Mistress Angie, quite a pansy, how does your garden grow?

With tulips and more tulips and daffodils and hyacinth and azaleas and hostas and a daylily and hydrangea, but not all in a row (that would be weird looking in my yard).

I'm not what you would call an outdoorsy person. I typically spend as much time as possible in a climate controlled building, making strategic short excursions to the out-of-doors when the temperature roughly matches said climate controlled atmosphere. Don't get me wrong; I do enjoy a nice read outside in the sun when the weather is nice. However, I burn easily and I'm not inclined to spend the time outside to remedy that problem (if it can be remedied at all).

Fall is planting season for a lot of plants I would like to have in my yard, though, and ultimately I'd like to have a really pretty yard; that overrides my anti-outdoors nature. As a result, in the last several weeks I have spent 10+ hours outside ON PURPOSE! So, what do I have in my garden?



In one garden under my bedroom window:
3'x12'
Lowest layer: 70 mixed long stem tulips (reds and yellows I think), 25 Queen of Night tulips, and 25 of another purple/white I can't remember the name of. It looks like so: l= long stem, q=queen of night, p=purple/white

llllllllllllllllllllllllllll
llllllllllllllllllllllllllll
llllllllllllllllllllllllllll
llllllllllllllllllllllllllll
llllllllllllllllllllllllllll
qpqpqpqpqpqpq
qpqpqpqpqpqpq
qpqpqpqpqpqpq

I am not entirely sure I perfectly alternated the purple ones, but it should still be pretty.

The next layer about 2" higher (because tulips are tolerant like that), I planted approximately 100 mixed daffodils and 20 mixed hyacinth like so:

dddddhhhhddddd
dddddhhhhddddd
dddddhhhhddddd

...you get the idea. I think the only fragrant flower there is the hyacinth, but there should be lots and lots and lots of color. I believe the upper layer of flowers (daffodil and hyacinth) bloom first while the tulips bloom after. If nothing pops up in that garden, I think Kyle and I might never garden again :P We spent 5 and maybe more hours digging that garden, amending the soil, and planting the bulbs.




Next up, we have the hostas and the bonus daylily and 12 additional tulip bulbs.

I have 2 big trees around the middle of the yard and since hostas are amenable to partial to full shade, I thought this would be a nice spot. Hostas apparently propagate like mad, so I only bought 2 (they're rather pricey). Also, once they're bigger I can split them. My friend Sarah quoted her mom: "When is the right time to split hostas? Whenever you have a shovel in your hand." I don't know if I'll do that in the first year, but I might be able to beg some off co-workers.

Anyway, I purchased a Golden Tiara hosta and a Variegated Hosta and received a Sammy Russell Daylily as a bonus. I also could NOT pass up 12 more tulip bulbs - it was the last bag, and I liked the contrasting spiky petals of the Claudia tulip, AND the guide I read said that tulips were a good companion plant and I didn't have any more bulbs!

I probably spent about an hour on the hostas and daylily on one day after work. I would have spent longer and amended the soil more carefully, but it was almost dark by the time I got home that night with the potting soil (yes, I used potting soil instead of sand). I think I spent 35-50 mins on the Claudia tulips today and amended the soil with sand. That area looks like so: T=tree, gt=golden tiara, v=variegated, d=daylily, c=Claudia note: there's a lot of space between the two trees, but blogger is not allowing me to display it. You'll have to use your imagination; also, center the diagram:

T gt v T
ccccc
d



Finally, I transplanted 2 azalea bushes to hopefully sunnier and better spots along the driveway (I have plans for more azaleas, but that will happen next Spring) and planted a hydrangea (I don't actually remember what kind I purchased but I'm pretty sure it's red).

I worked on this today for 3ish hours. It's a lot of work to transplant bushes! First I had to dig the holes and amend the soil, then dig them up, then re-plant them. I think it's probably unnecessary to diagram since I said they're along the driveway. I think about 3 more bushes should fit.

In that same 3ish hours I also cleaned up almost all of my dirt messes (there's a lot left over when you fluff up the clay) and I planted the hydrangea next to the house. My requirements for plants next to the house were partial to full shade and water-loving (we have a broken/clogged gutter that pours into that area); hydrangea fits the bill. I will either buy another hydrangea in the Spring or a Black Magic Elephant Ear. I hear/read those are temperamental in the winter, so I may just go for another 1 or 2 hydrangea.

Eventually we need to put in a trellis for the climbing rose bush, but I don't have the energy for that. It's gotten by for 2 years without it, so it can wait a little longer.

I'll post pictures in the Spring/Summer and if my plants don't come up I'll be really upset!!

