NOTHING IN PARTICULAR PART 3

Here we go on another adventure! Hold on to your hats!

Relax, put your feet up (or in my case today, your foot with an ice pack, LOL) have a piece of Trick-or-Treat candy (you deserve it!) pand enjoy! This conversation started on another thread about dollar C & S plants but went off topic many, many times as fellow C & S lovers discovered that they had million other things in common. We are still enjoying each others company, this is the 3rd thread since they tend to get lengthy.

This is a thread about Nothing in Particular where we talk about what is really going on in our little plant-lovin lives. You never know where we will go.... we may meander off into Ragdolls, paper dolls, heat waves, (both exterior and interior, LOL), passion vs obsession (plants, of course, silly!) and of course more confessions than the Vatican on a holiday weekend.
*****Warning for the serious: if you have never watched Oprah with a box of kleenex, if you would rather stick cactus spines under your nails than watch "Bridget Jones diary", and MOST importantly if you consider having 10 plants in your collection to be enough, this could get uncomfortable for you!!!*****

Nothing is off-topic here, as long as it meets acceptable use policies. Be good and have fun.


This message was edited Nov 1, 2006 11:32 AM

Good morning, everyone! I'm sitting here with my foot propped up and ice on the ankle, got a good nights sleep last night so I am raring to go!

The chairman of the board at our bank (a good friend and my employer) had a big 50th birthday bash last night, since I had sprained my ankle at lunchtime I showed up in a lovely ensemble of black accented green jewelry, bedroom slippers and an ace bandage. We had a blast, though.

My LH and I left early, the party was going strong. It will be interesting to see who is hurting this morning around the conference table.

This weekend I am repotting C & S. I realize now that I should have done this when I first got them, the stupid peat has turned to cement. The weather for the next week should be decent so I am chancing it by soaking them from the bottom, getting as much peat off as possible as quickly as possible during the warm part of the day, leaving them to dry overnight if necessary, and repotting. I can't think of anything else that will work. My bad, I thought I was doing such a great job of not overwatering but a couple of them have attempted suicide dives out of their little pots....they are still in good shape but it gave me a good look at how nasty the peat is.

My LH has finished the 1st coat of paint in our guest bedroom and my HD bakers rack shipped 10/13 via mule train, hopefully it will be here this weekend so we can set it up when the 2nd coat of paint dries. then I can move the C&S and a few tropicals in. I'm taking the plumeria out of their pots and putting them in the shed. A few pups off my bromeliads to glue onto the Bromiliad tree we made 3 years ago- still sitting empty- I am doing an experiment with the mama plants, they sat out last winter (a mild one) and did fine. I'm going to push the envelope again this year.

My baby aloes - the unusual ones- are still blooming. If I can remember to get a pic during lunch time I will.

Have a fantastic Friday!

Erin (plantnutga)

Thankyou Erin for starting another thread...no one does an opening monologue quite like you!! I think i requested another thread just to see what you would write!.. Superlative of course.... ! Hope your foot feels better! how annoying when we are injured, really impacts our way of life?! Now, stop your partying and get those little guys potted up! Boy, Can we ever chat...not me of course...my posts are so concise and to the point...aren't they? (chuckle). sue

Ya'll are a trip....I'm telling you!! Erin - your poor ankle!! But isn't it great *snicker* when you at least injure yourself while in close proximity to your PCP?! Seriously, I hope it's not too bad!!! I have to agree with Sue...I love your thread openers!!! Sit here laughing to myself...catching the patients looking at me oddly as I'm giggling at the computer screen! Now THAT'S funny!! Please post pics of you aloes (you know those babies are close to my heart) and the Bromiliad tree. I've ALWAYS wanted to do that!! Are you using driftwood, grapewood or what for the "tree?" As for the dreaded peat moss...yepper...good to get them out ASAP...I think I let 1 or 2 sit for a month...wasn't a good idea!! Mercy!!! Tell them mules to giddee-up and go...so you can get your baker's rack in!!!
Sue - chat? Us? Perish the thought...LOL
Auto Alert!!! My van was making "funny" noises...OMG...estimate? $1700.00...I'm going to cry now...after I get a 2nd and 3rd "opinion" on those repairs...ugh!!!

