Because Spring is here!



This is my Lady Banks Rose that is entwined with a Pin Oak tree. This time of year it begins to bloom and it's just lovely.



And this is Carolina Jessamine growing on one of our fences. I just love this stuff. It's so bright and colorful and smells so good!

My oldest son was on spring break from UT in Austin and came to spend a few days with us. It was great to have him here. I always enjoy his company and miss him when he isn't here. Here's a picture of him taken two days ago:



As you can probably tell, he wasn't really impressed with me taking his picture but he at least looked at the camera!

Two of my five step-children have been visiting, too. They're going home today but we've had a great visit and I'll miss them when they're gone.

Oh yes, we've been working steadily on our garden beds, trying to revamp the ones we'd made back in 2004. We're doing square foot gardening again and have two beds made and planted at this point. We also have 24 tomato plants in pots and quite a few other seeds being kept toasty in the yard which is just loaded with sun shine these days. I noticed this morning that we have Straight 8 Cucumbers and squash and melons sprouting and there's one tiny roma tomato plant sprouting.

I also have some black elephant ears seedlings I've been pampering. They're finally starting to come along, too, with all the sun and warmth.

Today I worked in the yard quite a bit, mainly cutting dead stuff from around the Lady Banks bushes. They've been on this property for quite awhile and think they're the bosses. Sometimes I think they are, too. Man, those things just go where they want and do what they want! The things are about 20 feet tall now and reach above the oak tree! I'll post pictures of them when they're fully bloomed.

Today's been a no spend day for me. I've just piddled around the house and yard and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tonight's dinner is Great Northern Beans and cornbread. We'll probably eat dinner while watching a movie borrowed from an acquaintance. Tomorrow we won't do much but we'll more than likely check the garden and sit on the porch enjoying the beautiful weather.

Happy spring to everyone!

Generally, if I stay home while DH is out I spend nothing and he spends money for gas, a soft drink, a snack, etc.

Well, today we both stayed home all day and spent nothing, zilch, zippo! Since we didn't go anywhere we didn't even use gas.

We did work on the garden beds today and got a few things planted in pots. We also picked up some garbage around the yard and burned it.

It was a productive and cheap, cheap day!

Today's been a no spend day so far and should continue to be one. DH's cousin who visited from Louisiana a couple days ago left something with us... a virus! DH is sick with it and I pray I don't get it!

I've spent most of today working in the kitchen, cleaning and organizing the cupboards. I do that every few months, clean them out, put down fresh shelf liner, re-organize the items in there, etc. When I woke up this morning I wanted to work on that today so I have been. It might take me a couple of days to do the entire kitchen as we're having bug issues so I'm also spraying after the cleaning and then I have to let the spray dry and that takes a little more time.

At any rate, the food the cousin brought is now neatly in the cupboards with the rest of the stuff and the cupboards look nice!

I thought a couple of pictures would be good.