Forcing

One of my biggest regrets of having to live in an apartment is that I can't have a garden. I ADORE most flowering bulbs, and if I owned land, I can assure you it would be positively COVERED with a large variety of blooms.

A few weeks ago, The Boy's Boy Scout troop had a fundraiser to benefit an upcoming trip to the White House. The fundraiser was the sale of bulbs from a catalog. It is actually a thrill for me to look through catalogs like these. I gasp and everything. Seeing the catalog reminded me that I have always intended to try forcing some bulbs indoors. And what better time than the present?

I ordered hyacinths, crocuses, bluebells, striped squill, and paperwhites. (I would have loved to have gotten some tulips and daffodils too, but I read that they don't force as well.) The bulbs arrived yesterday. SQUEEE!

I have an elaborate plan of forcing a few of each type at a time, in a wide, shallow vase filled with glass pebbles and water. But most of the bulbs need to be chilled for a couple of months first, so we'll have to get to that later.

The paperwhites do NOT have to be chilled before forcing. I just set up two of them in little forcing vases. I can't wait until they bloom. If they bloom. Wish me luck!

12 of 12 - October

Welcome to my 12 of 12! I'm afraid it is possibly the most boring day, ever. 12 of 12 was created by Chad Darnell. Don't fall for imitations.

7:30 am, my kitchen
COFFEE!

10:00 am, kitchen
Last week, poor kitty came down with a bladder infection, so she now currently has TWO meds to take, instead of one.

11:45 am, kitchen
My butter dish. I ADORE carnival glass.

12:00 pm, kitchen
Brunch.

12:35 pm, dining room
My new sewing machine. Isn't it SHINY??

1:40 pm, The Boy's room
Just finished making the bed after washing the sheets. His bed cover is a denim rag quilt that I made.

1:55 pm, my room
And I FINALLY finished my latest quilt!

1:56 pm, my room
Kitty's stairs. She can still jump up and down, but she's so tiny I didn't want her jarring her tiny little bones if she doesn't have to.
2:20 pm, my room
Kitty is watching TV. She loves Animal Planet.
But I'm not clear why she needs the captioning on.

6:30 pm, living room
My latest knitting, which I have frogged twice already because it was coming out too small.

6:35 pm, living room
Tandem laptops!!
The second one is my niece's. It's been very boggy, so I am running spyware scans and defragging, etc, to try to clean it up for her.

11:03 pm, my bedroom
"Come to bed, Mommy. And get this Boy off of me!!"

Kitty

So last night, kitty had some bloody urine. Scared the ever-loving Bejeebus out of me. I brought her to the ER where they got an X-ray, a urine sample, and a preliminary ultrasound. Her bladder is small and thick-walled. We are hoping it is just an infection. We went home last night with an antibiotic, and I dropped her back off at the hospital this morning for a full ultrasound. She's there now, and I'm waiting for them to call me later to tell me when I can pick her up. And I will also be waiting for them to call me with the results of the ultrasound, and a game-plan.

Crossing fingers that it's just a bladder infection.

ETA: To quote the Governator: "Eets not ah toomar!" Nothing Bad showed up on the ultrasound. So, bladder infection. I just picked her up from the vet, and she'll be on antibiotics for a couple of weeks.

I am thrilled.

It's FINISHED!!!

My Curved Log Cabin quilt is FINALLY finished! I started this one back in June, I think. I slowly and steadily got all the squares done, then sewed them together to make the top...then things slowly fizzled out. As I tried to quilt it, the thread on the bobbin of the sewing machine kept jamming up. Nothing I tried to do helped it. It was incredibly frustrating and slow, and I finally decided I needed to take a break, and put the whole mess away for a couple of months.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a new sewing machine (and, oh, it's so fancy!), and now it's done!

This one is for MY bed. :D


I was standing on the arm of the sofa and holding the camera all the way up to the ceiling, and I still could not get the whole quilt in frame.