Are you a daydreamer or a night dreamer? As the sun sets, are you excited to hit the sheets and drift off into dreamland or is that your time to rock and roll with the night-life?
I’m normally a morning person and can crash easily when the sun goes down. Normally, that is, but last night, not so much. I was awake more than I was asleep.
It’s a good thing that I let myself dream from time to time. Daydreaming is fun, but I sure don’t do well dreaming while I’m trying to sleep.
Not sleeping is what I call – ‘mind-racing’. I solve the world’s problems or fight with every idea that pops in my head. All night long. I wake up restless and exhausted and ready to take care of business of some kind.
This morning I reacted to my lack of sleep with a random act of plant care. This plant I’ve had for 6 years. I received it as a hand-me-down from one of my employees who had it on her desk. Our company was closing and she said her cats wouldn’t leave it alone if she took it home so I could have it if I wanted it. I was impressed with how well it did on her desk, so I accepted it with gratitude. Plus I thought it might bring me some luck. We all needed some luck to find new jobs and venture off in our own new directions. I wonder how everyone is doing now? I hope they’ve found their dream jobs.
I’m a dreamer I tell ya.
The plant under my care did grow. Quite well, indeed.
Are any two things exactly alike? So far as science has been able to discover, there are no two objects in the world exactly alike, no matter whether they are natural or artificial. No two leaves or snowflakes, no two objects manufactured by man, are exactly alike. Scientists believe that even each infinitesimal atom composing the elements differs from all the rest. – George Stimpson ‘A Book About a Thousand Things’ – © 1946
It grew enough for it to be split once and my youngest Sprout has a section of it in her jungle in her apartment.
She has a green thumb.
Me…I dream of the day I will have a green thumb like hers.
Today, I gave my green thumb a chance to shine. I took a look at the plant and decided that water wasn’t the only thing this poor thing needed. I remembered that my employee used to give it a haircut once and awhile. I can’t remember how often.
But I’d see it on her desk the day after and ask, “Was I dreaming or was that plant full of leaves yesterday?”
She’d smile and say, “It was time for a trim.”
So I gave the plant a trim.
I poked holes into the soil to give it some air. According to my Sprout – that helps.
I let the tiny new sprouts rise above the trimmed stalks. They’ll see the light of day when the sun comes up. And these little leaves will open up. I left a couple weeklings (I made that word up – a week is about how long it takes for them to get to that height) to see if they’ll survive too.
I’m dreaming of how it will look when it grows back.
Post Inspiration – Join the growing gang of happy bloggers over at Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Dream is the prompt for the day!! Have fun!
PS – Are you a dreamer too? Day or night? How do you get back to sleep when you wake up in the middle of the night? Do you have a green thumb? Do you think the plant will survive? Are you wondering why I didn’t do a poll for all these questions?
I love shamrock plants, but I agree they need a hard cutting back once in a while…they just get straggly looking.
Hark! Is that a sink in the new countertop I see in a few of these pictures? 😉
Yes, they get straggly and desperate for trims. Kind of like me right now. LOL!
Yes, you’re very observant, dear. It’s sitting there, not usable yet. A test run, I guess. It took a feat of a mallet and chisel to get the piece carved out in the counters where the sink is to go before he could set it there to see if it fits. Thank goodness it fits, but there’s a lot of additional tweaking and plumbing to do before it’s ready for action. Another story for the DIY books! 😉
Well, it looks beautiful. So all you need now is function, and I’m sure it’s coming. 🙂
Thank you!! We’re excited to be this close to the end!!
No green thumb in this house. And, just in case anything sprouts, two cats are on duty, ready to eat the green thing and spill the dirt.
LOL – they’d be fans of kitty grass then? Our plants are all stored high or out of reach, our two cats would do them in as well.
We tried kitty grass. Our big male cat at the time pulled it all out and knocked the dirt all over the kitchen.
There’s a dirt theme going on there…I’d be like you and skip plants all together!
Plants tremble at my approach 💜
LOL! Not everyone has a green-thumb or a clever writer’s wit (which you do have). I see you didn’t sleep well either – I hope you get a nap in today. xxxx
Lo thanks, black thumb more like 🤣🤣🤣
LOL!!!!!!!!!!
