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My New Green Thumb


It just amazes me what we can do and don't even have a clue. I never thought of myself as having a green thumb. Never really cared about plant life one way or another. I mean, I've received the traditional "house warming" house plant a time or two and killed every one. Then one day I bought a $3.00 fern at my local grocery store and decided that I was going to try and keep it alive. Boy did I ever. That thing grew and grew to the point that I had to transplant the sucker every other month because it would keep outgrowing the pot. My husband used to make jokes that he'd wake up in a cold sweat after having a nightmare that it's long shoots grew their way down the hall and wrapped themselves around his neck. I also remember that nothing could kill this fern. I only watered it, maybe, once a month and would forget to bring it inside the house during pretty intense weather. I think at some point I did not want to care for it anymore.... it was SO MUCH work to care for this thing! We finally cut it in half and gave the two halves away when we moved. That was many years ago, so in hopes that I have matured and can handle caring for another living plant, I decided I was going to give a garden my all. Well, here is the fruit of my labor.... well, actually the vegetable. Turns out, caring for a garden is WAY EASIER than caring for a potted plant! Apparently these are the plants I should have been growing all along... no transplanting (well, other than the initial transplant from pot to garden). Here are my first sprouts from zucchini seeds that I planted. I'm so excited. Apparently I should have zucchini to eat off of my own plants in just a few months. Can you believe it??? I am stunned! I also have gorgeous romaine lettuce that had already been started and I transplanted into my garden. They went into shock and looked like they died. Then, about a week ago, I noticed green leaves sprouting up through the dead stuff. That was weird. You can kind of see the dead stuff at the base of very gorgeous green, organic and yummy leaves. I might have to cut off some leaves and have me a little home grown salad! This gardening thing is a great new hobby that I'm enjoying a lot. I bought a few books on organic gardening in desert climates, but there is one that offered serious help to this novice written by one of our locals, Dave Owens called Extreme Gardening. I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone wanting to start a garden in the desert. I also appreciated, that out of all the books I purchased to get started, this one made it all VERY easy. The other books made organic gardening seem hard. I think it was mainly because the other books didn't "flow" like the Garden Guy's. Maybe? It just seemed like a lot of information on principals of organic gardening and this technique or that technique. Not information that a beginner needs out of the gate. But Extreme Gardening was informing me that it wasn't hard, that I only needed to devote about 15 minutes each day, feed the soil not the plant, and trust that the land would yield a lush garden. It works!!! A green thumb... this year's hot new, must-have item!!

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Past 7 Days....

My Favorite Things Birthday Give-Away!!!

IT IS ON! Ok... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! I get to give stuff away! And not just ANY stuff.... MY FAVORITE STUFF!!!! Well, not ALL my favorite stuff, but certainly my favorites for at least ONE of my obsessions: NAILS!!! Maybe next year for my birthday I will be giving away craft supplies and exercise equipment... that would be AWESOME!!! But, this year's birthday give-away is HUGE with my favorite nail and beauty products and is open to ALL my followers. You guys are the best and deserve the best, so here is what ONE lucky winner is going to score: The Prize Haul: Konad Nail Art Stamping Set - Coraline I (I am addicted to Konad and I LOVE this set) Konad Nail art image disc - M63 (A little something extra from Kathleen... thank you) Fragrance Oil Set, types: China Rain, White Linen, Obsession (I love these for my relaxing baths) Nail Aid Nail Treatment Set including: Pink Natural Growth Therapy, Instant Wrap, Clear Liquid Bandage, Cuticle Cure, Peeling Nail Intense Repai

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Woo Hoo!!! Isn't this hop AMAZING!?! All the projects on this hop are incredible!!! If you are mid hop, you should be arriving here from Carisa's awesome blog, WELCOME! If you haven't started this hop from the beginning, you're definitely going to want to.... so many prizes in store!!! Click HERE to start at the beginning. Prizes Up For Grabs 1st prize - Rubber Collection (Peaches of Plenty, Petals and Palings, Daffodil Dell, Ivy Swing) 2nd prize - Whole Digital Collection (10 digital stamps) 3rd Prize - Four digital Stamps from the collection The hop will end Friday 24th and the main winners will be announced Christmas Day! Random winners will be announced at a later date. How To Play Along Along the way, look for puzzle pieces. They won’t be on every post so you need to keep an eye out for them. The puzzle pieces make up one of the NEW images. At the end of the hop there will be an email form where you can submit your answer. This is so that your answer is private.

THE Spectrum Noir Blog Hop You Don't Want To Miss!!!

Welcome to the very first Spectrum Noir Blog Hop EVER! And we are celebrating BIG TIME!!! Wait till you see what's up for grabs!!! Wait till you see all the amazing projects the design team put together for YOU!   If you are new to blog hops, simply visit each of the blogs below in the order shown and leave a comment on each designer's post finishing the hop at the Spectrum Noir Blog. Danielle Leann Angelique Linda Jennie Louise Kristine Marcea Taylor   Suzanne Cyndi Wendy Jacqui Spectrum Noir Blog When you arrive at the end, be sure to leave a comment on the Spectrum Noir  Blog telling us one fun new thing (tip, trick, interesting combination of colors, etc) you learned about the Spectrum Noir markers while hopping with us this week.  A random winner will be drawn using random.org at 9:00 AM GMT, Saturday, June 23, 2012 and posted at  Spectrum Noir .  The winner will have one week to claim their prize and will win a full set of 72 Basic Spectr