lawmummy

Friends.

Definitely friends.

In particular (though clearly not to leave anyone out which I know is dangerous because someone always gets left out):

• Sally, Suzanne and Madeline for loving my children almost as much as I do;
• Kristin and her family who have been our extended family for a kazillion years (and no, for the millionth time, Kristin is not my sister);
• Bren, Trin, Court and all of my wonderful Meredith chums;
• Roxy, Ginny and Agnes for being some of the funniest, nicest, most fabulous science and math geeks around;
• Pat, who “virtually” listens to me more than anyone;
• My neighbors:  the whole crew (Jay and Angel, Marion and Jim, Sue and Gary, Catherine and Charles, Darree and Tom, Eelin and Gaspar, Jen and Dave and all else) whose collective help and encouragement have made this place such a wonderful place to live and raise our kids;
• My Wednesday night Gossip Girl crew (!);
• Our summer Friday happy hour chums;
• Father Kirk and his family;
• My friend, Jenn, who I rarely get to see anymore;
• and all of you who have touched my life in some way.

Thanks.

Oh yeah, I’m back.

Well, I wasn’t really gone. But my Green Thumb Sunday love was. One of the reasons that I was so crazy nuts about getting the migration over to wordpress.org to work is that wordpress.com would not allow script. And without script, you can’t do a proper blogroll (you can individually add links, but that’s not the same). And without a proper blogroll, I couldn’t participate in one of my most favorite blogging things… Green Thumb Sunday!

But all is now right with the world. The blog is working (I know there are some migration glitches - I’m doing my best) and I’m back on track for Green Thumb Sunday. Enjoy - and don’t forget to stop in and say hello to my fellow Green Thumb-ers. You can find the list over in the sidebar - it’s now expandable (say it with me now, “Oooh! Ahhh!”).

It’s a butterfly bush. I felt like sharing this one (one of three in my yard) because this has really become the season for butterflies around the garden. Butterflies are everywhere in our yard right now (including on Katie’s head today, much to Chris’ amusement) - and I like to think it has something to do with our assortment of butterfly-friendly plants.

Butterfly bush is the common name for plants in the Buddleia genus. There are over 100 species, believe it or not.

Butterfly bushes do what it says on the tin: they attract butterflies with their bright colors and extended growing season. Here in Philadelphia, the first blooms start in early summer/late spring and keep on going throughout early fall.

The bushes in our yard are huge - the one near our patio is well over 7′ tall. They also grow quite wide. I expect that you can probably “train” them in some regard to grow a certain way but I like the chaotic nature of the butterfly bush with sprouts all over the place. It is, I think, exactly as nature intended.

If you don’t have one, and you’re wondering, they’re easy to grow and nearly impossible to kill. I divided one after it broke while being transported and though it looked dead all fall, the broken bit has emerged this fall as a smaller version of its former self.

Beautiful, easy to grow - practically maintenance free (they need pruning before the new season) - butterfly bushes are definitely one of my favorites!

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Top Ten Monday is back!  And yes, I’m in a bad mood (keep reading).  So my top ten this week are the top ten reasons that I hate summer:

1.  The heat.

2.  The humidity.

3.  School’s out.  This means the horrible children on my block (the ones that I refer to as Appalachia) have nothing better to do than get into trouble.

4.  Shore traffic.  For those of you who don’t live in the northeast US, this is a phenomenon wherein everyone leaves the City on a Friday afternoon and heads back on Sunday afternoon - using the same roads.  The traffic is crazy.  And I say this as someone who grew up on the coast of NC.

5.  Airfares are up.  That’s why I’m here and Chris is in Germany.

6.  Contractors are on vacation.  It’s impossible to get a contractor in the City to return your call at the best of times… in summer, it’s impossible.  I have about 5 calls out - I got one back.

7.  The sun stays up far too long.  When I was a kid, I loved this.  As a parent, I hate it.  It’s impossible to get the girls in bed at a decent time.  They’re sure it’s still daytime outside.

8.  Summer TV stinks.  I miss the Amazing Race.

9.  No good holidays.  Yeah, call me unpatriotic all you want, but July 4th is about the most overblown and unsatisfying of all of the holidays.  I can eat BBQ and corn any day - I don’t need a special day to have a picnic.  And I’d rather not have to deal with the drunks.  And not have to worry about horrible children setting off illegal fireworks for weeks on end.

10.   No good sports.  I used to love baseball but most of the players annoy me anymore (except for Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley).  No football?  No college basketball?  I’ll even take hockey.