💜💜💜
I love to prune. Plants. Bushes. Whatever. A green thumb escapes me though – but when all else fails, plant food saves the day! My secret for getting back to sleep (or falling asleep in the first place) is something a friend told me about. Keep your eyes closed and then cross your eyes and keep them crossed. Apparently your mind can’t race when it concentrates on that. Or so they say. Whatever the reason, I find that it works. Sleep deprivation makes everything harder, so I hope last night was a one time thing.
It is fun to sculpt plants. Mine always seem to do better after a trim. I do the plant food too:-)!
I haven’t tried the crossing of the eyes, but I have tried to focus on a dot, one of my doctor friends said to do that. It sometimes works – I’m going to try crossing them next time. You’re right it helps the brain sleep. Last night was a bit better, thank you for your kind wishes for good sleep. xx
You’re most welcome 🙂
I think giving your plant a haircut was a fabulous idea. That is usually part of how I solve “tired plants syndrome”. LOL. I often do just like you cutting it all down, or almost all. I know the scientific way is to never take more than 1/3 of the paint, but I don’t always listen to that. Could it be that that your plant needs a new pot? New soil? After a couple years in the same soil there’s not much nutrients lefts. (Just speculating here.) You can also put used coffee grounds, and crushed eggshells on top of the soil, before watering. I’m not an expert, but I do like plants. I am daydreaming about a glassed in, warm balcony I saw on the internet yesterday . it was on the 3/3 floor overlooking a beautiful lake, and was gigantic, almost as big as the apartment it belonged too. I’m just imagining everything I could grow there! And how amazing it would be to sit inside that warm balcony, surrounded by beautiful plants, while admiring the frozen world outside, having a cup of tea and reading a good book. 🙂 Have an amazing weekend my friend!
Thank you, Marie – I appreciate your advice. I haven’t heard the 1/3 rule, it does make sense. And I agree, the soil could probably use replacing.
I love your daydream – I hope you find a place like that in your new location in Sweden!! WOW – what an adventure. Enjoy the snow when you get there. Stay in touch, I can’t wait to hear more!! xx
Thank you ❤️
You’re welcome!!
I’m a night dreamer only, our dreams carry us to places real or unreal. You gave the plant a serious haircut alright, updates on it’s growth please! My mother had such a major green thumb, she could make anything grow!
Yes, they do. Yep, it was an aggressive cut. It’ll survive, the little sprouts are happy to have access to the light. You got a touch of your mom’s green thumb with that colorful plant in your back yard. I hope you saved some seeds so you can plant another one next year!
Thanks! Well… I pulled it up a couple days ago, the roots were dead. I can get more of them at the nursery or something else. I’ll have to ask them what needs little care again.
LOL – that’s a great way to prepare it for winter. Toss it out and buy new in the spring!! 🙂
It’s time had come. 😑
Seasons change!
Try rolling over and sleeping on your other side. If you had been sleeping on your left side, sleep on your right, and vice versa. It helps me a lot.
Oh, you mean, the toss and turn method!? 😉 I do that all the time!!
That potted plant looks good on the countertop
Thank you, Alice. I wish I could leave it on the counter, but shamrocks are toxic to the cats, so I have to locate it where they can’t get it.
I didn’t know that, thanks for the tip
You’re welcome. 🙂
That is a really pretty plant and I hope after the trim the new sprouts will flourish. Six years is a long time to have kept it going. I have no green thumb at all, but sure wish I did. 🙂
Thanks – I like how it closes up at night and opens up in the morning. And the pretty little flowers it has when it’s happily blooming. You always find lovely flowers to photograph though!
I think maybe by St. Paddy’s Day it ought to be up to snuff! That was quite a haircut. I had a shamrock plant and managed to kill it in less than a week. I got one for the house and one for work – of course, the one on the kitchen windowsill thrived (it would not now – bling is stuck shut as you know). I am a sound sleeper and don’t hear anything once I go to bed … I hear the alarm, yell at it (it sleeps in the kitchen so I can’t reach it and turn it off, which is silly as I walk down the hall, turn it off, and often hop back into bed and wait for the backup alarm 15 minutes later).
