Sadly, the nice autumn weather has been replaced by brutal cold winds and a bit of snow. Here a bit of snow... Buffalo, NY now that's a whole other story! Before the cold weather set in, I was going on daily walks during my lunch hour....
All those pretty colors have been replaced by leafless, stark trees and foliage. :(
 |
| This guy was hanging out in a tree enjoying a snack! |
GREEN THUMB
I can't remember if I've ever talked about my Mom's green thumb. She LOVED plants... and when I say that, I mean LOVE...LOVE...LOVED them! Ever since I can remember, she always had plants and flowers. At one time, my parent's house had so many that you'd swear it was a greenhouse.
Much to my Dad's chagrin, to enable her us kids would buy her trees, plants, and bulbs for her to plant outside. She loved them, so what was the harm, right?!
Mom's favorite plant was the Christmas Cactus. Or Thanksgiving Cactus. Or Easter Cactus. When she was living with me, she insisted we bring her large Christmas Cactus so she could see it. Of course, we complied and I set it at the foot of her bed. Every day, she'd tell me to open the shades of the window so it could get light. She has had this cactus FOREVER and it's huge. It's just starting to bud out right now and when it blooms, I'll share a photo. Meantime, I have another one of her cactus that bloomed a few weeks ago:
Pink/Fushia/Burgundy were her favorite colors. It's like a little piece of Mom is still with us through her plants. I just hope I can keep them alive! Incidentally, my brother is going to have that photo put on his arm as a tattoo tribute to Mom.
NEIGHBORS
As I said in my previous post, my neighbors are "in the process" of moving. Going on three weeks now, they're still moving stuff! They own the house and it's not been put up for sale so I imagine they're taking their sweet time. They started to dismantle the dog kennels, but apparently got tired or something because they stopped after getting most of it moved.
That white stuff you see isn't snow. It's dog hair! For days, I wondered where all the large pieces of dog hair came from.... on my outdoor steps, in my hedges... everywhere!
This is their crap between our garages. It's actually a lot better than it normally is. They have stuff strewn all the way to the back as you can see and even shoved behind their garage. Stuff that should be taken to a junk yard.
STITCHY STUFF
I've been putting stitches in on Balloon Glow during my lunch hour. It goes pretty fast since most of the stitches are halfsies.
I've also started an ornament for an exchange I signed up for. No pics, though. Can't show until it gets to the recipient. I will say that I must be insane to stitch it over-one on 28ct... 'nuf said.
SILHOUETTE PORTRAIT
Guess what arrived last Monday? The Silhouette Portrait I won on CraftGossip! It only took 2 weeks from notification to delivery. I've been so busy finishing up the exchanges I'm in that I haven't even had time to take the Portrait out of the box. How sad is that? Hopefully, after next week I can play with it. Anyone have this or a Cameo that can share some tips/tricks? New toys.... gotta love 'em!
STASH FOR SALE
The other day, I innocently started looking through my stash. Next thing I know, I was purging stuff I liked but knew I'd probably never get around to stitching. I ended up with a huge pile.
My purging might be your gain! I've listed all this stuff on my Stash For Sale Facebook page HERE. All prices are in USD and I will ship internationally with a minimum $20 order. I also have a bunch of stuff listed on my Stash For Sale blog HERE.
TREASURE HUNTING
Not my usual type of post for "treasures", but I was so proud of my shopping skills I had to share. For a while now, I've been
While out an about over the weekend, I looked at irons at JoAnn Fabrics and Shopko. I looked at B&D's, Rowenta's, Shark's, as well as others. I decided to go with the Shark Ultimate Professional Model GI505. It was "on sale" for $54.99 with no rainchecks *gasp*....
I'm
Final price for the iron: $19.99! Woo Hoo!!
Until Next Time,
21 comments:
Love the balloon piece. looking good. cong on your win.
stay warm and have a great week.
Thank heavens the neighbors are leaving!!! My grandmother had a Christmas cactus that was passed on to my mom. It still blooms today. I'm hoping that it comes to me when my mom passes on, far in the future!
Love your bargain iron
So nice you have your mum's plants to remind you
So awesome to have your mom's plants.
Ugh. Those neighbors. Go already!
Love your pictures of the flowering cactus. How blessed to have these memories of your mom.
So happy to hear your neighbors are on their way out - hopefully things will be so much more peaceful for you.
Your balloons are looking beautiful!
Meari, you captured the best of Autumn, gorgeous pictures. Yeah!,, About the neighbors moving! Now I an visualize how bad it was. Their moving must be like an early holiday present. Christmas cactuses must carry a special sentimental value, judging from your and others comments. I also have my grandmothers/mother's.
