What gives?

I spent yesterday in bed with a head cold and even made myself chicken soup. Today I had several meetings and worked on my newsletter article in between. With all that has been going on for the last two days, can someone explain why my house can't function with me at the helm? What's going to happen when I travel this summer and leave the house, kid and dog behind with adult supervision? I just hope the plants get watered and don't die.

Tuesday's Tip: Plants

Water plants when the soil up to 1" deep feels dry, so as not to over water them and possibly kill the plants

Tuesday's Tip: Instant greenhouse

To protect plants and keep them moist while you are away on vacation, place them in clear plastic garbage bags and seal the tip with a bag clip; this creates a greenhouse effect allowing in light which creates a moisture environment inside the bag.

(P.S. I have tried this on many occasions and it works great. In fact I lost some plants last winter, because I didn't do it and they did not get enough water because the plant sitter came only once during the week.)

Tuesday's Tip: Better Plants

As I was walking down the street recently, a woman chatted with me in the drizzle and said she puts crushed egg shells in her plants as to help them grow and stay nourished.

Tuesday's tip...Moist sugar

To keep brown sugar moist, drop a chard of a terra cotta planter in the box. (I bought a plant pot saucer and broke it with a hammer.)

Connecting to nature

At the gym this morning, I got on the Elliptical and pushed the courses button for hike through canyons in Utah and when I was done, I not only felt the rush of endorphins, but also felt a connection to nature even though I had been indoors the whole time (and this is way better then mindlessly turning on the TV function for some "cop" drama).

Plants and analogies

Yesterday, I was removing dead stuff from two plants and it got me thinking about plants and analogies and then I thought, "what dead stuff can I trim from my life?" and so begins my journey of "removing dead stuff."

Tuesday's Tip: Watering Plants

Watering plants at night allows them to soak up as much water as possible without the sun light evaporating the water or drying out the plants.

Leftovers on Monday and I don't mean dinner

Tonight I am making Chinese chicken and sugar snap peas for dinner and today I finished projects from the weekend—watering plants, ordering my daughter a new baby doll and catching up on paperwork and in the end I feel I need another Monday before Tuesday comes at 12 AM.

A family of three distinct personalities and one plan for the back deck....

Last night my family had Chinese take-out for dinner with each family member getting their own dish to highlight that we all have distinct personalities and at dinner I introduced a plan for the back deck that worked with all personalities and my family was a go (to quote an old favorite TV show, the A-team, "I love it when a plan comes together.")

To elaborate—one planner, one who does well under pressure and one with an organizing gene and the plan: to order a new picnic table and benches in 48 hours from internet research and the organizer gets to set it all up and have a budget to buy cushions (she is only 8 years old).

In the Kitchen on Thursday: Sweet Potato Vine

My daughter and I did this yesterday as a great school vacation project and now she can't wait for the vine to grow.