I was happy to see your first post, gessiegail - I just bought Shenandoah Something Special from Brennan's Orchids! I also bought Shenandoah Shiloh and Happy Time. I don't know why, but that last name reminds me of a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie. =) Love those!!
Heidi
Wow Erica, that's beautiful!
Great Job!
I just love the fantasies :)
Kim
Oh, kimskreations, so sorry to hear that you will have to part with some of your plants! Maybe you can make it work - I'm responsible for all of our indoor and outdoor plants and I work full time. Now, the plants occupy a lot of my free time, but I don't mind that. The only problem I have run into is the fact that my job varies so much in its hours. I may work mornings, then nights, then a 9 day stretch, then work 2 days and have a day off - it makes a consistent watering schedule hard to maintain.
Kim,
It's scary to go back after a long time off full time work. and it is normal to feel afraid of it.
Don't worry about your plants and don't think you will have to give them away. It will work out. I had a geranium collection when i worked full time and never had to give them up. you will find time to care for your plants. And i think, when you have too much free time, you start to worry too much about them and end up overworking with your plants.
You will be able to meet more people, develop new interests and, the most important thing, you will have more$ for buying more plants!
You may need to wake up a bit earlier or go to sleep a bit later but, I am sure, you will be able to keep and care for them all.
Please, don't worry, things work out in the end.
big hugs
Wow thanks Spider.
I think that's what it is. The fear of going back full time. It's been so long since I worked out there in the "real world" that I don't even know where to start anymore.
It's funny, when I first started growing gessies, I said I was only going to grow my favorites. Well, seems as though they are all my favorites *lol*. I know that I will be stressed to the max trying to keep everything I have going and working full time as I also enjoy hybridizing and propagating *lol* Maybe I just won't propagate and hybridize anymore. I think that might be the answer right there.
I'm so nervous about having to be professional again and having a "real job" again. It's been approximately 6 or 7 years since I worked full time in a professional environment and I'm 38 years old now. I sure hope I can do this.
Thanks so much for the words of encouragement, I really need them :)
Hope I can find a wonderful job when the time comes to start looking (a couple more weeks).
Kim
38?!?! you are a baby, a spring chick!
It will be sooo good for your to get out there, in the real word. You are still very young and I bet you will have lots of fun!
And I also bet that you will have time enough for all the propagating and hybridizing you will want to do. Just don't panic and don't try to guess the future (as we all do when we are afraid of something new). Think of the positives!
You WILL have time for everything you plan on doing. You just have to set times for different activities.
Most of the time when we have too much time on our hands, we waste soo much of it, wondering about possibilities and what to do. If you have a time schedule for things you want to do and set times for them, you will see that you will have more than enough time for all.
:o) :o) :o)
And you will still have your friends here to support you and cheer you up!
Kim, just knowing you as I do, you are so organized and tons of energy. I am sure that you are apprehensive about such a big move to full time, but if anyone can manage it all, you can! I don't even have a memory any more and you never forget a thing.
I do think Spider is right about having too much time to worry over plants........thus overwatering takes place..........
Ericabelle........don't yu just love Brennan's orchids? I do!
Jannich, you will have to show me how you did that quote in blue?????????? Impressed, gal!
You know, you are right! I think this may be a good thing after all. Maybe I won't fuss over and kill everything once I go back to work full time *lol*
Sometimes I do think I have too much down time and miss the feeling of being "needed" at work. I don't have that now and haven't for years. I think it will be nice, just a major change. I know the extra money will be really nice and probably a load off hubby's mind too as he's been supporting this family basically alone for all these years. What a wonderful guy he is! He wanted a wife to be there with the kids and although I'm not the perfect mother, I was there for the kids but now the kids are teenagers and really don't need me quite as much anymore and it's time for me to get up to the bat and swing.............sure hope I hit a home run :)
You are all just the best and I luv ya!
Kim
We love you, too! You will do great, Kim!
I put this pretty chimera on the floor to take a picture of her..........and then she fell out of my hand to the floor........bummer.........at least she is a chimera and all I need are some good suckers from her to propagate.
here is part of what is still on the floor.......waaaa waaaa!
Well, it does look like only a small part of her ended up staying on the floor - that's good, right?
She doesn't look nice any more (LOL).........I do that all the time! Either the cat or I knock the plants over............it must be dementia on my part !
She is lopsided now.......all of one side is missing, but look what I just found...............I killed my Yukako taking 4 big crowns from her at the same time............at least I still have two of them left. I gave the others away.......let me take a quick pic
never mind........the computer won't upload the purple and green flowers of the plant.....bummer..........time to go to bed (LOL)
The computer took it this time. Only one bloom is forming on one of the Yukakos now. Now I can relax..
