Neglect

February is National Neglect Month... at least it appears to be around my house, anyway. Chili is number one on the neglected list. Poor little doxie, he's being ignored more than neglected, but he sure doesn't like it one little bit! Doesn't it show in his face?My back swamp, oops I mean yard is being neglected, too. All the little daffodils I planted last fall are blooming, but I'm not around much to enjoy them...There is a very good reason why everything and everyone at my house is being neglected this month, you see, I'm in class! That sounds so funny for me to say, but it's true. The month of February, I'm taking the AgriLife Master Gardener training!
Every year our county takes applications and holds classes for Master Gardener training. For some time I've wanted to take these classes, but was never able to until just now! In a nutshell, I attend classes on things like botany, soil, insects, well you get the picture. After completing training, I perform 75 hours of volunteer work; after that's completed, I become a Master Gardener! In case you aren't familiar with the program, or want more details, check out the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas A&M System website. It's a wonderful horticulture program that's offered in counties across the state of Texas, in association with Texas A&M University.
Training began this past week, and I am worn out both physically and mentally. It's been years (lots of years) since I've taken any classes, and my poor brain is in overload! I'm so confused and overwhelmed! At this point all I know is that I don't know very much!
So please forgive me if I neglect my blog and yours too this month. Hopefully I'll have more time to blog after classes are complete. In fact, I'll probably bore you to death with all the new stuff I learn.

Save Me From Myself

Someone needs to save me from myself; I swear, I am the reason I don't get much accomplished. Here is how my day went: First I decided to find a wall hanging that a friend made for me years ago; I wanted to put it in the garden room because it is a quilted square about 2'x2' that has a pieced and quilted basket on it (don't remember the name of the quilt pattern). I thought I'd kinda try to put all my garden and floral themed things in there since it is a garden room. (None of this has anything to do with my story; as usual, I digress)
While looking for the quilted piece (which I eventually found), I came across a bag that I could tell had fabric or needlework of some type in it. When I dumped it out to go through it, I found a couple of cute little vintage ladies hankies, some crochet and embroidery, and a crocheted set of cozies for glasses.Do you remember in the 50's and 60's how ladies (mostly old ladies, if I remember correctly) didn't like their glasses of iced beverages to sweat and drip? They would crochet these little cozies to slip over the glass, and they would absorb the moisture and the glass wouldn't slip from your hands. I thought they were adorable! Well, I found a mixed set of them. There are two that I can tell are really old (like from the 50's, same as me) and there are 4 newer ones made from thread that almost matches the originals.So instead of doing something productive, like vacuuming or dusting, I decided to hand wash my newly found stash of goodies. I soaked them in warm water and Woolite in the kitchen sink, then changed the water and agitated them by hand a bit until my fingers began to shrivel, changed the water again and then rinsed them. After that, I layered them between clean towels and rolled them up to absorb most of the water. Somewhere I heard that you aren't supposed to wring out vintage fabric, the threads might be too delicate.
Now I needed a place to dry them. Since we can't have clotheslines, per the deed restrictions (once again, I digress), I keep a wooden folding drying rack for drying clothes when I'm attempting to live "greener". Of course, it is folded up in a corner of the garage. Between me and the drying rack, there are 56 containers of patio plants that I've brought into the garage for the winter, lest they freeze.
After much cursing, I manage to cross the Amazon jungle, er, I mean the garage and retrieve the rack. My first attempt to set it up in the garden room was thwarted by 3 curious cats who were swatting at my treasures and knocking them off the rack faster than I could replace them. (I have 5 cats, but 2 of them could care less and didn't participate)Finally, I moved the drying rack into the guest bathroom, setting it in the bathtub and putting all my dainties up to dry. With the door closed, they were safe from mischievous felines. Once the cozies were dry, I located one of my old aluminum glasses and found the cozy fit like a glove on the glass!
Having done all that, I am now relaxing with a nice cup of hot tea admiring my little cozies tucked away in my china hutch.

Let Me Introduce Myself

After coming across Texas Blogging Gals and adding my name to the list, I've met several new bloggers. I've noticed a few of the ladies have posted an introduction of themselves for those of us who are new to their blogs. That sounded like a great idea, so I decided make today's post an introduction of sorts.
Sit a spell and let me tell you about myself. Have some tea and cookies while we visit.In July of 2008 I was introduced to blogging and started my own blog. At the time, I was newly retired, after spending 25 years working for Southwestern Bell and AT&T. Now I've been retired for not quite 3 years, and I love retirement!
I love gardening, and living here in north central Texas, I'm able to be in the garden from March until November, and on odd days here and there during the winter. Most of the year I'll be posting about things going on in my garden, my failures and successes.
When I'm confined to the house during winter, I blog about food, since I love to cook and bake, and I really love to eat! Actually I started a separate blog just for recipes, Alamo Chili Queen, but quickly found out two blogs is just way to much to keep up with. I'm also a "do-it-yourselfer" so I blog a lot about my "projects" in the house and the garden. I'm always in the middle of something, right now it's putting a quilt top together.
My hobbies include knitting, crocheting and embroidery. I collect all things old, especially old linens, kitchen utensils, dishes, lamps, and clocks. My husband would add "a garage full of other crap" to the list of things I collect. I'd much rather have something old than something new; I love the patina and the history that antiques and collectibles have.
Major league baseball is the only sport I follow; I love baseball! When I can, I slip off to Arizona for spring training, but since retiring, I don't get to do that often, since we are now on a tighter budget. But I'm just as happy watching my Texas Rangers or Arizona Diamondbacks on tv; the view is better and the beer is cheaper than at the stadium!
When I'm not busy doing anything else, you'll find me curled up on the sofa in the garden room reading a good book with my dog and 5 cats napping beside me. My evenings are usually spent at home with my husband in front of a roaring fire or a roaring television (unfortunately, it's usually the tv!).
I post and I read blogs for fun, so you won't find much of anything controversial here. I detest politics, so you won't find anything political in my posts. Mostly I want to read and write about the things that make me happy, and all the depressing stuff is on the evening news, so why go into it here? I love my family (pets included) to pieces, but I try not to post about them too often; you know the old saying "moderation in all things". I know nobody want to see pictures of the grandkids or dogs every day. My profile page has a few more of my likes and dislikes if you care to read them. To sum it up, in the "about me" part of my profile I entered "middle aged woman, blogging about life, home, garden, and family".
Thanks for dropping by, and if you'd like to visit other Texas Blogging Gals, just click here for an up to date list of blogs participating. Thanks to Diana at To Everything A Season for putting the list together!