My brother in law and sister in law didn’t really get to have much time for themselves since our niece was born.  They really wanted to catch the movie “Clash of the Titans” in 3D.  So we looked after their little one after our usual weekend inlaw lunch. As usual, shortly after lunch she needed her nap.   They showed us how to get her to fall asleep and went out for the movie.  We tried their trick (which is to hold her against your chest with her head on your shoulder)… nope. didn’t work.  Tried it on me, grandma and uncle.  So we tried burning off more of her energy as she was still fighting it.   At the end, my hubby won.  Got her to fall asleep.  She napped for a good hour.   Then had her milk and cookies and ready to walk around.  She just kept going and going and going and going like an energizing bunny.  Good thing we sort of baby proofed the house for her.

Babies are pretty amazing.  They GROW FAST!!!   She was still crawling just a couple weeks ago.  And all of a sudden, she started walking, feeding herself, saying words, asking for things, making you feel guilty.. It’s so amazing.  Still not sure if I am ready for my own yet though.

Finally the yellow bird magnolia decided to bloom.  It started out with just leaves that peaking out from the fuzzy pod and finally it opened up (sort of).   It’s kind of yellow but looks more green.  It smell sweet but not as strong as the Royal Star Magnolia.

Here are some pictures…..

We know for a fact that we have 2 white tail bunnies that visit our backyard.   We have seen them hiding under our tiny little christmas tree and sit around our backyard.  Don’t get me wrong, we like bunnies.  In fact we constant thinking about getting one as a pet. Unfortunately, I had sort of had a version of Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Okay.. don’t want to spoil the movie for those who never seen the movie…… Anyways, in short… the bunny ate my tulip.  I was so excited that spring is finally here and my tulips I planted last fall are all coming up and anxious to see the bloom.  Before the bloom can even happen, the bunny ATE my tulip……. Not a happy camper.

What to do what to do.  I like bunnies and I still want to see them from time to time.  Of course I don’t want to harm them.   I turned to the internet for answers…… Some suggested a chicken wire cage around the flower. Don’t think it’s a good idea.  The reason to plant the flower is to enjoy them but with the stupid cage, wouldnt that just kills the aesthetic of the whole flower bed???  I finally found one suggestion that sounds reasonable and so happened I had the ingredient.   It suggested to sprinkle chilli powder or hang smelly soap around the area.   I didn’t feel like creating a soap contraption so I went for the chilli powder idea.  Will see if work.

Back to Wallace & Gromit, for those who haven’t seen any of their movie, highly recommended.  I am a huge fan for claymation.   The new computer animation are great but nothing beats claymation.  Okay it might be just as awesome as other stop-motion-animation.  Check this website out for some crazy stop-motion-animations.  They are just fascinating.

Regardless… I still managed to crawl down into the basement to check of my flowers.  To my surprise, the cosmo are going wild already.   They are like 2 inches tall.  The ones in the basement were with the heat pad below and I got a few upstair and they haven’t show any sign of movement yet but the marigold are going crazy.

I am super amazed.  For sure growing from seeds is much much more rewarding.

Anyhow, I need to get some warm milk and get some rest..   Feel terrible.  Hope I feel better in the morning.

I am continuing to discover my passion or my hubby would say “obsession” for flowers.  Finally it’s about 6 weeks before frost/aka Victoria Day.  I planted candy strip cosmo, celosia, and marigold seeds that I got a little while back.   I like cosmos.  My mom has lots in her garden, and I could ask her for seeds but I wanted different colour.   EXPAND the cosmo collection.

I am not a huge fan for marigold before but i found this pale yellow one last year and that turned me on.  It wasn’t cheap though so I thought I will try the seed this year.  The seed was relatively expensive compare to other flowers seed in the store but still cheaper than buying the flats from nursery.  Guess it would be more rewarding as well to grow from seeds.

As for the Celosia, my hubby likes them so…. that’s that.

After all these were planted I had to find room to store them until it’s warm enough to take it outside.   Now that’s a challenge.

Aside from these seeds, I potted my plumeria babies today as well.  Put them in a 6″ pot  with half cactus mix and half perlite.  Soak them with water/fertilizer mix and let them drain.     Can’t wait to see them grow.

