Confessions of a "bagaholic"

Today I was in Publix doing a little grocery shopping and I noticed they had their new ninety-nine cent Christmas shopping bags for sale. I had to buy the new ones because I am definitely a "bagaholoic." I rarely see a shopping bag I don't like. I think they are so much better than the terrible plastic bags they give you at the grocery store.

I think I will be giving some of these bags for Christmas. I don't intend to wrap them up and present them to someone. I plan to put a present inside, along with tissue paper and use them as I would a paper gift bag. The present will be on the inside AND on the outside -- very practical -- and as you can see they are decorative and colorful.

The only down side is that you often have the name of a business on the side. Not a wonderful thing but I think the person who receives the gift won't mind. It is nice to have good, heavy-duty shopping bags.

My sister actually gave me the idea. At a family birthday celebration she gave a gift using a great Tractor Supply bag as the gift bag. Everyone (including me) thought she was a genius for doing this.

While I was in Publix, buying my bags a nice gentleman told me they have customers who come in and buy a number of bags and use them for all their gift giving. I love the idea and I wouldn't mind if my presents all come in shopping bags, but what else would a "bagaholic" say.

A purple present

Yesterday we had my sister's birthday party. When she arrived presented ME with this beautiful potted plant she put together herself. She does have a green thumb. It's no wonder that I enjoy gardening with her because she just has the knack for this kind of thing.

The photo is not very good so I will tell you there are three plants in this pretty pot, a purple violet, purple passion and purple waffle. I really like her choice of plants because they really compliment each other. The colors and textures are very nice. I really love the purple passion because the leaves are covered with a bright purple fuzz. I have always loved violets, too. It reminds me of my grandmother who always had some really beautiful ones.

My sis also brought me a tile to sit under the plant and suggested I purchase some large beads to glue on for legs. I think this is a great idea and will help protect my table from water damage. She also told me I need to be sure to water from the bottom because watering from the top of the pot can cause these plants to rot or mold. The plants will absorb the water they need from the tray at the bottom. The plants are sitting under my skylights so they should get plenty of indirect sunlight.

Thank you sis. I really love my plants and hope I will take care of them as well as you would.

Recipe journal

 

A couple of weeks ago I was shopping online for a 2011 calendar and I ran across something I just had to have -- a recipe journal. I immediately purchased both the calendar and the journal and the later is, by far, my favorite purchase. I will admit I also liked my calendar but the recipe journal is something I know I will enjoy for years to come.

It is divided into sections, some named and some blank. It comes with stickers to name other sections and to add information to recipes. The front contains informational sections and the back has a handy index. I know I will enjoy it and it will be a helpful tool for me. I am always tearing out a recipe from a magazine or jotting down a recipe idea and this will help me keep them organized.

I like the index because I can flip there and easily find the recipe I need. They are divided into categories but the recipes listed there aren't alphabetical so the index with the page number next to it makes finding things so much easier. At the back there is a pocket where I can store clipped recipes and loose information.

I found it on Amazon and it is a Moleskine. It is about the size of a paperback book and fits in my purse. This was one of the best "gifts" I have bought for myself in a long time and I am sure I will get plenty of use from it.

Gardening in the "short days"

The days are really getting shorter and it it obvious that time is also short to grow anything but greens in our garden. Above the collards are looking good but this photo doesn't really do them justice. We have had a couple of frosty mornings but there hasn't been a freeze. That could happen at any time.

Eggplants are still growing -- now better than when the weather was hot. The recent heavy rain washed up a ton of dirt on the leaves but they are still growing and look pretty hardy.

Our gourds look good but the vines are a bit ragged. I think we will have at least a dozen gourds of varying sizes. They may not be fully dried until the summer but I suppose we will harvest them pretty soon. I don't want to touch them until they are ready. I just don't have any experience with gourds.

Surprisingly we have some tomatoes. I am hoping they begin to ripen soon, but we need daylight to ripen them. We even have some volunteer tomatoes coming up over close to the pumpkin vine. I think the only way we will get any tomatoes on those vines is in a greenhouse -- and we don't have a greenhouse.

Okra doesn't like cold weather and we were lucky to be able to pick any this week. No doubt the okra will be gone very soon.

We have been babying our pumpkin and hoping it will continue to grow. It doesn't have the prettiest shape but it is the best pumpkin we have grown so far. We should be able to use it for our Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. It is bigger than it looks in this photo and really heavy.

We are still getting some squash but it really doesn't look very good overall. I am afraid we are getting some powdery mildew. Very disgusting.

Todd comes out to the garden to supervise. Good job Todd. He won't let me pet him but he often comes up behind me and touches my leg, then runs away -- kind of like a game of tag. When we work in the garden he watches everything we do very closely.

The cucumbers have been slowly growing. We haven't been bombarded with them but it has been nice to have a few for our salads.

Working in the garden in the evenings is a struggle because there isn't very much daylight after 7:00 p.m. The short days and less sun means our garden season will soon be coming to a close. We really don't mind having the rest from picking vegetables, but we will miss them when they are gone.

Best design Hotel entrance

Trump international hotel entrance
Grand Hotel
Luxor Hotel

Grand Hotel Entrance
Table Bay Hotel Entrance

Best design Hotel entrance

Trump international hotel entrance
Grand Hotel
Luxor Hotel

Grand Hotel Entrance
Table Bay Hotel Entrance

Halloween recap and a really cute snack for anytime

This past weekend was quite busy for us. We were out of town, had a birthday and then we participated in an event at church. We had so much fun, but are a bit tired.

I must show you my grandchildren, all dressed up for Halloween. Bear with me because they were really cute. They are my favorite part of Halloween or any event or holiday, for that matter.

My granddaughter was a fairy, actually the tooth fairy. I made her costume. I wish I had been able to give it more time, but it is cute. She loved it and she will get to play dress up for some time with this costume. The wings alone (a Wal Mart special) were great. In the top photo she is outside and below that, when she came to my house, she really hammed it up while posing for photos for me. Her father said to look more natural but I loved the posing.

My grandsons were "Super Mario and Luigi." They love to play Wii and this is a perfect costume for them since they are brothers, so it really worked. Of course, I didn't make their costumes but these were cute and I could not have made them as for the price we paid on ready-made ones.

My friend Bonnie sent me a photo of a treat her daughter, Brooke, made for her son to take to school for a salty snack. This was a great idea and I really loved it. She used Sun (flower seed) butter because so many children can't even be in the same room as peanut butter. These snacks are so wonderful and much healthier than candy. I think these would be fun for children at any times, not just for Halloween.

You will need Ritz crackers, straight pretzels, sun butter or peanut butter and raisins for eyes. The assembly is the only thing that takes time and it is so much fun if you and your child can do it together.

Tomorrow I promise to give you a garden update.