a new year

and some new goals and things to go with it.

My word for this year is relax.  I thought about going with calm the f*ck down but decided one word would be better than a phrase. It’ll also look better on our wall since I plan to hang it up as a reminder.

I worry about everything.  There are nights when I can’t fall asleep or stay asleep because I’m worrying about stupid things.  There are times when I’ll be sitting around thinking and realize that I've given myself a stomach ache because I’m worrying about the what-ifs.  So yeah, relax is a good word for this year.

I’d like to learn how to sew this year.  I don’t really have the patience for all the measuring and pinning but I’m going to try.

I’d also like to learn how to coupon effectively.  I've tried this before but have never followed through with it.  I actually gave it a try this summer and it was a pretty awesome feeling the few times I saved big chunks of money.  I just need to put some effort into it.

I’m planning to read The Story.  It is the Bible written as a story.  My mom gave it to me a few months ago but I have yet to start it. I will have it read by the end of this year.

• take more pictures
• read more books
• get (and keep) closets organized
• climb the Campanile at SDSU

To get started on the taking more pictures goal, Dave and I went out to McCrory to take a few pictures this morning. We didn't stay out long though since the windchill was -20.

today....

Today I....
...missed my morning C25K run because I couldn't peel myself out of bed. No worries though, I'll get my time in this week.
...finally got out of bed at 7a and was at work by 7:45a.
...was not loving my summer job.
...finally planted my flowers.  I think this is the latest I've ever planted.

...am having cereal for supper because I apparently used all my motivation for the day to buy & plant those flowers.
...am going to watch Pretty Little Liars and the new season of Teen Mom.  Yup, I still watch crap TV :o)


PS...if you noticed, my blog got a makeover!  If you're looking for a new design, check out Brandi {her button is on the side}.  She has great prices and does great work! She didn't ask me to say anything but I'm so impressed with her work that I wanted to give her a little shout out :o)

Flowers

Towards the end of May I planted a bunch of zinnia seeds.  I picked up a few different types of seed this year, some I've never planted before. 


I think I might have planted too many seeds in too small of an area because they aren't doing much.  I cut over three fourths of what's open and this is all I've got

the Giant Cactus (so far this is the only one I've gotten to bloom of this variety)

Violet Queen

Lilliput (these are cute, tiny flowers)

I think these are suppose to be Enchantress though they don't look like the picture on the package at all..

I think these are Purity though they don't look like the package either (just not as full of a flower)...

Anyway, that's pretty much what has bloomed so far.  I'm hoping more of the Giant Cactus will open...I think those are pretty fun!


I would show ya all the flowers on our patio too but my petunias look like crap.  They are all spindly and my sweet potato vine is being eaten like crazy by some kind of bug out there. 


That's ok though...I'm ready to move on to fall decor  ;o)

What is this?

Last night I was out spraying some finishing spray on some projects (finally!)  I noticed this crazy butterfly/bug thing flying frantically from flower to flower.  I kind of freaked me out at first because it was flying all crazy and kept coming towards me.  I tried to take some pictures of it but it moved so fast it was hard to get good pictures.  Here's a few that turned out ok.

This one shows his sucker thing (a proboscis?) that was really long.

Kinda grosses me out looking at his big thick, furry-ish body.  I'm not a bug person, even if it does have semi-pretty wings.

My mom used to have a flowering bush by her back door at her house.  I remember seeing quite a few of these things on the bush once.  I've never seen any around my flowers here until tonight though.

Anyone know what kind of bug this is?

Random Thoughts Friday

1. I got a new pair of shoes yesterday for $1.  I love deals like that!

2. I'm really bad at keeping houseplants alive.  The first picture is what our plant looked like in February.  The second is what it looks like now.

3.  Luckily I'm a little better with outdoor plants.  My zinnias started to bloom this week.

4. I'm getting tired of hearing people use the word literally.  It seems to be the word of the year.  I really dislike it when I hear people say things like "I literally laughed my @ss off".  Really?  So you don't have an @ss anymore, interesting.

