It’s Good To Be The Princess

My dad and a dear family friend have been visiting quite a bit the past couple weeks. It was Pop’s idea, no his mission, since the spring to get an easier and safer bathroom area for me at home. It’s especially important since last June when the visiting EMTs suggested that I really needed to stop going upstairs. The shower is upstairs.

So, we worked on where we could put the bathroom, what I needed in that space and when we could do the work. Pop did the construction part and Greg, who is a family friend and he and his wife were my first bosses, babysitting their kids on bowling nights when I was a teen, is a plumber by trade and is doing the rest.

I’m enjoying the fact that growing up a construction princess means that I have a very real idea of how much materials cost and I know what you get for the cost of labor, even though I don’t get charged that; it’s a gift. I do know that there shouldn’t be any complaint about construction costs when you employ a responsible contractor. I grew up with the importance of quality work instilled in me and I know there are many days when construction workers are home late finishing a job or because they fixed or headed off problems or changed something because the person ordering the work wanted a change half way through the project. Part of those labor costs include vacations the family never takes in the summer and games or concerts dads and even even moms miss because work keeps them away. Honest contractors make those sacrifice to deliver quality work and at times their families make those sacrifices right along with them. Ideally it makes the family stronger and ideally that really does answer any questions about the worth of the cost to anyone who hires a contractor to do a good job.

I’ll have the grab bars installed next week by the same local small company that did the grab bars we have now and wheelchair ramp and Pop will be back to do the finishing, but everything is installed and all the water is working. I can use my electric toothbrush tonight!

Spire during early construction

We have had one mystery that’s part of the new bathroom and sorely missed. We have 2 plants that we’ve had good luck with. They are both baby rubber tree plants. Spire was the one plant I had in Northville that survived Kaline’s kittenhood. I had replanted the plants from a couple of growing greenery arrangements from my mother’s funeral. When a sprig of a couple of Spire’s leaves broke off, I put it in water and it sprouted roots. When the new roots were robust enough I planted it and we christened the new plant Sprout, Spire’s offspring!

Sprout in a photo shoot with Coca-Cola Life in August

Somehow in the early construction we lost Sprout; I mean file a missing plantson report, lost. How do you lose a plant? Sprout was a fairly robust plant on the skinny top of the short wall off our kitchen counter right next to where the bathroom wall would go. Pop handed sprout to me and I set him on the counter next to the stove. He’d been moved to on top of the toaster oven, which we weren’t using yet at the time. I saw him there. David saw him there. But in the evenng after the rough construction and electric inspectors had been in, David filled the cats’ water bowls, watered Spire and then went to water Sprout. He asked, “Where is Sprout?” We looked all over the house and Sprout was no where to be found. I texted Kelly, who’d been here during the the start of construction and the last place she’d seen him was on top of the toaster oven. When Pop was in again we asked and he joined another impromptu search party. Still; no Sprout. It was an involved enough mystery that Pop was soon joining us in using the personal pronoun “he” in searching for the plant!

It’s been weeks now and Sprout hasn’t shown up anywhere. We’ve looked on top of anyplace he could have been put and under anyplace he could have fallen. Maybe when things are done and I start to move the pantry and clothes out of the dining room and living room, I’ll find him. Or maybe the mystery will never be solved. There is another sprig of baby rubber tree plant that had fallen off one of them in a glass of water in the kitchen. I think it’s growing roots in the water.

Big Salsa Tears

It’s a sad day for the salsa on my counter. It was anxiously waiting for Mr. Celery to grow tall and tender so it could be scooped up in its ribs and make a wonderful snack together. It wasn’t meant to be. Mr. Celery is gone.

David and I were gone for the weekend and were home long enough to decide to go to the Mud Hens game this afternoon. We had a late dinner after the game and after I put the chicken in the oven, I washed a couple of cups and glasses. From where the sink is, I can see the table that has all the plants on it. If you remember, Mr. Celery stood up over the sides of the planter and was getting taller. When I looked at that planter, it looked empty!

I walked over to the planter and the three ribs that had grown so far were lying on the dirt. They felt soft and wilted, like celery that had been left on the counter overnight. But the soil was moist, it couldn’t be dried out! And it wasn’t dried out at all. Quite the opposite!

