When the Fam Came to Visit

I love my parents! They came to visit a week ago, with my two little brothers. They made it just in time for my concert last Wednesday (we played Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, and the Walton Viola Concerto with a faculty member) and then they stayed all day Thursday and left Friday morning. I'm so happy they came! I miss my parents SO MUCH!!

We had a lazy day. I went to classes Thursday morning and then Husband Man and I swapped and I came home and he went to class. When I came home my mom was going to help me re-pot the China Doll (picture of that in this post). So my mom and I went to Walmart...

I should say right now that my mom LOVES plants, so me going to the store with her was probably not a good idea. I mentioned that I was thinking about potting snapdragons (since last year's plant never came back) because I wanted a plant and they seemed pretty easy to take care of. Next thing I know I'm asking her "What kind of plant is this? What about this one? And this one?" and she's telling me about annuals and perennials and trying to decide if a perennial would even come back next spring since we're in Idaho, etc.... We didn't pick up any plants for me until we found a corner with clearance plants, ones that had been damaged a little. There we found some snappies, and my mom found some lupine, and then I said "Oh this one's cute" and next thing I know we have a cart full of plants and we still haven't gotten dirt to re-pot the Doll!

So we ask a worker where the dirt is, and he says, "Oh, it's out in the parking lot next to the greenhouse. There's more plants out there, by the way." So my mom goes out to get dirt and I walk through the greenhouse to see what they have out there.......

We went through the checkout with two carts of plants and dirt. (And a gallon of milk that wasn't as cold as it used to be.)  The total? $80 worth of plants, dirt, and pots.

I turned to my mom and said, "Dad's not going to be upset that you're getting plants to take home, is he?"

"Nope. He's used to it. I was just going to ask you, is Husband Man going to be ok with this?"

"I think so. We're pretty laid back."

But this comment made that mean spot in my brain question that- I was positive that Husband Man wouldn't care, but that mean spot kept saying What if he is? What will you do then??

 Some seed geraniums, some snappies.... some other plants that I don't remember the names of... (And the irises came back again this year! Woohoo!)

 I think the orange fuzzy-looking one is so cool. I think there's some verbana or something in there. (I'm too lazy to go back out right now and look at what they are.....)

 This is my delphinium. We pruned the roots (we removed an inch of root coil) and the next day it got battered by the wind and now she's not looking too happy. I'm starting to feel like she won't pull through.... and the Del was one of my favorites....

 The hanging pot is one of my favorites too. I love the little flowers! (And you can see all cars that are by the park, which is pretty jam-packed- the norm for a Saturday.)

Husband Man wasn't mad at all, by the way. In fact, he was rather happy that I spent a little money (or a lot) on something that makes me so excited. I really am excited about the plants, they make me so happy! My mom taught me how to put them in the pots and how to pack the dirt down a little so that there aren't gaps, and the root pruning, and she taught me about the Doll's super-growth (we ended up pruning her a little too). We hemmed and hawed over the orchid, and determined that I shouldn't have put her in the window to get direct sunlight and the orchid's leaves got burned. I will feel so badly if that plant dies, but she's trying to put out a bloom so maybe she's ok.

I'd better stop before I bore everyone with plant jabber. I'm just so excited! I learned so much! I'm so glad my parents came. I wish I'd gotten a picture of my brothers, they played Smash Brothers on the Nintendo 64 over half the time they were here. And I learned how to make chicken pot pie for dinner too! And pie crust! (And my poor dad got so bored that he fixed our toilet, so now it doesn't wobble anymore.) I wish I lived closer to my parents. I miss them.

I love you, Mommy and Daddy!