... gardening, buying myself flowers, a ^o^ hand sanitizer holder, and more Yankee Candle Halloween please...

I'm not intentionally ignoring my garden. I need to cut the grass tomorrow morning and then maybe I'll add a few pictures. I live in a town-home with a HOA but the landscapers are tortuous on my plants so I end up locking my gate and doing the work myself... which I actually prefer. Last week I pruned the heck out of one of my butterfly bushes, and because I live in Central Virginia with the temperatures still in the high 80s and low 90s, it's like the pruning didn't take. The darn thing thumbed its branches at me and grew right on back. Sadly, the hibiscus are nearing the end of their blooms. There were two red blooms yesterday but none today. I'll know more when I'm pruning tomorrow. I have cut back all three hibiscus plants quite a bit because they appear unruly without blooms. They probably appear unruly to some with blooms but those flowers are lovely. In the meantime, I bought myself some roses today. I can't believe these stunning white roses were only $9.99. If you change the water regularly, the roses will last in a vase for at least a week plus.

Whenever I prune, I feel like I'm both closer to nature and to myself. I've mentioned that I didn't actually become a "gardener" until 2009 when I Ctrl+Alt+Del'ed my life. I started with growing plants and flowers in pots on a small apartment balcony. Once I had this town-home built, I have a complete clean slate that I was able to transform into my little secret garden. Yesterday when I arrived home from work I noticed a Gold Finch in my side yard. They are stunning little birds and while they are mostly fond in open fields, I do have a bit of open space to the side of my yard (being an end unit).

This evening I had to go to the mall to run an errand. The local mall has a Bath & Body Works and a Yankee Candle-- Yeah + Yeah! A few years ago, I bought the BEST hand sanitizer holder from Bath & Body works. Since then, they haven't carried it until NOW!  Their Halloween collection wasn't actually out on display but when an associate asked if she could help me, I asked. She casually mentioned the return of the bat hand sanitizer holders and I about fainted right there. She went in the back and brought me two that I bought. They are slightly different than my original which I do like better. The new ones have more glitter which is awesome but I can tell that the rubber is a lighter weight (more prone to tearing :-/ ) and the light-up eyes don't have two settings like mine original one does (where if you push once the lights blink and twice the light aka eyes stay on). The newer version has one setting where you push and the eyes blinked for about five seconds and then automatically shut off. Whatever, I bought two so I'm thrilled that they're back.

Since my fella and I weren't hanging out together tonight, I browsed around the mall a bit and decided to poke in to Yankee Candle. Like many of you, I attended the Yankee Candle Halloween Premiere but I'm always on the lookout to see if a store adds products during the season. Sure enough, there was a BAT CAULDRON in Witches Brew. I just looked online and OMG they even have added a BAT WINGS topper!!! (which I will be purchasing as soon as I post this). Many of the Boney Bunches which were sold out are now back in stock. I'm on to you, Yankee Candle (glaring face). But alas, their items are so cute what is a girl to do!