Earth Day

While the Willoughbys are still not as green as I would like to be, we have taken some steps toward helping the environment...
Our Earth Day resolutions are to continue with what we are doing and add a few more Earth-friendly practices into our lives.

We have started composting to help reduce the refuse we send to the landfill; also, hopefully, we will have some nice, rich compost in the fall to help amend our soil and add nutrients for the trees and shrubs I hope to plant. While we still are not as diligent as we need to be in adding to our compost pile, hopefully we will get a little better in the year ahead.
Charles has started driving the speed limit to conserve gas!! I still haven't quite brought myself to practice this one!

We also plan to take additional steps in the coming year...
We have a tote that we bought to take to the grocery store for our fruits and veggies to save a few bags each week. We have become complacent and forgetful with this one, but we plan to do better in the coming year.
We keep waiting for our light bulbs to burn out so that we can replace them with energy efficient and Earth-friendly bulbs.
I plan to purchase energy efficient power strips and unplug our small appliances and chargers when they are not in use.
And the one I am most looking forward to, we plan to plant some trees and shrubs in the fall to beautify our yard, to help with air quality and to give a home or at least a resting place to little birds and butterflies.


As is fitting Earth Day, the backyard project is now complete, so the first step in the prep work for fall planting gets a BIG check mark!!

Hope everyone had a Happy Earth Day!

Weekend Project

Our weekend project was putting landscaping cloth down in the area between the retaining wall and the fence. Even though it was quite windy at times during this project, Charles and I managed to get a pretty good system going... Unfortunately, we ran out of pins before we got to the end of the retaining wall, so we'll have to finish this project sometime this week (after a quick trip to Lowe's)...
Hopefully the newspaper and landscaping cloth will kill the grass and the pesky weeds so we'll be able to plant blooming trees and shrubs here in the fall. I can't wait to have some dogwoods, redbuds, yellowbells, spirea, a crabapple tree...

The weekend was not filled with just work though.
Charles and I enjoyed our first crawfish of the season...

I cooked some corn and potatoes to go along with the crawfish, and it was all delicious!
This little baby crawfish was a perfect specimen...
The weather has been beautiful this weekend. I was able to enjoy some pleasant reading outside, and we have been enjoying dinning al fresco.

Charles and I also broke out the badminton rackets and birdies this afternoon! Even though we didn't put up the net (and even though our yard is far from level and flat) we had a great (and humorous) time!!

Visit from the Bienvenu Bunch

Thursday evening Molly came over to deliver my Pampered Chef goodies, and John and Brady came along for a quick visit. We had a great time seeing them all and playing a little while with Brady.
Brady came in to see Toula. He was so cute! He looked at her for a while and then thought about petting her. Although he didn't grab at her or do anything to startle her, she is not used to children. She looked at him for a while and then hopped into her home. He then sat in Molly's lap on the floor and just watched Toula. He pointed at her and talked to her some, but, unfortunately, she wouldn't come out and play with him. So we went back outside, where I had lots of fun playing getcha and swinging Brady around.

Cold Spell

We are having quiet a cold spell! Saturday night was a little cool, last night was even colder and tonight is supposed to be really cold - we are actually under a freeze advisory. Well, this means that all of the flowers Mama and I Saturday have had to find a temporary home in our house. Our kitchen is starting to look like a nursery... Toula also sensed the return of winter. She thought that she needed to get a nest ready for the cold. She started by spending time in what has become her living room home - a box. She jumped in and started digging and clawing on the sides. I told Charles that she was trying to make a window! After we starting laughing at her cuteness, she hopped out and gave us this look of, "What you laughing at, Willoughbys?"

She then decided she needed to spend some time gathering materials for her nest. Of course, this meant getting into the Kleenex! She started by pulling out a Kleenex...
Then she started chewing...
She is just too cute when she puts her little paws on it and tugs it!
Of course, all this work exhausted her, and she needed to rest. After hopping back to her home, we checked on her and found her all stretched out...Super(man) Toula!
Toula was so sweet this weekend. She stayed on the couch for much of it getting rubbies. After long periods of rubbies on the couch, she would jump down and then jump back up for more. Of course, she also spent a little time running on the couch and jumping on the back of it to explore!

Spring Flowers and a New Mailbox

This morning when we woke up, we found a note on our front door. Last night our mailbox was demolished by a person swerving to miss a cat. Thankfully, he left us a note with his contact information. When we inspected it this morning, it was holding on by such a thread that Charles just cracked it on off so that it wouldn't fall off in the street. Charles stopped by the Glass Menagerie this morning to let them know we needed a new mailbox. The guy came by this morning to take a look at the damage and told us that it would be first of next week before he could get to installing our new mailbox. Thankfully, his estimate was a bit off. Tonight when we drove up after dinner, he was touching up the paint! Now our mailman will have somewhere to put our mail Monday.

