New Brothers and Sisters

I'm all sorts of excited to go home this Easter to meet the 5 newest members of my family; Haily, Michael, Alex, Krystal, and Joshua. Our family has been given the opportunity to add these beautiful children to our family and we are very excited. Michael is already there, Krystal will be back on Sunday and Haily, Alex, and Joshua will be joining in on Thursday. So our already growing family of 10 just jumped to 15! How exciting, eh? Anyway, it is just a really great blessing and I am just excited to get to be a part of it at Easter.

Ok, I am officially a magnet for people who don't look both ways before pulling out of a parking lot or something like that. Granted I drive more than most people because of my job, but this is getting ridiculous! Once again I was driving today, and some kid in his volvo pulled out right in front of me. It was like deja vu all over again. I had two choices because I didn't have time to stop; I could t-bone the other car and risk serious injury or swerve and try to miss him and potentially run off the road. I chose option two, still hit the other car, but not too bad and did end up totally off the road. And once again I was in my work truck. So my truck is now officially out of commission and in the mean time I am driving a new ford edge. I kinda like it, it's much smaller and lower to the ground than I am used to, but so far . . . I like it. Granted, I really don't like having to get into an accident to get to try out a new car.

So . . . really?

Usually winter is the slow time of year for me. I don't work as many hours, I get extra projects done, more sleep, all sorts of a nice slow time. Not so much this year. Combine the purchase of my house, with being short staffed in my department, way more snow than normal, and working for a company that is growing by leaps and bounds despite a looming recession and there is no such things as extra time. I find it very interesting at work that we are all looking forward to Spring and wishing it would just speed up and get here. In fact one of my employees has a countdown posted. Spring is supposed to be the dreaded time of year for us. We are crazy busy and don't even have time to breath, but this year; it can't come soon enough!

Chicago Auto Show

After not being able to talk anyone into going with me last year I was not about to miss this years auto show. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a serious infatuation with cars. More than one man has been a little intimidated by it which actually cracks me up a little. In any case I love cars. And one of my favorite things is classic muscle cars. A few years ago when the new Ford Mustang body style came out and returned the look to that of classic muscle I was so excited. Then Dodge followed suit with the Charger, Chrysler 300C, etc. But now, there's the Dodge Challenger brought back to life and totally awesome! So yesterday I got to see the preview at the auto show and I am telling you it is even more awesome in real life than a picture could ever let you imagine! So in case you didn't pick up on it, I liked it. I enjoyed the auto show as always. The friend that I talked into going with me were unfortunately not half as excited as I was about it so they hurried me through. Sad, I know. I will just have to plan better next year and make sure to schedule a time with my friends that really love cars.

So Ready for Spring!

Ok, I don't know about anyone else, but I could not possibly be more ready for Spring. This has been snowiest winter in at least 30 years and it is only February. And at that it is only the middle of February. We still have over one more month of winter left. I know that with work my life in the Spring gets really hectic and chaotic and I am running around like a mad woman, but you know what . . . I am ready for it so bring it on! I just can't wait for the temperatures to warm up so that I can ride my bike or play with the dog outside. Winter kills me cause I feel like I am locked up in the house. Granted there are always places to go and things to do, but I just like to be able to come home and not have to stay inside the house. My new house has a big backyard for Cletus to play in but I can't let him out there for very long when it is this cold. So we are both looking forward to the Spring. At work the count down has officially started. There are officially 33 days till Spring.

Plant by Number

So I spend a lot of my time in my career designing custom container plantings. People ask me every day where they can find container ideas that will tell them what plants to use and where to place them and everything that they need. There are a couple of options, but one that I have found that I really like is www.plantbynumber.com This site was created by the folks at Ball Seed (which if you don't know is one of the largest seed producers and distributors in the world). They use this as a tool to market their product to the home gardener. Even as a professional I check it out from time to time just to be reminded how different plants interact with each other. I will admit that there is plant material that they suggest that I wouldn't use. That being said keep in mind that I am focused on the commercial setting. I need tough and hardy plant material that doesn't need any special attention to thrive. Most home gardeners can give special attention to their container gardens so this is not the same kind of an issue for them. I'm not one of them, by them time I get home from dealing with everyone else's flowers all day I really have no energy to give any special attention to mine, but I still manage nice flower displays most years. I just end up using the tough stuff.