God!! Chantell, $1700!!! Most deffinitely get some opinions...i still think those auto places see a woman, and up goes the price!!! had a brake guy tell me $1,000.00 to fix some brakes. put the car up on the hydraulic lifts and pointed out things...of course i DIDN't have a clue of what he was talking about..what a phony!!!....went to hubby..who really didn't want to do it...however....25.00 later...Honest!!! they were fixed..he was so outraged by that rip-off place!!! It is still in business..even our local news..reported this place as "dubious"...when a number of customers complained....good luck!! still another to the point post...lololol...i give..i am just a gabby ol' broad..going to get some homeowner's insurance rates...this oughta be pretty horrible!!!!!

Yeah, I know....*sniffle, sniffle* My ex just informed me his mechanic was MUCH cheaper...labor is 1/2 rate...so that would be $500 less....

Yeah for new thread - Erin you truly have the gift for writing! I am envious as heck - I hardly ever get to be creative when I translate, I have to be correct and stick to subject, not verbatim, but localize the text and sometimes I feel I have no linguistic challenges! :) I got lucky ONCE and got to more or less rewrite a poorly written document from Norwegian source language to English - it was however about medieval coins (numismatic) so there was a limit to how artistic I could be! LOL

Weeds - I loved your previous description of the "gang"....you had me howling at our female Dr. Phil! - "International translators...Indonesian hybrids.. Our own Dr. Phil in female form..our young feisty child executive clawing her way up the corporate ladder...a wannabe origami" artist" that rambles on in her dotage!" Oh my is all I can say! I am learning as I type!
The only draw-back with working from home is I get too engrossed in my work and don't get out much - I love having my own time (sort of, deadlines can be a pain), get up when I feel like it and keep very erratic hours - but, I do not have much human companionship - so "talking" to y'all about "other stuff" than my job is awesome, I "talk" to people all day via IM and e-mails, but it is nearly 95% always about work and that can get monotonous - how much fun is discussing Norwegian terminology on Schizophrenia?
I guess what I am trying to say is thanx y'all for making my day more fun and giving me a needed reprieve from the mundane tasks I have sometimes! :) Talking 'bout C&S is one thing, getting into lengthy confessions and discussions about Origami is a totally different animal!
Chantell - check out Lake Ridge auto by Safeway (on the corner of PRPKW and Old Bridge Road) for a second opinion - the quoted price sounds a tad high.

As always, great intro, Erin..! Thanks for starting up a new one.
Hope your ankle won't bother you too long.

Chantell, sorry for your car problem..! UGH!!! Go get a second opinion, definitely..! Can't believe people would still try to make money off someone else's misery. Especially after reading Sue's post, $1000 down to $25? What's up with that? UNBELIEVABLE!!

BTW, has anyone ordered from Buried Treasures before? They have quite nice selections of Euphorbia Milii and prices aren't bad.
After seeing some of Sue's there, and out of the blues when I was talking to my mom, she told me I should get one of this thing for good luck, odd, isn't it? They used to have small ones in HD, Lowe's a couple of months back, now they're all gone. I checked out Garden Watchdog, the review's pretty good, most of the negatives that they have seems to be when they were on Ebay.

Confession o' the day: refer to the last paragraph. Yeah, I kinda ordered some from them last night...*blushing*....On my defense, my gum was/is pounding from the surgery, and I need to do something about it while the pain killer was kicking in. Is that relevant? :o)

Have a wonderful Friday!!!!!!