One funny thing did happen though - while I was doing my last outdoor chore of watering all the new and transplanted babies, a Mexican dude nearly fell off his bike watching me. I guess I looked hot. When you got it, you got it 24/7/365. lol.

Now I need to go eat before the low blood sugar makes me ill. And possibly hibernate for the winter, I'm pretty tired.

ZZZZzzzzzzz

It's 1:26a and I should go to bed...but the heater is warm and I'm enjoying being up late. After a nap, anyway; this getting-up-early-to-work business is really killing my night-owl tendencies. I'm still not a morning person (at all, it's ridiculous) but lately (ha, late...yeah, I know, I need to go to bed, bugger off) I've been falling asleep around 10 or 10:30. Considering I used to go to bed at 1 or 2 and yawn my way through the day, that's pretty early (I say as I yawn).

I'm a bit disappointed with dinner. I had this idea in my head of this masterpiece taco salad that would explode with particular wonderful flavors...and then it didn't taste anything like I'd imagined. Kyle liked it, but he's not picky anyway so that's not saying much...and it was green, and he was green-deficient. Oh well, better luck next time I guess.

We rented all of Season 1 Lie to Me - Family Video was having a sale on new releases and since I'm obsessed with the show, here we are with 10ish hours to watch by Wednesday. Oh darn!

I'm impatient. I think this is something I am supposed to learn to accept and work through in this life, in which case I may live forever (except I'm too impatient to check it off the list...hahaha)! I'm a take-charge person (to put it lightly) and I have a hard time dealing when things are out of my control. I don't like waiting for other people or things to work out like I planned, I just want it now, dammit - oh, but hold the relish and can I get a side of mustard with that? - no, plain, I don't like spicy brown. This trait makes waiting for these pills to *fingers crossed* hopefully do their job and fix my fucked up body quite difficult. Especially so when it can take 6 months or more just to get things straightened out - and what then if it doesn't work? How will I even know? If I could look into the future I feel like I would...just so I could relax.

I guess things will work out when and how they should. I just don't want to wait to find out.

And where is my next Twilight book, dammit, speaking of things for which I do not want to wait! GOSH.

My cat finds the most obscure, seemingly impossible places to hide.

Attention authors: if you are going to write in the same universe with the same characters, please keep some notes and a timeline handy. Thanks, annoyed reader

Why do work days go by so slow and days off so fast? Not fair.

On the plane to in home. Boo. I want to go back to the beach

So sleepy...and full of frozen yogurt.

Beach day and i have a new floppy hat :)

Been awake since 4 and not sleepy. This sucks.

Whale watching is a 3 hour tour...a 3 hour tour.

Going whale watching for the first time-cool!

Up way early and doing chores to prepare us for the trip to ca today

I had an argument with someone over national healthcare and she is a student of a public university. She probably has student loans too. How special.

I wonder if national healthcare is going to be the cause of the next civil war?

This restaurant bathroom encourages drowning dead composers.

I have no idea what my phone number is and have no intention of learning it. That could be bad.

The day has hardly begun and i am ready to go home...sounds about right.

Almost time to go home, yay!

I do not like this month at work. I will be glad for september.

Ha! I have a group now and i can text both twitter and blogger by adding one contact!

I thought the clock said 11:45 but it said 11:15. Bugger.

The 'simply' juice line has single serve bottles now

I can send blog stuff from my phone now...neat.

Moving (a much-delayed post)

Well, it's that time again - we're moving in July. The first load of pre-packed items get moved June 13th when we empty our storage unit and swing by the house to top off with house boxes. We (surprisingly enough) never managed to unpack all our boxes in the 2 years we lived here and I guess all the clutter has worked in our favor.

Once we get the easiest junk out of the house we will have space to pack boxes. At this point I think this will go in 2 major waves - wave 1 will be the pre-packed boxes and wave 2 will include the furniture. If we can afford it, we'll be hiring movers to help with the furniture. Wave 2 will probably wait until mid-July just so we can keep appliances as long as possible.

In between these waves we'll be working a few hours each weekend to get a carload to the other house. While that will suck, at least it won't be an entire weekend of grueling physical labor.

With any luck, this is our last move for a very long time.

I've tried to remember when I last spent more than 2 years in a residence, and I can't really remember a time when I've been that stable. Needless to say (but I'm saying it anyway), moving is getting very old. In fact, I have boxes I packed in 2005. I know, many people would say "if you haven't missed it in 4 years, throw it away!" but I know there are things I want and just didn't have space to unpack.

For example, we have a food processor we received as a wedding gift...in 2006. We've never had the counter space to unpack it! I am so looking forward to having space. :) We actually have quite a few appliances I haven't used in a while because our kitchen is too cramped.

So, while I detest moving, I am getting excited about being moved.

