I think my thumb might be turning green

Some of what I've been working on:

4 "Christmas Trees" that I have been growing since around March.

My mom bought KJ a little tiny pot that comes with a pellet of soil and a bag of seeds.  I promised that I would pant them and help take care of them hoping to see some real Christmas Trees come out of it . . . so far, so good.

I've moved them to a larger pail-like container.  Three of the trees are already getting their second row or pines.  I have no idea what they are supposed to be looking like at this stage.  But they are still green and that's what matters!  lol  *since moving them outside, only one is starting to get brown tips.

(Picture taken on 5/26/10)

 5 Tomato Plants that were planted on 5/17/10

*the brown pot has 5 new seeds that I planted on 5/23/10

When I was a kid, I remember picking cherry tomatoes from my mom's "tomato garden".  I remember loving to go out there and pick tomatoes, like I knew what I was doing!  hee hee

My mom and I were just reminiscing the other weekend about how much we all enjoyed the experience of growing tomatoes.  So, I saw this at Target, in the dollar spot, and I was so excited to test my tomato growing skills.  ;)

So far, wonderful!!  I get sooo excited to see them getting taller and taller.

(Picture taken on 5/24/10)

 Tomatoes on 5/26!  :D

I love rotating it through out the day, watching how they change direction to lean towards the sun.  

 woo hooo!!  :D

Tomatoes on 5/27.

When do I have to replant them in a larger pot?

Chris brought this vase with approx 4 different bamboo sticks all stuffed inside.  He was the one "in charge" of it at his work place.  I was really excited that they decided to 'do away with it' because I had been looking to buy some bamboo.

I never liked the set up, in that vase. (I couldn't find a picture of what it looked like when he first brought it home --but if and when I do, I will def. come back and post it.  It was ridiculous LOL :(  Someone had thought it would be a great idea to throw some random pieces of curling ribbon in the water.  It looked as though it was a spare trash can, with random stuff/junk floating around in the water.

So, I read up on how to properly grow bamboo and I have been doing my absolute best since about May 3rd or so.  This is the 'best' I could do back in the beginning of May --but it still seemed like a nasty eye sore on my kitchen window sill . . .

but now . . .

Some sand art and a new vase!

"straight bamboo" 5/27

This is the best that I was able to do for the "spiral bamboo".

However . . .

I really LOVE the make-over I gave it today!  :)  I took out all the clear stones.

So far, this one is my favorite bamboo.

Now, as for my favorite flower . . . I have about 6 bushels of gerber daisies that I have been growing, around our front tree, for 3 years now, I believe.

I LOVE watching them bloom!  I wait until they are nice and tall and full of color; right before they start losing their beauty, I cut what I want and bring them inside --they last about another week!!  I just LOVE them!!!  It was one of the best gifts Chris has ever given me . . . not the typical flowers that come wrapped in paper and only last a week.  I got the whole plant -to keep giving me my favorite flower!!

I bought this vase during January or February, at Target's Dollar Spot!  I just couldn't wait to put a daisy in it...

I found this vase in our garage, yesterday.  All those clear stones that came out of the 'spiral bamboo' vase look so much nicer in this vase with more daisies!  :)

I can never get enough of these daisies . . . any color.


So this is what my kitchen window sill currently looks like.  I told Chris that it's my "granny-sill" (I just remember growing up seeing our grandma's window sills full of plants. hee hee)

*I'm currently trying to revive some small bamboo stems, in that little medicine cup...in case you are wondering.

*Now, I have a tiny tree that is growing in our backyard.  I will post the pics soon.  I also planted some sunflower seeds around another tree, in our backyard, and I just haven't had any luck with seeing those bloom.  Nothing . . . absolutely nothing.  :(  Either they somehow "expired", because they are about 8 years old, if not older.  OR I just don't have the "green thumb" for growing one of the easiest flowers . . . they grow on the side of the highway, for goodness sakes!!!  Every time I see them along the highway, I just scream in my head "WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!"  I think I am going to try starting them in smaller pots.

