Real Gardens

Over the weekend I met up with my mom so that we could go and do the Buffalo Garden Walk. It was awesome to see these gardens and meet the people who work so hard on them! I was really mad that I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures of my own. We had a great time! We saw fountains, moss gardens, and some really amazing layouts. I asked a few of the gardeners about some of their flowers. One of the homes that we saw was so impressive that while we were oodiling the owner asked if we garden at all. We both said yes, and he gave us a seed from his Jerusalem Cherry plant. He told us how to plant it and it should grow. I'm excited that I'll have a new indoor plant... I hope I can get it to grow. I've never grown a plant from a seed. I was so inspired seeing these beautiful gardens!!

In my inspiration I took today to work on my garden. Here are the hostas and some lilies of the valley that my mom had split and given to me yesterday.

Here are my phlox in bloom. This is the red one:

Here is the pink one:

After I worked outside all morning, I went to the garden center. This was my first time to go to this one and I WILL go back!!! They were super nice and they had some sweet plants for sale. Today was a sale on all their perennials, so I got a fire witch plant. I also got these name plates for my plants so I know who is who and where they are!

Now I feel like my garden could be photographed for a magazine.... I think I need to work a little harder before that happens!

Why Shouldn't You Use The Oven On A Hot Day?

I got up today and seeing that it had rained felt that it was cool enough to turn on the oven and bake something. What possesses me sometimes I don't know. So, I felt that banana nut muffins would be a great choice. They are looking great. However, the sun has come out and blessed us with some crazy hot morning weather... now my house and my kitchen are sweltering! Oops... I thought it would be OK to bake for a little while. Oh well, I have fresh baked muffins! Looks yummy:

Last night I was looking though some of the jewelry making magazines that my grandmother had given me. She had showed me Fire Mountain Gems and said that they had the cheapest beads and stuff. I thought that I'd look though and see what some of the other bead places had and how much they were. I didn't get very far... I found this cool ad for chainmaille. Oooooooh it looked so cool. I went to the website and ordered one of the beginner kits. Urban Maille is where to find some cool stuff! I can't wait for it to get here!

Fun Times in the Summer

Yesterday I went to the planetarium with some of my students and their parents. There were four school that participated in this event. It was our first ever summer ESOL field trip. Our turn out was pretty good and everyone had a good time. Everyone wanted to know when the next one was going to be... oh dear, it won't be for a while. That took a LOT of planning and getting funds to pay for it. We (teachers) talked about doing another one mid-year as our own field trip and another one in the summer. I think that would be great. I had a good time and it was worth it all to see the kids so happy.
After I got home from that, my in-laws were here to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday. We all went out to a nice dinner and had a great time talking and catching up. We don't always get to see them so often, and the past week we saw them and then again this week. It was nice. We'll see them again when we go home for our 10 year high school reunion. I'm excited about the reunion. It's going to be fun to see everyone after that amount of time. I want to see what different people are doing, who has kids and so on.
Today, I'm going to spend some time spinning and then working on a bracelet that I started a few weeks ago.

My Wheel is Here!

First, my Harry Potter book came on Saturday and I read the whole thing already! It was great! I loved it! I laughed, cried and felt Harry's pain. It was so good.

Today, my wheel came!! Here it is in the box when it came:

Here it is as I spread out all the parts on the floor:

Here it is after I put her together and had spun with her for an hour:

I love it! It's an amazing wheel and it makes me look like a great spinner! It is so nice to have a nice wheel. I'm sure that I'll be spinning more everyday as I break it in!

Hurry Up and Wait

I was hoping that my book would be here by now, but since it isn't I've taken time to work on fixing a bracelet, looking at ordering more beads, and doing the final load of laundry. I was also hoping that my wheel would get here this a.m. too so I could go to guild and show her off. Since none of my packages have arrived yet, I'm just waiting for UPS and FedEx to knock on my door. I think I'll work on my other beaded bracelet in the meantime... I started it last week and it's a slow going project. I have lots of time today to work on it!

