Homemade Ladybug House

I've wanted to make a ladybug house for months but I just haven't done it yet. Ladybugs kill aphids and all kinds of other little bugs and worms in your garden and it's a very organic way to control pests. Today I got in Pinterest and made myself a Ladybug House board. Then I pinned a bunch of ladybug houses. They're so cute and I really want one but I keep forgetting to get some kind of tube at the store to make one. After looking at those houses, I realize you can use anything to make a ladybug house. So here's what I did.

 First, I got a red valentines bucket I bought last year that has a lid with a slot in it. Then I wrapped Sisal twine around the handle to make it more stable while hanging in the tree. I cut four 2 1/2 foot long pieces of twine and tied to the middle of the handle so I could tie it to the tree.
I went outside with my pruning sheers and cut a bunch of wood of different widths into 4 inch long pieces. I also cut bamboo, cane, and strips of bark from my dead mimosa tree in 4 inch long pieces. I stood all the pieces of cut wood, cane, and bamboo up in the bucket. Then I shoved in the pieces of bark in between the wood/bamboo/cane to make more places for the ladybugs to go.

I put the lid on the bucket and hung it in the tree by my herbs. I quickly realized a potential problem. The back of the bucket was lower than the front of the bucket and when it rained it would fill up with water. So I untied the bucket and got a screw driver and popped a few holes in the bottom side of the bucket and I also put a hole in the bottom of the bucket so the water could drain out after it rains.

Then I hung it back in the tree. Perfect. It's so cute. Then I had one more thing to do to make my ladybug house complete. Hunt for ladybugs to put in the house to hopefully draw in more ladybugs. I searched for a long time and couldn't find a ladybug. I can't believe I can't find one. When I don't need a ladybug, they land on me. When I neeeeeed one, I can't find one anywhere. Oh well, I'll keep looking, and as soon as I find one, in the house it goes.

While I was tying the ladybug house to the Crape Myrtle, a big butterfly landed on my Beebalm flower so I took that grand opportunity to take a picture of him. It was pretty windy so this was the best pic I could get before it flew away.

My Heart Needs Cacti To Survive

These are my small cacti that don't stab/stick/poke me. Using
a letter punch set, I made each of my cacti a name stake that
has their Latin name, and their common name listed. Now I'll
never forgot what kind of cactus they are.

I'm totally and completely obsessed with cactus and I've been deeply and madly in love with them for about 38 years. My dad bought me my very first cactus when I was around 15 or 16 years old and that was all it took to get me hooked. Since then, I've been poked, stabbed, scraped and gouged a thousand times. I've spent many hours trying to get tiny cactus spines out of my hands and arms. I've re-potted so many cactus that I can't possibly remember them all, and I got my fair share of battle wounds in the process. But still, I love cactus. I've become an expert at potting the prickly little things, and have developed my transplanting technique so well that I only get stabbed a few times while placing each cactus in its new pot. But the end product is well worth the pain.

This is Godzilla. He's a Stetsonia Coryne, (A.K.A. Toothpick
Cactus). My husband bought him for me in august 1992. I've
raised him in the house since I got him. Last year I finally got
brave and put him outside in my fountain and in the Spring he
was 31 inches tall and was a single column cactus. By the time
I took him in the house last Winter, he was 35 inches tall
and had three new arms. Imagine my surprise when he
suddenly grew arms, of all things. I was stunned. I can't wait
to see how tall he grows this year...and how many more
arms he grows. (If you look at my blog post titled "Babies
and Spikes" on June 17, 2012, you'll see Godzilla when
his arms were tiny nubs). Proud mama here.

Over the last couple of years I forced myself to really toned down my cactus affection and completely stopped buying new cactus. During the last few years, when I would love my cacti too much and they would subsequently die from over-watering, I haven't been replacing them. Last year I realized I only had six cacti left, and, oddly enough, it really hurt my heart. So I decided to do a little heart therapy and went to the store and bought a cactus. Now, a year later, I have 27 cacti and I'm happily contemplating another one...or two...or ten...I can't get enough. I completely forgot how exciting it was to play with my cactus and move them around the yard. And I forgot how fun it was to go set by them and just look at them and appreciate their beauty. Or how beautiful they were when they got their very first flowers of the year.
Now I'm in a dilemma, as I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all these cacti this winter because they can't stay outside, which is the main reason I stopped buying cactus in the first place. They'll all have to come in the house.

My fountain. Godzilla is at the back left. I have 15 cactus
in my fountain right now. The rest of them are on the porch
or in hanging baskets. If you can't tell, I also love rocks. I
can't get enough of them.

What I need/want (and this is the reason for this post) is a greenhouse. That's my dream, a cactus greenhouse. If I had a cactus greenhouse, I'd spend half the winter in there staring at my babies, and I'd even try my hand at growing cactus from seeds. I'm determined to have a cactus greenhouse this winter, and I know I'll have one. Now I just have to convince my husband that a cactus greenhouse is an urgent necessity, because he'll be the one building it after all. Luckily, he likes for me to have what I want almost as much as he doesn't want all those cacti in the living room for months, so it shouldn't be too hard convincing him. Wish me luck in my endeavor.


 

I'm sooo ADDICTED!!!

