A Succulent Saturday

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of spending the day with my mother and my friend, Amy, hunting succulents of course!  We started it off with a Succulent Seminar hosted by one of our favorite nurseries, Shades of Green.  While it wasn't terribly informative for us, it was a lot of fun.  It really was a good seminar, I'm just a weirdo about knowing everything there is to know about things I'm interested in and Google a lot, but it was a good refresher.  I did learn that a Pencil Cactus is a Euphorbia...that was one I hadn't Googled yet, probably because that's one that I just "enjoy" killing.  Amy on the other hand is a genius with her Pencil Cactus, much to my dismay!  At Amy's urging, I'm going to put together some business cards.  We put my information on the back on one of her cards to give to a lady who is in search of Palmer Sedum, which is something I have in abundance.  It was really a neat experience, and we had ladies following us throughout the nursery to ask more questions.  I think I've found my calling, now if the money would follow, please!  I also picked up some good sized succulents to put in the mailbox since the Verbena died on me. 

From there, we stopped by the closest Home Depot to see what they had.  Let's just say that we left there with an equally nice haul.  Lunch was followed by a brief stop at the pool store.  Let me just say that I've gone to chlorine...the holistic system just isn't working with the San Antonio heat, algae anyone!

Our last stop was at another favorite local nursery that happens to be quite close, Rainbow Gardens.  I love this place because whether I go in fully done up or bare and a baseball hat, Glena recognizes me and we chat about our succulents.  Of course we left with more great finds.  One I was really excited about is the Echeveria harmsii 'Red Velvet',  this little lovely is one I had last year and lost in the heater incident.  It was funny, my mother says, "Mandy, look at this."  I walked over, and as I reached out for it replied, "Oh wow, you didn't want this did you, because I need this!"  It's a good thing she loves me!

We needed to come home after that.  We left at 9 a.m. and returned at 3 p.m., exhausted and sweaty, but not too much that we couldn't pose with our loot!

The trunk was loaded, two trays were in the back seat and my mother held a box on her lap on the way home.  I can't think of a better way to spend my first Saturday with nothing to do, except maybe to plant all this!  I had excellent self control, very unusual, and brought home the least amount.

I'll share individual pictures once I get them taken.  It was too dark to get good pictures by the time Amy and I got ours in pots.  My mother's have to make the road trip home before they get planted in permanent homes. 

Have a great day!
Mandy

Writer's Workshop - An Hour To Kill

If I find myself with an hour to kill, or even if I don't for that matter, I'm going to call my mother.  My mother lives 3 states to the northeast and 800 miles away from me so if I want to talk to her I can't just drive across town.  With rare exceptions, we talk multiple times daily.  It's not that I can't go without talking to her, I just choose not to.  If by chance I do go MIA for a few days, I'll get the following call:

Me:  Hello

Mother:  Why haven't I heard from you?

Me:  I'm not sure

Mother: I'm having Mandy withdrawals

Me:  Me too, I just forgot to call

I'll call her on my way to work to tell her about my odd dreams, and she'll call me from the bookstore to tell me her  latest find.  She'll call me from Ross to tell me about a cute something or other that we need for our plants and I'll call her from the plant nursery to tell her about the "rare" finds I've found.  I'll call her to aks her if we have a book before I buy it again and she'll call me to read me the backs of the books she's either gotten in the mail or brought home.  I'll call her from the bathtub to read her something I just read while still laughing and then I'll call her again later to read it when I stop laughing so that she can understand what I'm saying.  She does the same, only I think I laugh more.  We take turns with our pity parties when they come up, we plan budgets together, talk about meals and strategize on how to get our kids to shape up or ship out.  While I'm raising two girls (14 and 10), she's also still raising two girls (17 and 14), so we really have a lot more in common than the average duo.  I call her and sing songs I've reworded that she has to then guess the real song. For instance,

Mother:  Hello
Me:  Hello, Mother, how are you mother...it's so nice to hear your voice over the phone.  You're sounding swell, Mother....I can tell Mother
Mother:  Yes, Mandy...it's Hello Dolly, again
Me:  I crack myself up

Thank God for cell phones, she won't text, but she does like to send pictures of plants back and forth and will comment on those.  Just don't try to initate a conversation via text messaging; it won't happen.  That's just asa well since I'd rather hear her voice anyways.  Sometimes I pull an  I Love Lucy voice moment and place a "person to person" call to her with my nose pinched...she loves those, my girls do the same thing. 

Mothers are a gift, even more so when you grow up and they can be your best friend.  There's not a person I'd rather spend extra time with on the phone or in person when given the chance than my mother...sorry, friends! 

This post was inspired by the prompt "You have an hour to kill on the telephone...who do you call and why." from Mama Kat's Weekly Writer's Workshop.

Photo Blankets

After last year's success with the Snapfish calendars, I got a little adventurous this year.  In addition to ordering the calendars again, I put together a photo blanket for my mother and Bob's mother.  My mother got her box today, so I made her open it while I was on the phone with her tonight because I knew she was going to love it and I wanted to her her reaction to it.  I might have children of my own, but I'm still a spoiled brat when it comes to my mother and I like it that way!  One of the many downsides of living so far from my parents is not getting to share holidays and open gifts in person, and seeing the reactions are the best parts.  Now that I think about it, we should have done the whole web cam thing, but I just thought about it...darn! 

So anyways, here's what she just opened.  Bob's mother's is the second one...she's not online so there's no worry of her seeing it early.

They were super simple to order, just pick out the pictures you want on there and how many and then choose the color and you're done!  You can also choose to have a title, but I wasn't too sure about that.  The fleece fabric was a little thinner than what I was expecting, but after handling them several times to show different people, I was happy with them.  They'll be a great year round blanket with my little people always close by!

