Something Something

It's been a bit stressful at work this week (staff reductions). So I haven't been very outwardly energetic. But I do have a few updates. I was able to spend some time in the garden Saturday morning and found the pepper plants has burst forth another gallon of jalapenos. So instead of jalapeno relish that I'd already canned, I made jelly. I hope everyone likes a little spice in their Christmas this year!
On Sunday, the hubs and I and his friend Austin went out shooting sporting clays at the gun club. Here's our stroller for the guns..yes for the guns..hahaha what will they think of next?
The hubs has been out of town this week so I was able to watch a movie I'd been wanting to see - "Water for Elephants" - well let's just say the book was better. I stitch when I watch TV - here's a little ornie I'm making.

Happy Memorial Day!

Thank you to all the men and women who gave their life so I can live in freedom. That I can vote, that I have free speech, that I can choose my religion. Thank you each and everyone of you and your family. I come from a long line of military people, both parents, both brothers, uncles, cousins, great uncles. They all gave part of themselves for this country.

This year I got to spend the evening with my little family.



The hubs made me my favorite, homemade hamburgers! yummy. All the food groups - one meal. I made some jalapeno poppers out of some home grown peppers to go along with them.

While the hubs was sleeping today (he worked 2, 24 hour shifts since Friday) I worked in the back yard - rewind to last Sunday to see the damage.

I put in a couple rows of perennials to start filling in the area and sometime I'll add some seeds and some annuals to start filling in the gaps, but for now this is what I have.



For some reason the grass looks horrible in this picture, but it's not as bad looking in real life. It is slowly sending out runners to fill in the area where the lavendar overhang killed off the grass. So by 4th of July I expect a full recover.

Here's one of the tomatoes from the garden.



We are going to be overrun with tomatoes this year I'm afraid. Maybe I'll can some homemade salsa.

I also made this duffel. I will blog more about it at a later date. I have some pattern comments I would like to write about.

Hello! I'm here!

I was so worth the wait!.

Love,
Dahlia

Because I didn't get enough done yesterday

I had an early start yesterday weeding the front flower beds. I try to walk through everyday either in the evening or early morning and pull a few weeds. This just helps keep it from looking out of control. But yesterday, I was down and dirty weeding. I have one of those long weed tools that I meticulously pulled weeds with yesterday. For the record, whomever lived in our house and planted the mondo (aka monkey) grass - I'd sure like to have a word with you. That stuff will NOT go away.

Then the hubs came home with a laborer to help removed the lavender hedge in the back yard. But then he also had him remove 4 perfectly good plants around the pergola. I was not thrilled.

Where the lavender was is along the back wall of our house and the dogs loved to tunnel under it, but poor Dazzi is allergic to the blooms and would just itch and itch every year. So we are taking it out.

Break here - the husband took me to the farmer's market to get some fresh veggies - found some yellow peaches and made a cobbler. He also got me some beautiful flowers for the house. :)


Anyone know the name of these? I just loved them.

This meant that I had to relay the edging, clean out the old mulch, fill the holes and prep the soil for new plantings. By I, I mean me, myself, solo, uno. The hubs does not do yard work. But he did buy all the soil, manure, and some additional plants I wanted for the front yard and 4 beautiful hanging baskets to replace the ones he killed off while I was out of town for work. Where the grass doesn't meet the edging is from the lavender overhanging so far out it killed off the grass - but I'm going to change all that.


So I got the beds ready for planting and put in the new yellow lilac and sorbet peony I received last week from Gurney's. The Peony is a tuber not a plant and the lilac is a sapling. So it's a bit bear back there right now. Not to worry, I'll be browsing all my plant company catalogs this week.

Insert shower here and an apricot update.


Then his friend from work who had stored his motorcycle in our garage came to pick up and the hubs invited him to dinner. Make dinner here. Dishes.

Can you believe that dinner was consumed, dishes done by 7 pm? I liked it! I sure wish we did that every night but that would mean I'd have to get home before 7. *ugh*

So what do I do after a few motrin 800's? I work on my candy bar quilt. I get the top done! Now I need to find a backing fabric, binding and the batting to finish it.

It's to date the largest quilt top I've made.

How was your Sunday?

Whatcha thinking 'bout?

Because I'm thinking this here Dahlia is about to bust open!


I planted them this year and will be one of three varieties I ordered from Spring Hill Nursery.

Now this was a random picture I took this week of my two favorite things.
Talk about doggie trust.



Then last night's Friday Night Sew In, I did the last few rows of the lap quilt. Did get much time to sew but I did get all the strips finished.

Today I must leave,,,

my garden in the hands of my darling husband. Need I say I am a bit concerned?

I know he "can" do, now "will" he do it? It takes some discipline to water every day those hanging plants and the morning glory out on the front step. If the weather gets warm, I may come home to a bunch of twigs stuck in clots of dried up dirt.

The hydrangea is about to bloom so I guess I'll miss that, and I know that stinking Wisteria won't bloom again this year so I have nothing to worry about there.

There is something muching on the dahlia's in the front bed and I may come home to those being wiped out.

Should I really worry so much?

