Texifornia

Central Texas Photography Giveaway!

2012-01-28T01:44:00.000-06:00

The Intentional Mama is having a photo session with Shelly Negrete Photography, who does photography around Central Texas.

Click here to enter.

Sky Watch - Grackles

2012-01-27T09:38:00.002-06:00

On the street corner

Grackles perch on the phone line

Hoards waiting to fly

Sky Watch Friday

This is Texas State Pride

2012-01-25T12:57:00.004-06:00

If you were blindfolded and flown from another state to Texas, it wouldn't take you long to realize where you were. There are reminders everywhere.

Like this plate I found over Christmas...

Yep, that's Santa in a cowboy hat holding Christmas lights like a

lasso in front of the Alamo. Where did I find this? Some cutesy little souvenir shop next to a state monument? NOPE! I found this at the grocery store.

Oh yeah, there's LOTS of state pride to be found at the

grocery store! Check out this "Lone Star Pasta" with little

macaronis in the shape of Texas, boots and stars.

Browsing down the aisles of my local HEB I also

found chips and crakers in the shape of Texas. Didn't get

a picture of that, but Texas Type A Mom got one of the chips...

and a lot of other Texas Pride she found around town. Actually,

it took her TWO POSTS to share all the stuff she found.

Want more? Here's some stuff I posted earlier here:

1. A Texan Birdfeeder, 2. Texas-Shaped Grill,

3. Texas Waffle 4. Texas Brick

Found that stuff on Flickr. I've also seen a Texas shaped jacuzzi

and a whole sidewalk paved with Texas Shaped bricks. And the number of

Texas flags and Texas stars I've seen decorating people's houses

are countless.

Never saw anyone put a California State flag outside their house. When I lived three I'd occassionally I'd see something with California Poppies on it, and sure, you'ld see surfer and palm tree stuff. But I've never been to a state where I've seen AS MUCH state pride as I've seen here.

What about you? What symbols of "State Pride" have you seen lately? (Or City Pride, regional pride, etc.) You can just let me know in a comment, but if you want to do a whole post on it, I'll share a link (and pics if its ok to share) on this blog next week. PLUS, it would make a great post to share over at Whatever Wednessday.

Wikipedia Blacks Out in Protest of SOPA!

2012-01-18T12:43:00.002-06:00

Guess what I found on wikipedia today....

Nothing! Well, ok, not nothing...but not what I was looking for (which was, ironically, a list of internationally banned books).

If you're reading this AFTER January 18th...wikipedia basically shut down its site in protest of the SOPA bill, which if passed has the ability to greatly undermine internet freedom of speech. You can read more about it here. The bill is meant to protect copyright...but can block websites which publish user content (like blogger, you tube, pinterest, Facebook, university websites which publish student work, flickr, etc..) if their users postup copyrighted material.

(Full Sized Version Here)

My husband accually just got a change to meet with a representative of John Cornyn along with some other geeks (um...sorry...computer professionals) who were concerned about the implications of this bill. Since he was a sponsor (or co-sponsor...can't remember) of this bill I'm not sure if it will help but we're hopeful!

Texas Gardening Tips: January Veggies, Herbs and Spring Frost Dates

2012-01-12T23:24:00.003-06:00

January is a flighty month as far was weather is concerned...warm one day, freezing the next. On the nicer days you can enjoy getting back into your garden! I know I have. Its a great time to weed (and I'll get into that later this month if I have time. It's also a great time for growing cool season vegetables!. Here's some veggies you can plant this month.

Plant in Zone 7
Onions
English and Sweet Peas

Plant in Zones 8 and 9
PLANT FROM SEEDS
Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Chinese cabbage
Collards
Kale
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Mustard
Peas (English and Snow)
Radish
Rutabaga
Spinach
Swiss chard
Turnips

USE SETS, TRANSPANTS or TUBERS
Celery
Leeks
Onions
Potatoes, Irish (Tuber Pieces)*
Shallots

*Irish potatoes are planted potato pieces, cut egg-sized, each containing at least one eye.

PLANT IN GREENHOUSES or HOTBEDS
Eggplant
Peppers
Tomatoes

Now, as for herbs, my go to gardening book says "Although herbs have their seasons, planting times are not as critical as they are for vegetables" which explains why their herb planting chart is more vague than for vegetables. One thing it does say for some herbs is "Plant after frost." You'll see that on a lot of seed packets too. Have no clue when that is? I didn't either...but the internet is my friend! You can find the first frost date for the Freeze / Frost Occurrence Data at the National Climatic Data Center. It has the average last spring and first fall frost dates for most US cities.

But it's not exactly a simple chart to figure out. The Spring section of the chart shows when the temperature is likely to fall to three different temperatures: 36 degrees Fahrenheit, 32 degrees and 28 degrees. The 32 degree dates are the ones you should use for most crops. The three columns in Spring show when the likelyhood of having frost at those temps are at 90%, 50%, and 10%...leaving you to decide how much risk you want to take.

You can read more on frost dates at Mother Earth News and read more about how levels of frost affect plants at The Old Farmer's Almanac.

Oh, by the way, the plant pictured at the top is some heirloom oak-leaf lettuce I planted this fall...I think in November. They're only a couple inches high and I'm not sure if that's how they normally grow (being an odd variety) or if they are supposed to grow taller.

Well, as you can tell, I'm no gardening expert...just an amature trying to figure things out. I find most of my info about when to plant in the book Month to Month Gardening in Texas, which I highly recommend, especially if you are new to Texas!

So, this is a birdbath?

2012-01-09T11:47:00.000-06:00

Where are all the birds?

Cowboy Hat Giveaway

2012-01-08T11:22:00.000-06:00

My dad was a native California...but he would right in here in Texas with all the cowboy hats he always wore. But then, Cowboys are part of California history too.

Found a giveaway to Adventure Hats, which has some nice cowboy hats, and thought I'd share it with you all. It ends January 15 :-).

Photo Farewell to 2011

2011-12-31T22:24:00.005-06:00

I stumbled on a meme started by Farewell Stranger where you post a picture for each month of the year...a Photo Farewell to 2011. I loved the idea and decided to go back and pick out some photos from the past 12 months and share them here.

January

January brought a trip out to California. It was originally supposed to be a trip out just to visit my dad, but shortly before the trip he had a bad fall and it became apparent that he could no longer stay in the two story home in the mountains he'd lived in for the last 20+ years. It was a gut-wrenching trip which forced me to come to grips with how far his Parkinson's had progressed

February

We don't get much snow here in Texas...but it seems like February is the most likely time to get it! 3 of the best snows I remember happened in February, and 2011 saw one of these. We woke up that February 4th to a blanket of white and an announcement of no school. The thick white fog that filled the sky that morning gave way to a clear, vibrant, blue dusted with whisps of puffy white clouds. The snow was thick, and soon snowmen started popping up in people's yards (including our own). It only lasted a day, but what a day!

March

In March I broke my wrist roller skating with my kids, and I got walking pneumonia...both of which I had for far too long before seeing a doctor about. The wrist had hurt like crazy at first, but by the time I had it checked it had practically healed...it was the pneumonia that knocked me out like a two-by-four over the head. I was coughing up blood, and couldn't walk across the room without getting winded. When the doctor said he needed to x-ray my chest I asked if he could x-ray my wrist too, and came home with anti-biotics, a cast, and instructions to lay on the couch and not do anything for the next two weeks.

In the midst of this, our hearts went out to the people of Japan who suffered such devestation in the Tsunami.

April

I had planned to build a raised bed and start a vegetable garden in April, but was still recovering from the pneumonia and didn't have the energy. The spot where I had planned my garden became a sand-box for my youngest, who helped me keep the weeds out of it by digging it up with his toy shovels and bulldozer. I took it easy and enjoyed the warmer whether and wildlife (birds and bunnies and such).

May

May is always a month for celebrations... Mother's Day, My Birthday, Our Anniversary. This may brought a new celebration...my sister-in-law's wedding!

June

June brought our second year at church doing Holy Land VBS. It's been a wonderful experience, transforming our church into a Bible land and then getting to watch the kids experience it. This year we "went back" to Nazareth. I got to be a 1st century farmer who grew up in the same town as Jesus. We had fun decorating peat pots and planting a few seeds which grew in 1st century Nazareth, and sharing our character's stories with the kids.

July

Texas summer is always hot...but the heat this year was RELENTLESS. After days of staying inside to beat the heat, I started taking the kids to the park at 8:00 at night just so they could run off some steam. Even at night it was hot...though somewhat endurable. In the midsts of a 108 degree day my littlest found this winter hat and scarf and donned it to go outside. I titled the picure "Missing Winter."

August

The heat continued in August, but we escaped it for a couple weeks when we took a family trip back to California to see my Dad. It was the first time my Dad got to see my youngest face to face, and because of how far his Parkinson's has progressed, sadly this was probably be the last time my kids will get to see their Grandpa. It was bittersweet.

The mice had invaded my Dad's mountain home, and it was not fit to stay in with the kids...so we took our very first camping trip right in the back yard. My boys have been asking me to go camping for a long time (it's either too hot, to cold, or too buggy out here in Texas for me to venture staying outdoors), so they were thrilled. My husband and I learned that the older you get, the harder the ground gets. But we all enjoyed waking up to the sun-rise through the pines, and taking my boys on walks through the same woods I used to walk through was like a salve for sadness.

We took daily trips "down the hill" (never occurred to me how strange it was calling a 5,000 foot mountain a hill was til I came out here) to see my dad, spent a day at Disneyland with the kids, and spent the last two days in San Diego where my husband grew up. The kids loved the ocean...and I thought it was ironic that it was foggy and chilly at the beach, IN AUGUST!. Took so many gorgeous pictures while we were there...browse my California tagged posts if you want to see more.

September

The heat continued right into September...and I was relieved to have my two older boys in school where they could work out their energy in the school gym. But, I was very happy they were home the day our back yard burst into flames! The fire actually started in our neighbour's yard, and my middle son was the first one to spot it creeping under our fence. Luckily only the fence and some of our lawn got burned, and with our neighbour's help it was out before the fire department got here.

October

October finally brought some rain...and my youngest and I spent many days visiting a river near by and enjoying the cooler weather. My poor garden seemed to sign with relief too!

November

In November our garden TOOK OFF! The peppers that had been barely surviving all summer started bearing fruit. We got radishes and green beans (all firsts for my garden), and in the spot the fire had burned in September, HUNDREDS of carrots and a few cilantro plants sprouted. We had not planted those...they were a surprize left from a couple packets of seeds that blew across my yard year before last, emptying their contents. I love when the wind plants me a garden!

December

This is what my December felt like...a blur. It wasn't that we tried to pack a lot in. I really tried to keep things simple. But even so, it felt full: winter colds, decorating, lighting candles, bedtime Christmas carols (our family tradition), a school play, present buying, a little baking. Full, but happy, still.

