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toni
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toni's Blog




Married a Looooooong time

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 2:15 pm

My husband and I will be celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary on May 22nd. There are times when May 22, 1980 seems like only yesterday.....then there are times when it seems like an eternity ago. But over the years we have given each other the same Valentines Day cards and Anniversary cards several times, finished each other sentences, and all those things that "old married people" do.

This year we were able to use our income tax refund on eye exams and glasses,first time in about 4 years it hasn't been needed to pay for major car repairs or replace a major appliance instead. Of course, I do need a kitchen stove, but I am liking not having to do a lot of cooking so I refuse to take seriously the need to buy one yet.

So yesterday we (including our youngest daughter) had the eye exams and spent a while wandering thru the hundreds of frames available. We got quite a few laughs at what some of them looked like when we put them on, some caused gasping and gagging too.
We all finally found pairs that we liked and sat down to have the necessary measurements taken and orders filled out. Amanda and I were with one young man, Randy was with the other one. When we got to the counter to pay we realized that he and I had chosen the exact same frame in the same color. I had been looking thru the womens frames and he had been in the mens section but the one we both chose was a unisex frame.

This blog entry has been viewed 576 times


Soap-soap-soap-soap-

Category: Random bulletins from my brain | Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:31 pm

Tommy - soap,soap,soap,soap,soap,soap,soap,soap
Dicky - What are you doing?
Tommy - Singin' about 8 bars.

Old,really old routine by the Smothers Brothers

The soap is setting up, all except the Peppermint. The stems are still steeping for more scent and the peppermint will turn the soap a light green. That's the fun part of using plants in the soaps. I made some last year with the Chocolate mint,that came out a nice shade of green with a wonderful mint scent.
I also use Rosemary cuttings for some that my oldest daughter just loves.

I have an oblong shaped plastic container of Sandalwood, a mini-breadloaf pan of Patchouli, a round plastic bowl of Chocolate, a tall Pringles chip canister of Freesia and the Peppermint will go into another mini-loaf pan.
I use a melt and pour goats milk soap base, really easy project and my family loves the way the soap feels and cleans.

This blog entry has been viewed 778 times


Red, Orange, Blue, Purple, Lavender, Black

Category: Random bulletins from my brain | Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:49 pm

The candles are done. I make mostly votives, the molds I have will make only 6 each....my hot plate is on it's last leg and is slooooow to heat up so getting them all done took longer than usual. I had a large bag full of candle bits left over from other candles so it turned into a major project.

The house certainly smells good now, all those scents permiating everything and I haven't even started burning them yet.

Well, not burning the candles that is. Almost set a pot of wax on fire yesterday. Multi-tasking is not the thing to do when one of those tasks is melting wax. Remembered and got back into the kitchen in time to see lots of thick white smoke rolling up out of the pot. No flames but boy did it smell. We have a large exhaust fan in the backroom so I stood out there with it for awhile to cool it down.

Red is cinnamon
Orange is Patchouli
Blue is Rain
Purple is Frankincense and Myrrh
Black is also Frankincense and Mryyh
Lavender is....chocolate by special request from my youngest daughter







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It's 15 o'clock in the morning

Category: Random bulletins from my brain | Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 3:26 pm

Has to be cause my cuckoo clock just said so. What can I say, my oldest daughter brought it to me from Switzerland in 1985 when the high school jazz band performed at the Montrose Jazz festival. It is getting old too and with the road construction about two blocks away going on for the last 6+ months, it is probably clogged with dust.

For the first time in what seems like forever, I have the house to myself for the day. No one to ask, request, want or suggest I do anything for them....well except for the dog wanting out once in while.

I was going to work in the garden but I got somewhat caught up yesterday since there is a chance of storms all weekend. As soon as the dishwasher shuts off, I am going to start making candles. My Mom ran out sooner than I expected so I took her most of mine last Sunday.
Haven't decided on the scents yet, but I need purple for the bathroom, orange for the kitchen, red or dark blue for the bedroom, sage green for the living room. While I wait for the wax to harden in the mold, I plan on knitting and watching some of my favorite movies to knit by.

This blog entry has been viewed 582 times


Worms, a Snake and the Hawk

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:43 pm

I don't often get to spend 4 hours working in the back yard but with the sky darkly overcast preparing for the spring storm moving our way this evening it was just too good to pass up.

Allium bulbs are in the ground and the Sweet Broom plant is nice and snug in her new home.
Moved the Hyacinths out of the various garden locations into a large bucket.....I now have a Hyacinth Bucket, "noooo it's pronounced Bouquet". Yes I watch a lot of British sitcoms on our PBS station.

The cucumber seedlings have broken the surface but the other seeds are taking their dear sweet time. Too impatient I know.

Found lots of worms while digging thru the flower beds pulling out weeds...always a good sign.
Found a baby garden snake curled up under a brick I moved to clean up the edge of a bed....also a good sign just quite startling. I needed to work where he was, so he took a flight across the yard to a more out of my way location.

Now the Hawk, not such a good sign for the birds who were enjoying their lunch at my feeders but really cool to watch. I was working on a bed and had my back to the feeders that were alive with a noisy lunch crowd....heard the swooshing sound of 30-40 birds ranging in size from sparrows to large grackles all taking off at once. Nothing really new, I figured one of the local cats had been sighted by the lookout bird. I had to empty my bucket of weeds, figured I would chase the cat off while I was up. Couldn't find the cat but looked up to see a good sized Hawk circling over the area.....three doves in the Hackberry tree and not another bird in sight. Several minutes later I heard the noisy diners return so I knew the Hawk had moved on.

This blog entry has been viewed 600 times


In Like a Lamb

Category: FRED - the garden | Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 6:44 pm

March is definitely coming in like a lamb today. Nary a cloud in the sky and warming into the mid 80's.

Most of the new herbs are planted now. I didn't know that another name for Tarragon was Mexican Mint Marigold....I have had one of those for a couple of years and love it, now I have three.

I put almost all the herbs in containers. I can move them around with the sun as the trees leaf out besides I really want to grow some vegies this year and need the ground space.
Got the cucumber seeds in pots this morning. Went back to the old standard variety for pickles this year. I attempted some white cukes last year, even before the rain stopped there was trouble with them. They flowered but only 4 blossoms set fruit.....can't make many jars of pickles with only 4 cukes.

I need to get the Okra started and maybe more cotton this year.
I am also going to try a Three Sisters garden plot. It is a Native American form of planting corn, pole beans and squash in the same hole. The corn stalk becomes the pole for the bean vine to climb and the squash vine circles around the base to act as mulch to keep the weeds down.

I have six red Freedom hedge roses that I planted long before I really started gardening and before the Hackberry tree got so large. Three of them just don't get enough sun, my oldest daughter wants them in her backyard so I cut them way back a couple of weeks ago to make it easier to handle when moving them and they are really starting to put out new growth. Guess they liked it.
The three I am keeping are really bushing out too, won't be long before the buds form.

AND the Sweet Autumn Clematis is coming back!!! It didn't do very well at all the first or second year it was planted so I figured last years drought would have been the end of it. But there is new growth all up and down the vine and the vine is getting longer.

Working in the front yard on Monday I found two acorns that were beginning to sprout. The squirrels had planted them where I didn't want them so they are now in a big pot out back to see if they continue growing. Really hope they do, we sure could use some trees in the front yard.

This blog entry has been viewed 523 times




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