Harry Potter Day

In an hour and a half the new Harry Potter book comes out. This time I am not going to a party to get the book at midnight. I ordered the book online and I will get it tomorrow. I will go late to the guild meeting tomorrow since, I don't have my wheel yet, and I don't want my book taken from my front porch. Living in the city I worry about my book being taken before I get home to read it. After I have my book safely in the house I'll go over to the guild meeting. I called my friend today and told her that I'll be late and that I got a wheel. She was as excited about the wheel as I am!!! I HOPE it comes tomorrow too!!!
I did all my house work today so that when I do get my book I can sit and read until my eyes are ready to fall out!!!
Happy reading! ^_^

Our Day Trip

It was an adventure yesterday. We drove and drove and drove some more to see this farm with the spinning wheels and then on to a car dealership to see a truck. We couldn't pick items any further away and drove to see them and back by bed time. It was fun! Hubby and I don't always get to spend a lot of time together and being locked in the car all day is a great way to spend time together. Our honeymoon was like that... 2 weeks of driving and camping. So, yesterday we (OK, I did most of the chatting) chatted and laughed.
Our first stop was for my wheel. The place was crazy! These two guys own the farm and have decided to take their business from a little store to ebay. The store is so packed with fiber that is being sold to getting ready to put on ebay. There was no room to demo the wheels there, so after choosing what I wanted to try we hauled them over to the house. The house was just as packed! They are taking their ebay business very seriously! The first wheel I tried was a Kromski Symphony. I loved the look of it, and it was amazing to spin on!!! The next wheel and the only other one I wanted to try after that was the Kromski Prelude. Oh, I didn't like that at all!!! It didn't take me that long to tell him what I wanted. This guy was full of stories. He told us how he had lost his arm due to a table saw accident. Watching him spin was really cool. He does this one handed way and uses the part of his other arm to just lay the wool over. It was cool to watch him work. He told us about a women who spent the whole day testing out wheels and then told him she wanted to buy a different one off ebay. I asked him if instead of the 2 lbs. of wool if I could have extra bobbins. That was not a problem! He put the order in as we were leaving and said it will take 3 days to get here once they process the order! YEAH!!! I can't wait!
Then we got back in the truck to drive some more to this car dealership to see a truck that Hubby wanted to test drive. The salesman that we got was new and young, so he didn't hassle us. Hubby only wanted to test drive the one at this place and he loved it. We drove it all around and after he decided that he wanted it. So, we have to clean out his truck so when we get his new car we can trade in the truck. I know he feels sad about saying good bye to his truck. He's had it a long time and she's been so good to him. He put a ton of miles on it driving to see me in college and to our hometown to see his parents. It's been a great truck for him and it's sad to see it go. I'm so use to listening for it when he comes home that now I'm going to have to get use to a new sound. It will be missed. It has been a great truck!!
So, we each got a toy yesterday but neither of us have a new toy to play with yet. He gets his new car next week, and my wheel hopefully will be here by this weekend (OK, wishful thinking!) ^_^

Looking Pretty

This summer it has become my personal mission to make the outside of my house look as good as I can make it. All my gardening effort has been in the backyard where only I and a few neighbors can see it. Yesterday I wanted to make the front of the house look as good. I did one small bed that was mostly weeds and a few plants. I pulled the weeds out and put some mulch down. Here is the final product:

I have to do the other side of the front porch yet, but I did as much as I could yesterday before I had to get cleaned up to go out to dinner with my friend Monica. I haven't seen her in months! It was sooooo great to sit and chat. I had the best time seeing her and hearing what is new with her!

Today we are going to a farm that sells spinning wheels. I've talked on the phone to the owner and he was really cool. I have an idea of what I want, but I want to try them before I buy something that is so expensive! After checking out my wheel, we are going to the car dealer to see about a new car for Hubby. It could be a very expensive day for us!!!!

Feud Over

Well, looks like I jumped to conclusions after seeing that all the trash around us was hauled away. They had to have a special truck come and get ours... hummm. Oh well, it's all gone!!

Garbage Feud

I think I'm having a war with the garbage men here. Last week they wouldn't take my recyclables... OK, so I didn't sort them right. This week I fixed the problem, and it was taken.
Now they won't take my trash. The took all the other bags around the can that had yard clean up in them, but the kitchen garbage bag they won't take or the trash can. We are going to be burred in trash soon if we can't get this feud resolved! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.....

My New Garden

Here are the plants that I planted yesterday! It rained all night so Hubby's gutter ends were tested out and my new plants got watered! I did water them right after I planted them, but they are soaked though and though this morning. I'm still worried about the peonies, but we'll see how they do after a few days.

