I decided to finally fix the landscaping clusterfuck of plants and weeds that decorated scared people away from the front of my house. Since I spend my most of my time in the backyard, that's where I focus most of my gardening energy, and a result, the "landscaping" in front of my house was a very sorry sight.

Rather than bore you with all of the details of my weeding, digging, planting, bordering, and muching, how about before and after pictures, hmmmm?

( Observe. )

So, um....pretty much the only thing I've seen on my friends page about the LJ-Strike is how frackin' dumb it is. Honestly, the only thing that irked me about the recent controversy was the censoring of the "popular interests" page (I am, after all, a bisexual who thinks faeries are pretty and likes boys and girls), but they had already fixed that before I even heard anything about the strike.

I dunno, maybe it's because I've had a paid account since about my second day on livejournal, but whatev. Strike on, strikers. Strike on.

In real news, remember how I gave you all permission to jump for joy about spring again? Well, I take it back. The first day of spring brought with it a blasted Winter Storm, and now all my green babies are hidden under a blanket of cold, white, devil spawn. Although the ultra-confused look on Sadie's face when she saw the snow this morning made it almost worthwhile. Almost.

Re: This Post


You are all allowed to jump for joy over spring again.

You see, upon doing some poking around in my flower beds today, I HAVE GREEN BABIES!!!! I have green baby tulips, and green baby day lilies, and green baby sedum, and probably other green babies that I have yet to uncover, since I haven't ventured into the backyard, since it is covered in poo.


YAY SPRING!




I also got offered a job today. I'll start it on Monday. More on that tomorrow!

So, those of you that have posted about getting things started in your gardens, and about sunburns, and how you've been hiking, and how nice it is outside, and how YAY SPRING and all that stuff?

Have a little respect.

Some of us still have a foot of snow on the ground.

*pouts*

Yesterday was glorious. GLORIOUS!!

I didn't have to work, and the weather was perfect. Emily came over, and we completely re-did the rock border along the garden that spans the length of my backyard to incorporate the big pile of holy boulders that I scavenged last year. If you know me, you know that a day that involves Emily, sunshine, and playing with rocks, is heaven.

I got a nap in during the afternoon, had a sweet rehearsal with my band (we wrote our second original song!), and then went and had a glass of wine at a schwanky martini lounge that a friend's jazz trio was playing at.

Delightful.

( In other news... )

There are green babies in my garden, and the sun is shining.

Happy Spring, everyone! :)

Photos from the garden from the past few weeks-there are about 10 images under the cut.( Clicky! )

35 = Minutes it takes to ride my bike to work, one way. (I'm counting on shaving some minutes off that time if I make it a habit, since the 35 minute time was after not riding a bike in 9 months-ish.)

2 = Number of times we went over to Emily and Dave's this weekend.

235 = Dollars spent taking the dogs to the vet for annual exam, shots, etc.

1 = Number of perplexed looks I gave the vet after he asked whether Sadie should be muzzled. I don't know why it bothered me so much, except that I'm offended when people assume Sadie will be mean, based on her looks. She did not growl at the vet, or show teeth, her hair was not standing on end, and as such, I thought it was entirely inappropriate to suggest a muzzle. I was also puzzled that, being a vet and all, the man seemed clueless as to how to approach a dog. If you're that scared of big dogs, you're in the wrong line of work, pal.

85 = Current pounds of Sadie meat.

75 = Current pounds of Anka meat.

7 = Number of gardening/landscaping ideas had by yours truly this weekend.

4 = Number of those ideas that were completed this weekend.

8 = Number of patio bricks required to create mini-patio on which to grow herbs and other potted plants.

1.5 = Bags of cocoa bean shells required to mulch flower bed along side of house.

10,000,000 = Chocolatey smelling goodness of aforementioned mulching.

50 = Minutes to get veggie garden off to a great start for the year.

Add that all together, and what do you get? One pooped hippiecritter.

