Roses Roses Everywhere

This weekend was my 28th birthday.  To celebrate, my husband took me and our friends Dustin and Shannon to dinner, and on the way we made a stop at my new favorite garden center, Wallitsch Nursery.  Nick got me more rose bushes to add to my growing rose garden.  Nick and I tilled the bed up some more and added my new bushes.  I got 2 that I liked, and he got one that he liked too.  I also got a climber like the one my Mom has that I love love love.  Our next project will be to build a trellis to hold the bush here in a year or two when it gets huge (I hope). 

This is the rose bed after Nick tilled it up more.  It's gone from 3 bushes to 7.  I might have a problem...

Abby watched our progress from the yard.  She does not like the tiller and isn't able to control herself when it comes to "helping" so she has to stay on her tie-out chain.

And finally we got the new roses planted.  I forgot to take a picture of the climber, but I'll post our progress on the trellis.

The is the only rose that's blooming right now.  In a couple of weeks, the whole bed will be blooming.  I can't wait.

After we finished, we had to haul the tiller back and Abby got to spend some more quality time with Mamaw and Papaw.  They very kindly dogsit when Nick and I will be gone for long periods of time, and she LOVES running in their back yard since it's about 4 times the size of ours.

Flower Pots

This weekend, Mom and I ventured to Louisville to a garden center we'd never been to before.  I highly recommend it.  Wallitsch Nursery is on Hikes Lane off of Bardstown Road.  Mom and I hit the one hour mark as I was on the Watterson East headed to Bardstown.  I was getting a little nervous because I had made a big deal out of going to this place and if it sucked I was really going to feel stupid.  Luckily, it was amazing.  The back of the Jeep filled up quickly (and we still had grocery shopping to do). 

Since beginning our landscaping overhaul, I've been trying to figure out how to bring more color to the front yard.  The most obvious solution to that problem seemed to be flower pots.  Always before Mom had helped me choose the plants and plant them.  And while she did offer her input on plant selection, I was on my own with the planting.  I was nervous that my solo efforts wouldn't measure up to what Mom could do.  I'm pretty pleased with the end result.  I also put together an herb pot since my new thing is cooking with herbs and spices.

As you can see, I turned Nick's work bench in the garage into my potting bench.  I'm sure he'll be thrilled when he recovers from his stomach flu and goes to the garage and sees my mess.

And this is the herb pot....

And as promised in my last post...the rose garden.  Although the blooms were in need of pruning.  I also have a Gardenia and another rose bush that is in the garage waiting for a break in the weather to be planted.

Now all I have to do is not kill the plants....

My Love Affair with Roses

My favorite flower has always been roses (and hyacinths).  I still remember the first time I got roses.  I was around 8 and my cousins were visiting from Lexington, which was always a huge deal since we never got to see each other as much as we'd like.  On this particular visit, I developed strep throat and didn't get to see them at all.  So my cousin Sarah drew me a picture of a mouse saying 'Get Well' and my Uncle Tom brought me yellow roses.  I always thought it was horribly romantic when Dad brought Mom roses, especially for no reason  at all.  And the most amazing thing about Green Lake Conference Center in Wisconsin, where we used to spend a week in the summer for youth group at church was their massive rose garden.

Needless to say my favorite part of my Mom's flower garden is her rose bed.  There are several different colors and you can smell them when you're within 6 feet of it.  But my absolute favorite thing about the flowers in my Mom's yard is the pale pink climbing rose.  I think you have to see it to understand the sheer size of this rose.  Mom bought it a few years ago half price at the end of the summer because she thought the color was pretty.  Thje past couple of years it has gone insane.  There are branches that have climbed up the greenhouse about 4 feet away, and more branches that have hit the greenhouse, bend back and hit the fence, and are now bending back to the greenhouse, and finally branches that trail at least 8 feet down the fence.

It was only a matter of time before Nick and I started our own rose bed...which we did this weekend.  We have 3 bushes (photos to follow) and plan on adding more asap.  I have a few flowers cut now so that they won't get ruined in the storms tonight and smelling them immediately reminds me of home and my Mama. 


And on a completely unrelated note, in the week or so since my last blog, our little dog Abby has FINALLY learned that she goes to the bathroom outside.  She's also figured out that she can whine at the door and we'll take her out and she can squeeze out a little pee to keep it honest and then it's time to play in the yard.  Even though she has a tie out chain she can go out on anytime she wants.  But we already wonder what we even did without her.  =)

Surviving the Beast we call Abby

I find it interesting that "they" say that you should have a plant before a serious relationship.  I guess it makes sense in theory but I find it difficult to see how watering a plant is an effective measure of one's readiness for a relationship.  Nick and I tested those waters, though, when we got Abby.  We figured if we could handle a little puppy without killing her (or each other), we might be able to handle children one day.  In the two weeks since she's been here, it's become very obvious who the disciplinarian is and who the nurturer is.  For anyone who's ever seen my husband, they would immediately think he's the one handing out the punishments for biting, going to the bathroom on the carpet, and chewing on things that puppies aren't meant to chew on.  But if you think my husband is the one taking care of scolding for those things, you would be wrong. 

I think it's pretty funny that Nick is a big guy but his no is not very forceful and Abby normally looks for a second and continues doing what she was doing in the first place.  And when he scolds her, he immediately feels guilty and starts petting her.

