Joan Ambu Archives – Page 63 of 96 – Strength Of The Small

Primitive DIY: Projects Flowers Shrubs & Trees Gardening High Desert

Charming Primitive Wood Planter

By JM PerezMay 11, 20132 min read601 views

Yesterday we took a trip to Lowe’s. I have noticed that close to the end of each Season, the store offers a very limited quantity of selected plants. Last Fall I missed out on a plant which I really liked by promising to return the following days and to this date, that particular plant hasn’t made a comeback. Today, when I spotted a Cytisus San Francisco Red Broom Plant, I quickly picked one of the only four in stock.

Where to plant this beauty, I asked myself. We looked at a huge variety of planters and I still couldn’t find one that would compliment this plant. I turned to my very handy husband and kindly asked if he could build a planter for me and he said yes. He built it using pieces of scrap and reclaimed woods we found laying against our storage shed when we bought our Home. The wood below was already painted white, all we did was used a wire brush and scraper to scratch and remove some of the paint which was chipping off. By doing that we ended up creating an old distressed finish and then we used a home-made stencil to spray paint the silhouettes of the Tulips bellow. Simply charming and it turned out better than I expected.

Primitive Planter. — *Primitive Wood Planter.*

Materials/Tools Needed	Step by step
Wood Chop Saw Lumber/Scrap Wood/Reclaimed Wood Nails/screws Hammer/Drill, Drill-bits	Decide on the size of your planter Measure and cut your pieces Assemble the pieces

This morning I filled up my planter with clean plane dirt and potting mix before setting the plant in. We all like it very much and they both make a lovely combination. I am grateful for a good find, a very handy husband, for my family as well as our priceless time together and for the ability to appreciate little things.

I hope our little projects inspire creativity for your gardening plans.

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By JM Perez

Sefl-Esteem Parenting Children Education Family Life Lessons

How Well Does Your Child Know You?

By JM PerezMay 10, 20133 min read572 views

I am sure most of us have heard questions such as “How Well Do You Know Your Child?” and it’s a question all parents must be able to answer. We cannot effectively reach out to children (or anyone, to say the least) if we cannot understand them or place ourselves in their shoes for a moment. Life goes by so fast that we sometimes get caught up with what seems to be the priorities on our minds that we forget about the basics.
As parents (guardians and/or caregivers), we wake up in the morning, get breakfast ready, get the children ready, drive them to school and get on with our own work. Then it’s time to pick the children up from school, ask about their day, have diner, help out with their homework and get them ready for bed. We wake up in the morning and do the same thing over and over again.

Those things create a bond between the child and the parent (priceless). As much as we enjoy doing these things for our children and while we adjust/embrace these changes, are we really paying attention to the most important details in their lives? Are we listening to them, understanding what they are saying and responding appropriately? Or are we simply ‘going with the flow’ like some would say? I am sure you’ve all heard the saying and hopefully read the Poem by Dorothy Law Nolte, Children Live What They Learn. We are our children’s heroes from the start and they mimic our every move even though we don’t seem to notice it. If someone was to ask you today how well you know your child, can you say for sure that you will represent your child well? Click here for a fun survey and share the results with your child to see how well you did.

How about your child? How Well Does Your Child Know You? This question is as important as the first one (how well do you know your child?). How do you project yourself to your children? How do you nurture them? What do they think of you? Is their perception of you accurate? As parents we are more concern about our children’s well-being that we forget to share a little bit about ourselves with them. Living under the same roof does not mean that they know and/or understand us and what we do. We have to share some information which may come handy in time (in extreme cases for instance, being able to identify us just by simple, yet detailed questions). Our children may not answer all questions about us accurately, but they should not be guessing when we can educate them and we should not be guessing either and start asking questions.

One of the activities of the month of May in my Son’s class was a description/presentation about their Mothers. Sometimes we think such little details are not so important for our children to know, but they really are and my boy made me proud today. As you can see on the document above, he remembered everything except my age.

“Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself.”― George Bernard Shaw

So, my dear readers, on a scale of 1 to 10, how well would you say your child (or children) know you? How well do you know them? I’d love to hear back from you.

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By JM Perez

Flowers Shrubs & Trees Gardening High Desert

Peaceful Gardening

By JM PerezMay 9, 20131 min read462 views

It was a gorgeous day today. I got to spend a few minutes outdoors admiring Nature. I promised myself not to put on my gloves today; just sit back and enjoy the beauties surrounding me. A few of my favorite plants are starting to bloom, including the following:

Stella D’Oro Daylily is not only one of my favorite Daylily, but it’s also a favorite to rabbits around here. It’s a lovely repeat bloomer with buttercup yellow flowers. This is the first of three plants to bloom.

