flowers – A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

(WARNING—Major photo dump in this post.)

It is January 22nd!!!! Is Christmas REALLY over? I mean after all, we just had a massive “snow-mageddon” here in Deep South Louisiana. To me that still screams Christmas. When I say that I have been praying for a White Christmas….I am not exaggerating in any way. We have taken winter trips to Tennessee for that last 4 years because I wanted to TRULY experience REAL snow. Sure, I’ve experienced a tiny bit of snow both in south and north Louisiana, but nothing to truly write about in the books. We just returned from our Gatlinburg vacation this past Friday, and I was pretty excited because I was finally able to experience real snow on this trip. It was absolutely gorgeous! We ended up not getting as much as the meteorologists predicted, but it was more than I’ve seen in quite some time. It made me feel like all the Christmas feels were finally complete. To my surprise, after we came home, we ended up experiencing a record-breaking snow storm in south Louisiana. I have NEVER experienced snow like this! My Christmas prayer was answered not just once, but twice, and in a very big way!!!! So now I ask…..do I have to?!?! Do I really have to take my Christmas decorations down?

We were stuck in our cabin in Gatlinburg for a day and then ventured out to take in the sights. And then being stuck in our own home for a few days…..having all of the Christmas decorations up just made everything so Christmas-Cozy!

All of this snow just makes me want to leave everything up for that much longer.

I decorate our 957 square foot home entirely in Christmas decor. If I can fit it….I will decorate. This year, as usual, I did more than the previous year. I have been decorating with a Gingerbread theme for a while now, but this was the first year that I emphasized pastel colors over the red, green, and browns. Since we changed our area rugs, it made more sense to concentrate on pastels.

Of course after Christmas, my husband installed some of my Christmas gifts, so here is the after Christmas pictures.

I love our small kitchen, but now that our church Life Group is growing, I am beginning to realize that my small space could be a little larger. Nonetheless, we are making it work as long as we are here.

As I said before, we changed our area rugs, so pastel colors were the emphasis. Our living room went from neutrals to a pastel wonderland. (I secretly want a pink sofa, but we have leather couches since it is easier to clean up spills—we tend to have an overflow of guests every Friday. Accidents happen—leather is easy to clean.)

Our small dining room has taken on a huge transformation as opposed to years past. I ended up throwing in decor ideas I’ve used in previous drama productions. I have more ideas for next year, but this is what it looks like this year. The last picture is the wreath I made for our front door.

Naturally, I also had to decorate our bedroom and the one bathroom we have.

Last year I decided that I wanted to decorate a Grinch themed tree for Christmas this year, and the only place I had to put it was in our spare bedroom. It definitely does not match that bedroom’s decor, but at least I was able to do it. I also had a sudden urge to decorate a Nutcracker Ballet themed tree which I put in my office at work. Next year the Nutcracker Ballet tree will go in my spare room, and the Grinch tree will go up at the office. I wish I had thought of that sooner, but there’s always next year. The next group of pictures are of the trees I decorated this year. (Not just for my home.)

I do believe that my favorite tree this year is the Nutcracker Ballet themed tree. Perhaps it is because I’m partial to pink, but I love the uniqueness of the ornaments and the spinning ballerina tree topper.

I also started making wreaths this year and will continue that endeavor throughout the year. Perhaps that will fill the void of the missing Christmas decorations after I do decide to take them down.

On a side note, in the middle of all of the Christmas decorating, I was able to decorate for my oldest nephew’s rehearsal dinner. It has been a very busy Christmas season, but the blessings have been abundant.

I am looking forward to all that God has planned for me this next year. It is very exciting as He reveals some of the plans He has in store already. But…..the real question is……DO I REALLY HAVE TO?!?! Do I REALLY have to take down all of the Christmas decorations?!?!

Since I gave up my love for Disney, it has caused me to think about change in a huge sort of way. If you are wondering why I made such a decision, please read my previous blog. I must admit that giving up Disney caused me to go into a mild state of sadness for a bit. It was almost comparable to a bad break up. Like a bad breakup, the after effects of your life require change. Change is inevitable when something you love is removed or subtracted from your life…you are forced to look at things differently. You are forced to look at life in “some” sort of way. Of course, you can choose to die (in a dramatic sense, of course), but that is not a direction I would ever choose because there is so much more to life. Besides, my break up with Disney was not THAT heart breaking. Unfortunately, it still felt like I lost a loved one. Nonetheless, the only direction I choose is to grow. How can you grow from what you thought was the “Happiest Place on Earth”?

Since we moved into the home we live in, I have taken every step to make our house a home. Every room is decorated and brings a certain amount of cheer to our home. People have often commented that no one could be depressed in our house. It is flooded with lots of color, flowers (fake of course), and inviting comfort.

However, the outside of the house has always been neglected because it was never taken care of to begin with. Sure, we have a yard guy, but all he is responsible for is mowing and trimming the grass. He will trim the shrubs upon request, but that is the extent of his duties. Needless to say, there are numerous areas of the yard that look like a wooded forest. It also has its fair share of poison oak and thorny vines. These are not exciting things to deal with. Nonetheless, in order to get the yard to look beautiful, one has to start somewhere. Right? So, I’ve taken up gardening. I suppose I felt that I needed to do something that would allow me to bring some beauty and joy into my life since my breakup.

