Obsessed or Not

Maybe not obsessed, but mighty interested in figuring out what I am doing with these succulents. 

I have learned a lot about succulents in 24 hours. It is sort of a crash course for me. I got the succulent pieces on Wednesday, bought the cactus soil mix on Friday, and finally "transplanted" the leaves on Saturday afternoon. Impatient, later Saturday night I picked up one of the leaves and roots had started to form, just like the class teacher said they would. It is amazing. So, anything that gets roots will get planted. That means nine "planters" and the room for them to sit around! 

If one of the four flat leaves is a Christmas Cactus, I will be happy to have just that one since I have always wanted one. Oh, I have always wanted Hen and Chicks, too, even more than the Christmas Cactus.

The problem lies with soil for succulents. Even having it in the same room caused me to start having asthma symptoms, coughing and shortness of breath. I won't be driven to an inhaler just because of a plant! These need less light soil, but I am afraid to experiment with a heavier soil. Does anyone have an idea of what soil they can stand that won't choke me? Even having the basil plant near me causes me problems, I fear. At least the basil serves a health purpose by lessening ear congestion. 

Obsessed much? Well, it will shortly end as I get the knowledge and get these bits of cactus under control. I removed the bag of soil from the house and now can breathe better! I need a storage place and an outdoor place to work!

When we heard it might rain overnight, Tommy took the new geranium onto the ramp for a chance of a good watering. It appears it did rain a bit. So, he won't have to water at all today since the temperatures are lower. 

This afternoon, I went to the thrift store looking for Corelle plates. Tommy is slowly warming up to the idea of not using paper plates. He no longer objects, so that is good. Sometimes, he even uses a real plate. There were hundreds of plates in great and small stacks. None appeared to be Corelle, and some were broken! I could not pick them up. 

However, I did find two measuring bowls just like the set I got for a wedding present. I already have one, the middle size and today I found the two smallest. So, good deal for $1 for the two. Then, I found a very heavy, antique pressed glass dish, divided for serving olives and such. It was $4.49, a steal. I can sell it for twice as much if I want to sell it. 

I stood as long as I could. I wanted a Trivial Pursuit game. The manager sent someone to find it for me and bring it to the front. However, she did not bring Trivial Pursuit, and all were for children, just a bunch of games loosely related to trivia. I left disappointed. 

Today, as we sat in the park, me soaking in the green and Tommy soaking in a baseball game, I had an idea. Where we sat there was an area near a fence with a hundred pinecones, new ones. My idea--get a circle of cardboard, clean off a bunch of pinecones, glue them to the circle of cardboard with the pinecones lying point out, layering them so they formed a tree of pinecones. Then, I could spray it and put it on the porch for Christmas. Tommy could use his reacher to pick up the cones and put them in a box. I can lift it to his walker for him to carry. Maybe I will do this, maybe not. 

The decluttering is slow, maybe one item a day, maybe 5. But, things are leaving one way or another. 

Tonight, my dinner was salad with tomato, shredded cheese, and chicken on top. Tommy had cube steak, mashed potatoes, and carrots. 

Today was mid 80s. But, best of all--the humidity was low.