My adventures getting Easter flowers

Every year I buy many Easter-type flowers (potted bulb plants) for some people in our life-day care, family, etc. I wanted to get them today, but whatever I decide to do today, I have both boys with me which always presents it’s own little challenges. Many times in public I hear “Boy, you’ve got your hands full with those two!” or “I bet those two keep you busy!” Yes, yes they do. And they add several degrees of difficulty on to any errand.

Nevertheless, I wanted to go to Rosazza’s. I always get them as Rosazza’s. They have the most beautiful plants around, reasonably priced, you know how I love to support local merchants, and they have a dog for my kids to play with. For all those reasons & more…..I always go to Rosazza’s. Now, having been there many times, I knew about the setup.

I knew that if I parked at the end of the greenhouse, I was going to have to walk down through the greenhouse, twice. Once with just the boys, and then back again with the boys and whatever I purchased. And it’s not like you can put this stuff in a bag, right? Still, this is what I was greeted with when we entered-rows and rows of beautiful flowers that instantly lift any mood. And we walked. But the sweet peas and the snapdragons and geraniums were just beautiful! So much color! These photos are lifted from their website.

Got down to the end, where the register is, and told Mr. Rosazza what I wanted. He didn’t have what I wanted right there, as they are packing everything up on trucks to go out to the tent on 41. The tent will be open Friday through Sunday I believe.

“Come with me,” he said and beckoned the three of us to follow him. So we did follow him. Through several buildings, past a big ledge with a fence that had areas where either child could slip down into the pond (!) so that scared me because Brian is very fast and Kevin is very clumsy……and then through another long greenhouse passage, which was completely grown up on both sides with flowers. Brian loved it; he was having the time of his life.

Kevin, on the other hand, decided this was too scary for him, he didn’t want to walk down that passageway, and thought this would be a good time for him to have a small freak-out tantrum. I personally was LOVING the forced geraniums, which reminded me that summer is not too far off! Kevin got about a third of the way down and stopped, refusing to walk any further. Mind you, it was very tight in there and even Mr. Rosazza was walking sideways a bit to fit through there. But now I had to carry Kevin.

It was worth it, we ended up down in a dark room with lots of dirty and dangerous-looking things for Brian to play with. Jenny the dog had followed us down there, so Kevin was fine now. I got several various-sized pots of beautiful bulbs. This of course created another problem, in that now we had to trek all the way back.

Luckily, following the dog was enough of a distraction for Kevin, so he walked back through all the greenhouses quite pleasantly. Brian, still having a great time, ran too far ahead of me and out of the building. He never made it closer than 6-7 feet of the fence (which led to the pond) but that was still to close for my comfort. He’s in waaaayyyy too curious a stage right now to be out of my sight.

Back to the greenhouse, got foil on the pots, paid for them, boys said goodbye to Jenny the dog and we left. One more long trek through a greenhouse and we were on our way.

So if you think that stopping along-side of Route 41 to get plants is treacherous–going directly to the greenhouse may be even more work. I highly recommend you check them out, they have beautiful things and they are quite affordable. I can’t wait to go back for my summer annuals.

Is it easy to be green?

 

Is it easy being green? Is that really what prohibits people from making these changes, the thought that it’s either too hard, too much work or more expensive? Check out this blog post from a fellow Philly mom blogger, and there’s a giveaway in her post.

 

It’s Earth Week and with it come the stories of environmental catastrophe everywhere. We hear about the whale that died from ingesting plastic bags and see pictures from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, we watch news from Japan causing us further angst about Radioactive iodine 131 and grimace at the continuing effects from the Gulf oil spill and it’s never-ending clean-up. All of it is disturbing and overwhelming. Where is Erin Brockovich when you need her?!

With so much environmental turmoil, our attempts at being better caretakers of our environment can seem, well, futile. Most of us don’t have $100K to lay down for installing solar panels on the roof and sinking a geothermal heating and cooling system into the lawn. But, don’t throw in the green towel just yet. Have you heard the old riddle, how do you eat an entire elephant? One bite at a time. The same holds true for our efforts at caring for Mother Nature and let me clue you in, it’s not just a coincidence that Ecology and Economy have the same root word, Eco (house). They both affect our homes and our families. While we can’t all have a zero waste home, there’s plenty we can do and it can benefit our families in the long run.

READ MORE…….

Bringing money in series: It’s Yard Sale season!

I think it’s really important to control how much money leaves your household, but it’s also important to bring money in. And not too many of us are keen on getting 2nd or 3rd jobs, are we? Here in the northeast, we’re beginning Yard Sale Season. Yes, yard sales are seasonal for the most part. Too early in the spring-weather is unpredictable. Summer-too many families on vacation and you won’t see traffic. Fall-families are too busy with back-to-school and kids’ activities, and can’t be bothered with yard sales. So mid-to-late spring it is!

April 30-I saw notices that both Pennsbury Twp and the Avondale Fire Company are having their community yard sale. Contact them to rent a table. The Kennett VFW does one late May. My neighborhood is having one mid-June. Ask around-your church, book clubs, workplace, VFW, township building, lots of places offer community events. I much prefer community events because you don’t bear all the cost of advertising and you see much more foot traffic.

Start cleaning out those basements, and sell! I’m both excited and a bit wistful at the thoughts of parting with my baby and maternity items. When I put our Christmas decorations away this year, I did a very thorough job and pulled out all the stuff I don’t want anymore and boxed that up separately. Yay for me for having that part done. In the past, I’ve also done very well with clearing out my stockpiled health & beauty items and just slapping a $1 sticker on all of it. Sure, I could probably get more, but it was free to begin with and I wanted the space.

Good luck & I hope you bring in some money!

What to buy now-April/May

All of this sales & promos & couponing stuff is really cyclical. Once you’re doing it for a year+, you’ll see a pattern. Yesterday there was a $2 printable for Heinz ketchup being blasted all over the blogs and Facebook. Why would people go so nutters over a ketchup coupon? Because all the supercouponers know–we’re all almost out of ketchup! See, condiments is one of the things that is very cyclical. Now that we’re approaching summer and backyard picnic & barbeque time, all the various manufacturers will practically be giving away their stuff. And, I’ll buy 10 or 20 bottles of ketchup and mustard. If you’re new to this, you’ll say “She’s nuts, what is she going to do with all of that?” Well, assuming the expiration dates are good for a year out, that’s what my family will use in a year. About a bottle of ketchup per month, same for mustard. So ten of each or so will be fine.

Other things you should be on the lookout for deals now, and add to your stockpile:

April-Easter and Earth Day themed things- think about eggs, vinegar, ham, asparagus, horseradish, organic foods, organic/natural cleansers, energy saving lightbulbs, environmentally conscious paper products

May-Mother’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day and beginning of gardening and barbecue season-think of Mexican food products, flowers, jewelry, anything gift-y for Moms, ANYTHING related to being outside more-sunscreen, condiments, bug repellant, paper products, outdoor cooking items and decorations, allergy medicines, meats for barbecuing-like hotdogs and premade hamburgers and ribs, ice-cream, popsicles, KoolAid type drink mixes, chips.

That’s not to say that some of these items won’t be on sale at other times of the year, but this is the time of year it is much more likely to find an “on your next order” promo or Register Rewards or Extra Bucks deal on those things.

And-look for Easter candy, winter baking items, comfort-type foods (people don’t usually cook it in warmer months) all to be starting to go on clearance.