5. I worked on this project this week.  It took much longer than it should have and it's still not finished. 

6. Guess that's all the thoughts I have this week.  Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Just in case....

We are currently under a tornado watch with the threat of large hail.  I thought I'd take pictures of my flowers in case they get taken out.

This spring I threw some sunflower, wildflower, and zinnia seeds into the ground near our patio.  I didn't think they'd grow so I didn't take much care to spacing the seeds out.  Well, they actually grew and now I have a bunch of flowers packed into a small space.  The sunflowers are about waist high (on me), the wildflowers bloomed (the purply-blue flowers) and the zinnias have buds on them.

Well...the storm is getting closer. There are some cool clouds out there right now.

Time to put the car in the garage!

Weekend Recap

David ran his first 5K Friday evening.  Here he is before the race (in the yellow hat, standing with his brother in the gray hat.)

Start of the race:

Just about to the finish line:

Crossing the finish line (love how that stupid guy decided to step right in between David & me right as I took the picture.)

I was pretty worried about him since he only trained for 3-4 weeks before the race.  He finished with a time of 35:56. I am really proud of him!  I'm pretty sure this won't be his last 5K.  He's already been searching the internet for races near us this summer.  Maybe I'll get motivated and try it too....wouldn't hold my breath on that one though!

I bought and planted some flowers on Saturday while David was at work.  The greenhouses were packed with people.  It's been awhile since we've had nice weather so people were ready to get out I guess.  We didn't do a whole lot last night, just hung out at home.

Today we went out for lunch then went to the library for awhile.  Otherwise we've just hung out at home and relaxed.

This is my last week at school!  Our last day is Friday.  I can't believe how quickly this year went!  I'm so ready for a break though!!

Hope you all have a great week!  :o)

A Post

I've kind of been avoiding my blog lately. Partly because I don't have much to say and partly because I just don't feel like saying anything. I haven't really been looking at other blogs lately either. Not sure why I am in such a funk. Hoping to be over it soon.

Okay with that said, I've really sucked at doing projects lately too. This is the only thing I've done for quite some time and it's really not even blog worthy but thought I'd share anyway. I picked up this little welcome sign thingy at the Dollar Tree last weekend. Didn't really care for the colors but figured I could paint it. So I did. I glittered it too and changed out the chains for some ribbon.
Not a huge improvement but it's a little cuter.

I went to the W Mart tonight to buy a few flowers. I've been really excited to get some flowers out in my planters. I thought we should be out of the overnight frost danger so I went ahead and bought a few tonight.I came home and checked the weather forecast and saw that frost is possible the next 3 nights. #*$@ !! Maybe I should have checked it before I went to buy flowers.

I'm off to rummage sales at 7 tomorrow morning, ok maybe 8. But I'll be out there. Keeping my fingers crossed that I find some good deals and hopefully a project or two!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Flower

After my unsuccessful attempt at keeping tulip plants alive a couple months ago, I decided to give it another go. These plants grew (and grew and grew and grew) and they are still alive!
The plant with the flower is over 18 inches tall. Not sure why they are getting so tall but I am happy that they are still green and flowering (and growing straight)!!PS - Rummage sales are starting in my area again. Woo-hoo!! Hopefully I'll have a few projects to show soon!

PPS - David and I will be celebrating our one year wedding anniversary this weekend. Where has the time gone?!?!

A Green Heart With a Black Thumb

I had a bit of spring fever last Friday so I stopped at the W-Mart to pick up some flower seeds. I'm horrible with plants so I decided to get two 20 cent packs of wildflower seeds. Cheap and hopefully won't need much attention since they are wildflowers. Anyway, I was surprised when I looked over at the cups the other day and saw how much they had grown in 5 days.
I thought it would take longer to for them to emerge so now I have two "problems". How do I keep them alive until the end of May when I can put them outside and where will I keep them if they continue to grow at this rate?
This is the makeshift greenhouse they've been growing in. It won't be long until they are too tall to stay in there. I don't have a lot of confidence that I can keep them alive once they are out in "the real world". Eh, for 40 cents I'll just be glad I got something to grow at all!