This message was edited Oct 27, 2006 10:44 AM

I love it!! Isn't that what Becky called Retail Therapy?!!! Thanks all...working on 2nd opinions as I type. Dear ole dad is helping me out - have mercy...poor man probably wonders when I'll stop bugging him - he's got a heart of gold...very blessed to have him!! I think I'll be taking it to "God's country" where I told ya'll the labor rate was 1/2 price. Hate driving that far - roundtrip 2x but if you can save $500...well I say Road Trip!! How many plants can $500 buy anyway?

Hi Guys! Some interesting posts here!! Good for you Chantell...and glad you have a dad looking out for you...we all need a little support when venturing into the nuts&bolts jungle! Becky, you do have the most obscure subjects to translate??From medieval coins to Schiz...That would be difficult to write in english much less a foreign lanquage!! Yes, our "private" thread..but of course any newcomers are so welcome!!!! We like to hear griping from other sources too...makes us feel like we are not alone! I pop in to see what you all are doing..during the day and night...It's like having a personal support team? (warm fuzzy feeling..lol!)..of course we all cheer each other on into dept! BK, wish i could offer some cuttings of my Thai hybrids..but i am afraid to lop them just yet..i keep hoping to get more at the next plant fair..where i bought mine..if they have one i might pick up extras..if anyone is interested..just post it on "our" thread, ok? bye for now..still having no success with insurance..as some of you know Fla. is having an Ins. crisis right now....many companies don't want to insure "the big foot".....and have pulled out of this state all together or went out of biz. (my former company)...

Dear Fellow DGers,
It has been 6 days since my last confession. Today I confess to purchasing 5 hostas. They were on sale for $5 ea., normally they were $24.99, so what could I do? I know that does not absolve me of guilt, but please grant me Mercy.
In Sincere Repentance,
Melissa

-o- Melissa...i laughed and laughed...ok, go my child and sin no more (at least until tomorrow) your penance shall be......i can't think of anything terrible enough for your sins O fallen daughter of Boxford...ye must sacrifice 12 mealies on the altar of terra-cotta...and thou shall be granted mercy....amen.

Oh Melissa...that's nothing to CONFESS about....that's something to BRAG about!!! You SAVED $100!!!! Whaaa Whoooo!!

Sue...re the ins....I'm so sorry!! That has got to be beyond difficult...why don't cha just move up here now...not so difficult to get ins. here...well, as long as you don't admit to owning one of "those" breeds. Personally I have all "mixed breeds" - ok...that's what it says on paper at least. *stepping OFF soap box now*

Yes, I second what Chantell wrote - nothing to confess, that is a STEAL!

The Virginians have spokes....tis all good!!! LOL

Chantell, I haven't shopped for ins. for about 20 yrs.! And you are right....one of the questions was: Do you own any dogs...i asked why and she told me the "bite ratio"...amazing! never would have thought of that one! So rotties are only "chiwa-wa's" in ins. speak...lol..sue

You girls kill me...you know I've preached to my little ones (girls-7&9) that they can NOT be on chat rooms, for safety reasons (I am a very paranoid momma when it comes to them) so one day my 9yo was sitting on my lap while I was reading/writing on one of these "threads" and she said "Mom, isn't this a chat room?". What could I say... but that everyone was really nice and we were just talking about plants. Then I showed her some pics of all of you!!! How's that for being called on the carpet! They were both baptized a few Sundays ago. The little one came up out of the water giggling...what a goof. It was so cute and broke some of the ice. I thought pastor was going to start laughing too. He enjoys both of them. My ex-mother-in-laws church that I used to go to and know a lot of people there, and ex-relatives that still love me. Just me and the little ones go. My husband won't except for special stuff.

Where did this come from...Melissa. Good buy. Enjoy!!!

My oldest daughter(29) has a green thumb and enjoys all sorts of plants too. My next oldest(23) got into plants this year when fixing up around her fiance's home. They are getting married in May and I will have some sewing to do (bridesmaids, jr bridesmaid, and flower girls). My oldest is an LPN and is so smart, I hope that when her last little one gets in school next year that she goes back to school. She is going to help me with some iris hybridizing next year. My 23 yo is in elementary ed and will just have student teaching to do next fall.

