Have some Daffodils with your Blizzard

Well we had blizzard warnings here in Iowa today...and by the looks of things out our window, it probably was blizzard conditions out in the country! Very powdery snow plus 35+ mph winds, not a good combination for visibility.

Anyway, here is another scraplift...Charlene J of scrapgirls did a layout of her Swiss Chard, and I couldn't resist doing the same with our daffodils last spring. So if you are, like me, in need of a bright flowery lift to your gray and blizzardy day, here you go:)


Supplies:
Valerie Randall Avalon and Annwyn
Selfish font

Milestones

Our 9th anniversary was last Thursday (thus the beautiful flowers, same periwinkle color as at our wedding). At first it looked like we might not get to celebrate alone, but we ended up celebrating two days in a row! I have a maternity aqua exercise class that meets T/Th evenings until 6pm, so my friend Amy watches the kids. She offered to keep them Thursday evening while we went out to eat at The Cafe. This is probably the coolest restaurant in our town...awesome food, awesome ambiance, and they are dedicated to providing as much locally produced food as possible, which is great.

Then Friday night my in-laws, who are in the throes of a COMPLETE kitchen remodel (as in no cupboards on the walls at the moment and just got their new appliances), offered to watch the boys while we went out again:) This time to Cool Basil, which has had mixed reviews. Spouse had been there once before for a business lunch and the service was terrible, but the food great, so we figured it was worth the gamble. It was awesome! I had Tom Yum soup and gingered orange roughy. Spouse had Tom Kai soup and angry dish Pad-Pi-Rod.

Then on Saturday, S-i-L had her baby, so I am an aunt for the second time:) Dominic Borg (family last name) Purcell made his appearance during the day and we saw him briefly before I had to fill in a partial shift at the Fast Track Sunday evening. They've been too busy to blog his appearance yet, so no pics of him yet:(

Back to Summer (at least in photos!)

On a very cold, overcast day I needed a bit of sunshine in my life:) I rely on my gardening expert/friend to tell little Black-Thumb me what to do with my flower gardens. After our blue hydrangea experiment failed (sob, they are my favorite flowers in the whole wide world) she suggested St. John's Wort shrubs to replace the hydrangeas. I call them my happy little flowers, heeehee. For those who don't know, St. John's wort is best known as a health supplement touted to help those with depression. Well just looking at these flowers helps make me happy:) (They are the picture clear to the right in the filmstrip.)

Plain Digital Wrapper KCS Designs "Joys of Summer"
Aneczka W flowers freebies
Angie Briggs filmstrip
Brandy Hackman daisy
A Langpap orange flowers/leaves

A couple years ago I ordered several iris from a catalog in search of a particular one I remembered from growing up. I did actually find one that fit the bill, and I also purposely ordered a couple "rebloomers" in hopes that every once in awhile the first killing frost would occur late enough for them to rebloom. Now mind you, I don't want global warming, just a normal, late frost every once in awhile, lol.
So this was my year...I took these pics in our front yard last week, and I'll be darned if they aren't STILL blooming today. It's gotten down to twenty-eight-ish degrees a couple mornings but iris are hardy spring/fall flowers and apparently that doesn't faze them. I purposely stood on my head and not-so-purposely snagged a new shirt getting the second pic shooting up toward our beautiful maple tree with its red leaves to remind myself that these, in fact, were autumn-blooming iris.
My friend Janet, scrapbooker and teacher extraordinaire, and fellow blogger http://ofcatsandcardstock.blogspot.com/ has tagged me:

You've been tagged!
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself (on your blog -- we all want to know them).
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I'm actually not going to tag specific people, so if the spirit moves you, please consider yourself tagged! Post a comment here so we can zip over to your blog to read your 7 random and/or weird facts!

1. I am trying to learn Spanish, mostly on my own. It would really help out at Free Clinic and I love foreign languages. Honestly, if I could go back in time and have the resources available in the small town in which I grew up, I would want to be fluent in English, Spanish, French, AND Italian...I think Italian is the most beautiful language on earth.
   
2. I have now been volunteering virtually every Thursday night for 6 years at Ames Free Clinic as a physician assistant/PA.
3. If we lived in a community with a Waldorf school, I would almost go into the poor house if necessary to put my children in it.
4. I have more expensive things than ever before on my Christmas list this year...new laptop, new camera...well maybe, and I want to finish the half of the basement we actually use. I would love to be able to look up from scrapbooking and see a lovely color and artwork on the walls instead of the current poured foundation. Grey striped concrete is not really very inspiring. I was amazed to learn that my friend Rosalie has even more expensive items on her list, though, including a new van and a new HOUSE, not just basement, heehee. Maybe I can use her as leverage to convince Jeff to finish our basement, hehehe.
5. I'm running out of ideas, and as I told Janet, none of my seven items will be nearly as exciting/scary as hers...so I'm going to borrow the one of hers I can...my toenails are almost always polished, though my fingernails NEVER are. I simply do not like my thumbs and don't wish to call attention to them. I fully expect that y'all will check them out the next time you see me, oh well.
6. My tastes in music are rather eclectic, as pointed out to me years ago when Jeff and I were "just" dating...he saw in my car, CDs of Aerosmith, Tears for Fears, and Madonna next to each other. Basically I like anything, including classical, except country and rap/hip-hop. I can even sing you a rousing rendition of "Thomas the Tank Engine" :P
7. I hate gardening, but love the end results, so I have a rather large perrennial garden. I also love fresh tomatoes and fresh pesto, so I grow our own tomatoes and basil in the summer.