5 posts tagged “flowers”
This past weekend, Darren and I got a bit done around the house.
The exhaust fan in the laundry/litter box room died so we went to Lowe’s and bought an “upgrade kit” which was a newer more efficient motor, fan, and grill than the cheap-ass one that was already there and cost a lot less than buying a brand new fan. Only about $27 for the kit which had the most important thing we needed… the motor. YAY! Darren did the actual replacement, which thankfully wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be! Just awkward to do. I prepped the new motor, fan and grill and it was a quick swap. This motor is quieter and seems to pull air better. Meaning less fresh cat cookie smell! Yay!
I also finally installed the spice racks Dad & Kay gave me for X-mas. It was a bit of a pain in the ass, I asked for cheapies and they delivered… my fault. LOL They didn’t install as well as I’d hoped but they’re there now and I got to try out the drill and I’ve finally got my spices in some semblance of order so I’m happy.
Bought a 5 gallon bucket to clean out the fish tank with. (Yes, you need a 5 gallon bucket when you’re cleaning a 29 gallon tank, I don’t suggest filling the bucket more than half way before dumping it.) Played with the pheesh while I cleaned their tank. It was hilarious, I’ve never seen such “in your face” confidence from fish before. They were nibbling on my wrist and hand the whole time I was siphoning out the gunk and old water into the bucket. It tickled. All of my previous pheesh wanted nothing to do with me when I was cleaning their tanks. Maybe it’s because they’re all adolescents?
Switched out my Dodge for Sal’s Mercury again so that Daniel can take his driving test in an automatic. He & Mei Mei really sum up the Asian stereotype of driving. She’s always bumping into things or leaving the lights on and draining the battery, he keeps failing the driving exam. I love them both dearly but now I understand the Asian driver joke.
The crocus flowers are coming up, they look silly, I don’t know why I planted them. The flowers are just sticking out of the mulch and starting to bloom. Ridiculous looking things, really. Just a little parsley-like sprig of green and a single grape sized yellow flower popping up straight out of the Earth here and there in my flowerbed. The whole plant is MAYBE 2 inches tall at the highest point.
Told Darren that I’m going to buy a couple of flower boxes for the porch this year, dig up the bloody strawberries that WEREN’T supposed to creep and throw them in the boxes so they can’t go anywhere. I LOVE the strawberries, they’re delicious… they just need some form of containment system else they’ll take over my side bed and the plants themselves aren’t very pretty. I’ll ruthlessly yank them out at the roots and throw them in the boxes, I have a feeling they’ll do just fine. If anybody wants a few strawberry plants, you’re welcome to come yank some starter creeps for yourself… they grow creeping arms like mad if you need a little ground cover in a bald spot.
Otherwise, all are welcome to stop by the Kamnitzer house and grab fresh strawberries this late spring/summer/fall. I use an organic non-toxic pesticide, please rinse well before nomming.
Other news: 30 Week mark is today. This means 8-10 more weeks until I can finally be done with pregnancy. Ug. I never want to get pregnant again, I told Darren that next time I'd rather adopt! LOL Really, I'm quite happy with only having one child, I was an only child myself (Well, I have half siblings that I never lived with) Darren was an only child too, we turned out just fine! : )
I've always been good with animals... now I'm somehow good with plants! I don't know when this happened but WOW... it makes me feel good.
No really, I used to kill houseplants all the time. I even killed my chia pet!!!
Now I'm growing beautiful plants in my flower beds, even strawberries!!!
You can see all the tiny little green strawberries in the picture below.
OK, so I killed mom's palm fern thing last year... but in my defence, it should have been an indoor plant but my cats won't allow plants into the house unless I want the plant be a kitty buffet!
For Mother's Day, mom bought me two beautiful hanging flower baskets. (Yes, I know... it SHOULD be the other way around but she's always looking for an excuse to do something!) Anyway, she knew I wanted a couple and they're very beautiful! Thanks mom! If you're wondering, we built a computer for her for Mother's Day and I still have dinner and such to do on Sunday.
I could post more pictures of my plants and such but it's easier just to go to my flickr if you're interested.
In other news, I'm hungry. I want sushi.
Most of the bulbs have poked their little heads out of my flowerbeds, kids can be seen (and heard) outdoors. Lawnmowers and weed whackers are in abundance.
Also with "true spring" comes new projects... one of my neighbors had a fence put up. Landscapers flood the neighborhood with fliers and workers digging in peoples yards.