You all have a great evening. It's out sports bra shopping for the 9yo tonight!!! Here's one of my babies.

Laura

Hey laura! If this isn't a "chatroom" i don't know what else we could call it! You were "busted"!! Your babies are so cute!! You should be so proud to have such a nice and smart family...bra shopping for a nine yr. old?? sigh.. They start so early being little females...let us know how it goes...should be interesting...little girls are so selfconcious! you are going to sew the whole wedding party!? Wow! Hope you post us some pics of that..take care, sue

Thank you everyone!!!

This kill is from a private "boutique" nursery- Wolf Hollow in Ipswich, MA.

I DO feel like the theme from "Jaws" should be playing when I enter a nursery- I am SUCH a bottom feeder!!! I did my penance- that is, I popped all Hostas in the ground, labeled them, and trotted back in here before DH got home!!!

This is where a bit 'o knowledge helps. The non-gardeners see hostas this time of year and assume they're dead! The just have a few wilted yellow leaves. But...when you pop off the nursery pot, the roots are exploding.

I do not go to this garden center because they sell 2-gal perennials for $25 and that's it-- no c/s, just super-gorgeous high-end landscaping plants. That's too rich for my blood! When I saw the whole table of the 2 gal. plants for $5, I almost had a stroke! All I had was the $30, plus, they only had 3 cultivars I don't have. Now that I think of it, I should go back next week and get the others; heck, I can divide them and sell them next spring....

Sorry, this isn't the Hosta board, but I like you guys better. You understand how great it is to feel like a female lion dragging in the fresh kill...

Erin, sorry about your ankle!!! Is it a sprain?? That is incredibly painful. I hope you got some good drugs. Hey, I wonder if Dave would allow a medication for seed trade on the trade board? (Oops, I feel a censor censure coming down!!!)


This message was edited Oct 27, 2006 6:33 PM

Laura - what absolute cuties!!!

Erin - how IS that ankle feeling today?

Jax - I had one of our drug reps tell me someone was selling pens or something on ebay. I'm thinking...wow, ya mean I can stash these pens and then sell them on ebay? Whaaa whooo! I'll be more then happy to trade drug pens/paper/paper weights/mugs for plants...think that will fly? LOL

Sue - yeah, they're Rottie"chiwa-wa's" ...ROTFL...actually they're Lab mixes. I nicely returned their papers to the breeder...told her I didn't need them!! Hey it's not my fault someone docked my lab mixes tail off...AND painted a little tan on them....geez....

Laura, your daughters are precious. Treasure these days-- you'll be sending them off to college soon!!!

Chantell- whoa! Don't you have your hands full!!! Docking tails is horrible, BUT- think of all the plants that won't be knocked down! Nobody will ever try to rob you with those two- very cute tho'!!!

P.S. My shrink gave me a bunch of samples (a med I'm on is on a recall) and he put them in a bag advertising some sort of drug!!! I stashed it in the closet. I meant to look up the medication- I always save bags of all kinds, but I better find out what this is before I use it for something!!! LOL!!!!!! (I should give my MIL her xmas gift in it!)

OK...
Bra shopping went fine...found some cute little sports bra type bras in Limited Too (had coupons), then had to get some matching panties and she actually found a cute faded black cropped jean jacket for half off (my 2nd bargain Betty). We then met my hubbie "Poppa" and my youngest at Olive Garden for supper. I've had my one glass of wine (my limit) so it'll be bed time soon.
Here's my Sara and her fiance, both good kids. I tell them I can't wait until they get married, she says yeah so you can get rid of me. I agree with her, but then tell them both it's that I can't wait to have him for a son. He's great. I will send pics after May 19th.
Thanks and good night.
Laura

Chantell,
Nice puppies. A new breed, huh? hahahahahahahaha
Laura

Pretty gal there, Laura!!! Very cute couple!!!

Yeah..new breed....ha!!!