But even with all her chewing and peeing on the carpet, Abby has been a lot of fun.  Every afternoon when I come home, I think she's grown bigger than she was when I left.  And she's starting to learn how to tell us that she needs to go outside.  She's changing so fast; it's amazing to see what she'll do next.  Abby's also been a great lesson for us too...we are definitely not ready for any other small beings running around our house!

Abby

This weekend, Nick and I got our new addition.  She has been in our house a short time and she already runs the show.  My sister, Lindsay, and I went to get her on Saturday afternoon.  Nick had to go work for manditory overtime, so Lindsay very kindly rode to New Salisbury with me to bring her home.

I was nervous as we got to the breeders.  As excited as I was for the day to arrive, it scared me too.  I couldn't help but wonder if owning a dog was something we were really ready for.  But once we got to the breeders' house and I picked up this sweet little puppy and she immediately began licking my face, I instantly fell in love.  She was such a good puppy.  She was lovable and while the other two remaining puppies barked and whined, Abby didn't make a sound.

The first evening went well.  Our friends brought their dog Ellie over for a play date and they wore each other out.  Abby did ok the first night, and whined about every hour then would sleep for awhile.  Nick was home with us on Sunday but on Monday I was on my own.  Abby demanded that we get up 5:30 a.m. when Nick got up for work.  It was a long morning.  If I left the room to try to get something accomplished, Abby would be in to something she wasn't supposed to be into.  And she decided she didn't like to go out into wet grass which makes house-breaking a little tricky. Later on, she decided it was too hot to be outside with me while I worked on flowerbeds.   Needless to say she's a bit of a princess.

By today (Wednesday) my carpets were covered in grass and bits of mulch and puppy food and littered with rawhide sticks and puppy toys.  I came home from work with a headache, really worried that I was going to be greeted by the little golden monster that nearly killed my husband and I yesterday.  It was her first day alone, baby-gated into the bathroom and she was as energetic as she is fluffy.  I was nervous again.  I took one look at my house and my headache started to get worse.  My kitchen needed cleaned and I seriously wondered if I'd ever have clean floors again.  I wondered if we'd done the right thing bringing this little beast into our house.

But when I took her outside she immediately took care of business, and once she had wrestled Nick and gotten rid of some of her energy, we started working on 'sit'.  And she looks up at you with her cute little puppy face and smiles and you just can't be mad at her.  We've had a good day, and now we're thinking we just might be able to handle this puppy thing.... 

Spring Flowers

One of my favorite things about spring is the flowers!  One of my main focuses since Nick and I bought our house has been getting the yard up to my standards...although I'm not sure I'll ever achieve the picture in my head.  But here's a little sample of what we've done so far.

This picture doesn't really do this flower bed justice.  It's a lot more colorful and pretty in person.  The bulbs along the front are just starting to bloom also.

The Magnolia in the back yard is one of my favorites!!  It's pretty windy today though but I wanted to take a picture in case the storms ruin it.

Stay tuned to see what flowers the summer brings...

Oh the Things You'll Learn

I entered into marriage knowing that I knew Nick pretty well, and that I would learn even more, not only about him, but about marriage and also compromise.  Maybe it's the teacher in me, but I do have a tendency to adopt a "my way or the highway" attitude.  I've learned a lot more in the first few months of my marriage than I really expected.  At times it isn't easy to be kind and patient with Nick.  When I've had a rough day at work, it's much easier to bring that irritation home and take it out on him, and there have been a couple of times that I've done just that. 


I've learned things like boys are messy.  I was lucky to grow up in a household of women.  My poor Dad was the only man in the house.  Even the family dog was a girl.  Dad did a great job of adapting to that and was pretty clean...or maybe Mom just trained him well.  Nick is a lot like my Dad in many ways, but he doesn't wash dishes.  He helps cook if I need it, and he puts things into the dishwasher but washing dishes is where he draws the line.  Keeping the floor in the laundry room clean is next to impossible.  He laughs at me when movies make me cry and he hogs the laptop that's supposed to be mine to play his computer games.  And regardless of how well you tend to your own finances, it's tricky to meld the two together.


Marrying a farmer has a whole other set of things to learn.  As much as I was a country girl at heart, I grew up in the city...if Salem can be considered a city.  When Nick and I started dating, I could barely drive a vehicle with a manual transmission.  The closest I'd gotten to a cow was at the county fair or feeding the neighbor's cows corn cobs over the fence.  I didn't know how to make cows go in the direction I wanted them to go and I was constantly stepping in mud with my old tennis shoes and my flip flops.  I can only imagine what Nick's Dad and brothers thought about having some idiot girl around.  But Nick was patient in teaching me what to do, and in the 3 years sinc I've been around the farm I can not only make cows move, I can lead them around with their halters, catch them in the chute, drive the tractor AND rake hay, and slog through the mud with the best of 'em.


This might sound like a bit of complaining about my husband but that's not what it's intended to be.  Because out of all these basics I've learned about living with my husband in general, I've also learned some really great things too, like how he kisses me hello when we get home every day.  And how he tells me that dinner is the best he's ever had every night, and that it's really nice falling asleep on his shoulder ever night.  So to all you girls out there preparing for marriage, take it for me, don't get too caught up in sweeping chew off the carpet and Swiffer-Vac'ing up the messes on the kitchen floor.  Take more time to enjoy the little things that make new marriage so special.