Over here, pretty much everything is close but we really had the urge to go shopping.  Luckily the nurseries and garden centres are open.   To indulge my passion/obsession and to embrace the lovely weather we decided to go check out the Lowes and Home Depot’s garden centre.   First we went to Lowes.  Wasn’t too much selection but we had a great time walking outside.  They had a nice canopy but it’s just cost a bit much and since we have one so we didn’t pick up anything from Lowes.

Then we went to Home Depot, they had lots of trees and people.  And yikes, we ended up walking out with 3 trees and had to figure out how to fit them all in the car.  We got a Royal Star Magnolia, Yellow Bird Magnolia and a Kwanzan.

As you might noticed, we got 2 magnolia because I really like them. Although i was always a bit conservative because they do make  mess after they bloom.   I couldn’t resist when I saw the white one cause it had a few blooms already and I took a sniff.  It smelled lovely and that was pretty much it.   And as I was lining up to pay for it, some lady walked up and was just mesmerized by the flower.   I guess that was a good choice.  Then the yellow one just caught my eye because I never ever seen a yellow magnolia.  My curiosity took over.   As for the Kwanzan….. well… Partly its because of the name and and partly because I like cherry blossom too.  Always wanted to go see the blossom festival in Japan.    The yellow magnolia has a few buds… can’t wait till they bloom so i know how they look like.

This time I was using my mom’s ice crusher, and it worked like a charm.  It just peeled the linoleum and ceramic tile off.  (for those doesn’t know… our hallway has ceramic tiles and it’s tiled right over some pretty gross linoleum tile and now both have to come up so we can have our new flooring)  Although it left behind this black glue, everything sticks to it.  (like all the chips and dust from the tiles)  The ice crusher works great but still required quite a bit of force and quite tiring.  I was totally exhuasted by the end of the day and I only finished half of the hallway.  Still half to go.

A quick update on my plumeria seeds.  They are starting to come out of the “shell”.  I have 5 out of the 12 that I planted showing signs of movement.  It’s progress.  I just wish they grow a little faster.

I also decided to surprised him.   Plan A is to renovate the main floor vanity bathroom and Plan B is to paint the hallway that leads to the stair area and upstairs.   It’s pretty big undertaking but I just want to “surprised” him or I should say, to avoid having him looking over my shoulder and I can make the space exactly the way I like it?   may be???

I know I am really weird.  Kind of enjoy fixing up the house as a time off activities.   I started thinking about it for a while and the first day, I was going to attempt getting some materials and tools.   The biggest task for the bathroom is removing the existing lovely flooring.  We currently have this nasty brown pattern ceramic tile and it’s on top some beige/yellow linoleum tile.   It’s absolutely horrendous.   I went to all the home improvement stores, Home Depot, Rona, and Lowes to see what’s available and decided to pick up some tools for tile removal first.   If I can’t take off the tile, there is no point of attempting anything else for the bathroom, and might as well go to Plan B.

I picked up 2 different kinds of tools for grout removal.   One is a triangle looking thing at the end of a stick and the other sort of look like a beefed up box cutter or something.   Didn’t find anybody to ask about them and since it’s not too expensive, I bought both.

Got home and try to figure these tools out.   From what I read/watched on the internet (you tube has some great how-to videos).   I have to remove the grout first.   Not sure why, or what my rationel is, I opened up the one with the triangle thing first.   I tried on a section of the grout and it doesn’t seem to be doing anything.   I gave up on that after couple try then opened up the other one (beefed up box cutter looking one).  It has 2 blades on it and it’s has some teeth.   It works much better.  Fit perfection in where the grout is and cut nicely.  Although I don’t know how well it does for some of the tighter joint that I have seen else well but for this job, it works just perfectly.   I cut 4 sides of the one tile up and then I tried to get this one tile up.  I simply couldn’t.   Am I missing something.  I tried and I tried.  It’s stuck.

I think I will attempt to go to Home Depot to see if there is any power tools I can rent to do the job.   Or I might have to go to Plan B.

FAILED……