Plant and Mantel Triage

So we’ve been having a bit of a heat wave here in St. Louis (and I think most everywhere in the nation) but the plants that seem to be suffering the most are INSIDE my house.

Case in point — Little Walter, the tree.  He’s perched up on a Nelson-replica slat bench.  We don’t often get too close in to him because he’s kind of nestled into the banquette and you’d have to kind of slide down along the seat to get all the way there.  However the other day I had the dining table pulled out to do some serious dog hair sweeping and took it upon myself to water Walter as well.  Turns out Walter is a Fun Guy!  (Fungi was literally having a field day in there.  INSIDE my house.)

So that got dug out and new soil was added back.  I’m going to have to keep a closer eye on that one.

And then the bullet planter.  The Larry, Curly, Moe and Shemp succulents I picked up at Home Depot were the least sickly looking of their offering but I kind of figured at least one of the four wouldn’t make it.  Turns out only one of the four DID make it.  I had a ZZ cutting from Zappa the ZZ plant growing some roots as well as a cutting of this other thing I liked from the neighbor and so I filled the bullet back up.  It looks a little funny right now but at least it doesn’t look dead.

(And yes, that is a giant dog fuzz/hairball hanging out on the bullet planter.  All these legs are not helping with my “keep the house clean of furballs larger than my dogs” campaign.)

Next the rubber plant (no name poor guy.  Actually Poor Guy might be an apt name for him right now . . . )  The rubber plant was all dusty so I moved it a few feet out the front door and gave him a thorough watering/cleaning/shower.  Then it was so nice out I left him there for a day.  Came home to find he’d been scorched.  Poor Guy is too pampered by his indoor life to cut it for one day out in the wild.

However, all is not lost.  I can keep SOME things alive.  Zappa the ZZ seems to be pretty happy in his new crocheted and dipped plant snuggie.  Also, Jazz Hands, the tall tree thing has gone from having two big leaves (hence the Jazz Hands name) to a crazy lot more.  I think he likes his new (to him) Ikea pot.

Also I can keep alive dogs, as evidenced by the giant furballs lurking in every corner of my house and Shenanigan photo-bombing me at every turn. 

You can kind of see the mantel a little in the picture above and you might be able to see that it was getting a little cluttery.  Since I’m having the girls over this weekend for Round #2 of the Stitch ‘n Bitch brunch, I thought I might do a little mantel triage as well.  It really involved removing about half the stuff.  I also picked up some nice blue candles at Hobby Lobby for my new candle holders I got at the Green Shag Market parking lot sale.

What’s that another “T” snuck in?  (The black wire loopy one.) Crazy I know.  It came from Pottery Barn Teen and can hold pictures (I should fill it with Teen Beat pictures for all the PB Teens out there.)

It’s Friday now and I can’t wait for our Stitchin’ and Bitchin’ weekend.  I’m sure the girls will do some awesome projects and maybe if I make a nice enough brunch, they’ll let me share them here.  I’m collaborating with Martha to make her French Toast Kebabs.  Yum!