are not real easy to grow from seed and since it grew in that garden originally,  I'll let it stay there.  Two- I don't know how much (if any) garden I will have upon moving since it will be a temporary home :(. 

Here's what it will look like when it flowers someday:

This is what it looks like now:

It can grow to about 20ft high.  They are usually planted in clumps, several of 'em but this one will have to make it's own babies!

Here is the beginning hole:

Here are all the roots I had to remove from just that hole and I wasn't finished digging yet!  These are the roots left over from the Umbrella plant and Italian Cypress tree that was removed a few months ago.

Look at how many roots from just 4 small holes and 1 larger one:

Pulling out all those roots really tired me out yesterday.  I could have gotten so much more planted if it wasn't for those darn roots.  It was also very warm and a tad humid to be working outside.  BUT it has to get done.

I did get the Purple Heart plants (Tradescantia pallida)

And a couple Large Angel Wing Begonias (Begonia Coccinea) transplanted, too.

In their new home:

Hopefully they will like where they are now.  I used some worm castings and some chicken manure mixed with some potting soil to amend the existing soil.  That should give 'em a boost so they fill in faster.

It felt really good to shower off the grime of the day and then I had corn for dinner yup, just corn.

Have a lovely week!

3-day Memorial Weekend

Oh my, I'm so glad it's Friday.  Yeah, I'm taking the 3 day wknd to get more stuff done so we can get this house ready to sell.  I haven't got enough sleep all week long and today, well, I'm crabby.  Stayed up real late moving all my clothes and stuff from the closet to the other room and put away all the dresser top stuff into temporary boxes and moved it all out with the help of my son.  That was Tuesday and the painters started in the closet and then yesterday, prepped and painted the walls and took down those damn vertical blinds that I've wanted to remove since we first moved there.  I slept in the other room since my bed and furniture was in the middle of the room and covered with paper and plastic.  Hopefully they are all done and I can get things put away over the 3 days.  I got some cheap mini blinds from the store last night and will put those up tomorrow, too.  What would I rather be doing?  Relaxing and having an umbrella drink and maybe read a good novel and sleep.

Here's a couple pics of the house the other morning.

Here's the Mandevilla Vine Flower that I transplanted from the broken pot last weekend.  I tied her up to her new trellis.  Looks like she's gonna live!  I'll transplant the ivy geranium all around to fill in the rest of that garden space.

The mystery plant from my earlier post is:

Gladiolus!  They are blooming so early this year.

Have a wonderful weekend!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

To all my mommy friends, please have yourself a blessed and relaxed day to spend with your loved ones!

Martha Washington Geranium

Bromeliads I transplanted last weekend

All the Amaryllis are blooming now

 

I'm headed down to my sis's and mom's to spend mother's day with them and a few other family members.  We're gonna serve brunch at my sister's and then hang out and relax!  Have a fab wknd!

Weekend Work

Hi, how ya doin?
I'll be transplanting some bromeliads in pots to sell at my shop because you can't buy them locally and they are sooooo cool when they are blooming and then I'll be continuing to work on the house.  The kitchen cabinets are done, YEAH!!!!!  The next cabinets are a smaller set, thank goodness and will be the blue bathroom upstairs.  I'll also be moving my clothes and other paraphernalia from my closet to the other room's closet getting ready for the painters to paint my room.  If there's time, I'll start on the little curtain I planned to make for the area above the kitchen sink.  This post has a pic of the Rooster fabric that I'm going to use.

This one bloomed last month but usually they bloom in the fall it also had a smaller bloom than normal.

I've started my new crochet project so I'll post some pics next week.  I know that as it gets closer to moving I will have less time to work on it.  I finished Danny's scarf but it still wants to be wavy so I'm gonna use an iron on it and see if that helps.  I'll post pics next week of that, too.

