Trying to Cure my Black Thumb

Well, I probably only have a dark gray thumb.  I don't quite kill everything, but nothing has really ever flourished under my watch.  I've tried a tiny vegetable garden, flowers in the front yard, and even a simple orchid on my kitchen table.  I think that one is now in my parent's garage somewhere.  Poor little thing.  whoops.  Anyway, I've decided I'm going to get better.  Or at least give it a little try.  The front of my house started like this.

Pretty good, but a feel like its' a little dated.  There is hardly any grass, it's all weeds.  Especially on the weird slope toward the front by the sidewalk.  There's a tiny square right in the middle of the yard that is actually grass.  So last Saturday morning, I marched myself to Home Depot with big plans.  

Of course once I got there I was very overwhelmed and flustered.  But I managed to find the weed and feed and got a package.  Who knows if it was the right one, but I already sprinkled it everywhere so here's hoping it works.  I have plans put some grass seed down but I have to wait a month after the weed killer.  

Now for a little more interesting progress.

I coerced my brother to help me dig that big old bush out. (The one to the right of the front door.)  I'm pretty sure it was the last thing he wanted to do, but he's pretty great so he helped me anyway.  And he showed up looking like this.

I'm fairly sure that fashion statement is never catching on.  

He already cut the thing off with some sort of fancy saw and now the hard part was digging up the roots.  I pretended I was helping by digging some dirt out, but I'm pretty sure I was just in the way.  

The roots were pretty stubborn, but if you know Bobby, you probably know he's more stubborn.  Seriously, there's no match.

So after about 30 minutes of really hard work, we carried the stump to the curb!  

It already looks so different! And the porch is a little bigger than I expected it to be! I may take the hand rail down because it's not that pretty, and really not that stable either, so it doesn't really serve much of a purpose.  

Now for the really fun stuff!  My mom and I went to a local nursery and picked up some knockout roses! Theres' a chance that they won't get enough sun, but the owner seemed to think it was worth a try.  I've been told they're very low maintenance (perfect!) and I picked yellow ones.  My favorite color!   Here's my mom planting some.  

They're tiny right now, I'll just have to ask you to imagine them full grown and how lovely they will be.  The tag on the roses said this type is the only one that is fragrant and if you get really close they do smell lovely!  Hopefully when there are more of them you will be able to smell them without sticking your face in the plant.  

So we'll see where everything stands, but it's been a week and so far so good!  Nothing's dead yet! Yay!

Nope, not a tan line sadly, just incredibly dirty after mowing, weed eating, stump removing, and rose planting.  yuck.

Even though Thurs didn't do much of anything that day, she sure slept like she did.  You didn't think I would give you a post without a picture of Thursday, did you?

Heart Songs

Well, I knew it had been awhile since my last post but it has REALLY been awhile.  Whoops.  There are many excuses, but the biggest one is my camera broke.  It was very inconvenient.  Fortunately I was uncharacteristically smart enough to buy the warranty and just made it in time. (usually I don't want to spend the extra money) Definitely worth it, because Best Buy gave me a brand new camera!

So now, with new camera in hand, I can finally write about my latest changes.  I've made some spontaneous ones that you'll hear about soon enough, but I wanted to show you my new artwork in the living room.  Well, I actually did it in January so it's old to me, but new to you!

Remember my old garage door? I've used it in my apartment in Nacogdoches with pictures of friends, and then put it up when I moved in with Christmas wrapping paper behind. (blogspot isn't recognizing Nacogdoches as a word and putting the little squiggles under it.  At first I thought I had been away for so long I forgot how to spell it.  I really need to make a trip back.)

The second picture is from the Christmas party I had with some friends from work.   I set up a hot chocolate bar with lots of mix-ins and toppings.  Y-U-M.

As much as I tried to ignore it I couldn't leave the Christmas wrapping paper year-round so I tried to come up with something a little different.

Music has always been a big part of my life whether it be piano lessons, drum line, or just singing in my grandmother's living room.  Weezer has a song called Heart Songs about the songs that shape your life. There were a few songs that I just couldn't get the lyrics out of my brain lately, so I might as well have them front and center. 

I know you can't see it very well, I'll give you a close-up of each section.  It's hard to take a picture of because the huge window directly across from it casts a crazy glare.  I may have a fancy camera but that does not mean I know how to use it well.   

So, I'll give you the tour from left to right.  If you're looking for some new music, click on the links to hear the songs.  I hope you love them as much as I do. Which is a lot.

First we have "And oh, how He loves us, oh" by David Crowder Band.  Sometimes the simplest truths are the are the ones I can't wrap my head around.

Farther along I chose for two reasons.  Whenever I hear this song, it always makes me think of my Grandmother, my mom's mom.  I'm not sure if she sang it often, but I have very clear memories of her singing this old hymn.  A few months ago, I discovered Josh Garrels singing his own version and I fell in love with it as well.  I'm sad that the orange doesn't show up as well.  I may have to redo this one.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God" is from a Jon Foreman song that is ripped directly from Psalm 51.  I love when scripture is set to music because without even knowing it, you have it memorized.

"Bless the Lord, O my soul" is a new song we have been singing at church for a couple of months.  I finally bought the whole album and it was well worth the money.  It's been playing in my car almost ever since.  My worship leader talked one Sunday about how even when we sometimes don't feel like worshiping, our Soul still does.  It was made to worship the Lord.  I can't say it as well as he did, but it really struck a chord with me and made the song stand out.

I'm loving the burlappy roughness against the fabric flowers.  And I love that when I see it the songs are stuck in my head yet again.  Hopefully I'll be blogging a little more than once every 3 months.  Let's hope anyway.