Next, I would LOVE to plant an apple seed that KJ saved and brought home a while back.  It's dried out and I don't know if it needs to be or if it will even grow at all.  That's my next little experiment --that's what the Christmas Tree and Tomatoes started as, experiments.  hee hee  and I'm happy to see them live and grow!! :)

ah, sweet lullabies

Success!!  Two toddlers are snoozing away.  :)  Took only about 5 mins of hair rubbing and patting.  Phew! :)

I now get my "lunch break" -yummy left overs from dinner last night and cyber surfing (blogging and watching online shows).  Ah, beautiful lullabies . . . please don't weigh my eyelids down...

beeping microwave calls me . . . time to eat!!  :P

All my favorite shows are over . . . now what?!

nap time! :)
I normally catch up on my favorite shows, online, during nap time.  but now that they are over with . . . I have to find something else to do...

I had wanted to post these yesterday -but I got wrapped up with other 'stuff'.  So, I don't know if you are aware that I absolutely LOVE crazy, silly, fun socks!!!  I wear a pair as often as I possibly can -even if they don't match my clothes.  Chris enjoys laughing at them, of course.

this pair is one of my favs.  I don't remember where I got them from . . . but as I was walking from the hard floor to the carpet, a thread got caught on a nail or something.  :(  I tied the threads in a knot, hoping to help them last a bit longer.  lol how ridiculous, I know.  but these are one of my favs...

This is what I seemed to see all day.  Chris made it on Sunday.  It was supposed to be made on Mother's Day -by KJ and Chris.  However, there seems to be a pattern of buying something or prepping something for a gift for me (by Chris and Chris and KJ) and then I either never get it, I get it but it's not complete and never gets completed, I end up just making it myself, and there have also been times that I just keep "reminding" him that I'm still waiting for whatever it is ...

So, 2 weeks went by, after Mother's Day, and I finally got my chocolate cake!!  (I reminded him every chance I got!) It had been on the counter, not made, for one week, and then the second week it was put away in the cupboards.  Once, I got it, I couldn't help but enjoying EVERY bite.  hee hee  ooops . . . I only have a couple more bites left.  However, I do have to mention that I gave Monica about a sixth of the cake on Sunday night.  It sure is delicious!

 These are the Socks of the Day today!  :)


Do YOU have a favorite pair of "fun socks"?

new blog title

what do you think?  Do you have any other suggestions?  I've been brainstorming the entire naptime ...  I wish I was a bit more creative.  I read other titles and I find them so creative.  Why can't I think of those?!  eh... oh well.  It's just a blog spot!

lol

Hippo-what?!

I have to blog about this before I forget:

Kryssa and I were playing Monopoly on Saturday and she landed on a Community Chest or Show Time space.  As she draws her card and begins to read, this is what I hear:

"You have been hip . . . hippotized . . . mom, what does that say?"

lol!!  I loved it.  it was too cute . . . the card said that you had been "hypnotized" by the somebody...

I just always forget to write these things down and I want to remember little things like this forever!  She reads so well now and little cute mistakes just don't happen as often as they used to --which is a good thing. but it's cute to hear "hippotized" every once in a while.  :)

I should be mowing the grass...

But I'll blog instead.  hee hee --for now at least.  I plan on mowing when the sun goes down.

So, I had a wonderful day yesterday with my mom.  we went and saw Letters to Juliet.  We really enjoyed it.  After the movie we went to Bill Millers and talked and talked and talked ...  :)  She drove me home and I wish I didn't have to say goodbye.  That is only the second time, since having KJ, that I got 'alone time' with my mom.  All the other times that we get together, other people are present -such as KJ or my dad...

I soooo needed that mother daughter time and I sure hope it happens again real soon.  :)

TTC:
I haven't tested again.  I don't "feel" pregnant, so I don't really feel a need to test just yet.  However, I still haven't started another cycle.  But with my history, that is my 'norm'.  So, I might test again this wednesday.  That would be two weeks later -from the last test.