Nature

Nature has a way of making just stand back and go "how did you do that?" Like when I look at little seedlings and think about having planted the seed into the dirt and now it's all green and poking up through the earth.

Then when it's getting it's own personality and roaring up to see the sun, I just wonder how it happened. Oh remember all that stuff from biology but it really truly happens all the time and in my own front yard.

I showed you the sprouts of gladiolas, but look at them now? all tall and bold.



They've almost caught up to the dinner plate dahlia behind it that I planted a month earlier.

Then look I already have pole beans too? There were 3 but I snacked on one :)


Here's a Dahlia by our front door that I bought as a plant. It's it all cheerful to greet visitors?

Looky looky!

Remember that Iris that was about to bust open? Well, here it is!

It makes me so very happy!






I also packed up the Sewing Accessories Swap box last night and got it ready to ship off to Nadine!. I sure hope she likes it. I included the scrapes from the fabric line I used in case she thinks of something else she'd like to have to match her set. It includes a sewing machine cover, a sewing machine apron and a pin cushion thread catcher. I have to say I am having a hard time parting with all of it as I like the one I made and I really like the soft tones of the fabric. Alas, it is not mine to keep as I made specifically for Nadine! Now if only I made it well enough to fit her sewing machine - yikes!


Thanks to Aunt Pitty Pats for putting this swap together!

You won't believe what's poking up!

The Gladiolas I just planted a few weeks ago!


And the Iris is about to bust open!



Check out these pole beans!


Are you sick of my garden yet?

Waking Up to some Spring Time

Today when I was out watering my flowers before I work, I noticed how many of my plants have sprouted blooms. Here are just a few.











And remember those morning glories I planted in the front planter thinking they were the Sweet Peas - well here they are! See that peaking out?

Less Travel means I have a problem

I'm not traveling as much this year for work and it's been a very nice break. However, it has lead to two things happening (1) I see all kinds of things at my house that MUST be changed/fixed/updated/painted (2) My garden is becoming an obsession.


I know this doesn't sound like real problems, but it can be more expensive than traveling let me tell you. Buying paint, paint stripper, driving to El Segundo just to buy one particular plant - the Peony! Trust me it's adding up.



The benefits are blooming in the front yard this year. I have had time to do a full on Grub Worm War and so far I still have plants that are alive. Now if the grasshoppers will just stay away.


I, however, need a 12 step program from buying plants. I am just out of room now in the beds and keep eye balling the grass going "if I take it up 6 more inches out, I can get more flowers planted." This will not go over well with the hubs if I start ripping up the lawn.

Even the little side yard garden in the back is full of plants. I sacrifice the fennel in order to have a good spot for the peony I brought home. Here is the view now and the few bare spots are where I have seeds planted.






I'll end with my French Gray Shallots - I can't wait for them to finish up

Summer Seed Swap

I thought I'd plant some seeds in my front planter a while back instead of planting plants and see if they would grow up and be heartier. It's a difficult place to plant as it doesn't get hit by the sprinklers so I have to hand water and it's all red brick with direct sunlight all day long. Most plants just seem to fry by summer. If I miss more than 2 days of not watering the plants tank and I have start over.

So i had some sweat peas and some morning glory packets that my husband had put in my Christmas stocking that I thought I should plant. I soaked them over night and planted one set in the front porch planter and the other outside our bedroom window.

However, I thought the sweet peas where on the porch and the morning glories by the window. After some time and some growth it seems as if I swapped these around.

Anyway, it gave me an idea to do a seed swap. If you are interested, please leave me a comment and if there are at least 10 people interested, I will host this. The idea is that you would swap 4 packets of seeds with your partner. You would get to select - flower or vegetable and shade/sunlight, as your criteria. This should be easy enough as seed packets can ship in an envelope. They can be seeds you harvested, or from the store etc. Include a little note to your partner on who you are, and what you plan to do with your own seeds when they arrive. It would be fun to see the progress later on by who plants their seeds and how they grow through out the summer.

If you don't have yard but still want to participate - you can! Just make seed bombs for areas around you like deserted plots of land or over grown lots. Here's a great source for how to make them at Heavy Petal. Also, you really simplify this by just mixing seeds into potting soil and add enough water to make them dough-y (that is a word right?). Form them into balls, place on a backing sheet or tray and allow to dry for 3-4 days. Then give them a throw into the lot and you'll either get some seeds growing or feed the birds.

So here goes folks - a Summer Seed Swap!

Fresh Apple Spice Cake Tutorial or not Tutorial?

I made fresh apple spice cake yesterday and took all these pictures thinking I'd make it into a tutorial.

However, it is just not that exciting of tutorial.


I did get a lot of yard work done- AKA 2011 Grub Worm War. I try to be chemical free in the back yard as much as possible. However, here in southern California I have 3 pests that continue to get the better of my garden - slugs, grub worms and grasshoppers. Slugs I can kind of keep under control with pet friendly slug bait. Grasshoppers there is really no cure outside of stalking them and killing them first hand. Now grub worms are the worst. I've used the chemicals only to have them come back in a week. I'd read of two natural solutions - nematodes and a home remedy you spray on.

