Weekend Update. . . .

So, I shared earlier about having to get all my doctor appointments scheduled.  I still have to schedule my mammogram and my eye appointment and I have my appointment for my migraines.  It is rough trying to keep yourself healthy, I have realized these last few weeks that I seriously neglected my self over the years.  I am chalking this up to my resolution of self care this year. 
Young Moms, please do not neglect your own health for the sake of your family.  I wish I had been better to me while the boys were young but, when you are trying to hold down a household and take care of two boys you tend to neglect you.  Make you a priority.
I completed my Cologuard test, it was not as bad as I thought  it would be, I am waiting to hear back about my results.  This tests your poop for cancer DNA.  If it comes back positive it does not mean you have cancer it means you could have cancer and should have the colonoscopy to make sure there are no polyps.  If it comes back negative this will be the best thing ever because I will not have to have that nasty colonoscopy.  I will be honest I have heard horror stories about these and I want to stay as far away from them as I can.  I am a terrible patient, I hate doctors and I may have used the family as an excuse not to go to the doctor.  I am a terrible patient. 
We can chalk up a win for the Lax bros last night, our first win of the season.   Sprat got accepted to his new school, got his scholarship and will be playing lacrosse for this new school.  We are very excited for him and cannot wait to see what his sophomore year will hold. The hubbs has dirt and is going to work on my herb bed again today.  Big T is getting ready for his Prom tonight so stay tuned for photo overload. 

The Herb Garden. . . Possible New Flowerbed too. . .

The hubbs started the bulkhead/herb garden Saturday, Yayyyy!!  There was a lot of work going on around our house this weekend.  I planted some lavender, rosemary and sage seeds to get everything started.  My Basil seeds that I started last week are starting to sprout but the rosemary has not done anything just yet.  I am so excited about my herb garden, I cannot wait till we get the dirt and I can start putting plants in.  Fingers are crossed my little seeds will sprout. I have been reading a lot about what I can do with my lavender and rosemary when it gets big.  Here are some pictures of our progress.

Now imagine this little rectangle filled with rich beautiful dark nutrient filled soil and beautiful delicate purple little flowers and lost of lush green herbs.  

The hubbs let Big T drive to school this morning so he had to come back home and get his company car to go to work.  Today is trash day in our neighborhood and one our neighbors had put out a head and foot board out to be thrown away.  My hubby immediately thought of ways he could use that head board in a new flower bed he is plotting.  I must admit, that thought went through my mind also this morning as I was coming home from work.  After I got home he asked me if he could go get it and bring it home to use in a flower bed.  I told him go get it and we will find a way to use it.  I have been talking about planting a new flower bed or replacing and spicing up one of our old beds for a fresh cutting bed.  You know you plant beautiful flowers but the purpose is to cut them and bring them inside to enjoy their beautiful color and their breathtaking aroma.  This head board would be great to run a plant up and it would be a very interesting back drop to our flower bed.  

Stay tuned more pictures and updates to follow and don't forget Prom is Saturday and you know I will be flooding with pictures.  

Playing in the Dirt. . . You Never Really Grow out of it. . .

I think my mom gave me that love of gardening, even though when I was little I hated working in the garden.  I did love the fruits of her labor:  sweet peas, corn, and radishes.  Mom grew other things in her garden but those were my favorites.  Mom also had a fig tree and I have one now too, mine is just getting big enough to supply us with lots of figs.  We had our biggest crop of figs last year and the hubbs and I ate every one of them, they were so good.
I am thankful my sweet hubby also has a love for gardening, he got his passion from his dad, funny how that works.  I think my hubby  said it best when he explained why he likes to garden, he says it is pure and the work you do you can see in your fruits of your labor.  It is being able to see what you have accomplished, he does not believe he is a master gardener but he dose have a knack for growing things.
I enjoy working in the garden with my hubby and planting and watching what grows.  It is a feeling of accomplishment to be able to supply yourself and your family with fresh produce from the garden. I am looking forward to my herbs this year.  Like I said before, we already have a huge plant of oregano and I dry it regularly to keep my supply, we also have a bumper crop of Mountain Mint and Lime Mint.  The bees love our mint, in the Summer when the mint is in full bloom they bees are everywhere.  We do have some bee keepers not too far from our house, I hope we are feeding their bees.

This is a picture of our Mountain Mint with one of our little bee friends. 

Spring is Right Around the Corner. . .

I must confess that little bit of warm weather we had has given me a little bit of Spring fever.  My very sweet hubby is going to fix me an herb bed right off of our back patio.  I am so excited because it is really going to happen this time.  He has promised this to me for a year but a few weeks ago when we had a dry day he sort of dug out my spot.  It is really going to happen, I cannot wait.  I will have Lavender, Rosemary, and Sage to start.  It will be big enough to add more if I so desire.  I have always loved fresh herbs and we already have a big plant of oregano and lots of mint around the patio.  I do believe I have Spring fever.
I have bought me some seeds to start in the house of a few things that I may just keep in the kitchen. There is nothing like preparing a meal using your very own herbs and spices.   The hubbs has cleaned the garden out so he will be getting it ready for early planting. There is nothing like fresh veggies from your very own garden.

