Thriving Thursday - Update on my plants

As promised from my last post about my new plants which I started last week, here's this weeks update.  They are still alive and some even have flowers.  I also noticed the iris that I got from my neighbor last fall, have started showing some buds which means maybe next week it will have some flowers.  Anyway, the other three plants that I can't even remember what they were, they look exactly the same as the day I planted them.  But at least they did not die. I tried to take the same photos from the last time so hopefully, you'll see the difference. Although it is not a big deal if you remember what I post, the fact that you are reading this one is good enough for me.  Thank you for stopping by. 

Petunia

Iris

Lupens

Marigold

Yellow marigold

More iris

Begonia

Tomato plants in the backyard.

Multiples Monday - Many Masks

One of my BFF from Ontario suggested that I sell the masks that I have been sewing. After I had made many masks for family and friends both in Canada and USA, she was convincing me that I should really try and sell them.  I had to really think about this because that means I will have to make more, many more sewing hours but at least I get a little bit of money from the materials and my labor of love. LOL.  For the past couple of weeks, I had a few small orders, sometimes 3, 4 or 6.  This weekend, my massage therapist asked if I was sewing home made reusable masks.  So I say yes but didn't know how many she would need. Yesterday, she told me they need 80 masks.  OMG, I need to hustle.  So if I don't post anything for a week, you will understand.  Since I don't have my MIL, who use to be my assistant for cutting fabrics, which she was so great at it, I have to do everything.  Not complaining, but they need the masks before the end of the month.  In the meantime, these are the latest collection which I thought were cute. 

Tulips Thursday - Amazing colors

This is the second part of my post from Monday.  Although this time it will be all about tulips and other flowers.  While we were at the nursery last weekend, I was able to take photos of some of the flowers they had on their front parking lot.  Some of the other photos were taken from our golf course and there's one of the very nice color tulips that is from our front yard.  In addition, I took another photo of the turtles and the mother duck and her ducklings. 

Managing Monday - One more try

As I have told you before in my other post about plants, I do not have a green thumb and I am surprised that the plants I added to our garden last year have survived the winter and some are actually doing well.  I tried to clean up a lot of the pots that were left from last winter and one big one broke into pieces.  I guess there were a lot of water left inside the pot and when it froze, it expanded and it broke.  Anyway, there were a couple of still good pots that I thought I would keep and all the other plastic and non ceramic, I recycled them.  Yesterday, although it was mother's day and I normally don't do anything, we decided to head out to one of the local nursery and get a few flowering plants.  I really don't know which one would look good for my two big red pots. But since they were busy, there was not time to be picky.  I bought 4 different types and my hubby bought two cedar trees to replace the two that did not survive the winter.  So if you are a master gardener, I am sure you can tell me all these plants that I got.  I took photos of all of them and so I can check in a couple of weeks if they are actually growing.

Stitching Saturday - Single or Double

Today is our 12th year anniversary.  But since I don't get a gift for 12th year, I am not going to make a big deal about it.  Instead I will talk about my finished crochet bed scarf for our guest room.  A couple of years ago, my sister started it for me but she had to leave so I had to finish it.  It was half way so I thought that I could just pick up where she left off.  Well, it sat there for a couple of years because, I couldn't figure it out.  A friend of mine showed me how, then I didn't continue so I forgot again.  Anyway, now that I have used up all my yarns and don't have anymore project, I decided to pick it up again.  After many rows of the type of stitch, I realized it was growing too wide, so I untangled (unravel) it to where my sister left off.  That's when I realized that I was using the wrong crochet hook so it was creating a bigger stitch even though I was doing the right combination.  So after I figured it out, I was able to finish the bed scarf leaving only 6 inches of yarn.  I thought that was perfect.  Now I need an edging. Of course I had to call my sister for direction, ideas and a tutorial.  We did a short video chat and then I continued with crocheting.  Now it's complete and ready to be displayed when we have visitor staying in the guest room.  It will be perfect with our red flowery comforter set.  Thanks to my sister's expertise in crochet, I have a pretty bed scarf.

Trending Thursday - I had to try it

A few weeks ago, my girlfriend from California sent me a photo of special coffee that was suppose to be trending. Everyone was making it and she thought that I might want to try making it for myself.  Although I have my coffee everyday for breakfast (from our Keurig), that's about it,  my one cup a day. My hubby makes it for me with some half and half and one of my favorite flavors.  The sad part is that some of the stores where we buy our Keurig cups are currently all closed.  So we had to buy it from wherever it's available.  Anyway, this weekend I decided to make this coffee, I think it's called Dalgona.  Just reading the recipe, I knew it was going to be overly sweet.  Two tablespoons of sugar is a lot specially for diabetics.  But I thought I need to follow the recipe to make sure it comes out the way it is on the photo.  So I made it and it came out great, I tasted it and OMG it was obscenely sweet.  I kept adding ice and more milk.  After I finished drinking it, it was time to take a nap.  It knocked me out for about an hour.  Anyway, after all the hype about it, I guess you have to be a real sweet coffee drinker to love it.  I love my Tim Horton's coffee and I am sticking to it. Everyone has their own favorite, whether you are a Starbucks, Peet's, Tim Horton's, Seattle's Best, or whether you love espresso, cappucino or macchiato, they are just different coffee.  

Treats Tuesday - Trying new recipes

Like many others who are staying at home, I too have been doing some baking but not as much as I use to.  Before this stay at home order, I use to make our artisan bread, etc.  Now that flour and yeast have been hard to find, I opted to just buy my bread every now and then to support the local economy.  So instead of bread, I have been trying different new recipes for baking BARS.  I prefer them instead of making cookies because it's less work and I don't mind cutting them into squares.  As I like small things, I made sure that the squares are smaller so I know I am not going over my limit for my treats.  There were two new recipes that I found on Pinterest with very simple ingredients you have in your pantry.  The favorite part is that it only needs one egg.  As my hubby have eggs for breakfast every day, I try not to use them for baking.  The second favorite is that the procedure for making is very simple.  Prior to trying these two recipes, I also found a Walnut Chewy bar which I tweaked and added a little butter and a quarter cup of coconut.  Wow, it was so chewy, crunchy and not too sweet.  Now every other month, I would get a craving for some pastry that I cannot make.  I would send my hubby to try and find something interesting when he goes to the grocery store.  The last time he went, he found these maple plait with walnuts.  It was yummy but a little big so I had to cut in half for my portion.  What have you tried making and what are your favorites?

Maple plait with walnuts

Snickerdoodle bar

Almond bar

Popovers for breakfast