Blooming

I am so embarassed that I've neglected my blog (and reading yours) for more than a month.  In my defense, I have been working a lot of hours, and anyone who has worked part time retail knows that if you can get extra hours, you take them, because you never know when hours will get cut.  So, I've been working a lot, which has helped pay the property tax bill, and has kept Tallulah and I fed.  Also, it has allowed me to indulge my current passion: gardening.

Last year's garden was a huge disappointment, mainly my fault. I was pretty lonely and depressed last year, what with money troubles, a job that sucks, a demoralizing job hunt, a problem roommate, and a lot of difficulties acclimating to all the changes that I had made.  So, I didn't plant all of my seeds or bulbs, and really didn't take very good care of what I did plant.  Last year was also a bit of an experiment in gardening. I'm pretty much a novice gardener, and the climate here is not what I am normally accustomed to, so what I did do was pretty much trial and error. I figured out what works, and what ultimately turns out to be a waste of time and money.

 

This year, life is easier. I think the worst is over, and once again, I'm looking forward to the future. My new attitude is apparent in my garden, because, well, I've gone hog wild.  In the past couple of months, I've planted 14 rose bushes, bougainvillea, three hydrangea bushes, 250 gladiolus, ranunculus, jasmine, more amaryllis, gardenia, larkspur, sweet alyssum, California poppy, four o'clock's, nasturtium, wildflowers, stocks, freesia, bleeding heart, lily of the valley, hosta, lavender, hollyhock and zinnia. Still to be planted this week: zucchini, bell pepper, cherry tomato, green onion and carrot; also foxglove, peony, carnation, dianthus, lupine, johnny jump up, and sweet pea. Whew!

 

Most everything is either just recently planted, or the seedlings are still too tiny to photograph, but I do have a few things that I either planted early, or bought plants (as opposed to seeds or bulbs) from Lowe's:

This is just one of the six sections in this planter, filled with gladiolus.  I can't wait for them to bloom. I've planted mixed colors with no discernible pattern, either to the colors, or to arrangement. 

 

 

 A couple of the amaryllis have bloomed already. Still waiting for the other four:

I don't know what this ground cover is (my friend-neighbor-gardener transplanted a bunch of these from his own garden), but I love the periwinkle colored flowers:

My little bougainvillea looks kind of sad right now.

The flowers look pretty though. And it will get big soon enough. In full bloom, it will be gorgeous!

These are wild roses in my backyard. I debated with myself over taking them out, but I decided to give them another year. I gave them rose food when I planted the other rose bushes in January.

Right now, the wild roses have about 200-300 buds on them. Only one has bloomed.

All of the rose bushes I planted have buds on them, even though every bush is still a foot tall or less.

It sounds silly, but ever since I read the Nancy Drew mystery The Password at Larkspur Lane, I've wanted to grow larkspur. I've gotten my wish.

These freesia smell heavenly, as do the dianthus and the lavender.

Ranunculus and alyssum under the Charlie Brown tree.

I know I probably sound like a dork, being so excited about this, but, in case you haven't noticed, I just adore flowers, and have always wanted to be able to scatter bouquets of fresh cut flowers around my house. I am so looking forward to everything being in bloom, hopefully most everything at once, so I can share pictures of the entire outside.  So, I'm crossing my fingers that everything grows and that this Moose doesn't dig everything up:

She is awfully sweet, and the training classes I've been taking her to are doing a lot of good, but Good Lord, she can be destructive when she digs!

I hope everyone is having a great week.  Hours at work have been cut (See! What did I tell you?), so I'm back to blogging more often.  Hope to read some of the posts that I've missed on your blogs, and am working on a couple of posts for this week.

Thanks for your visit. Feel free to leave a comment; I love reading them!!

My Graduate

Tallulah graduated from obedience school last week.

She was so proud. So was I.

I signed her up for another set of classes because, well, she needs it:

 

For the first time in my life, I can honestly say, "The dog ate my homework."

And yet, I can't imagine my life without my Sweet Big Doofus.

Thanks for your visit. I hope you leave a comment because I love reading them.

Laura

"It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with the simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong." Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

I told you in my last post not to hold your breath waiting for a new post from me : )

I'm really getting bad about posting regularly. I promised myself that that was one of things I was going to work on this year, but life just seems to get away from me. And, well, I really struggle to try to find something interesting to write about.  What I really want to do is vent (actually, more like a rant) about my job: about the customers who are so stinking crabby, and the managers who speak to us peons like we're idiots; about the 18 year old co-workers who think that I'm old and useless at 51; about how frustrating it is to have to work a job for which I am grossly overqualified, both in terms of experience and in education; about working for minimum wage; about irregular work hours and not having enough hours; about my feet and back and knees that are just KILLING me!!