Sigh.  Only 88 days until fall.

It’s Make It Through the Week Monday!

Today’s thing that makes me smile is…

Amy’s hair!

To play along, check out the details and send me a note or post in the comments in order to play along - and don’t forget to visit the blogs in the sidebar!

It’s Make It Through the Week Monday! I know I’ve been sporadic about posting my MITTWM’s photos but it’s been kind of crazy lately.

It’s baseball season which means two things:

1. The Phillies will inevitably get close to the playoffs and not make it;
2. I will want to go to a game but not be able to afford the huge balloon loan to take a family of five to a game these days.

But, back in the day, we did go. And here’s one of my favorite pictures ever, of Katie at her first Phillies game.

If you want to play along, here are the rules. Check out the blog roll on the sidebar.

My peonies bloomed yesterday. I’m so freaking excited. This Sunday, I swear I’ll have pictures for GTS.

For now, I’ll leave you with the results of my quiz which I found at Earthly Garden (check Susan out, she’s doing a great job with the site):

Your gardening self-score is 72%.

This is a pretty serious passion for you, isn’t it? You’re out there, digging, amending, turning the compost, killing the bugs or even encouraging the beneficial insects. When you can’t be outside because of weather, you’re inside studying, diagramming, building, planning. You get everything out of your garden that you put into it, and probably soon you’ll be scoring even higher on this quiz.

How much of a gardener are you?
Make a Quiz

It’s Green Thumb Sunday!

This is my favorite color tulip in the yard. The photo doesn’t actually capture how pretty it really is. But imagine bright pink, purple and orange all caught up in the same bloom. Or imagine a sunset as a tulip.

My tulips were really lovely this year despite the crazy weather and despite my youngest daughter’s attempt to decapitate every one of them in the yard. I planted reds and yellows a few years back, then whites and purples. The purples never really worked - I’m not sure why they collectively decided to boycott blooming in my yard. And last year, I introduced bright pinks and oranges. The range of colors this year were just beautiful.

Something about color in the yard just makes me smile. I hope you’re enjoying a little bit of spring in your part of the world, too.

It’s Make It Through the Week Monday! For details, read how it started. The blogroll is still small right now (check it out in the sidebar), so c’mon, join and add to the fun!

Today’s thing that makes me smile is…

Three things:

1. Katie
2. Amy
3. Coffee

Okay, they’re not drinking coffee in this picture. It’s hot chocolate. We are a hot beverage family.

Last night, when Amy was fighting going to sleep, this is what she said, “MOM-MEEEE! I need something to drink. I’m THURSSTEEE!” And then a pause. “I need a hot cup of coffee.”

God bless her.

It’s Green Thumb Sunday! Okay, it’s Monday and I’m pretending that it’s Green Thumb Sunday. It’s been a long weekend.

That said, here we go:

I know, I know. You’re thinking that I’m shirking my GTS responsibilities this week by posting a picture of a dandelion.

But this is the thing: my girls love dandelions. And this week, we were out gardening in the backyard. I was pulling weeds. Katie specifically asked me to leave the dandelions alone, so she could pick them. I did.

Later, a neighbor came over and Katie was purposefully explaining all of the “work” that she had done along with me, right down to the weeding. The neighbor saw the dandelions and said, “But you need to get the dandelions. They’re weeds, right?” Katie was crushed. But in true Katie form, it was only for a moment. You see, she likes dandelions. She thinks they’re beautiful. And as far as she’s concerned, you can call it a weed all day long, that doesn’t detract from its beauty.

So, she went about collecting more from the yard. She had a huge bunch in hand, which she put next to me. “Mommy,” she said very matter-of-factly, “Hold onto these lion’s teeth.” And she flashed me a huge grin. She’s very proud of herself for knowing the translation of the name; Chris speaks German and told her that’s what it means.

And for those of you who dismiss the dandelion simply as a weed, you’re wrong (despite that horrible lawn commercial on TV where the woman says, “Dandelions are the enemy”). Dandelions can be eaten (dandelion greens are yummy in a salad, we eat them quite a bit, relatively speaking) and they’re very nutritious. Down South, they use the flowers to make wine. I’ve never had it, but how can you not like a plant that can be turned into wine?

Anyhow, I know there are those of you staring with contempt at my little dandelion. But my family kind of likes it. And that’s what makes it a GTS entry.

Welcome to the meme! For details, read how it started. The blogroll is tiny right now (check it out in the sidebar), so c’mon, join and add to the fun!

Today’s thing that makes me smile is…

LYLE!