Most interesting of all is that the empty lot beside our house has become a hole, with gravel in the bottom... preparing for the foundation of what will one day be another home. Half of me is excited for them... the other half of me is ticked at the city for having the houses on either side of us sandwich us in between their back yards.
No, really... the house on our left faces the left.. their front door faces another street. The house on our right shall face the right and the back of both of their homes face ours. It's kind of ok though, maybe we could talk them each out of 2ft of land so that we might gain a little bit of side property. We only have 2ft on either side as it is and their back doors are a good 30-40 feet away from our house. Since they're both corner lots, they have HUGE yards... surely they wouldn't mind having to mow a little less?
Meh, on to more interesting stuff...
Also with spring comes the parties! The weather is nice, people are itching to get out of the house... so what better way to celebrate the warm months than by having a Luau in the beautiful month of June??? I'm going to order some leis and other Luau themed party goods from Orientaltrading.com
Hawaiian shirts, anyone?
I went in for my 21st day of cycle Progesterone blood sample. Of course I’m forever the lucky one. There’s a girl in the lab who is a Student at Franklin U. or some other medical school and she’s asking me that if she finds the vein, do I mind her drawing the sample…
Since I donate blood, I’ve had some pretty serious accidents happen from persons who are considered “professional.” My logic (however crooked it may be) stated that while she’s a student, that means that her lessons are fresh in her mind and she’s LESS likely to run though a vein and have to putter around in my arm than one of those so called “professionals” that seem to have a wild knack for running me through with the huge needles and poking me on the insides of my arm. Not to mention but the friction of those large needles when they’re trying to position after a bad stab is EXTREMELY uncomfortable. It doesn’t HURT so much as it’s just not a nice feeling. I do NOT like the feeling of something moving under my skin.
Meh, she did a pretty good job. She shot through the vein (I think) but made a swift recovery. The blood started flowing after a minor correction. Since the needle was considerably smaller, it was less noticeable.
I've had two people tell me that it looks like The Lady Isis is praying in this photo. To me, it looks more like she's begging Teh Kaizen Kittan to share what she has left... Of course, they always eat together and Isis snarfs up her moist food while Kaizen takes her time. It's like Kaizen licks her food to death instead of chomping on it.
Whatever the case, I thought this picture was adorable.
By the way, it's not like Isis is going hungry, if she was really hungry, she would walk two feet to the right and eat some of her dry cat food. I like the brand I have because it's mostly natural ingredients. They seem to like it too and it doens't give them upset tummies like some of the other brands did.
*sigh*
It’s way too nice to be sitting in here.
*looks out the window longingly*
After work today? Buying mulch and fertilizer for the flower beds. Huzzah. Then I’m going to fertilize the grass. Gotta get it done before tomorrow when the rains come through. Gonna buy a big back of horse sh!t. Huzzah.
Ah, so glad that it's finally spring and the bulbs I planted late last year are starting to grow and sprout beautiful flowers! Here's a picture of one of the flowers. I took this Saturday so you can bet they're all sprouting and looking cute now! : )
I can't wait to get some mulch and fix up the flower beds for this season. I've never been a green thumb but I'd like to think that I take a little more pride in my garden than some of my neighbors. (We were the only people last year that put flowers in our beds, everyone else kept the blah shrub look that came with the house) Gah. I like having color around my home, it sends a good energy and brings smiles to passersby.
Also, I hope that my strawberries come in strong this year, they were awesome last year but THIS year they should be amazing!
I also took a picture of the courtyard outside my window here at the office.
I'm very lucky to have one of the two windows that look into the courtyard. I get sunlight (which I need badly to maintain a decent mood. There's little green buds all over and I can't wait for the flowers!
Everything is coming in so green! It's a bright contrast to the old deck and sunrooms. If the sky were blue this morning it would have been a perfect picture!
Oh well, we can't always get what we want.
: )
I had a pretty good workout at the gym yesterday. My muscles feel a little tight today. Hit the treadmill for 30 minutes on a cardio. Did leg presses, arm presses and leg curls. I'm taking it slow on the arms, I used to cary around 65lb. travel systems @ BRU but it's been a LONG time since then... my shoulders hurt a little. : \
Going to walk down the street to Piece of Cake for lunch... before you say ANYTHING... yes, it's a bakery BUT they also serve fresh chicken salad among other things and soups and such. We usually get the half sandwich and a cup of soup with some fresh veggies on the side and a bottle of water. It's about a 1/4 mile walk one way. : )