Very pretty girl,,she looks mischievous..lovely picture of them both...Laura, i don't have kids..(have plenty of nieces & nephews) are little girls having peer pressure to buy undergarments earlier these days? I do remember that most important time, as my Mom bless her for that now.. making it something special..with a dress-up luncheon at a girly tea room in the dept. store..(that was how those stores were 40 something yrs. ago, before malls..) they all had their own restaurants on top of the bldg. I felt like i had achieved womanhood...lol! A nice memory...sue

Sue, Yeah, I guess you could say she has a mischievous streak in her. I tell her it's from her father's side (all boys in his family). She teaches her little sisters some tricks every now and then..ornry stuff you know. My Rachel's (9yo) little girl friends already had bras by the time we talked about doing this. I remember those stores about 40 years ago exactly as I'm an old momma. She looked at me staring at her this morning and said, "What mom, your little girl's growing up? Are you going to cry?" AHHHHHH. No, I didn't cry. They hurried off to bowling with their daddy, told them I'd come later like I do. I hate bowling...they go early to get a good table. I'd better run off and get ready. Have a great day.

I'm so glad I had only my son to raise!!! I couldn't handle the tween-to-teen spell. I KNOW what I did to MY poor mother!!!

Laura, you're so lucky. What a cute couple!!!

I can hardly wait for my son to 1. find the right woman; 2. Marry her, and 3. Have a granddaughter!!! Since I didn't have a girl myself, I plan on spoiling her rotten, like my mom's mom did to me! Sometimes I think Gammie would buy me things just to spite my mother, who would yell at her for spending too much on me!! I liked the spite factor, too- we were in cahouts!!! Besides, I need someone to leave my jewelry to. I love good jewelry, so it would be a good excuse to buy more for me... "Well, it will go to my granddaughter someday, so it's OK to pay $5,000..."

Oh, Sherley, I opened up today's paper and there was an ad for the movie "Saw 3". The picture was 3 teeth dangling from some wires... I thought of you right away!!! Maybe they're selling a poster of this- it would make a great present to your dentist!
I found it.. the trailer looks just like my old orthodontist's office. Except there was more screaming, and it was dirtier.
http://saw3.com/promotions/

LOL - now THAT is an image will stay with me for the rest of the night! OMG is that funny!!!!! Dangling teeth - YIKES!!!!!!!!

ROFLOL...oh, nevermind, what creepy image!
Good news though, turns out, I don't need that 3rd root canal anyway....WHOOO HOOOO...!!!!

Melissa, I can tell you will be like my parents, they spoil my son rotten..! I definitely spite them at times..! Whatever I said no to my son, they ALWAYS enable it, and they do it right in front of me too. GRRRRRR...Is there anything called "first grandchild syndrome" or something? Sometimes it seems like they're obsessed with him.
Btw, congrats on saving hundred of $$ on the Hostas. I was so busted yesterday (went on another nursery spree), suddenly dh opened the trunk to look for something before I had the chance to unload. This was his exact comment after he saw the contents "holy **** you bought a lot, it's like a jungle in here". Well, I didn't tell him that he could open the trunk, did I?

Laura ~ Beautiful girls you have. Congrats on being a Mother-in-law to be...!

Have a great weekend, Everyone..!

Baily - they only do it to pay you back for all the stuff you did as a child - no matter what it was! Hehehe Of course they are going to spoil him and allow him everything you don't - it's the role of a grandparent - I do the same with my cousins kids, spoil 'em rotten and give 'em back! But...I am also strict with them, no messing with Aunt Becky!
Good job on your haul - even of DH was silly enough to open the trunk! Does he not know better? Mine only opens car if I need him to - I think he is secretly afraid! Hehe!

