iamdizeliz - iamdizeliz

Seed Stash
A few things I have to start in this year's garden.

Work Desk
About as clean as it gets...

Home Desk
I don't give myself much space to be messy!

Sweet Pea Sprouts
I can hardy wait for these to be in the ground and blooming those beautiful, wonderfully scented flowers!

Texas Apple Cake
Apple cake baked in my Texas dish.

Delicious!
This is sooo good!

Christmas '08
This is how I simply decorated the mantel.  I didn't feel like decorating much at all!

Mirror from Canton
This is the mirror I found for $15 in Canton.  I LOVE IT!

Parsley Aralia
Three dehydrated pots of Parsley Aralia. In a few months I hope these will look gorgeous!

Dieffenbachia
One poor little Dieffenbachia I hope will thrive soon.

Nepthytis
Here are two previous rescues from the grocery store in one pot.  I think they look great!

It's that time of year again!  I'm so excited to be on the ball this year, drooling over my seed catalogs and favorite websites.  I have decided what I will be trying to grow in my little backyard container and raised bed garden.  I'm including a variety of flowers because most are fun & easy to grow, they make great bouquets, and are excellent companion plants.  I still am deciding on what varieties of veggies I want to grow, but I have my list pretty much made up.  Of course money, weather, space, availability, the fact I can change my mind, etc., will all be factors in whether or not all of these plants actually have a spot in the garden.  I'll try my best though!  I posted my list to the <= left over there so I can update it if I wish.

Today is Nat'l Clean Off Your Desk Day!  This all started because I got an email saying Jan 24th would be Nat'l Peanut Butter Day.  So I did a search and found a site I visited last year that keeps track of all these funky holidays.  I've posted the fun ones I wanted to celebrate on my Google calendar, and added it to this site so y'all could celebrate along with me if you wish. :D  I'm very sad that I missed Nat'l Chocolate Covered Cherry Day.  Those are my favorite holiday treat!  I'm pretty sure I was still eating on my last box on Jan 3rd though.  In honor of today's "holiday" I did a quick clean up of both my work and home desks.  How is your desk looking?

A lot of us thought up new year's resolutions, new goals we'd like to accomplish or simply made a list of little projects we'd like to complete this year.  My only resolution was to communicate with my friends more often.  I have several good friends and months go by without hearing from them or letting them know what's going on with me.  I guess starting this blog is a good way to communicate as well.

I'd like to propose that we use Sunday of each week to start over on what we are wanting to accomplish.  It may be getting our squeaky clean and in order or even buying a house.  Set Sunday aside to start over on that goal.  I'm part of the FlyLady community, and if you don't know who she is, then click her link on the right side of the page. I'm starting over with making sure my sink shines before I go to bed at night.

This weekend I've worked on scrubbing the bathroom clean, washed clothes and watered plants.  Plant watering around here is a chore!  I did discover that my sweet peas I planted a week ago have sprouted!  I thought I'd share a picture of those with you, since I don't have much else to share.  I do plan to post what I did the first weekend of January, but it's going to take a little time on Photoshop to get that ready.  Hope y'all have a great week!

Tonight among some home blessings I baked an apple cake (in my Texas shaped dish).  The cake is upside down in the picture. :D  I must come from a family of non-apple cake bakers, because I've never had one!  My friend Cecelia supplied me with a favorite family recipe I was dying to try.  I have some other apple recipes I can't wait to try either!  Anyways, back to the apple cake.  It was DELICOUS!  I am having some for breakfast tomorrow morning, I know that for sure!  I didn't have the apples or raisins for it, but it was still wonderful simply with apples. :D  Here's Cecelia's recipe:

Fresh Apple Cake Makes: 8 - 10 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup salad oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 3 cups diced apples
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cloves

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Lightly grease a 9-inch by 13-inch pan or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

3. Combine oil, eggs and sugar. Mix well.

4. Sift together flour and spices.

5. Add to other mixture and beat well.

6. Add apples, vanilla, raisins and pecans. Blend well.

7. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes until it tests done with a toothpick.

I didn't have an epiphany, it's just that is what today is. :D  It's otherwise known as Three Kings Day, and there's also some superstition that you are supposed to take down all your Christmas decor by this day.  I started my day eating a frozen dinner of chinese food for breakfast, and then finished my day taking the decorations off the mantel, mainly so I could put my new mirror up there!  I found the mirror in Canton for $15.  It measures 43x33.

I need to apologize to Carmen.  She left a wonderful comment on one of my pictures, and as I was trying to add today's pictures I deleted yesterday's, and her comment went with them.  I restored the pictures, but can't restore the comment.  Thank you for leaving me a comment Carmen!

I bought four plants today for 99 cents each.  I was in our local discount grocery store, and you have to walk past the floral dept to get to the rest of the store.  Tucked away on a little rack were these poor dehydrated plants, and four were just screaming SAVE ME!  So I had to take them!  They will love it at my house! :D  Three of them look kinda like parsley, but they are some kind of tropical plant.  They are tiny, with beautiful, dainty leaves.  I have a feeling they will end up in matching pottery.  The fourth plant is a dieffenbachia, a plant I grew up with, but haven't had in a long time.  All of these plants look sickly now, but they will be beautiful in a few months!  I added a picture of two plants (together in the turquoise pot) I saved from another local grocer this summer, and they are looking quite nice!

1/9/2009 4:38:41 AM - 000067992148
Thank you Shay!  Those are precious but spoiled doggies. :D  I'm glad you like the mirror; my brother didn't like it up on the mantel.  Too bad! hehehe

1/7/2009 7:33:21 PM - 002052416633
I love the pic of the doggies! They're precious! If the Christmas decor just had to come down then the mirror is a lovely replacement! I'm sure the new plants have found a wonderful home and they will be beautiful in no time!

1/7/2009 2:59:35 AM - 000067992148
Thank you Elly!  Thanks also for helping me figure out that my three mystery tropical plants are parsley aralias!

1/6/2009 6:20:12 AM - 002051391943

Oh Beth, what a precious picture of the puppies!

They are just adorable!

Ok, on the plant with the delicate leaves that looks like parsley, if it is not parsley, then I would suspect it is a plant that they call 'China Doll', I can't remember the sci. name for it right now, I'll try to look that up shortly.  If it is a china doll, expect it to reward you with many years of pleasure, and growth. 
I bought one once, and it began as about a 2 foot plant, and grew to a height of over 5 feet tall!  It was gorgeous!  And hearty too. 

 

I'll look and let you know what I find out on the China Doll on our board! 

Just had to comment on your photoblog!  Congrats, great job so far, and I can't wait to see more. 

Elly