Summer Spruce Up Linky: Planted

On this gorgeous summer day, I'm linking up at Better with Age to show off some of Big Red's gardening guru-ness. (guruosity? I make up words for alliterative purposes.)  

Big Red is on a mission to find unique planters.    I have to guard things I don't want filled with flowers, or he will drill holes in them and stuff them full of geraniums.  

Today's tour: the deck.  After a cool, wet May, we didn't get our bedding plants started before school was out, so things still look a bit sparse.  In a few weeks, they'll be lush and gorgeous.

 This washtub was my grandmother's.

  

Instead of dirty socks, now it holds dragonwing begonias and some sort of unidentified trailing greenery. 

The deluxe-version double washtub came with our house. 

 It holds perennial, bad-to-the-bone purple veronica, vinca, verbena, coleus, and petunias.  

Big Red used his mad bargaining skilz to acquire this wooden barrel. 

 (Purple flower: haven't got a clue.)

Gerber daisies love this spot of our house.  The concrete planters were on my grandmother's steps.

 This old bucket held everything from snap beans to bubbly car-washing water when I was growing up.  It's dented because, ahem, we have a 16-year old driver around our house. 

I'm blessed to have a husband with a green thumb!  It's a pleasure to look out the window or come up the driveway to a yard full of special objects and beautiful blooms.  

Garden designer: Big Red

Garden producer: God 

Be blessed today,

Ginger

Hello Monday: Of Birthdays, Beaches, and Brownie Batter Pancakes

Hi, Y'all.

Didn't intend to disappear for the week; in fact, I find myself with so many potential blog posts that I might have to make myself a list so I remember them all.

Gasp.

We slipped away to the shore for a few days and discovered there was no wi-fi.

Double-gasp.

It was, as DD#1 declared, probably a conspiracy to enhance family bonding.

Undoubtedly.

We had lots of family bonding and lots of sitting around doing nothing.  

I realized sometime Friday that, other than Bible study (which was definitely thought-provoking), I'd not thought about anything important (truthfully, not anything at all) for three days.  

Quite lovely.

So now it's back to real life and lots of things to think about, not the least of which is that today is DD#2's birthday.  

I now have two in high school.

In other news, I got my hair colored for the first time two weeks ago.  

It's possible those events are related.

Now that's she's 14, she wants things low-key.  Time with a friend later this week, but today, a favorite meal and 

brownie batter pancakes for breakfast.

(Chocolate for breakfast.  That's my girl.)

via Chocolate Covered Katie

These are the moderately healthy pancakes floating around Pinterest for a while.  I'll let you know if  they're as good as they look.

Be blessed,

Ginger

Little Spots of Joy

Today is my birthday.

It's a simple pleasures day.

Big Red took me to breakfast, which is one of our favorite dates.

Today and tomorrow are staff-development days.  School days without students are *almost* like holidays.

My desk is clean(er), and I've got a rough plan for the days up until state testing.

At home, my girls had folded clothes and cooked supper, and DD#1 is making me peanut butter chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache. (About eleventy-million WW points.)

Big Red bought me a travel mug so I'd stop swiping his.

I bought wrinkle cream. *wink*

What are your simple pleasures?

Be blessed,

Ginger

Cast of Characters

Last night a discussion ensued at my house about bloggy pen names. In the interest of internet security (and to save my kids any unnecessary humiliation), my husband and I decided that rest of the family would remain somewhat anonymous. My first thought was to call my girls by their nicknames. I LOVE nicknames; we just add to the growing list of them periodically. Consequently, my kids were to be known as Mel and Squeak. I failed to take into consideration that one of my kids is 13, and that means everything I do is embarassing.

"Do you," she asked her sister, " really want to be known all over cyberspace as Squeak?" The younger one pondered this.

"At least it's not 'Doodles' or 'Munchkin'."

This went on for a while. Though it is tempting at this point to refer to them as "Thing One" and Thing Two", we have settled, for the time being, on DD#1 (short for "Darling Daughter") and DD#2.

So without further ado, allow me to introduce you to the folks who rock my world! (Actually, they are my world.) Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Big Red is my husband. He picked his handle all by himself. This should tell you quite a lot about him already. He is God's gift to me. As a teacher and coach, the Lord is using him to shape the lives of boys who don't have a loving father, and I am immensely proud of him. We laugh, we talk, we argue, we adore one another. He's my best friend.
DD#1 is officially a teenager. She is funny and smart and insightful, and when she remembers that teens are allowed to use words other than "stupid" or "unfair" or "amazing", she is one of the most interesting people I know. God has taken this child on a fast track; in many ways she has had more than her share of trials, but He has begun a good work in her, and He will be faithful to complete it. She loves children and books and her small group at church. She wants to be a nurse, and she will be fantastic at that.
DD#2 in those golden years between lower elementary and teendom. She is independent and thoughtful and shy. She is a born encourager; we say sometimes that DD#1 might cure cancer, but DD#2 will hold your hand when you've got it. She wants to be something new every day: an author, an artist, a missionary, a preschool teacher. None of those things precludes the others, so I say, go for it, girlfriend. When she doesn't have her nose in a book by herself, she still lets me read to her. This child is directly responsible for this blog's existence, so let's add persistant to her list of characteristics!
Frisky is the dog. He weighs about 45 lbs and sheds dramatically, so if I pet him, he gets in my lap. I pet him cautiously if I don't have time to change clothes.
Greyley is the cat. She and Big Red have a grudging respect for each other, because he is bigger, but she is the superior hunter. She and I get along fine; she sniffs approvingly at her Walmart brand Urinary Health cat food, and I leave the room with all the dignity of an English butler.
That's our wild household. Nice to meet you!
Ginger

PS Clueless Blogger Question #2: How do you add links to other blogs on your sidebar? The other blogs I read have about a zillion followers already, but I'd like to do this just for fun.