Felted Slugs

Things have been a wee bit slow. Mostly my fault.  I just need to get some fire under my seat and get some things done. Like all those felted things I bought all that wool for.

I have a few things that are nearly done. But until they are, here is Hydra, probably asking the heavens why I pester her cuteness so much.

How can you resist those whiskers?

Not As Lemony Fresh

I have been cleaning the past couple days. I'm not nesting. I just need to get things under control once and for final before the mess grows a life of it's own and devours us all whole, kicking and screaming for help.

I just wish the cleaning aftermath didn't smell quite so... chemically. I should invest in more natural cleaners.

I wish it would smell more like lemons. Or oranges.

The Kitchen is almost all ticked off the list. Bits and pieces of other things that needed doing here and there around the house are getting done too. It will be nice when I can sit back and not worry about deep cleaning that needs doing, because it has already been done.

Her Highness

Gypsy views herself as queen of everything. She is very indignant despite her skittish nature. Everything and everyone is here to serve her, even if the people are not allowed in her illustrious presence.

Older brother Canyon is merely resting cushion.

Experimentations

Despite the previous post, I decided to try doing something new this evening...

Strawberry marshmallows dipped in chocolate. Oh so very healthy.

At least they make me smile!

Expanding

I just weighed myself for the first time in a long time. It wasn't pretty. However, the upside to this is that it has solidified my resolve to not cringe when I think of the scale and use it as a tool in my personal challenge to become healthier.

Yes, I too made one of those resolves to become healthier. I figured I would not worry so much about the aspect of the weight, but focus on the healthy and strong aspect. I am going to be walking, hiking, eventually running, cycling (once the bicycle fairy visits), swimming. I am going to kick some arse!

Shrinking in pounds and inches would be a bonus.

Procrastiblogging

We've all done it.

Told ourselves it was okay.

Committed to work it out.

Later.

Procrastination.

That has been the word for today. And yesterday actually. If you recall I made a list of things that needed to be done. Not all in one day mind you, but I had hoped to cross off at least two or three things. I can barely call one of the things done. Well, yes, my house is a mess. It has a way of looking like it barely survived a natural disaster, but just barely.

We, the husband and I, however, have been working on that. Storage bins are a wonder. It's amazing the stuff that can be kept off the floor, raised surfaces, and ceiling fans simply by putting it into a storage bin! Hallelujah! The hallway is now cleared out, and the bedrooms have that to look forward to (see the previously posted list). With the other cleaning we have been doing, the kitchen monster is now whimpering instead of heaving its deafening roars. The bathroom goblins are close to extinction. And the living room, well, that's sort of a constant battle, just as easily won as lost.

However, instead of raising my battle cry at the top of my lungs yesterday whilst running headlong into the fray, I sort of muttered and schlumped slowly forward into the fringes. But, I did get a lot of the scary things that were clawing their way out of the sink defeated, and I believe I have all the dishes in check now. I even get a life mushroom for cleaning the microwave. Yesterday wasn't a total loss.

Today is sort of looking the same. I'll get things done. It will be slowly though, between blogging, reading blogs, laughing at blogs, and cruising through blogs.

And I didn't really want to get out of bed either.

Looking at little Jupiter so warm and cozy is making me want to go back to bed...

Because I'm Magically OCDelicious!

I have a thing. It's a thing for lists. I need lists. I discovered this working as a gas station attendant right after high school.

See, I am quite certain that while I was blessed with certain gifts (the ability to cry no matter what I am feeling and how much I don't want to, the talent to slaughter simple drawing paper with pencils and paints on occasion, etc.), our kind and gracious Father In Heaven opted not also bless me with much of a memory. And before you start, I KNOW you can work on that, improve your mental prowess by doing various brain exercises. However, my brain is about as lazy as the rest of my body.

Hence the need for lists.

I learned very quickly, from the aforementioned job, that if I did not write down everything I needed to do in order to have the store ready to close for the night, invariably I would forget something. Mopping the floor. Dismantling the soda machine. Cleaning the vile cesspit called the men's restroom (though I wonder if my brain was working on behalf of my olfactory senses on that one). And in forgetting to do that in a timely manner, I would remember to do it just before they demanded I clock out. Misers hated to pay over-time.

Now, if these were things to be done directly after closing, it would not be much of an issue. However, the majority of these things needed to be done before closing, and in needing to be open whilst I did this, it ensured that customers would interrupt with needing their $50 bucks worth of individually picked Lotto tickets and scratch-offs, four cartons of Marlboro Reds hard pack, and oh yeah, toss this magazine in for good measure.