Here is the phlox (it will flower soon):Here is the false spirea:The hosta:

The replanted peonies: Here's my Big Boy tomatoes. They look great and I can't wait to eat them!Lastly, the Better Boy tomatoes:

Garden Party

I don't know what possessed me today. I was happily lounging around reading my book when I got this crazy urge to go out and dig up another flower bed in my yard. So I did. Actually, there was a very good reason for this... I have a peonies bush in my front yard that was hidden under two shrubs. I don't know how it grows, or how it got any sunlight. I was told that after they flower you can move them. So, that's what I did! I dug up another flower bed, rimmed it with edging, built it up with dirt, mulched it, and finally dug up the peonies and replaced it in the new bed. I also bought a false spirea, a phlox, and a hosta.
While I was planting my plants, my hubby redid the bottom of our gutters so that they run into these nice stone spouts. They look great! While he was doing that my mom and grandmother showed up. They helped me with my planting and then my mom started to trim the hedges with the electric clippers. My grandmother helped me and then she started weeding my yard. My hubby finished the hedges for us and us ladies cleaned up the trimmings while he worked. I'm so excited about how my backyard is turning out. I learned that it takes a lot of hard work to make it look nice. I'm not done making it into my own garden retreat yet, but I'm getting there!
Tomorrow my grandmother flies back to Florida. We all went out to dinner tonight and Hubby had to say good bye tonight since his vacation is over tomorrow as well. I'll go to the airport with my mom to say good bye. It was really nice to have her here with us for these past two weeks.

4th Wedding Anniversary

Today we celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. Hubby got up early to go to the store so he could cook me breakfast in bed... however, I had to go and get up not realizing what he was doing. I started to clean the house since his parents are coming tonight to take us out to dinner. Oops, but it was nice to be surprised with food anyway! He even did all the dishes!!!! It's a wonderful day already. We are going to go out for Italian food for dinner tonight. His parents have never been to this restaurant with us, so we want them to try it.
Yesterday we worked on our bathroom project. We got some of the wiring done and I looked for a spinning wheel when I wasn't needed for holding something or getting tools for Hubby. Hubby has OKed me to get a wheel since I had to give the loaned one back. I want to wait until I go to the guild meeting and try a few that I'm looking at. I want to make sure that I like what I'm buying since they are so expensive.
This year's anniversary is low key and it's nice to be able to enjoy it with family. Next year for our 5th I want to go on a cruise! HA HA, we'll see!!!
Happy 4th Anniversary Hubby!!!! ^_^

No More Wheel

I had to give back the little wheel that I've been using since December. I was sad to give it back, but Hubby has said that I can get my own wheel soon. It was a great wheel to use for a while, but now I'm excited about getting my own wheel. I've started to look again at wheels, but now I've got to chose which one I want.

Lovely Days

Visiting with my grandmother has been great. On the third was a big fireworks display and my brother came to see it with his girlfriend. The fourth however, was rainy all day. My brother decided to take his girlfriend for a ride in the row boat before they drove home. How cute is this? It was raining and she borrowed my umbrella so that they could go out in the boat. Too cute: The other night we saw this spectacular sun set:

We also had the treat of seeing a hot air balloon floating over the lake:

My grandmother has taught me about jewelry making. Here is the bracelet that I made with her help: I got the beads that I ordered from Fire Mountain Gems. You can find their website here. I started working on a bracelet pattern. It might take me a while and when it's done I'll put the pict up! ^_^

Tomorrow my hubby starts a week long vacation! I'm happy that we can spend some time together. We can also celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary together this coming week!!!

New and Old Hobbies

Yesterday while I was home getting ready for the memorial service I checked my e-mail. Since I've been down on the Finger Lakes with my grandmother I haven't had a chance to do that. I recived one from the girl who loaned me the little spinning wheel. She needs it back, so I've got to get as much spinning done as I can before I return it. She hasn't said when she needs it, but we need to get together soon so I can return it. I was a bit sad about that news.
However, my grandmother is a very crafty lady. She brought with her all her jewelry making stuff. She showed me how to make a bracelet and told me that I can keep all her stuff as she has no interest in crafts anymore. She showed me where is the best place to order beads and gave me her Bead and Button magazines. Today I'm going to stop at the craft store since they are having a 4th of July sale on all their jewelry making things. I stopped yesterday, but I found that even the tools are on sale. Since I have to give up spinning for a while, I thought I'd jump into this new hobby head first!
I'm going back to the lake today. Last night my mom called to say that my brother is coming and bringing his girlfriend too. I'm excited to meet her. My parents have already met her, but this will be the first time I met her. Tonight the lake will do it's fireworks... a day early? Oh well, we are going to have a 4th of July party today and tomorrow! Today my hubby has to work so he can't come until the 4th. I'm happy to be with family and enjoy the holiday!!! Besides, I LOVE fireworks!!!!!! ^_^

Sad Good-Bye

Today was the memorial service for my friend's daughter. A few of her friends spoke, her older brother and a cousin sang songs that he wrote. It was really moving and nicely done. The church was packed with people. She will be greatly missed.