Poetry

2011-12-04T00:34:00.001-06:00

One of my favorite blogs is Emma Tree. A blog by a poet from Texas, full of beautiful pictures and words. There's a lot of Texas in her poems...but you might enjoy them even if you're not from here, or even if you live here and don't consider yourself Texan at all. In her poems you might even find beauty in the summer heat, the bitter cold winter wind, dead grass on the roadside, wildfires, weeds. Here's some excerpts of her poetry (links to the full poems underneath).

in this year of loss upon loss upon heartbreak
my hand on my mother's heart as she drew her last breath
this year of drought and shimmering heat

...

A Moment in Time

the haze of wildfires hung low in the sky

and we drifted under the almost full harvest moon.

...

the lake: early evening, coming home

i awoke to gray skies and no birdsong,

a breeze that teased of wet possibilites.

...

counting the days to rain

Her prose is beautiful too...here's a sampling:

...leaves lay like wounded butterflies on the porch outside my front door. grasshoppers cling to my window screens, as do lizards and moths, and temperatures at last below 100 lure me into the night once again, my old habits also returning.

- Standing on the Equinox

...it's been a summer of heat and wind and grassfires and defensively watering trees and lawns in the face of no rain - but this wind was the edge of a hurricane and it came in and didn't stop.
- what you can't see in this picture: for connie jean, who packed suitcases and waited

Grasshopper

2011-12-03T10:30:00.002-06:00

I found a very lethargic grasshopper in my garden last month. When he wouldn't move after being nudged, I ran and got my 3 year old. That grasshopper road around on a stick for nearly an hour! For the next three days "grasshopper" was my son's favorite word.

(Any animal lovers in the house? Just discovered a beautiful poem about a strange set of pawprints on one of my favorite Texas bloggers sites.)

Gale Force Winds in California

2011-12-02T15:25:00.000-06:00

A Californian friend just put a picture of knocked over tree up on facebook. That's how I found out there were Gale force winds hitting California (Would it be too cheesy to say me-force winds? Um...yes, yes it would, Gale.).

Ok, now that I'm done having a little conversation with myself...wanted to let all of you in California know I'm thinking about you and hope you're staying safe.

I Love Texas Fall Gardening

2011-11-30T14:12:00.007-06:00

These were my green beans earlier this month. I had to tear the plants out of my garden yesterday after they succumbed to the recent freeze, but I've enjoyed snacking on them this November. I had to tear out some of my peppers too...but my Cheyenne Peppers and a couple of my Bells survived (I hope they'll stay until the two peppers growing on them mature.) The Cheyenne's hardly seemed fazed...they must be more hardy than most peppers. Surprizingly, my basil are still surviving too. I had both regular and lemon basil. The regular took a pretty significant hit..can't use the current leaves but enough survived to keep the plant alive (don't know if we'll have any spells warm enough for it to send out more shoots). My lemon basil seems hardier. Some of the leaves have little brown spots, but I could still use them in a pesto in a pinch.

And I have onions and radishes and lettuce that are doing well! I love living in Texas where you can still have a garden in the dead of winter!

Oh, by the way, a little tip...if you forget to water your garden, then make up for it with a LONG watering (um...like all day long because you forgot to turn off the sprinkler) this is what will happen to your radishes. A dry spell followed by a heavy water makes them split. It still tasted good, though!

But the BIG thing I wanted to share with you was a surprise that sprouted in the area by the fence where the fire burned this summer...

Those are CARROTS sprouting under those wild morning glory leaves! Hundreds of them are growing where the fire burned. And not only that, there's CILANTRO too! (Not hundreds...there's just a couple of those).

You see, a couple summers ago when I was first trying to start a garden I accidentally left some seed packets out and they blew all over the yard. Last spring two carrots came up near where the fire burned later this summer...but I had no idea there were even that many carrots in the packet! What a cool surprise!

Oh, yeah, and one more thing popped up un-expected:

I planted morning glories last spring by this wall, and they never came up. But look at them now...aren't they gorgeous? I've been growing morning glories every spring since we moved into our first apartment in Texas, but I've NEVER gotten them this big and healthy. Guess I should try growing them in fall!

(Oh, and you know how I've been complaining that all the gardening linky parties close down during the winter...well, I found one that was still going at No Ordinary Homestead! Yipee! Check it out below along with This is Wherever Wednessday (where you get to chat about what makes your town/state/etc. unique) and What I Love Wednessday (where you can share about stuff you love)!

My Texas Scribbleprint Notebook Got the Zazzle Today's Best Award!!

2011-11-28T16:45:00.003-06:00

Woo hoo! My Texas Scribbleprints notebook I designed got the Todays Best award at Zazzle yesterday! That means it was featured on the front page of Zazzle and everything! Pretty cool!

Texas Scribbleprint by Texifornia

Oh, and there's a sale in the Texifornia Souvenir shop today! Though the notebooks aren't on sale today you can use coupon code ZCYBERMONDAY through November 29 for the following deals at my Zazzle Shop:

30% Off Ornaments

$5 Off T-shirts

$3 Off Mugs

PLUS Free Shipping if Your Order is Over $50

Giveaway: Surfboard Grow Chart

2011-11-21T13:10:00.000-06:00

Thought this one was too cute not to pass on to my fellow Texifornians. Aiming for a Californian vibe in your kids room. This would be a nice touch! Giveaway ends November 22.

Enter at BuyModernBaby.com!

Jingle Bash - Crafts Fair and More!

2011-11-14T02:44:00.001-06:00

Click Here for More Info

Texas Gardening Tips - November

2011-11-10T10:42:00.005-06:00

Purple Pansies Postcard by mlewallpapers

November is actually a good time to plant a LOT of things in Texas...something that may be a new thought to you if you came from a colder climate (like the California mountains).

Winter Flower Gardens
November is the transition month from warm season annuals, to cool season annuals. Cool season annuals grow well from November to May, when it starts to get too hot for them. (Warm season annuals grow from April through Early November.) This is the last month to start most cool season annuals from seed (you can start some as early as August), but you can plant transplants through February. Here are some cool season annuals which grow well in Texas:

Alyssum*
Baby's Breath (annual)
Calendula*
Candytuft (annual)
Dahlberg Daisy
Delphinium**
Dianthus
Dusty Miller
English Daisy
Forget Me Not
Larkspur*
Nasturtium*
Nicotiana
Ornamental Cabbage and Kale
Pansy**
Petunia**
Poppies*
Snapdragon
Statice
Stock
Sweet Pea*
Viola

*Best Direct Seeded
**Better to Buy Transplants

Bulbs and Corms
You should also plant most of your spring bulbs this month. Amaryllis bulbs should NOT be planted into the garden now as flowers can be damaged by colder weather. Hybrid tulips and hyacinths will need to go into paper bags, nylon stocking, or net bags and put in the lower drawers of your refrigerator since Texas winters are not cold enough long enough to give them the proper chill they need to flower in the spring.

Trees, Shrubs, Roses
November is the best time to plant or transpnat trees, shrubs and roses. The ground is still warm from summer, encouraging growth, and they will have time to set down roots during the cold season, which here is gentler than the summer heat.

Vines and Groundcovers
November is also a good time to plant perennial vines and groundcovers. Above the ground, you won't see any growth during the winter, but their roots will grow, giving them a stronger start in the spring. The exception is tropical vines like Bougainvillea, which will die off if left un-attended. You can try mulching them heavily (10 inches deep), which gives the roots a chance to survive...or just treat them like an annual and replant next year. (Of course, if they're potted you should bring them inside for the winter).

This month is also a good time to dig, divide and transplant groundcovers.

Vegetables and Herbs
ALL ZONES
Cabbage, celery, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, spinach, and Swill chard can be planted as transplants this month (if you're in zone 9 you can still direct seed them). You should be able to continue planting cilantro and parsley. I read recently about a gardener in Pennsylvania overwintering these, so they should certainly overwinter in Texas' much milder climate. Find out more about growing cilantro in Texas in winter here. You should harvest any basil you have while you still can, as leaves turn brown when night start aproching 40 degrees.

ZONE 8
In zone 8 you can plant carrots, spinach, cilantro and parsley from seed (though Spinach may be a gamble). In zone 8b you can plant shallot sets, mustard greens, and lettuce seeds.

ZONE 9
You can plant garlic and onion sets and direct seed arugula, beets, bok choy, cabbage, carrots, celery, collard, endive, escarole, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, peas, radishes, rutabaga, shallot, spinach, and Swiss chard and turnips this time of year. Herbs to plant include sage, dill, fennel, borage and chives as well as the cilantro and parsley.

My info for the above came from the following sources:
Month to Month Gardening in Texas
Houston Herb Society
Central Texas Gardening
Central Texas Horticulture
The Vegetable Gardener

NOTE:
Sorry for completely skipping October's tips this month's tips coming so late. Busy month (and had computer problems).
'From this gardener who is still learning herself

Linking up at the How Did Our Garden Grow Linky

Chick-fil-A Giveaway

2011-11-10T08:46:00.002-06:00

I've sung the praises of Chick-fil-A before, so I had to pass along the giveaway I found for a Chick-fil-A Calendar (filled with coupons) and free peppermint milkshakes (oh, I am so happy that milk-shake is back!). Click here to enter.

Are your winter clothes put away?

2011-11-10T01:36:00.005-06:00

I am a messy person. My closet doesn't look anything like the one above. I was messy before kids, and kids have only made it worse. In my struggle to overcome the mess I've discovered a wonderful articles at Like Mother, Like Daughter that actually make me feel HOPEFUL and not judged or depressed (just scroll down towards the bottom and check out the sidebar...she lists them nicely there).

One of these articles is titled "Laundry Problems Start With Clothes". The basic gist of it was that most of us have more clothes in our closets than we need (or at least than we need in any particular season)...and that this hampers (pun intended) our attempts to get the laundry under control.

Now, I wanted to address a particularly Texifornian issue regarding the storage of winter clothes.

On Leilas Laundry Worksheet she asked:

"Why are shorts cluttering the world up if it’s winter?"

MY ANSWER: Well, because I live in Texas, that's why. It actually may have a low of 20 degrees one day and a high of 85 degrees the next in the dead middle of winter here.

In Texas and California (except the mountains), you can't really put away summer clothes, except the swimsuits and maybe tank tops. So my solution in winter is to put at least half of the summer clothes away (because at very least they won't be wearing it as much as in summer). This usually entails boxing up all the t-shirts with very summery designs (surfboards and palm trees and such), tank tops, and all but 2-3 pairs of shorts.

