What a *beautiful* day!

Oh yeah. I'm *totally* ready for Spring!! Today was incredible - so incredible that I got a lot of work done in the front and back yards. :) I have two little flower beds in the front of the house on either side of the front stairs. For the last month or so, little green leaves have been peeking out of the ground from when we got that warm spell. I got rid of a bunch of leaves, thatch, and weeds and cut down the dead Iris leaves from last year. Imagine my surprise when I found a *bunch* of new green stuff coming up underneath the dead leaves! I'll have even more pretty flowers than I thought!! Thankfully I wrote down the names of the flowers I planted so I'll know what they are when they come up. ;) The unfortunate part is that I didn't plant them in the exact place that I mapped out I would so I think I'll still be surprised. I'm still so new to this growing stuff. :) I did recognize the Crocus flowers that bloomed today though! I can't wait for the rest to come up, but so far I have 3 little white & yellow flowers on both sides. :) Yay!

Today I went to Home Depot to get outside shears to cut the Iris leaves (see above) and I ended up buying a couple of bags of Hosta bulbs (to be planted at the end of this month according to the directions), some seeds (Columbine & some other flower), a few peat trays, and some soil. I asked one of the guys in the Gardening Center if they were able to special order any trees as I've decided on what tree I'd like to plant in the front yard - a Kawakamii Dragon tree, otherwise known as an Empress Tree, or Paulownia Tree. Check it out - http://www.dragontrees.com/

Relatives that were looking to adopt a Min Pin came by in the afternoon to take a look at Roxie. Yay! Roxie has a new home! They absolutely loved her and she is now sitting in the comfort of her new forever home. :) While they were outside with her, I started ripping out all of these vines that grow along the edge of the fire pit. Since last year was my first spring here, I didn't want to rip anything out since I had no idea what they were. By the summer I knew they weren't anything I wanted to keep (they have thorns) but by then they weren't coming out of the ground. :) So, I started trying to get that back area into shape. I hope to be able to get out tomorrow and finish it.

After that, I planted all of my seeds in the peat pots, (the flowers mentioned above) along with Lavendar, Forget Me Nots, and Four o' Clocks. There were a few bees buzzing around while I was outside planting those seeds. I have to say that I am NOT happy about that. I *hate* bees. It's ironic that I like to plant flowers but hate bees, huh? Yeah, I know it makes no sense, but, oh well. What can I say, I'm a walking contradiction. :)

I do have to say that I was pretty proud of myself while weeding the front garden. There were little spiders everywhere (I'm shuddering while typing it) and I didn't even freak out all that much. :) I think I only ran away twice actually. If you really knew me, then you would know how much of an improvement that is. :) I will admit, however, that I got great joy out of trying to drown them with the hose afterwards. :)

I was going to head down to my Dad's for a bit, but I got a phone call from a guy that adopted a dog from me a year of so ago. Apparently his sister and niece moved in with him and there was an *incident* with the little girl. I guess it wasn't bad really, no blood or anything, but they just felt that it wouldn't be a safe situation for either of them. I completely understand and my heart goes out to him. :( So, Max is here once again looking for a new home. I thought I would actually get down to just my dogs for a bit, but it just wasn't meant to be. I'm hoping to get some pictures of them tomorrow so I can put them on Petfinder.

After he left, I figured it was time to balance my checkbook so that when I completely switched over to the new bank, I'd have a clue as to what I had for cash. :) Apparently I haven't added any deposits or receipts to Quicken since the end of January. Here's a tip if you ever have to go through multiple months of data entry, add the deposits first. That way, you won't have a negative thousands of dollars balance when you're done entering in the receipts. Can you say mini-stroke? :)

And now that I've typed my little fingers to the bone with today's shenanigans, I'm off to complete my homework for the week so I can have one less thing on my plate. :)

D