Finally - climbing roses

Well, I've had this climbing rose bush for two or three years now. It grows very long, but I have not had roses and I'm not sure why. It's grown well, but that's it.

In February I decided that I was just going to prune it like crazy and made that would make a difference. Well, evidently it did. I have one full rose (that smells great!) and a bunch of buds. These pictures are not very good, but you get the idea.

These are Lady Banks roses, if you're wondering. I just so excited about my first roses on this bush! Hurray!!!

Pooped Pup Part II

Again, is this the life or what?

Somehow she found her way onto my couch cushions that I had stripped of their covers and washed.

When I saw her sleeping on the biggest cushion, it looked so sweet I just had to get a picture of her.

Now, she's outside whining wanting to come in and it sounds so horrible sometimes that it makes me think she's not as sweet as she looks. ;)

Pinger

My new favorite tool/toy. Found at www.pinger.com. You can send anyone with a mobile, a voice message that they can retrieve after they receive a text message from you. Now, for Sprint to Sprint users, this is unncessary since you can leave backdoor messages for other Sprint users by just dialing 11 before their full number, but it's great for calling others with a voice message (many at once if you'd like). Check it out!

Jogging - Running

Well, I've been jogging now for three weeks (about). I've jogged and such before, but didn't like it much unless it was a social time. Now, I'm actually liking it. I'm not sure why. I do like how I feel afterwards - tired, a wee bit buzzed, feeling like I accomplished something. I'm only up to three miles at this point, but am really thinking I may stick with it for now since I really enjoy it. I also thought this poster was funny.

Mr. Lizard is back!

For the last few years I've had a large tree lizard (or family of lizards) living in my yard. They get pretty big and I like them. I am hoping they eat termites!

This is the first one I've seen this year. Last year I saw at least two or three, but they were smaller when I saw them at this time last year.

The Front Porch

Since the red tip fotinas are gone from the front porch area, I decided to do something to hide the fact that the area where the fotinas were looks terrible.

I do like how it turned out, although I think that I'll probably change stuff ... rearrange stuff a bit. But, here it is for now.

I think I need something to distract the look of that gas gage thing coming out of the side of my house. Who knows what, though. Maybe if I planted a crepe myrtle there or some such.

As I promised myself that I wouldn't buy any plants this year (unless I was given a gift card or some such), but the greatness of Weston Gardens I got a free plant today because they had a deal that you could take a four inch plant if you gave them a decorated egg. The choices were petunias, lantana, dianthus, or impatients. I almost took a petunia, but the dianthus were looking good and blooming already and since I wanted color, that's what I went with. I hope it lasts as long as the last dianthus I had (lasted 2 years!).

Here are more shots of the porch area. Notice Mr. Bunny has a new place to live for now.














So, on top of the rocks and pots and planting seeds and everything, I needed a way to remember what I planted where. I planted seeds last year and thought I had a way to remember what was what, but that didn't go very well. So, this year, since I'm trying not to buy new stuff for the garden, I decided to try to come up with some way of marking my pots so I know what seeds are what. I thought about chopsticks, but I don't think I have any and didn't want to go to Pei Wei to steal some. Then I remembered that I had bamboo skewers in my pantry.

Well, that half was solved, but then what do I do for the paper part to write on? I thought about post-it notes, but they would fade when they got watered. I looked around to see what I had and there it was! I had paint chips from the local Home Depot that I got when I was thinking about painting my kitchen. I knew they would hold up much better than just plain old paper and I really like how they turned out. I also liked that I reused and recycled some items for this and that I didn't have to buy anything and I have cool colors and tags for my planted seeds!

Happy Easter!

He is risen!

My poor pup is bored.

Mr. Bunny Returns

Okay, here's the before and after. I got Mr. Bunny at a garage sale for a buck.

I thought he'd go well with Pedro and the gnome in my back yard. He was rather a boring color grey, though. And, on top of that, I had left over concrete stain dying (pun intended ;) to give him the make-over he so badly wanted.

So, late on Monday evening I took him outside, stood him on an upside down pot and started to stain him. I think I really like his new color. He does too! It gives him a little more depth.

I also think that he'll be hanging out on my front porch for a while. I think he'll like it there for now.