I still have the problem of needing much more shelf space in winter than in summer (since you can't put away all the summer stuff and the winter stuff is so much bulkier), but at least it's slightly more manageable with some of the summer stuff put away.

Now I'd like to ask you some questions:

Have you put your winter clothes away yet?
Have any great suggestions on transitioning closets from summer to winter, clothing storage tips, etc? (If you know of any good way to deal with the extra clothes in winter, I'd be especially grateful to hear it!)

Please share your answers in the comments below.

This post is participating in Aloha Friday and 2 Question Thursday and Home Haven Thursday.

Today's Quote

2011-11-02T10:56:00.001-06:00

California Interstate 405 by a1rnmu74

"Legend has it that the 405 got its name because the only time it isn't choked is between 4:04 and 4:06 in the morning."
- Guy Nicolucci, from Spirit, Southwest Airlines Magazine, Jan 2011

Have Fun Today!

2011-10-31T01:24:00.001-06:00

Aloha Friday - Halloween Happenings

2011-10-27T23:34:00.001-05:00

Hello! I'm participating in Aloha Friday, where I ask a simple question for you to answer in the comments (if you want to). This weeks question needs a little explanation.

When I lived in California, kids Trick or Treated on Halloween, whenever that happened to be. In this particular area of Texas, I've noticed that SOME people trick or treat on Halloween, and others trick or treat on the nearest weekend. So, since Halloween is on Monday, I expect some trick or treaters on Sunday, and maybe some on Saturday (since some people don't like to Trick or Treat on the Lord's Day). This leads me to today's question:

In your area, do you only get trick or treaters on Halloween (whenever that is), or also on the weekend before Halloween? For my curiosity's sake, please let me know where you're hailing from too! Thanks!

You can leave your answer in a comment below. Thanks for participating in Aloha Friday!

This is Texas

2011-10-25T11:55:00.001-05:00

Well, much of this was supposed to be posted LAST Wednesday, but I spilled tea on my keyboard, effectively killing it, and so couldn't type.

First, what my friend posted on Facebook October 19th...

ATTENTION, residents of Houston and surrounding Harris county areas: As of 8:52 a.m., Wednesday the 19th of October, local news authorities and governing officials have announced that it is now SAFE to move out from in front of your ice blocks and portable fans. I repeat, it is now SAFE to venture out. You may walk out to your vehicles now without fear of heat stroke, sudden evaporation, or melting mascara. This concludes this public service announcement.

Ha ha...that's true in Waco too. We've finally seen some reprieve. It is now SAFE to go outside without suffering heat stroke! Hello fall! This is Texas!

And my mom sent this e-mail last week. You have to understand, I live less than 30 minutes from Crawford, TX (home of former president, George W. Bush). My mom lives even closer. So, here's what she wrote:

JUST got back from my favorite Mexican restaurant not a mile from here, pulled out of the parking lot and whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, 3 State Highway Patrolmen on motorcycles sped past me going the other way and then a large dark SUV and whosh whosh two MORE State Highway Patrol. Around these parts (not 15 miles from Crawford) that's a pretty sure sign SUMbunny impotant is on their way out there. Caught me off guard. Different from an AMbush. "BUSHED!!" Pretty cool!

This is Texas!

Aloha, its a Texas Earthquake!

2011-10-21T11:12:00.000-05:00

Any Texifornians feeling more at home? I heard somewhere in South Texas the earth decided to shake! Earthquakes in Texas...very Texifornian. But earthquakes are one thing I'd be happy to let stay in California, thank you very much. Hope you all are well and not too shaken up. I'd love to hear your stories. Did you feel it? Was it actually bad, or just bad if you're from Texas and never felt one before?

(That will be my Aloha Friday question today...but, if you're not from Texas, tell me...have you ever felt an earthquake?)

Sale at the Texifornia Souvenir Shop!

2011-10-20T09:59:00.000-05:00

Get 25% off at the Texifornia Shop at Zazzle with coupon code GIFTERDEAL25 through Oct 23!

Sky Watch Friday - Sunrise

2011-10-14T09:12:00.001-05:00

Sky Watch Friday

Rivers Flowing Again

2011-10-11T09:52:00.003-05:00

I hadn't yet blogged about the welcomed torrent of rain that we got the other night. So many happy results of that...the yard is greener, the weather is cooler, and the little creek that runs a short walk away from our home is full again. No fish or frogs yet, and the usually murky water was crystal clear. The rest of this summer that stream has been dry...a path, not a river.

Win Sonic Today!

2011-10-10T13:25:00.001-05:00

There's an easy to enter giveaway for a $25 Gift Card is going on over at Having Fun Saving. Ends today! I think I could spend all $25 just on their limeades!

This is Wherever Wednessday - TIT for TAT

2011-10-05T08:26:00.008-05:00

At "This is Wherever Wednessday" Budget Blond usually abbreviates her "This is Grenada" to T.I.G. That doesn't works so well for This is Texas...well, unless you're thinking TIT for TAT.

Hey, actually, that's not a bad idea. I think I'll run with that and do this week's "This is Texas" a little differently.

TIT = This IS Texas
TAT = That Ain't Texas.

TIT
I've seen rainclouds, but no rain this week. This is Texas.

TAT
Friends of mine in the East Coast are still bailing out their basements. That aint Texas (This year, at least...oh, I guess any year because even though we have TORNADOS almost no one has basements out here).

TIT
It's fall...so I'm breaking out the seeds and getting my fall garden ready. This is Texas

TAT
Some of my favorite blogs are shutting down their weekly gardening blog events, cause gardening seasong is over! That aint Texas!

TIT
I love shopping all the end of season sales going on. Those chains don't seem to know we'll still be wearing shorts for a couple months or so. This is Texas

TAT
People in other parts of the country are pulling out their warmer clothes and stashing summer clothes away. That ain't Texas.

TIT
Red and orange colored leaves may be the symbol of fall, but here the leaves of the trees are still green. This is Texas.

TAT
In other places finding orange leaves in October doesn't require a trip to Hobby Lobby. That ain't Texas.

Sit Down to Stand Up For Kids! OCT 13 - Dallas

2011-10-02T14:26:00.003-05:00

Little Chairs for a Big Cause is a fun event being put on by Etsy Dallas to help raise funds for the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center (DCAC),

Small chairs handmade by David Patton of Ferrochie and creatively decorated by Etsy Dallas artists will be auctioned. Guest can also enjoy free food, drinks, and music. Admission is free, but voluntary charitable donations will be accepted at the door.

WHEN: October 13th from 6:30 - 9:00pm
WHERE: The Blue Room at South Side on Lamar (1409 S. Lamar, Dallas TX)

Souvenir Spotlight - Texas Heat Wave

2011-10-01T14:00:00.005-05:00

My mom thought I should make a I Survived the 2011 Texas Heat Wave shirt with one of my Scribbleprints designs, and I thought that was a great idea! I even made some buttons and mousepads and other stuff to!

You can find buy my Texas Heat Wave products at my CafePress and Zazzle souvenir shops (Hint, for plain white t-shirts the CafePress value tee is your best bargain! ) I'll be adding designs with just the Texas scribbleprint soon, and if you like those wild scribbbles I have more here. You can find coupons for Zazzle here.

And I'm not the only artist out there doing Texas Heat Wave shirts. Here's some more...

(You may have noticed I don't have auction winners here...because no one bidded! Oh well, it was worth a try. I WILL have a Souvenir Spotlight with etsy sellers donating to fire victims soon though).

Ending Today - State Shaped Cutting Board Giveaway

2011-10-01T11:05:00.001-05:00

You could win a cutting board in the shape of California, Texas (or something else)! Ends today, and only 43 people have entered!

Aloha Friday - Sleep

2011-09-30T07:33:00.000-05:00

Hello! I'm participating in Aloha Friday, where I ask a simple question for you to answer in the comments (if you want to).

Every now and then I have trouble sleeping. Not for any reason I can pin-point. Not for caffeine or worry or my husband's snooring...none of that. Usually my mind is just full...won't shut down and be quiet. Night before last was like that. I couldn't sleep and couldn't sleep and finally it was 5:00 in the morning and I just gave up because the alarm would be going off in a couple hours anyways.

So, my question this week is...

Do you ever have trouble sleeping, for no particular reason?

Limeaides for Learning - Free Limeade for Voting!

2011-09-29T18:29:00.001-05:00

Sonic’s Limeades for Learning is here again, and I almost missed it! And it's such a cool program! Teachers submit projects--things they'd like to see happen in their schools and classrooms--and you can vote for your favorites to win money to turn their plans into a reality. In return you get a Free Cherry Limeade! How cool is THAT!

By the way, do they have Sonic's in California now, or just out here in Texas?

Dear Rain...

2011-09-28T15:41:00.003-05:00

Another fun conversation with facebook friends:

TEXALINAN FRIEND (Texas friend who moved to North Carlina):
Dear rain; I am breaking up with you, please go away. I hear Texas is pretty desperate for you. Skedaddle over there where you might be more appreciated.

TEXAFORNIAN FRIEND: I will take some of that rain!!!

TEXALINAN FRIEND: See rain!? Texas wants you. Texas thinks you are hawt.

TEXAS FRIEND: Thanks for letting the rain know! LOL!

ME: Dear East Coast, I've heard rain is getting on your nerves...hanging around, loitering, ect. Please feel free to send him down here to us. I think rain needs to attend Texas bootcamp!

By the way, if you'ld like to hear more of Texalinan's wit and opinions, she has a blog you can check out!

.

How My Garden Grows...

2011-09-26T01:55:00.024-05:00

My garden...

I've got chives, basil, various peppers, a tomato plant, and one onion

(it was a pearl onion that started sprouting in my pantry, so I stuck it in the

ground). Though my tomato never got tomatoes, and the one bell pepper I got

so far matured at about ping pong ball size, I still consider this a success...

especially considering this summer's heat!

I've read that bush beans shouldn't be planted by peppers or alliums,

so I had to find a new place for these. I had a little plot cleared from

an old garden, and stuck these in it. The flowers are fake, put there

to protect the new plants from the hot Texas sun...and it worked! This

was taken earlier (the plants have now outgrown their faux flower shade

and I've moved the flowers over to protect the radishes and lettuce I

planted next to them. Already got a few sprouting, too!! Yeah!

Side Note: Didn't think I had enough material to do This is Whatever Wednessday, when I realized that this Garden post was perfect for it! I mean, THIS IS TEXAS GARDENING, isn't it? Trying to find shade so your plants will survive and being overjoyed when they do!

The Monday Garden Club

Green Spider

2011-09-23T23:47:00.002-05:00

Found this in my yard. It's a Green Lynx Spider.
If you're shuddering at these pictures, you're not the only one!
This spider was about an inch long! Pretty though, in it's own way.