Merry Christmas!
Mandy

Web Cams and Bell Peppers

On the laptop that my parents gave our oldest daughter there is a web cam built in.  I've given numerous lectures on why she's not allowed to use it unless she's in the living room or kitchen, and she's honored those lectures.  Tonight, she was on the phone with my mother and summoned me and Daughter #2 upstairs.  Guess who was on web chat?  My mother!  I almost cried!!  It was super cool to get to see my mother on the computer screen.  I know that I talk to her every day, sometimes two or three times a day, but this was awesome!  The girls stayed on the computer with her for a while after I walked out.  Watch out, I'm gonna steal the laptop!!

Check it out, Daughter #2's little orange bell peppers are turning orange!  I was wondering when they were going to turn...did we take them off the plant, or did they turn on their own.  Today I found that out..

It's still kind of small compared to the ones that we see in the stores.  Now I have to figure out if they keep growing once they turn orange or if they're done.  I really hope the Guinea Girls like them too!  The red ones that we are growing from seeds of store bought peppers have not produced any actual peppers yet, but they're really growing so we shall see.

Mandy

Mothers and Blogs

Several months ago, my mother created herself a blog.  You might be thinking, "wahoo, big deal, " what you might not know is that my mother is brilliant...just not so much with her computer! I live right at 900 miles away and have been the "chosen one" to walk/talk her through most of her adventures on this computer.  This wasn't a big deal until my dad bought her a Mac. 

This morning she successfully posted and then deleted said post along with her entire blog.  Never one to give up easily, she created another one and got not one, but two posts on there today! She took a stab at Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop from last week as well...who cares that she didn't get it up until today! Before I go further, let me say this...my mother is my best friend.  That said, she really can try this girl's patience! I think she got more flustered than I did, but we got the story linked!   Check out her blog here at babybuttsandlittletoessucculents, she's done a great job with it and knowing my mother like I do, she's going to perfect it until it shines!

Tomorrow, we'll work on putting some pictures on her blog...one thing at a time!  Oh, and Daddy, if you happen to read this...if I'm going to be able to properly assist your lovely wife, I'll be needing a Mac! 

My Mother and My Two Favorite Girls

It's a good thing that I set Hawaii Five-O to record tonight!  Have a wonderful night everyone!

Mandy

Friday Mixup

I took a vacation day today, so while the girls were at their last day of volleyball camp, my mother and I got to spend the day together...without extra voices!  Our first stop was Schultz nursery were we picked up a pot saucer, much needed Hibiscus food and a yellow bell pepper plant and a cucumber plant.  I'm going to try these from seeds for next year, but when I saw them already growing I wanted to see how well I'd do with them.  My intent is to grow the bell peppers and cucumbers for the guinea girls.  We'll see!  Then we hit Half Price Books!!  This is our favorite spot and the fact that she's been here since Friday afternoon last week and we'd yet to make it there was nothing short of a crime again book lovers! From there we went by Ross, just to look of course.  :) I got a pot for my Plumeria and another great pot for that "just in case" moment since I never know when I'll bring another plant home! From there we had to pick up the girls and took them to the mall for some school clothes shopping...not the best part of the day considering everyone and their extended families were there!  Okay, maybe not that bad, but close enough to cause my blood pressure to rise.

I'll post pictures as the vegies grow (keeping my fingers crossed), but I've got one of the Plumeria...can't wait to watch it grow and smell it's lovely blooms!  Never mind, I guess I just thought I'd downloaded them and my camera's been hijacked by Caitlin so she can download her volleyball pictures.  Priorities!  So, I'll just have to share a photo from their summer adventure.  I think I need my eyes checked...found them!

Plumeria...shared the little one with my mother.

I forgot to share this little surprise I got the other morning.  I went out to water and my Senecio Haworthii 'Cocoon Plant' had three little blooms! They are different that any other's I've gotten so far from my other succulents, they look like sheer paper umbrellas like you'd get on a fruity drink.  The only lasted a day, looked the next day and everything was gone, stems and all!

Senecio Haworthii 'Cocoon Plant' Blooms

Pitcher Plant...made two baskets out of this one; one for my mother, one for me.

Another carnivorous plant to add to my collection of one! This one has bigger "pitchers" and they look like they have fur on them. 

Now for summer fun. Excuse the crappy size, I haven't got a clean copy yet and took this one off the oldest's Facebook page.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mandy

Simple Woman's Daybook - Week of June 26th

For Today...from Mandy's Daybook



Outside my window...well watered plants and grass with more rain promised!

I am thinking...that I'd really like to go to bed.

I am thankful for...a husband who doesn't complain about my Pizza Tuesday!

From the kitchen...nothing tonight, it's pizza night...probably could do some dishes though.

I am wearing... black yoga pants and a yellow shirt.

I am creating...our monthly budget for July...blah, blah!

I am going...to do nothing tonight other than read...after I do the budget, of course.

I am reading...Mother of Prevention by Lori Copeland and Max Lucado's One Year Bible.

I am hoping...that I get into a better mood, I'm a little mulligrubby at the moment.

I am hearing...my favorite weatherman telling us about Alex, the could be hurricane, who's bringing us some much needed rain.

Around the house...quiet and a lot less clutter than last week!

One of my favorite things...reading, reading and more reading!

A few plans for the rest of the week...reading, stalking my daughter on Facebook and trying to stay dry!

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

You can participate in the Simple Woman's Daybook by going to the link below.

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/


Have a wonderfully delightful week!
Mandy