Garden Wish List

For various reasons (but to definitely include hubby's car), adding more plants to my garden is on hold.. I have lots of ideas for the entire yard (not just the back garden) and of course it costs too much money. But since it's now on my wish list for the future of the garden (whether it happens this year or not), I thought I'd share. (This is also the result of having gotten hold of Michigan Bulb/Gurney's catalogs and dreaming..)

In my back garden - Beer Friend (edamame) beans, Red Candy Apple onions, Trillium, Sweet Vanilla Butterfly Flower

In my front island - Variegated Weigela, Eastern Ninebark

In my side yard - Major Wheeler Honeysuckle, Purple Wintercreeper

Around the trees in front of my porch - Lily of the Valley, Jack in the Pulpit, Widow's Tears

Just because - dwarf pomegranate

For those of you familiar with these plants, you'll note that a majority are shade or shade tolerant plants. It has to do with the fact that the majority of my yard IS in shade (lots of trees). This doesn't mean that my garden will lack in new plants, though. I've started some new seeds (malvia, black-eyed susan, carrots), rooted some other plants (3 hydrangeas, lenten rose, alligator plant, 2 roses) and raided a neighbor's garden for other plants. I found this one and am trying to root it, not sure what it is, other than that it's pretty and likes sunny spots.

Speaking of rootings - if any of my local friends want to give it a try, I have an abundance of alligator plant seedlings.

Dolphins at National Aquarium

Earlier this year I won a Flip mino camcorder. It came in just before we left on our trip to DC. I took this at the end of the dolphin show at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It looks better in MP4 format, but that was too big to upload, so I converted it to flv. Not too shabby.

For fun..

My family and I were driving down the road when this song came on. It was hilarious that we were all singing along with this. I wish I could have remembered to video it, but I didn't. So I'm sharing this instead..

Behind the Scenes - GA Aquarium

These little guys are in the Freshwater gallery on the education loop. You can see these in a behind the scenes tour or by doing one of the education programs. They're funny little guys. If you stand there quietly, they'll start swimming out. If you move, they dash in to hide. Obviously, they don't hold still well enough for a photo, thus the video.

CRCT Week

It's CRCT week for my kids, so you'll have to excuse me as a I take a hiatus from blogging this week. We'll be back next week.

Happy Easter!

We'll be spending time with family today and wish you all a Happy Easter!

Operation Gratitude

My sister and I are going to run in the Merrell Down & Dirty Mud Run this October. For those that don't know her, my sister is Army (recently moved from active duty to reserves), my brother-in-law is retired. I've been sending packages over seas for years and still do. One great organization that is supporting our troops is called "Operation Gratitude". They send packages to soldiers currently serving our country. It's a great way to show your support.

My sister and I have started a fund raising campaign before the run to support that organization. You can find the link for it under '2 White T's Operation Gratitude Fundraising' in my side bar. My sister and I are going to wear white t-shirts during the run, thus the name. Our goal is relatively small, set at $250. We'd appreciate it if you'd support us.

This post will appear at least once each month until we either reach our goal or the race happens. Thanks!

Things that work for me..

I'm a big fan of freebies, just like most people I know. I'm also online a good bit during the day, whether because of kids' school work or just because I'm playing. So, I thought I would share some of the things that I make work for me to help get freebies. Most of these things I have used to get teacher gifts or gifts to soldiers overseas. It made it easier for me to be able to give those nicer gifts without having to spend as much money. With the shopping sites, I've used the gift cards I earn as gifts to family as well as for myself. I'm sure there are more that I use without thinking about, if I find them later, I'll add them on.

Reward/Shopping Sites:

I also use Mypoints.com for shopping, though they don't have referral links like these.

Survey Sites:

Zoom Panel

IPSoS

Other:

We drink coke, so I take full advantage of MyCokeRewards.com.

We love Disney Movies, so we use DisneyMovieRewards.com

Good for discounts - RecycleBank

I'm a sweepstakes-a-holic, so I use online-sweepstakes.com (Yes, entering sweepstakes works. I recommend having a separate email account just for doing it, though, to keep spam down.)

