Non-Update Update

I was hoping that I would have more exciting adoption news at this point in the year. Alas, I don't have any news except that there is no news. Disheartening for sure. So I've been busy. Judging season has started so between regular work and judging, I have much less time to walk into the empty nursery spare room and sigh.

Actually, I've been using that room to work out! Shocking, I know. I broke down and purchased the 30 Day Shred, since my 25th high school reunion was in 30 days. Haven't missed a day yet and I'm on day 16! So I haven't seen any difference yet but I did get fit enough to move from level one to level two. Not sure level three will come soon but who knows! It is perfect for my short attention span, being only 20 minutes long and each exercise less than 1 minute. You can do anything for less than 1 minute, right?

I've been enjoying the lovely fall weather and the dahlias that are now blooming in full force. This is the garden as of a week or so ago...

I'm still working on re-creating the Christmas stockings that our great-aunt made for the whole family. New family members don't have them but I'm not a very good knitter. I've signed up for a class at the local shop where they will help me figure it out. I sure would love to cross that project off my list!

Judging season provides me with a few captive hours in between sessions so I usually fill that time with crochet projects. Here are the latest...

The best news of the fall so far is that the family will be heading to Mexico on a cruise! It's a 7 day cruise and I'll be sharing a cabin with Aunt Shirley. Flights were even pretty cheap so with that and the cabin sharing it will be a relatively inexpensive holiday. We will be cruising over Halloween so there's another project for me - a costume!

Now I am not a costume person. Anyone who attended our amazing and fantastic (they really were) Halloween parties remembers it was not about the costumes, it was about carving pumpkins. Still festive but no dressing up needed. A bit of history to explain my hatred lack of enthusiasm for costumes - When I was 11 or so, can't remember the exact year, I made an awesome costume. I thought it was very creative. I used paper bags and covered them in brown trash bags in the form of a big circle, one for the front, one for the back. A big M&M! I had eye holes and my hands stuck out of the bottom of the M. The mean neighbor boys said I looked like a big black sperm. Now, I'm sure at the time I didn't have a concept of sperm or any such thing but I remember being horrified at being laughed at. So, it was the last costume I ever put on willingly. Now I only do it when I'm forced. So, I will figure something out for the cruise because no one likes a party pooper, least of all my sister, who will kill me if I don't (hi sis!). Any ideas?

And since I don't have enough projects going on, the Gerster/Zentmyer/Newberry cruise will need a logo for shirts. That's my project for this weekend. I scored a Groupon coupon for Zazzle.com and for a song, (or at least relatively cheaply) we will have some kind of cruise wear once the logo is designed. I'd better get to it!

Sunday Snapshot - from the garden

A few years ago, I picked up a few dahlia tubers for my garden. I thought I'd attempt overwintering them in the refrigerator. Turns out, it worked! Well, mostly anyway. I had about an 80% survival rate. But since one tuber in the spring makes many tubers in the fall I always end up with more than I had the previous year.

Of course I still have to buy some new ones every year because the catalog comes in the middle of winter, when the whole world is white and brown and cold. It's all bright and shiny and flowery. sigh. This year I picked up a few new varieties and they are just now coming into full bloom.

Tomorrow is the last day of the Minnesota State Fair. I'm contemplating going one more time because the Dahlia Society has their show in the horticulture building. While I'm not up to showing these beauties, I have in the past and have one little ribbon to show for it. These people are *serious* about their dahlias and I'm just not. But it would be fun to see the show! If only I could helicopter in and not deal with parking or riding the bus or whatever painful combination of both gets me to the door.

Anyway, here's what's blooming in my garden this week...

Check out the other snapshots over at Ni Hao Y'all...

Before/After Blog Hop 8/19/10

I spent some time in the garden last weekend. Quite a bit of time actually. My fingers are still sore from pulling out ground cover. For this week's Before and After, I've got two sets of photos.

The first shows my existing hosta garden, which had some weeds and shadows and crud in the bird bath (can't seem to keep up with the crud!).

So I took to Photoshop and brightened, added some saturation and weeded! Love that virtual weeding!The second set of Before and After is not a virtual one. I neglected to take a before shot so the first shot is from last fall. The ground cover has dramatically taken over since it was taken so it's not a real comparison. You get the basic idea anyway.

In the after shot, it sure doesn't seem like much but that whole hill was covered in green until I started pulling. It took a few hours and six bags of mulch but I carved out the beginnings of my reclamation of the hill for planting. Whew. I've long been a hater of hosta, knowing only the sad, overgrown, plain versions lining the sidewalks of neglected houses nearby. Lately I've discovered they are pretty cool! So many interesting varieties to choose from that I think eventually that hill will be a good showcase for them.

Here's a close up of the new and old hostas in the new plantings. I picked up Ivory Coast, Francee, Paradise Power and one other I can't remember now at Savory's Gardens which is a local place that I discovered recently. It's not the cheapest place to buy a hosta but WOW do they have a cool selection! And be sure to check out the garden in the back. Amazing.

Check out the other Before and After photos at Pixel Perfect!

Getting growing

My prize from last year's Romano Family Picnic was this wonderful Zinnia grow kit. It was brought by my nephew (thanks Jack!) and it's been waiting patiently on my shelf for a while now. I was thinking I'd wait until closer to spring to start the seeds but I need some new green growth in my house in this, the dead of winter.

Stay tuned to see how it goes!