LOL – yep, it’ll be full bloom by then. The few sprouts are already happy to have a clear path to the daylight.
I love it that you go back to bed after strolling out of the room to shut the alarm off. I haven’t used an alarm in years. The pets let me know what time it is. And I just wake up the same time every day. Except an hour earlier now that the time change happened. Hope you have a great day!!!
Sometimes I think it is stupid, why not set the alarm later? Ostensibly, I will put on the radio as I go back to bed for a few minutes to curl up and listen to the news, but I usually go into a dead sleep before I hear it and wake up to the second alarm and it shuts itself off so I have to get back up and stay up then. No pets for me to wake me up, so without an alarm, even going to bed early, I won’t wake up on my own.
I had shamrocks in the past and never knew you could give them a hair cut. Good thing to know. Looks like the kitchen is coming together a little at a time. Great job.
Yes, indeed, they are technically a grassy weed, so yep, you can cut them and they’ll grow back. Yes, it’s coming along. Thank you! I need to stop by and see what you’ve been up to!!!
I’m not good at pruning, so your example encourages me to have faith.
Yay! On a side note – Oh, my, goodness – your post gave me inspiration and goosebumps. I’m sharing it here so others can read it too!! https://joannaoftheforest.wordpress.com/2019/11/16/dream-on/
Thank you!!!!!
I have some amazing dreams at night. But within a few minutes you forget them.
Had some lovely Rose’s bought for me the other day. Put some sugar in the water to feed them .Its supposed to work I’m no good with plants but flowers survive. X
Sounds like you get quality sleep. Sometimes I wish I could remember the dreams.
I’ve never heard of the sugar trick. Interesting. I’ll have to try that next time I get some flowers or pick some from my garden next spring!
I have very long, very intense, colorful dreams at night, most of which I don’t remember much of. A few of them I remember when I wake up but lose shortly after. A very few I remember completely years later.
I didn’t know you could trim a plant back THAT far! Will be interested in knowing if it makes it back!
Wow – you have deep sleep sessions. Do you take something to help you, or you just sleep well? Some people take melatonin? I have some of those recurring dreams too.
Yes, it’ll come back. I did the last time, so I hope it does again…!
No I don’t take anything, and am, in general, a light sleeper, but have periods of intense dreams. The few times I’ve taken anything, when I really needed some sleep, I felt stupid in the morning, so I try not to take anything now.
You’re lucky, enjoy all those zzzzz’s! Yeah, that’s why I don’t take anything either. I don’t like the morning after feeling!
Hi Shelley, beautiful post! The quote you shared is just fantastic, isn´t it just magical how every being, human, plant, animal or else is so unique and can never be repeated? Loved that reminder, thanks for sharing!I definitely am a dreamer, both at nights (I tend to have super vivid dreams) and during the day. I tend to sleep pretty well nowadays thanks to my Yoga and Qi Gong practice. Regarding the plants – some people are just amazing around them, like your sprout. i am more like you, testing my green thumb out slowly. Love being around plants and flowers, though! Sending you big hugs, see you soon 🙂 xxx
Thank you, dear, I appreciate your words of encouragement. I have gotten out of my groove of daily yoga (just those short 15 minutes every day did seem to help) – I need to get back into it, thank you for the reminder. Yes, I agree, some people are plant people and some people are not. I’m working on getting better ‘cuz I do love being around them too. I so enjoyed your post about dancing. Thank you for sharing. Hugs to you – see you soon xxxxxx
Dear Shelley, you are so welcome, yes, even 15 minutes of Yoga a day can really help and increase one´s wellbeing and ability to sleep. I like Yoga videos called “Yoga with Adrienne” on Youtube – maybe you´ll enjoy her classes, too! 🙂 Many hugs and enjoy your day xoxo
Thank you for the suggestion!! I’ll check her out. I’m off to do my 15 minutes now! 🙂
Very welcome! YAY you! Have fun Yoga-ing:) xox