Welcome August 2019!!!

I can hardly believe it, August my birthday month, halfway through this year.  I usually say that time flies but this is ridiculous, before we know it, it will be Christmas, and that I am really not ready for.

Anyway, good morning and welcome back to my blog.

I apologize for the lack of posts this week, it's been a bit of a slow one for me and I've taken full advantage of the downtime, to get things done around here and to pick up my crochet hooks again.

I've even taken naps, me, Miss never naps.  Guess my body was needing this rest and when the body speaks we must listen.

One of the things I did was take care of all the orchids.  Look, I've told you before that I have no clue when it comes to plants and that usually I would kill them because of overwatering, not watering enough, giving them too much light, not giving them enough and so on.

However, I have since grown to love anything to do with plants and I've spent many hours researching the different species and what they need, and how best to take care of them.

I have purchased Orchids in the past and they always died on me, and I couldn't figure out why.  Problem is that I thought I would get them from the store, bring them home and that's it.  I didn't realize that there is a process once you bring them home and if you don't do this, you will no doubt have wasted money because they will die on you.

The very first thing you need to do is remove them from the plastic little pot they come home in.  They are jam packed into that little pot and will not survive that way.

Once you've removed them from the plastic, you need to carefully loosen the roots and remove the moss that comes with them.

Now I've read and watched different videos on repotting orchids.  I stuck with just placing them back in the pots and will be carefully monitoring and watering them, but I'm also curious about the full water culture and might give one or two a try to see how they do.

Again, I'm just learning and this is more than I've ever done, so if you have any tips please leave them down below.

For the moment, they all seem to be doing much better and are greener, brighter, some are sprouting new blossoms and leaves, so I'm quite happy with that.

While out watering the garden a few days ago, I spotted two cantaloupe that are quite big already.  Folks, I can't tell you enough how thrilled I am especially since I grew these from seeds.  I have NEVER been that successful, but I guess it was a combination of research, indirectly finding the perfect spot for the garden and much love, dedication and watering.

While these two huge cantaloupe are growing, you can already see tiny ones coming in as well.  If you look to the right of the pic above, you can just make out a new cantaloupe forming.

Can't wait to try those :)

The rest of the plants we got from Lowe's, are doing well.  There are very few brown leaves or died out branches around and everything is looking nice and green.  We have hung a ton out front on the porch as well as on the back patio.

The rest of the plants are still on my patio table, as I get them situated, watered and nursed back to health.  There are a lot of new bright flowers popping up so I guess we're on the right track.

Here shortly I will go and water them.  I do this every morning and every evening when it's not as hot, and they seem to like that.

While I'm out there, I'm going to separate all the plants by categories.

Ground cover
Bushes
Indoors 
Outdoors

This weekend hubby and I are going to take the outside ones, place them where we want them to go and then get them into the ground.  We have a lot of time left here in Texas so I'm not worried about frost or cold weather, that is not going to happen until end of November at the very least.

I saved two big Sweet Almond Bushes from Lowe's.  They were pretty grim looking and the workers there actually thought they were completely dead, but they are coming back to life, tons of new shoots and new green leaves.  So happy!!!

Also saved a Gardenia which is my absolutely favorite flower and that one is also coming back with new shoots.  I have a Hydrangea bush which doesn't seem to be doing well, I don't think we're going to be able to save it, but I will keep working on it as I love Hydrangeas and would be super happy with a big Hydrangea bush out front.

As I go along, I'll be sharing with you.  Not just because I love sharing my life but it will also be kind of a gardening journal to see how far we've come.

The past few days have also seen me picking up my crochet hook again and getting right into a new project.  I had wanted to get some new yarn for this, but couldn't really find anything I wanted, nothing was catching my eye, so I ended up going with what I already had on hand.

It's always so strange to me when I begin a new project, because I never know what it is going to end up looking like.  I think I know what color is going where and then as I start, I change it all up and go with my gut feeling.

These colors above were not a combo I would have ever put together.  You know me, I'm more into the pastels but I decided to just go with it and I have to say, this may be one of my favorite color combos I've put together for a crochet blanket.

It's just gorgeous.

The pattern is the Sacred Space by Helen Shrimpton.  She is one of my favorite crochet creators, I've made her Mandala Madness and a few others, so when I saw that she had released a new CAL (crochet along), I had to jump right in.  It is the perfect project for getting me motivated into crochet again.

Part 1 is done, that's what you see her, and tomorrow Part 2 will be released.  You can find all the details on Helen's website Crystals and Crochet.

I need to go and water the plants now, so I'll go ahead and let you all go.  Again I'm sorry for not posting much this past week, but sometimes you have to prioritize and I definitely needed to put some things in order.

Jasmine has a crazy schedule coming up, starting today, so you'll probably see me around here more.  I tend to blog more when I'm actually running around from place to place, because when I'm home full time I concentrate on other projects and often forget to even grab the camera.

Bad blogger, I am!!!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Meal Plan Friday.  Until then, take care and have a wonderful Thursday :)