I lifted the shriveled leaves of what had been the longest rib and it pulled right up, the bottom rotted away. In fact all three ribs were rotted!

I’m really not sure what happened. I watered it last week when the top of the soil was dry. Perhaps the soil holds the water so well it was only dry on top. Maybe I put too much water in when it was dry. I do know when the base and root system of a plant rots it’s from too much water.

After digging up the balance of the rotten original core, I’m going to take the mostly concentrated soil and mix it evenly with the bag of regular potting soil. I think it’s more potent than I am used to, or perhaps just too concentrated for celery. After mixing the soils, I’m going to try basil seeds and see if my thumb is greener for herbs!

Goodnight Mr. Celery. Thanks for a few weeks of wonder! The salsa has asked for a bag of Baked Tostitos for comfort.

The Veggie Best

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Whitney Farms for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Let me tell you about my Dad and produce.  I’ve said before that Pop always dreamt of owning a fruit stand when he retired.  After years and years of owning a construction business, he retired from all the paperwork too.  Now he works in the produce department and gardens at home.  He’ll be the first to tell you that the stuff he grows is better; tastes better and is better for you.  Dad gardens organic.  Whitney Farms® knows that organic is just that way; the BEST way.

Great organic vegetables and fruit begin with great organic soil Whitney Farms has helped make quality organic soil for over 25 years with organic plant food that enriches the soil.  Their products have been improved to have low dust to no dust at all and they're easy to apply protein-based blends provide microbes and nutrients so they grow and thrive and there’s no manure smell!

Try Whitney Farms® plant food today.  There is a $3 coupon just a click away.  You decide if you want the waxy chemical-enriched vegetables at the store or if you want to really experience the very best tasting veggies picked in your own back yard.  Try Whitney Farms organic tomato and vegetable food today and taste the difference all summer long.

If I was putting a small garden in our backyard, it might start out something like this.  I'd likely either put benches down the center and edges so I can sit to tend to it or use some plywood to make a path for the wheelchair so I could use it.  What fun would there be in "having" a garden if David did all the work?  I'd have a wagon for garden tools and my organic plant food that I could roll it on the path too.  I'd have tomatoes and cucumbers and you know I'd have carrots!

Talk to that nice retired guy working in the produce department and he’ll set you up with good veggies and fruits, but ask him after work if he gardens; then he can tell you how to get great fruits and veggies!  Whitney Farms® brings you one step closer to great.

Coffee, Coffee, Buzz, Buzz

It’s been a slow week in Naniland. Yes, allergies are slowing me down a little. The trees pollenate within a couple of weeks, so I really only have to deal with it for a little while and like I’ve said before, they don’t hit me nearly as bad as they do some people, for that, I’m grateful. Still I have to reprimand myself often for acting like a baby for a couple of weeks in the spring. Breathing is more difficult, but I can still breathe. I can even still smell! Really a couple days without coffee is harder on me than allergies.

Allergies and the general more planning for things to go on soon than anything going on now has kept me from blogging as much this week. But I am here full-on for Friday Memeing!









1. Groceries are high right now what is easiest way you have found to cut back?

Groceries and gasoline are two places where I don’t cut back.

Living an hour away from the closest member of my family to whom I’m not married, I may plan a visit where I see a few people instead of just one and we try to fit a baseball game and some trains in when we go to Cleveland for medical visits, but no matter what the price per gallon, you have to suck it up.

Same thing with groceries. We could spend less buying cheaper food, canned instead of fresh vegetables, fattier meats, ramen noodles instead of whole grains, but the money saved would disintegrate quickly when we're both on more prescriptions because of what we’ve done to ourselves with the poor food choices.

I make my economical cuts in other areas. I have cut out a couple of the vitamins the doctors suggested because while the prescriptions have a relatively small copay, the price on OTC vitamins is outrageous. My 2010 scrapbooks are ready to print, have been for over a year, but they are still just digital files. I’ve needed new bras since last summer and haven’t bought them. (I’m 46, handicapped and married; no one should really care if I could look “perkier.”)




2. What are the top 3 things on your "bucket list"?

Well, number one is Immortality, so that gives me time to think of other things. I think the term “bucket list” is morbid and I refuse to put that expiration label on myself.


