No Excuses

Hello,
 I don't have any excuses for being away as long as I have been. I have stayed away for so long and it is always harder for me to become motivated after I stop my regular routine and try to get back into it.
 I have missed blogging but at the same time I just didn't have anything to say that I thought was really worthwhile. Oh I have done some great things since the cold drab and gray days of February.
 So this is my story and I am sticking to it!!!

 Sometimes I get down and depressed but I think that we all have those kind of days. We are human and can't be upbeat and happy all the time. Anyway I haven't been depressed the last 3 months. I have been doing some other things.
 It is really strange how time flies when your having fun. And I did have some fun days. A lot of them actually.

 Also I do have to say this because it is important. I cannot be at the computer as much as I use to be. The reason is that if I am sitting my arms are outstretched and it makes my shoulders start to hurt, and then my neck starts to hurt. 
 I try to limit my time at the computer because I don't want to be in pain and that puts me behind so many ways.
 First of all when I do get on the computer I really need to check my email. I have a lot of emails that I enjoy. Articles that I like to read, a few blogs, opinion pieces and then of course there is the junk mail I have to delete. 
 All of that takes time. By the time that I check and clean out my in box and read some of my mail, blogs and articles it is like a couple of hours have already passed. I do get up and walk around and stretch but some of the time I still start to hurt.

 I am also taking an online course and I am really enjoying it so far. One good thing about this course is that I don't have a time limit. I can work at my own pace which is what attracted me to this course to begin with. And it is right in with my budget. It is the only thing that I have really done for myself in a long time.
 Right now I am working with herbs. Growing, drying, cooking with them, storing them and last of all medicinal properties.  

 I believe in a lot of home remedies and have given a lot of them a try over the years so expanding my knowledge is great. Never to old to learn something new.
 Right now I am working on a technique to grow herbs in water. It is called Hydroponics or Hydroculture. Not just herbs either but lots of flowers and even vegetable's. 
 Begonias, Chinese Evergreen, Coleus, Croton, Dracena, Impatiens, and any type of Ivy.
 The list is long, but this is a few in this category.
 Herbs include: Mint, Basil, Oregano, Lavender, Rosemary, and Sage. 
 If this is something that interests you Google has lots of video's, websites and blogs you can search out. 

 Some articles I have really enjoyed and even read a couple of blogs that go into a bit more detail of herbs, fruits and vegetables and just growing and cooking in general.
 If you do decide you would like to put some stems in some water and place on your window sill, do not use clear glass vases or jars. Sunlight causes algae and so colored glass is really better. If you don't have any colored glass don't despair because there is a fix for that. Take a colored piece of construction paper or stock and cut a strip and tape it around the glass. That will keep the sun from shining on the water and causing algae to grow at a faster rate. Plus it is fun to decorate your own little paper... :)
 Also keep an eye on your plants. Pinch off the leaves so they do not touch the water. You want the plant to root but you don't want their leaves to rot in the water. That can kill your plants fast as well as cause disease and of course more algae to grow.
 Last of all, the more that you pinch off the large leaves to use the more that your plant will grow. 

 I did see a few articles on Rosemary I found interesting. Rosemary is a woody plant and although you can grow it in water it gets really large so once it is big enough it really would do better in a large pot or even the ground. Rosemary is such an awesome plant that you can go out and cut what you need right off and have it fresh every time.
 I gave my sisters Rosemary plants for year before last. I was giving them some tips and I said... Take a rolled up newspaper or magazine and make sure that you slap it around. Don't be scared to hit it, the more you hit it the more natural oils it releases and the more it will respond.
 My sister right off the bat laughed and said that she was naming hers Roger... that is her husbands name... she said it would be the first time that when he made her mad she could slap him around haha...

 I had several Rosemary plants when I lived in Nevada. I use to wash the stems and strip some of them and put in ice cube trays and fill with water and freeze. Then I would put the little cubes into a ziplock bag and have them on hand when I needed them. 
 I also would cut them in large pieces and leave them whole and also freeze them so I could toss a stem of Rosemary into my simmering Spaghetti sauce or stews and I absolutely love lemon and Rosemary roasted chicken. Such an awesome flavor. 
 But most of the time I just went outside and took what I needed and saved the ones in the freezer for those days when it was pouring rain or I was running late. I love the smell of Rosemary and here in Austin we have it growing wild everywhere. I love to watch it blooming, with the little purple flowers and just run my hands thru it. 
 Rosemary is good for a lot of things too. I know that they say that Lavender is the go to for sleeping and calming but I find that Rosemary does the same for me. 
 I use to have some Rosemary body butter that my sister gave to me and I loved putting it on after I showered at night. 

 We have plans for this weekend since it is Mother's Day here in the U.S. but we had talked of going to some thrift stores and looking for some colored glass vases. Well we decided that we would just have to find a few around the towns where we are going to go and visit.
 We planned on taking a wine tour but it looks like Karyn and I will have to do that another time because the boys are not interested in doing that. 
 I didn't think that they would be but we wanted to do something fun for everyone so we will see when we get there. But I do want to check out some of the thrift stores and places. Maybe we will pass a few garage sales along the way! Now that would be fun too.
 I am actually going to be looking for colored glass vases and old jars that I can use to make my water garden with. The sites I have looked at show a lot of pretty colored Mason jar mugs. I haven't seen any colored ones around where I am but they are really pretty on some of the sites I have seen.