 

I could also vent about how hard it is to make friends in this town.  It's an odd place; everyone is friendly on the outside, but they don't want to be your friend. The natives are clannish and, come hell or high water, they're not going to let you in to their clique. The only people here who are becoming my friends are not native to the area. 

 

And I could vent about finances (or lack thereof), although, the relatively mild winter climate here in California makes my winter bills quite low (can't say the same for the summer bills, though).

 

I could go on and on, but I won't.  What I will talk about is one of the things (actually a person) from which a derive a great deal of comfort in the hard times. 

 

One of my heroes is Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I'm not talking about the Laura in the "Little House on the Prairie" TV show.  My apologies to all the fans of the show, but that wasn't Laura. And, I'm sorry, but Michael Landon was definitely not Pa!  I know it was a fictionalized version of the Ingalls' life, but once you know the real story, the TV show is a disappointment (at least it was for me). 

 

I'm talking about the real Laura Ingalls Wilder.

 

 

I first read her books when I was a child and loved them, although, the books that described the hard times weren't my favorites. I wanted all sweetness and light, like most children, so my favorite stories about Laura were the ones about the good times.

 

 

But now, I love the stories about the hard times.  About the long hard winter when the Ingalls nearly starved; about Mary going blind; about the grasshoppers and the failed crops; about the blizzards and the prairie heat; about the financial woes; about the oftentimes grueling work.  When I read Laura's Little House books, I read about a family who faced life's challenges with dignity and grace, and an awful lot of hard work.  It gives me great comfort to know that tough times can not only be faced head on, but can be overcome as well.  There are great lessons to be learned from Laura's writings: that there is no great loss without some small gain; that all good things come from some sort of sacrifice; that family and friends are more important than wealth and things; that hard work is good for us; and (although it is sometimes hard for me to hear this) that adversity is good for us.

 

 

In spite of all their hard times, in spite of all the loss and pain and struggle and tremendous disappointment, the Ingalls still believed, all through their lives, that God is good. 

 

"Suffering passes, while love is eternal. That's a gift that you have received from God. Don't waste it."  Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

So, if you've never read the Little House books as a child, pick one up.  If you read them as a child, but haven't picked one up since, read them again, with fresh eyes.  You will read about a remarkable family and a particularly remarkable girl, who grew into a great lady.

 

 

That great lady not only wrote children's books, but also wrote articles for Missouri farm papers and national magazines.  Those articles are collected in this volume:

 

 

This is a good read, as well:

 

 

 

And, by the way, if you ever get the  opportunity to visit Laura and Almanzo's home in Mansfield, Missouri, do it! I've been twice, and it was wonderful! Pa's violin is in the museum, and their houses (there are two on the property) are just darling.  The farmhouse was left pretty much the same as it was when Laura died in 1957, so you get a fairly good idea how Laura and Almanzo lived.  You can visit the website here.

 

Thanks so much for your visit.  I hope you leave a comment; I love reading them.  

Ladies and (a few) Gentlemen

This is a house of mostly girls.  There's me and Tallulah, of course, but also these girls:

And these:

And there are a couple of guys thrown in:

These two are my favorites:

I just noticed that my fingers and camera appear in the mirror. Sheesh!

Most of them have been thrifted, a few came from Tuesday Mornings, of all places, a few others from antique stores here and there.  I love them posed in front of the 1940's mirror I thrifted a month or so ago.

I pair them with my collection of airbrush pictures from the 40's and 50's.

My collection started with these:

They hung in my grandparent's house for as long as I could remember.  Now, I hunt others down at antique and thrift stores, but it's hard to find them in both good condition and at affordable prices. 

This one is one of my favorites:

I saw it at an antique store in Orange County, fell in love with it, but it was priced at $75, and that was a bit steep for me.  Fast forward six months, and I found the same one for $25 at an antique store in Kentucky, when I was travelling with my sister and brother-in-law.  Of course, I snatched it up, begged my bro-in-law to pack it in his suitcase amidst his clothing, and prayed that it wouldn't break on the plane trip back. It arrived safe and sound (thanks, Mark!).

 

These are my latest find:

 

I love the pink background, with the daisy border.

