Succulent cuties!

Today I spied some changes in the succulent tires! One thing is that the Rattail Cactus my blogging friend, Claude had sent me, has finally put out a sideshoot! I am thrilled. It has been out in full sun for about 6 months already, but I am sad to say I have not gotten it planted into a larger pot yet. I need to get it into a hanging dish, and keep it in full sun...just need to get off my lazy (yet overly busy, if that is understandable) butt, and do it!
I am psyched, Claude!!!!!

Well, we'll just call this one BIG DADDY, and leave it at that!!!!!! Whew!

Here are a couple of cuties basking in the sun between a bunch of low growing Kalenchoe tubifloras, and Silver Squill...they look great together, don't they????? Yeah, baby!

And a few more pretties together! They love the winter sun!

My Kalenchoe (Mother of Thousands, or Millions, hehehe) is growing it's long stalk up to the sky to flower again...not much to see yet, but I took a few pics up close, and got this one. What a monster plant! Kinda scary/freaky looking!

Then my grandson and I went to PiZap, online photo editer, and had a little fun experimenting around, but ending up just adding some sunflowers for eyeballs. We decided that this guy is a BIG talker...and he's a little silly now!!! Hehehehe.

Hope you all have wonderful weekends wherever you are in the world!
xoxo- Julie

Thanks Yoon See!!!

My sweet blogging friend, Yoon See, from Malaysia sent me a really amazing gift! She is so generous and thoughtful! Thanks Yoon See! She sent a sweet mermaid bookmark with a strand of beads hanging down the tail, a cute fluffy kitty cat that is so adorable with a crocheted teeney little tail and a sweet little face, and a cute little Christmas Card. The stamps from Malaysia are so amazing too...I can't thank you enough, Yoon See!!! I love them all!!! Merry Christmas to you too, my friend!!! xoxo...Julie

OK...I have some inspiration!

First, I just have to record how delicious my egg, cheese and OKRA omelet was this morning...on toast! Sorry no pic...maybe on another day...it was really pretty with the pattern in the cut okra!!! Oh, silly me! I am thinking now, of maybe trying to print some snowflake patterns on paper using the cut okra! It can be very versatile! Hehehe.

Oh my goodness, did you all see this newest issue of Cloth, Scissors, Paper e-mail newsletter? The use of black gesso is so amazing...and her project is inspiring me...I think we will have a big crafting party one night soon when my DIL is off from work! I will take pics! Anyway...check out this black gesso...I never knew there was such a thing!!! LOL.

Have a happy, crafty week, I hope!

I saw Santa, and more tales from my world...

I saw Santa tonight! He was trying to sneak past, but I turned quickly and managed to snap a shot before he got away!!! Actually we were at a tree lighting and there he was! Very exciting! His beard was really awesome too! He had bells around his ankles at the top, and hanging down the side of his boots, and also had bells around his wrists, which we saw when he was rockin out to carols under the tree!!! He was a hip old man, I must say!!! After this we took the kids to a new carousel in town. This was their 3rd time going. It has horses on the outer edge, and the animals you can ride on the inner rings are all Florida animals...turtles, water birds, frogs, alligator, fish, etc. They have two spinning tea cups and a few benches if you just want to sit a spell. Right next to it, in the shopping center was a Whole Foods store, which Emily and I went into to see if they had any Swiss Chard. They had green and red, but no rainbow. I got the last red one they had. It's very pretty.
The grands are trying to sleep now, and I made myself a cup of Lady Grey tea...but this time I threw in a lemon-lime flavored Airborne tablet. I had never put one into a hot liquid before...that was a lot of fun!!! It started boiling so fast ...it's a fizzy tab with vitamins and minerals and herbs...it was done fizzing in about 5 seconds, it went so fast! Anyway, I took a sip, and was seriously blown away! The Airborne added an extra layer of flavor to the tea, and it somehow tastes very sturdy...as though it is gonna have my little head cold gone by tomorrow morning!!! I hope it will work some kind of magic on me! I really didn't need to be out in the night air, but, hey...you gotta have some fun, right???

My new rainbow love!!!

Rainbow swiss chard that is!!! Here are a few shots of some that my SIL sent over from her organic locally grown vegie box! She has got to start eating her vegies!!! LOL!

I had always heard that swiss chard was bitter. Well, nothing was further from the truth! I have since read that it does get bitter in the winter months, but all other times, it is tender, with a wonderful mild taste.
See how pretty the rainbow chard is? Red veins in the purple leaves, and yellow veins in some of the green leaves.

The stems are so pretty too! I am so goo-goo eyed over them; you can tell I am a SC virgin!!! Hehehe.

To cook them, my DIL sauteed in olive oil, used cumin, Worcestershire sauce, nutmeg, and a little chicken broth. That was a wonderful dish!!!Here is another recipe that showed up in my e-mail box tonight and looks fantastic! Organic Gardening.com's Stir fried Swiss Chard. I have not tried it yet...but sounds like it will be really vvbggood...I plan to as soon as possible!
I have been out looking at seeds for chard online, too...looks like you can keep your plants going for a whole year! May just want to avoid eating in the winter months due to bitter taste...;but I would have to try it to be sure that is really true!!! Do any of you have any experinces with Swiss Chard??? Do you like the taste. OH, BTW...it cooks very fast. 10 minutes. Period. Awesome. I like fast.