Time with Dad + Shopping + Gardening = Perfect Day!

This is going to be a long post, so get something to drink (water!), sit back, and stay awhile.  (This doormat that I placed at my back door is one of the many purchases I made yesterday).

Yesterday was one of the best Fridays I’ve spent in a long, long time, and definitely the best day of my spring break so far.  I got to spend the entire day with my dad, which is always fun.  He recently had orthroscopic knee surgery, but was feeling better yesterday, so we decided to have a little “Daddy & me” time.

We wanted to take in a movie, but none of them looked that good or were that interesting to us.  I hate it when all of the movies in the theatres just don’t look appealing, don’t you?  I guess we’re in that weird in-between time when the Oscars are all done and the summer blockbusters haven’t come out yet.  There isn’t even a small, independent film that seemed worth viewing.

So instead, we decided we’d go to lunch at Chevy’s (I won’t even MENTION how terrible the calories are for seemingly healthy choices).  It was nice to catch up with my dad, just the two of us, because usually when I see my parents my mom and I dominate the conversation.  My dad is a quiet person, and although he’s the sweetest, most intelligent person I know, he tends to let others around him do most of the talking and only says things when he feels he has something worthwhile to share.  It actually works, though, because whenever my dad is talking, everyone pays attention.  🙂 We got caught up on each others lives, and although we see each other at least once a week, we always have things to talk about.

After lunch, our only other plan was to go to Target to pick up something for my mom.  I would’ve loved to do something active like go for a walk, go bowling, or play tennis, but my dad’s knee isn’t quite up to any of those things yet.   We did enjoy the car ride in the convertible; it was a gorgeous, sunny day so we took full advantage of it.

Why is it that I can never go into Target without buying something?  I swear, that store just has lots of great stuff.  I got the doormat you see above, some Thomas’ Bagel Thins (which I’ve been waiting for FOREVER.  I hate that it takes so long for us to get new things on the west coast.  I always thought we got things first, but judging from everyone else’s blogs, I think we’re usually a few months behind, for new grocery items, at least), and this for my kitchen:

It doesn’t match the colors of the kitchen perfectly, but I liked the retro feel of it, and for $9, it’ll do for a while.

After Target, we headed back to my parents’ house, but were quickly scooted out again by my mom.  She was in the middle of doing a major housecleaning and didn’t want either of us underfoot.  LOL.  My mom is so funny when she’s cleaning the house – very single-minded.  Since my dad had planned to buy some perennials for their garden, we headed to the nursery to check out what they had.  Again, we took the convertible, because it’s just so much more fun to drive. (My dad can’t drive right now with his knee, and I didn’t feel like driving his truck).  Since he wanted to scope out the flowers and then bring my mom the next day to choose them, we didn’t think it would be a problem if we took my car.

Once we got the nursery, I found some amazing New Guinea Impatiens that would work perfectly in my windowbox. The colors were amazing – almost iridescent orangey-peach-and-yellow and hot pink.

In the backseat of the Beetle, waiting to be planted

I also found  a mother-in-law’s tongue plant that I’d been wanting for my living room:

Tip: this plant is perfect for those who don’t think they have a green thumb because you just can’t seem to kill it.  It likes indoor, low light and only needs watering once every couple of weeks, or so.

I picked up this kalanchoe as my weight loss “bouquet” for myself.  For $4.99, it’s going to last at least 3 weeks, so the money is well spent.

After the nursery, we went back to my parents’ house, showed my mom all of the choices of flowers (I love the photos my iPhone takes for this very reason), chatted, had a glass of wine, and then I went home.

I was so inspired to plant the flowers that I had purchased, so I did something I’ve never done before – planted flowers on my own.  Usually I wait for my dad to “supervise” me to make sure that I’m doing it correctly.  I figured that I had spent enough time watching him do it that I could figure it out.  Hopefully I wouldn’t kill the new blooms.  I did have to use a step ladder to reach the inside of my windowbox (my dad is tall, so this is where he usually comes in, because he can reach without any assistance).

Aren’t they gorgeous?  I can’t wait until they’ve taken root and really bloom.  The man at the nursery said they’ll flower all summer, which is amazing. In about a month I’ll make another gardening post where I give you an update on their progress.

I absolutely love this fibrous begonia.  I didn’t plant this yesterday, my uncle gave it to me before he moved to Michigan last fall, but I did cut it back prune it in the winter, and I’m very proud of how well it’s come back.

Hands of a hard-working gardener. (That green stuff is fertilizer)

Dirt under my fingernails from when I got too impatient to use the shovel. 😉

My garden is almost complete!  All I have left to plant are some big, round pots that I usually put on my front porch, but I think that will have to wait for another weekend, because I didn’t find anything that I liked yesterday.  I usually plant impatiens in them, but I’m sort of bored with that.  It’s so difficult to find pretty shade flowers.  A colleague suggested fuchsias, which I think are pretty, so I might do that.  If any of you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

I had the best time planting all of the flowers, and I was really glad to see that 30 minutes of gardening earned 3 APs, because after that big lunch, I knew I needed it.

Yesterday was the type of day that I love, and I can’t wait to have many, many more days like it once summer hits.