Rain is a good thing!

We got some much needed rain today!  We've only had an inch and a half of rain in two and a half months!  Technically, it's still spring but you can't count on the calendar when you live in Georgia.  It's been 97 degrees or hotter every day for two weeks.  It's dry as a loaf of toast around here.

Well, it was.  It started coming up a bad cloud about 6:00 and I wasn't even sure that what I was hearing was thunder, it's been so long.  But then I started hearing the steady ping of raindrops bouncing off my chimney cap (I LOVE that sound!!) and I knew it was RAINING FINALLY!!!!!  YAY!!!!!

Rain is a good thing for 'maters and peppers trying to grow.

I put chicken wire over my strawberries because the squirrels 

in my backyard think I planted the strawberries JUST FOR THEM.  

OBVIOUSLY.

Rain is a good thing for dry toesies, too.  :)

Garden update

I planted my little garden late, three weeks ago today, and this is where we are now!

I've got Big Boy and Celebrity tomatoes, banana peppers and strawberries. 

I hope to see a bloom on this one soon!!  :)

More 'maters gettin' strong

Banana peppers gettin' tall

 

Baby strawberries just chillin'

Lovely lavender

I planted tomatoes, banana peppers and strawberries this afternoon in the sunniest little spot in my backyard.  I'm trying again!!!  The entire time I was digging and planting and patting and loving and watering, I could hear the trees just'a laughing. Sucka!

I may not get much sun in my yard but I get quite a bit on my front porch so I bought this beautiful lavender plant to go in my front porch pot.  It is gorgeous and smells like wonderful purply heaven. 

Iris my case!

I can, TOO, grow stuff in this Yard Of No Direct Sunlight.

 This one is SO ready to bust out and be beautiful!

This one already has!

Treasures, old and new

Pretty antique (1800's!) Dundee marmalade jar 

that I found on eBay last week.

The perfect little vase to hold a few fresh flowers for my dining room table.

Is spring cleaning a lost art?

 

March bustles in on windy feet
And sweeps my doorstep and my street.

She washes and cleans with pounding rains,

Scrubbing the earth of winter stains.

She shakes the grime from carpet green

Till naught but fresh new blades are seen.

Then, house in order, all neat as a pin,

She ushers gentle springtime in. 

(Susan Reiner)

Do you spring clean??  I'm on vacation this week and today was the first time I've had the time or the energy to start on anything.  Now living in a small house doesn't leave much for deep cleaning and my house is pretty clean all the time anyway because I probably need mental help cannot stand for anything to be out of place or for dishes to be in the sink or anything like that.  Dust bunnies tremble in fear in my house!  But there are some things I want to get done this week.  

Yard work is out since Winter decided she wasn't done with us yet but thankfully, I got that done last weekend before the storms.  Yeah, we had tornado warnings here last Saturday night and for the first time in my life, I heard tornado horns that TALKED to you!  "Tornado warning! Take shelter immediately!" in English and in Spanish.  Coolest thing evah.

I met Lisa from work at Serenity Spa at 2:00 today to get our massages and mine was ohsowonderful.  If you go, ask for Amanda.  She's awesome!! She worked kinks outta me that I didn't know were there.  And left me feeling like a bowl of jello with Tiger Balm smeared on top.  I was SO relaxed!!  We left there and went and grabbed a bite to eat and just sat and visited for a little while and then went home about 4:00.  It was ALL I could do not to LAY DOWN when I got home.  I took a shower, though, to get the oil off of me and watched an episode of Doctor Who that Brian put on a DVD for me.  He and Ami are trying to get me into that show!  The first ep was great!!

Anyway, so back to spring cleaning.  I kinda got off the subject there!  I remember Mama sweeping the house out and washing curtains and rugs and rearranging the living room furniture and giving the house a good airing out but I'm just wondering if anybody actually DOES that anymore. I have certain things that I like to do a couple times a year, things I do once a month and then things I do every week.  My spring cleaning usually consists of mopping behind the washer and dryer and the refrigerator, cleaning the ceiling fans, cleaning the baseboards, cleaning the tops of the cabinets in my kitchen and taking all my decorative stuff from up there, washing it all and putting it back.  I do all that a couple times a year.  I clean my blinds and wash curtains just whenever they need it.  I vacuum, mop, dust and clean my bathrooms once a week.  I clean my kitchen EVERY DAY.  

Some things I LOVE to clean with are my very, very favorite, Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Countertop Spray in Lemon Verbena (Walmart, y'all, $3.97), Method Multi-Surface Natural All Purpose Cleaner in French Lavender (Target, $3.99) and Seventh Generation Disinfecting Bathroom Cleaner in Lemongrass & Thyme Scent (also at Wally World, $2.97).  Those three are the only products I buy.  I like to use baking soda, vinegar, lemon ammonia, tea tree oil and good old Murphy's Oil Soap, too.  I've been using kind, natural things to clean my house for six years now and I don't sneeze and cough when I clean my bathrooms anymore!  The natural stuff (like the baking soda and vinegar) is SO cheap, too!!  Win, win.  

I'd love to hear what you do!!  What are some of your cleaning tips and favorite products?

Don't forget to change your clocks!

If you're me, that means ALL THIRTEEN OF THEM.  How on earth did this house accumulate 13 clocks??!  When did this happen??  WHO is responsible?? 

I will get to the bottom of this.

In the meantime, I'm going to bed.  Clock # 8 is telling me it's after midnight.