I had a good weekend. It was busy and exhausting, but I managed to squeeze some fun in there too. Saturday started with dragging a crabby Ryan out of bed to move the couch and huge chair from the living room to the garage, where it will be picked up by friends of my mom's later this week. Then out to her house to load her "new old" furniture (as opposed to her "old old" furniture which was what was moved out to the garage) into two trucks and take it to our house and unload it. I'm a damn maniac when it comes to moving furniture, btw, bless Ryan for tolerating me. (Cuz damn, I can be bossy!)

Then, returned my step-dad's truck and drove to my mom's friend's because she had "a few plants to divide, if I wanted some", and returned home with both my trunk and back seat full of FREE plants. w00t!! I got a few of those in the ground, then headed to a birthday bash for a long time friend, her sister, and her dad. Always lots of fun. Here's me, holding her baby girl, who was terrified of me at first, but warmed up eventually:



Yesterday, I single-handedly rearranged the porch, to make room for some of the new-old furniture that didn't fit in the living room. Did a bunch of cleaning, and then spent the gorgeous afternoon putting pretty babies (plants) into their new homes. Most of the plants she gave me were shade plants, so I made A LOT of progress on my shady areas. :)

Those were the highlights. I have the afternoon off today, and I've been ordered to relax. I think that, after I finish catching up on LJ stuff, I'll curl up on the porch with a book and some tea. :)

I had a bit of a grumpy day today (though it ended with a nice little social gathering after work, something I normally would've avoided, but not since I'm accepting every social invitation I'm able to at the advice of an LJ friend or two), so I give you ( flowery goodness )

1. Leave me a comment expressing interest in being interviewed
2. I will respond by asking you five questions.
3. Then update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. Include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others ask to be interviewed, ask them five questions.


3,4, and 5 above are subject to your discretion. I have no idea how many people will be interested in being interviewed, but I'm only going to promise interviews to the first 5 commenters, since my on-line time will likely be minimal this week.

Here are kittygopounce's questions, and my answers.

( Click! )

My back hurts. Like really hurts. And I don't even care, because it hurts for a good reason. It hurts because I spent about 6 hours working outside today. I constructed a (hopefully temporary) makeshift fence out of chicken wire and bamboo stakes to help train the dogs to stay OUT of mama's flower beds. (That took up the bulk of the 6 hours, and caused the bulk of the back pain.)

I had to make a trip to the hardware store for more mesh and more stakes, and strolled through the garden center and treated myself to a some more (purple!) creeping phlox and some dianthus (which look SOO pretty together), and resisted going hog wild and spending more than I could afford on many, many pretty perennials.

I weeded out the flower bed on the boulevard, which was a lot more work than I anticipated. But now, it looks awesome, and it is evident that there is room for plenty more flowers there. While I was weeding that, a lady walked by and stopped to chat with me. She said that she always walks after dinner, and that she loves walking by my house in the summer and looking at all the flowers. She said that she can't grow anything, and she doesn't understand how "you young girls" have so much energy to do all that. I'm not sure if I was more flattered that she complimented my gardening prowess, or that she refered to me as a "young girl". ;)

Shortly after she moved on, Ryan came home, and admired how "hot" I look when I'm sweaty and dirty. I think he just says that to make me feel good, but whatever, it works. Then he told me that I HAD to stop, because I had been working too hard all day, and needed to rest up, because he wanted to...[do sexual things to me] later.

Then he was off again (and is still gone) to meet with a patent agent, to take the next step(s) in patenting his invention. You might be asking "What invention?!?". Well, I don't think I've mentioned it, because if I did, I'd have to kill you all, and I can't afford all that airfare. Once the patent stuff is all taken care of, I'll mention it, though it's probably not all that exciting to most of you.

Well, I took his advice, and came inside and took a nice long bath and had a glass of wine. Then I made falafel for dinner (might I recommend Fantastic Foods' falafel mix? So simple, and so delish!!), which I ate on a multi-grain tortilla with some of the black bean and roasted red pepper hummus I made (from scratch) this weekend. I expected it to be a rather "blah" meal, but I was pleased that it was amazingly tasty. The fact that I was starving half to death may have had something to do with that.

