Turning Over a New Leaf

O.k., after mulling over different things I'd like to "tackle" this summer, one of the first things on my to-do list is xeriscaping! I'm sick and tired of looking at an ugly yard! Our yard is quite embarrassing!

I'm going to start slow. Watering the weeds is first on my list. Hey, at least weeds are green when they're watered! I am not a self-proclaimed earth mother or tree hugger, so a lush Mediterranean garden is probably not going to happen (although I'd love one). I was the little girl in the 1st grade whose little bean sprout (in a milk carton) never sprouted! The reason being, it was probably never watered! As a young homemaker, my mom would give me houseplants. Unfortunately, their life-span was always cut short. The cause of their short life-span? The only time they got watered was about 10 minutes before my mom came by for a visit. What was I thinking - that the wilted plant would come back to life in a matter of minutes? It was worth a shot! My mom tried to give me helpful hints about keeping plants alive. Her most used comment was: "You need to water them!" I don't know why I have a mental block when it comes to watering plants and my yard! Well, not any more! I'm turning over a "new leaf" this summer! Instead of a lush Mediterranean yard, I'm aiming for a xeriscaped yard. Not zero-scaped, I want more than rocks in my yard!

I'm a use-whatcha-got-kind-of-girl. So, today, I dug up some spiky cacti that were growing on the ranch and planted them in big pots. I even watered my yard! I'm making progress, baby! Tomorrow, my mom and I are going to go to a dry creek bed and load up on some rocks. But first, I've got to google it to see if that's legal!

My mom came over yesterday to help me clean out our attic! Thanks mom! She no longer has to remind me to water the houseplants anymore. Whys that? I don't own any houseplants! She stopped buying them for me years ago. I made a few lame excuses why my yard looked the way it did. But I could tell she was thinking, "If she'd only water the yard, it wouldn't look so bad!"

Later on that evening, before I turned out the light by my bed, I noticed a book that I'd checked out from the church library, a week prior. It's called ONLY NUNS CHANGE HABITS OVERNIGHT (52 Amazing Ways to Master the Art of Personal Change). It's a funny book with a lot of good advice about making changes in your life and pursuing your dreams! I've found that it's a great companion to the YOU CAN DO IT book that I wrote about in another blog.

As I was reading the book last night, I had an "aaahhhh-haaaaa" moment. I thought, "What's stopping me from having a nice yard?" Well, after I thought about it for a second, I answered myself with, "Me!" The good news is all I have to do is change my thinking and eventually, with a little hard work, I can have a decent looking yard. I'm looking forward to the challenge, and I'll get to mark it off as one more thing I've always wanted to do! By the way, if any of you have tips on xeriscaping, I'd love to hear about them!