It was such a pretty day today. Charles and I went to Home Depot for lawn fertilizer with weed control (hopefully this will help our yard) and landscaping cloth and looked at their plants and flowers. We also stopped by the new nursery in Hernando to look at their beautiful plants and flowers, and Charles bought a pot that I had been wanting for me - a terra cotta pot with fleur de lis on it, but I couldn't decide on what flowers I wanted. Charles thought it would be a good idea for me to call Mama to help me decide since her containers always look so good.

Charles and I decided it was the perfect day for bar-b-que. We went to Coleman's for a delicious lunch. After getting home, I called Mama, and she came up this afternoon to help with my Spring plants...

We went to Lowe's and the new nursery in Hernando and found some really pretty plants and flowers. After much deliberation, I decided what I wanted to plant in each pot. We came home, and Mama and I dug in the dirt for a while.

Our first project was the urn at our front entry. Charles and I saw the prettiest Eugenia Topiary earlier in the day, and I thought that it would be perfect for the entry. I wanted something to plant under it, and Mama suggested creeping Jenny. I think that it was the perfect combination; it turned out great! I can't wait for the creeping Jenny to fill in...
We then worked on the containers on the back patio. I wanted a tree hibiscus again this year. Mama and I found one that I really liked (the color was just beautiful) at Lowe's. I also found another container at Lowe's that just jumped out at me. I placed the hibiscus in it at the store and knew that the container and plant were the perfect combination. I wanted something to plant under it, and Mama and I found red thyme - I think it is pretty, and it also smells really good...


I usually plant petunias; however, I wanted to do something with them a little different this year. Mama and I found an ornamental grass - Old Gold Japanese Sedge Grass - to place in the middle of the container with petunias surrounding it...
We were both excited about how these turned out - just as we had envisioned...I wanted some geraniums this year. When we found the Caliente Series Geranium in this great color, I knew these were the geraniums for me...
I also wanted a vine for our fleur de lis, and I decided on a mandevela...At the beginning of our trip, I was thinking of marigolds for the fleur de lis pot Charles had bought earlier today. However, the dusty miller looked so good that I told Mama I would like it for one of the pots if I could find something to go with it. She pointed out some white calibrachoa to me, and when we held them up together, we thought we had the perfect match. I decided to forgo the marigolds and plant these in the fleur de lis container...
Once the dusty miller gets a little taller, I think that this will look spectacular...Lowe's also had some really pretty Aurea Irish Moss which I just had to buy. I decided to plant it in our little bowl on our ice cream table...

I found an Angel Vine at the nursery this morning. Charles told me he would buy it for me, but I declined. Well, I still liked it when Mama and I went back, so I bought it. I think it is just so light and pretty...We ran out of potting soil before finishing all of the containers, so we took a little break and ate dinner at Guadalajara (delicious fajitas - Mama's treat). After dinner we picked up more potting soil and finished planting all of the containers.

Thanks Mama for all your help in picking out the perfect plants and for helping me plant everything! I think that everything turned out perfectly!!

Pampered Chef Party

Today, I went to a Pampered Chef Party at Molly's (The Bienvenu Bunch). I had a great time. We had delicious food, and I bought some neat gadgets for the kitchen. It was great catching up with Molly, but the real highlight of the day was Brady (Molly and John's son - who will be 2 in a few months). Even though I haven't seen him in quite a while, he came right to me and gave me a hug right off the bat. We had lots of fun playing, and he even sat in my lap to play with a pen and help me eat a delicious brownie. He is just too cute!! Of course, when I left, he blew me a kiss and told me the sweetest "Bye!" I wish that I had taken my camera so you all could see just how much fun we had today!

Our Little Stinker...

This evening, I was in the computer room. I looked up and saw Toula's little head poking around the corner of the door. This was pretty shocking since we had the baby gate propped against the doorway leading out of the living room. She had nudged her way through the small gap and braved the hardwood floors in the hallway...
As soon as I saw her, I said, "Toula!" By that time she had hopped half way into the computer room. I got up to try to steer her back to the living room, but she had other ideas. As soon as I was out of my chair, she had hopped into the guest room and found quick refuge under the bed. As an added declaration, she thumped her foot, not once, not twice, but three times after she was secure under the bed. By this time, I couldn't help but chuckle.
I told Charles that Toula was under the guest bed. At first he thought I was playing a late April Fool's joke on him. After assuring him that I was not joking, he came and helped close doors...and brought the broom...the one thing Toula detests and which has helped us many a time wrangle her back to her home.
Charles swept under the bed, and Toula ran out...but she made a circle and ran right back under the bed. After a few times of this, I pulled the boxes out from under the bed, and Toula, though she tried very hard to circle back under the bed again, finally ran back to the living room.
Apparently, Toula enjoyed this adventure, because Charles and I have spotted her by the gate several times tonight, though thankfully for us and not so thankfully for Toula, Charles put the gate up behind her and made sure that the gate was propped up with no gaps...