Mary, Mary, quite contrary....

So, here's how it goes...I love a beautiful garden...I love to be outside putzing in the gardens...I overdo with the putzing in the garden...I spend days recovering from overdoing in the garden...I vow that I am not planting another thing and just sit outside enjoying the garden...I sit outside enjoying the garden and see a space that is just begging for a plant...I go to the nursery to buy just maybe one or two plants and come home with tons...I overdo with the putzing in the garden...I spend days recovering.....



You get the picture! It is a constant cycle! We have a flower bed that was just loaded last year with perennials and this year there is hardly anything coming up in it. Don't know why but it is the bed with the fountain in it and right next to the patio so it is the one that is enjoyed the most. So, my Mom and I went to the nursery yesterday just to pick up a COUPLE of perennials...not going to overdo because when you buy them that means you have to do all the bending and stooping to plant them! Let's see if I can remember all that we came home with...48 impatiens, 1 hardy gloxinia (yep, I said hardy!), 1 hardy hibiscus, 4 wave petunias, 1 black eyed susan vine (so cute and I had never seen one before), parsley, basil, nasturtums, 4 cosmos, shasta daisy, 2 ice plants, and about 4 others (in 6 packs so that is 24 plants) that I can't remember the names of ! That does not include the 3 rose bushes that still need to be planted! One of the rose bushes has been developed to ramble up a tree. Which I thought would look so pretty on our red maple forgetting that at the base of the maple are hostas! Have any of you tried to dig up hostas! Their roots are amazingly strong! And, does someone want to tell me why they charge so much for hostas? They multiply like crazy. I mean if you plant one , the next year you have like 6! Thank goodness I don't need any since they were 10.99 for one plant! These hostas were given to me by someone that was digging them up and throwing them out! Every couple of years I try to thin them out and put some where I can't get anything else to grow since they do well almost anywhere! After looking at the prices yesterday, I figure we have at least a $1000 worth of hostas! Maybe I will open up a little road side stand and sell some! LOL!



So now, I have all theses to plant and we are due to have rain for the next few days! It figures! Not raining now so I am going to post and then get outside and try to talk the hostas into moving on their own so I can plant that rose bush!



My friend asked me to thank you all for all the prayers! She was pretty bummed yesterday mostly about losing her dog. I know that feeling all too well. Every time I have had to put a dog down, I swear I will never get another one because it tears your heart up so much but, to me, life without a dog is not a happy life! She is driving her son to a rehab this morning. At least he wants to go. He knows he can't go on like he is but just can't kick it! It has to be so hard at that age when all the friends you have are "partying" and if you want to be included in the friendship circle...well...it has got to be hard to say no and face all the pressure! (Still thanking God here for my kids!) Maybe it is because my husband is a recovered alcoholic and they grew up with him talking about it and helping others with their problem, I don't know but neither have a tolerance for those that use. My son has brought a couple of his friends here to talk to DH about it and if they made an attempt to stop he stood by them, if not, he made the choice to not hang around them.



Funny story...years ago, I think my son was in second grade, my DH's niece was having a real problem and he spent a lot of time going to meetings with her and having her here to talk. We sat the kids down and explained why Daddy was not home a lot because they were missing him and they were so great about it. The BIG Blue Book (if you know about the 12 steps, you know what that book is) was out on the table and one morning without my knowledge, my son put it in his backpack to take to school for show and tell! I got a phone call later that morning from the school principal asking me if I was aware that my son was "sharing" that his father had a drinking problem but now he doesn't drink anymore so he is a real good Dad! No, I didn't but I explained that it is something we talk about openly so I didn't feel like he was spilling family secrets. When I picked him up after school, his teacher called me aside to talk to me about it and asked if she could keep the book for awhile to read because so many of the kids had asked questions and were living in the situation that she decided she needed to become better educated. She said it was the most interactive show and tell that she ever had.



So, moral of story...be careful...kids bring everything to school! This worked out but there was also one time that I was making a lot of soups during one winter. The kids were getting a little tired of them, I guess, and kept complaining and asking why do I have to make everything into soup! Jokingly, I told them it was because we were poor and couldn't afford anything else! Yep, you guessed it...that was another show and tell! A lady I knew from the PTO came with a casserole which I thought was kind of an odd gesture and then she told me what her son had told her when he came home from school! I was mortified!



Enough memory lane...today is the alpha....the caps have the little angel flying around leaving a trail of angel dust! Enjoy!

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