I'm back! Look out world!

WOW what a week! Not really in a good way but I won't bore you with the details ... just getting over a stomach bug. Yuck!

So between all the rain, sun and despite the cooler than normal temperatures, the gardens are looking FREEKING AMAZING!!!! We gotta take pictures soon and post them. I am so excited! The vines are growing like crazy (especially the hops), the hostas look amazing, I put mulch in the front gardens and part of the back gardens. I've got to replace a few of the ornamental grasses 'cause the one we picked last year doesn't seem to be doing much of anything. Although there is some growth. Speaking of growth, I've got a serious case of aphids on a couple of my roses. YEESH! Apparently nasturtiums repel aphids. In the meantime, insecticidal soap is about to be my friend!

The containers (baskets, boxes, planters) are all going crazy! They look so good! Of course last year I used the cheaper container soil and everything dried out like crazy despite all the rain we had and we never did install the rain barrel. This year, moderate rain, full barrel and great container soil ... haven't had to water much. I bought 3 water globes for the 3 baskets under the carport 'cause they're in a difficult location to water and they're doing a bang-up job! We'll see how they do in the hot weather ... I'm only filling the globes once a week right now.

I am totally in heaven. Got home, had a quick bite, got out in the gardens and just wandered around, figuring what I needed to water and then my neighbour arrived to check out a sick rose (aphids ... blast them) and we got talking and touring and then I went down to her house and next thing I new it was 7:45 and we still had dishes, showers, and I wanted to update my blogs tonight 'cause I've been neglecting you guys terribly.. I know, life just hasn't been the same without my rambling LOL.

Another passion of mine ... cooking ... bought the latest issue of Fine Cooking and realized how much I miss actually preparing a meal. We've been throwing food together for far too long (hasn't helped my figure any). It'll take this weekend to finish the outside projects and then we'll have our time back. And we've committed to coming straight home after work (no errands if we can help it ... that's Saturday or Sunday mornings after latte ... or maybe before latte and then we can come home from errands and have LOOOONG latte on deck ... ooooo .... might be on to something there) and actually prepare a real meal, complete with a glass of wine. that's another thing I miss ... trying new wines. So much to catch up on.

Well ... I hate to disappoint you, but SYTYCD is starting shortly and I still have a couple of things to do before 9 (7 minutes to go!) 'cause then I have to get to bed at 10 so I can get up at 4:30 and do an upper body workout before going to work. YEESH!

I'm baaaaack!