Oh Gail, I'm sorry you dropped that beauty. I wondered if you gre any of those chimeras. I've avoided them because they're so pricey and seems like my heat would set them into reverting.
Can you bag Yukako and let her make more crowns? I knwo we do that with our trailers???
I'm sure if it can be saved you can do it.
MsC
Yukako bit the dust, but no problem as I had taken four healthy crowns from her. I thought she would make it and I did dome her ...........she was tired of making babies (LOL)
I love certain chimeras.......most of them are disappointing with their blooms but I have found some great ones, now. I got all the names mixed up so am waiting for all of them to bloom so I can put the right names on them.
If you order from Lyndon Lyons, you will get fantastic chimeras . Even though they are expensive to buy, it is the shipping from LL that is killing me. They charged me last week 26.00 to send some plants when the actual cost on the box was 14.00. That is just absurd for me to have to pay the extra 12.00 for paper in the box and the labor to wrap them. All of that couldn't have taken more than 10 minutes maximum.
Oh I miss understood about Yukako... good thing you got babies from her first. I watch all the time on ebay at the prices those things go for... too rich for my pocket book just to have them revert.lol
I've seen a few I thought I'd like, but never have made a real effort at getting them.
I really understand about the outrageous shipping charges.Most everything I buy comes from ebay or other online sources...There are only a few sources I use anymore because I think it's ridiculous.Almost a slap in the face... I spend lots of money on plants and am a good paying customer, why should I over pay for shipping,too???
A few sellers are stating they refund any overage but for heavens sake just figure a fair price to start with...Greed is a nasty bug...
I hope your pretty plant recovers from it's fall, you do such a nice job with them all.
MsC
Wow Ladies what beautiful flowers you all have... Kim, I work part time and the other two days I run myself ragged so I may as well work full time and I always have time for my plant... You can do it...LOL
I can't believe all the pretty colors... I hope this weekend to get a few new ones to show you if I can ever find the time to get out the camera.. This is Mikes last week of school then he starts his new job and then I think I can take a deep breath as come down from allot of this stress I have been under... Well I just popped in before going to bed as I am typing from the bed to say Hello and I have missed you all lately...
Hugs,
Susan
Kim,
You can do it for sure! The beauty of the AV's & Gessies is that once you set them up on lights & watering, they kind of take care of themselves...You can do it!!!
MsC
Hi Ladies, just found this thread! Boy, look what I've missed! Beautiful blooms as usual everyone! I don't have anything blooming right now except the quickly fading blooms of a Glox that I posted a picture of a couple of weeks ago.
Kim: I know you will be fine working full time. Just try to remember to get your rest and don't get burned out from trying to do it all. As women we sometimes think we have to be there for everyone and do fifteen things at once ... and we forget ourselves. Just remember to take care of you, okay? If stress starts to creep in, make some time for yourself ... even if it's only 10-15 minutes at a time. You have to make sure you take good care of yourself so that you can be there for your family. You are still young and energetic so I know you will do well but a full time job and responsibilities of the home can build up and come crashing down on you real quick if you let it. I've been out of the workforce for more than 16 years and can't imagine working full time and then having all the stuff around the house too, and I don't even have kids. I just know it's a lot of work. Your plants will be okay. You probably won't have as much time to do all the hybridizing and propagating that you've been doing lately but there's no reason why you can't still allot some time to your joy of plants! I used to get so stressed if one of my plants died ... no more! If something dies I just save a little money and buy another! I know we all have certain favorites and those are the ones to baby but I have come to believe that most plants thrive on a bit of neglect. Keep us posted on the job search!
Gail: I've been watching the news and weather reports all night. It looks like y'all are going to get a visit from "Dolly" in the morning! I sent you an e-mail. I hope you have battened down the hatches and are going to be safe. They say it will be a strong cat 1 hurricane or low cat 2 when it makes landfall and it's heading directly for your area! They expect some major flooding too. I know how you love storms but I hope you stay inside and stay safe! Even catagory 1 storms can be very dangerous and calls a lot of damage. I saw that when we had Hurricane's Charley, Frances & Jeanne hit our area back in 2004 ... a lot of damage. I hope you will be able to keep in touch either by phone or e-mail. If you lose power I know that won't be possible but maybe you will get a cell signal and can call and let one of us know you are okay.
Well, it's getting late so I will say goodnight for now and head to bed.
Lin, thanks for asking about Dolly. WE are getting rain since about 4 this morning but thank heaven, we aren't going to get more than 40 mph winds out of this. Brownsville is about 2 hours south of us and they are really going to get hit hard. I feel so sorry for the people of Mexico across the border from Brownsville as it is such a low lying area and their homes are not constructed like ours.
Ms. Critter, I have never had a chimera revert??????
