Planting Wisdumb from a (Gang) Grene Thumb

So, here's a recap of the day...

I hauled everyone out of bed this morning before 8:00 to get Dasha to her physical therapy appointment. I ended up without a shower and had to grab the kids breakfast on the go which wasn't budgeted for and had zero nutritional value. We did make it to the appointment on time, though. Dasha went back to work and the rest of us sat in the waiting room which has a cute little playhouse and some other toys which usually keep Annie entertained. However, I looked over to see her crouched in the corner of the house. It's a pose that every mom knows. Each child seems to assume a different pose but they all seem to go to a certain area and get a certain "look." Annie's look definitely said that she was taking care of major business in the corner of the playhouse. Normally, I'd just kind of snicker to myself and think, "Wow! I'm glad she's stinking up this joint and not my house!" However, my first thought was, "Hmmm... Do I have a diaper in the car?" Since I ran out in a hurry I hadn't grabbed the diaper bag which actually now just consists of one diaper and a small pack of wipes but one diaper and a few wipes could have saved the day. And, of course, I'd forced Grant to clean the van out and get all of the odds and ends from under the seats and put them into a huge IKEA bag and stick them in the garage so I could vaccuum the van so there went any chance of there being an odd diaper laying around. Crap. Crap. And more Crap! Literally. Did I mention that Annie's plumbing has been backed up again? Yesterday, I laced two of her drinks with MiraLax. I knew from the way she waddled out of the playhouse that the MiraLax had done it's job. Crap. So, I sent Grant to scour the van for any kind of diaper hidden away in a pocket or cubby. Thankfully, he found one. It was two sizes too small but who cares! By the time all of this drama was over and everyone had been cleaned up, Dasha's appointment was finished and we headed home.

For some reason, Annie didn't sleep too good again last night and she was exhausted and ready for a nap by the time we got home. Remember yesterday, when I mentioned that my small group had completely overhauled my yard? Well, what I didn't realize is that they'd also snuck inside and filled the fridge. When I went to get Annie's milk this morning, I was shocked to see a full fridge. Wow! I never knew there was a fridge fairy. I've heard of the tooth fairy and laundry fairy (never seen her, though) but never the fridge fairy. The kids took the opportunity of me being ready to put Annie down for her nap as a good excuse to eat the pizza that the fairy left. I admit, it was really good! (As I poured Annie's drink, though, she said, "I want it too full!" I guess she always hears me tell the big kids not too fill her cup "too full")!

Anyway, Annie went down for a nap and I worked on cleaning up and actually got some more school stuff done. Yesterday, I went to the School Box store and bought a new bulletin board set. I started punching it out and I actually got more excited about going back! I was in a good mood. The big kids were in good moods. But then Annie got up.

She was NOT in a good mood. She refused to come downstairs. It seriously took her almost 20 minutes to come down and she did nothing but whine and cry the whole time. I sure didn't stand there and give her an audience but the performance could be heard all over the house!!!

Anyway, she did finally get herself together. I'm wondering if her stomach is hurting and making her so grumpy. She's had two more diaper blow outs since this morning. I gave her the normal dose of the MiraLax but maybe it was just too much.Who knows!

So, after a pretty boring day, I managed to get the kids to all bathed and headed to bed. I had one more task to take care of, though, before I could call it quits for the day.

After my mom saw what an incredible job the group did on my yard, she really thought it needed some finishing touches like flowers. OK. I can't even make the statement, "I don't have a green thumb." That's just not severe enough. I'm a plant killer! Nothing lives in my yard or anywhere else that is supposed to thrive on water and sunlight alone. But, Mom insisted. She had taken some cuttings from some plants in my Grandma's yard in Alabama. I don't even know what kind of flowers they are! However, she came over and gave me a lesson in how to properly plant them and then told me to do the rest. Now, I might could have handled 5 or 10 of these suckers but I think were about 100 of them! She wanted each one planted in a separate hole. My first thought was, "I'll just dig a few big holes and throw the cuttings in and make sure they're all standing upright and maybe she'll never notice." That plan didn't work.

You can't clearly see just how many of these things there were!

So, as little piss ants crawled up my shorts and all over my legs and mosquitoes dive bombed me, I started planting these blasted little plants. Don't get me wrong. I love the look of flowers but I don't love the upkeep! So, I think I dug about three holes and started putting the little limp little flowers in them and suddenly had a great idea!

Don't tell me I'm not igneous! I grabbed a screw driver and started jabbing holes into the dirt and then stuffing the plants in the holes. It worked perfectly. I didn't have random little piles of dirt everywhere and the mulch didn't keep getting mixed in with the dirt. I really thought I had the best invention that anyone had ever dreamed up. I could plant 10 of the little buggers in the time it had taken me to plant one!

At one point, a lady walking down the side walk kind of gave me a sideways glance. I knew she must be mesmerized over my "invention" and I was quite sure that she was going to pick up the pace and run home and try it out! Then, one of the neighbors came over and commented on the group that worked in the yard yesterday and how nice everything looked. I think she was also just looking at how cool my new method of planting was.

Um, wrong.

Maybe these ladies were looking at what I was doing but in my excitement, I'd neglected to see that my V-neck shirt had become sort of a U-necked shirt and was exposing things that really never should see the sunlight! I talked to both ladies for several minutes each with my shirt hanging down below my bra. Seriously? Could one of those ladies not have simply said, "Hey, put the produce back in the box!" At that point, I really didn't care too much about my screw driver planting method and I just wanted to get finished and back inside. I was (and still am) seriously embarrassed.

I finally got all two zillion little plants in the ground. It felt good to have been productive beyond cleaning a baby's butt today! Hopefully, the little plants will take root and bloom and make the HOA have to award me Yard of the Month despite their nasty notes to me. Boy, I'd sure love to see that!

So, now the house, drive way, fence, and sidewalk have all been pressure washed. The fence was repaired (wow, don't ever remember it opening easily). Everything has been pruned and edged. And, two zillion little Alabama plants have been planted. I like knowing that the outside of the house looks incredible (in my humble opinion).

Now that the darling little AL plants have been rooted, I can head to bed. My "new" rules are that I be in bed by 11:00. NO napping when Annie naps and shower before bed and not in the morning. (I'm so tired of having to rush through a shower and never getting to shave both legs on the same day or forgetting to wash the conditioner out because I'm running to see who is screaming)! Anyway, I'm hoping that this new schedule will help ease me back into my routine of getting up at 5:30 and leaving the house at 6:30. Trying to get everyone out of the house this morning by 8:15 almost killed me! Tomorrow morning, I have an eye doctor appointment at 8:00. Ha! We'll see how fun that is! I wonder if I asked the doctor to dilate everyone's eyes if that would stun them into silence long enough for me to pick out a new pair of glasses? Hmmmm.... But, I'm not dreading heading to bed. I started reading a new book today that really piqued my interest. It's called Grace Walk by Steve McVey. I only read a few pages of it but I'm looking forward to snuggling up in bed for a bit a reading (while hoping that Mr. Sandman sees my good behavior and rewards me with a dump truck full of sand on his first drive by and not at 3:00 when he seems to make another round)! If cookies and milk attract Santa Claus, I wonder what would get Mr. Sandman's attention? I sure need to find out to get on his good side!

Good night!