Aloha Friday - Disasters

2011-09-23T07:56:00.002-05:00

Hello! I'm participating in Aloha Friday, where I ask a simple question for you to answer in the comments (if you want to). This weeks question:

Have any of the recent natural disasters affected you?

The only one that really affected us directly has been the drought/heat wave in Texas. Our kids spent most of the summer indoors, and it contributed to the fire which spread from our neighbor's yard to ours (but only damage our fence) Wednessday. Small potatoes compared to what some people have experienced.

Fire...in OUR yard!

2011-09-21T20:58:00.005-05:00

I've been talking on this blog about the fires in Austin, and today I experienced one much closer to home. Luckily no one was hurt and nothing was damaged except our fence.

One of my boys said, rather calmly,"Mom, why is there a fire in our backyard?" I

looked out the back window and could see flames coming under our fence from our neighbor's yard. I grabbed the boys and we headed out the front door, then ran back with a hose and started dousing the flames.

Almost immediately, Stella, our neighbor to the right showed up with her hose in hand (her 8 year old had told her...Way to go kids!) I then took my kids and neighbor's younger girls across the street to another neighbor, who's husband joined us while she watched the kids. When we got back to the yard Stella's teenage daughter was out there helping too...(and in our back neighbor's yard where the fire had started, a police officer who had seen the smoke was helping their kids hose it down). The fire was out before the firefighters came. They weren't able to determine what started it.

That was the lid to a sandbox. I was trying to kill

some grass in that corner to put a bush there. Guess

that won't be a problem now.

You can see how far along the fence it burned. You can see how far along the fence it burned. That big green spot it missed? That's where my strawberries were. To keep them alive this hot summer I watered them more than the rest of the yard, and the little green circle where the sprinkler reached was exactly the area the fire missed. That shows the difference a healthy well watered lawn makes during a fire (and what a hazard a dry one is). But we've been on watering restrictions this summer, so you do what you can do.

This is Texas...

2011-09-21T13:48:00.009-05:00

It's time again for This is Whatever Wednessday...a fun lil meme hosted by Budget Blond where you share the quirky lil' things about where you live. So, here's my "This is Texas" observations for the week...

The Texas newscaster last week said "There's a cool front heading in today, so we expect the high today will only be 95 degrees."
My friend got together for a pool-side get together. Much of the time was spent fishing black grasshoppers of the pool. Those critters take over Texas this time of year.
We received more rain Sunday night than we had in all of the past 120 days combined. And we are so grateful for it!
Which maybe helped lessen the damage of the fire that started in our neigbors and blazed its way under our fence today...that and that our kids accidently left the hose on last night. Don't know what started it. Maybe the grass just self-combusted! (THIS WAS JUST ADDED). Read more about that here.

Oh, and I talked with a half-Texifornian this morning (she was married to a Texifornian). Her husbands relatives from Calfiornia visited them in Texas during the coolest week we've had all summer, and complained about the heat. NOW THATS TEXIFORNIA!

Rain Makes Me Happy!

2011-09-19T11:39:00.000-05:00

Morgan in the Rain by ButtermilkBiscuits

It rained last nigh! Not just a drizzel. It POURED! Today it is cool and breezy and beautiful with whisps of puffy clouds wafting through the blue sky. My soul is SINGING!

Sky Watch Friday

2011-09-16T13:19:00.002-05:00

Those first two are beautiful, aren't they? Love Texas sunsets! That last one I just through was funny...the single pink fluffy cloud just perched between the towers.

Welcome everyone visiting from Sky Watch (and welcome to my other visitors too). If you haven't heard, here in Texas we've suffered some terrible wildfires lately. Over 1500 homes were lost, and 4 people were killed. If you pray, I hope you'll join me in praying for those affected by this. If you want to learn about more ways to help, click here.

How to Help Texas Fire Victims

2011-09-09T00:20:00.014-05:00

By now you've most likely heard about the devastating wildfires here in Texas. The American Red Cross of Central Texas is accepting monetary donations, and has a listing of places in Texas you can donate in-kind gifts like canned food, clothing and toiletries. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for links to other places collecting donations or holding fund-raisers.

If you're near the fires and are looking for info what's happening with them now, where to take livestock, shelters, evacuation routes etc, the TX Storm Chasers Facebook page is a great place to get informed, (Thanks Mom for sharing that!) as is the Texas Wildfires Updates Page.

ONLINE FUNDRAISERS

Through Ebay Givingworks This list shows all the auctions benifiting the Red Cross of Central Texas. Auctions may donate all or a portion of proceeds.
On Etsy Some of those listed are donating all of the proceeds, and some only donating a portion, and some may not be donating any longer so check the individual listings for details.
Here on Texifornia I'm auctioning off some spots in my next "Souvenir Spotlight" here on Texifornia to help with relief efforts. Also, I'd be happy to provide other advertising here in exchange for a donation, so please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me at ecarian at yahoo dot com if you are interested.

DONATION CENTERS/FUNDRAISERS BY REGION

Austin Area (Fundraising Events)
Waco Area

If you know of a listing of places in your area accepting in-kind gifts or raising funds, please leave a link in the comments below and I'll add a link to it.

Also, several Etsians have stepped up to help by donating a portion of their sales. Some of these are featured on Shop4Charity.

Advertise on Texifornia to Help Austin Fire Victims

2011-09-08T23:26:00.013-05:00

PRODUCT PROMOTION
Do you sell Texas themed products? You can advertise them in my upcoming Souvenir Spotlight where I will be featuring Texas products. Plus you get an additional promotional post all your own. ALL the proceeds from these ads will be donated to the Red Cross of Central Texas! You can bid on these ads through Ebay Giving Works. Click here check them out and start bidding!

OTHER ADVERTISING
The project wonderful ads on the sidebar are NOT going to support this effort (simply because my earnings from that are automatically applied to my own advertising efforts and is hard to split up)...but if you're interested in a larger side-bar ad or other types of advertising you would like on this site, texifornia.com, or any of my other websites, I'm open to providing advertising in exchange for a donation. You can at contact me at ecarian at yahoo dot com.

FREE ADVERTISING FOR ITEMS BENIFITING FIRE VICTIMS
If you have a family friendly item being sold to benifit Texas wildfire victims, I am happy to promote it for free. Contact me at ecarian at yahoo dot com or leave a link to the item in the comments. Thanks!

Sky Watch Friday - Cloudy Beach Skies

2011-09-08T15:48:00.002-05:00

It's odd coming from Texas, where it's been over 100 degrees all summer, to get to the beach in San Diego, California and find it cloudy and a tad chilly at 3:00 in the afternoon...in AUGUST. What a switch! (Ironically when we went in October three years ago it was warm and sunny!)

Cloudy or not it was fun. It was my 3 year old's first time seeing the ocean, and he LOVED it (even after a wave dunked him...we didn't go very deep but at his height it doesn't take too much). All three of my boys had a blast.

Pelicans kept flying by in a V, and though I grew up living on a boat out there, I never remember seeing anything like it. They would fly by every 5 to 10 minutes. It was beautiful.

This is Texas (Laws)

2011-09-07T23:16:00.004-05:00

These laws in Texas took affect last Thursday. Whatever you think of them, they tell a lot about Texas culture.

Drivers can now go 70 at night, and soon will be able to go 75 on some roads, without being ticketed.
Private property holders have been given extra protections against having their land seized by eminent domain.
And those landholders can now hold commercial airborne hog hunts on their land.
Plus "Noodlers" can now catch fish with their bare hands legally.
Drunk drivers who severely injure someone in a traffic accident may receive harsher penalties (I absolutely support that one!).
"It will be more difficult to present eyewitness testimony as key evidence in a trial." (OK...anyone who knows more about this want to explain that one? The article didn't say what bill this was for, and I couldn't find other articles about it.).
Pets can now be covered under the same protective orders as victims of domestic abuse.
Daycare workers now are required to get parents' permission before giving children medication.
Doctors will be required to perform a sonogram before giving a woman an abortion; but may not necessarily have to show the sonogram to the patient...according to a federal judge's ruling. (My first thought was "What's the point then?", but then it hit me that sonograms are used to determine how far along the pregnancy is...and would probably be necessary both to determine if an abortion is legal and and the method used).

Click here to see the full article this was paraphrased from.

Question Thursday/Friday

2011-09-01T15:13:00.001-05:00

Every now and then I participate in Aloha Friday, where I ask a simple question for you to answer (nothing that requires a lengthy response) and Two Question Thursday (same idea...only TWO questions).

Last week for Aloha Friday Pinay in the States asked readers if the weather was "normal...or something else?" in their area. Not ONE person answered normal! Abnormal has been the norm this past week: while New England got pummelled by Irene, here in Texas we only got a few raindrops of relief from the long, horrid, heat wave we've been in.

In the midst of this I published my monthly planting tips...something I write a long time in advance. After reading a comment from my reader I realized how ridiculous the idea of planting ANYTHING sounds right now in this heat. I went back and amended it...adding some heat appropriate suggestions.

Though I'm still going to attempt planting a few things this september, I'll be using trick I've tried before and put some fake flowers around them to add shade...or maybe I'll take FlipFlopGardener suggestion and use umbrellas! Making a mesh "tent' might work too. That, and pray for rain!

So, what gardening challenges are you facing right now, and what tricks are you trying to keep your garden alive?

Texas Planting Tips - September

2011-09-01T01:45:00.009-05:00

Wow is it hot! With the heat like it is I think planting indoors would be suggested on everything but root plants (carrots, onions, etc.). That's just a guess. Also, it may help to give your plants some shade. Dorris at FlipFlopGardener suggests plant umbrellas (and gives some nifty instructions on how to set them up. I've used plastic flowers to shade my read seedlings until they were strong enough to grow without shade. If you decide to venture into the garden now, here's whats usually is grown this month...

This is the month to transplant iris and calla lily. There's a great video on how to divide and transplant iris here.
In Zones 8b and 9 plant bush snap beans early in September. In Zones 7 and 8a they should be planted by September 1st.
Plant carrots and mustard by the first week of September, and kale before October 1.
Plant broccoli and cauliflower seeds now (in north Texas use transplants). Since we're expecting more heat you might want to start these indoors.
Plant bulbing onions, bunching onions, leeks, and shallots this month (cut off date for these is October 1). Shallots sets are planted, not seeds. The rest should always be direct seeded into the garden.
Find out what other vegetables and herbs you can plant this month HERE. But I would hold off a little longer on any plant that can be planted next month or later, with this heat wave still continuing.

I'm no gardening expert...just an amature trying to figure things out. I find most of my info about when to plant in the book Month to Month Gardening in Texas, which I highly recommend, especially if you are new to Texas! I also suggest reading the fall newsletter at Signature Gardens.