KJ:
my "baby" only has 8 days of kinder left!!  I can't believe it.  On June 3rd, she will be considered a First grader...  She is SUPER excited and I tear up every time.  hahaha

She went to a bday party yesterday, with her dad, and, well, he doesn't keep a close eye on preventing the spread of "germs".  :(  SO!  Last night, I hear her coughing and then she wakes up crying and saying that she doesn't feel good --her throat hurts.  :(  I ask Chris if he had her wash her hands before she ate and he said "she washed them after she went to the restroom."  --which is his way of saying "No.".  So, I wish she wouldn't have gone to a bday party with a bunch of kids, a moon bounce, and "open bar" food --Chris says that kids were all serving themselves with their little hands all in the food, at any given time of the party! -apparently, including my own kid.  :(  I can only imagine how many kids did NOT wash their hands before touching food.  Ugh!  it really bugs me how not everyone thinks the same way about germs.  Yes, I know that I can't protect her all the time.  I am aware that when she is at school that she has many times that I would have said "wash your hands first"  or "wash your hands when you are done with that..." and I know that she doesn't do it at school on her own.  However, when she is with one of us, I feel very strongly about doing everything possible to help remind her!  That's less germs that she will have to fight off.

So, KJ and I were up really late.  She kept coughing and coughing and complaining of a sore throat and then also had a moment where she said her tummy didn't feel good...  She seems "okay" today but she's is really warm and coughing a whole bunch!  :(



Today, is a lazy family day.  We are all just lounged around in the living room playing electronic games... it's calm, relaxing, and I don't want to get up and go clean the back yard.  But I will . . . in about another 30 mins or so.

TTC update

Well, it's supposed to be my 'Day 6' of my 2nd cycle and nothing is going on.  :(  I'd like to think that I got a false negative --and that it's not just that my body likes to NOT work...


I was watching all sorts of crazy shows and clips, online, of the people that didn't even know they were pregnant until they were in labor.  Very strange and I wonder how they go THAT long without knowing.  I think I would be able to understand if they found out half way through their pregnancy or something --but not as they are delivering!  Crazy.

So, I told Chris, in the beginning of our decision to ttc, to keep me focused this time around --meaning that I don't want fertility drugs again just for the sake of getting pregnant --because that was a crazy roller coaster of hormones and emotions.  I started wondering today, though, how long I should wait before considering taking them again.  I had said I didn't want any in 2010.  In the very beginning, I felt that it would happen if it was "meant to be".  But now I'm am really wondering if maybe that is what is meant to be...  What if that is my only chance to conceiving again.  If we don't conceive by September, the absolute latest, we are going to stop and wait to try again next spring --unless something changes our minds about trying again.  I just got the "what if it never happens for us again" feelings and thoughts today...   :(

I really wish that I knew someone that really really knew what TTC was like for me.  Then again, I would feel so sad to personally know that someone else is experiencing the same thing(s) I am/have...  It just gets tough when I hear people say "yeah, I know what you mean . . .  I do know that even when it is within one year of ttc, that it is difficult and very emotional.  I also do know, though, that when it passes a year, it's different, emotionally, physically, mentally, etc., from what I thought was "the worse, I could possibly feel" in the first year.  Gets my heart really aching for those that have passed the three year, five year, ten year mark of TTC.  :(

I know, I know, we just started ttc not too long ago --but I can't help but wonder if my body is just a little slow and getting to its norm or if it just fell back to its old habits -of NOT working...

Test #1: first negative in 2010

so I took my first test and it showed a negative.
BUT I thought it was like alllll the others I've taken -to hold in the stream for 5 seconds- and then, as I was waiting for the lines to show up, I read "hold in stream for at least 10 seconds"!!!  WHAT?!  So, would it really make a difference if I didn't hold it in the stream long enough?!

I plan on buying in bulk this weekend...

So, I feel a bit of relief -but more sadness than relief.  Oh, well, I was prepared for all the ups and downs --this isn't the first time we've gone through this.

Lord, I trust your timing and plan for us.

g'night.

new!

