Both of my kids love plants and flowers.  My father, maternal grandmother, and a paternal great-grandmother were all gardeners (I’d also enjoy gardening, too, if I had more time).  My kids were born after all these people had passed away, so perhaps they inherited their fondness for greenery from them.  I know they didn’t get it from their father — he dislikes anything and everything pertaining to yard work or gardening.

Two Christmases ago when we were shopping at Wal-Mart, Peter spotted a little cactus garden consisting of 6 tiny individually potted cacti in a small plastic greenhouse-shaped container sitting out of place among the Christmas decorations.  Undoubtedly, someone had picked it up in the garden center, carried it in to the Christmas section, then changed their mind about buying it so they left it on the shelf next to the ornaments.  Peter asked if we could “rescue” the cactus garden by buying it and taking it home.  I rarely say “no” whenever my children ask for books or plants, so I agreed.

The cacti rapidly outgrew the little plastic greenhouse, so now we keep them on our kitchen windowsill, along with a container of “bug-eating plants” (a Venus flytrap and a couple of others)  that Peter wanted for Christmas last year.  Peter, with his flair for decorating, put a painted ceramic gecko and a couple of doo-dads that he made out of modeling clay next to them.  Natalie put up the little wind chime that her friend Garrett brought her from a vacation to Myrtle Beach.  I also hung up a little owl with a glass prism-shaped body and a suction cup on the back.  My mother had it on her kitchen window, and I brought it over here after she passed away in December 2006.  I found a Valentine’s heart made of red gel in our kitchen cabinet (left over from when our kids were younger and I decorated the house for every occasion), so I stuck it on the window next to the owl. 

Cooking is an integral part of my daily existence, especially when Alexander is here.  He travels a lot for work, and after several weeks of being on the road and eating every meal in a restaurant, when he’s at home, he prefers home-cooked food.  I can’t really blame him for that, but geez, I’m not a short-order cook! 

He’s currently working out of town, but our two kids are doing a fine job of picking up the ”I’m-hungry-can-I-have-something-to-eat?” slack in the meantime.  They’re 12 and 9, so I really can’t expect them to prepare all of their own meals at this stage in their young lives.  And since we try to eat healthy foods most of the time, I also can’t say, “Oh, just go eat a bag of chips and a carton of dip for dinner.” 

Since my kids are homeschooled, they probably have more leisure time than many traditionally-schooled kids.  They have more time to run around outside, play tennis, ride horses, ride their bikes and scooters, jump on the neighbor’s trampoline, etc., and they’re doing a lot more of those things now that spring is here.  So at the end of the day, they’re especially hungry, even though we eat two or three meals a day with a few snacks in between.

I was working on my blogs last night while the kids were watching a DVD of old Pink Panther cartoons.  Just when I had started to type, Peter came out and asked me to fix him some pelminis (Russian-style ravioli — we always keep a few bags of the frozen variety on hand).  These pelminis are rather small, so he said 15 of them would do.  I cooked those for him, then sat down at the computer to resume typing.  Ten minutes later, he said he was still hungry, so he asked for 7 more pelminis.  I cooked them, then sat down again.  Fifteen minutes later, he asked me to slice him an apple (I hate to bite into whole apples or similar fruits, so I slice them up — my kids have obviously adopted this quirk).  I don’t trust him with a sharp knife, so I once again interrupted my typing in the interest of food preparation.  Fortunately, Caroline was satisfied with a container of yogurt and a peanut butter sandwich she fixed for herself while they were watching the Pink Panther.  Bless her heart!  

I really don’t mind preparing their food, since I feel that’s part of my job as a stay-at-home mom. And, it could have been worse while I was trying to blog last night:  I could have had both kids, plus Alexander, if not for the fact that he’s out of town, wanting to partake of my cooking skills.  

 My only wish is that my family would get all of their eating out of the way before I want to sit down and blog!  Waaah!   

Since the weather was so nice last weekend, I was inspired to go out and clear off some of the brush and weeds from the side and back of our property.  I had recently contacted a gentleman whose ad in the Ad Bulletin stated that he will cut down and remove brush at a reasonable price.  Well, he came to look at our yard, said that the work ”didn’t look too difficult,” then gave me an estimate for $900.  I nearly choked!  I subsequently resolved to do the work myself, with some assistance from Alexander and the kids when possible.

We purchased this lot (approximately one acre) and had our house built on it in 1996.  The contractor cleared off and seeded a sizeable area for our back yard at that time, although he left some trees and weeds around the fringes of the property.  We’ve left it “as is” for the past 12 years, and in that length of time, our back yard has become progressively smaller in size due to honeysuckle vines, blackberry bushes, and other aggressive plants on the perimeter that have slowly made their way inward.

So, with the assistance of my new Corona compound action anvil lopper (a fancy name for a pruner, but that thing is a gem!) and a metal rake, I managed to make substantial progress on the weeds and brush over the weekend.  I probably could have cleared away all of the unwanted plants, if not for the terrible, unruly vines (my parents always called them “monkey vines”) that literally were everywhere– on the ground, curled around the tree trunks and limbs, intertwined in the old fence barbed wire fence I didn’t even know was there, etc.  Arrgh!  I think a Tarzan movie could be filmed right in my backyard. 

Just when I thought we had decided on what to plant in our yard, I was thrown a curve. 

I visited a greenhouse/nursery in Putnam County last week, at the recommendation of the guy who mows the lawn at my mother’s house.  I spoke with the owner of this establishment, and he immediately struck me as being a no-nonsense, matter-of-fact sort of person who knows his stuff.

I asked if he had any Green Giant Arborvitae in stock.  He didn’t have any, but he directed me to several containers of Leyland Cypress in the corner of his lot.  They were about three feet tall.  He sells them for $29.99 apiece.  He can also get them in larger sizes from his supplier. 

He then proceeded to tell me that he prefers the Leyland Cypress to Green Giant Arborvitae.  According to him, the Leyland Cypress grows at a faster rate than the Green Giant, not to mention the fact that deer will eat the Green Giants “like candy.”  Although we live in a suburb, we’ve seen deer around our house on several occasions.

Then I happened to see someone pulling out of ourlocal Lowe’s store over the weekend.  They had four large shrubs in the bed of their pickup truck that appeared to be either Leyland Cypress or Green Giants (I couldn’t tell which).  So I stopped atLowe’s over the weekend, and discovered that they’re selling 6′ Green Giants at the remarkable price of $29.99 apiece.  I say “remarkable,” because TerraSalis in Charleston is selling 6′ Green Giants at the whopping price of $184 apiece. 

Since I can’t decide which we should plant, Alexander suggested that we plant Green Giants along one side of our property, and Leyland Cypress on the other side.