 Oh and I want to look for a large clear glass cookie jar if I can find one. I would rather find a used one that someone had rather than a brand new large jar from Hobby Lobby or Michaels. 
What I want to do with that is to make a terrarium for some succulents. Like in the photo I used at the beginning of my blog. I use to have one I made when I lived in Nevada out of an old fish tank I had. 
 It was really pretty. It was really big too, so I want something on a smaller scale this time around.

 Oh my I have to tell you about what I saw at my doctor's office yesterday.
 Have you ever seen a Living Wall?
 A Living Wall is like a huge picture hanging on your wall only it is filled with real plants. 
 Yesterday while I was at the doctor (Hindsight again, I meant to take some photos) I was looking at their walls and asked Ruth the receptionist if the plants were real and she said yes and no... The huge large one was real, but the others were not. They were just silk flowers.
 But OH MY how gorgeous.
 I borrowed these free images from Google so you can get an idea.

The one at my doctors office is filled with ferns and succulents. I asked her how often they had to be cared for and she said that once a month the company that built the wall comes in and mists the wall really good. 
 I seen this done as a patio type wall but not on these large scales such as the free standing wall shown here or the one in my doctors office.
 They had really pretty baskets with plants filled in them and some dangling out of the baskets. Sort of like the second photo above. 
 I think that this is a great idea. So pretty. What do you think?

 Anyway so that is some of what I have been doing. Believe it or not I have been finding things to keep me busy every day. 
 Yesterday and last night I went thru a large stack of papers to be recycled. Old medical insurance papers, junk mail, catalogs and this and that. Names had to be torn off the front of a lot of stuff for privacy reasons of course so that is time consuming but I got the job done!!!

 I really don't know how paper multiplies as fast as it does. Paper is like dust bunnies... they just multiply. It can get ahead of me really fast. Plus I am one of those people that when people send me cards and letters I don't want to throw them out even if they are several months old. I put them in a shoe box or tin can to save them, but I keep them out for a long time so I can look back on them. They bring me joy so I love having them around. But the rest of all the magazines and paper had to go into the recycling bin. And I started a new tin with this years cards and letters to keep.

I am having some kind of problem with my fonts... they keep changing on me. I have no idea why. I have them on the same setting I always set them on. 

 Has anyone noticed that since they dissolved Google+ that things on Blogger are different? At least they are for me. I have been having problems getting onto Blogger. I use to could just click my link and it would take me straight in but now I have to go to Google and search for my blog and then click it. When I try to save the link it only wants to save the last page that I worked on and not take me to the main page. 

 It's been aggravating to say the least. I noticed it the other day when I decided to get online.

 I have been wanting to blog for several days now but let me tell you we have had some hellish Electrical Storms and winds that are rather scary. Spring/Summer storms are always scary in Texas.

 Right now we are in the middle of a Flood watch/warning. Some places here have already seen so much rain. The lakes are full and they are talking about opening more flood gates at the dam and also a few places have water boil warnings out. We haven't gotten a notice yet but we have a particularly nasty storm brewing and I have had a few calls from family telling me that they heard we could really be under the gun here in Austin and surrounding areas.
 One reported that they heard we could get up to 8 inches of rain. It really worries me because we will probably flood at that stage. 

 Also it really worries me about us having to evacuate. This is the first time living here in Austin that we are on lower land. None of us actually thought about that at the time. I suppose that is why they call it hindsight. Things you think of later! 
 We had always lived on a hill that was on a hill but while we are still on higher ground than downtown, we have already flooded. I will have to blog about that in my up coming posts.

 I have been doing a bit of Christmas shopping and birthday shopping. I haven't decided what I am going to get for the boys. Nathan really likes Dragons and I found a really nice incense holder that is pretty awesome. It takes the cone type of incense  and not the long thin ones. Anyway you set the cone on top and then as it burns down the smoke travels down thru the dragon and back up and out of it's mouth. It is pretty cool.

 I am waiting to see if the price goes down and if it does I am going to get it for him.

 Well it is time for me to get off here and go and lay down. It's been a long day and I am tired. Karyn is sick with a very bad stomach problem. She and I both have had stomach issues since Easter. Nothing that I eat seems to agree with me. In fact it seems that everything upsets my stomach.

 I was going to go and see my Gastro doctor the other day because I have some tests coming up and he was going to check with my insurance on a couple of things to see if they would cover it and I was supposed to have gone back on Wednesday but the rain was awful and Karyn was stuck down town with the roads flooded. She called and told me that she couldn't get out where she was and get to me and then for us to get all the way back to down town because the roads were flooded. 

 I tried for an hour to call and let them know I wouldn't be coming but I guess they must have been having a lot of cancelations because I never could get thru.

 The last two days I have simply forgot to call the office so first thing Monday I need to get on the phone and get that appointment rescheduled.

 In the mean time I am going to go and take my night meds, maybe watch a movie or something and try to sleep. 

 Have a great weekend..... BB