Happy Birthday Shelby-Lou!

Today, my youngest daughter turned 10! Double digits are big, because even though she's tiny (just over 50 lbs, and right past 4 ft), I don't think I can carry her around the house anymore! Don't get me wrong, I'm not toting her on my hip or anything, but sometimes I just have to swoop her up and hold her.  She'll never be too big to crawl up in my lap though...nope, I refuse to even go there!

I had thought to use nicknames for my girls, but that's going to be too confusing...especially when my mother made a blog and totally forgot about using nicknames.  So, today, my Shelby is 10!  As our summer tradition has it, this is the 6th year that she celebrates her big day at my parents house.  Kind of a bummer for her mother, but I don't really think she'd appreciate it any other way. 

Going back to the oldest digital photo I have of her, this was probably at 3 years old. This was her first time going to my parents without me and daddy.  They went camping this year.

To today, or at least my most recent shot of her...my mother's slacking a bit this year!

I took dinner to a friend tonight who just had her third little girl, and I wanted to bring her home!  She was about the same size as my Shelby-Lou when she made her entrance at 6 lb 4 ou, 19 inches long! 

She's our Type A to a tee child, obedient to a fault and never a dull moment!  Her sister woke her up at 1 a.m. this morning writing "happy birthday" on Shelby's skin!  Fortunatley for her, it's takes Shelbs a bit to fully focus or she would've gone "ninja" on her.  She might be small, but she's not one to mess with.  Caitlin did make up for it though I think by giving her a ride of a lifetime on the go-cart...Nana said Shelby was hanging on for dear life!

Writer's Workshop...Bucket List

I have always loved to write, so when I saw this weekly meme, I thought why not!

Out of the 5 prompts listed for the Writer's Workshop, I'm think I'll go with the listing 100 things I want to do before I turn 100.  Otherwise known as a Bucket List...I probably won't get to 100, but we'll see!

1. Learn to ballroom dance
2. Go to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina
3. Take my children to Disney
4. Visit an Amish community
5. Visit Maine or Rhode Island to see the lighthouses
6. Eat lobster on the beach one one of the above locations
7. Take a trip to Spain
8. Read all the books in my library
9. Instill my love of reading in my children
10. Take piano lessons, again
11. Run a 5k without stopping, then
12. Run a 10k without stopping, and then
13. Run a half marathon (no desire for the full)
14. Open a used bookstore/succulent nursery
15. Run all the above races with my oldest daughter
16. Write a book
17. Dance in the rain with my husband
18. Take off on a Girls Only adventure with my mother
19. Another Girls Only adventure with my best friend
20. Yet another Girls Only with my girls...not in our house!
21. Climb a mountain
22. Master Zumba and become an instructor
23. Teach piano lessons to children
24. Volunteer at a crisis center for young girls
25. Volunteer at a women's shelter
26. Visit Graceland
27. Watch my daughter's marry the man of their dreams
28. Visit Holland and get my picture in a field of tulips
29. Loose 15 lbs and keep it off
30. Watch my daughter's grow in their love of their Heavenly Father
31. Read my Bible through from cover to cover
32. Live closer to my parents
33. Gain control of my temper
34. Take a summer off to spend with my girls
35. Teach my girls to drive like their mother
36. Help my mother make a blog
37. Take photography lessons
38. Get as close to mastering the Fruits of the Spirit as I possibly can
39. Learn to belly dance
40. Make a scrapbook for each of my girls
41. Get season tickets to the Majestic Theatre
42. Become season ticket holders for the San Antonio Spurs...for all 4 of us
43. Pay off all debt including the house
44. Be the best friend I can be to my current friends and ones I've yet to meet
45. Own a Westie
46. Stomp grapes
47. Learn to sew
48. Redo my bathroom and put in a whirly tub
49. Have a miniature, pot-bellied pig to call my own
50. Attend a Broadway production of The King and I, Fiddler on the Roof and a number of other musicals
51. Get a reduction...I'll leave it at that
52. Put together a cookbook of my girl's favorite recipes to give them when grow up and leave me
53. Visit Hershey, Penn.
54. Learn to rollerblade
55. Take tennis lessons and play with my youngest
56. Go skydiving with my husband
57. Learn how to grill more than hotdogs without burning i

