Flowers, trees and busy little bees

Sunny days always make life better :) It's finally been nice for a weekend and we have made it incredibly busy and now I sit here trying to attempt a few loads of laundry that I have put off all weekend :O I'm also going to attempt to catch up and post a project that I halfways finished (Finished one, need to do the other) and to post about my current big project. Which gives me fabulous happiness :D First, I am on my last week of work. I quit my job to transfer to another department which means higher pay and a lot more time spent with the residents which is what I will love the most. I am excited but at the same time I am kind of sad to leave the people I work with. Some of them are pretty awesome and make work fun. Others drive me up a wall but at least they make work exciting : l This helps put me a step further in deciding what I want to be when I grow up. I'm beginning to think that since I have spent a total of ten years in nursing home settings, I'm maybe meant for that area. I love residents. They have so many exciting stories, they share love so easily and it is so wonderful to have a bond with them. People take our older generations for granted and I try not to. And trust me, they laugh more than most young people I know. So, this was my weekend project a few weeks ago and I am so happy with the result. It actually turned out better than I thought it would. I made a topsy turvy planter that I had seen on pinterest with a friend's help. A LOT of help actually, lol.
We began with four small, ceramic pots and a larger one for the base. We also used ten wingnuts, ten washers, and a long pole that the wingnuts can screw onto. Not slide on, screw on. You'll have to excuse me for not knowing the actual, technical name of the pole, lol. Of course, you need five plants, or more or less depending on how many pots you are using. I went with five with mine. And also potting soil mix and dirt too.
We started by placing the pole inside the biggest pot and screwed a washer first and then a wingnut on the underside of the pot. We also put a washer and a wingut on the inside of the pot as well. Makes it sturdy. Then we filled it in with dirt and packed it down. And then a few inches above our first pot we began stacking. Wingnut first, washer next, and then the pot. We tilted the pot a little and then dropped on another washer and then screwed on a wingnut but not so tight. The tighter you screw down the nut, the less it would tilt. The whole thing is wobbly of course so I advise not to move it too much. Create this where you want it permanently. Or you can always gorilla glue or liquid nail the pots together once you get the tilt effect how you want it. I went with the liquid nails. Our wind here is crazy and we tend to get tornado-like winds as well as the actual tornados.
It was more fun then this photo shows, I hate pictures but alas I post photos of everything else, why not one of me? LoL.
And here is the final result! It turned out great and looks really awesome outside my front steps. I bought the same exact flowers and supplies for the next one I'm going to make and am planning on putting it on the other side of my steps now. But my favorite flower is the one on top, my gerbera daisy. As well as the moss roses in the middle. I have discovered I like flowers :)

My next project is to fix up my front yard a bit. My father's second death-aversary just passed in May and I stared at my house one day wondering what the heck I was doing with life and why I was letting things run away in chaos. Life sometimes has a way of doing that to us sometimes. And I am the type of person where I have to be in control even when I know, I'm not supposed to be. If I don't feel in control of pretty much everything in some form or another, I let my anxiety surface and it doesn't fit me well. So I had to take a few moments and let go of a lot of things. A lot of emotions. And just a lot of constant stress. And then I had to find a focus. I needed a hobby. Or something other than work, housework, gym and family. So, I decided that each month, I have to try to do at least three new things. And how convenient that pinterest just happens to provide all kinds of new things?! So I have decided to take advantage of the summer months ahead and start working on my green thumb a little. So Husband bought me two of these beautiful trees and will be planting them this week as well as helping me plant all of my new flowers and going on a bird bath hunt :) I decided that will be the gem to my yard. Along with the bowling balls that are being transformed into ladybugs :) First coat of paint today :D And I went on an ant killing spree today, don't call PETA, I'm hateful I know. But I heard corn meal will end my ant problem. So I'm hoping the half box I sprinkled pretty much EVERYTWHERE in my yard, works. Pleeeeeeeease let it work! Ants are evil little bugs. And Husband has a new garden that we don't need eaten alive by the pests. And if anyone knows of a good bunny repellent, that'd be great too! I have a bunny that seems to enjoy pepper plant leaves. Husband has twelve pepper plants, nine of them are a different variety, all of them are hotter than a habanero. He has a thing for salsa and the hotter the better.
So I hope I posted something worth reading. My projects are fun but being able to post before and after pictures at the same time are even better. So I have my before pictures ready and anxiously await the post where both sets are put up :) Until then, have a wonderful week ahead and stay tuned for more boring drather... *Beckie*