This title is intentionally vague...because it is one of my mom's Christmas gifts

So Mom, you have every opportunity to not blow your Christmas surprise right now.

When life gives you lemons...throw them at people you don’t like.

It’s good for your stress level and tenderizes the lemons for juicing.

Container Gardening Tip

I mentioned in a previous post about how plants like dry bottoms. Can't say I blame them. I recommended perching your plants atop bricks to give their tooshies some breathing room. But, when you live on the second floor and it's a hike from your car, well, that idea just kind of sucks.

Adventures in Once A Month Cookery

While looking into easy make-ahead meals for my grandpa, the concept of "Once A Month Cooking" was suggested to me. Anyone who's ever had to cook for just one on a regular basis knows what a pain it is - produce goes bad before you can get to it, you get tired of something you mass produced, and it becomes a chore to always be running to the grocery store. I hear Europe calling me a sissy for that last comment, but you guys get mandated naptime, so it's clear that you have the energy to cook every day. Anyway, this Once A Month Cooking (OAMC) thing seemed worthy of further investigation for my use.

There’s something in the water – Part 3

So comes the last installment of the baby shower madness.

There’s something in the water – Part 2

Last weekend baby shower number two hit. My initial plan for my baby shower gifts was to make the same basic gift for each mom-to-be, but with tweaks to make them unique. But, after talking to Jeanne (gift 2) after Kim’s (gift 1) shower, I found that while any baby gear is appreciated, I needed to be a bit more adventurous in my gift choices. I like to keep them guessing.

There's something in the water...part 1

Several of my favorite people took it upon themselves to supply the needed children for the 2015-2016 kindergarten year. Congrats to all of them, and September and October are going to be full of squeals and the joy that surrounds a new life coming into the world (and me moonlighting as a nursery designer at Jeanne's house).

With that comes showers :) And, being the idiot I am I took it upon myself to come up with all kinds of good stuff for gifts. This first post is about Kim's gift. Part 2 and 3 will come as those showers hit. But, I will give thematic hints for the next two - ladybugs and bath time. I'll let you roll that around in your mind.