Tag: Happily Married to Mike (Page 2 of 4)

Wicking Planters

November 17, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

When Mike and I were in Alaska, we saw these awesome purple flowers. I remembered seeing them in San Antonio too and loved them. We found their name on google: “Purple Sensation Allium” and discovered that they are related to the onion and come from a bulb that you plant in October.

Mike surprised me with 22 bulbs for my birthday! 🙂

My thumbs are far from green so I started doing lots of research

on how to care for them and discovered that they will rot in clay soil..

which is exactly what we have.. so I did more research..

About this time, the weather turned cooler and Mike started taking me and

the dogs for walks.. wonderful.. feeling so much better.

One afternoon, I spotted this climbing wall etc. out for the trash

and thought, “Those would make great planters.”

They wouldn’t fit in my car so one of Judi’s friends

came by with a truck and picked them up for me.

A random hot air ballon flew over our house.

At first, I thought they were red wood, but while Joel and I

were cutting them down to size we realized they were just pine 🙁

So I bought some 5 year stain to help them last longer.

While I was waiting for them to dry, I started wondering how I was

going to water these flowers. I am always killing plants

with either too much or too little water.

So I googled “how to water your planters” and learned about “self wicking planters” and “earth boxes.”
They are watertight planters with a water

reservoir in the bottom and an overflow pipe so you can’t overwater them.

They only need to be filled about once a week. Sounded great to me.

I did a bunch more studying and shopping and here’s how they went.

Josh, Joel and Mike helped me dig out the water reservoirs.

I cut an 1″ hole for the overflow pipe.

I used WeedX in the bottom of the planters to help

protect the plastic liners from rock punctures.
I have a bunch and it’s not good for much else.

After a bunch of reading, I decided to make the water reservoirs

between 8 and 12″ deep and the soil 13″ deep.

The water will only wick up through 12″ of soil.

I used 8 mil. plastic liner.

Measured and cut it.

It’d make a great green house.

Folded and stapled the corners over.

Enjoyed the fall scenery.

Ta da.. watertight planter.

I had to be really creative with the overflow pipe.

Spent an hour at Lowes thinking in the plumbing section.

I needed something to go through the wood

and plastic and be water tight.

I used 3/4″ nipples and adapters..

Punched a small hole through the plastic.

Squeezed the nipple through the plastic and the 1″ hole I drilled.

Then used a bunch of silicone calk

and tightened the adapters on snugly.

Then I went in for breakfast while I waited for it to dry.

Talladega Speedway

September 28, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

Before heading back we had to stop at the Talladega Speedway.

And visit their museum.

We saw a bunch of cars.

Including a rocket car (on my left)

that broke the sound bearer driving 739.6 mph.

Mike’s favorite..

Trying on one for size.

Then we took a private tour of the speedway.

(We were the only ones there.)

Stood in the winner’s circle.

Learned things like..

Their bleachers run a mile long…

The track banks at 31 degrees. So steep you have

drive at least 80 mph to avoid falling off.

At 2.6 miles long, it’s Nascar’s biggest race track.

Start your engines.

Talladega National Forest ~ 2

September 28, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

On my birthday we went to Sylacauga, AL for a special treat:

a tour at a Blue Bell Creamery that ended with a big scoop of ice cream.

Mike had his standard: Mint Chocolate Chip and I tried something new:

Mocha Madness. It’s my new favorite.

There are only 3 Blue Bell creameries in the country.

This was my first factory tour. Pretty cool.

Did you know that they make 42 different flavors.

Over half they rotate through – the year.

Mike and I decided that we could never work there.

Their employees get 4 breaks a day and are allowed to grab

and eat 1/2 a gallon on each of their breaks.

We also stopped by the Comer Museum. It’s an art/history/ Jim Nabors’

museum. Jim grew up there and sang in the school and church choirs.

Wednesday we went to Cheaha State Park.

Saw a beautiful tower.

You could see for miles.

I’d like to watch an approaching storm from there someday.

I am a little obsessed with taking pictures of my little car.

It looks so at home in the forest that

I found a forest name for it.. (see end of post).

This little dear was hungry; we had nothing to feed her.
While waiting for time for our lunch we took a
hike down Bald Rock Boardwalk Trail.

and saw signs of fall.

We are so glad it’s September and the weather’s turned cooler.

What a view.

Here we are.

at Bald Rock

Here we are with the view in view.

Before leaving the park we at at the Cheaha Restaurant;
reasonably priced, great food with an awesome view.
Did I mention that were are on the highest mountain in Alabama?

Next we drove about 6 miles South to find High Falls Trial.

I’d found impressive pictures of the falls on line.
The trickle we found there was a little underwhelming.

We climbed up the side of the falls along it’s three tiers.
Lowest tier above. Middle tier below.

Then way up these stairs..

The grand finale. Maybe we should try again in the Spring.

The on-line review of the hike described it as short;

they forgot to mention steep. It’s not named “High Falls” for nothing.

Time to catch my breath.