Sally
What a pretty cactus! My Mom loved plants too, and had lots including a Christmas cactus. My plant growing ability isn't as good as hers was.
Congrats on the iron !
Very good shopping on the iron. Am glad that your moms Christmas Cactus blooms. My sister has a giant one that has never bloomed....I think it must be miserable. Am going to check out your stash over lunch.
You have had a beautiful fall--I raked leaves on Saturday and thought about the folks in Buffalo NY shoveling snow.
WOW! Your neighbors sound interesting. Not sure I could cope with all the dog hair and "stuff."
Hope my cactus blooms
I sure miss the warmer temps and I am not liking the white stuff blowing around outside. The squirrel is too cute. My Christmas cactus is in bloom right now and like you said -- it blooms at Easter time too. I find them pretty easy to care for and just make sure it gets enough light. Your lunchtime piece is coming along nicely. I'm stitching a piece over one right now too and I just keep saying "what was I thinking?"
How lucky that you won the Silhouette. I've been wishing for one, but still don't have one.
Meari your Balloon Glow is looking lovely. I know what you mean by stitching on 28ct over 1. The 2 finishes I posted are both done on 28ct linen over 1.
Your mom's Christmas cactus looks beautiful in bloom.
My mom is also a plant maniac. We used to live in a 'green house' and our front window was filled with plants. Now we we only have 2 Christmas cacti that are covered with flowers. I will post a picture soon. There are also
2 pots of Amaryllis bulbs and they will flower in January or February. I also have my lucky bamboo. When we moved our neighbours stole my succulents and cacti, as well as my orchid and lucky bamboo plants.
Sorry about your car problems and I am glad that you don't live in Buffalo. Here we had a cold snap with freezing temperatures, but now we are back to our Wet Coast rain.
Tara
Great blog as always SD! Bad tie rods must be catching! LOL.....I took mine in a couple of weeks ago to have mine replaced; then had to replace a belt, and have the transmission flushed.........now the car is 'missing'.........wasn't doing that until they flushed the transmission..............going back!!!
Your stitching looks great! Lovely photos of the autumn leaves and love the good buys you found.
Talk soon,
Love ya,
Sue your SM
That cactus is beautiful! I will be waiting to see the pictures of the one getting ready to bloom.
Love your new iron and what a bargain you got! WOW - what nasty neighbors. I would be scared to see what the inside of their house looked like - ewwwww!! Can't wait to see what you can do with the Silhouette...if you are to busy I would be more than happy to take it out of the box for you and give it a test drive! Just let me know :)
I am a self-confessed plant maniac. :) My Christmas cactus (as well as a number of other plants) is from a dear family friend who passed away a few years ago. They make such lovely flowers at at time when not a lot of things bloom! I don't think I'll have blooms from mine this year though; I had to give it a bigger pot and I think it's still a bit grumpy about being moved.
Wish your neighbors would hurry on up a little bit. But at least they're on their way (slowly)! Hope they take all their mess with them!
Still loving the colors on your balloons.
How lovely that you can have a part of your mum close to you - especially something that she obviously held dear :)
Love your pics....autumn is one of my favourite seasons (Spring being the other!)
Great bargain and what a fantastic prize!
How annoying about the car, I hope it's fixed soon. I'm sure you'll be
very glad when you see the last of those neighbours.
I love the pictures you posted and that's a great idea for your brother's
tatoo.
I'm not going to dare look at your stash you're selling. I have too much
as it is.
Cheryl Kinkaid
Always good to catch up on your week, Meari. I love the fact that you have your mom's blooming cacti. When each one blooms, it will feel like a hug from your mom. I had one from my grandma for years and just loved watching the pale pink blooms open up around this time of year...
Oh, those horrid neighbors--I do hope some wonderful and thoughtful neighbors move in in their place.
Great win--have fun with that new gadget :) And let me know how you like the new Shark iron--I need a new one myself...
Your lunchtime balloon piece is looking lovely. Halfsies are sure nice!
Love the fall pictures! Good luck with the cactus - I have a black thumb instead of green! Good job on the iron!
Meari, it is so nice to have something to remember your Mom with and it is a nice plant. I had gotten a plant and gave it to my Mom and it is still growing, even had to cut off half of it as it kept falling over.
Sorry to hear about your car and hope your neighbours move soon. Lovely pictures.
Congratulations on your win and you are making great progess on your picture.
Marl
Beautiful photos!!! That is touching about what you shared about your mom and her love of plants! Beautiful blooms on the cactus!
Post a Comment