This is Texas Summer

2011-08-30T22:53:00.006-05:00

TEXAS HEAT by manewind

I had this coversation with some of my facebook friends back in July...

ME: Wow...it's 2:41 and ONLY 91 degrees out...no, seriously, this may be the coolest day we've had all summer!

CALIFORNIAN FRIEND: Getting homesick for living in the shadow of the Mojave?

TEXIFORNIAN FRIEND: Seriously!!! I know! Aren't we getting close to 30 days in a row of over 100 degrees this summer?!? I am ready for fall! :)

MY MOM (A New England Texifornian): 30 days! Try 60!!! And more of the same next week!

TEXAS FRIEND: ‎98 here...I almost had to run back in for a jacket earlier :)

Well, it's been another month of triple digits since then (which I was glad to be out of Texas for half of). The heat inspired one Texas blogger to make a Texas version of "The Beat Goes On" (The HEAT goes on). But seems we're finally getting a little relief now (at least here in Waco). It's been comparatively "nice" the last couple days...and more rain is expected later this week.

Rockin to the Rain Today!

2011-08-29T12:35:00.001-05:00

We had rain today! Here in Texas! Yeah!

(Even if the shower didn't last as long as this song...

still...we had water...falling from the sky. It counts!)

To all the folks on the East Coast
...praying for you, and thanks for sending a sprinkle our way.
Hope you all are weathering the storm safely.

Texas Gardening Tip - Zones 7 and 8a

2011-08-26T13:15:00.000-05:00

Though it's a horrid time to be gardening right now, if you want to have bush beans this fall now is the time to plant them! In zone 7 and 8a you want to finish planting these by September 1st. In zones 8b and 9 you can plant through early September. Not sure what you're zone is? You can find it here.

I find my info about when to plant in the book Month to Month Gardening in Texas, which I highly recommend, especially if you are new to Texas! You can also find out when to plant vegetables and herbs HERE.

Sky Watch Friday - Mountain Moon

2011-08-25T21:39:00.000-05:00

I noticed a lot of pictures of the huge moon last week at Sky Watch! It was amazing, wasn't it! Here's mine, taken August 12th on a turn-out on Rim of the World Highway (San Bernardino Mountains). There were at least 5 other people who stopped to snap pictures while I was taking these, and at least one had a very nice camera...so somewhere out there there are better versions of this. :-)

It was really beautiful. The pictures came out pretty good, but still didn't come close to capturing what it looked like in person.

2 Question Thursday/Aloha Friday

2011-08-25T12:17:00.001-05:00

Vintage Family Vacation by YesterdayCafe

Every now and then I participate in Aloha Friday, where I ask a simple question for you to answer (nothing that requires a lengthy response) and Two Question Thursday (same idea...only TWO questions).

We recently got back from a Vacation with my family in California. With three boys under 10, a 4 hour flight, and long trips in a rental car, I was very thankful to have a few things with us. The most useful (other than diapers...diapers are definately useful) were these:

Our iPhone: Direction on google maps, Yelp for finding good restaurants and hotels, and lots of games to keep the kids occupied. Oh, and if you are visiting San Diego might I recommend the free San Diego Hotels map and the Balboa Park ap you you plan to visit there.

Color Wonder Books: I bought one book for each of my three boys and they were worth every penny. They kept them busy for hours on the plane and at my Dad's nursing home, and I didn't have to worry about them coloring the seats.

So anyways, here's my questions today...

Where have you travelled this summer?
What are the things you found most useful while traveling?

If you have a blog and would like to post your own questions you can leave your link on the appropriate day at the linkys at 2 Questions Thursday and An Island Life.

This is California

2011-08-24T09:49:00.007-05:00

I think I have a better understanding of California since I've left then I ever did when I lived there. This is California...

1. A view of mountains through the palm trees.

2. Shredded beef tacos and churros.

3. An item with avocado in every restaurant menu.

4. Graffitti.

5. Toilet seat covers (seriously...hard to find a bathroom without them in CA. Not so in TX.). *

6. Passing through desert, mountains, and oceans in one three hour drive.

7. Driving "up the hill" and climbing 5,000 feet elevation (hmm...maybe that's just San Berdo).

8. Fast paced conversation.

9. Stucco and red tile roofs.

10. The stunning beauty of smog induced sunsets.

*I had to add a little extra word about the toilet seat covers. I remember a time in CA when toilet seat covers were rare...then in the 80s AIDS hit the news and they started showing up everywhere.

Mountain Views

2011-08-22T23:26:00.013-05:00

The pictures below show a few of my favorite things about summer in the San Bernardino Mountains where I grew up. We were blessed to have been able to take a trip back there this August.

Stopping to look at the view on Rim of the World Highway.

The view from Dad's porch.

My Old Back Yard

Close up of the red wildflowers growing there.

The Strawberry Peak Fire Tower
Twin Peaks, CA

The view from the Strawberry Peak Fire Tower.

The view coming down the "shortcut" trail
in back of the tower. Strawberry peak is a gorgeous place to hike.

Wildflowers coming back down the Rim.
(These are beautiful...but the best are when the Yarrow is
blooming...the smell is amazing!)

When I told people here in Texas I was from California, I'd often get asked, "Aren't you happy to be out of there?"...as if it were a place I should have liked to flee from. I don't think they realized what I'd left.

Back then I was so homesick for these mountains. I've grown comfortable with Texas now and don't often long for California like I used to...but being in Twin Peaks this past week felt like home in a way that I don't know if Texas ever will.

Sky Watch - Twin Peaks, CA

2011-08-18T12:28:00.012-05:00

We just got back from a trip to California with the kids. While we were there we visited my home town town in Twin Peaks, California....and I took my kids hiking in the Strawberry Peak National Forest. In 2007 a fire had climbed the mountainside up towards the peak, and I wasn't sure when we went out how much of the forest it would have claimed. Our last trip was soon after the fire but it had been winter so we didn't hike very far in. This time I took a trail all the way back to see if the big tree we used to hike out to see was still there. On the way I was surprised by another result of the fire. Where there had been no view to speak of, only forest, there was now this...

You could see all the way down the mountain, if not for the clouds! While the fire had taken many trees it had left a beautiful view in their place.

And, the fire had spared our favorite old tree. I was so happy to find this giant still there, and be able to show it to my kids. They were amazed at how big it was.

I learned after creating this post that Klaus Peter, the person who had been the owner/maintainer of Skywatch, has passed away. They asked that to honor his memory we dedicate our posts in his honor. I think it might be fitting to leave the post as is, and only ad this...

When the fire ravaged our mountain it left scars -- houses gone, thousands of tall pine trees burnt to the ground. It left ugliness where beauty had been. But in the brief years following, the ashes gave way to new beauty and new growth.

Our trip out to California was not just to see treasured places and escape the Texas heat: Our main reason for going was to visit my Dad, who's body and mind are giving way to Parkinsons. Walking in that forest and seeing the beauty there...not in spite of, but in many ways because of, the fire which had taken so much...seemed a hopeful symbol of what our family was going through. I hope that God brings the same hope to Klaus' family and loved ones.

When sorrow seems to surround you

When suffering hangs heavy oer your head

Know that tomorrow brings

Wholeness and healing

God gives beauty for ashes

Strength for fear

Gladness for mourning

Peace for despair

(From the song Beauty for Ashes, by Crystal Lewis - paraphrased)

Traveling Questions

2011-08-18T09:38:00.001-05:00

Every now and then I participate in Aloha Friday, where I ask a simple question for you to answer (nothing that requires a lengthy response) and Two Question Thursday (same idea...only TWO questions).

I am just back from a Vacation with my family in California. In spite of loosing my wallet and nearly missing my flight because of it, nearly loosing a suitcase (it took a different rout home than we did), leaving my camera at a relative's, and getting a slightly sprained ankle, it was a good trip. Actually, a very good trip! I'll be posting some pictures here once I get the pics on my phone downloaded, and more once I get my camera back.

So anyways, here's my questions today...

Have you ever lost anything on a trip?
Have you ever gotten injured while on a trip?

If you have a blog and would like to post your own questions you can leave your link on the appropriate day at the linkys at 2 Questions Thursday and An Island Life.

Texas Gardening Tips for August

2011-08-01T04:02:00.006-05:00

Sunflowers Poster by clickinchic

Flowers and Bulbs
August is the last chance to plant the dormant bulbs of late summer and fall blooming lycoris and fall crocus (Colchicum), which begin blooming in September. August is also a good time to buy and plant Salvias.

Roses and Shrubs
You should prune your roses this month to get them ready for the fall blooming season. The exception is ramblers, climbers, and some varieties of old garden roses, which bloom on growth made the year before prolifically in spring and early summer. These should only be pruned now if absolutely necessary now (it's better to prune these type of roses earlier in the summer). Now is a really bad time to plant roses and shrubs, as the August heat is almost certain to kill new transplants.

Trees
This month is your last chance to plant palm trees, which will need time to get established before the cold. The heat makes this a bad time to plant other types of trees.

Vegetables and Herbs
In Zone 8b and 9 you can still transplant tomatoes and peppers. Even though the weather is hot, there are many vegetables you can plant this month. Find out which ones are good to plant where you are HERE.

I'm just an amature garderner...not an expert. Most of the information above came from the book Month to Month Gardening in Texas, which I highly recommend, especially if you are new to Texas.

Win a Necklace...

2011-07-31T14:24:00.000-05:00

Delialicious Picks has a giveaway for a Maya Brenner Signature State Necklace, which you can get in the shape of any state. Giveaway ends August 8th!

Sky Watch Friday

2011-07-28T14:54:00.001-05:00

Sky Watch Friday

Aloha Friday - Summer

2011-07-28T13:04:00.002-05:00

Hello! I'm participating in Aloha Friday, where I ask a simple question for you to answer and Two Question Thursday (same idea...only TWO questions).

The entire summer here in Texas has been in the triple digits (just about). If I were in charge of schools, summer for schools in Texas would be from the 2nd week of April through the first week of July (to include independence day). That would give us more time to enjoy the cool months, and still have a little summer overlap with other states.

So here's my questions...

How's the weather been this summer where you are?
If you could choose when summer vacation would be (any time...wouldn't even have to be 3 months in a row...could be a month here and there), would you change the dates of summer?

You can post your answers in a comment below. :-)

Ten on Tuesday

2011-07-26T11:43:00.013-05:00

10 things to do before school starts...

Get kids into the doctors for immunizations.
Shop for school supplies.
Shop for school clothes.
Shop end of summer sales on bathing suits, pool toys, etc. for next year.
Have the kids clean off their desk to a point where they can actually do homework on it.
Start getting kids to bed earlier to prepare them for early school wake-up times.
Start planning my winter garden.
Keep my summer garden alive through August.
Make up pesto to freeze with all that fresh basil I have growing out there.
Enjoy what's left of summer!