My Snapdragons surprised me this year by coming back to life after being eaten last year (to the last stems) by a rabbit and being stored in the garden shed without a drop of water for months. They are healthy and thriving and make lovely bouquets. They come in a variety of colors, some are intensely colored and others bi-color blends. Snapdragons look lovely when used as front borders and propagate by seeds as they often self-seed. This particular plants are not very drought tolerant; however, the Summer Snapdragons are.

The Red Riding Hood Beardtongue (Penstemon ‘Red Riding Hood’) is the latest addition to my drought tolerant plants. It is a gorgeous plant with an abundance of tube-shaped flowers on long stems. Ever since I planted it, it has attracted a good number of hummingbirds and butterflies.

Happy Gardening and Happy Ascension Day!

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By JM Perez

Scripture Faith Life Lessons People

Scripture: Proverbs 27:6

By JM PerezMay 8, 20132 min read1.2K views

A couple of months ago, my husband and I watched Initial D, the film adaptation of the Japanese Initial D manga and anime series. We really enjoyed it as it was both entertaining and educational. Initial D tells the story of a young tofu delivery boy who fell in love with a girl, got his heart-broken and became a drift-racing legend.

Itsuki Tachibana, after seeing Natsuki Mogi, Takumi Fujiwara’s girlfriend, leaving a love hotel with an older man, decided to inform his friend Takumi who didn’t take the information well. He insulted his friend and almost beat him up for ‘disrespecting his girlfriend.’ Had I been in his shoes, I am pretty sure I would have acted the same. How could he fathom the idea that his girlfriend was an escort girl, telling him she was going out of town just to find out that she was around this whole time? He eventually sees Natsuki with an older man, which confirms Itsuki’s claim.

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” – Proverbs 27:6 (KJV)

Yes, faithful are the wounds of a friends. Itsuki knew that telling his friend about what he saw would hurt him deeply and he also knew that it was the right thing to do. As much as Takumi was hurt, coming face to face with the truth, made him realize that his friend had his interest at heart and was just trying to save him from more heartache down the road. Itsuki earned his friend’s respect and their relationship was strengthened in the process.

Some of us have been in a situation where we thought using flattering words was the only way to win a friendship or to get out of an uncomfortable situation. We smile with people even though we are so sick of their sight. We pretend to like someone just because they are popular and being with them means having a free pass to many events. When asked by your friend if her makeup looks right, you quickly say yes, when you know it’s really bad. I know they are people out there who hate rejection and are only happy when others flatter and make them feel special. Part of it has to do with their upbringing (when parents allow their children to do whatever they want without consequences or for fear of their children resenting them). Such people should be avoided because they are a pain to be around and they don’t care about what we have to say.

We need to be around people who can build us up and whom we can help build up too. Let’s not settle to be someone’s puppet even if we are getting something out of it. We are not helping each other by lying to one another and we are not helping ourselves by concealing the truth.

For an in-depth explanation of this scripture, visit LetGodBeTrue.com

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By JM Perez

Caterpillars Flowers Shrubs & Trees Gardening High Desert

Nature On a Cloudy Day

By JM PerezMay 7, 20132 min read670 views

It’s been four days since the winds started, with a little rainfall on Sunday night.
This morning I suited up and went to the backyard to make sure nothing was broken and that nothing big landed into our property (like the huge cardboard box which I found on Saturday morning nicely tucked beneath my Texas Sage shrub). I was pleasantly surprised once I stepped out. It wasn’t as cold, the winds were light and the air was fresh (I have always loved the smell of clean dirt after the rain). As I walked all the way to the backyard and back to the front yard, I saw the beautiful Red and Yellow Freesia below. Such a beautiful scented flower.

In the garden today, I noticed something feeding on my Gaura Lindheimeri (Wand flower).
As I took a closer look, I realized it was a large caterpillar with a green head and orange spike on its tail. Mostly green with some black and tiny yellow spots. My first reaction was to jump as I freaked out (I am not fond of caterpillars and everything that looks and acts like one, even if it’s not one). My husband and the kids came out to check it out and after noticing a few birds around it, my husband relocated it on a branch of a shrub (Photinia Fraseri). Later in life, these Caterpillars turn into Hummingbird Moths.

White-lined Sphinx Moth Caterpillar. — *White-lined Sphinx Caterpillar.*

After all the fun with the caterpillar, I deadheaded some roses. One of these days, when I won’t be as busy, I will blend a Potpourri mixture by drying out my rose heads and adding some scented oils.