My brain simply cannot handle maintaining a list while trying to count out change, watch gas pumps, and wonder what that shifty looking, pimply teen is doing over by the specially bagged 'naughty' mags.

It made life so much easier once I started keeping a list on paper. This continues to hold true.

This is my list for the day. Things that need to be done, things I want to accomplish, and some stuff I need to purchase at some point. I find that this sort of list helps me keep a little more focused on what is screaming at the top of its lungs for attention.

That and I also secretly hope that this will motivate the husband to know what needs to be done. Hasn't worked in 10 years though. I should give up on that. He does work on dishes frequently, and occasionally vacuums. I'll take that and run.

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On a side note, I would like to state that apartment living offers up many advantages, as well as dis-advantages. I can only assume the following people were doing this because of the apartment living dis-advantage of not having an actual yard.

Why yes, that IS a Lowe's cart with a cardboard sign taped to it saying 'YARD SALE'!

What's that?

Oh, yes, they are staked out roadside in the middle of a shopping/industrial area!

The Fruits Of Laboring Plants

Our little garden worked very hard last year. The seeds worked extra hard to grow their little hearts out, and the sickly seedlings we got (everything that was planted from seedling came to us at the end of the season and they were all ill) grew strong and healthy. The strawberries especially were very proud of themselves. They were the absolute last leftovers from the one greenhouse that had any left. I was almost certain that they wouldn't make it.

Small but packed with flavor! It's like the strawberry plants put the flavor of four large berries into each little one. :D

The round zucchini will be making a come back into the garden this year, as well as the other squashes, and the onions. Going to try odd colored carrots this year.

One of the first harvests. The pale pink white things are watermelon radishes. Taste like regular radishes, they just look cool, white flesh outside, red to dark pink inside. They will be coming back too. :)

Anticipation Of Dirt Under The Fingernails

Today has been exciting so far, and a little off kilter. After waking up to my alarm, I got up, then for some strange reason, laid back down. An hour and a half later, I woke up and realized that the child had half an hour to get ready to be on time to school. That was a bit of a scramble. Then off to school we go.

I needed storage tubs for the Christmas decor, as the old cardboard boxes had decided their lives were no longer worth living, so after dropping the child off, I head to the local department store (no, it doesn't end in a '-Mart', as I have semi-successfully boycotted those) to do my shopping. I get there and come to the dreaded realization that something is missing.

No, it's not my purse. It's not my little coin purse/wallet. It happens to be the little credit card and ID insert for the coin/purse wallet.

Argh! That has my debit card AND my driver's license!

So I had to return home.

I finally get back out and get my shopping done (nothing very eventful here really, except that all the storage tubs that WERE on sale are all regular price now. every last one of them) then return home, again, but this time to stay. For a while anyway. Calloo Callay! I get an e-mail in my absence. It's one that I have been waiting for since I posted those tiny veggies. Growing Gardens is now doing registration for the year!

*happy dance*

Sadly they have upped all prices some because of the increased water usage and other stuff, but still! I can start planning my garden now in earnest! And so in celebration of that, I will post pictures from last years endeavors.

You see that the front half of this plot is all nice and green and growing and happy, right? Well, that's not my half of the plot. This belong to my younger sister.

The sad looking patch of dirt with the scattered sickly looking flowers belongs to me. We ended up planting about a month late because we got the garden so late. We also ended up with the leftover dregs from the greenhouses.

Opposite corner, sort of, from the last picture. This is later in the season. We have the strawberries in now, but not sure what to do with the patch a little over next to the carrots. Eventually we rescued some tomato and chili plants, and they tried mightily to give us some small fruits, but they never got a chance to grow much.

The watermelons never did really take. However, you can see those sickly little flowers aren't so sickly anymore! :D

Red Tape

I was supposed to have a deposition tomorrow in the morning for my settlement for my car accident way back in September of 2008. Well, the other sides lawyer is no longer working with the law firm they are working with, so they need to get a new one assigned and change the deposition date.

It's frustrating. But I am sticking to my guns on this. My plans and life ended up turned upside down because of this stupid accident. I'm still feeling the effects in different areas of my life. I'm not going to just throw my hands in the air because they are dragging this out as long as possible.

My poor little car. I had just detailed it myself about a week before and was all happy.

The lady made an illegal left hand turn coming from the opposite direction I was going, putting herself into the intersection just as I was entering it. It was scary. You can't see it here, but the driver's seat is crooked because of the impact.

I've never gone into shock before. It's not something I plan on doing again.

On an upside, at least it shouldn't take months to reschedule the deposition. We are trying to get them to agree to February 9th.