Perhaps I should have started with this part, but I've made a decision about this journal. I haven't necessarily been writing in it for the right reasons. I am now, once again, writing for ME. If you like reading it, great, but my purpose is not to have a fan club, or to impress people with what happens in my life. It is to keep a record of things that matter to me and to grow and learn from my experiences, just like every paper journal I've ever had has been for. The added element to an internet journal is that I'm able to get feedback and advice from (hopefully) non-biased people. That's one of the things I love most about livejournal. Some of my LJ friends have become very near and dear to me. There are many other people who are virtual strangers to me reading my journal. That's all well and good, I just need to make sure that I'm journaling in a way that is effective for me, and not for the entertainment of others.

Last week, I wrote a private entry. I debated back and forth, forth and back, about making the entry public. It was a rather disturbing entry, actually, about some dark stuff about me that not very many people know. I've decided to keep it private, because that feels safer, at this point.

Anyway, I guess what I want to say is, there might days when I post about the most fucked up, un-attractive parts of myself, and there might be days where I ramble on for far too long about what I did in the garden today and what I ate for dinner. Stick around if you're cool with that, don't if you're not.

Next post will be lots of pretty flower pictures.

Yesterday was a lovely day, so I spent the majority of it out working in my yard. Yard/Garden clean-up 2006 is nearly complete. My spring/summer/fall 3 inch strip of sun tan/burn right above my butt crack is already in full effect. :)

I was thrilled yesterday to find (  that my first tulip had bloomed. )

If you know me, then you know that ( THIS ) makes for a very happy hippiecritter.

My father in law informed that a guy down the alley from him had a pile of rocks out behind his house that he needed to get rid of, and maybe I was interested? Um...Hello?! Is rain wet? I will be interested in piles of rocks that people need to get rid of until the day I die. There are still more for me to go back and get, including one I need help with, because it's too big and heavy for me to lift myself. (And believe me, I tried.)


Stuff that made my day totally awesome:

1. Today was my half day at work. Done at 11:30, baby!

2. See "rock pile" blabbering above.

3. Got to chat with adudeabides for about 10 seconds on a chat program I didn't really know how to use. Even 10 seconds of interaction with him brightens my life.

4. It was easily the most GORGEOUS day so far this year.

5. I wore a tank top outside, and didn't freeze!

6. I had to put sunscreen on my tattoos, since I was going to be outside playing/working in the yard/garden for HOURS!!

7. I got to play/work in the yard/garden for HOURS!!

8. Emily stopped by to check out the bathroom and the rock pile. (hugs emily)

9. Playing with the dogs outside.

10. Ryan is at the store buying charcoal, so we can grill out! Yummeh!


So, yeah. It's a good day in joellacritterland. Hugs and good wishes to all y'all.

Q: What book are you currently reading?

A: Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness by Chogyam Trungpa.

"The fifty-nine provocative slogans presented here—each with a commentary by the Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa—have been used by Tibetan Buddhists for eight centuries to help meditation students remember and focus on important principles and practices of mind training. They emphasize meeting the ordinary situations of life with intelligence and compassion under all circumstances."

Quote Source

I'm not very far into the book yet (there's a fair amount of introduction to the practice; I'm just starting to get into the actual "slogans"), but so far, I think it will be very beneficial to my meditation practice, and to dedicating my life to living compassionately, every day. I don't call myself a Bhuddist (yet!) but it's definitely a path that makes sense to me, and that "fits" with my personal ethics.

Q: Did you garden much as a kid or teenager?

A: No. I didn't really get into gardening until my twenties. I've always had indoor plants, but my passion for gardening outdoors has started to blossom (no pun intended, I swear!) over the past 5 years. Emily, one of my best friends, gets a lot of the credit for introducing me to gardening as a hobby. I got my start by helping her with her garden, and she and I are constantly splitting our plants to share with each other, going shopping for plants together, and working in each others gardens together. It's a big part of our friendship. She's taught me a lot.