The Greatest Juggling Act On Earth!!
Self Portrait: Me, Bret Michaels, and
my new best friend...my Nutribullet.

I never thought it would happen to me, and I've said so many time that I'd never do it. But alas, it's happened. I'm proud to say that I've joined the ranks of Nutribulletism. OMGosh! I'm so in crazy love with my Nutribullet. It's my most fav thing I own.
I'm ecstatic that it's spring because my Nutribullet has brought my herb garden to a whole new realm of possibilities. Just imagine all of the tasty drinks I can make using all of my incredible herbs this year.
Now that my herb garden will be a definite victim for my Nutribullet, I need to have a whole new perspective when I buy new herbs to plant. I need to go shopping for herbs that will not only be nutritional and full of vitamins and minerals, but will be tasty too. Heck, using that as a basis for my herb buying happens to include almost everything I already have growing in my herb garden. But I positively need more peppermint, spearmint, stevia, sage, pineapple sage, lemon balm, thyme, savory....ooohh, I need a lot more of everything to support my Nutribullet addiction.
I've always loved my beautiful herb garden, but now I LOVE MY HERB GARDEN and can't wait for everything to grow so I can drink it. I feel like a mad scientist rubbing my hands together and giggling gleefully with all of my herbal expectations.

End Your Suffering From Poison Ivy With Our Poison Ivy Tincture

Our brother lives in a location where there's a lot of poison oak and poison ivy, and several times every year he becomes covered with poison oak or ivy, or both at the same time. And when I say covered, I mean covered. It takes him a long time to get rid of it because it's EVERYWHERE, then as soon as he gets rid of it, he gets it again and he has to deal with several more weeks of pain and suffering.
The other day, my sister, Vannoy, and I were at T3, our Time to Thyme workshop, making soaps and lip balm. Mike came in and saw us working and he said he forgot to tell us that a few weeks ago he got poison ivy and it was starting to spread everywhere, then he remembered he had some of the Poison Ivy Tincture that we make and sell in our store. He got it out and put it on and overnight his poison ivy was almost gone. He was so happy that he didn't have to suffer for weeks before he could get rid of it. Our Poison Ivy Tincture is amazing. You just put it on the affected area 2 or 3 times a day for a couple of days. We had our brother in mind when we created our Poison Ivy Tincture, and we're so happy he finally has a remedy that helps him heal so fast.
Two of my grandsons and I got poison ivy a couple of months ago and we put some of our Poison Ivy Tincture on and the rash was gone super quick. I love this stuff. Poison ivy and oak really love our family, and we all love our Poison Ivy Tincture.
We sell our Poison Ivy Tincture and many more products on our website, WWW.timetothyme.com, or if you live in our area, we have a store in Canton, TX, that's open one weekend every month during First Monday Trade Days.
The next time our store will be open is Thursday, March 28th - Sunday, March 31st. The store is located on "The Mountain" at:
Old Mill Marketplace
542 E. Dallas St.
Canton TX, 75103
You can't miss us, our store is the first store when you walk up the boardwalk to The Mountain. Come by and see us and enjoy a cup of one of our many tea blends that we make fresh every day for you to sample.
On Saturday, March 30, there will be a chili cook-off held on The Mountain, and at 4:00, after the raffle, there will be an Easter Egg Hunt. There will be 13,000 eggs hidden all over The Mountain, so bring your kids or grandkids and they can hunt for Easter eggs. The Easter Bunny will be on The Mountain too, so don't miss seeing him. DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR EASTER BASKETS FOR THE HUNT.

New Products For Our Store

It's almost that time again.
What time is that? you ask.
Time for CANTON WEEKEND! I say.

Canton weekend (1st Monday Trade Days) this month is from January 3 - 6.  I'll be leaving my house early Thursday morning to go to our store, Time to Thyme Herb & Soap Co., in Canton to get everything ready for the weekend. Our store has a good vibe and just walking through the door lifts our spirits. We hope all of our customers experience the same feeling when they come into the store. We are looking forward to seeing everyone.  When you come in the store be sure to try our tea sample, which we make using our special tea blends. If you like it, drink another cup or two.

Last month we had several requests for products that we didn't have in our store. During the last month, Vannoy, Lin and I have worked hard to make the products that were requested so we could have them ready to put in our store this month.
A few on the items that were requested, and we'll have on hand this weekend are:
Chamomile tincture, Angel Wing's soap, Rainforest soap, flavored salts, and The Queen of Hungary's Water (an excellent astringent).

If there's a product that you are specifically looking for and we don't have it in the store, let us know what it is and we will always do what we can to create that product before Canton weekend the following month. We want to make our customers happy.

Our store, Time to thyme Herb & Soap Co., is located on "The Mountain," next to Old Mill Marketplace. The address is, 542 Hwy 64 East, Canton, TX 75103

Walk under the sign that says, The Mountain, The Boardwalk, and walk across the wooden bridge. Our store is slightly to the left of the end of the bridge. See  it? It's the two-story light yellow building. So cute. I'll have to take a new picture because since I took this pic, we've added signs to the front and the side of the store that say, Time to Thyme Herb & Soap Co. We hope to see you this weekend.
 Mention that you saw us on Facebook to get 10% off your entire purchase.