 

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I last posted, and almost that amount of time since I've even read anyone's blog.  I've spent that time doing some thrifting, and working on craft and decorating projects that I've been putting off for months.  Hopefully, I'll be self disciplined enough to get a post up this weekend, but I wouldn't hold your breath on that : )  I'm not famous for self-discipline.

 

Hope everyone has a great weekend.  Thank you for your visit, and thanks, in advance, for your comments. I love reading them.

Baby Steps

Hi to all.

Remember those projects I talked about at the beginning of the year? Well, one of them hasn't been going too well.  Yup, that one about growing this blog and posting more often.  Yeah, I'm already a failure and it's still January : )

But, I have been successful at a couple of other things.  First, I have seeds and bulbs for this year's garden already, and will be starting them next month in my laundry room/mud room (believe me, Tallulah is making darn sure that there is ALWAYS mud on that floor). I've been saving cardboard egg cartons for the past year so I have little planters for my seedlings, and I'll be able to just transplant both planter and plant.  I've also put seven rose bushes in the backyard (all pink, different varieties), and two in one of the front yard planters.  Right now, they barely have leaves, but I'm sure hoping for fresh roses in my house this summer.  Roses do very well here in Central California.  Remember my next door neighbor's rose bush? 

 

It was gorgeous last summer.  Too bad the new owners let the bush die.

 

I've also finally started with obedience training with Tallulah.  I was VERY nervous before the first class, because, quite frankly, sometimes Tallulah can be a royal pain in the butt.  I had visions of her running amok in the dog treat section, getting the two of us banned for eternity from PetCo, but it's actually going well.  Her first class was this past Tuesday, and I didn't have to apologize to anyone for anything.  Believe me, that's a first.  I have to say, Tallulah was quite impressed with PetCo.  When we walked down the aisle that has the huge bags of dog food, I swear she genuflected. 

 

 

Waiting for my commands.  We do homework every day.

 

 

 

So, two of my goals for 2013 are underway.  I'm taking baby steps.

 

The rest of the time, I've been on a laundry binge, because I just acquired a wash machine.  For FREE!  I've never owned a washer before, so I've been gleefully running the machine every day for the past 2 weeks.  I don't own a dryer, but a couple of rolling clothes racks from Walmart do the trick.  I'm just so thrilled I no longer have to go to the laundromat.  When spring comes, I can put up a clothesline in the backyard.

 

Isn't she a beauty?  Yeah, I know I'm a dork for being so impressed with a washer, but when you've done without one for as long as I have, it's a BIG deal to finally get one.

 

Thanks so much for your visit.  I look forward to reading your comments.

It Was Just Mom and Me

My favorite kinds of music are Big Band and pop standards from the 1930's to 50's, and I'm convinced it's my mom's fault.  From age 2 to almost 5, I had my mom all to myself mornings and afternoons, Monday to Friday. My older brother and sister were in school full time, and my younger brother wasn't born until I was nearly five, so for nearly three years, from 8:00 to 3:00, it was just Mom and me.  Although I missed my sister (didn't miss that pesky big brother), I have very fond memories of being the center of attention, of going everywhere Mom went, of helping Mom hang clothes on the clothesline, of listening to the radio with Mom.  She listened to a station out of LA, KMPC, which, at that time (early 60's), played Big Band and pop standards from the 40's and 50's.  So, while everyone else my age was growing up on rock n' roll, my first and most vivid musical memories are of listening to Perry Como and Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Patti Page, Glenn Miller, Jo Stafford, Rosemary Clooney . . .  Who else my age knows the lyrics to "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" (listen to it here) and "A - You're Adorable" (listen to it here).  Of course, after I went to school and realized that that kind of music wasn't hip, I pretended to hate it, but deep down inside, I still had a fondness for it.  It took a lot of growing up before I was able to simply be myself, and love what I loved, regardless of whether or not it was considered stylish or cool.

 

Since I love that old music, I consider it a natural extension  to have a fondness for old radios.  I even have the 1950's radio that Mom and I listened to, and it still works!

 

 

 

But I've always wanted one of those big old radios from the 30's or 40's, the kind that you see in an old movie.  I love how the radio was a piece of furniture in those days. And I finally found one, in an unlikely place.

 

When I initially moved to the Central Valley, I was VERY disappointed with the thrift stores here.  I was accustomed to finding at least one treasure (and often many more) every time I visited a thrift store in Orange County, but here, I rarely have any luck when out thrifting. Everything is junk. And not even old junk. Or junk that could be transformed into something better. Just junk. So I was shocked when I found this 1930's radio for $20.