You know, I am really feeling a little better about returning to work thanks to all the wonderful friends here :) I am confident it's the right decision for my family but going out there into the real world again is a very scary thought. I have no idea where I'm going to work but I'm looking forward to the change. I just hope that I can keep up with everything *lol* Maybe I will actually lose some of this extra baggage I have added since I started staying home *lol*
Thank you all so much for being my "sistas" and raising my confidence toward this scary undertaking.
*hugs*
Kim
Fantastic blooms everyone. Hard to keep up! What a deal on your orchids, Gail!
Here is a Chirita, took the photo yesterday.
Gail: Just wondering how you are faring with the hurricane? I saw where it was a Cat 2 when it made landfall this afternoon and the last I heard y'all were getting a lot of rain! I sure hope you don't have any flooding, but I know that is a possibility. There was a report of a levee possibly not holding in the Brownsville area. Looks like South Padre got hit real hard! 95-100 mph winds can really do some damage. Power lines were down in some areas so I am wondering if you have electricity. What really scares me is the possible tornado's that are spawned from the storm. I know your area had tornado watches up late this afternoon. Stay safe my friend!
Hope to see you checking in soon and letting us know how you are!
We are getting much needed RAIN! All is well. We are a few hours north of landfall. More rain and tornado possiblity tonight and tomorrow. So far so good.
All the best for everyone facing Dolly. Be safe!
Sally - I'm glad you're getting some of it. We apparently had some at my house while I was at work (I know because the street was damp!), but I haven't seen any yet tonite. Maybe tomorrow. Which county are you in?
plantladylin - I know Corpus was getting some rain today . . . but I don't think they were getting hit as hard as Brownsville, that's for sure! They say Port Mansfield took a good pounding . . . that's about 3 counties away from Gail . . . not alot in the grand scheme of things, I know . . . I'm thinking maybe she is getting ready for her trip up to San Antonio tomorrow . . . at least, I would prefer to think she is, rather than being without power . . .
Morning,
I hope Gail checks in soon to let us know shes ok.
Sally your chirita is beautiful.
Me too Jan! I know they had some high winds but I bet she got a LOT of rain ... some areas were predicted to have 10" and more!
Sally, do you live in the same area (Corpurs) as Gail? I hope everyone in that part of Texas is doing okay and didn't have a lot of trouble with "Dolly"! I know the news folks were saying it made landfall in a not so highly populated area, which is good but the storm was dumping so much rain and there were power lines down in a lot of places too. I hope there were no tornado's anywhere either!
Good Morning Everyone : ) Sally your Silver Surfer looks absolutely amazing..such a gorgeous plant!...I hope everyone in Dollys path is doing ok..Lin..isn't today supposed to be the day Gail has her oral surgery done?? I sure hope she rescheduled it and didn't try to make the trip..Hope she checks in soon too...I agree with everyone Kim..your plants will be fine when you go back to work..if anyone can do both I know you can my friend : ) Well I am not getting much accomplished sitting at the computer..need to do alot of repotting today so I better get to it..lol..I hope you all have a Great Day!
Nancy, yes ... I had forgotten what day Gail was scheduled for surgery. It is today. So, I'm sure she will pop back in maybe over the weekend or early next week to let us know how she's doing.
I just received a dmail from Gail . . . she ended up driving up to San Antonio yesterday afternoon, which explains her being quiet yesterday! She thinks she'll be here for a few days, so we don't need to worry about her driving in this weather!
Thanks for the update Syru!
Phew, that's a relief! Thank you for letting us all know Nicole :)
Kim
Thanks for the update on Gail.I was ready to get the posse rounded up.LOL.
Is Gail having an operation??
Spider: She is having Oral surgery today ... dental implants.
OUCH! Poor Gail.:o(
Hope Gail does fine. My mom had a couple of implants when they were VERY new. She was watched carefully until they "took" and all has been fine! Now, more people get them and that is nice.
My Silver Surfer is growing before my eyes! 16" wide now. My Sunlit S. Plum is now 18" wide. I love them large, even though they take some serious space. Same with Ma's Corsage, etc. I just think they are stunning when large. I keep them in the correct pots though. In case I show any next year. I have not shown AV's so we will see since I can't disbud, hurt me, ha.
We had planned to meet at her dentist office before her appointment at 1pm . . . but she must have been running a few minutes late (she was going to the Hill Country African Violet & Nursery in Boerne this morning!) . . . I was there until just before 1:10pm, then had to go back to work. Hope you made it there, Gail! (will be wondering - until I really meet her of course! - if she was the lady with dark hair carrying the HEB bag . . . it was VERY hard not to ask every woman I passed - Are you Gail?!?)
Pretty Silver Surfer! I don't know about showing yet . . . but so far, I haven't had a problem cutting off blooms or leaves . . . but I think that is more due to them being very young plants, and prone to suckers . . .
