Ivy League

“Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn.” – Lewis Grizzard

The notable perk with living in Southern California is that fall arrives late and spring arrives early. It’s only the middle of March and already the Boston Ivy has sprouted its first sign of new leaves.

Jeanine is the green thumb in the family so I spend many Saturdays executing on her art direction. Meaning I’m the worker bee: doing the heavy lifting and serious hole digging… once again falling into the husband category. It’s not intentional but comes naturally since I’m 5’10’’ and the one with the sturdy, corn-fed midwestern frame. She is “all boy” in other areas… so it evens out.

We are both obsessed with watching things grow. We moved into our home last May and our handy work in the yard needed several months to take root. Now we’re waiting for a few warm days and then the ground cover will populate at an amazing rate right before our eyes.

Boston Ivy is a lovely vine with reddish-bronze leaves that turn glossy and dark green in the summer and then changes to orange-red in the fall before dropping and then giving a blank stare all winter. But then spring arrives and poof… the growth cycle kicks in again.

We planted a 5-gallon Boston Ivy as soon as we moved in. It climbed up the wall spanning six feet across the front of the house before going dormant and losing its leaves last December. During the summer months, I would water it by hand every other day since our sprinkler system wasn’t doing the trick from its location on the lawn.

While watering, I would be amazed at the growth that had transpired in the last 48 hours. It’s so simple, but this ritual would bring me joy… a private Zen moment… standing in front of the vine: appreciating its beauty and progress.

If you like watching things grow, here are a few watering & pruning tips for your pocketbook. Liz Pulliam Weston writes about: 10 Easy Ways to Stash Away Thousands (and watch it grow). Here are three of my favorites:

1. Round it up -- or down. “A popular ploy, for those who balance their checkbooks by hand, is adding or subtracting a few bucks from each transaction. Never record the full amount of your deposit to your checking account and add a dollar or five to any check you write.”

2. Save your reimbursements. “Employers can take weeks or months to pay you back for the expenses you incurred traveling or entertaining clients. By then, you may have already paid the bill. Instead of cashing the check, consider saving it instead.”

3. Saving raises. “Save all or part of every raise you get. Learn to live on the same amount of take-home pay, dedicating every raise to increased retirement contributions and, when those are maxed out, to savings. Can’t do it: then save at least half of each raise so it doesn’t feel like deprivation.”

Then sit back and watch it grow!