FREE Events in Texas

2011-07-21T16:50:00.002-05:00

Looking for something to do this summer? Try the following free events!

July 24
Free Admittance to the Ladybird Wildflower Center in Austin, TX

July 31
Paint a Thomas Train in Austin, TX (must reserve a free ticket)

August 8
Free Museum Day at the Mayborn Children's Museum in Waco, TX

Now Through August 30th
Get a Free Ticket to McKenna Children's Museum in exchange for school supply donations to the Communities in Schools of South Central Texas.

ANYTIME
Find more free events in Austin at Free Fun in Austin!

If you know of more free events going on in Texas (or California) please let me know and I'll post them!

Bird in a Pink Sky

2011-07-21T16:33:00.001-05:00

Sky Watch Friday

Missing Winter....

2011-07-13T10:33:00.001-05:00

Wordess at Mamma Findings, Amy McMaster Photography,

Terri's Little Haven, and Better in Bulk.

Souvenir Spotlight - Etsy Finds!

2011-07-11T15:03:00.002-05:00

Found these great state love decor items on Etsy.

I Heart California Print by Parada Creations

(also available in yellow, blue, and coral red)

I Heart Texas

(also available in red and blue)

Heart Strings Map by Felix Street Studio

You can put the hearts in whatever states you want!

Wouldn't this be a cool gift for a Texifornian?

Just had to share those!

Find Texas Discounts!

2011-07-09T13:03:00.001-05:00

I found a new site listing Texas discounts today. Check out Creation of Miricles' fun fun Texas discounts and events! Lots of stuff in Dallas area.

California Giveaways

2011-07-08T22:37:00.000-05:00

Stumbled on some California Giveaways:

Family Photo Session with Orange County, CA Photographer (7/9)

6 Nights Tent Camping in California, Washington, or Oregon (7/13)

And this one is practically Texifornian...

California Olive Ranch being given away at Texas Kitchen (7/21) *grin*

JULY VEGETABLE GARDEN TIPS

2011-06-30T18:55:00.004-05:00

The carrot above was not grown in my Vegetable garden, but it was grown in my yard. I accidentally left some seed packets outside last year, which got blown all over our yard. Earlier this month I discovered this...a odd looking but better tasting carrot than what I've tried to grow in our garden before.

Now, it is not the season to plant carrots, but there's still a lot you can plant, and some that you might want to plant soon here in Texas (if you want to brave the heat, at least):

July is the month to plant pumpkins for Halloween jack-o-lanterns (yeah, wow...I gather a pumpkin takes a long time!).
The first week of July is the last chance to plant okra, luffa, peanuts, and, in south Texas, sweet potato slips--which are heat lovers and won't have time to mature if planted later.
You can find out what other herbs and vegetables you can plant this month in Texas or anywhere else in the United States HERE.

Hop and Squidoo - Updates

2011-06-30T12:58:00.002-05:00

Hello, and welcome fellow Squido Lensmasters! For those who aren't travelling here by blog hop and don't know what Squidoo is, it's just a place where you can make nifty little web pages about any topic you choose, and maybe earn a little money for yourself or a charity in the process. The hop way to place to share blog posts related to Squidoo (and get help, comments, advice from some great lensmasters).

Thought I'd hop here today since I have some Texas updates to share, mainly that I added some summertime and patriotic Texas t-shirts to my Texas T-shirt lens (which currently is benifiting Save the Children...since I donate my portion of the ad revenue and affiliate earnings there). I also have a shirt lens for California T-shits (which I probably need to update).

I shared recently about my new lens, Nazareth - An Interactive Experience. This week I made a related lens about how to create Fake Rock Walls. All the photos were donated by people who had made sets for Nazareth themed Vacation Bible Schools this summer, and I'm so grateful to them!

It's benefiting Save the Children too, and guess what, someone already made a purchase though my one commercial module on that lens (an amazon lens about rock paper)! What I llike about that (other than extra $ for Save the Children), is that the commercial content blends well with rest of the content. When I posted up the rock wall picture on the Group VBS forum people asked about where I had gotten the rock wall paper, so I knew that it would be useful on the lens too.

So, how do you feel about the commercial aspects of your lenses (and websites and blogs, for that matter)? How do you feel about similar commercial sections you encounter on other pages? Does it contribute to the content? Does it detract?

Winner of Seed Giveaways

2011-06-28T10:44:00.000-05:00

The winners for the Seed giveaways were Giana from MN and Laurie from TX! Contrats!

Texas and California Giveaways

2011-06-25T10:45:00.000-05:00

There are some great Texas and California giveaways going on right now! Check out a few below:

TEXAS
There are lots of great giveaways over at the Texas Summer Giveaway Bash

I've got a Texas Seed Giveay Right here at Texifornia (6/27)

At Mommy Katie you can win aTexas Gift Pack (7/4)

And you can win a Trip to Texas (9/4).

CALIFORNIA
Catalina Express is giving a free round trip pass to Catalina Island to anyone ON THEIR BIRTHDAY! You have to leave on your birthday but can return any time in the next 30 days. Pretty cool!

Aloha Friday - Seeds

2011-06-24T10:45:00.000-05:00

Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday. Every Friday (well, ok, almost every Friday) I ask a simple question for you to answer--nothing that requires a lengthy response.

This week I'm giving away some seeds, some in packets I bought and decided not to use myself, and others from seeds I collected from my own plants in my garden.

So, here's my question:

Have you ever collected seeds from plants in your garden?

You can leave your answer in a comment below.

(Photo of dill seeds by Kirsty Hall)

Seed Giveaway (Texas Only) - CLOSED

2011-06-21T17:12:00.003-05:00

Hello Texans. How's your summer gardening going? Difficult with all this heat, isn't it? I'd like to give away some seeds to one of my readers from Texas (yeah, this one is just for my Texas readers...I'll be putting up another giveaway for everyone soon). Here's what I'm giving away:

Cinnamon Basil Seeds (from my garden)
One thing I've always been able to get to grow...even in summer heat, even in pots when we in an apartment, is basil. Several years ago I was given a Cinnamon Basil plant. It grew wonderfully, but I wasn't all that pleased with the taste (mainly because I'm not that fond of cinnamon, I think...my husband liked it just fine). Anyways, I collected the seeds, and still have some. They are several years old, but I've had seeds that old sprout before so I thought I'd like to give them to someone while they still have a chance of germinating. (Picture by Living in Monrovia on Flickr)

Squash
I have not yet tried growing squash here, but I gather it does well. I decided to try another variety so I'm giving these away.

Native Tufted Grass
I have some beautiful long tufted grass in my yard. You probably do to...but most likely you keep your yard nicely mowed and weeded and wouldn't know it was there. I discovered this grass after an experiment I did where I let my back yard go "untamed" for a summer to see what wildlife I discovered. Thought I'd add some to the pack in case you wanted to try some too, without letting your yard turn into a jungle. Though this is a plant that could be considered a weed..though in my experience it spreads more slowly than some other native grasses. The three I left standing in our yard last year have only resulted in 4 more grass tufts, and I actually purposefully spread the seed in some other areas.

Horsemint
Another great find from my backyard wildflower experiment was Horsemint! I've collected some seeds from this years blooms that I'm adding to my giveaway package.

To enter to win these seeds, just leave your e-mail in a comment below, along with the city in Texas you live in. Only Texas residents may enter to win this giveaway, but I have another seed giveaway for non-Texans, too.

EXTRA ENTRIES
Get an extra entry for doing any of the following easy good deeds. A separate comment must be left for each.

Click on The Hunger Site Button to give a FREE donation to charity (advertisers pays for your donation). Comment letting me know you did.
Play a vocabulary game at Free Rice to donate grains of rice to the hungry. Comment with one of the words you were quizzed on.

Giveaway ends June 27. Winner will be e-mailed and has 3 days to claim prize or it will be forfeited and given to someone else. Must be over 18 or have a parent enter for you.

Seed Giveaway - CLOSED

2011-06-21T17:09:00.006-05:00

I have some seeds that I decided not to plant (or accidentally bought to much of) which I'm giving away: Cilantro, Table Queen Squash, and Cannonball Gourd seeds. They are all sealed in their original packets. The Cilantro was from last year but the gourd and squash were bought this year. I'm also adding some horsemint and tufted grass that I discovered in my backyard wildflower expiriment last year and have collected seeds from. Click here for a picture of both.

To enter to win these seeds just leave a comment with your e-mail below and what state you're from. Only US residents may enter to win this giveaway.

EXTRA ENTRIES
Get an extra entry for doing any of the following easy good deeds. A separate comment must be left for each.

Click on The Hunger Site Button to give a FREE donation to charity (advertisers pays for your donation). Comment letting me know you did.
Play a vocabulary game at Free Rice to donate grains of rice to the hungry. Comment with one of the words you were quizzed on.

Giveaway ends June 27. The winner will be e-mailed and has 3 days to claim prize or it will be forfeited and given to someone else. Must be over 18.

FROM TEXAS? I've got another seed giveaway JUST for Texans here.

What I've Been Up to Lately (And a Squidoo Hop)

2011-06-16T16:47:00.002-05:00

You may have noticed I've been rather scarce the last couple months. May is just wonderfully crazy (with my Birthday, our anniversary, Mother's Day, and end of school stuff). But this May and June I was also helping with this...

For the last two years for Vacation Bible School our church has been transformed into a Bible land. Last year it was Egypt, and this year it was Nazareth. So, I've been busy helping set up, and during VBS played the role of a Nazareth farmer planting seeds (hopefully spiritual as well as physical) with a group of about 80 kids. It was a blast!

These last couple years I've also taken on the job of doing historical research into the places we've been recreating. This year I decided to turn that research into a squidoo lens. You can see my Exploring Nazareth lens here.

For those who don't know what Squidoo is, it's just a place where you can make nifty little web pages about any topic you choose. And for those of you traveling here from Marsha's Hop and Squidoo, welcome! I hope you'll check out my new Nazareth lens and maybe take a stop by my Texifornia lens, too. :-)

Garden Bloom Day - June

2011-06-15T23:59:00.000-05:00

Last summer, I let my yard grow wild to see what wildflowers would grow if I left it alone. (You can see the chronicles of that experiment here.) This summer I am enjoying the wildflowers I discovered, while doing a lot of selective weeding to keep my yard from turing into a jungle again.

Here's my favorite corner of the yard....

It's dried out a little from earlier this month. You can see that tall tufted grass I love in foreground (looks even prettier in motion), surrounded by frogwort, which makes a great groundcover. In the back you can see a bed of horsemint, expanded from the two plants that grew last year in that corner. I love how it comes up just as the wild primrose is fading. All of that grew without digging, mulching, planting, or watering! The only thing I did back there was weed!

