Who Needs House Plants Anyway?

I'm framing this one and posting it on my patio.  

House plants are overrated.  Yes they do liven the place up, even though green isn't really my color.  Yes they bring life into your living room, but sometimes death quickly follows if you have a black thumb like me.

I worked very hard to keep this guy going, but he just insisted on dying.  The first casualty of the war against the heat and sun has succumbed.  I'm so sorry Patty and Dan, I'll buy you another one.

With a tear in my eye (not really) I headed out to mow the lawn in 83 degree weather.  It can't be that bad, right?  By the time I got two extension cords in place and the mower out of the garage, I required water.  I quickly downed TWO bottles of the cold stuff from the fridge.

I wasn't out there five minutes when the sweat began to pour off my forehead.  There's nothing worse than trying to keep that cord from being run over.  I double-dutched my way all around the yard.  You remember that game, don't you?  Two jump ropes turned in opposite directions while you try not to be hog tied in the middle?

It only took about fifteen minutes before I was done, as in having a heat stroke requiring resuscitation.  After putting everything away, I laid down under the ceiling fan turned on to break-the-sound-barrier speed.  

When I finally felt human again, I turned the sprinklers off.  Let the lawn die.  I'm not doing THAT again!!

About that time I went BACK outside to check the heartbeat on the rest of the cactus.  Lookie here!!! Another one blooming gorgeously!!  Maybe my thumb isn't all black after all.  Of course you know these only bloom when there is LOTS of monsoon water, which means I'm overdosing them.  I'll cut back.

The rest of the afternoon I stayed inside trying to cool down.  It didn't really get all that hot, but the humidity was something like 200 percent.  The embellishments on these square will take place after the entire quilt is complete.  Stuff like buttons and dangly things.

I did brave the heat for another barbecued dinner.  It was yummy in my tummy!!  I love it when you can get four edible meals out of one cooking episode.

Still feeling rather warm, I turned on every ceiling fan in the house ... five in all ... and sat down for some amazing enjoyment.  Enlightened ice cream.  I found it at Safeway.  If you're looking to play the Keto game, this has only 5 net carbs.  

If you're on any other kind of diet (or even if you are not) it only has 70 calories.  That of course is for 1/4 of the small container.  Even so, it's only 280 if you ate the whole darn thing.  I'm in!!  It was VERY tasty ... just like ice cream!!

So this morning, with a lovely 77 degrees lurking outside, I'm going to start on the tile.  Even if it only sticks for a year or two, that's better than it was.  Worst case, I'll actually call some tile guys and pay a fortune to get it all replaced ... maybe with some fancy Mexican tiles!!