Don't they understand that the trunk is off limits????? Maybe someone should invent a special alarm for it......."step away from the trunk.....(jungle bird calls, drumbeats)"

Speaking of grandbabies, I for one can hardly wait. I never had little ones of my own, I love children but admit that I might not have the patience for full time. I'll be a terrific grandma! I actually inherited one grandchild from my older stepson but I have only been able to see him a few times and now he's thirteen......I have no hope of more grandkids from the older stepson but my younger stepson, the one who just left the nest, still lives here in town and we are much closer. Hopefully some NICE girl will capture his heart..........he does seem to be developing better taste so I'll keep my fingers crossed! Meanwhile I keep crayolas and such at my desk at the bank, this week I'm handing out spider rings for Halloween. That way I can entertain the kids for a few minutes while their parents are banking, but they leave before they get annoying......note: I let the tellers give stuff to the really bratty ones.....giggle...

Yesterday I potted up a TON of my C & S material. We'll see how they do, I may have damaged one or two because the stupid peat was so glued together.....I kind of made up my own recipe for potting soil, different from any I've seen, I made it up the same way I cook, by feel......good or bad, these babies are at least potted up! Thank you Chantell for pointing me towards the WM pots that water from the bottom, they are AWESOME!!!!

oh Jax/Melissa....loved the link to the teeth!!! that was really appropriate for this time of year and poor Sherly's ordeals...i have a question for y'll...howcome when "weedsgalore" appears, i am the only one in green type? How does that happen...i think it is interesting..that the DG software does that? I just noticed this...watch it be in blue and totally make me look silly...sue

Sue, are you talking about your user name on the left side being green? If so, that means you or someone using your computer clicked on it. That's why it turned green. Whenever you click on the user names on the left side, they'll turn green for awhile. Seems like that's how it works.

I love that special alarm idea. At least something that could give me a heads up that someone's hovering around the trunk. LOL.

Becky, my sister is like that too, spoil my son rotten, and then give him back to me when he's all wired...(usually with candy, which used to be a no no around here, now he's hooked). Guess that's how it works everywhere...

I think placing a sign/bumper sticker on the trunk that simply says: "Be afraid...be very afraid." Then another inside that says "You want the truth...you can't handle the truth!" LOL
Erin - glad you found the pots. I will tell you I don't water my C & S' from the bottom...I always water from the top...whether that's right or wrong I don't know but I'd be afraid of too much watering if I did it via bottom method.
Jax - the teeth .... VERY creepy....I refuse to see those movies...I'd spend 90% of the time covering my eyes and ears anyway...LOL

I always water my C & S from the top. I've never heard of watering them from the bottom. It seems like they would get too wet if they were watered from the bottom.

Jesse

These pots have been great for either C & S' or Tropicals in that you can water either way!!

Chantell- I am so glad I mentioned it- I was assuming, and you know what that does!

I potted up all but 2 or 3 of my C&S, I think they look great, especially the community pots...the one community pot looks a little spartan to me but I only had 4 shall we say...."upright" (that's not what we call them around here....snicker....) cacti... I tried to explain to my LH that I might need one more to complete the set but he was horrified so I let it go. I was kind of rough on the roots of one or two in that group (darn that peat!) so I may be replacing them in the next couple of weeks anyway. He'll never notice the difference!

We made a compromise last night, we had strongly disagreed on bright brass vs brushed brass for the ceiling fans that we are installing one at a time as we renovate the house, he loves bright, I don't. Anyway, I told him over a glass of wine last night that I would concede on the bright brass, he can do every single ceiling fan in the house that way, but he has to stop bugging me about the plants coming in for the winter. He brought up the dirt and wanted trays/saucers under everything, and I whipped out the trays and saucers that I had just purchased......giggle....."because his happiness is sooooo important to me..." He then mentioned that the one bakers rack I bought probably won't be enough.....so I said I would shop for another.......hee hee..........aint love grand???

lol! Erin, have you ever thought of being an arbitrator, or attorney, or working on the stock exchange. or the president??..good job! That poor man doesn't have a prayer....it is the old case of the "spider & the fly"....he flew right into your web...you naughty little 'ol spider you!

Actually I learned some of my tricks from him............he's darned good at it himself.........I also know that a happy man is easier to convince

;)