 

 

  

It doesn't work, and one of the tuner knobs is missing, but it was a great find anyway!

 

 

 

I enjoy listening to vintage radio stations and old radio shows on my computer, so sometimes I'll pretend my radio works, it's 1940, and I'm in my living room, listening to another adventure of Boston Blackie, or to the swinging sounds of the Glenn Miller Orchestra.  My favorite site to find big band music is vTuner Internet radio, which you can find here. You may also listen to old radio dramas here.  I always think of my mom when I listen to that old music, and I fondly remember those days when it was just Mom and me.

 

Thank you so much for your visit. I really enjoy reading the comments, and look forward to hearing from you.

 

 

A New Year

Happy New Year to everyone!

2012 was a very difficult year, so I'm looking forward to a better 2013.

 

I spent most of last year in survival mode.  Most days, all I could do was get through the day.  Money was extremely scarce, the roommate (and son) were crazy, and the job was miserable.  It was pretty depressing and sometimes scary.  I was beginning to wonder if I needed to change the name of this blog, because I was beginning to think that the best was behind me.  It's kind of hard to dream and plan for the future when all you can do is survive the day.  And I'm a person who dreams big, and always tries to have something good to look forward to. For me, the anticipation is often better than the event, but I enjoy them both anyway.  So, it was tough not being able to plan for the future, not having anything to look forward to.

 

So, I've decided that in 2013, I'm leaving survival mode behind, and making some big plans.  Luckily, my autumn and winter bills are extremely low, and I'm getting more hours at work, so if I shop carefully, I'll have enough money to implement at least a few of my plans.  I always have a huge list of stuff I want to accomplish, but I'll only share a few of them with you:

 

1. Blog: Grow and improve this blog and my photography skills.  I started blogging almost a year ago, and I'm often surprised and touched at the kind and encouraging comments I receive.  I really appreciate my followers and enjoy talking with you.  I just wish you all lived on my street so we could talk in person.  I haven't posted very often during my first year, in large part because who wants to read about someone who is just in survival mode?  Boring, boring, boring.  So, I need to post more often.  I also need to improve my photography skills.  Any advice you can give would be appreciated.

 

2. Get another job (or a second job).  NOT in retail. 'Nuff said.

 

 

3. Train Tallulah.  Miss T. is VERY sweet, but she is 90 pounds of unbridled enthusiasm, and that could get someone hurt, especially since strangers don't realize that she is a puppy (because she's so big), and even those that know her (including me) often forget how young she is, and often expect better behavior from her than a 10 month old pup is capable of.  I'm so glad to have my Sweet, Awkward Doofus, and I don't ever regret adopting her (even when she chewed up one of my Hallmark Snoopy Christmas ornaments from 1982. And my job interview shoes. And 3 pair of socks. And two skeins of yarn. And an electrical cord. And . . .  ) However, a dog that big needs training and socialization, and I need to learn how to control her better. So, I've enrolled her in puppy reform school kindergarten at PetCo.  I'm also hoping that we can meet some younger dogs that she can play with.  I think she's kind of bored with me : )

 

Her paw is almost as big as my hand!

 

 

4. Paint the inside of the house.  Right now, I'm living with the tan paint color that was on the walls when I moved in.  It's nice, but it's just not me.  I'm not a neutral kind of girl.

 

5.  Landscape front and back yards.  Three things sold me on this house when I first toured it: the large remodeled kitchen, the cozy brick fireplace in the living room, and the huge backyard.  Ever since I read The Secret Garden when I was a girl, I have always wanted a lush English country garden, complete with climbing roses, and all sorts of old fashioned fragrant flowers. Not an easy feat in sunny California.  But I think it's possible, and I'm determined to create that quiet, peaceful, "secret" place in my backyard, for reading, daydreaming, and afternoon naps.

 

The front and back yards don't look much different now than from when I first saw the house:

 

 

 

 

 

The backyard even came with a small potting shed. 

 

The shed looks tiny next to the tree.

 

As you can see, the backyard has great potential; it just needs lots of plants, and a lot of hard work.  If anyone has any experience in this, or has any ideas for it, feel free to offer advice.  Keep in mind, I'll be doing the majority of the work alone, on a strict budget.

 

The front yard is just boring.  

The tree has grown quite a bit, and I've planted lavender in the planter, but otherwise, it has changed little.  It definitely needs more landscaping.

 

As you can see, I have lots of projects for this year.  I can't wait to see them through to completion.

 

I hope that 2013 is a great year for everyone.

 

Thank you for your visit. I look forward to reading your comments.