The funny thing about this change is that I AM NOT A GARDENER!!!! I have killed so many plants in my lifetime (hence the reason I have fake flowers in our home—I can’t kill those). However, I am determined that our yard will one day look breathtakingly beautiful. For those of you that know me, you know that this is a huge feat for me because I am NOT the “outdoorsy” type of person. Y’all…I hate the outdoors! Being fair skinned has caused this love-hate relationship with the sun. Unfortunately, in order to get our yard in a beautiful state…there are sacrifices that need to be made. It is a very slow process, but at least I am making some progress. I have a vision….hopefully everything grows into that vision.

So let’s begin with the transformation. We removed the half dead box hedges in front of the house and replaced them with azalea bushes.

In addition to the azaleas, we also planted some knockout roses and gardenia bushes in front of the house. On the front sides of the house, we have some New Dawn climbing roses (that are obviously not climbing yet). We also added an arbor to the front and planted yellow climbing roses on each side.

This New Dawn was constantly chopped, unknowingly, by our yard guy. It’s protected now.

This one was spared more often than the other. However now they are both about to upgrade to climbing status, so we are in the market for a trellis to add to each side of the house.

The yellow climbing rose bush produces the most vibrant yellow rose. So far we’ve only had one, but they started from nothing. I am definitely looking forward to when they begin to climb across the arbor.

The chopped bushes you see were trimmed and weeded. They were overtaken by thorny vines, and they had grown entirely too tall. They made it quite difficult to see anyone on the sidewalk whenever we would pull out of the driveway. This was definitely a “safety” trim more than anything.

Since we moved in, there were some shrubs on the right side of the house. We requested our yard guy to trim them, and he did. Little did we know that the only thing that was growing on those “dead” shrubs were thorny vines that strangled them to death. Those were cut down, and now we are in the process of planting more Bridal Wreath shrubs on the side of the house instead. I know these grow to become most beautiful, so I cannot wait to see them mature.

I’ve always dreamed of having beautiful hydrangeas creating a pathway to the front entrance. So, we planted a few hydrangea shrubs. Although they started out as multicolored, our soil has turned them completely pink. My goal is for them to be multicolored, so the soil will be getting the nutrients it needs to make that possible.

This pathway is definitely a project that is in progress. It will take some time before it looks the way I intend it to look. At least this is a great start.

There are many corners of the yard that has shrubs and trees that have taken over and just looks like a forresty (I know that’s not a word.) mess. It is definitely not a task that can be done in one day. We did tackle one of the front corners of the fence that could have caused us to kill someone because it completely prevented us from being able to see anyone walking along the sidewalk.

That particular corner of the fence near the entrance/exit of our driveway was covered with some sort of thicket that was so ridiculously overgrown it reminded me of the thicket the Maleficent surrounded the castle with to prevent the Prince from finding Sleeping Beauty. (Okay, okay….just because I gave up Disney doesn’t mean I refrain from using the stories as analogies.) The picture here only shows a portion of how this thicket looked.

It was so thick and unruly that it actually grew into the fence. Besides that, it was infested with thorny vines and poison oak. We managed to get rid of most of it. Some of the branches are completely grown around the wire of the fence that it would take an act of congress to remove it. We are still trying to figure that part out. However, it has been cleared, and we now have another climbing rose bush. This one has yet to produce anything, but they are supposed to be orange in color. Like the yellow rose bushes, they too started from nothing.

So in addition to all of the bushy hazards we had in the front yard, we have a huge eye sore.

I am hoping that these daisies take over enough to camouflage the eye sore. If they don’t, I may have to try something else.

So that basically takes care of the front yard. We have a small portion of the backyard that is fenced in. About 2 years ago, we were trying to incorporate a raised garden behind the house, but it was an epic failure. So basically it has been sitting there with a few of my herbs that have been planted ever since and seem to thrive without my help. It also has marigolds that I planted when we first put it together. Now these marigolds are three years old. That is quite odd to me because I didn’t think they were supposed to come back. Nonetheless, they are in their third year (even after I pulled them out). I also threw a bunch of wildflower seeds in the raised garden and they are finally coming up. What I am starting to see is absolutely beautiful, so I cannot wait to see the rest.

A friend of ours gave us a few tomato plants. When I planted them a few weeks ago, they were just a few inches tall. They seem to be doing rather well, and it looks like I will have to support them very soon.

We also have two blueberry bushes that have been planted there for three years now. I was extremely excited one day when we came back from prayer because one of them is now infested (obviously this use of infested is in a good way) with blueberries.

We also have two strawberry plants that are producing rather nicely. So, I believe that I am pretty pleased with the way our raised garden is turning out. It is finally coming alive. My lavender has also decided to come back.

Clearly you can see that I have moved on from interior design, and I am trying to bring as much color outside as I have inside. While it is very simple to keep up artificial flowers, it is such a wonderful thing to see God’s creations bloom right in front of your eyes. I pray everyday that I don’t kill what He has created, and that He gives me the wisdom to know how to take care of it all. My neighbor is really amazing at taking care of flowers, so I just pray that I can do half as well as she does. She definitely has a gift.

As for me, I am completely out of my comfort zone, and I am trying to learn new things. Never be afraid to try something new. God has so many amazing things planned for our lives, but we have to be open to change. Often times in order for us to grow, we NEED to change. We need to fertilize our minds with new knowledge and water the seeds that He has already planted within us. Bloom where you are planted, and never stay dormant. Change is inevitable….it will cause growth.

Category: flowers

Do I Have To?!?!?!

Change…It’s Inevitable…It Causes Growth.