Can You Believe?

Have you heard the news????

That means it's time for:

When we were in Albuquerque this weekend, we got some Hollyhock seeds from the B&B we stayed in. I'm hoping mine look a lot like these when the come up :D

Happy Spring!!!

Chilly Times Call for Warming Measures...

As everyone not in a tropical part of the US is experiencing, there is yet another cold front moving from the East Coast across the US. As much as you just think that the cold weather is a northern latitude thing, it's not. Down here in warm Texas, it's supposed to get below freezing over the next couple days. To people living in places like Colorado, this is not a big deal, but for Southern Texas, it is. Here the plants grow year round. There are fresh oranges on people's trees. We're still mowing our lawns because they're still growing.

Anyway, I got up the motivation to transfer to flowering plants from their pots to the ground this weekend. I'm not a great gardener and when I finally manage to have a plant that thrives,  I get very attached. I got so attached to my plants, that we packed three potted plants into our car along with ourselves, clothes, 100 lb dog, and a dog crate when we moved. So, the plants have already survived a lot.

With such great plants, you can't just let them freeze to death days after planting. So, after a little internet research, I figured out that I needed to cover them with some kind of thick cover, but make sure that the cover is not actually touching the plants. This keeps the ambient heat around the plants and their roots and by making the cover not touch them, it keeps the temperature difference from wilting the leaves/flowers. With few supplies and no store run, I managed to rig up my own plant cover.
I used:
1 Air Force Academy issued comforter
8 metal skewers
1 metal lawn ornament

I pushed some of the cloth through the wholes in the skewers and then put the skewers in the ground. That way, there's no holes in the comforter and it still stays down. To keep the blanket from touching the plants, I put our metal road runner in the middle and it made a plant tent.  We'll see if it survives the crazy wind we get here in the coast!

Plant cover!

Up to What???

So lately, I've had a lot of new tasks and activities on my plate. I think one of the the things I'm most excited about has been joining a local Bible Study. I jumped in a couple weeks late on the book, "Faithful, Abundant, True: Three Lives going Deeper Still" by Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer, and Beth Moore. It has been absolutely amazing. All three ladies spoke great words of wisdom and had great insight on scripture. Today's session with Beth Moore talked about gaining spiritual discernment. It was a really eye opening day. I'm feeling hugely challenged by their words and the act of getting into my Bible every day has really made dealing with every day a lot better. If you're looking for a Bible Study, this one is awesome!

Also, I've been working on a running plan. I talked about it a few blogs ago. It's a Couch to 5k running plan. I finished Week 6 last week. Due to a cold this week and trying to really be ready to move on to straight runs, I've decided to do Week 6 again before progressing to Week 7. My running plan is really helping me feel better as I get more healthy. Also as a wonderful bonus to add on to feeling better, I was at the doctor the other week and they weighed me. I lost 12 lbs!!!!!! So, here's to running and keeping it off. I'm hoping to debut my 5k talent at the Uvalde Turkey Trot in November.

This past weekend, WM and headed to Fredericksburg, TX for some wine tasting and fun with friends. We had a great overnight trip. It wasn't very long, but getting out of our border town was wonderful. Here is one of our favorites from the trip: It's a Becker Vineyards Cabernet-Syrah mix. 

Yum in a bottle!

We also bought a new plant for our front area. It's a beautiful bunch of scarlet colored mums. I'm very excited for them to bloom. They came from a beautiful nursery in Leakey, TX. 

Now that we're back in town, I worked a little on yard stuff today. I was delighted to find that the new landscaping company our base hired actually knows about landscaping. If you lived here and had dealt with the old company, you too would feel this way! So, now that they're doing better, I'm ready to finish stepping up the beautification of my front yard. When I am all finished, I'll give you a peek!

Well, I think that's all I have to say, so I'll leave you with yet another picture of Mack!

Who doesn't like cottage cheese???

The Joy of an Overhaul

I've noticed lately that the end of the school year and the beginning of the summer always seem to be a time when people decide to change their lives and do things differently. I've decided to follow the trend and see what I can do.

