I guess this is an exciting time for all gardeners in the southern US. My sedums and daylillies, and a few other perennials are just now sticking the nubby little heads of this year's growth above ground, and best of all, my Evergreen Clematis (Clematis armandii) are huge and mature now and have set hundreds of big fat buds.

If you are lucky enough to live in US zones 7 thru 9, I highly suggest you plant at least one of these early blooming beauties. No flowering vine is more early blooming, rewarding, striking, dramatic and fragrant.  The long, strap-like leaves remain beautiful and green even in the depth of winter, as a bonus.

http://www.waysidegardens.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10151&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=43999&PrevMainPage=gatepage&scChannel=Gate%20GPClematis&SearchText=p13.Clematis&OfferCode=S3H

I'm a big ol hydrangea freak; too, thanks to my Grandma Stargell.  I have 19 in the yard now.  My favorites are the Penny Macs, mostly because they originated from a breeder right here in Atlanta, and along with the Endless Summer varieties, bloom all freakin spring, summer, and fall here. The oakleaf hydrangea "Snow Queen" is awesome as well, gets huge and can take a bit more sun than the others.

The warm weather we are having in Atlanta right now has put me in a great mood.  I'm ready to take on the last major project of our 4 year plan, the side yard.  It's the only real shady part of the yard and I am going to go nuts soon with hostas, ferns, Linten Rose, Astilbes, Toad Lillies, Solomon Seal, and as many shade perennials as I can afford and fit there.

MY GARDEN KICKS ASS!

P.S. The photo is from the very funny Anne Taintor, a great collage artist with an incredible sense of humor. http://www.annetaintor.com/  Anne, let me know if you want me to remove this.

Our next door neighbor brought over a late Christmas present for Gracie (left). It was a little purple coat/cape thingy that was way too small for her. We tried it on Rex (right) instead, thinking he would look like a crazy little Russian Czar or like Prince from the Purple Rain tour.

Rex reacted really strangely when we put it on him.  He reared up on his back legs, standing there for like an eternity turning his head from side to side, eventually fell over backwards, and just laid there, looking a little more confused than usual and embarrassed.  It was not the cute Kodak moment we expected, and he just hated it.  We took it off of him immediately and he was very relieved.

Rex always has a confused look on his face, though.  When he's just sitting there he looks confused; when he's running around like a crazed weasel, he looks confused.  He even looks confused when he is sound asleep.  Don't get me wrong, he's very happy and content, just confused.  Our neighbor Mr. Red, an elderly African American man that walks with a cane by the house several times daily, loves to come say "hello" to Rex and calls him "The Mayor" for some reason. The two of them have this sweet bond, and Rex goes bananas when he sees Mr. Red slowly progressing toward our house.

Gracie, on the other hand always has a very aware, knowing and intelligent look on her face, almost always accompanied by a big smile.

I'm off to bed to get up at 5am (yikes) to meet the crew at the Atlantic Station store for inventory.

Here's a dish from www.allrecipes.com that I made tonight that was really lipsmackin good.

Garlic Green Beans

"Caramelized garlic and cheese! Is there anything better with green beans? You'd better make plenty for everyone!" Original recipe yield: 5 servings. Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes Ready In: 25 Minutes Servings: 5 (change)

I am a poster child for AF (nooo, not Abercrombie and Fitch), but a heart condition known as Atrial Fibrillation. I had known something was really weird about my heart beat for some years, but after a mid-morning race to the hospital two years ago, my heart beating so fast it almost jumped out of my chest and raced us to Atlanta Medical Center, I was diagnosed with this condition. The crack staff at AMC got my heart rate down to normal and did an Electrical Cardioversion, which put my heart into a normal (sinus) beat for the first time in years.  I now take a daily dose of Toprol XL to try and regulate the little bastard.

AF is a condition where the top chambers of the heart do not beat normally. This is because the electrical impulses that tell the heart to contract are not regular, and causes the top chambers to quiver irratically.  This comes and goes, but can at times cause the heart to go haywire and beat like a crazed giant hummingbird on acid.   

Two years since this happened, but it happened this morning at 4:00 am and off we were to the emergency room, again.  I did a triple hit dose of the Toprol on the way, and my heart rate was down close to normal within a couple of hours.  I gotta tell ya, when the heart rate gets up that high, the LAST thing you can tolerate is being still, so the ride in the car and having to lay back on the bed in the ER was like torture.  I thought I was going to go crazy.  So now I have to start the whole treatment all over again, including the heart monitor, lots more of good ol Toprol, and Cumadin to make sure I dont clot and stroke out. You have to schlep to your doctor's office once a week while you are on the Cumadin, so that's a real pain. 

Turning the corner at 40 years old aint no picnic kids, seemingly overnight your heart goes all crazy, stuff that used to be up "here" is now down "there", and hair starts growing everywhere except where you want it to.  By next year, I'll be standing in my front yard with my pants pulled up to my chest, yelling at "those darn kids" ruining my lawn. Oh hell no, I'M STILL 18 YEARS OLD, by God.  Remember?

  Good AF  Bad AF

How many times is it acceptable to wear jeans or dress pants before you launder them? What about sweaters?  Socks and underwear...oh please..wear once then wash and repeat..for Christ sakes. 

I'd say 3 times  max on the jeans and dress pants.  Today I wore a pair of jeans for the fourth time since I washed them  and I felt like a skank all day.  Granted, I Fabrezed the hell out of them and tumbled them in the dryer.  I still feel I crossed some hygenic taboo boundary today.

Sweaters, in my opinion, can be worn 4 times after each laundering/dry cleaning.  The way I see it, sweaters never come into direct contact with your naked skin and therefore are not adversely affected by your gross body odors.  Am I wrong about this?  If I was employed in an occupation that involved livestock or raw sewage and wore sweaters while in contact with livestock or raw sewage, I may think differently, but I'm not and that's that.

I think that Fabreze was the greatest innovation of the 20th century.  When Marc and I have impending house guests, the final bit of preparation (after of course making sure our Mid-Century appointed living room looks Mid-Century fabulous) is to fly around like Frabreze Fairies, Fabrezing the fuck out of the bath mat, guest towels, shower curtain, sofa, and the chair that Gracie has taken over as her place to plop down her big butt all the time.

I need feedback...jeans, sweaters, bath mats, and shower curtains...what do you feel are the appropriate washing frequency for these?