Monday.....

water lilies--sooooo pretty!
Closeup of one of the blooms.

It has actually been a pretty quiet and uneventful day. That's good. Everyone can use those kinds of days.

I was tempted to run to the west end of Wichita today to hit a used bookstore, but instead I stayed home and worked on the house. I can't say that I have gotten a huge amount done, but I am working towards getting some of the little things picked up and paper clutter tossed. I have noticed that paper tends to accumulate in our house, whether it be old cash register receipts, mail or even magazines and newspapers. I really need to come up with a better system for that.

I took a water gardening class at the public gardens here in Wichita on Sunday and really had a good time. I have a small one that we assembled sitting on the patio downstairs, but I am contemplating building a larger on that will accommodate a couple goldfish. I will look around town Saturday to see what options we have. I would love to have one situated where we can see it from the upstairs patio. I'll price liners and other things this weekend since that is when I am planning to do any errands I have. I am going to try to build this myself inexpensively. We got several really nice plant starts and a couple potted water plants in the water gardening class, so there is some $ saved. The instructor even gave us some water lilies, if we wanted them. This type gets REALLY large, so I will probably use one of the starts and take the rest to Oklahoma for my mom in law's pond--if she wants them. I am really looking forward to this. When I lived in Tulsa, my oldest son and I would go to the public gardens at Woodward park and spend the day. He was quite young and love getting a peek at the little goldfish as they went from plant to plant. The public gardens her in Wichita (Botanica) have huge water gardens with koi and bass in them. I love going there and feeding the fish. One day I am just going to bring a lunch and sit and knit the whole day. It's have to be in the early Fall though. I am not a heat loving girl...

With gas just at the edge of $4 a gallon for the lowest grade here in Wichita, I am cutting completely back on both my spending and any running that will eat gas. My reaction to the high gas prices has been to drop out of the consumer market as much as possible. Starting July 1, that will increase even more as I start my two months on "Mama's on the Compact".

My biggest goal this summer is to find things that focus on stying home, whether that be finally using the outdoor fireplace and making a seating area to enjoy it from, to getting my house decorated and organized with things we have. Some of the redecorating may involve an outlay of money when I buy fabric to reupholster or paint to spiff up stuff, but I think these will be tempered against the final result. I will be careful and I will use coupon for $ off on these things whenever possible.

Plans for tonight:

Make brownies for snacking . I bought the Duncan Hines mixes when they were on sale for $1 a box--actually they were advertised as 10 for $10--but when they are $1 a box, I'm buying a whole lot of them for times I am craving them but not wanting to make them from scratch. And let's face it, these are really good!

Gain a few inches on a pair of mittens I'm knitting for one of my boys.

Get books that I tore out while organizing actually organized. Or at least put in the correct place.

Good coffee and great friends to you and yours.