Monday, May 25, 2009

Flowers, Flowers and More Flowers

The kids have four more days of school for this year so I figured that I had best put up a blog because when they get out of school, there will be no telling what my blogging habits will be.

Last week, I think it was Wednesday but I can't guarantee it, my neighbor and her husband decided it was time to drain their pool and get it ready to open for the summer. So they borrowed our water hoses, and eventually had water coming out of three water hoses and a vacuum hose. Thursday morning, my neighbor called to ask me a question about cleaning out the pool because now that the water was out of it, she was up to her ankles in algae, literally. So I called Dad because it had been years since I had been involved in the startup of a pool, and relayed to her that she needed to vacuum out the rest of the algae and water, scrub the sides and bottom and then start filling it back up again. Sounds a lot easier than it actually was. Her hubby had to work that morning so I went over and started scrubbing the sides of the pool as she vacuumed the algae out of the bottom with a Shopvac. She started at 7 am, I got in around 9:30 and we didn't finish until about 2pm, after stopping for a bite to eat. What we didn't realize was how bad the sun actually was. Both of us were in swimsuits and when we stopped for the day, both of us were burnt. My back and shoulders are literally fried!

Which brings me to today because the rest of the week has been me trying not to move this way and not to move that way but can't lay down that way and "No, don't touch me there!" Today, the sunburn is better across my lower back but my shoulders and upper back are still pretty bad. So I tried to accomplish a little more than I have the past few days. I have washed laundry, dishes, swept the kitchen and read another part of Harry Potter (he had to go on hiatus for a bit). Then I took pictures of my flowers to show my few readers. I downloaded them and went to reduce their sizes when I found what I thought was a picture on my memory card that I know I didn't take. Upon further investigation, I found that it was actually a video that Brady had taken when I didn't realize he had my camera.

Not much to it, I know, but I love how he had to just wiggle it around like it had wings there in the middle. I have no idea what it was that had my attention on tv, but I had Little Man on my hip, which meant I was probably watching GAC trying to keep him happy. This was definitely before the pool cleaning, because today is the first day I've held him on my hip like that (instead of turned and facing out) since I was in it. On to my flowers.

When I was growing up, I never dreamed that I would be into flowers as much as I am because Mom was always trading flowers with my aunt and cousin. If they had something Mom wanted, she ended up with a piece of the entire plant and vice versa. Now? I have two crepe myrtles (and have been offered more), a weeping willow tree, a magnolia tree, a chicken and hens plant, five or six different annuals from the kids for mothers day, six african violets, a "mother-in-law's tongue", calla lilies (which are about to bloom), gladiolas, and a Christmas cactus that has been putting out leaves this year like there is no tomorrow. Pretty good considering I was beginning to wonder if I had killed it. This is a violet that bloomed last year and was still going strong until Callie turned it upside down in the sink, but it's finally coming back out. This one is one Mom brought me from a friend that the kids turned upside down in the sink and I thought we had lost it too but she rallied and came back as good as she was.
This one was started from one of Mom's violets and I was wondering if it was ever going to bloom. This is another cut from one of Mom's but finally opened up this week after I impatiently waited the last two or three weeks for the teeny buds to open.I have one more violet that is just budding out now and should be opening in the next couple of weeks. I think it is another purple with white. Then I have one more that Mom brought me, another cutting that has turned into three plants. I have to separate it so that it will finally grow big enough to bloom. Right now it is just putting out teeny new leaves and tangling itself up. But my excitement comes from the fact that I have had that first flower since I went to work for Wal-Mart in 2005 and it didn't bloom until last year. Now I have five violets blooming! They actually look like they're supposed to!

Oh, and my garden is coming out nicely. I didn't get as many carrots and I would've liked but I should have squash coming out my ears pretty soon. Brady will be so excited! Now that I have talked about my newly green thumb, I'm going to give it up for the night and try to sleep. Hopefully, there will be a new topic present itself tomorrow.

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