For starters, I desperately needed some new work clothes. I mean, desperately. I detest clothes shopping, so only do it under duress. The last time I'd bought anything for work wasn't even a 'shopping trip' - I'd just, in desperation, picked up a couple new tops, and I think that was about 6 years ago. Before that, I couldn't tell you when I last shopped for clothes.
For years beyond count my work clothes consisted of black jeans (worn until they were a mess, then thrown away and a new identical pair bought) and sweaters in the winter, whatever top I could scrounge up in the summer.
The one exception to hating clothes shopping is vacation, when I always buy a bunch of pirate t-shirts.
So when it got too warm for sweaters I would wear my couple of decent tops, then have to resort to the pirate t-shirts, which, since most of them had gaudy pictures of ships or skulls and crossbones on the back, I had to camouflage with a cardigan or a zip-front hoodie.
That was barely working till this year. Two of my three decent summer tops had finally got some irreparable stains on the front of them, reducing me to nothing but 1 good top, and pirate shirts. I was sick to death of sweating my ass off in layered clothes and black jeans when it was 85 degrees outside.
So, I went on a work-clothes shopping spree. I actually kind of enjoyed this one, since I was so desperate for something new to wear. I only went to K-mart ... where they have what some people aptly deem "K-mart clothes." Well, whatever. I'm no fashionista. I admit I'd like to have a wardrobe of things that were a little more unique, a little more exotic, a little more 'me.' But I didn't have time for that just now. I just needed some basic, serviceable stuff. And, I didn't want to pay a fortune for it.
K-mart's great for that. I got 4 pairs of pants, a pair of shorts (not for work, just for me), a skirt (!! my co-workers are liable to fall over, seeing me in a skirt), 5 shirts, a pair of shoes, and some new unmentionables, for about $180. Cannot complaint about that. And most of it's pretty nice ... only one or two things are mildly frumpy, but ... it will serve just fine for work until I can get around to making some stuff.
Because ultimately that's my goal - start making my own clothes, where I can alter patterns to make uniquely designed things that more reflect my personality. But that's a real challenge, and will probably be saved for winter when it's cooler upstairs, and I can't be outside.
Speaking of outside, I also got some gardening things today.
I got the rain barrel for the other part of the dining room garden.
This is a manufactured one because it's much more out in plain sight. While the generic white barrel with PVC fittings worked great, I wanted something a little more pleasant to look at in this spot where it's going to be so much more on display. But it was a definite trade-off, as this one cost $99.00 (compared to $15 for the other barrel, plus maybe $25 or $30 in parts and fittings). This is the only one of these I plan to get.
I got a new bird feeder, a veritable buffet this time, as some days I had 8 or 10 birds vying for my little tiny bird feeder.
I don't fill it all the time in the summer, I let them forage some. But come winter this will give me quite a show.
I also bought some hummingbird nectar (yes, I know you can make your own, but I happened across this, it was $4, and I knew I'd be more likely to dredge the hummingbird feeder out of the garage and clean it up and fill it if I just picked this up today). Maybe later, if I start attracting any hummingbirds, I'll start making my own.
This was my dad's hummingbird feeder, and although he always put it up in the summer, he said he rarely attracted any hummingbirds. It's supposed to help if you have other flowers around that they like, and as of yet, I don't, but I'll see what happens. I like that it's in a very nice little decorative 'house' - which is cool, because otherwise hummingbird feeders can be so tacky looking. Hummingbirds are beautiful, but I swear by their choice of feeders, they could be the white trash of the avian world. I picture them setting up in an old beat up Airstream, pink flamingos and white plastic birdbaths in the yard, maybe a tattered nest up on blocks somewhere.
The gardening thing is frustrating me. Part of the reason I bought the birdfeeder vertical buffet is because I needed something with some heft to hang on that side of the double-sided hook, the other side of which you can't see, but is holding a hanging planter. There used to be two matching planters, one on each side, each holding calibrachoa (a beautiful flowering annual). But I've killed off several batches of calibrachoa this year. The one still there is only half-alive, but it's counterpart on the right had completely died, and I needed to take it down. And this was the second planting - the first time both baskets of it died. I don't know what I did wrong, unless this spot's just too shady for it.
In fact, I killed half the plants I bought at the garden center back at the beginning of the month - in part because despite it was June, I wasn't ready to plant them (meaning, didn't have places picked out that were dug up and ready), and that's the first cardinal rule of gardening not to break - don't buy plants you aren't ready to plant. The second problem was, I thought I could be ready sooner, but it kept raining, and raining, and raining every time I had the time to do anything, and the fence was consuming all my time, both of which put me way behind.
Oh well. Live and learn. I've realized I do far better focusing on small areas at a time, so I'm going to rein myself back in to just the dining room garden areas this year. They seem so small, it doesn't seem like it should have taken this long to get no further than I am. But, it is what it is, and I have to work with that.
I still need to decide what else I'm going to plant in the shady garden (where I planted the fern and hostas yesterday) and put in some type of water feature.
I have to move the azaleas in the other part of the dining room garden (got them planted too far forward) and decide what else I'm going to plant over there. This year's temporary planting of impatiens and violets has done so-so. The impatiens are just starting to take off and branch out, but the violets are dying. Next year I'd like to put some perennials in there instead (trying to limit my use of annuals somewhat), but I haven't figured out what will do well in that spot, and not dwarf my still-tiny azaleas. Eventually the azaleas will be much bigger, and then it won't matter as much, so maybe I should wait a few years. "Kim's Knee-High" coneflowers only get a couple feet tall, and supposedly do well in semi-shady areas, so that might be the ticket, with the bonus that they're Ohio native plants.
Still have to put up the fence (it's leaning in place, but not yet screwed to the support posts), then plant the impatiens along there. This late in the year I don't expect them to do any good, but I have them - a whole flat of them - and have managed not to kill them yet, so I'll try it.
The rest of it I'm going to mostly forget about till winter when I get in the mood to do garden planning again, and maybe, hopefully, next year I can make a little progress beyond the fence.
Baby, baby steps. But hey - with the bunnies and the birds, some chipmunks and a mole or two, at least I have the wildlife thing starting to get ramped up. That makes me happy ... and the moles don't bother me, they haven't given me any grief yet, anyways.
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