Rescuing sons and pruning gardens

Well, I'd planned on planting the other package of clearance bulbs this morning before the heat set in but Christopher called to tell me he had locked the keys in the car! They had fallen out of his pocket onto the floor of the car and he had shut the door just as he realized what happened. How thankful I am that we have our old car and enough gas in it to rescue him.

I hate to spend that much gas only to open a car door so I'm writing down a list of things I can do on that side of the County. I know hubby wanted me to make some copies of his mom's death certificate so I will take that with me, as well as an overdue library book that must be returned (thankfully the County library gives a very generous grace period).

A friend of ours was looking through the State's unclaimed property website for his own parents and found my mother-in-law had a few hundred dollars listed from the early 1990s (she passed away in the mid- 90's). For the small cost of sending for an additional death certificate, there will be a little over $100.00 each for the three kids. Nothing to sneeze at these days.

I'm still deepening the pantry each month as I find items on sale. I am hoping to get a picture of my pantry area taken this afternoon but only if there is enough sunlight. I'm going to post a few more book suggestions today about "stocking up" and I'll do some more research next week.

It is amazing to me how many people on TV and radio are talking about the need to "stock up", at least a little at a time. I was listening to a Bible teacher recently who feels very strongly that people should be setting aside some of their grocery budget each week to stock up on essentials. Of course, Glen Beck has been saying that for months now. We can't do much but every little bit counts!

I spent a lot of time outside yesterday doing some lawn work, taking care of the "deck plants", planting the perennials (the plant and the clearance packages, I finished all but one package), and finally mulching the area in front of the porch. It looks so much better, I would have done it a couple weeks ago but the weather did not cooperate. Isn't it amazing the difference mulch can make in an area? One of my favorite gardening shows is Gardening By the Yard on HGTV. He had an entire show just on mulch recently. :)

I also spent some time pruning the lower branches of the two trees in front of the house, as well as the evergreen border trying to take over our sidewalk. I don't know if I've mentioned my love-hate relationship with technology. I obviously love the Internet but hate it when my computer gives me problems. It is the same with gardening equipment. I've been putting off borrowing my friend's power trimmers to use on that evergreen border as they are very cumbersome and they make my arm ache (it is not something I would ask the guys to do as it would throw them into an allergic reaction!).

Yesterday I tripped on the sidewalk because I was avoiding the evergreen monster, which made me realize it was time to tackle it... I didn't want people showing up for the graduation open house ending up flat on their face in my lawn! So, I was pondering... what did people use before power garden equipment? Pruners... manual labor... the same thing I'm doing with the trees. I took my hand pruners (the small ones I use on bushes, not the huge tree pruners) and started snipping away. I've mentioned before that I love to prune, it has the same affect on me that stomping cans and milk cartons for recycling does for my husband.

Before I knew it, I had the side of the bushes pruned back about six inches and it looked... beautiful. I liked the results much better than the choppy butcher job the power shears leave behind (another reason I hate to use them). I'll need to work on it a little at a time over the next week but the evergreen monster has been very well tamed. It is beautiful and all but no one wants to be grabbed by their greenery.

My baking for the freezer ended up being Sheila's Cake, a favorite of all I know. I'll make another one for the freezer, too. Especially since I kept half of it out for the family to enjoy now. If I bake something every day, catering the open house won't be too difficult.

My reward for work well done? I started going through the first folder of Laine's Letters. I already have three of them set aside with recipes I want to try. I also worked on a Question & Answers post that will (hopefully) be ready later today. Wow, two posts in one day? You can tell I'm staying at home a lot more! :)

Picture: Faith, Family, Friends; available at allposters.com