New-found Interests

Who knew that our family was into gardens & flowers?!? Certainly not me!! Seriously had no idea that if I would just get out there and dig out the ugly, I would find such pleasure in planting the beautiful. It is something that I find myself doing at various times throughout the day & week. I have noticed that as I drift off to sleep, I'm thinking about what I need to do in the front flower bed, where I should put what, how I should have done this or that differently, etc., etc., etc. And I've also noticed that I find reason to go way out of my way to "happen by" my favorite nursery. Its an on-going fixation. And its one that I swore I didn't have! "No, I am not going to work in my flower bed, even though it is overrun with grass and tacky. I'll just pay someone else to clean it out". If only I had known then what I know now...

And did you know that not only have I found something that I enjoy, but my kiddos are starting to find a passion for "pretty" too! For instance, Alex had been begging me for weeks to go to Lowe's, which just happens to be right across the street from our subdivision entrance. Every time we drove past, he would plead with me to stop in. I've put off doing so because I had no need to stop in there - I really don't enjoy spending my "extra" time wandering the aisles of any home improvement store, but I really dislike Lowe's because of their customer service, or lack thereof. But I had need to drop in there last week for something, so I took Alex with me to look at whatever it was that was so important. So, while I browsed around the lawn & garden area looking at this & that, he disappeared for about 5 minutes. When he returned, he said that I had to follow him into the store so that he could "show me something". He took me inside the sliding doors and led me directly to the indoor plants. I'm guessing that there must have been a spotlight on the specific area he took me too, and there must have been angels singing "Handel's Messiah" because the begging and pleading and bartering that commenced was just over-the-top hilarious! He had his eye on a Venus FlyTrap (I guess pretty is in the eye of the beholder, huh?). I had to give in when he agreed to go 50/50 on the cost - his money is being saved to buy a new iPod Touch, and he refuses to spend a dime of it on anything else. He brought his precious purchase home and then begged to get it planted. But I made him wait for 2 whole days before allowing him to do so - he had school work to be finished first! But he has taken such pride in his dirty little terrarium, keeping it in the window that gets the most sun in the evenings, checking it for moisture, etc.

And then tonight as we were again roaming around Lowe's, Alex asked if we could purchase a new aloe vera plant, as ours bit the dust during the last freeze of the winter. Daddy quickly said "OK", which then led to the begging & pleading of the other 2 kiddos. They too wanted the opportunity to plant something. So, we took them over to the seed section and allowed them each to pick 1 perenial flower that they could grown in a pot inside of the house. You would have thought that we'd won the lottery! Everyone left the store happy, and we all left with something that will grow into something beautiful.

Well, we hope so anyway....stay tuned :)