3. Would you rather give up AC or heat?

This one’s easy! Sorry David, they can completely disassemble and take away the air conditioner, just don’t take my heat! I am always cold in the house. In the winter it’s the draftiness in places of an old house, my feet get so cold! In the summer, it’s just that David and I have a real different opinion of a comfortable temperature! I always have socks and slippers with a sweater in the house. I’ll go outside for a couple of minutes to warm up. I find stores, grocery to dollar, to be too cold in the summer too.

I’m really only comfortable at home in the late spring and early fall.



4. What's your favorite cocktail??

I love Mai Tais! I usually order Kahlua and Cream in a restaurant if I have a cocktail because restaurants that have Mai Tais are less common, but if a Mai Tai is available, that’s my choice. A while back I found a sugar free, with Splenda, Mai Tai mix at Meijer. It was kinda pricey, but I wanted to try it for a treat. It was definitely a treat. I drank it alcohol-free, just me, and the 32-ounce bottle lasted 2 days. Good thing I didn’t add the rum, huh?


5. What was your first job & how old were you?

I was 16. My Dad was going to buy me a car once I found a job because while he would pay for the car and insurance, gas and maintenance were up to me and he wouldn’t buy me a car I couldn’t drive.

Pop was also responsible for the lead that got me that first job, at the Italian bakery-deli he frequented! That was my part-time job until I was 18. When I started my advertising consulting business just after high school, Maria, the owner, was my first client. I also still worked there as a deli clerk and supervisor on Sundays for another year.










This week's statements:
1. I always forget___
2. I never __without___
3. Recently I started to _____, and it has helped tremendously!
4. If I had to find a date, the last place I would look for one is _______.


1. I always forget to take pills in the middle of the day. I have one that I have to take as close to 12 hours apart twice a day and an antibiotic I’m taking twice a day right now. I have alarms set on my phone to remind me to take them. I’m pretty good with the morning and bedtime pills I have in a pill-sorter in the bathroom, but the ones in the middle of the day will sit untaken without my alarms!

2. I never pull the door closed when I’m leaving without having my house key in my hand so I'm SURE I have it. I think I was locked out of the house after school too many times before I was driving. We had great neighbors that let us stay at their house until Mom got home from work, but it was still embarrassing.

3. Recently I started to buy the 100-calorie pack almonds and it has helped tremendously! It’s a day’s worth of healthy fats, all nice and portion-controlled!

4. If I had to find a date, the last place I would look for one is anyplace my husband would find out.   :) I’m a married-lady. I have a built-in date for any reason I need a date.

***  Look at Mr. Celery!

I decided that it was okay to name him after my favorite Wilmington Blue Rocks mascot since the celery is a phoenix; after you pick it, cut off the bottom and it grows back, which is totally cool. I’d call him Fawkes, after Dumbledore’s phoenix, but since he’s celery, he got the name Mr. Celery. He’s growing faster than a kitten!

Because I’m looking at Mr. Celery as a phoenix, I’ll also NOT be looking for a t-shirt when the next incarnation of this celery starts to grow that says “Ask me about my grand-plant!”


***  After a few blissful months of no doctor visits, I feel like I’m touring medical facilities again. –sigh—

Next month, I return to Cleveland Clinic for my post starting Gilenya check-up. They have all the tests I did in March and haven’t called to ask me to come in sooner, so I feel like those turned out okay. But, they’ll probably have me get another MRI.

Two days later, I get my baby-spider-ectomy. It’s just a cyst, but it needs to be removed. It’s minor out-patient surgery, but I have to stop taking Ibuprofen for a week before. That is the scary part to me! My doc is impressed that as messed up as my back is, all I take for it is ibuprofen. I’m worried about what the pain will be like for a week without it. I’m planning on using the walker and going in on my own for the surgery and I’d like it not to be painful just getting there!.


***  I’m at a stopping point in the White Tornado this week. I need some boxes and heavier things moved before I can continue upstairs and David and I are finishing up a big editing project this week, so I have sort of a vacation. I think he’s trying to uber-caffinate me as part of the vacation. He moved the Keurig maker the other night and won’t put it back!

I can’t lift it to do it myself, so I moved the lighter regular maker in. Now I’ve gone from 2 cups to 5 a day! Bigger pot and if you only make a couple of cups, it takes pretty much the same amount of grounds, so it’s a waste to make that little. I’d kinda forgotten how good a mild coffee buzz feels!


