Flowers and Trees and bugs and yeah

Don't ask me what happened to this Sun Flower...it's divided on what to do ?? It's not growing anymore though...so weird...

Sun Flowers!!

These are the 3 Sun Flowers planted at my boyfriends house!! I hope mine bloom like this :)

See the stalks on these?? They are a lot stronger than the ones at my place (so far at least).

So Beautiful!! Love it :D

Gardening

Just an idea about things I seem to think of...a lot!

Also, I had already bought some Organic top soil and Organic Vegetable Soil at Lowe's last week. Ahem. I saw organic compost and I almost bought that, but had to stop myself. Next year...just so excited to see that available!!

I probably should have gotten my soil tested early on in the season. I plan on doing that ...just to see what it says. Especially since I want to turn half my back yard into a full vegetable garden.

In the meantime, I bought some stuff off of Amazon :) Shocking, I know!!




Amazon shows it as say "Sea-90 100% Organic Fertilizer -- Reconditions soil by replacing the essential minerals ; trace elements gardens, flowers, orchids, and citrus plants need. Water Soluble. Sea 90 is great for Hydroponics;  is the perfect container plant food. Money Back Guarantee. "

And:

 

---ODOR FREE---You can use SEA-90 indoors without any fear of awful and offensive smells that can be associated with other organic and chemically produced fertilizers. SEA-90 is completely odor free.

--WATER-SOLUBLE---SEA-90 is water soluble and works great in a sprayer or spray bottles, and is excellent in providing nutrients in hydroponic applications.

---MULTI PURPOSE---SEA-90 improves the health, growth, and fruit of any plants or trees. You do not have to buy multiple fertilizers and combinations to try and make it work. Sea-90 is a complete good-for-everything organic fertilizer.

---TRULY GREEN---Whether you are growing vegetables for your family, raising citrus trees or flower gardens, or even a farmer growing row crops, you need to know SEA-90. This 100% Organic Fertilizer is collected from the marine mineral solids found in the beautiful Sea of Cortez. This all-natural soil conditioner contains 85 essential elements and is collected and processed using only "green" methods in a pollution free environment. With each order, we will email you information on how to mix and apply Sea-90 to fit your needs. And if you have a question, ask us! We will be glad to assist you in your particular situation.

---ORGANIC---SEA-90 is certified by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI product number saa-0132 and saa-2951) with no restrictions as both a fertilizer and livestock feed additive. It is 100% All Natural and safe for you, your pets, and your family. So you don't have to worry about spray applications or have any special storing location. Let's face it. Whether you are an organic fanatic or just someone who would like to take better care of themselves and their families by growing organically, it is hard to argue that what you eat affects your health. So when you get a choice to use a 100% organic fertilizer like Sea-90 that produces strong, healthy, hearty vegetables and plants and benefits the ground you are growing in, it just makes sense to use it.

I am hoping that it will help out what few things I've got AND perhaps set up my soil for next years plantings :)

If you've looked at those pictures, you saw a lot of weeds...I already have a small bottle of organic weed killer, but I decided I really need to get this shit under control. So...

Avenger® Weed Killer - The First EPA Registered & Approved Herbicide for Organic Gardening.

It is non-toxic and can be used in areas near to people, pets and wildlife.

Works in cool & cloudy conditions (as low as 40º F), Does not stain brick, concrete or pavement.

Approved for Use in Organic Gardening by the U.S. Deptartment of Agriculture's (USDA) National Organic Program (NOP) Rule.

EPA registered & approved, Fast acting - visible results in less than 2 hours Made from oranges, lemons and other citrus fruits - pleasant citrus aroma.

This are some awesome little clips. I am using them with my sun flowers (and bamboo that are along my side fence. It seems that they probably don't get ENOUGH sun light. Because the sunflowers I planted in the back = much stronger stalks. So these poor guys are a tad bit weaker. Ever since I got the clips (instead of using the ties I had) they seem to be doing better :) I will definitely use them again and highly recommend them!!



Here's what the bamboo stakes look like: Mine are 4' I think. Some of the flowers are starting to really out grow that size :)

Back & Front Yards version 2.0

So, I was doing a lot of yard work today and decided to take a few pictures of what's going on in the front and back yards :)

This picture and the few that are following are of the front yard. As you can see, I've pulled out/dug up more of it.

There was a bush about 2.5 feet high, that the kid trimmed down the bark basically. I was planning on taking it out, but not right at that moment. Suffice it to say, I dug it out today.

Tip: Whack at the tree/bush hard a couple times and then step away. You will see a slew of bugs scatter when they realize their home is on the way out.

