Trial and Error.....

 

.....Lots and lots of error.... lol but i was determined to bake cupcakes for my eldest Grandlittles Birthday... 

I wanted them to look like little multicolor rosettes on top... Attempted recipe for buttercream off internet... held shape well but tasted awful... Gave up on the home made recipe... bought the little tubs... like Duncan Hines etc... nope tasted good but wouldn't pipe and hold the shape...too soft...  So i ended up getting a tub of buttercream at Hobby Lobby of all places... recommended to me by a professional baker... and they were maybe overly sweet but tasted good and held the shape... figured out how to load the piping bag to pipe out the multicolors... really it was alot of fun and i learned something... 

We've had alot of rain and some hail... we are getting a new roof... I've had some rain lilies come up in the yard.. i had to pick them before i mowed it all down... I'm pretty sure only us 'lady mowers' do that..:)  

Remember these seeds that i swiped from the Sunken Garden downtown...? Littlest Grandlittle and i planted them... In a terrible mishap i left them sitting in the wet papertowel too long and they actually got mushy... so only 4 of them came up  .. i think all of them would have come up if i hadn't done that.. 

Well i finally got them in the ground... Hard to know when to do it with 60-70 mph winds and hail... But i just did it... cross your fingers.. I must have seen over a dozen worms while i was planting.. .thats a good sign i think... :)

I still have no idea what their name is... I've tried figuring it out without much luck... Any ideas??? The closest i came was an Aralia.. but i don't think thats right...   

I've had one SunFlower come up out front... I'm going to try to keep it trimmed up somehow because they get quite big.. 

I've had a handful come up along the walkway in the back yard... they are late comers...I'll play heck keeping them off the sidewalk enough to walk on it and i'm sure hubby will complain... but again i will keep them trimmed as much as i can.. .They NEVER come up in an convenient place... sigh

Here's a SunFlower when its small... the leaves are very easy to recognize from the surrounding grass and weeds... 

And finally ... the Devil's Bouquet has come up in a few places.. I thought all the rain would make it die out as it really likes the dry soil and sun but so far so good..  I hope you all have been well  and safe in all this crazy weather... or is it just my neck of the woods??? 

One last image if you've made it this far...  This is for CJ... she doodled a lovely cat and i told her i would show her mine from a few years ago.. Hope to paint this one day.. Hugs! deb