The local Children's Hospital (near where I live) is having a fundraiser 5k walk in my neighborhood later today.  Great for them, MASSIVE traffic situation for me as they are going to block off intersections.  I have to leave on time from the shop or else I won't be able to get home.  My neighborhood has streets that are thoroughfares from one side of LA to Hollywood and it's crazy any time there is some event going on like today.  This is one thing about where I live I WON'T MISS AT ALL!! 

So far, it's a perfect weather day but just in case I'm gonna have plenty of this on hand

Hope you're gonna have a productive weekend wherever you are!

Laundry Room Pix and Spring Flowers

Hello!  Here are the after pictures of the laundry room.  Scroll down the page a little bit to see the before photos in an earlier post.  Amazing what paint can do.  The sink still looks crappy but the walls are so much better! ******************************

Here's some pretties for you.  This is the first spring rose.  It opened really fast when our weather got so warm. 

The Amaryllis are gonna bloom and maybe by Easter.

That's all for now, Have a great weekend!

Painting and Panic

Geez what a week!  Hello. Thanks for stopping by.  I have visions of posting everyday in a perfect life I don't have and seem to hardly be able to bang out even 2 posts a week.  Lord knows I'm never lacking words and always have something to say.  The latest is our contractor friend just wasn't able to get to us and do all we needed to have done in our time frame so we hired real painters and they started this past Thursday and when I got home all the main floors; living, dining and entrance way rooms had brown paper and plastic in some places taped to the entire floor.  That's how they protect the hardwood floors and it looked like a different house.  All the window coverings down and numbered, furniture that we didn't move outta there was in the center of the rooms all covered in plastic.  AND MY FAVORITE; SANDING DUST EVERYWHERE!  But it IS getting done faster so living within the perpetual mess will be of shorter duration, yippee!  Here's some pics of the outside I took last week.

I went to see the movie "I Am" that I posted about here.  I really liked it.  It was positive and shows how finally scientists that look at the material world and spiritual people are coming together to figure out what life, other living entities and humans share which turns out to be a very deeply rooted connection.  Go see it if you get the chance.  I'm sure it will come out on dvd and you could rent it soon.

So I went to get a breakfast sandwich and some coffee on my way into work this morning (the house is just too much of a mess to get bkfst or make coffee) and I was shocked to find the credit card I use most often was not in it's place in my wallet.  I tried not to freak out at the checkstand but I was trying to remember what could have happened to it.  Hmm...did big Al take it to get me gas last night, don't jump to conclusions...think girl when did you have it last?  Got in the car and continued my way to work then pulled over to call home.  No answer.  He must be talking with the painting guys.  Start to PANIC as I'm rummaging around in the purse and looking at all pockets in my wallet, not there, s**t!  Think, think.  Used it last at the other grocery store on Thursday morning.  OMG for 2 whole days someone could be enjoying my cc on VISA and my dime.  Damn.  Stopped at that store went in and asked if they have a lost and found and explained I'm missing my cc and used it last at their store.  Sure enough they had it.  RELIEF!  I've never lost a cc ever, thank God!  The clerk told me to make sure nobody used it before it was turned in and to check with the cc company.  So we did that, A-OK.  I went thru my memory of last Thurs. morning and remember now, laying it down on that little counter after swiping it then reached for the darn club card and I NEVER lay it down.  I always put back in it's place.  Must be the discombobulation of the house mess that's making me a mess!  Boy, was I lucky.

Here are some blooms from the front yard.  The white Watsonia are the first to bloom then will come the pink and then the lavender ones.  The Nasturtium and Kalanchoe are blooming nicely.

Since the painters are there working today, my plan was to stay at the shop and complete the insurance project that seems to be taking forever and I even brought my crochet projects that hopefully will be done soon so I can start my next project.  Hope you have a terrific wknd and are enjoying some flowers that are finally poking their heads out for you.  Spring is here!

Almost Spring!

After the rain I took some pix of the garden.  Those are the two garden places that I need to fill in after they are finished with the house painting.  I love how some rose bush leaves are red at first and then turn green. 

Hope it's looking more like spring wherever you are!