I found the recipe for the home remedy online and it is 2 cups mouthwash (unflavored), 2 cups dish soap, 2 cups tobacco juice, 2 cups ammonia mixed into one gallon of boiling water. Mix well and spray on dirt and lawn and areas needing to have grubs eradicated. I mixed it up and used my pump sprayer to apply on all the flower beds yesterday. And I added some chemical granules to the front beds too - just in case. I call it napalming the area.

Then I applied miracle grow to all the potted plants and flowers, staked up my pole beans, removed the overgrown purple basil that hummed with bees, the odd man out lavender, planted okra, weeded the beds and spread out top soil to the bare areas in the yard from all the rain in December.

Today called for 4 advil, yoga, 1.7 mile walk and lots of coffee in recovery.

How Does a Seed Become Something Beautiful?

I soaked up some sweet peas last weekend and got them in a planter on Monday morning before heading to the office.

I know they are a vine, I know they can get big. But this planter is on our front porch, where things tend to get baked and fried in the hot sun on the hot bricks.

I thought sweet peas might just be hardy enough to survive without being a cactus.

Here they are after a week of sunshine in their pot.

PW says I need to Post like I water my plants

As you can see by my blog list, I follow and love to read Pioneer Woman. Today she posted about blogging. Was great to see some guidance on how to do this "better". I'm not the most regular poster, but I am trying to fit it into my daily routine more and more.

I try to type well and have decent grammar - more out of homage to my mom the Grammar patrol queen - than because I hate reading blogs with bad grammar. I don't want my readers to have to translate what I've written into the English language.

So if I blogged like I water my plants...then I'd have sprinklers that would write each night at 10:45 pm for me :).

No, I think she meant house plants. They're on a every 2 week cycle - it's just not that hot here and if I water them more they turn yellow and squishy.

But I promise I'll blog more and diversify and not repeat and attempt to be more interesting.

Now if only I'd remember to charge my camera and have it on the ready so I can add some pictures.

Jet Lag and Swiss Chocoloate

I am have been in Switzerland since Sunday night for a business trip. I spent all day Monday and Tuesday in a conference room doing a workshop on a new CRM tool the company is implementing.

Now it's Wednesday morning - and bloody early swiss time of 4:00 am drive from the hotel to the Geneve Airport.

I got stuck in swiss never-neverland between the first security check point and the scanner check point waiting on the gate assignment for my flight. Note by this time it is only 5:30 am. Nothing is open. So I wait...and wait. Finally duty free opens and I proceed to buy my husband every piece of dark swiss chocolate I can find. I had wanted to replace the swiss army knife that security took from him, but there was no time or opportunity so chocolates will have to suffice.

Meanwhile I got the info for my apron partner and I am most excited. I am already thinking of which fabrics I will use and little bitty ideas to go along with the Garden Apron Swap. I hope that my partner will like what I do. It's all so exciting.

Gorilla Gardening

The routine has become that the house cleaning is done on Saturdays and on Sunday's a I attend the holy house of dirt worms and the almighty flower. My husband allowed me to go to the local gigantic home improvement store alone and in his truck. A combination that should be avoided at all costs.

When I returned home, he looked in the bed of the truck and shook his head saying "you just had to go an over-do-it". I explained that he was at a fault for setting up the this paradigm that gave me the freedom to select large flats of annuals at one time.

The flower bed outside our bedroom door was a bit of "hodge-podge", so I decided to redo it in a style similar to the adjoining flower bed. A handful of Gerber daisy, some double inpatients and miniature cup flowers created this easy wild flower look that mimic the other bed.

Now the front of the house received two full flats of marigolds and flame flowers. My idea is to start to integrate the fall colors in so that come October all I'll need to do is drop in some gold and red mums where the current petunias are slowly fading out at to tie it all together. Throw some pumpkins on the steps and a wreath on the door and I'll be ready for those houndling trick or treaters.

I was excited to see lady bugs in the garden yesterday, this means I am attracting the right kind of bugs to the yard. The worms seem happy in their compost bin and they are enjoying the constant supply of fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen.

Parking Garge Angst

For the last year my parking place has a stalker. I am a bit of creature of habit and I do appreciate a car with out dings or scratches. I park in the lowest part of the parking garage and had for the longest time the same spot.

I did ate least until the Red Honda with Texas plates showed up. He would get here before me and take my spot. This irked me. Some days we would arrive at the same time and I would take the spot. This dance went on for months. Then the wacko kiddos as the online video company next door started skateboarding in the parking garage. I then moved my spot further out. End spot third row from the wall. Our dear property management went and re-striped my spot out from under me. Another sad day. So I moved to the far back wall where NO ONE EVER PARKED.

Then I moved further away and now I get here a little later than before and MR. Red Honda took that spot too. Flipped me out.

So today I went to lunch with a couple co-workers. One of who also is a "away from everyone" else parker and has seen this saga going on with me and Mr Red Honda. We walk to his car and I notice that Mr. Red Honda has gone to lunch. I instantly moved my car into his spot.

If that Aholeyol keys my car, we are going to throw down.

I did nothing to him, other than want to park far away from him AND EVERYONE else. I did not single him out as he did my friggin parking spot.