Going for a refill now. Everyone have a great weekend!  :)

Wednesday Hodge Podge

Credits: Where’s My Coffee by Aprilisa Designs

Oh no reason…it’s just coffee and green and polka dots and...

Isn’t the scrapbook kit just wicked awesome?  It's very Nani!


Okay, now on to join Joyce at From This Side of the Pond for the Wednesday Hodge Podge!

1. spring is in the air (at least in my neck of the woods) and the birds are singing...what's your favorite bird?

Anything that’s not a Cardinal.


2. Speaking of birds...do you tweet? If so tell us your screen name and we'll come flocking to your Twitter site. Even if you don't let's all pretend here that we do-in 140 characters or less, sum up your week so far.

I am @Nani_Notes

Tigers, Red Sox and Reds have all won on the same day ONCE this year. Poor cats, no extra treats for anyone.




3. It’s been reported recently that employers are not only viewing the facebook pages of potential hires but they're also requesting your facebook password to have a look at what you've kept from public view. What say you?

I don’t want to work for a company that would ask for my password to any personal account. Since I don’t want the job anyway, before I left the interview I’d ask, “I presume that upon hire it would be acceptable to give my company password to a perspective employer when I’m ready to leave, correct?  Just so they can see what I've been doing on the company's intranet.”


4. it’s April and you know what that means-Major League Baseball is back in action. What's your favorite baseball movie? If that's too hard, what's your favorite sports themed movie?

Bull Durham. There are a ton of baseball movies I like and pretty much if there’s any reference to baseball in the movie, I’ll watch it. But Bull Durham is the quintessential hymnal of the great church of baseball.


5. Something else this season brings-asparagus. Yes please or no thanks? If it's yes please what's your favorite way to have it prepared?

LOVE asparagus! I enjoy it so many ways, but the go to at home is bite-size pieces sautéed in olive oil and garlic.


6. What drives you? (Don't you love how I sandwiched that one in between asparagus and jugglers???)

If you saw the beginning of the post, I’m obviously driven by a passion for coffee, charged by caffeine! LOL



7. April 18th is International Jugglers Day...can you juggle?

I used to be able to juggle scarves and was learning to juggle bean bags, but I haven’t juggled in many years.


8. Insert your own random thought here.

Remember my sponsored post, “Good Dirt,” about Miracle Grow Expand ‘n Gro? Well, I got my sample of the dirt and played with it Monday!

The sample is for a 6” pot, so I added some Miracle Gro potting mix that I already had left from when I repotted spire for my 8" pot.

 

So after mixing the Expand ‘n Gro with the appropriate amount of water, I mixed in 2 more inches of potting mix.

Now, remember me mentioning regrowing celery that I learned about on The Coloradolady, Suzanne’s blog? Well, here is what my celery end in water looked like after just over 2 weeks:

Monday I planted it in my Miracle Gro Potting Soil and Expand ‘n Gro mix:

And this is what it looks like not even 2 days later!

There is visible above the soil yummy celery goodness! I’m still gonna let it grow for a while before I eat it.

I didn’t have any doubt that the Expand ‘n Grow would work well, Miracle Gro is a great brand. I just wondered how good it worked. So far, VERY well!

More Hodge Podge

1.  A new Miss America was crowned on Saturday night-did you watch? If you were a contestant what would your talent be? 

Didn’t watch. Didn’t even know it was on. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever watched it.

Is it really still Miss and not Ms. America?

If I was in the “Ms. Middle Age Plus Size Disabled America” contest my talent would be either the handful of really funny jokes I’ve come up with over the years or as a motivational speaker. But really as stage talent, I’d have to do an over the top funny motivational speaker and it would be a gag, so, I guess any way you slice it, comedy.

2. Do you have houseplants? Real or fake?

I have 3 living houseplants.

The gorgeous and aromatic rosemary bush Sheri gave me at Christmas went from beautiful and great smelling plant through the holidays to should have looked it up online for care instructions dry and brown by the second week in January. The card says after the holidays it makes great potpourri and that’s what I’m going to do, but in order for it to live, it needed sunlight that it wasn’t getting in my kitchen.

