Remember last February when we re-landscaped the front yard?

The previous summer we moved into the *ugliest* house in an otherwise very nice neighborhood. It wasn’t a bad house. In fact it was a brand new house; we got it for a great price — bank owned. But talk about ugly.

BEFORE WE MOVED IN:
The day we looked at the house: May 18, 2008

I’m all about “curb appeal”, and this house was definitely lacking in it. There’s nothing we could do about the boring architecture or the drab gray color (without forking out a bunch of money to the ridiculous power-hungry home owner’s association), but I figured that with a little bit of planning and elbow grease, we could at least tackle that landscaping.  What little “landscaping” our little gray house had was completely dead from 3 years of neglect (as the house set vacant after having been constructed). The only thing that had survived was the jasmine, which (as you can see from the photo above) just kind of went wild.

We consulted a local landscaping place to discuss which plants would be the hardiest (and quick-growing), and went to work.

RE-LANDSCAPED
February 23, 2009

By summertime, our new plants had finally started growing and looking nice.  We added a few yellow flowers to brighten things up, and voila!  Not “Better Homes and Gardens” by any means, but I was happy. It looked sooo much better than what we had started with.

SUMMER SEMI-MATURED LANDSCAPING
May 4, 2009

And by autumn the alyssum had seen its prime so we replaced it with another annual, and added some mums for fall color. I was quite pleased with the way the lantana had matured. The crotons hadn’t grown much, but had beautiful color, and the original pentas were now the size of bushes!

AUTUMN SEMI-MATURED LANDSCAPING
October 15, 2009

And then it happened.  The Florida deep freeze.  A type of freeze that southwest Florida hadn’t seen in over two decades. It was a brutal, horrible winter for Florida. Lots of rain, extremely cold temperatures, frost…and yes, even a bit of snow. These weren’t occasional weather conditions; they lasted all winter. In January we suffered a “deep freeze” which kept plants frozen for nearly two weeks.

At first it appeared that all was lost. Everything was wilted. So I waited until March to survey the damage; to see if anything was able to produce new growth. Here are the results:

Yeah.

Depressing.

It looks terrible. Back to square one — almost.  The schefflera (bushes in the back) miraculously pulled through (they were quite wilted at first).

The pygmy date palm suffered, but I think it will make it. There is still some green underneath all that brown. (Time will tell).

The queen palms, the most expensive single items in our landscaping seem to have weathered the harsh winter. There is a lot of brown, but more green than brown. Hooray!

Pepper plants and bird-of-paradise plants – took a beating, but I think they will recover:

My previously lush, thick lantana all died, but is not lost. Some may be gone (I’ll have to watch). But others have new green growth:

And of all things, my fall mums survived. This is the *one* plant that the landscaping guy warned me about. He told me that they wouldn’t survive because they prefer “cooler climates”.  Hmmmm…

So, maybe it isn’t as bad as I feared. There is hope anyway.

Total losses; plants for which no glimmer of hope remains:

Pentas.  They’re all goners. $60 worth of pentas.

Croton Mammy – all 13 of them. Cash loss of $260.  :(

Chances are, we won’t have another winter like this in Florida — not for a very long time anyway. But, I’ve never been a gambler. I’m not real keen on the idea of replacing these plants with the same thing…just in case.

Anyone have any ideas of replacements I could use that are similar in size, and both cold tolerant and heat/drought tolerant? I am looking for ideas!

Busch Gardens of Tampa has something new in store. Opening on March 27, 2010 is Sesame Street’s Safari of Fun! Geared toward younger children, the Safari of Fun will offer “kid-size rides, cool water fun and plenty of memorable adventures”.

Fly through the desert with Grover. Climb in Elmo’s Tree House. Splash in Bert and Ernie’s watering hole. You can even dine with your child’s furry friends. It’s Sesame Street Safari of Fun, where imaginations run wild and there’s fun for everyone.

Here’s the best part! To celebrate this new endeavor, Busch Gardens is offering a Free Commemorative Busch Gardens Preschool Annual Pass for Florida residents ages 5 and younger! It’s all they need to explore the wonders of Busch Gardens and the all-new Sesame Street Safari of Fun…for the whole year!

Florida residents can now purchase Walt Disney World’s Magic Your Way 4 Day Dream Pass for only $99 ($84 for children ages 3-9, and free for infants and toddlers).  $25 per day for Disney? What a deal!

This pass includes 4 one-day, one-park admissions to any of the 4 Walt Disney World® theme parks. You can use your 4 Day Dream Pass any 4 days you like from now through March 26, and from April 10 through May 25, 2010. (March 27 to April 9 are blockout dates).  The 4 days do not need to be consecutive and admission is for one park per day (park hopper option can be added for an additional cost).

This offer is available only to Florida residents. Proof of Florida residency required.
Tickets must be purchased by May 21, 2010.  Parking is an additional $14 per day.

Yes, I finally managed to get those photos uploaded to the computer. It was quite a task (you know, actually taking the memory card out of the camera and placing it into the little slot at the side of my computer) — I’m exhausted now…so you can forgive my delay, right?