Oh and another thing I found, this WHOLE area, with the dirt?? Yeah, it's covering the old side walk. My living room and 2nd bathroom and laundry were an addition to the house. Awesome addition, but I guess the previous owners just decided to cover up the side walk (probably cheaper). So, I am uncovering it and will figure out something creative to do with the look :)

This whole area was plants and flowers and vines. And spiders.

The kid wanted to plant some new flowers (you know me, I keep ripping them out) so we've got these 2 so far!

 Updated picture of the sun flowers growing on the side of the house :)

These are the potatoes :)

You can see, I've been adding more and more dirt, therefore my back yard is losing more and more grass! LOL. It's a learning process, but fun :)

More sun flowers, in the back yard

This was the vegetable box that was moved over from the very back patio. Ahem. It is now full of grass/weeds. Yes, I know. It's on my list.

Some of the flowers blooming right now :)

I now have a lounge chair, which I need to clean and then use :) Also, there are some sun flowers starting to grow back in the far back patio. Oh and I moved the rosemary back there too, hoping it does better.

I've added a Bell Pepper plant and a Tomato plant :) Both are doing good :)

See the pepper??

I've got a few tomatoes already growing :) 

Digging up the back yard...er...and the front

What have I been doing lately? Digging! And some planting too :)

 

I've only done a 2' by 4.5' in the above picture of my front lawn. Suffice it to say, I have quite a bit more to go.


Here are some potatoes I planted actually started to grow!! Score! Now, I must admit, they have actually gotten a lot taller since I took this picture :) About 8" more in growth - I just covered them up with some more dirt hoping to get more out of it :)

Before, the corner had a very prickly tree going there, a ton of overgrowth of weeds and flowers and gods only know what (I will not mention the amount of spiders I have seen so far...)
Me and the boys basically cleared out the front and side and my very awesome man got the tree and other stuff (ahem, spiders). We've also trimmed the tree that's left so that it's not all over the place.

We moved the garden spot to the side fence - where there used to be another tree, well that one was a butterfly bush that died from me whacking at it over the winter and then that winter freeze we had. Still attempting to dig out it's neighbor though!!

 

Some things I attempted to grow from seeds. The basil is now in a larger pot inside, it turns out those tan pots did not have a drain, so...ummm...yeah not good with all the rain we've had lately. Whatever is growing in that center one (shhh I don't remember!) I've since transplanted to a spot in my yard.

Sunflowers that I planted from seeds. Sadly, they are being eaten! I bought some stuff to wash them/protect them. I need to get off my ass and do that soon!!

I should take some more pics to show how things have grown since these...

Oh and to flash back to how the yard looked before??

 - All those trees/bushes on the side? Gone! Now it's where the sunflowers are at.

 All the flowers and bushes and whatnot against the house? Gone!

Left, bushy/tree thing? Gone! Those flowers against the house? Gone, that's where the potatoes are.

Tree in the back? Gone. Tree in front of it? Trimmed. Ahem. You get the idea??

I am basically going to take this whole side (opposite from the trampoline in the picture) and turn it into a veggie garden :)

Date has been set and other pieces of things

So I received in this week a notice of hearing for the Divorce. July 28th. When I got this in, I had such mixed emotions cascading through me. I was/am elated and at the same time it just all comes crashing down into that invisible vortex of failure and pain.

And when you're now a single mom with (now) 2 kids and a house and 3 cats and a yard and work and just staying on top of everything, it's just hard. Some days, it's all I can do is some chores and take a long shower to cry in. Other days, I'm like a fucking bull dozer clearing a path.

Put it this way, I used to read daily. I was averaging 4-5 books a week. Now? Ha, I haven't ready anything since my vacation in early December. My awesome nephew loves to read though. He asked if we can have a "reading night" like we have Movie Night. I am totally on board with that. Granted, I still have to get some chores done, but it will be nice to have time set aside where we can just chill, no TV or games or PC's and just read. Right now it's set for Thursdays, which means half the time my Kid won't be there, but we will figure out how it all works eventually.

I have definitely learned to just take my time getting things accomplished without feeling like a complete and utter failure.

I have been walking a lot more. I take a .55 walk twice a day at work (helps a lot with me quitting smoking!!!) and I have noticed that I'm getting leaner :) My weight still fluctuates a little bit, but it's down to 211 and it usually settles back down to that. I want to get my walks under 20 minutes (21 minutes right now) and lost another 10 lbs in the next couple of months (hahahahahaha) but who knows. It seems yard work is amazing for anger, frustrations and losing weight! Who knew!

 

See, I sorta dug up 3 of the tree/bush things that I whacked apart in early Winter :)

 

One of them, when I pulled it out of the ground, it's root was over 2 feet long! I have a few more to get out, as well as some others in the yard. Also: I now like mowing the lawn. I am so weird!! But there you go.

There is a ton of things going on, things I want to write about and hopefully I will start to get a few more written more often!

