Happy April Fool's Day- early!
I guess that's bad etiquette, isn't it?
In my case, it's good to be early! It is a beautiful spring day in AZ, and the snowflakes are getting made here, little by little. I am actually working on litle houses, soon to be in my Etsy shop. I have to kind of drop all my house duties to work on my craft, or I never get to it.

I did actually read a fantastic couple of books last week- both by Sandra Byrd. Book one is called Let Them Eat Cake, and book two is Bon Appetite. I just LOVED these books! They are about a young woman named Lexi, and her relationships along her quest to finding her path in life, in her career, home, and her spiritual life. It is so rewarding, like watching a wonderful "chick flick" movie, but you get to create the details of the scenes yourself, in your imagination!

YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!! It feels like SPRING!!!!
Here are a bunch of spring flowers to make your day happy! This hibiscus warms my patio, off the family room, the bush is almost my height (5'8"), and it likes to peek over the wall, and shine it's big, bold, red flowers over at people walking on the sidewalk below. I think it is wanting fame, because the community mailboxes are just down the walk next to the house behind me, and people always walk by on their way to retrieve their mail. Or, it is just nosey, and wants to see who is coming by!

I hunt for these babies every spring! I either want them to be striped, like these, or red with white edges. I have hanging pots on my front porch, by the columns on both sides of the front door, and I fill them with petunias every year. I also have a pot right by my garage, so I see them smiling at me as I pull my car in.

Ruffled, trailing petunias, I only have one pot of these. I was at a nursery, and these yelled at me, they yelled,"Delores!" She is my dear friend, she says she is my "oldest" friend, because she is in her 70's- all I know is she is a dearie, and my gardening, coffee, crafting, baking, Mary Englebreit stuff, cherries, cottage-style, etc., etc., BUDDY! So, I had to take some of these home and make her a pot, and then I knew she would want to know where mine were, so I had to make ME a pot, too. Sure enough, she asked, "And where are YOURS?"

Here are some Johnny-jump-ups I have in pots all around on my front and back porches. I tend to make single-flower-filled pots, rather than mixed ones. But I have many different kinds of pots of flowers, mostly in the reds, whites, and purples.

Happy SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It sure feels like spring here in Arizona, it's 80 degrees, and the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, the sun is shining, and my Kristen and her friend Vanessa are in the hot tub- it is Spring Break! She sure could use a break from all the homework she has had, but unfortunately, she will have to do some at the end of break. Right now the vacation is the thing, with tropical drinks with umbrellas, they are in heaven, those 2 beautiful girls, relaxing and sharing "girl talk".
I just saw a butterfly land on one of my hollyhocks, which are growing more humongous every day- the leaves, that is. They look like Jack could climb right up them as his beanstalk, because the flower stalks have just begun to push out of the middle, too. I know that it will be awhile before they bloom, though, as I took pictures of the deep burgundy ruffled ones last year, and it was into April before they bloomed. These mostly are single, multicolor ones, I believe, my friend Kristin gave me a HUGE bag of seeds from her mom's garden last year. It is fun knowing that they are from a friend, not all impersonal, from a seed packet, you know? I have several beds around the yard where they are planted. I even dropped a few right under my big kitchen picture window, and they have grown just as big there, in the unimproved soil, as the others in the beds. It is great to see them right under the window!