We managed to kill off the Christmas Cactus I had and there was a peace lily that dried out. But our home is NOT a houseplant graveyard! I have the “pumpkin plant,” Kalanchoe in a pumpkin shaped pot and 2 baby rubber tree plants. Spire was named before I realized baby rubber tree plants grow out and down, not up. I grew her son, Sprout, in water until there were roots and then planted him. He was a broken branch from Spire a few years ago and I’m so proud that I was able to help her procreate. :)

3. When you were in school did you speak up or were you more of the hide your face, avoid eye contact, and pray the teacher didn't call on you type of student?

I wad totally the speak up one! In a high school American literature class I was in, I freely debated with the teacher when we disagreed on an interpretation. When I raised my hand, everyone else put theirs down because they wanted to watch! I got my A and was asked “please don’t take one of my lit classes again.” Mom was proud – an instructor didn’t ask her not to take any of his classes after giving her an A until college.

4. Next Monday marks the Chinese New Year...what do you order when someone suggests Chinese food?

I have a few that I really like, but Kung Pao Chicken is my favorite!

5. How would you define a miracle? What would it take for you to consider something a miracle?

I’ve really never thought about definition a miracle. I’ll take the cop out on this one and say mere mortals aren't qualified to define or recognize miracles.

6. What's your favorite Disney song? If you're stuck you'll find a list here.

“Everybody Wants To Be A Cat.” or “Bella Notte”

7. I should have _____________ yesterday.

Taken a Benadryl and vegged on the couch

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I just found out that, as an Amazon Prime customer, I can watch every single episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer streamed on my computer for free!! Where’s the popcorn?

Football, Flora and a Freebie

Congratulations to the New England Patriots for their 45-10 victory over the Denver Broncos! Tom Brady tied the record for most touchdown passes in a playoff game. The Pats scored early…then often. Now it’s onward and keep winning!

The Lions’ loss last week means that I won’t be tested in the Super Bowl. Remember when I said that I was sure I’d cheer for the Braves against the Reds in the 1995 National League Championship Series, but found out that I just couldn’t do it? Well, I always say that I took the Patriots as my football team because it was in my wedding vows to take David’s football team. Keeping my baseball teams was in the pre-nup! I guess it would be the ultimate test of my loyalty for the Lions and Patriots to face each other in the biggest sports event of the year, but it’s not to happen this year. I wonder, if it happens and I find myself unable to cheer against the team I grew up with, is that grounds to end the marriage??

I’m not as passionate about football as I am about baseball, so I think I’ll be okay, if it ever happens.

That plant was a surprise that David brought out of Giant Eagle in Cleveland when we were there for a medical appointment for me. It’s a 2-hour drive and I can only drive just over an hour before I get incredible pain in my right hamstring, so David has to drive me. I try to schedule things on his regular days off so he doesn’t have to shuffle his schedule. So, he drives, takes me to my favorite restaurant for lunch and that day he stopped at Giant Eagle to get me a couple packages of Butterfly Bakery sugar free Chocolate muffins. The selection of Butterfly Bakery products in Toledo is very limited and I’m especially fond of the chocolate muffins. I waited in the car while he ran in to the store. He came out with the “pumpkin flower.” He said it had my name written all over the terracotta pumpkin bowl!

Now a question: Does anyone reading know what kind of plant it is? There was no label to tell me! It’s a beautiful plant, but I’m not sure what to do to take care of it. Since it came home in November, all the original flowers dried up. Many of them fell off on their own and others I brushed my hand on to knock them off. I keep it watered and it has a place in the window in the kitchen annex, so it gets Northern exposure. There are a couple of new flowers and new leaves, so I’m not doing anything totally wrong. I’d just like to know what kind of plant it is!



Project 365…366 Templates

I did two sets of templates that I sold in my Scrap Bird store in 2009, plus a blog freebie that went with the set. Templates for 9 weeks of project 365 or templates that will accommodate 63 photos of events you’d like to scrap. For 2012, I’m rereleasing those templates as freebies! On each of the remaining Sundays in January, I’ll release three templates from the set, culminating in a final freebie on my half birthday, January 29.

Here is the set for this week:

Click preview to download

I hope you all have a great Sunday. Thanks for stopping by!