And then...

So, I have been staring at my screen off and all half the day trying to think of some way to detail this feeling/idea/something that is stuck.

My Ex (and hopefully soon to be official) filed the divorce paperwork this morning. He called and said I could just file my response to this with the paperwork and that would save us (again, hopefully) 30 days of processing. It means he would not have to have me served and then me file what I gave him today. So, that is awesome freaking news. I quickly filled it out, 2 copies, and drove it over to him. I waited at the court house while he was filing and only headed out once I got the text that everything was set. And he also said that because he/we included the Separation papers, that is what will be used with Family Services (it goes to them next because of the Kid) and he didn't have to fill out the financial sheet again. We had done that to figure out the child support anyway, so at least it seems good to go.

I have a check already written out for my half of the filing fee.

It's a relief. It really is. I just need/want this whole thing official and over though. I think once that happens, I will breathe so much easier.

Because it seems when I see him, I freak out a little bit. It's gotten a lot better as the months go on, no more full fledge panic attacks. It is hard to pull out those remaining thorns that have grown during the course of 10+ year marriage. And don't get me wrong, I think we both have those thorns, because we just really weren't with the right person. I'm not going to go into the whole (possibly ever, because really, what is the point of that now??) thing, but I do know that I have changed and grown and become more since we split. Life has a way of making that happen :)

So. It's this whole bittersweet reality that just takes your breath away and then gives you clear sight. It's not easy, it's really not. It's the good kind of pain (at least for me) and it's cleansing and it's those silent tears in the girls bathroom. It's just amazing to me how much life can change in a moment. So many good things have happened in the last year, that finally being able to let this go and just grieve over it is welcomed.

Just a tad bit excited...

The time is counting down, things are getting closer to being complete and done and over with.

WHEW

So much has been going on lately, thus one of the reasons I haven't been blogging like I was.

Once a couple things finally get put into place, I will figure out how to get this up and going again :)

Pharrell Williams - Happy (Official Music Video)

Ahem



PHARRELL WILLIAMS LYRICS

"Happy"


[Verse 1:]
It might seem crazy what I’m about to say
Sunshine she’s here, you can take a break
I’m a hot air balloon that could go to space
With the air, like I don’t care baby by the way

[Hook:]
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do

[Verse 2:]
Here come bad news talking this and that, yeah,
Well, give me all you got, and don’t hold back, yeah,
Well, I should probably warn you I’ll be just fine, yeah,
No offense to you, don’t waste your time
Here’s why

[Hook]

Hey, come on

[Bridge:]
(happy)
Bring me down
Can't nothing bring me down
My level's too high
Bring me down
Can't nothing bring me down
I said (let me tell you now)
Bring me down
Can't nothing bring me down
My level's too high
Bring me down
Can't nothing bring me down
I said

[Hook 2x]

Hey, come on

(happy)
Bring me down… can’t nothing…
Bring me down… my level's too high…
Bring me down… can’t nothing…
Bring me down, I said (let me tell you now)

[Hook 2x]

Come on


http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/pharrellwilliams/happy.html

No "2nd Chance" For You

Ok, so get this.

Last night, while at my son's concert, this guy starts flirting with me.  And yeah, I get it - he thought I was "beautiful" (why I have issues with this word, I don't know) and I have beautiful eyes and blah blah blah.

I told him I have a boyfriend.

That did not deter him.

I told him I am very very happy with my boyfriend.

He asks me if he kissed me, and no one was around, what I would do.

I told him, not kiss him. Because, you know, I have a boyfriend.

I mean, seriously, I tell you to back it off, nicely (because, you know, we're at our kids concert!!)

He wants me to take his number, I said fine, you put it in my phone. He does, he lists it as "2nd Chance"

Ok then. Yes, I deleted it. Yes, I told my boyfriend about it.

No. I don't want a "2nd chance" with someone I don't know, who made a couple unnecessary comments (what is it with guys that seem to think they can make a woman "squirt" is some kind of acceptable pick up line, I have no idea)

Oh but I think my favorite was him talking about his relationship with God and how he's working on that.

My response? Why do you need to work on that? You have a relationship there, if that's what you believe in. You should be focusing on the relationships you have with your kid(s) and people here, because *that* is what effects you, them, their friends, their families, etc. I mean, if you (anyone) makes life better, it's going to put that ripple out there. Isn't that important??

OK, I get somethings. I get that I like to talk to people, that I am pretty much an open book and can/will talk about things in life that maybe other people are not as comfortable with. But I'm not sure how that translates and attracts guys to just hit on me, in the middle of the concert. Yes, I do smile and I am nice and all that. Still...

Anyways - I am super happy in my current relationship. I am not looking to change that. He's pretty damn awesome.

Moving on now...