May Update

I don’t want to leave you hanging, because I’m sure you’re all wondering about my May eating challenge and the status of my seedlings, right?  This is your May update!!

Seedlings update

I’ll start with this.  As you know from this post, I started growing seeds in March, hoping to get a jump on growing my plants this spring.  Well, suffice it to say, I probably won’t be doing that next year.

I had better luck the second time around, but my seeds would only grow so much and then it seemed like they just stopped.  Some of them withered away after that.  I ended up with one morning glory and I’ll tell you next how that turned out.

I threw all my seedlings away (except one morning glory) and bought starter plants, even for morning glory.  (I’d never seen them before for morning glory and it’s THE way to start them.)  I added my little seedling to the same pot and it was starting to grow.  Not like the starter plants – they’ve already vined to the top of the trellis.

But over the last few days, we’ve had some windy periods and just like last year, my pot and trellis blew over.  After we moved it and it happened again, Tim decided to put a brick in the back of the pot.  Right on top of my little seedling.  (He didn’t know it was there, so I can’t blame him.  He was just trying to keep the pot from blowing over again.)  So much for seeing what my seedling would do.  🙁

Fortunately, I didn’t invest much at all in this endeavor.  And who knows, maybe I’ll try it again.  Probably not next year, but maybe sometime in the future.   (Maybe when we don’t have cats? 🐱 )  I really need to decide if I want to invest more money in the process, which means buying a grow light.  I’ve seen some pretty nice setups and while they aren’t super expensive, they’re still more than I want to spend until I know how serious I am about this.

I’ll just continue to buy the starter plants and avoid the hassles with trying to grow my own.

My outdoor plants update

In case you’re interested, our outdoor potted plants are doing great.  Well, I have already lost one.  I love dahlias and they had one at Goode’s so I picked it up.  The tag said they like full sun, but they may have had full sun plus where I put it.  Anyway, it’s going to be replaced with zinnias.  I know they can take the heat!!

Our clematis started out great.  Then the rabbits got them.  I wanted to cry.  Tim put some fencing around them and they are growing well again.  One is even sprouting some blooms today.  I wonder what they would look like if they hadn’t become rabbit feed.  Grrr.  I hate looking at the fencing but I guess it’s worth it to have my plants growing.

Speaking of rabbits, one night we came home and our neighbor across the street said three rabbits had been on our front porch!!  They’re really getting brave.  Wish we could sic the cats on them!!  They better not start chewing on my potted plants.  I will not be happy.

This year, I bought a different type of ornamental grass for two of my pots.  I found it when my friend Linda and I went to Howell Tree Farm.   They call it Prince Tut, but I saw it yesterday at Earl May and it had a different name (but I don’t remember it).  I’m not sure I can describe it so I’m just going to show you a picture.  Isn’t it cool??  It looks nice with different types of coleus in my pot.  I hope I can find it again next year.

Our other landscaping is doing great.  We had lots of lilac blooms, the hostas finally came up and look healthy, most of our bushes look good (except for the chokeberry bushes which appear to have been chewed on over the winter), the weigela has tons of bright pink blooms, and most of our grasses are growing.  We did lose about 4 grasses and we bought replacements for them this week.  But it’s been too hot for Tim to plant them!!

I read in the paper that May was one of the hottest on record, all across the country.  And after we had the coldest April in 124 years, what a shock to our systems.  We definitely went straight from winter to summer.  One of the trees we planted almost two years ago is not doing well as a result, so since it’s still under warranty, we’re having it replaced.

May eating challenge

I started the month off doing pretty well.  I was determined to stick with it and lose weight.  And I planned to walk on a regular basis.

Well, I lost about 2 pounds.  That’s it.  I think mostly because I didn’t stick to the “no sugar” plan after the first couple of weeks.  I have no good reason, only bad excuses.

I’ve been having these soft serve chocolate ice cream cone cravings.  I guess that’s better than the Blizzard I usually have.  On these hot days, that cool, creamy ice cream cone just makes me feel good.  It reminds me of when I was a kid and we’d head with the neighbors to A&W or Bash’s in the evenings for ice cream cones.

I know I shouldn’t eat it.  I looked it up and a medium DQ chocolate cone has 330 calories and 36 grams of sugar!!  (We’re supposed to have no more than 24 grams of sugar per day.  Ouch!)

I also could have done better on portion sizes.  I tell myself at dinner “there will be no seconds”, but I can’t always resist.  Some of the things we’ve had are just too good!!  😉

I did walk 12 days which is 39% for the month.  Would like to be closer to at least 50%, so I’ll try for that in June.  So far, I’ve walked 4 times in June, so about 50%.  It’s just tough for me to get out there every day.  There are other things I want to do.  (Right now, French Open tennis is on every day and I need to watch, right?)  Wah!!

I’m truly embarrassed to say, the thing that finally motivated me to walk more was because I started to notice my inner thighs rubbing together.  Yuck!!  It’s so uncomfortable and it makes my walking shorts ride up.  I’m not even wearing my favorite walking shorts because they’re shorter and really stick to my thighs.  I have to take care of that!!

So, I consider my eating challenge a failure.  And I was so hoping with all of you watching, it would make me eat and do the right things.  Oh well.  I have no one to blame but myself.

Hope your summer’s off to a good start.  We’re only a couple of weeks away from the longest day of the year and that depresses me just a little.  I need to soak up these long sunshine days as much as I can.

So do you!!  ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