Flowers on the Sill

I have not always been a lover of roses. For many of my teenage and early adult years, I thought they were campy, cliche and didn't really smell all that great. I think it must have been shortly after meeting Ben that I started enjoying these flowers. He was well aware of my feelings about them, but even so, every bouquet he gave me had at the very least one rose in it. He's given me many flowers over the years and always arranges them himself.

A few days ago, I happened to notice that several of the many, MANY rose bushes in the yard were about to burst forth in bloom. I grabbed my clippers and took a stroll through the back and front yards to find some vase-worthy specimens. After trimming them and cutting off the most offensive thorns, I popped them in a vase and took them downstairs. The first night I was amazed at the intense aroma coming from the blooms, especially the lilac. The second night, it was almost overpowering! (The vase is on the window sill just inches from my side of the bed.)

The purple one on the left is some sort of variety that looks like crepe paper when it opens.

There was only one white rose that looked ready to open and it's still, even today, sitting there in bud form.

Lilac.

I think I've become a bit of a fan in the past few years.

I believe I've come to appreciate the beauty, scent and romance associated with roses. Though they still are not my favorites, they have moved up the list significantly.

Summer has officially arrived and is exploding with color every day! Must be time for a garden party!

The Fruits of my Labor

I kill every green thing I touch.. by that I mean plants, in any shape or form. I remember that I once got an ivy sprig from Melissa's wedding boquet and I thought it would be super romantic if I grew a little ivy plant out of it. So, I put it in a cup of water to make the little roots sprout and it was doing very very well. Once I was happy with the roots, over the span of a few days, I put soil into the cup to try to get it acclimatized to drinking with dirt in the way. Once I was happy with that, I put it in a pot and it died in 2 days. Sigh. I decided then and there that plants hated me. It's been true up until this spring.

Over the years I've tried various tactics:

1. Buying pre-grown flowers, herbs and vegetables from the nursery. (Usually dead within a month or two)

2. Planting seeds in a patch out in the back yard. (Seedlings got buried in the shower of Elm seeds from the neighbor's tree. I was afraid to rake them out of the way for fear of digging up the little baby plants.)

3. Peet Pots... (Blew all over the yard the first night I took them out after the frosts were over. The sprinklers come on at 4am so I couldn't rescue them before they turned into little blobs of soil.)

Arrrgg!!

So, I tried just planting seeds in massive quantities in pots on the front porch. I figured I would faithfully water them and see how many of the thousands of rediculous little seeds would grow... Here are the fruits of my labor: FRUITS I TELL YA! FRUITS!

Okay, so technically, these are the only actual fruits that I planted. Aren't they cute?! I have a feeling these tomatoes will be green for a long time... Just keep watering, just keep watering! (To the tune of Dorey.)


We've already complemented one meal with some of my fabulous beans and they're still coming!

Awwww! I love flowers!

An added bonus: I was watering my little cute plants this morning and I went back to put more water in my watering can and to my suprise I found a little stowaway on board. I quickly called Ben and told him to bring the camera outside. In the meantime, my little safari creature decided to jump off my watering can and onto our hose keeper.

Ben was astonished to hear that I have never seen a Mantis in person before. Always in books and on TV. He told me that this little guy was just a baby and that grown mantis's are a several inches tall/long... I sortof got the jibblies there.

The poor little guy just seems a bit forlorn about being taken (accidentally) from his flowers. I'm just too chicken to try to move him back. I'm afraid I'll break one of his little legs, or he'll jump off my hand and onto ME.. eeeek! So, I'll let him have the adventure of his life and find the plant on his own... I hope he makes it... I can feel the guilt complex coming on!

Dang Leeches!

Okay, so I have hypothyroidism. As such, I have to go and get my blood drawn at least once a year, sometimes more. Needles freak me out and I dont care what people say about getting used to it. I can deal with it, but I'll never get used to it. Can you imagine.. Ok, here's my vein, poke it all you want, heck take a whole pint while your at it! Bleah!

So, anyway. I got my yearly labwork done on Thursday. I was lucky that I didnt have time to over-think it in the waiting room. They were totally dead and there was no wait. I can never look when they poke the needle in, but I usually do once it's there. Good thing I dont faint at the sight of blood like some people do. There was a little droplet right where she poked in. She was done really fast though and she was very professional and experienced. So, I was thinking, yay! I dont have to do that again for a while.


Well, today, I checked in with my OB's office and asked them what I should do since I am "late" and have gotten 2 negative test results. They sent me for bloodwork... whaddayaknow.... :P
So, ran down to the lab and waited..... and waited... for my turn for the bloodsuckers to get me... what a strange thing.. we all line up like cattle and willingly hold out our arms.
So, when my personal leech walked in, she seemed a little hesitant, but I didn't think anything of it... First, she tied that little rubber thing around my arm and felt around on my vein.. and felt around on my vein.. and felt around on my vein.. and then practically bruised my vein while she felt around some more... then she untied it and felt around some more. Then, she left the little alcohol square on my arm while she wandered around looking for her gloves and cotton squares... Then she put the rubber tie thing on again and got her needle and tried to stab all the way through my arm and out the other side... I couldnt even watch it! No wonder I forgot my name and date of birth when she re-verified it!

So, I should get the results back tomorrow (hopefully there's a little miniature body in there that will be super cute when I take it home). I don't know what they will do if I'm not "PG".... well.. good excuse to keep trying at any rate.

In the mean time, Ben is off school for a few weeks and we're going to put him to work! Yay! An extra set of hands makes all the difference.

I also planted all my seeds today. So, Beans, Tomatoes, Herbs, flowers.. hooray! Hopefully I dont kill them this year, like I do every other year. And, hopefully the neighborhood cats dont decide that the catnip I planted is especially for them... :P