Micro Mini Sinningias – how to grow the smallest flowering houseplant in the world!

micro-mini sinningia I love flowers! I love them even more when I can enjoy them all year! But, beautiful blooming plants that come in tiny little packages are what I love most of all!

When you grow small house plants, you don’t have to worry about the biggest problem that most people face when trying to enjoy a touch of nature indoors – space! And, if you’re like me, once you have a few plants, you’re going to be hungry for more 🙂 When I found out that plants don’t have to be big to be beautiful, a whole new world opened up to me!

For some reason, I’ve always been infatuated with all things miniature! In kindergarten, I remember my teacher reading us a story called “The little old lady who lived in a vinegar bottle.” Although I don’t remember anything about the story itself, I can still remember dreaming about what it might be like to live in a tiny little cottage hidden somewhere among the ferns on the forest floor. And, after all these years… I’m still dreaming 🙂

Many years ago, my aunt gave me a tiny little egg-shaped container that held a sweet little surprise inside! As I opened the top, inside sat the tiniest little plant – almost unbelievably tiny! The plant had lots of velvety green leaves, piles of little white slipper-shaped blossoms, and even a bit of moss covering the soil. The most amazing thing about this gift was, from leaf tip to leaf tip, this little potted gem was only 1 1/2 inches across! This was the beginning of my love for miniature houseplants.

Introducing the – Micro Mini Sinningia

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Brand New Site Almost Done!

Hello everyone!

Our new site is almost complete! After years of having a website online, I felt is was finally time to do some spring cleaning – and organizing 🙂

As you can see, I haven’t been able to post here for several days, because I’ve been really working on re-building my website.

After lots of programing, everything is nearly done! I’ve been writing online for many years now, but I haven’t had a good way to share all of my articles – while keeping things organized for my readers.

I’ve finally completed the new article database & I will be spending the next few weeks adding all of my past articles to that section. Here are just a few of the ones that I’ve already added:

Learn to Raise Magnificent Monarch Butterflies
Cake Recipes – Scrumptious Easy Layer Cake
Make your own pita bread!
A New Way to Save Using Rain Checks!
How to Safely Transplant Your Garden Plants

Check back often – as I will be adding new articles on a regular basis!

Pictured:
I’ve always loved the colors pink & green together. Here, I’ve mixed a piece of pottery ($5 at TJ Max), a small iron bunny ($4), a Waverly mustard & red toile tables runner ($6 TJ MAX) and my gathering basket.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I hope you have a wonderful day with those that you love!

Here in Upstate, NY, we are supposed to get another 3ft of snow – on top of the 112+ inches that we’ve gotten over the last few days. So…my family & I will be spending some “quality” time together inside (except for the shoveling & snow blowing festival that will happen sometime today – so we can make our way out of the forest if we need to 🙂

I wanted to share some beautiful vintage Valentine greetings with you!

I just love vintage postcards! I think that the early greeting cards are some of the most beautiful cards ever printed! They are full of beautiful colors, intricate artwork, simple innocent verses, as well as the occasional feathers, ribbon, or glitter. They speak to your heart with the letters from loved ones written across the backs, and speak to your creative side with what I like to call – “eye candy for the soul!”

My grandfather Yates kept a collection of vintage postcards (which has now been passed down to my mother), and I have decided to take up the tradition to pass along to my children as well 🙂

I hope you enjoy these bits of art – Happy Valentine’s Day!
Vintage Valentine's Day Postcard


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vintage postcard
Valentine's Day postcard
vintage postcards

Winter Snow in Upstate NY

Winter Snow

As you’ve probably heard all over the news, we’ve been getting more than our share of snow over the last few days here in Upstate, NY. We are VERY used to getting snow (and lots of it), but this year has been very mild with almost no snow until last week. Then… it all started coming in at once! We’ve been getting a couple ft of snow every day!

Here in the picture, you can see my husband trying plow out our country lane. My goal is to have a large tractor for this job next year 🙂

A Sweet Surprise! ~ A unique little treat for those you love!

Don’t you love getting those great little fortune cookies when you eat at Chinese restaurants? Well here’s a few great ideas to put an element of surprise in your life!

Fortune cookie recipe:
1/2 C flour
1/2 C sugar
2 egg whites
a bit of almond extract & vanilla extract

Beat egg whites until light, slowly add sugar – then flour.

Add extracts – Batter will resemble a runny pancake mix.

Pour onto heated pan cook watching closely – turn.

As soon as you take cookie from pan, lay message strip in the middle & carefully bend in half, then pull ends together in the fortune cookie shape.

Here are some ideas for how you can use your batch of fortune cookies:

* Put them in kids lunch boxes – tell them you love them, or write secret messages.
* Put them into hubbies lunch – you’ll know what to say 😉
* Use them as party favors
* Send them as invitations
* Door prizes
* Scriptures for church dinners, or Sunday school class
* It’s a boy or girl – give birth information
* Do home parties? Use them for coupons!
* Teachers gifts – let the kids tell them how much they like their class 😉
* Boy scouts, girl scouts
* Tea & garden parties – personalize them to your group

Have Fun!

Don’t Just Bag Them & Toss Them Out – Use Your Old Clothing to Make Enough Money For a Whole New Wardrobe ;)

I am so in the mood to clear out closets, bag everything up that we don’t need & find a way to rid our home of the extra clutter! I’ve come to expect this feeling around this same time each year, but this year I feel particularly motivated 😉

In the case of your clothes closet, I’m sure that you have piles of clothes that don’t fit you anymore – maybe the kids have outgrown some – or maybe you’re not into those retro styles that you’ve been storing in your closet since the 70’s for… who knows what 😉

This year, instead of trashing them, or simply bagging them up & stuffing them into the goodwill dumpster, why not use this idea to earn back some of that hard earned cash to use on new clothing that you might need!

Sell your clothes through consignment shops!

Consignment shops will take your clothes, put a high enough price on them so you can each make a nice profit. Using this method you both win! The shops get more stock to sell, and you get the stuff out of your house & make some money to boot!

Here’s how to get started.

Call all of the consignment shops in your area & find out who has the best options for you to sell your clothes.

– Wash the clothes
– Mend anything needing a touch up.
– Put them on hangers
– Take them to the shop
– Wait for them to call you & tell you how much you’ve earned 😉

You wouldn’t believe it, but I also know of folks who do this as a way to earn a good extra income!

They go to all the rummage type sales that they can find, buy the best of the clothes, tidy them up, & take them into the consignment shops around town.

We have a few nice places in my area that have occasional .50 cent bag sales! For .50 cents, you get everything that you can stuff into a large trash bag! You wouldn’t believe the great things that I’ve gotten at those sales! My favorite finds have been – beautiful Victorian lace up shoes, and an Italian silk suit for my husband! Anyway, use those great deals to get as many nice pieces that you can, then resell them through the shops.

Finding the best name brand clothes will bring you the most money. Also, if you deal with vintage clothing shops, you could get some nice bucks out of those old retro things taking up space in your closet 😉

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* Pictured is a little corner of my home – wood trimmed rusty tin star that we received as a Christmas gift, a little red & black crackled foot stool that I picked up at a local shop, and another one of my Pottery Barn glass jar + candle combos (got both very cheap, but I think they make such a nice little addition to any room 🙂

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While driving in Pennsylvania, a family caught up to an Amish carriage. The owner of the carriage obviously had a sense of humor, because attached to the back of the carriage was a hand printed sign… “Energy efficient vehicle: It Runs on oats and grass. Caution: Do not step in exhaust.”
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