Flowers 2010

My flowers and gardening aren't going so well this year. I decided to cut back anyway due to the pregnancy, and my cutting back has resulted in pretty much just watering when necessary. The weeds are out of control along with the insects, which have managed to kill so many of my beloved plants. I seem to have got myself a spider problem this summer. How weird is that? They have wiped out many of my plants with their disgusting webs. I have never seen this happen before. Any insight from anyone on it? Something also managed to wipe out every single one of my Sweet Williams as well. It looked like bugs ate through the leaves. The same with my rose bushes. I cut everything back to the ground, and growth is starting to resume, but I'm not sure if any of my Sweet Williams will make it back this year let alone next. The roses seem to be coming back OK, but the leaves still look somewhat damaged. I don't see any bugs on the plants, so I'm baffled. Unfortunately, I just don't have the desire to deal with it this summer. It's been hotter than blazes (seriously, how many 90-degree days did we have in July, and the humidity, my gosh??), and being in my third trimester for the entire summer hasn't helped any either. I just can't get down to ground level for the necessary weeding and attending to the plants like they need. There's always next year!

And to showcase what actually survived...
New this year: Jumping Johnnies (part of the viola family). These guys should come back next spring hopefully. In the background are Impatiens and gladiolus leaves.


Begonias.

Purple Coneflower.


Black Eyed Susans.

Phlox.

Gladiolus.


Roses.


Day Lily (notice the tiny little spider crawling on it? Grr!)


Dusty Millers and Sweet Alyssum.


Sun Coleus.

New this year: Wishbone.

And The Winner Is...

As a follow-up to the competition I had earlier this month, the winner is Kristen, with her guess of November 24 being the first day we'd get over 1-inch of snow accumulation this season!

The official weather report can be found here.

Kristen, please e-mail me at ker.co@hotmail.com and give me your mailing address. I will send out your $9.00 Gift Card to Celebration Cinema, good for one adult ticket into a feature film! Enjoy!

Christmas Groove

We're getting into the spirit of the holidays...Check out our slamming moves...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Say What?

If the temperature hits 70-degrees today, it will mark the first time EVER that Grand Rapids has managed to have 4-days in a row in the month of November with highs at or above 70-degrees! It's looking pretty likely that it will happen. Get out and enjoy it if you can, because this is pretty unseasonable in Michigan for sure.

So in honor of this fabulous weather, and the crummy weather that is to come, I'm going to have a little competition.

Cast your vote in the comments section of this post for which day Grand Rapids will get their first official snowfall. The first official snowfall means snow in accumulation of 1-inch or more as reported by Wood TV 8.

The winner will get a prize!

**EDIT**
The prize will be awarded based on the Price Is Right rules. The closest guess to the actual snowfall date without going over, is the winner. Good luck!

Springtime Pretties

I did some playing around in Photoshop Elements, experimenting with some finishing touches. I used a couple of photos that I took of the backyard last Saturday. I'm definitely a beginner, but it's a start!

Before...

After...

Before...

After...

It's Aliiiive!

The first signs of life appeared this weekend. It looks like the tulips are starting to take flight. It seems a bit early, but I'm only left to assume that they know what they are doing. I imagine they are in for a few more frosty days, and definitely cold nights. I sure hope they survive.

Last April I lost all of my tulips and daffodils. They sprouted so nicely, and then we got a few inches of snow during the second week of April. Not one of them made it through. Let's hope ol' Mother Nature is a little kinder on the plants this year.

Not Again

I didn't think anything could ruin the high I got from purchasing more flowers, but it happened anyway. I had a great day yesterday. A good day at work, I went home, marinated some chicken, exercised, ate an awesome salad for dinner (details below), got some cleaning done, and was able to relax. All in all, a good night.

Then I woke up to more snow and another crummy drive this morning. Ooh, ooh, and it gets better! We're going to get dumped on again this Thursday! Yahoo (note the heavy sarcasm). I keep bellyaching that I need a new job or that we need to move out of Michigan. The reality is, I don't mind my job that much aside from the commute, plus I have almost six weeks of sick leave saved up which I plan to use for my maternity leave. I can't leave that behind. It's taken me years to build that up. And leave Michigan? It'd be bittersweet. I like it here except from January through March. I'm at my wits end with this snow. It's pretty depressing at this point. I just know that when I retire, I'm outta here for those three months. If the Husband doesn't want to join me; think Golden Girls. I'll shack up with my girlfriends for the winter. :)

I need to keep thinking: Tulips. 70-degree weather. Sunshine. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully only 4-5 weeks left of this.

***
Tasty Chicken Salad...

I marinaded some chicken breasts in Balsamic Vinegar (Meijer actually makes a marinade!) and Lite Soy Sauce. I kinda guessed at measurements. More Balsamic Vinegar than Soy. I prefer grilling, but with the weather, I popped them in the oven. They came out nice and juicy. I cut the chicken up into bite size pieces and topped the salad I made of Romaine lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced almonds, feta cheese and lite raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Mmm-mmm.

There. My mood is better already. I just needed to think of flowers and food. Interesting combination.

Winter Wonderland

Photos from when we dogsat my parents' dog, Cleo. What a week that was. After three days of staying with us with no problems at all, the poor thing had diarrhea all over the house and all night long the night before these were taken. She doesn't look too sick to me in the photos. She was just stressing.

Also, on the day she arrived, our cat, Nico, got diarrhea too from stressing out. That's always fun with a long haired cat. Nico got a bit of a haircut that day. I was afraid the Husband was going to leave me after he had to clean up poo ump-teen times. I told him it's just preparation for the babies. Of course, babies wear diapers and don't have angora fur growing on their bottoms.

No good deed goes unpunished. I was just trying to help my parents out while they enjoyed their vacation in Mexico. I ended up freaking two of the nicest animals around right the heck out. The thing is, they've been around each other on several occasions. Cleo has spent a week with us before. The cats have all traveled to my parents' house a handful of times. Oy. My Nervous Nellies.

All aminals are fine. Nico was fine after a couple days of co-existing with the dog, and Cleo was back to her loving, happy self as soon as she got home. I guess the saying's true: Home Sweet Home.

Please Make the Snow Go Away

This is a shot of the lighthouse in Manistee, which was taken last Saturday. The photo was taken by one of my friends at work. I am so sick of winter. It's only February. Hopefully only one month to go.