I do think I need to give him another coat, though. I did just one coat of acid stain and his feet a bit lighter than the rest of him - especially his belly.

I think he's the perfect find for right before Easter and I hope to get him done and on the front porch very soon.

This also makes me want to keep my eyes peeled for other good garage sale finds like this. He was a fun find and reasonably priced. If I can find others like him, I could have a whole menagerie in my yard.

Lili's Bistro on Magnolia

Alright, I mentioned that I ventured out for lunch today (it is spring break, donchaknow!). I went to Lili's Bistro for the first time, although my friend has raved about it for months.

I will go back! I had the lunch combo (pick two). I had the House Wedge and Tabouli. I am not sure if I ever had Tabouli before, but I really liked it. I loved how it smelled too. Someday, when I'm not caring about calories and fat, I will try their Gorgonzola Fries and maybe even a burger. I also tried the Bulghur and Berries, but didn't order it. Maybe I will get that on the side next time. I'm going to have to look up a recipe for Tabouli because I really liked it and want to have it again (and again and again).

My family is still shocked at the different foods I try and like now since I was so "picky" as a child. Ha!

Anyway, if you are in FW and want a good little place to have lunch or dinner, check out Lili's Bistro on Magnolia.

No Jogging Today

It actually bummed me out that I couldn't go for my jog today. It was supposed to rain yesterday and it never did. Today was a whole different story. It probably didn't stop for more than an hour today.

I went out for lunch, but other than that I stayed in. After finding this picture of a car on Camp Bowie (not far from me), I'm glad I stayed in.

I've been on Camp Bowie before when there wasn't a flash flood and have experienced high waters. I think there are just some parts that are not well drained or well engineered.

I just checked the radar and more rain and storms are on the way tonight, but it should be over tomorrow. I hope it's done by the morning so I can get my jog in ... if not I will have to wait until evening.

My first still life in acrylic

Well, here's my first attempt at a still life in acrylic. I have not really painted much, but I did enjoy this. It was the end project of an art class at my church. I'm hoping for more art classes because this one was really fun and enjoyable. I think the best part was that I didn't use a paintbrush at all on this!

Update on the Mr. Bunny

I stained the bunny tonight with Kemiko concrete acid stain that I had left over from doing the floors in my house. I think it came out okay, but I'm going to let it dry and check it in the morning. If it looks decent, I'll have another picture of it.

My new bunny!

Here's the newest member of my family. More like, yard, actually. I had one of those urges today to go shopping. That's not always a good thing for me, but I wanted to SHOP! So, I'm pretty broke so what do I do? Go to my coin vase - dig out a few bucks and go to thrift stores and garage sales. I found this guy at the first place I stopped. He's from a house less than a mile from me. I'm not sure how he will look when I'm done with him, but since he's made of concrete/cement, I'm going to try to acid stain him with left over acid stain. I'm, of course, going to try the stain on the bottom of him to start, but then if it works, I'll do it all over him. I can't wait to see if it works. And, yes, this was the only purchase made today. Someone slowed my shopping progress today, which was probably a good thing.

I'm wanting to put him on my porch for now, but then I think I'll put him in my back yard with Pedro and the gnome (a statue one, not the creepy one in Argentina! ;).

SPRING BREAK!!!

Well, everyone, it's time for spring break. I wish I was going to a nice beach - not that I want to fight this type of crowd, bleah - but I'm staying at home and catching up with friends, doctor appointments, and cleaning/purging. Hoping to get some jogging in there as well. I'd like to do something fun/different this week since I have the week off, but not sure what. Any ideas? :)

Walking Gnome Terrorizes Town!

I love me some gnomes so this story that I found on Drudge today caught my eye. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article902014.ece

Evidently there's some creepy little person who wears a gnome hat and scares teenage boys in Argentina. If you have time you HAVE to watch the video - just to hear the boys, who had video taped the walking creepy gnome, scream like little six year-old girls. It's so funny (but the gnome is not nearly as cute as this little guy I found on flickr from Else10 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/else10/1055439323/)).

I VOTED!

I voted today. I was invited back to the caucus tonight (although, I'd like to go, I really do have to do my homework tonight!). This is also the first year I had a political sign in my yard. Am I Plain-Jane American, or what? ;)