This is the beginning of the new herb bed. I will post pictures of the progress.  The hubbs was not very happy with me this morning when I told him I was taking this picture, he said it was just mud. I told him this was a work in progress and I was showing the beginnings and when it is full of wonderful herbs we can look back and see how we started.  He was not amused. 

Plant Celebration. . .

Today I am celebrating our beautiful garden and our beautiful plants and herbs.  I love gardening and working with the soil.  It is very rewarding to watch a plant grow from a seed or seedling into a beautiful flower, herb, or vegetable.  I am very lucky that my hubby shares my love of plants and gardening.    I hope that my kids will learn to love gardening too.   I am sharing some of my pictures that I took this morning of our garden and my flowers.

Sweet Basil, not to be confused with my four legged one. 

A gift from my Mom.

Cherry tomato

Parsley 

Dahlia, a gift from my Mom on Mother's Day

Broccoli and Cabbage

Mixed bag of Lettuce

Fresh Oregano 

Gorgeous Geranium from my dear Hubby for Mother's Day.

Making progress on Monday. . .

The hubbs making great progress with the knee this week.  He got a fabulous report from his physical therapist.  He can now walk on level ground without his crutches.  I know that does not seem like a lot but since he has been on crutches for over a month now, this is great.   We had a great weekend filled with lots of baseball.  The kids did get back to Church on Sunday so that is good.   Sprat has been fussing because we have not been able to go since the hubbs surgery.   He loves being a part of the youth and being involved in our youth programs.   They are getting ready for the 30 hour famine again in May.  If you work with a youth group you should look into this program.  It raises awareness of people going hungry all over the world especially the children.  As we get closer to the date I will share the website and you can check it out.
At some point my hubby will have to go back to work but, I must admit I have enjoyed having this time together.  If this is a window into retirement, I am ready for him to retire now.   We have been binge watching TV shows on the Roku.  We are almost through Weeds, it is wild.  He has found the music channel and is watching old rock concerts some he went to and some that he did not get to go to.  Since he has improved and does not require a crutch as much, it is easier going places.  We went out to eat to celebrate his good report and the kids grades and he did great.  I am still concerned for him to be out in a crowd because people may not realize how very sensitive that leg is, especially if he is wearing pants and you cannot tell he has on his brace.  His brother took him to the garden store after his therapy visit the other day and he said he felt like a little kid going to the toy store.  He was almost giddy.   He loves gardening and working in the yard.  Today I mowed, which I enjoy , I also trimmed our bushes around the house.   He hates that he cannot help with the mowing and the bushes but, he did come out and offer his expert advice while I was trimming the bushes.
It has been very nice spending this extra time with my dear hubby.  Sometimes I think we find that there is so much going on that you do not really talk with your spouse.  There is a lot going on at our house too and we are both guilty of just going through the motions some days.   We do actively make time for each other but sometimes we can get bogged down in the day to day.  This whole surgery/hospital thing has actually been a blessing because, we have seen what retirement will be like and I think it will be fun.
Here is a shot of my phlox, I absolutely love them, they have such beautiful color.

Wonderful day with my Hubby. . .

My dear hubby is home from New Jersey.  He was away on business for a few days.  He took today off so we could spend the morning together while the kids were in school.  I love these days so much.  We had a nice breakfast and then did some running around.   We of course ended up at Lowe's  shopping for flowers that we really did not need.  We found some pretty petunias and another lily that was on clearance, to add to our front flower bed.   As you can see from my cover picture our front flower bed is quite full.  I decided I would like two hanging baskets with the trailing petunias.   So on my shepherd hooks in the front I have two hanging baskets with trailing petunias, purple and pink.   I also could not resist a bright green sweet potato vine.  I love those and I put it in a hanging basket that will hang over the driveway from the back flower bed. I love flowers.
While we were outside playing in the front flower bed we decided we should check on the garden.  I picked four radishes, some spinach, and broccoli.  I  could not resist the radishes, so I tried them.  They were a little spicy but so tender and yummy.  I will try everything else at dinner tonight.  I love playing in the garden and the flower beds.  I enjoy being outside and seeing the things that my husband and I have planted together.   Our fig bush is going to be really big this year because we did not cut it back like we normally do.  I love figs so much and I must thank my Mom for that.   She has a fig bush and we always had fresh figs and fig preserves.  I do not know how to make preserves and we have never had enough figs to make any before but, I think this year we may have a bumper crop.   I will have to post some pictures of our garden and my flower bed once everything gets established, especially the sweet potato vine.

What a beautiful day. . .

Had such a wonderful day today.  Dear hubby and I spent the morning working in the yard.  We dug up some old things out of the yard and planted some new.  Cleaned the weeds out of our flower beds.  A beautiful morning.  We fixed our new bird feeder on it's pole with fresh bird food and suet bricks.  All the birds were out chirping and singing and flitting about.  We planted a new trumpet vine on the side of our house and planted some Day Lillies in the front flower bed.   It was so pretty out I hated to go in when we were through.
The boys had a fun day at the baseball field today too.  It was very relaxed and they both got some batting practice and field practice.  I got to spend some time with a friend while the kids were playing.  I love watching the boys play ball.  It does not matter what kind of ball, I just enjoy watching them play.  It was great being outside on this glorious day enjoying our many blessings.  What a great day!!