This is the season to plan for weddings, graduations and other  special events. Flowers usually play a prominent role in these occasions.  Floral arrangements can be expensive or within a reasonable budget.
A couple examples of keeping expenses down are my daughter’s and my weddings.  Perhaps you have some other tips to contribute.
Neither my daughter nor I had the traditional floral arrangements and bouquets for our weddings.  I had natural flowers and my daughter silk ones.  For both of us, the cost wasn’t exorbitant.
For my wedding, my mom purchased a mass of flowers from a local florist.  My mother-in-law-to-be made the bouquet …read more

You can put flowers hit or miss in a vase, or you can develop an eye for creating pleasing, often unusual arrangements.  If you’d like to develop the knack of floral arranging, check out those that capture your attention.  Some may be truly artistic, others whimsical, even others humorous.

Some ideas to consider:

Do you want to use artificial, silk or natural flowers?
Do wild flowers catch your attention?
Look for flowers on sale that you might use for arrangements.
Check with a florist and see if they have leftover flowers
Perhaps a local florist teaches floral arranging classes or someone does in a continuing education …read more

We cooked out yesterday for my daughter’s and my dad’s birthday, and, after we ate, my dad Said, “Hey, can we go to Michaels? I need to get some silk flowers.”
It’s especially funny, because, many moons ago, I lived out of town, near some outlet malls. My parents would often come to visit me over the long Labor Day weekend, and, we’d go shopping. Though he worked in retail most of my life, my dad isn’t exactly a big shopper.
My mother liked her some silk flowers, so, we’d often be in craft places picking them out, and, he’s be standing …read more

My father continues on his home decorating spree.
Maybe you have to know my father to get all this, but, every day is a surprise lately.
He’s been looking for a small table for the den forever, I thought it’s keep him occupied all summer (he’s a teacher, and, is trying to figure out what to do with himself on summer vacation), but, he happened upon just the right table yesterday.
As often occurs in home decorating, the placement of the new table caused a shift in a lot of other things, and, a new list of “things to get”.
A side note: my …read more