I love my new layout . . . what do you think?  :)

I'm up way too late . . . feeling like I'm coming down with a cold or something . . . I was updating some photos and videos.

time for bed but Chris rented Sherlock Holmes and I've really been wanting to watch it since it came out in theater.  :\

tired.

another day off

Well, I used to wonder how wonderful it would be to not "have" to work. . . and here I am now, not working because the baby is sick and can't come but this is my 3rd work day in a row of no childcare work and I kind of don't know what to do with myself!! lol  I've already accomplished so many little projects and I don't feel like hiding in the office AGAIN, while cleaning it out.  Although, I am super excited for it to be completed.  I just over did it yesterday with chopping a piece of our front tree (root and all) to replant it in the back yard.  It was waaaaay more physical work than I have done in who knows how long.  My body was stiff as a board this morning.  lol  I'm still waddling around as the day goes on.

Continue with my "projects"?  or go visit a friend for a bit and THEN come work on the office?  hmmm . . .

On a different topic:
my 'day 1' is tomorrow but I really hope that a hpt is in my future instead of midol and 'munchies'.  lol  I had this pain in my belly yesterday -on the right side of my belly button, a little below.  At first, I thought my shorts were just cutting into my belly too much when I sat down.  Then I noticed that it had nothing to do with my shorts.  It felt like I had pulled a muscle or something.  It would hurt to stand up straight, laugh, bend over, etc.  I compared it to the pains of healing from incisions (from the laps --like if the muscle had been cut, separated, and was mending back together).  But then the thought occurred to me, 'what if these are the pains of early conception, like I felt with my first conception...I thought I had over worked my muscles or pulled something in my belly back than too and a day later I tested positive.'  I didn't want to think too much on that track because I don't want to get to deep with the whole TTC emotional roller coaster.  Well, later, the pains started spreading downward and I thought 'early conception?' again.

The pains eventually went away but now I am left curious .  .  . and anxious.  I have been keeping myself SUPER busy around here lately (if you knew all the organizing, cleaning, arranging, rearranging, my house has undergone, you would totally see how "busy" I have been keeping myself) so that I would not be inpatient with counting the days before I can test.

To me, it would be a miracle if I tested positive --especially in the first 'round'...

I will def. give some kind of update on this soon.

So, what does one do alone to enjoy "me" time
read (might just make me sleepy)
craft (I'm very interested in this one)
play an instrument (I stayed up past midnight playing guitar and having 'me' music time!)
cosmetics/grooming/mani/pedi...(eh, I don't really consider this "fun")
yard work (I might do some today --i've already watered the tree and it looks as though it might rain so the grass will get watered soon)
a movie (I'm so tempted and planning on looking up movie times)
shop (our budget shouts other wise)
...too bad I don't know anyone that plays tennis...  THIS ONE really sounds fun for today!!!  :(

Motherly quality time

I had a very nice mother's day.  Chris, Kryssa, and I spent all day at my parent's house.  My dad was in bed the whole day -due to knee and hip pain  :(

I made yummy orange french toast with homemade orange syrup!, bacon, eggs, and a side of mangos, strawberries, and pineapple.  Oh, I wish I could gobble up fruit right now.

We hung out and munched on some baked goodies.  Then we made chicken taco for dinner --again, YUM!!!

After dinner, we played monopoly.  Tons-o-fun.  :)  KJ won with over $14,000!

I came home to catch up on all the housework -preparing for work the next day . . . only to get a bitter sweet voicemail that the baby is sick still and won't be coming.  So, I was surprised with a day off -again.  It got me all excited because I knew I could stay up late!! hee hee

Out of nowhere...

Earlier today, I was organizing and sorting things and, in my head, I thought to myself that I needed to "figure" something out (with whatever it was I was sorting).  Well, out of nowhere, I remembered how KJ used to say "digger out" for "figure out"!!  I just teared up and started laughing out loud, all on my own.  lol

I can still hear her little voice . . . "I need to digger it out...".

:)