ZZ plant

Gardening has become a new hobby of mine, well not true gardening but a couple of vegetables in the garden and several indoor plants.  As I was out purchasing indoor plants, a unique plant caught my attention.  It had shiny leaves and grew straight up.  Zamioculcas zamiifolia was its name and so I took it home.  It was within a month, it had grown taller and was beginning to push the boundaries of its pot.  After one quick search on how to divide a zz plant, I had a plan.

                                                   Here is a picture of the original plant. 

So I took the plant outside and took it out of its warped pot.  What came next will probably upset "true botanists"  but I took a kitchen knife and did my best to divide the plant so that I wouldn't slice too much of the tuber's.  What was supposed to become 3 plants turned into 4 when one of the little sections that did not have a tuber connected to it just fell off.  I thought what the heck, the only thing that I thought was "what's the worst that can happen".  I repotted the 4 little zz plants and waited to see what would happen.

The only problem that I had was one leaf that was almost almost buried when I started, it is turning yellowish.  It has been about a month and it is still hanging in there.  Not any different, just sitting there.

The above plant and has new growth starting, to the left of the yellowish leaf.  The plant below has grown significantly and the shoot on the left has doubled in size from the small shoot that was there when I cut it.

I just wanted to share the experience I had dividing the plant.  I did not have much luck finding any info online about how to do it, I may have done everything wrong, but it seems to be thriving in spite of the kitchen knife.  

New Cat Murphy

About 2 years ago, someone tossed out a baby kitten in the parking lot at my work.  One of my employees found it and brought it inside.  The poor little thing was only 2 weeks old and needed to be bottle fed or it wouldn't survive.

I took it to my vet and they took it in and kept it safe for the next 6 weeks while it grew stronger.  I checked on the little kitten several times and found that it was healthy and would be eligible for adoption.  While I had never been interested in having multiple cats in my home, I just couldn't turn down this little abandoned kitten.  When she was big enough to be adopted we took her home and named her Murphy.

She grew and thrived in a loving home.  She did have some strange habits, she slept on my neck every night and she is terrified of tape.  But other than that, she is the sweetest little 4 legged addition to our home.  Our other cat Hockey tolerated this little bundle of energy and he finally decided that it was useless to protest her presence and they became buddies.

They stick together and enjoy playing around the house.  Ok, there is more laying around the house than there is playing.  But they are a good team!

So here she is, our little Murphy, sweet, lovable and a survivor.  I will never know who dumped her out that busy parking lot.  I do know that she was brought into my life in a unique way and has brought love and joy into my families life.

Butterfly

While on vacation, a beautiful butterfly landed on the rocks near me.  Beauty is everywhere if you will look for it.

Picture a day website

http://www.joeblanton.exposuremanager.com/

I am working on a new project, my daughter and I are taking a picture a day for a year.  We received a new camera (thanks grandpa) and we are trying to upload one a day for this year. 

Take a look at the photos and let me know what you think.  Copy and paste the link into your browser and it will take you to the site.  You will be asked to input your email to gain access to the photo's and then you can select Photo a day by Joy.  If you see something you like on the website and would like to order it then that is great, but I am just interested in seeing how the project goes. 

Writing on a Toshiba Chromebook

I have started writing again, as usual, I had a dream that led to a story rattling around in my head.  The difference here is that I have purchased a Toshiba Chromebook and it allows you to write offline.  So I tested the feature as my family drove cross country. 
First of all, the Chromebook is light and compact and very easy to tote around.
Second, the battery life is around 9 hours which is excellent and gave me the ability to turn it off and on as my turn driving came up. 
Finally, the offline feature worked like a charm.  I could read and edit previous sections and then continue on with new sections.  When I got to a wi-fi spot, everything uploaded. 

I would highly recommend a Chromebook for writers who are on the go, like to write outside, like the flexibility of writing whenever/wherever they are. 

If you do not like the Google Docs format (which I can't imagine, the save automatically feature alone makes it worth it) you can always download it as a Word document later. 

Summer Reader, Future Leader

This is the last bulletin board I put up for the year.  Summer reader=Future leader.  Add Color photo's of books and you have a motivational bulletin board!

I AM motiviational bulletin board

 

 

This bulletin board takes some work.  Start with a collection of old magazines that you don't mind getting destroyed.  Go through the magazines and rip out anything that is in the color pattern you want.  Do not over think this!  Anything will work.

 

Print out words that are inspirational, motivating or that mean something to your students. 

 

Prom Bulletin Board

Google celebrity prom pics and you will find dozens of photos that are great for high school prom bulletin board.  I used pictures with the following celebrities
Bruno Mars
Beyoncé
Jimmy Fallon
Taylor Swift
Rhianna
Michelle Obama
Jeremy Lin
Kim Kardashian
Demi Lovato

The students loved them and it definitely made prom a talked about event.  After prom, some of the students wanted to keep the pictures of their favorite celeb. 

Game Controller Bulletin Board

I used a power point projector to blow up the picture of a game controller..  I traced the outline of it then added it to the bulletin board.  If I was not under the time crunch of test week, I would have outlined the controller with black sharpie.  My son and his gamer friends thought it was cool so I guess in the world of High School bulletin boards, this was a success.