MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM JULIE AND DOOZEY!

 Turn up the volume and watch this absolutely cutest video EVER!

A few succulents in the screenroom this morning!

I spotted them out there this morning, and decided to go out for a closer look. I love how the Donkey Ear leaf looks when it is either sun or water damaged, but yet the little baby at the end of the leaf is so happy and healthy. Succulents are amazing, and ultra cool!

Spent the day with Emily....

Around 3 pm on Friday, Miss Priss decided she wanted to take the bus to the mall. We walked 3 blocks to catch it. We were lucky it came by after only about 4 minutes.

We walked from one end of the mall to the other, doing whatever she wanted. We went upstairs and down, on escalators, stairs and elevators. We visited Build A Bear, had coffee (and a crushed ice fruit drink for her) at the Nordstrom E-bar. Then she wanted to walk from the mall to a nearby shopping center (about 3 blocks).....so we did.....sneaking through bushes, and stopping at a Hilton hotel on the way to check out the lobby, and have a look at the pool. We enjoyed a walk around a lake to get there. Then we rode the outdoor carousel twice, and the kiddy Christmas train all around the place. The weather was so beautiful.
On the walk back to the mall, we saw ducks (mom and babies). After we got back there, Emily just dropped down on the floor, and said in a long drawn out voice, "I'm tired"!!!!! I burst out laughing because she was so energized up to that point. Ha. Anyway, by then it was 6pm, and her Mom was just getting off work, so we rested on a nice padded bench there, and we pretended to do things the way a princess does, as compared to how Honey BooBoo would.....and she found that to be so funny, and silly....soon her Mom was there to get us. It was one of the most magical days I've had in a long time!

Look at what was in my laundry room!

We had to call a trapper when a small mammal was seen out in the laundry room last night. Turned out to be a medium sized opossum. It had built a nest of leaves and a few socks....way up high on top of wooden shelves. They had him in no time, and will release him out in the woods. We had a few holes to the outside, which they securely covered.....and now we can rest easy! This was a bit of excitement today. The grandkids loved it. Opossums are really cute, with their sweet little pink noses!

A pretty bouquet for my daughters birthday.

M daughter turned 23 on Friday, and my miniature rose bushes have been doing so well, i put together different colors and types for her birthday table.

I think I may have made an amazing discovery!  I received a cute little bottle of fertilizer from my friend for my birthday. Honestly, the only thing I read on the bottle was the very simple instructions on the cap. 1 tablespoon in a gallon of water. So, i mixed it up and put it on all the plants in my tire garden. You see, my husband and I were leaving on a 3 day trip, so I hurriedly did it as we were just about to leave.

Well, when we returned, everything was growing like gangbusters! I had two eggplants, ready to pick, that I had not even seen on the bushes before we left.  The rose bushes not only were MUCH LARGER, but masses of roses were blooming, and the flower heads seem like they are twice as big!!! My tomato bushes had seemingly larger tomatoes that what they should have. I'm really not kidding!

Now.....are you wondering what this miracle juice is????

It is made by Bonnie Plants, called Herb and Vegetable Plant Food.  It is sold at garden centers, Lowes, and probably Home Depot. A little green jug containing magic....if you ask me. ;)

This is just my own assessment....i have nothing to do with this company. I am about to go all around my yard and put this stuff around all my plants. I am actually wondering what it would do for my yard....
And my hibiscus. I would really like to push them to their maximum bloom potential. I will report what happens, for sure.

I fertilized the repotted red and white begonias that I had cut back as well, just today. I can hardly wait to see how that pot looks in a week!

Hope everyone has a great upcoming week!!!

A holiday style outdoor mud kitchen!

We moved a few things outside to a readily muddy area near a place where we can keep an eye on grand-girly. I was inspired by a mud kitchen  my blogger pal over at Messyfish, had made for her son. Of course, she tries to use mostly all natural elements, but I have a bunch of plastic here, which I used so that we could get it going much quicker! She must have spent at least 3 hours out there!  When her brother got home from school, he joined her. This is such a hit! We do have to have  one rule though.....the holes dug in the dirt must be filled at end of playtime.    No broken hips for this grandma!!!!
Note the beautiful mud cake "dough" in the cooler, with floral ingredients! Beautiful. She was delighted mixing it up!  We put Christmas lights and balls on the jasmine covered gate as well, for a well lit holiday kitchen at night!  Tomorrow I will go through my pots and pans and find some old ones for her, and we are keeping an eye open for a free coffee table to add, that we can paint burners on the top, for a stove.  I believe this will be a fun activity for Donovan (age almost 8) to paint.
If you have any young people around....give an outdoor mud kitchen a try!!!  It is truly enchanting for them!
                              

My new holiday bouquet!

When I cut my Black Knight bushes (to keep them bushy), I brought in the cuttings and arranged them in a mug (the only place the grandkids normally can't reach).....and between the deep purple stems and leaves, and white puffy balls, HELLO CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

My little tire garden today.

I just got outside to water and take a few pictures of my garden at start of our best gardening season ((Oct.-April). It is alive with color right now. You can see all the zinnias, which are blooming their fool heads off right now, the roses, some succulent shots, and how full the Black Knight has gotten and covered in blooms! The puffs are at each branching along each stem.....you can trim them and still have millions of blooms! Incredible. I love them all so much! My mum is shaggy right now, but is covered in more buds, so hope to see more flowers soon.  The one picture of two tiny flowers were weeds just handed to me by Emily, my 4 year old granddaughter, and of course i needed a shot of them!  The one picture of a restaurant we visited in Okeechobee, Florida, was called Cowboys. It was pretty cool. Our steaks were not all that great, but I feel they are doing a lot of things right, as it was packed on a Monday night.....clearly the place to be for food in this town!

Getting into the Christmas spirit already!

My husband and I spent the night across the street from Downtown Disney at Disney World, Orlando. We walked from  one end to the other, and it is beautifully lit. We ate at Fultons Crab House, on a paddleboat (absolutely devine food, if you go there), we saw multiple amazing musicians along Pleasure Island, and it was cold and breezy out.....very invigorating!!!

The drawn Christmas tree is one I scribbled out on a paper tablecloth the other night at a restaurant back home. We all decided to draw something while we waited for our food, and a Christmas tree popped out. Strange.

We also attended Santas arrival at our local mall, with a dance party with the reindeer, elves, Santa himself, and a snow queen ((all on stilts).

I wish I could be a kid today....it is all so magical!  I get to be a grown up kid, and sometimes the magic stll gets to me.

Hope everyone has a magical holiday season!