In another corner of my yard, the first wild sunflower started to bloom today!

Please ignore the junk in the background (we have some building projects going on, and some random summer toys that needed to be put away).

And in my front yard, this pink beauty popped up.

But, I have started to add a few "domestic" plants as well. Last year I planted some daisies and Salvia. The daisies didn't make a comeback, but the Salvia returned:

And I planted some new flowers in a nice flower bed with some strawberries:

So, that's what's blooming in my garden! You can share what's blooming in yours at Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!

My Wildflower Experiment

2011-06-15T23:42:00.001-05:00

It all started in 2010...the second summer we had spent in our new home. Our first summer had been spent unpacking with little time to even consider what to do with our yard. The next April greeted us with unexpected wild Primroses (my favorite Texas wildflower), and I wondered what other surprises lay hidden waiting to bloom? So, I decided to let our backyard grow wild and find out. Here's a chronicle of what I discovered.

2010 - The Beginning

May
The Discovery
Primrose Sky (More Primrose Pictures)

June
More Wildflowers!

July
The Experiment Continues

August
Weeds
Yet More Surprises
Alas, Time to Mow

It was a fun experiment. I learned that a lot of beautiful things will grow in my garden if I just leave it alone...but that eventually, it will turn into a jungle. So, going on from here, I've decided to do selective weeding and mowing. That means being diligent about weeding what I don't want, while being careful to leave the wildflowers and tall tufted grasses that I love.

Shredded Beef Tacos in Texas!

2011-06-03T23:02:00.000-05:00

Taco Cabana just introduced "Brisket Tacos" and they taste JUST LIKE the shredded beef tacos I used to eat in California (except with soft flour tortillas, not hand fried corn tortillas, but still). So happy!

Now some other place (can't remember where...maybe "On the Border") also has something called "Brisket Tacos." They do have shredded beef, but it's marinaded in some sort of BBQ sauce that tastes very American, so I wasn't so thrilled with those.

If anyone else knows any places you can get shredded beef tacos in Texas, please share!

Abolitionist Acadamy in San Francisco

2011-05-27T11:29:00.001-05:00

I've been meaning to post here about an issue that burden's my heart...SLAVERY. You may not know (I didn't until a few years ago) that though slavery is now illegal all over the world, there are more people enslaved now than there were before the Civil War. I'm not talking about people who work for poor wages...I mean actual slavery, where people are forced to into labor or prostitution by threat of violence and are not allowed to leave. And it happens everywhere, even in the United States.

I will be writing more about how this affects Texas and California soon, but for now I wanted to share about some 1 week Abolutionist traning opportunities in San Francisco coming up.

UPCOMING INVESTIGATOR ACADEMIES:

San Francisco | May 30 - June 3, 2011

San Francisco | July 18-22, 2011

San Francisco | August 1-5, 2011

UPCOMING AFTERCARE ACADEMIES:

San Francisco | July 7-15

UPCOMING SUPPLY CHAIN ACADEMIES:

San Francisco | July 25-29

San Francisco | August 8-12

For more info click here.

Aloha Friday - VBS

2011-05-27T01:17:00.002-05:00

Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday. Every Friday (well, ok, almost every Friday) I ask a simple question for you to answer--nothing that requires a lengthy response.

The kids just have a few days of school left, and the week after school gets out, I'm helping out with Vacation Bible School at our church...which is why I haven't posted since LAST Aloha Friday...I'm BUSY!

But busy with good things! I'm really excited about VBS this year. This is the second year well be doing a Holy Land themed VBS, where we recreate a place in the Bible (as much as humanly possible on a church budget) and let the kids touch, taste, and feel what it was like. Last year we did Egypt and I worked in our "marketplace" teaching the kids how to make mud bricks. This year we're doing Nazareth, and I'll be a "farmer" planting seeds with the kids. Even found some plants to sow similar to what actually grew in Nazareth. I'm really excited about it.

So, here's my question:

Does your church (if you attend a church) do VBS or some other summer camp activity for kids? If so, what are they doing this year, and will you be helping out?

You can leave your answer in a comment below.

Oh, and if you are doing VBS and happen to need 50 sunflower kits with terra cotta pots, there's a giveaway going on over here for them that ends May 27th. Might be worth trying for...there's not that many people entered so far.

Aloha Friday: Have you put your winter clothes away?

2011-05-20T09:55:00.003-05:00

Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday. Every Friday (well, ok, almost every Friday) I ask a simple question for you to answer--nothing that requires a lengthy response.

I just read a wonderful blog post titled "Laundry Problems Start With Clothes." The basic gist of it was that most of us have more clothes in our closets than we need (or at least than we need in any particular season)...and that this hampers (pun intended) our attempts to get the laundry under control.

Now, in Texas (and California too), we can't really put the summer clothes away come winter time...cause even in dead winter there may be need to wear shorts. But we can safely store away our winter clothes during summer (cause here there is NEVER need for a thick coat, turtleneck, or sweater in summer...well, except maybe in the chilly overly-air-conditioned buildings).

So, my question for this week's Aloha Friday is this:

Have you put away your winter clothes yet?

I'm still in process. Part of the problem is that I tend to let the clothes I don't really need at the moment sit in the bottom of the hamper while I focus on washing the clothes I need right now. This means that a lot of the clothes I should be putting away are still needing cleaning (yes, this does speak to the sad state of my laundry situation). This week, I'm making a concerted effort to get down the the bottom of those hampers so I can finally put those clothes AWAY!

Sky Watch Friday

2011-05-19T19:00:00.000-05:00

Sky Watch Friday

Texas Giveaway

2011-05-19T11:22:00.000-05:00

Found a giveaway for a $42 credit to the etsy shop Tag it Your It ...only 26 people entered so far, and the giveaway ends May 24! She may be from North Carolina, but she has this in her shop:

Not a Longhorns fan myself (Go Baylor Bears! Oh, who am I kidding...I'm not that into sports). But I figured some of you here might be interested.

Thank You!

2011-05-16T13:44:00.001-05:00

Thank you to whoever bought this bumper sticker from my Zazzle shop...

TEXIFORNIAN BUMPER STICKER by Texifornia
Create bumper stickers on zazzle.com

I hadn't even announced the shop yet because I wanted to get some more Texifornia designs...and just hadn't have the time. And I happened to check my stats and guess what...someone had bought that bumper sticker back in December! (Plus two people bought Texas Shamrocks in March.) That was just a really nice surprise!

Rabbits and Cats and Kiddos

2011-05-13T16:19:00.010-05:00

Guess what we found on our front porch today? It's not our first encounter with baby bunnies here. My son found a rabbit nest last summer, and unfortunately a few months ago we found some dead baby rabbits on our porch (we think the mom was run over by a car in front of our house).

Well, lately we've had another visitor...a cat, probably a neighbour's, which my kids have enjoyed playing with. Well, this morning he was curled up on our porch, and when I took my three year old outside to pet her we found the bunny above in a little nook by the wall right behind where she had been laying. When we noticed the rabbit the cat came over with some urgency and sniffed it...and then later came over and licked it's back, but didn't bite it. Made me wonder if this was one of those strange cases where a cat takes another creature under it's wing, or if the cat was just letting us know this was HER dinner.

Cat and child went to the other side of the yard and I slipped inside for a minute, and came back to find my child holding the bunny. I took it away from him, and not sure of the cat's intentions, took it inside until I could figure out what to do with it.

After a little research I learned the best thing was to try to return it to it's nest, but the cat was still hanging about (with no way to keep it out) and the nest, which I discovered at the edge of the porch, was very wet from last nights rain (I'm guessing that's why the bunny left it in the first place). So, I decided to keep him inside in a box with a warmed up sock full of rice (as suggested on the internet) and return him after it warmed up a bit and the cat had left.

He's now back in the nest...he snuggled into it immediately like he knew it, and seems to be fine. I am still concerned about the cat and a line of ants near the nest, but for now I think he's better off there. Since rabbits only feed their babies at night and early morning I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if she's come back for him. They don't stay near their nest, I gather, because they don't want to draw predators to it.

I may not have handled things just right, but I'm glad to have found a live bunny this time and hope he stays that way.

UPDATE
Sadly, the little bunny did not make it through the night. I found it the next morning just outside it's nest, and it had died. Could have been the cat, or all the handling...not sure. :-(

ALOHA FRIDAY QUESTION

Have you ever tried to rescue a wild animal?

Please leave your answer in a comment. And, if you like stop by Aloha Friday to post your own question or see the other blogs participating. For more animal pictures and stories, click the button below:

Vote on a Charity and Win Fun Prizes!

2011-05-05T14:10:00.000-05:00

I don't usually care for Cadillacs (just not my type of car, even if I could afford one)...but I'm rather enamored of the DFW Caddilac Dealers right now as they are doing something to support some local charities right now. Visit the DFW Cadillac Cares challenge to vote for the charity you would like to receive $50,000 (all of them will be getting $1,000).

How did I find out about this? Devotional Mama, an blogger from Arlington, TX, is organizing a multi-prize giveaway to help spread the word. It ends May 9. Stop on over and check it out!

Texifornia Round-Up - Tuesday 10

2011-05-03T20:43:00.000-05:00

I've been stumbling on some great posts and articles for the past few months, and wanted to share them with you!

Posts to make you laugh...

This month I stumbled on the Texas Cockroach (um...not a real one, thankfully...this is witty Onion style site for Texas!) Check out this "news" article about a Lewisville ISD Teacher. I used to sub in LISD, so I'm wondering if I ever met him. :-)

Cake Wrecks (one of my favorite blogs) has a hilarious post about a Cake Show in Austin with some pictures of some amazing cakes, too. These were Sunday Sweets...not wrecks (usually this blog makes fun of really bad cakes, but not on Sunday) . The author's experience in Austin, however... more on the wrecky side.

Posts for your mind and spirit...

A friend of mine wrote a wonderful guest post about community on Texas Schmexas.
And here's a great post I forgot to share with you all from a while back. What Gives You Hope, by Texas Tanya.

California places (and some gorgeous pictures too)...

There was beautiful brief overview of Monteray Bay with pictures over at Petite Hermine.

Live, Love, Give had photos of Anza Borrego Desert Park, only 3 hours drive from Los Angelos...GORGEOUS! Based on these photos I think Springtime would be the time to visit!

At Better than Ezra there was a neat post about the Chatsworth Nature Preserve in Chatsworth, CA.
And Postmark California Toyota posted about the Grand Prix in Long Beach, which just happened to be across the street from the marina I used to live in. That was a trip down memory lane. I remember hating the noise from it, but also having fun playing on the bleachers and bridges they set up for it before it came.

Texas Money saver...

If you live near an HEB, you might get some use out of the HEB deals Frugally Thrify lists every week.

