May into June | 2015

A couple of weeks ago, I decided I no longer wanted to post "Weeklings," the weekly round up of events, great links, and goings-on.  But I knew I didn't want to ditch the concept entirely.  So I'm going to try out a monthly version instead, and hopefully it'll feel less forced to me and just as enjoyable (or not) to my readers.  

So here's what I've been up to lately. 

1. Got my hair cut

It's much, much shorter than I expected and at first I was a little.. eh.  But I don't think it looks terrible, I think it makes me look older, and it's SOOO unbelievably easy to take care of, so I might be a short hair convert. 

2. Gardening

I read things like this or this or this and I want to drop everything right.this.instant and immediately plant a massive vegetable garden and wear overalls and never have to go food shopping (exaggert.) again.  

But the world is a cold, hard place, and you can't be a farmer while you're living with your family.

So we improvise: 

Nothing super special, but it's pretty and it's already producing edible tomatoes and I haven't killed it yet.  This is a vast improvement from last year's attempt: 

P.S. Here's the link for that whole blessed article. 

P.P.S. Ah that led to a little gut-wrench - I miss my old apartment and life in Albany and my friends. 

But yes, so garden I did.  I've also done a little gardening for $.   

I've got some issues with things touching me or weird textures on my hands (makes applying lotion fun) and I hate hate hate dirt under my finger nails, so this was an adjustment.  And I'm sure the water bill is going to go up thanks to many a hand-washing sessions because I'm so anal with it and cannot leave any dirt under my nails AT ALL.  I'm good for the environment. 

3. Rebecca

Rebecca, my 15 year old cousin (I sometimes refer to her as my sister because we grew up together) came up from Georgia and will be here for most of the summer so that's been fun.  

My bball skills, by the way, are nil. I shot probably 6 for 100.  To think I used to be somewhat decent.... 

We saw Pitch Perfect 2.  

It was funny, but it wasn't as good as the first one.  Not even close. 

4. Studying

Oh, man.  Since I'm trying to go back to school, I've been studying physics and math a bit.  I never took physics (I've taken and done at least semi-well in biology, chemistry, environmental science, and exploration of space) and it's been a while since I've done math so........ studying is basically going like this: 

I've got a few books and I'm using Khan Academy.  My hope is that if I stick to it, I'll be able to teach myself a little something before jumping into classes. 

5. Eating better & getting more exercise

I've been eating more vegetables and cutting down on carbs.  I'm not cutting them out entirely because I love them and I think the main cause of my weight gain in the first place was a combo of becoming completely sedentary and eating fast food literally at least once a day.  I don't eat nearly as much crap now and I've done a little switch-a-roo so that instead of taking a heaping helping of pasta or mashed potatoes at meals and a tiny helping of vegetables, I try taking a heaping helping of vegetables and a tiny helping of pasta or mashed potatoes.  It's mostly working.  

I've been doing at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, and while I think I still LOOK fat as hell, I can feel the difference and sort of see it too.  My arms are starting to get less flabby and slightly (again, still overweight) more defined.  It's cool.  

* * * 

Some other mentionables: 

- My health insurance company STILL has not sent me my cards.  They say I haven't paid, even though it's on my bank statement.  So I'm in the process of dealing with that. 

This is how I feel about it.

- I'm getting nervous about the whole school thing.  Nothing is set in stone, and while I've decided it's what I'm doing, I'm worried that things won't work out perfectly and that I won't be able to start when I want to start.  I don't know if this is legitimate foreboding or just me being ridiculous and paranoid. 

- I really want a job.  (Side eye at insurance company)

- I read this post and realized I haven't gone to confession in 17 years and haven't been able to stop thinking about it since.  Which means... I'm probably going to need to go to confession soon.  Eek. 

- I'm in the midst of some blog changes.  Nothing major, just trying to make it a bit better.

- I finally got around to watching Interstellar.  I cannot believe I waited so long to see that.  I loved it.  It was amazing.

THAT scene, however, did not help my fear of tidal waves. 

* * * 

Books 

I've read: 

An Enemy of the People (good, not great),

Awaken the Spirit Within (eh..)

Better Than Before (wonderful) 

Hopefully book reviews coming soon. 

* * * 

Links worth looking at

Angst May Be Glamorous, But It Won't Make You Happy - Verily

Lauren Graham's TV Daughters, Alexis Bledel And Mae Whitman, Finally Meet - HuffPo

As Joe Biden Grieves, His Community Unites To Help Him Heal: 'They're Us' - HuffPo

How Growing Up in Poverty Rewires a Child’s Developing Brain

50 ‘I Dos’ You Should Be Able To Commit To Before You Get Married - Elite Daily

The Internet can’t replace libraries: Why they matter more than ever in the age of Google - Salon

37 Questions The “Harry Potter” Movies Need To Answer - Buzzfeed

Rick Santorum wants Pope Francis to leave science to scientists only when it’s convenient for him - The Washington Post

Continued Existence Of Edible Arrangements Disproves Central Tenets Of Capitalism - The Onion

Bagpipes, sainthood, and other passing interests - Daniel Bearman: Acts of Idiot Praise

Saying These 8 Things To Your Kid Every Day Could Change Their Life

MOST IMPORTANTLY Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak’s Massive-Book-Deal-Worthy Relationship: A Timeline - Vulture

Til later. 

__

Charlotte 

Flowers & Herbs...

...okay, mostly herbs. 

I've wanted to grow herbs for a while now.  Living in the city, never on the first floor, I knew a vegetable garden was out and that I'd have to wait years before having a garden full of perennials.  Sigh.  But herbs!  Herbs I could do.  