I didn't think I'd make it to 100, but I did suprise myself by getting to 38!  I was at 38 and then took my bath and realized I'd left off belly dancing!  Cut the bath short to fix this...I think I'm good with 57.  I'm really content with a book or working with my plants, so this has been a good exercise in realizing that a little adventure wouldn't hurt me!

If you'd like to try, head over to Mama Kats and join in the fun!

Have a great night!
Mandy

Pink Butterfly

I had a little downtime today at work and was looking around on the internet to see what fuzzy Kalanchoes I might be missing...he!he!  I got a little side tracked when I saw what I thought was the Kalanchoe Serrata 'Magic Tower'...only, it's called a 'Pink Butterfly'...how pretty!!  The other neat thing I learned is that it's plantlets don't root, so they're just there for pretty decoration! 

I also saw someone call it 'Pink Sparkler too...I'll have to get closer shots, but they do look very delicate!  Dave's Garden has a bunch of nice pics of this one too, this link should take you straight to the page for this one. 

I finally got to enjoy the pool tonight for a little bit, we're supposed to get more storms starting tomorrow, so it was nice to float around for a bit.  While I was floating, I saw two hummingbirds drinking from my Goldfish Plant and the new Bougainvillea...too bad my camera was in the house!  I pulled out the hummingbird feeder just in case they want to come back!  Maybe I'll be prepared better next time.

Very happy that it's Wednesday...love short weeks!!

Mandy

Elephant Ear?

So, Titania over at Yesterday Today and Tomorrow In My Garden had suggested I look out for an 'Elephant Ear' Kalanchoe.  After a quick Google search, I think I might already have one.  I've got it in the same little pot with a little 'Fang' Kalanchoe, but if this is the 'Elephant Ear', I might need to be moving it to it's own pot.  This is my second 'Fang', I had one last year and I bought it quite large (on sale, of course) and dummy me let it get frost bitten over the winter...I was bummed to say the least! Since these were both small, I just put them together until they grow.  The 'Fang' is the shovel looking bumpy one.

I think this is either a Kalanchoe 'Felt Plant' or an 'Oak Leaf'..not sure which, so if you know, please set me straight!

I picked up a Kalanchoe 'Golden Girl' over the weekend, but I was going to pot her before taking a picture...need to get that done.

Now on to non-plant conversation...

Tonight on the way home, I was talking to my mother and she was telling me that she made Chicken and Dumplings for dinner.  Now, that happens to be my absolute favorite meal that my Mamaw (mother's mother) would make when we would visit and then taught me to do.  Out went my plans for hotdogs!  I had the biscuits here since I'm making it this weekend for a friend who just had a baby.  All I needed was chicken...no cooked chicken, but I do have canned turkey (sounds odd, but it's awesome) from the turkey farm in Ohio that I thought I'd try.  It was awesomely delicious (if I do say so myself)!!  

After that, I thought Goldie and I needed a walk.  She made it one mile with me and after jogging a bit decided she needed to stop constantly, so she got dropped off and and I finished up the other two by myself with my music!  I haven't jogged or walked since the Susan B. Komen 5k that me and a friend ran a few months ago...man am I out of shape!  To cool off, I repotted my Hibiscus tree into a much needed, much larger pot!  

Sorry this was so long...I think I miss my girls and the conversation that comes with!  Not to mention my jogging buddy, who pushes me to keep going even though I want to sit down and cry!

Good Night!