If you're like me, you have a huge load of books and don't want to spend money to add more. There's always the library, but that doesn't do much for your current stash unless you sell them. Then there's this, which will let you swap your stash for someone else's stash, thus refreshing your library.

Gardening in chunks (my garden update)

I love to garden and work outside. Unfortunately for me, it doesn't always like me back. I have a huge island in my front yard that I was grooming to be a Georgia Native Plant type of area. When we moved in, it was filled with ivy. I had it down so that most of the ivy was gone, many native species were in and growing, then the poison ivy showed up. I'm very allergic to that and it was hiding under the english ivy that was there. So, I have to limit what I do. The island is now mostly overgrown again and I have someone come in and spray all the poison ivy and at least keep the english ivy out of the rest of the yard.

Last year my kids gave up their play yard to turn it into a garden. This year, they didn't really want to help do anything with it, so it's "mine". I have no real idea what I want in it, so I've been taking it in 'chunks'. I know some of the things I want to try to grow, so I started there.

The first chunk was cleaning up the garden, getting the weeds/grass/clover and such back under control. Took about 1.5 hours and I was done for the weekend. The second chunk was to plant around 100 bulbs in a small area to the side of the garden. Those are starting to come up and I'm really looking forward to them blooming. That, again, took about 1.5 hours and I quit.

Third chunk was putting out some seedlings I'd started in the house, which included green beans and pole beans. I planted two cherry tomato plants from last year that I brought in during the winter. I added a couple new blueberry bushes to the one we already had. My daughter picked out a couple of pink peony trees that we'll have to make sure stay pruned, those were put outside of the fencing to the garden.

This past weekend was a somewhat larger piece. I put out 3 varieties of peppers (green, yellow, banana), cucumber, lavendar, bee balm, 2 hostas and 4 flowers. I then mulched the bulb area and around the blueberry bushes.
Peppers, Cucumbers, & Beans.. Hostas New flowers, old Iris & dusty miller The newly mulched bulbs Blueberries

GA Aquarium - a couple of notes

For those that haven't been lately, just a couple of notes for you if you plan to go any time soon (or even if you don't). These are just my observations as I worked the floor at the Aquarium.

It's the end of the school year, a lot of school groups are starting to make their way through for their last minute field trips. Bring your patience and be prepared for large crowds.

The vendors that used to be on the main atrium floor have moved upstairs. Where Planet Shark used to be is now a small hide-away cafe. The small vendors have moved there and there are tables available for sitting.

The best times to go are still first thing in the morning (at opening) or later in the afternoon (after 3). If you can spare a Sunday morning, it's usually busy but not necessarily as packed.

There are audio tours that you can download from the Georgia Aquarium web site. It works on your iPod or your cell phone.

There is a scavenger hunt you can print out for your kids to do. It's on the Georgia Aquarium web site under the Kids Corner.

Library of Congress

This is the last of the pictures I took in DC from my cell phone. We went to the Library of Congress as part of a Congressional Tour. The building itself is open to the public for self-guided tours, but having one of the docents talk about the artwork and such was cool. You can't get into the reading rooms without applying to be a reader, but you can go to a viewing area to look in. The system is fascinating to hear how they have it functioning. My kids "favorite" fact was that the LoC burned and Thomas Jefferson offered his library to replace it. In fact, the LoC purchased his library (after much debate) only to have some portion of that burn as well. So they're looking for more replacement books.

The docent also told us that the old films are kept in separate vaults, each with it's own fire suppressant system in place. That way, they only lose one/two in the event of fire.

There are two bibles on display on the second floor. Both are under glass and no photography is permitted of them. There are multiple exhibit halls, each with a different set of books on display. As late as we were getting there and the fact that we had a guided tour, we didn't get to see those. One of them contains a map that has the first recorded label of 'America' on it.

From the Lobby floor looking up From the 2nd floor looking at the image that preceeds the entry to view the reading room. The front of the Library of Congress

The Capitol Building

You can try to do a walk-up tour at the Capitol building, but be prepared to be turned away. It's easier for you to go ahead and request it through your congressman ahead of time. You don't get the opportunity to see a lot of it, especially not if Congress is in session, but you can see enough. If you want to see the Galleries, you have to get a special pass from your representative or senator for that gallery.