At least it’s cool in the shade.

Loving the trees.

Did I say steep?

Some flowers along the trail.

And something that reminded me of my car.
Green and small.. but big on the inside.
“My Little Green Acorn” – does the name fit?

Talladega National Forest ~ 1

September 28, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

For my birthday week Mike took me to the

Talladega National Forest for a relaxing time away.

On our way there, we stopped at a new outlet mall

just East of Birmingham where I scored big time.

Got this new cordless tool set for $75 with tax

and some new dresses and slacks.

Saturday we went out to explore the area around a nearby lake

Gorgeous roads.

We took my car. Mike got an amazing 38 miles to the gallon one time.

It averages around 27 mpg.

It’s so cute. Doesn’t it look right at home in the woods?

Sunday we went to Montgomery to visit old friends.

and their kids

River’s Edge Church was celebrating their 6th anniversary.

Red Robbin is our favorite place in Montgomery to eat with friends.

It was great seeing everyone.

Before going back to our time share we drove an hour and a half

to Shakey’s to catch part of a football game and of course

for some of our favorite pizza, mojos and chicken.

Resting Up

June 10, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

I’ve been getting a lot of questions.. so here is how my days have been shaping up..

I slept in my own bed almost 4 hrs. last night.. big accomplishment. It’s super soft and I use a bunch of pillows to keep me still.. I wake up stiff and sore in different places.

Got up, bathroom, moved to the recliner, slept 4 more hours. The recliner is more comfortable.. but gets old.. I spend most of my day there.

Wake up, bathroom, water, bowl of rice and enjoy sitting on my back porch on my new patio furniture with the ceiling fans on, my promise Bible, and many geese and birds to entertain.

Mike comes out and spends a few minutes with me before going off to work. I kiss him good bye and walk around the house a bit before moving back to my recliner and resting up for breakfast then a shower. Maybe in week I’ll have enough energy to cook my own food.

Shower takes all my energy.. time to rest again. Been riding 15 min. to acupuncture appointment then home again to spend the day in the recliner watching “I Love Lucy” and my favorite old movies.

Blogging yesterday was challenging. Today, the computer is much easier.

Rested all of yesterday afternoon so I could go out with Mike to Chick-fil-a for dinner. God reserved a parking space right by the front door for us. I went straight in to sit at a booth, while Mike ordered and brought the food to the table. It was just challenging enough.

Today, I am hoping to go out with my mom to a small local store and get some organic vegetables. Definitely not ready for anything as big as Walmart. Ha.

I am not allowed to lift anything over 5 lbs. until August. I am not allowed to unload the dish washer.. So nice to have my mom here.. wish my kids were faster than her at doing their chores..

The doctor said, be patient and give your body time to heal. 🙂

So glad I have a lap top and things to hand sew (although, I am not up to that yet). And as always, seeing Mike at the end of my day is the highlight.

I am so blessed!

Jenny

A Good Report

June 9, 2011 / Jennifer Coleman / 0 Comments

God gave me so much peace the day of the surgery. I can’t believe how well I handed it all. Having Mike with me every step of the way has been such a comfort.

In the pre-opt room, I learned that the surgeon’s team had been working for weeks on my case, making sure everything was as corn free as possible. I was happy to wake up 11.5 hrs later to hear that surgery went well.. and that I had had no bad reactions. Yay!

The week since has had it’s ups and downs. It was such a blessing to have my mom stay 24/7 with me in the hospital. The lortab that I had had specially made without corn gave me hallucinations so I ended up taking some not so corn free percocet instead. Returned home from the hospital Saturday afternoon.

Sunday was a good day. Monday another story. Vomited all day long. Bye, Bye, nice, pain meds.

Tuesday, I went to see Dr. Paula Gilliam, a chiropractor, to see if she could help me with acupuncture. Loved it. It helped with the nausea and my post surgery lungs (risk of pneumonia) which were worse after a day of vomiting.

3 AM Wednesday morning, I couldn’t stand it any more. One of the stitches holding one of the drain tubes in under my arm was ripping through my side, felt like a fish hook. I went in the bathroom to take a look and sure enough it was bleeding.

My choice was to take it out right then so I could get some sleep, or to wait another 36 hrs till I could drive 2 bumpy hrs. down to see Dr. Fix during his office hrs. to have him take it out. I had been off the drugs for quite a while at that point, which made it easy to make a rational decision.

I was so happy once I had the first stitch snipped and drain tube out (almost did a little dance), that I decided to pull out three more. I left the last one in that was still draining quite a bit. Luckily for me, one of my drains had lost suction in the hospital and I knew what to do from watching them pull that one out.

My body wasn’t as happy as I was to be rid of them and I ended up even more nauseous than before. Acupuncture to the rescue again. Wednesday was my first good day. I ate, I watched TV for the first time and felt half alive. Thank you Dr. Paula Gilliam.

Today was even a better day. More acupuncture, a good pathology report, and Mike and I are off to Chick-Fil-A to celebrate. Thank You, Jesus!