Mandy 

Hibiscus and Succulents

I can't believe that it's already the end of the last day of the long weekend...it went by much too fast, as usual!  Our neighbor friends decided to finally tackle the crushed granite path they wanted to make from the front fence all the way back around their back porch.  We always work together, this one my husband represented our team more than I did, but from Saturday morning through 2 p.m. today they got it done! There's something about mud that does nothing for me, so I was much more useful today than the other two days.  I dabbled more at cleaning my house and getting the back porch in order; still have a ways to go with both!  I did however get the succulent hanging baskets done for the front porch.

Other than the Kalancoe 'Chocolate Soldier's' in the middle, everything should grow and hang over.  There's a 'Brown Bean' Sedum, 'Vera Higgin's' Apenglow and a few other Sedum and Echeveria varieties.  Hoping that these should do better in this spot than the Chocolate Mint did...that got repotted and put in the back yard in a shadier spot.  I also worked on the succulent pots that my mother bought and left for me to pot.

This one's my mother's.

This one is mine.

It was dark when I finished these, but I figured I'd take more as they fill out.  Julie, the 'Mother of Millions' you sent me has done really well, so much so that I shared one of them with my mother.  I put my Kalanchoe Serrata, 'Magic Tower', on the top of mine with an Echeveria.  The 'Magic Tower' is more pinkish than the 'Chandelier Plant' that I already had, and it's leaves are serrated, whereas the other is more tubular.  I bought another Hibiscus Saturday morning, my neighbor and I couldn't not leave Home Depot with them.  This is her first and I did warn her that they're also addictive.  They had these great little bushes called 'Carolina Breeze'...a gorgeous orange! 

Off to make an enchilada casserole before we start wilting!

Hope everyone enjoyed their long weekends!

Mandy

Getting To Know You...July 4th

I came across this Sunday meme tonight and thought it looked fun. This one is called Getting to Know You and its hosted by Mannland5!  Just follow her button above to check it out for yourself.


1. What do you look forward to the most on the 4th of July?
Hotdogs!  Seriously, my family thinks we eat them more than anyone they know (not true), but I really do like them.  Oooh, homemade icecream too! Only this year, I've had neither...I'll make up for it later in the week.

2. Are you a hugger?
Absolutely!

3. What is your favorite BBQ'd food?
Ribs made by our friend, chicken, turkey and sausage too...ok, about anything BBQ'd won't get turned down!

4. Do you like to watch parades?
No, but I watch the Battle of Flowers and Flambeau Parades every year downtown with the rest of the crazies.  My husband tries every year to get us to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but it's been 15 years, and I haven't bit yet!

5. Who has stinkier farts..boys or girls?
Oh my...in my house, it's the girls!

6. Vampires or Werewolves?
Neither.

7. Do you read your horoscope?
No to this one as well.  God's got my future planned out and that's all I've got to know!

8. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Blue Bell Mint Chocolate Chip

This was fun...short and sweet!

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July celebration with their families and friends!
Mandy

Back Porch Visitors

I have lots of new plants to talk about, but I don't think I have the energy tonight.  I did have two cute and not so cute vistors today on my back porch.  I went out this morning to show my spoiled princess that it wasn't raining so she could go outside.  A cute little gecko was perched on one of the sanseverias.  I've never seen one on my plants before, so of course I had to run in and grab my camera.

Tonight, I decided to put my newly acquired Passion Vine in the ground and when I went to grab my little shovel from the extra dirt I keep in a pot, I was greeted by this not so attactive toad. He was hiding under the shovel of course, so I jumped first and then hurried to get the camera!

This little guy sat right there and watched while I potted two succulent strawberry pots and some other things.  It wasn't until I was finished because it was getting too dark that I heard him moving around and finally hopped off somewhere in the yard. 

One thing that I did get today and will post it's final home tomorrow is a Passion Vine plant.  I thought the bloom was too whimsical not to have, and while I was at it, picked one up for my mother.  I put it in a corner on a trellis behind a Mexican Petunia that my mother brought me.  It was too dark to get decent pictures of that though tonight.

Have a wonderful 4th of July!

Mandy