When we went to North Carolina, we brought back a bunch of plants.  Like, an entire car full.  It was nuts.  We had about twenty pots.  I planted the herbs in ceramic pots and the rest of the plants went into plastic.  

And now a third of them are dead. 

The first blow was being crammed in a car for fifteen long hours.  When I unloaded them I could tell there were a few that probably wouldn't survive.  Sad.  

To make matters worse, some of the poor souls (yes, I know I'm talking about plants as though they're people) were planted in containers that lacked drainage.  No holes in the bottom.  Ordinarily, this is okay.  I put a bunch of gravel at the bottom of those pots so that if there was an excess of water, it would just surround the rocks.  But as fate would have it, the skies opened up for forty days and nights.  And by forty days and nights I actually mean about five days.  Still, that was enough to do the job.  Way too much water accumulated in the pots and those plants died.  There are two that are still alive, but they're pretty much at their journeys' end.  I tried to save them, but I could not.  

Poor bebes. 

The one labeled "completely dead" was MY FAVORITE.  (Not all time favorite, but favorite among the plants we have.)  Mexican Heather.  I love me a shrub-looking plant.  But what really does it is the dainty flowers.  Oh the flowers.  They're in a better place now.  Usually Mexican Heather's leaves are a vibrant green.  Not a baby bella mushroom color, as displayed in that picture. 

In the "almost dead" category, we've got two plants.  I don't remember their names.  One is a vine-like plant and the other was some sort of annual that was tall with just a few flowers.  The great flood killed the annual.  I'm considering transplanting the vine-ish one into a mason jar and keeping it inside.  

"Not yet dead" is a type of fuschia.  Of course you can't tell from the picture, but the texture of her leaves tells me that she's fighting for her life.  Her container still has so much water in it.  I haven't watered it in two weeks.  I'm hoping that since she isn't gone yet, she might just make it.  If there's a drought or something.  

You might be asking yourself, "Why doesn't she just replant them?"  And the answer is 1. Lazy.  2. No more planters and no extra money in the budget for planters.  And 3. No potting soil and no yard from which to steal dirt.  Boo.  

But!  Evil doesn't win!  The coleus.  Sweet, sweet coleus.  Apparently nothing can kill coleus.  This bodes well with me.  Though there is another small coleus that fell victim to the squirrels.  More on that later.  It took me a while to really appreciate coleus.  At first I was very, "It's just a bunch of leaves."  

But then you throw thirty plants in a car and a lot of them die but you still have pink! from the coleus.  And then you humbly admit to the interwebs that you were wrong and that, hey, maybe leaves can be nice.  

I really love coleus now.  And there are so many varieties.  I mean, there are three in that pot alone.  Wonderful plant-species of wonder. 

We've also got some hanging fuschia (swoon), fuschia varieties in white and green, petunias (am I the only one who hates petunias?  They're undeniably pretty but they are so. sticky.  Ugh.  Sensory issues.), marigolds, littler Mexican Heather, spider grassy thingys whose name now escapes me, and a small tree.  But I'm not a responsible blogger and so I didn't get pictures of them.  Don't be too upset, none of them are spectacularly beautiful right now.  Water + squirrels = death to all plants. 

But now, the edibles/useful things.  Again, I was adamant about growing herbs.  And so I gots me some herbs.  Like, nearly twenty different kinds.  I also brought home a hanging basket of tomatoes.  I was so excited about them!  I love tomatoes.  And for a few days, I was able to go pick myself some tomatoes every morning.  But then, the squirrels.  The damn city squirrels.  They ate them ALL.  They destroyed the whole thing.  Eventually, I surrendered.  And now my precious tomato plant is a horrid looking thing.  It looks like the kind of plant one would find growing in Hell.  

Smug bastard.  

So that was the sad ending to my tomato dreams. 

Again, you may ask why there was nothing around it.  It just happened so fast.  One day I had a terrific plant and the next day the little tyrants destroyed most of it.  I considered going out to the store and buying something to put around it, but I didn't know what would work, since it's in a stand and I obviously couldn't stake anything into the ground.  Also, budgets.  

You may also be wondering why Satan's plant is still there.  It is quite the eyesore.  Honestly, I feel bad throwing it out because I figure there are still some (very few) tomatoes on it and the squirrels still come and eat it and I don't want to be the human being responsible for starving city squirrels.  If it was an opossum we'd have a different story.  No, just kidding.  Shouldn't starve anyone.  

Somehow, most of the herbs escaped the squirrels' invasion unscathed. Of course, there are some that the little buggers got to.  They aren't dead, but they aren't flourishing, either.  

***Woah sudden overwhelming urge to go read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, this is so weird and random, but I shall fight the temptation***

So yes.  Herbs. 

Not pictured: Lemon Basil, Sweet Basil, Sweet Herb, and Majoram.

These are thriving.  I know the basil looks like it's starving, and that's because I took these photos prior to watering.  Rookie mistake.  The ones that aren't pictured are the ones that are less-than-lovely.  I figure I already posted a picture of dead plants, I don't need to post anymore.  Rubs it in too much.  Damn rain.  And squirrels.  I'm so defeated. 

I've been using the basil and parsley in everything.  I don't use the others as much since I basically don't know how to cook anything.  But I'm learning and googling recipes and other uses for the herbs that are fairly new to me.  I did make some tea from the chocolate mint leaves today.  It was a little strong.  I'm used to straight up regular Lipton tea.  All things with time, I suppose.  Or should I say all things with thyme?  ;) 

Check it: 

Soooo out of my comfort zone.  

That's it!  Those are all of the plants.  Here's hoping some of them make it through August.  Fingers crossed. 

__
Charlotte