And a Little Something for Texifornians and Gardeners...
Owl Farm, one of my favorite blogs by Texifornians, had a wonderful Earth Day post about gardening, helping the environment, and coming to peace with where she lived now and the longing she still feels for the California Desert.

And hey, did you notice...10 links in all! Just in time for 10 on Tuesday!

Go to Museums and Gardens for Free!

2011-04-29T12:51:00.008-05:00

Want to visit a museum for free? There's lots of California and Texas museums and gardens offering free admission in May!

Admission is free the Mayborn Children's Museum in Waco, TX on May 1, 2011. (I really recommend this one...you can spend the whole day there and not see everything there is to see! The pictures above are from there.)
Free Museum Day lists days you can visit museums for free. Currently their list includes museums in these California Cities: Los Angelos, San Diego, and San Francisco.
Today is the last day to enter for a 4 pack of Tickets to Sea Life Aquarium in Carlsbad, CA (plus get a $50 Froots gift card). Only 8 people have entered this!
Get free admission to local gardens May 6. They have gardens from all over the country.

Hop and Squidoo

2011-04-28T13:14:00.000-05:00

2 Question Thursday/Aloha Friday

2011-04-28T12:11:00.002-05:00

Funny Allergic Gardener T Shirt by Swisstoons

Every now and then I participate in Aloha Friday, where I ask a simple question for you to answer (nothing that requires a lengthy response) and Two Question Thursday (same idea...only TWO questions). If you'ld like to, comment with an answer to the questions below:

1. Do you get seasonal allergies?

2. If so, what is the most drastic thing you would do to get rid of them?

Please leave your answers in a comment. Thanks a bunch!

As for my answer...I do get allergies, but fairly mild. My husband, however, gets them horribly. I've actually heard about people going so far as to infect themselves with hook-worms, which may suppress allergic reactions. Neither of us would go that far.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-21T11:09:00.001-05:00

I'm taking a break from the computer for the next few days as our family takes time to remember the death and ressurection of Jesus, and I wanted to wish you all a wonderful happy Easter!

Praise God for his mercy and grace!

(My Own Story of Faith)

A Few More Days To Earn Money for Cameron Park Zoo - And a Coupon!

2011-04-20T20:02:00.000-05:00

Big photos is still donating $1 to Cameron Park Zoo for everyone who registers at the new Cameron Park Zoo Photo Site through April 22nd! Plus you can get $5 off photo books with coupon code HOLSM! What's especially cool about these photo books is that you can use zoo animal photos provided by Cameron park alongside your own photos...so if you didn't get a really great shot of that Rhino or Leopard you can use theirs right next to a pic of your smiling kiddo.

Veggies to Plant in Texas in April

2011-04-11T01:21:00.004-05:00

1. Cantaloupes, 2. Collards, 3. Corn, 4. Cucumber, 5. Cushaw (and Pumpkins) 6. Eggplant, 7. Melons (honeydew), 8. Lima Beans, 9. Luffa, 10. Malabar Spinach, 11. Okra, 12. Peppers, 13. Pumpkin., 14. Snapbeans (19), 15. Southern Peas, 16. Summer Squash, 17. Sweet Potatoes, 18. Swiss Chard, 19. Tomato* 20. Watermelon

*On tomatoes plant transplants (too late to plant from seed)

These are all plants which are great for planting in April here in Texas. I've been learning all about the best time to plant different plants from a book called Month-to-Month Gardening in Texas. I wish I had gotten this book years ago...it's teaching me so much about Texas gardening that I really was absolutely clueless on! I knew Texas had two growing seasons but I really didn't understand when the seasons started or ended. It turns out I trying to grow nearly everything at the wrong time! I'm going to try to share tips from the book each month (but there's so much info, I couldn't even begin to share it all). They also share what else you need to do each month (when to fertilize, aerate your soil, tackle weeds, etc.).

But, if you just want info on what veggies and herbs to plant each month, you can also get that information online here. That's a good resource for other states too.

I found the photos for my mosaic on Flickr, and the photographers were nice enough to offer up for use through Creative Commons (click on the links to see the photos larger). Yes, the Sountern Peas (ie cowpeas) in that picture are blighted (that was just a hard one to find, so I took what I could get.)

I'm linking up at the gardening linkies at Living More, Spending Less and Ramblings of a Christian Mom. Also linking up at Mosaic Monday.

Aloha Friday - First Flowers of Spring

2011-04-08T01:19:00.003-05:00

Mexican Evening Primrose! They're natives wildflower that we discovered in our yard last year. They are actually a very pale pink, though they look white in this picture. The ones in my front yard are pinker, but they haven't started blooming yet.

So, this week's question is...

What were the first flowers to appear in your yard (or are you still waiting)? And what state/country is your yard in?

You can answer in the comments. Thanks!

If you have a blog and would like to post your own questions you can leave your link at the linkys at An Island Life.

A New Photo Site Supporting Cameron Park Zoo

2011-04-07T02:10:00.009-05:00

I love Cameron Park Zoo here in Waco. Its a small zoo, but well taken care of, with lots spots for kids to stop and play in. We always enjoy visiting. And we always take lots of pictures when we go. Here's one we got of a napping lion.

I just learned that Cameron Park has opened a photo site, Cameron Park Zoo Photos, where you can make photo gifts like posters, cards, and photobooks, and 25% of the profits go to support Cameron Park! And, now through April 22, Big Photos will donate one dollar for each new user that registers on the site! Since Cameron Park is a non-profit that sometimes struggles for funding, I'm glad to have another way to help them out.

The coolest thing about the Cameron Park Photo Site, in my opinion, is that they have galleries with wonderful pictures from Cameron Park that you can use alongside your own pictures. So, say you took a picture of your child with a giraffe in the background...

...but you didn't get any good close-ups of the giraffe to go along with it. If you are making a photo book through CameronParkZooPhotos.com you can pick out one of their great giraffe photos to use alongside your own photos.

All the photos in their galleries are of Cameron Park animals, so you can feel happy knowing the pictures you choose are of the actual animals you saw at the zoo. And it's easy to move and resize pictures, change the layout, or add text, too!

You can also get $5 off Photo Books with coupon code HOLSM.

Visit Cameron Park Zoo Photos

Pretend City Kids Museum, Irvine CA - Giveaway

2011-04-05T22:44:00.003-05:00

I found a giveaway for tickets to Pretend City Children's Museum in Irvine, CA. Looks AMAZING...if we didn't live half the country away I would absolutely take my kids to see this. And only 8 people have entered so far. If you're in California and want to try for this, you can find out more and enter here. Ends April 10.

Easter Questions

2011-04-02T21:19:00.003-06:00

The blog Tots and Me will be asking bloggers qustions related to Easter and providing a place to share them. I would like to join in this journey. Her first question was...

How Do You Prepare for Easter?

For several years now I've attended a Baptist Church that practices Lent (unusual, I know), which is typically a time of preparation. This has been a new experience for me...as before I came to this church I had no idea what lent even was. My first year I didn't feel drawn to give up anything for the whole lenten season, but did decide to give up media (TV and internet...I think I allowed myself music) from Good Friday through Easter Sunday. This turned out to be a powerful way to set this time aside and keep it Holy, and so I've continued this every year. I was also encouraged to find out that early Christians set aside this time to fast, long before the practice of lent began...so I felt like I had intuitively stumbled on a long standing Christian tradition.

I have since given up other things for the whole season of lent...as I've learned it's a powerful tool in battling my indulgent nature, and tackling addictions. It doesn't really feel like preparing for Easter so much as a yearly time set aside to battle sin (not that I don't do that year round--but this is more focused). Sometimes it goes better than others.

One thing I'd like to do some day as a way to prepare for Easter is find a version of the new testament that puts the four Gospel accounts in chronological order (combining the four into one account)...and read through this starting with the Nativity story in December and ending with the Crucifixion and Ressurection by Easter (maybe continue on through Acts for May). But, I'll have to save that for another year.

My Faith Story

Also sharing this at An Christian Inspirational Easter Linky and the Easter Link Up.

About Me

2011-04-01T23:24:00.003-06:00

Hi, and welcome to Texifornia...the blog for Californians in Texas and Texans in California! Which one am I? Read on...

I was born in California. Until I was 10 I lived on a big, yellow, converted Navy launch named SNAFU (since this is a family friendly blog we'll just describe that acronym like my parents did: Situation Normal All Fowled Up). Here's it is....

...and there's me. It was a unique life: the biggest swimming pool on earth right out our back door, but also very little living space, a sailor's sway that I took with me to class, and quite a bit of isolation. My mom got sick of it ~~eventually~~ just about two minutes after I was born...but it took years to convince my dad to sell the boat, and then more years to actually find someone to buy it. Would love to find out whatever happened to S.N.A.F.U.

So, then we moved to the mountains (my parents didn't care for big cities)....

Twin Peaks, specifically (yep...same name as that TV show. Different city though)! We loved living up right in the middle of all that beauty.

Then I went to college, met and fell in love, and followed the man who would become my husband to Texas...where there are no mountains (um, at least not the 5,000 ft high mountains like the ones I had lived in) and the oceans were brown (Galvaston) and summers are 110 degrees (at least)! Needless to say, I was homesick! And so, Texifornia.com started...a little site for Californians from Texas, and Texans from California.

This blog started out mostly as a place to post news for Texifornians, and I still do that, but it's become more a place to post photos, talk about my crazy gardening "techniques", and share about our backyard wildlife.

I've been in Texas over ten years now and have learned to love a lot about it...the wildflowers, the sunsets, the slower pace of living! I still miss California sometimes, but I'd miss Texas too if I left (except for the allergies and that 100 degree heat!).

Well, wherever you're blogging from, glad you're passing through! And if you happen to be a Texifornian yourself, I'd love to add your blog to my blogroll and maybe interview you on the blog, so please let me know!

(Me at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin...

beautiful place if you ever get a chance to visit!)

May God Bless your Day!

This post was originally written for the The Ultimate Blog Party, a huge blog hop put on by 5 Minutes for Mom.

Aloha Friday - Weed Killer

2011-03-31T23:03:00.000-06:00

Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday. Every Friday (well, ok, almost every Friday) I ask a simple question for you to answer--nothing that requires a lengthy response.

Today I've been doing some weeding. I weed mostly by hand, because I try to avoid adding chemicals to my yard (I'll do it for ants, but not for weeds), and because I'm afraid the weed killers will kill something I want to keep, like the wild primrose that graces my yard.

So, this week's questions is...

Do you use weed killer? Why/why not?

You can answer in the comments. Thanks!

If you have a blog and would like to post your own questions you can leave your link at the linkys at An Island Life.

Sky Watch Friday - Clouds

2011-03-31T19:10:00.002-06:00

Sky Watch Friday