Number #1 - I've overhauled my blog. I changed my design and added a gadget (I feel so fancy and technical)

Number #2 - I've started working out again. For some reason, I totally slacked off and stopped working out for about three weeks. Whoops. So, I'm back at it hard. I started running and it's a way better work out than anything else I'd been doing. Plus, I got a snazzy new work out shirt from under armour. Who doesn't love new clothes?

Number #3 - I'm overhauling my recipes. Instead of cluttering my house with magazines I have been clipping, sorting and turning them into one big cook book.

Number #4 - I'm getting creative. WM and I have decided to plan a unique and fun Xmas vacation. Right now we have three original options. We'll see which one wins.

Number #5 - I am working on not being nervous about haircuts and allowing my newer stylist to do whatever she would like to my hair this coming week (We'll see if I stick to this one)

Number #6 - I have actually planted more plants in the front of my house so everything looks much more tidy and friendly.

Well, I need to to get ready for the rest of my day, so I'll leave you to think about what things you would like to overhaul, tweak, or change in your life this summer. I'm enjoying mine so far!!

New and Exciting Things!

Since I last blogged, life has been even more crazy. The constant onslaught of school has remained the same. I am longing for the end of semester, yet dreading it all at the same time. I just took a class on Images of the American West. It was crazy. 6 days of lecture in a row about Turner's Thesis, Custer, and Sitting Bull have a way of completely numbing your brain.

Since I've been back in sunny border town, there have been two exciting developments. The first is my garden. Yes, I plant killer extraordinaire have managed with the help of my hubby to keep lots of plants that I grew from the seeds alive. I have a whole array of kitchen herbs in little pots and a giant plot of Big Max pumpkins, sugar pumpkins, and spaghetti squash. There is lots of green so far! I am excited to see the pumpkins/squashes grow!

The other exciting news is that WM and I adopted a dog. He's really cute. Mack is a 97 lb golden retriever mix. He has a sunny disposition and his favorite activity is trying to lay on our guest bed. His second favorite activity is laying on our old couch.

Well, that's all for today - time to get back to the hw!

Cat Wars and Target Practice

Before anyone gets too concerned about the title of this blog and whether they should call PETA or not, let me tell you, no animals were harmed in the events leading up to this blog.

To start my tale, the reader must understand that in my border town, things are already starting to warm up. It's in the 60's & 70's on a regular basis and it's barely March! So, being a true lover of beautiful things, I have decided to start gardening. I'm not really very good at gardening, but I enjoy giving it a try. When we first moved down here, I tried my hand at gardening and bought some gorgeous prebloomed flowers at the local hardware store. They looked great for about 5 days before about 70 % of them died. So far, there are three plants left that might bloom again this year. Only time will tell.

After last year's depressing plant happening, I thought that buying seeds might be better. That way, if they die I just don't ever see them. It's less sad that way. Seeds are a lot more work, though. I have 9 different pots out back full of garden herbs (will be awesome if they grow) and I'm getting ready to put a flower seed mix in the flower bed out front. The soil here is terrible, so I spent a lot of time trying to weed it and then mix in potting soil. It was all going well until I discovered a deposit of cat droppings! No joke, some neighborhood cat had made a litter box out of the corner of my empty flower bed. Not okay! I cleaned up the mess and sought advice on how to get rid of the cat. Someone suggested mothballs and that did not work. So, I went back to the cat butt burning old stand by of red pepper flakes. So far, the cat has not returned. If it does, I may have to take more drastic measures. Only time will tell...

On that note, my husband has an awesome slingshot! He bought it while we were at ASBC and currently has metal buckshot for it. We're planning on purchasing less destructive ammo, but for now, it is what it is. Tonight we were a little bored and decided to get in some target practice. WM stuffed a box with old t-shirts and we drew our own targets to put on each side. Any guesses about what I drew????
Anyway, I successfully hit the box about 3 times. Maybe 4. I guess I just need more practice.

Well, I'm off to eyeball some cake recipes for later this week!
Adios from the border!