Okay, enough with the sarcasm. On to the cuteness…

Baby’s first real experience with cake was priceless, but took place during her father’s and oldest sister’s absence, so we had to have a second birthday celebration a few days later (I told you she was the princess).

I think she loved her chocolate cake just as much the second time around!

We also waited until the whole family could participate for DeeDee to open her gifts. She *really* likes the drum set! You should see her rock out like Animal, from the Muppets.

And those soft blocks are wonderful! Big brother Rey can hurl them across the room without risking bodily injury to anyone.

It seems that over the past year the majority of my blog posts have mostly revolved around apologies for my lack of blogging.

I don’t entirely get it. Prior to the arrival “DeeDee” (also known as the Princess), I had nine other children. Nine pregnancies. Nine births. Nine babies. Nine toddlers. I managed just fine. I still made time for journaling, then maintaining a website, then blogging. I still managed to get regular showers and look like…well, a human.

WHAT has happened to me?

DeeDee’s presence has de-railed me. I don’t know why. What’s different? Is it just that fact that she is such a needy high strung child? Is it my “advanced maternal age”? (Yes, these words were actually printed on my medical chart during my last pregnancy. Depressing.) Maybe it’s the fact that WHILE I have DeeDee and juggle her needs, I also have two teenage boys driving me crazy (a new thing for me), and Rey, the cute blond  Tazmanian Devil that lives under my roof while single-handedly dismantling my house. Oh yeah, and the fact that I am, most of the time, a single mom (another new thing to me).

Whatever it is, it has left me in a constant state of brain fog. I lack motivation and often struggle to manage to construct a clear thought. (Case in point. Construct is not the right word for that sentence, but the more appropriate word escapes me). Not a state conducive to blogging.

I was once a cute, tanned, energetic…even, dare I say it, intelligent Mama.

Hmmmm….

These days I am 20 lbs overweight (despite the fact that I often forget to eat. How does that happen?)
I have split ends. Due to lack of use, I forget how to apply makeup. It’s been so long since I’ve had my eyebrows waxed, that they’re acting on their desire to reach out and touch each other. They’ve almost succeeded. My tan is gone (and let me attest to the fact that when you have an “olive” complexion and no tan, you’re simply left looking jaundiced). I spend the entire day in pajamas or “loungewear” unless I have to go somewhere (go somewhere meaning taxi-ing children to their various activities). And I have to psych myself up to shave my legs. Yes, glamorous life I lead. (Thank you God, for energy drinks and B-vitamins!) You’re probably getting an idea where blogging fits in.

I feel a bit guilty for not blogging because the children LOVE it! They’re really irritated with me for not blogging several of this year’s field trips. I need to get on that. Stay tuned…

For the time being, while I am certainly not much to look at these days, and while I feel like a walking zombie, I am enjoying every precious moment with that beautiful, demanding, energetic, brown-eyed baby toddler.  They grow up too quickly. I will have time to care for myself later. For this season I will savor my time with her.

Just wait until they’re all grown. I will be one seriously hyper-blogging granny. You’ll all be begging me to shut up!

Print this coupon and take it to a Sephora inside a JCPenney store for a free 14-day sample of Bare Escentuals BareMinerals Foundation.  Choose Original or Matte in one of 6 shades.  There is no purchase required and no expiration date on the coupon; they just say while supplies last – and if they run out they’ll give you a sample of another product!

Participating Denny’s restaurants are giving away free Original Grand Slam breakfasts from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Last year, two million people across the country turned out for the free meal, according to a news release. The restaurant announced during the Super Bowl that it would offer the promotion again.

This is just one of a few promotions Denny’s is serving up for its customers.

• Anyone can go online or stop by a restaurant until Sunday to register to win one free Original Grand Slam every week for a year. One winner will be announced each week on dennys.com.
• The first 500,000 people who sign up for the new Denny’s Rewards program online between now and Sunday will receive a free burger and fries, available March 1 through 7.
• Denny’s also will provide free refills on any order of French fries or pancakes at participating locations nationwide, starting Wednesday.
• And the party continues at Denny’s. Customers can celebrate birthdays with free Original Grand Slam breakfasts at participating locations as long as they provide proof of their birth dates.

This weekend is your last chance to see Gator and Ant perform in My Sister Eileen at the Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center!

A comedy by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov. Two Ohio sisters, the acerbic Ruth, who is determined to become a famous writer, and the sweet Eileen, who dreams of becoming an actress, move to New York. Based on Ruth McKenney’s New Yorker stories, the production was hailed by the New York Post as ‘the giddiest delight to be seen … since You Can’t Take It with You.’

Guess Who’s a Year Old?!!

Yes, ALREADY! I don’t know where the year went!

“DeeDee” went into the whole cake-thing with some confusion and even a little irritation…but she came out thinking chocolate cake is the best thing that ever happened to her (a girl after my own heart).

“What’s with this thing on my head? Get it off!”

REALLY not liking the party hat!

“Wait….what’s this?”

“Mmmmm….”

“Hmmm…there’s got to be a better way…”

Diving in…

Yeah, that works.

“Oh yeah…NOW you’re talking! This stuff is awesome!”

Pure delight!