And how was your day?

I agree about what you said about the pets. Worth it but to be a responsible pet owner it is costly.

Just checking in and waving hi to everyone! Lots going on here, all school prep was left to the last minute (not by me). We (mostly me) are shopping for a computer and a cell phone package. It's headache provoking, I dont know a thing about computers, and we are really down to the wire. *sigh* I had one lined up to buy online yesterday and the company refused my card. I called the card phone number, and they said they werent even contacted, that no request came through to them. So we cut up the old cards and I get new ones today- but it's another day lost.

So I went out and bought myself some flowers! Flowers dont expect anything but water, never talk back, and fill me up emotionally. I carry this vase around with me- dont laugh - if I'm doing dishes they sit on the counter- right now they are on the desk as I type here!
My zen thought for today: (mostly about trying to get this kid into school, on time and prepared)

Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they
noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately
scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process he was
stung. He went back to washing his bowl and again the scorpion
fell in. The monk saved the scorpion and was again stung. The
other monk asked him, "Friend, why do you continue to save the
scorpion when you know its nature is to sting?"
"Because," the monk replied, "to save it is my nature."

Love the flowers. Usually have them on every plant in my garden but the continuing heat wave has killed almost everything. Love the monk story. I can relate for sure.

Beautiful flowers Amy!! I love alstromeria.

Gorgeous bouquet. The heat is quite hard on plants especially if it is unseasonable for them.

Amy, I love the idea of taking the flowers where ever you are going to be for a time period. How great!!! My house is so small and is basically a big great room in the middle, so I am able to display my flower vases full in one spot and see it where ever I happen to be other than the bedrooms or bathrooms. So glad that you were able to do something nice for yourself and something that brought you so much pleasure. I know that when my Gladiolus bloom each year that I love having a vase of them here to enjoy.

Not too much going on here this week. The children are coming for the third day today and then I will have a five day break. Going to warn you folks that I am hoping to spend the next days emptying out the plant room and setting it back up in order to have a place ready when I move the houseplants back inside in a month or so from now. Hope you all won't become too bored hearing me talk about it. It is a very major project for me and one that for some reason I have had some sort of mental block about getting it done.

The past couple of days I have been combing my two dogs with a comb that John borrowed from a friend. Enormous amount of hair being pulled out by this super duper comb. I am very impressed and have in an order for one of my own now. I am hoping to get the dogs to a point where it doesn't have a to be an every day thing of fighting dog hair. I will have added hours to my week that is not spent vacuuming and combing dogs. I am really looking forward to it too.

Just wanted to thank everyone for dropping in to say hello. I also wanted to wish each of you a very good weekend coming up. Care to share your weekend plans anyone? Dawn, your last weekend was the exciting one for you with a trip to Lake Tahoe and all. If you have a moment some time, I would love to hear about Lake Tahoe such as where it is located and the sites and activities that are its drawing card. Why do people visit Lake Tahoe? Being an Easterner I admit to knowingnothing at all about it other than it is often referenced on TV shows.

Happy weekend all.......counting down the days Amy......

Ruby

Tahoe is a mountain town on the other side of Nevada from Vegas, still has casinos but very different vibe. It is like going to a big lake vacation town back east but we don't have many here in SoCal that aren't man made so we go up north and find them. It is the deepest lake in the US. I saw it on tv a few weeks ago. They have the lake, casinos and skiing resorts all over, so it is a year round get away and pretty too.

Had fun but the drive killed me.

My husband Greg is having his shoulder surgery on Wed. so I hope he will be ok. I worry a little, but it is in God's hands. My old neighbor died having a routine surgery about 11 years ago, so it stays with you.

I hope your seeds grow for you. I should plant some shade wild flowers now, because I have a dense shady area that I planted wild flowers this time once and they popped up and made it all winter and I had a long spring bloom season until the leaves shadowed the area again later toward summer.

Thanks Dawn, you drew a good picture for me and what I envision sounds really lovely. Interesting to know it is the deepest lake in the USA. I knew that it had a repuation for being a cool place to go but never knew exactly waht the draw was. Thanks so much for the info.

I awoke earlier than usual today. Hopefully my back will cooperate and allow me to ge some work done around here today. My back went out on Tuesday night I believe and it is from time to time almost impossible to walk due to the pain associated with it. It doesn't seem to be too uncomfortable yet, so I hope it has run its course and will leave me alone..... I have a lot I want to do.

To those reading, have a good Saturday.

Ruby

good morning all... or good whatever time it is where you are right now.
Ruby, I hope you get as much done as you comfortably can. Be tender with yourself. I know you are anxious to get that plant room finished up!
Hellnzn11- here is a wish and a prayer for all to go well with the surgery.

not much new here! We did finally settle on the computer purchase. I have absolutely no idea what he got, but it looks nice. I have my sturdy old no frills mac, so this snazzy thing that reads fingerprints is a mystery to me.

My bouquet is still going strong, :) and has found a place to live, right behind me on the sofa table. I love alstroemeria too, they last forever and just look so romantic and old fashioned to me.

May you all have (or have had) a lovely weekend!
Amy

Hi Amy - I just want you to know that you brightened my life and heart earlier today after talking on the phone with me. I sure did need to hear everything that you said. As I mentioned, you brought a smile to my lips and I really believe it was the first one I had all day.

After speaking with you I went in to the room and packed up several boxes of things to send to the storage shed. After John takes them out, I can then decide on furnishings arrangements. We already discussed bring a blanket chest that was in there into the great room to use as a side table to the large sofa. that will give me some good space in there and there is also another smallish sort of rolling cart that can go in storage too.

At that point I can decide whether to leave the Barrister Bookcases where they are, beside each other or whether I might take one and put on the another wall. One and maybe both of those will house my elephant collection. Anyway....I am excited abou it. Got some things packed up and that is what was needing to be done before moving on to the next step of the process.