Q: Were you and Ryan high school sweethearts?( I am just a nosey ol'queen who loves hearing tales of romances)

A: Awww…sorry to disappoint, but no, we weren't high school sweethearts. Ryan moved to town with his dad and sister in 1995. He went to high school here for part of his senior year (before dropping out--I was later able to encourage him to get his GED in 2002). I was a sophomore when he was a senior, but I went to a different high school. We met in November of 1999 (I was 20, he was 22) over a drug deal (how's that for romance?) and have essentially been "together" since then. We celebrate our anniversary on New Year's Eve-the anniversary of our first "Sleep Over". (We didn't have sex that night, though. He was very much a gentleman.) We moved in together in July of 2000, got engaged around March of 2001, and got married June 7, 2003.

Q: What city is your top choice to visit one day?

A: This is a super-duper cliché answer, but New York City. My mom's been promising me a trip there for over 10 years now, and it sounds like it might pan out this summer. I want to see a musical on Broadway, and Ryan wants to see a Yankees game at Yankee Stadium.

Today's e-mail exchange between my sister and I:

Her:

Do you think you could help me plant flowers this spring?

Me:

What kind of flowers do you want to plant?

Her:

I dunno.. guess I'll have to just buy a bunch of them.. just colorful ones.. and preferably cheap.

Me:

We can go shopping together one of these weekends, if you want. Also, I might be able to dig up and split some of my flowers for ya.

Her:

Sounds good.. how soon do I have to plan them? I still have a good month.. right? I need to wait until we get paid again after this time!

Me:

Well, it depends on what you want to plant, but I plant stuff all summer long. I usually try to wait until late april or early may to put new plants in, to make SURE there aren't any more frosts.

Her:

cool.. so I still have some time..

Me:

Plenty. :)

Her:

cool.. maybe I'll get my mileage check sometime soon.. then I can start thinking about it.. what are those little plants that everyone has in their yards? The ones that are cheap and come in all different colors? That's what I want.. but for the back of the house if that makes sense.. if Giz eats them I'll kill him! I suppose I could get something for the front too.. but we are actually looking at two houses tomorrow night so I don't know how long we'll be living here.

-end of exchange-

Here's the part I need help with.

what are those little plants that everyone has in their yards? The ones that are cheap and come in all different colors?

What could she be talking about? Marigolds, maybe? (Ewww...all she wants is Marigolds?)


P.S. This type of conversation is typical of my sister and I. She seriously cracks me up. I love her to pieces.

I wish I had saved the "Do Deers have Ears?" conversation from long, long ago.

As I was unlocking my front door after arriving home from work today, I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a little flash of purple. I looked closer and saw a couple of glimpses of yellow, too.

I got excited, and started brushing away some leaves, and revealed ( this )

And it made me smile. :)

This year, I've held myself back from repeating last year's barrage of "Spring is coming! Spring is coming!" posts. Last year, I kept psyching myself out, and then getting disappointed when the spring-time-y-ness only lasted a day or two before winter was back in full force.

But. The crocuses don't lie. I don't have to shout "Spring is Coming!".

They whisper it to me, sweetly.

I was asked in a tattoo community about the meaning behind all my garden themed tattoos.

Most of you probably know that I'm a gardener, and that I love flowers and everything that goes with growing them. It does go a bit deeper than that, though.

I posted about the meaning behind all my tattoos some time ago, but many of you hadn't made my acquaintance on LJ at that time. This is taken from my response to her question:

I'm an avid gardener, and my favorite place to be is in my garden, tending my flowers, with the butterflies and bees flittering about me, and the sun beating down on my shoulders. (I also have a large-ish sun tattoo between my shoulderblades.)

Butterflies symbolize tranformation for me. Transforming from darkness to light, despair to happiness, "ugly" to "beautiful". They remind me of the transformation that I've undergone in my life, from desperate, depressed, pessimist to easy going, mostly happy, optimist.

Flowers symbolize growth and beauty. I have a commitment to personal growth, and the flowers remind me that from nothing but dirt, a seed can be planted, and if tended with care, the results are stunning, beautiful, and lasting.

I intend to have my right arm sleeved (either full or 3/4) with different elements of gardening.

I also have a strong connection with trees (I'm a total tree-hugger, literally!) and I have my artist working on a full back piece of a tree.

The explanation I referred to at the start of this post can be found HERE.