My Poor Table...

Once a year on the Mother's Day long weekend, there's a wholesale nursery nearby that opens up to the public. I went this year, and managed to find some great deals. Six packs of seedlings were $2 instead of the usual $6 or $8. 6" pots were only $6, and a full sized hanging pots were about half price.

I picked up three flats of snap dragons, marigolds, impatiens, freesia, pansies, tomato seedlings, dahlias and more... I probably managed to get half the annuals that I'll need this year. The only problem is that we're almost a month away from when it'll be safe to plant annuals outside. In the meantime, the plants need sun and shelter inside the house. And that means that they'll be living on my dining room table.

(The tulips are left over from last week's party.)

Until it warms up enough for me to plant them all, I'll be eating my dinners in my lazy boy chair.

Different Strokes

I met my neighbour a few years ago (at least a year after she had moved in) when she and her husband adopted two baby bull dogs. While I try really hard to respect my neighbour's space and not intrude, I couldn't help but suck up all my courage and to ask if I could come into their yard to see the puppies.

This is what they looked like back then:




This is what they look like now:

I'm really glad that I approached her. Jen and I have since become friends, and we often take our dogs for walks together. It's a bit of a motley crew, with two english bulldogs, a standard poodle and a wee little maltese. We get all sorts of comments, but we've noticed that it's rare for all four to get compliments at the same time.

Yesterday was a perfect example: Jen, the bullies, Tula and I all went on a long walk together yesterday. On our way back, a car drove by, pulled over and then the occupants got out. They ran up to the bullies, patted them, oohed and aahed over them and told us how much they love the breed. Tallulah and I stood to the side and - other than a 'no offence to the poodle' comment as they got back into their car - were pretty much ignored.

Jen came over and gave Tula a scratch, and we carried on. That's the way it seems to go. Either people love the bully breeds, or they love the hair breeds. Not many people are drawn to both, and neither of us are bothered when the other's dogs are singled out over our own.

It also helps that these things seem to even themselves out on their own. When we got home, we stopped in her front yard. Tula lay down on the grass, and the bullies milled about. Jen and I were talking about gardening when a truck drove by. The window opened, and the passenger leaned out to yell as they drove by. "OMG, I love that Poodle!"

Only at my house:

Because it wouldn't do for the poodle to carry a dirty rat, would it?

Second Thoughts

For a brief moment in time, there was another post where this one is now. I had second thoughts and deleted it. If you happened to see it earlier and wonder what happened, you haven't lost your mind; I just changed mine. FWIW, it wasn't anything deep or telling; just not worthy of a blog entry.

Doctors, plants and books - oh my.

Today was a sick day. I went to work, hoping that the day would get easier as it went on, but ended packing it in mid morning. I hate doing that. The amount of sick time that I've wracked up in the last year is embarrassing, but sometimes I can't just push through.

The anemia and the low albumin continue to be a problem. With that comes a bevy of symptoms that come and go, and have stumped my general practitioner. As much respect as I've got for my doctor, he seems to have run out of ideas. In the last month or so, he has started to throw out Hail Mary's, and suggesting that maybe my problems are caused by a sleep disorder or possibly mental issues.

I agreed to go see a psychologist. I don't think that it would hurt anybody to get a mental health checkup, and I'm actually looking forward to that appointment. However, I'm going more out of curiosity than because I think it'll help my current health issues. I'm quite sure that I am not imagining the swollen feet, the tingly sensations or the foggy brain.

My dad, on the other hand, isn't buying the Hail Mary's. He's the one who asked for the tests that reported the low albumin in the first place (Back Seat Doctor, anyone?!?) and then he demanded that my GP give me a referral to go see an internist. Honestly, that's a medical specialty that I didn't know existed; but if it'll help figure out what's going on, I'm all for it.

The referral was made, the appointment is this week. Hopefully progress will be made.

The Zadge's sista kindly provided a suggestion as to what the mystery plant might be, and requested a closer picture for more details. I wish I could comply, but this is what happened shortly after I posted the previous blog entry.


Garden pictures will not be available until further notice.

Keeping it in the family, the Zadge told her readers to stop what they're doing and to read Little Bee by Chris Cleave. She's a smart woman. I started reading it yesterday; and although I'm not done yet, I already agree. Excellent, excellent book.

In other news, the basement continues to flood. Not a lot, but water is still trickling in. There isn't a crack in the foundation that I can see, but it's weeping in from an area that was repaired a few years ago. Either the crack wasn't repaired properly, or else they damaged the weeping tile while they were working on the foundation. If they did that, which I suspect it is, water is pooling at the base of the foundation and soaking in through the foundation. The only way that I know of to fix that is to dig down to the weeping tile and replace it. Since the builder is MIA, and both insurance and New Home Warranty are unwilling to help, I'm going to be out a lot of money again. I'm not sure if it's funny, ironic or just plain sad that this problem cropped up on the day that I signed a contract for a brand new roof on my 5 year old house.

Shade gardens and spring flowers

I'm trying something new this year to start off a new garden. I read that if you cover a grassy area up with dark plastic for a month or so, the grass underneath with die and the ground will get quite soft so that you can till it in easily. That seems better than spraying chemicals to kill the grass, and a whole lot easier than manually digging it out, so I figured I'd give it a try.

It doesn't look very good right now. In fact, I think that corner of the yard is looking like a junk yard; but it'll be a shade garden in a month or so. I'm thinking of lots of ferns, a few bleeding hearts and maybe a few hostas.




In other parts of the garden, more progress is being made.

Daffodils are blooming

The seedum is too...


And the mystery plant continues to be a star.

I really need to figure out what it is.

Whipping Cancer

I had a Pampered Chef party at my house today. May is their "Whip Cancer" month, and hosts have the option of donating a portion of the profits from their show instead of getting discounts on items that they want to buy.

I've never hosted a sale-based party at my house before. I've always had the idea that if I didn't host one, then I wouldn't be obligated to go to these sorts of parties at other peoples' houses if I didn't want to.

I figured that a fundraiser for cancer would be a good reason to break that rule.

So, I spent last week cleaning the house, I bought flowers, and then I cooked.

Aren't these tulips pretty?
There's nothing like having a party as an excuse to buy some flowers.

I made Pioneer Womans's stuffed jalapeños, except I followed the recipe from her book. The recipe from her cook book is a little different, in that includes green onions and grated cheddar cheese, then spreading BBQ sauce on them before cooking. I did it the way the book said, and they were a big hit.

I also did baked brie with some Raspberry Habanero sauce poured over it... major yum... and a big plate of fresh fruit.

During the party, we all worked together to make a trifle, which turned out a bazillion times better than I expected (I don't normally like trifle, but this was OMG Good.)

Long story short: we ate, we had fun and we raised over $250 for cancer research today. That's not a bad day at all in my book.