Speaking of bouquets, well not really a bouquet but John brought in a stalk of Mexican Lily last evening to put in a vase so that we could enjoy the wonderfully sweet smell of it. I told him that I could use its fragrance as a straight perfume because it is that good.

Speaking of Mexican Lily....gonna show you folks a few pictures taken yesterday morning in our newest bed. Same here....hope that everyone is having a decent enough weekend.

Ruby

Red Hibiscus.

Shot of the whole bed.

Pink Hibiscus.

Is there a difference between Rose of Sharon and Hibiscus or are they the same plant? I know they have the same Hibiscus name, but??? I have one little one that barely started to get leaves. I have one from Lowes that is white. I can't figure out the right watering for it. It easily gets yellow leaves with regular water daily but does not bloom well without it.

Thanks for the prayer for H Amy. I feel better about it now. I know you will all keep him in prayer here on this thread. I like that.

Why hasn't Jill come over yet? You know what is one nice thing about Cubits is that you can block people out if you have issues or don't want them to see your posts and you can let in those who really share your passion, but all in all I like DG and can't really get into it over there as much as I wanted to.

Hi Dawn Honey - The Hibiscus and Rose of Sharon are in the same family I believe, but not the same plant. We have both. The Rose of Sharon grows really large and is a tree where the Hibiscus grows much smaller and isn't quite as compact as the ROS.

I invited Jill but one reason for not being here is that I have a feeling she has her hands full at the moment with planning a semi-annual plant swap the Mid Atlantic Gardeners hold. It is to be in September and John and I are planning to attend unless something comes up between now and then.

The plant swaps are loads of fun and we always come home with a car load of new plants. Of course we leave our home with a car load that others have requested too, so lots of fun with a group of fantastic people. I am really looking forward to it.

Will check back later when I am thinking clearer. I am just waking up.

Ruby

Good morning all!1,
I had a nice quiet weekend. Lots of homework with the kids but I did manage to get out and garden finally!!! Ruby I love your tuberroses (sp) By this time next month it will finally start cooling down a bit int he evenings and mornings , I cannot wait for that but I am not ready for the days to be shorter yet and they already are. My body thinks it needs to sleep more when it is still dark at 5:15 in the morning...

Marie it seems like it is going to be Fall early this year over here. We have some red on my Virg. Creeper already and some yellowing of my Ftls. Mullberry trees in the back that are starting to fall off. What about where you are?
Marie always has plant swaps over there in AZ. We have RU's here usually but I think after the Dave break up thing, a lot of the ones who do it or participate did not and are on Cubits now.

Oh yeah, Tuberoses is a term John has used in describing these flowers. He is now calling them Mexican Lilies. Oh my gosh, are they heavenly in the smell. Love them.

So glad to hear that you had a decent weekend Marie. Are the kiddies excited about school? Oh gosh, I remember being a homework helper. I have to admit when they got to math issues, I was of no help. I have always had a math mental block of some sorts. My brain refused to learn.

Yeah, I missed all the hullabaloo about the groups splitting thankfully and havent really participated much on Cubits. I read about the All Things Plants site that is now supposedly up but haven't had time to check it out yet. I don't know, I suppose I will always be a Dave's Garden devotee.

Anyway....really good to hear from both of you. Hope that you will enjoy a good week coming up. Take care and check back when you can.

Ruby

Doing a drive by here- waving hi to everyone. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all the going off to college stuff, but hanging in. There is just so much to do and we are pretty busy with all the little stuff now. Once its done its done though, just as long as the "prince of drama" keeps his nose clean and in the books I will be a happy lady.
Oh I remember all the days I spent hanging over these kids begging them to do their homework too! And I'm hearing you on the math stuff Ruby. In the end I gave up and hired a tutor.
Thinking of you Dawn, are you feeling prepared to do the home nursing thing?
And Marie! nice to see you on here. I know you have your hands full right now with all the back to school stuff- I can honestly say I am so glad thats behind me. Here we have moved onto: "Dont tell me what to do, just send money" (That's actually a title of a book for parent with kids going off to college, and it fits!)
So, anyway- ever onward for me and waving by now...

Love and light and peace and happiness to all of you today!
:D
Amy

What a nice drive by you wrote Amy. I am up early for an appointment in town at 9 o'clock. I have a few errands afterwards and I should be home around noonish. I used the dog brush again yesterday and once again pulled out an amazing amount of hair. The temps are going to be cooler this week and that suits me just fine.

Here is hoping that you continue to get through the last few days of Luke being home before leaving for college on Thursday. I am sure there is an air of excitement in the house. Try not to let it turn in to a stress fest if at all possible. You two will look back on this time in a few years and be able to laugh about what you accomplished and all that you learned while doing it.

I have a good report. Tucker was offered a job at a local grocery store yesterday. He will go in tomorrow to fill out paperwork and get a schedule.....I didn't know he had even applied there and I was a happy woman when he told me last night. I have hope....once again. So far we haven't heard from creditors, so maybe he will have time to begin making payments and get things cleared up before too much damage is done.

Anyway.....thank you again Amy for the uplifting words and wishes. You too have a great one and remember to be kind to my Amy today. Love you gals.

Ruby

Oh Thank the Lord. Maybe he is going to want to grow up now. That is fantastic news Rubes.
No I am not prepared to do the nurse thing. Because H is very needy and he can be pretty irritating if he perceives that he is not being babied enough. He did take good care of me when I just went throught the same thing so I am happy to accept the challenge though.

Stopping by to say hi!! Sorry really busy with kids and work right now.
Awesome about Tucker!! I take it he went through the money he inherited a while back? Seems to me I remember you being very concerned about that.

That is really good.