Looking up at the dome The friezes around the dome.. Jefferson/Franklin/et al Dr. Crawford Long, one of Georgia's statues

The White House

We actually took the tour of the White House first, before the Pentagon. When we scheduled our tours through Senator Chambliss' office, we ended up with the White House @ 7:30a, the Pentagon @ 11:00a, the Capitol Building @ 1:40p, Library of Congress @ 3:40p. Given that you cannot take ANYTHING with you into the White House (except car keys and a cell phone), it really affects how you do the tours. The Pentagon is similar, though they'll allow some things as long as they remain in your bag. We ended up with wallets in one pocket and cell phones in another and little else with us but ponchos (it was raining).

We did get to tour the bottom level of the White House and a portion of the first floor. Normally you'd have been able to see the dining room, but apparently there was a luncheon scheduled that day with the Israeli Prime Minister, so that was off limits. In fact, the tour that HAD been scheduled at 11a was pushed up to 7a, so the crowd when we got there was quite large. I really dislike crowds, but we managed.

After we left the building, we were at least able to stop and get a picture of the front of the White House with our cell phones.

Pentagon

They don't actually allow photographs inside of the Pentagon once you're on the tour, so this picture is in the waiting room. You also cannot carry a camera with you, though a cell phone is allowed. HOWEVER, if they see or hear it while on the tour they'll confiscate it from you.

We were able to see the memorial that was built after 9/11. They also showed us just how far into the building the air plane went. You can see the pictures, but sometimes seeing it up close makes a huge difference in perspective.

My kids found it "funny" that our guides did the entire tour walking backward. We walked approx. 1.5 miles around the facility. We noted that it has a pretty big selection of restaurants (including McDs), a florist, jeweler and more. It also has a DMV for Virginia if you need it.

It requires going through your state congressman to get the tour, but definitely worth the effort in my opinion.

Our Trip to DC

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Messy Science Day

Just before spring break, my kids and I hosted a 'messy science day' at our house. We had some home school and GCA friends over to do some fun (if messy) science stuff.

Sizzling Monster Flesh. A friend gave me this one. Requires playdough, baking soda, vinegar. The kids mixed the baking soda into the playdough and made 'monsters' out of it. Then add vinegar and watch them 'melt'. We had more color runnage than anything, though the playdough becomes very slimy.

Egg in a bottle. It didn't quite go off as it should have, but the kids thought it was funny. Requires a bottle, hard boiled peeled egg, and matches. When there's a flame in the bottle, put the egg on top. The egg should 'pop' into the bottle. Ours split instead. Poor egg.

Elephant toothpaste. I found this one from Steve Spangler. Requires peroxide (from beauty supply), yeast (dissolved in warm water), and soap. The first is no soap, just a reaction. You can see the 'steam' that's given off as it goes better this way. The 'toothpaste' itself. We tried a couple of shaped jars to see what it would look like. The resulting 'foam' is very warm to the touch (which the kids found fascinating) and very thick. We had them wash hands immediately after so that peroxide wouldn't hit clothes and make things fade.

A milk separation experiment. Requires milk, food coloring, soap. Take a dish of milk, add food coloring, note the patterns (kinda cool by itself). Add dish soap and watch the fat separate from the water.

We finished off the day with the classic diet coke and mentos. Kids had a blast doing all of this, which is a great thing. They can learn and have fun at the same time. One experiment didn't go off as planned. A friend had brought acetone and styrofoam cups. The idea was for the acetone to 'dissolve' the cups and the kids could then use it like playdough until it dried. For whatever reason, the acetone wasn't dissolving the cups quickly enough, so it didn't get finished.

Random: Squee - This Way to the Weekend

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Random: Fail

see more funny videos, and check out our Forever Alone lols!

Random: Picture

Our pretty orange cat.. up close..

Random: Picture

Behind the scenes at the Georgia Aquarium

Woo Hoo!

I'm actually going to take this week off and enjoy spring break. I hope everyone else has a good week too.

April 1st