Exhaustion

I've been working on Columbinus this last week for Tech Week and between that and work, I'm exhausted. There have been too many 16+ hour days and I don't know how anyone does this for extended periods of time. Oh right, I had 2 jobs a while ago and it sucked, now I remember. :P

I don't know if everyone feels exhaustion the way I do...it's like I have an anvil that is anchored to my chest and it's pulling me down to the ground, and I have to fight to stand upright when all I want to do is let it pull me down. That, and I daydream of curling up and going to sleep.

The shitty part of this is when I have the opportunity, I can't sleep!

I just got ready and I have to leave in 5 minutes, but I could totally go back to bed and sleep soundly.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Work still sucks

For the second month in a row, month end has fallen on the same day as payroll. Payroll already takes about 4 hours to complete. By the time we get started on month end it's already getting late in the afternoon, which means it'll be finished tomorrow.

I also have several invoices that I need to process, so I get to put off doing my big journal entry. Granted, that only takes about an hour, but I'd rather get it entered and do my reconciliation and be done. I'd feel a lot better. Instead, however, I get to let that wait so I can pay invoices that are almost past due and probably will be by the time the check mails. I hate this.

I'm finishing up on Vagina Monologues this week - I'm running lights and sound and it's a 3 week run Thursday-Sunday. It's really starting to wear on me and yes, there is such a thing as "too much of a good thing." I like theatre but it's getting a little old. I have one more show after this and I'm ready to call it the last for a while. I want free time again!

If the vag doesn't go an extra week, I'll have about a week of free time and then some friends are visiting. TC & J will be here the 17th-20th and that's the part where I get to say again that work sucks. That's Board week and since I handle contracts, I get lots of them that week. I want to work abbreviated hours and take off on Friday but I don't know how exactly that will work out.

To make things even peachier, we have to clear out our desks and files by the 23rd because the furniture is getting moved out to the new space. OH FUCKING BOY!!!! Like we even have time to deal with that!!

And there have been a lot of closed-door meetings regarding the Accounting Clerk I position, so I hope there's not some issue. Of course the economy is also in the shitter so we're worried about jobs...*sigh* With work being so damn busy I'd like to say we're pretty safe but no one's safe.

At least TV was good tonight :)

Physics game for the win!

Play Ice Breaker

Some people completely miss the point.

This letter is from a person who is so consumed with his spiritual arrogance that he completely misses the point of FSMism.

I might have this completely wrong, but I am pretty sure FSMism was begun as a demonstration of how utterly stupid modern religion has become. If memory serves, FSMism started as satire regarding Creationism retitled as Intelligent Design, encompassing religion as a whole.

If one sits down and thinks about religion logically, without allowing emotional attachment to bias them, it is quite obvious that the Big 3 have so many things in common that they must be related. The moral rules in each are very similar if not identical, and their teachings basically revolve around the Golden Rule - "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It puts actions into perspective and makes them personal.

"Do you want someone to piss in your food and burn down your house? No, you would think that person an asshole? Well, then you probably shouldn't piss in that guy's food and burn down his house."

It's an elementary empathy lesson, one that is used to teach children how to be kind rather than the numb little self-absorbed monsters they start out.

My basic gripe about modern religion is that so many people are so sure they are right that no one else can possibly be right...because the Holy Book they believe in says there can only be one Religion (to rule them all, one Religion to find them, one Religion to bring them all and in the darkness bind them) and that would disprove their own if they believed!

To me, FSMism has become a symbol of how I feel about the ridiculous need to put one religion above another. It's like proclaiming that the orange is better than the banana. They're both fruit, they're both sweet; some people like them both, some people don't like either of them. To say one is better than the other is ridiculous, though, because it's a matter of opinion.

Work sucks and so does winter

We lost one of our co-workers (she's moving) and while she will be replaced, we've got a transition period of about 3 months before it happens.

Even when we have the replacement, it will still take a bit to get them trained enough that they are helpful. The position doesn't pay very well and there's zero room to advance unless one of us leaves, and the benefits are dwindling. If the economy wasn't in the shitter I'd say we'd be damn lucky to get anybody worth keeping.

So, this week the weather is bad and it's difficult to drive in to work. I was late getting there today, skipped lunch, and left 30 mins early. All told, I worked 5 hours. I spent around 2.5 hours in the car round trip, which wasn't too bad considering it's usually 1.5 anyway.

Starting last night we were getting sleet. It continued through the night and if the accumulation on my porch is any indication, we got about 2". I left work at 4:00 and didn't get home until 5:45, and it was hellacious. The ice was terrible - there were lots of accidents - it was a mess. This morning when we got up the first time (6:30) it didn't look like our street had been plowed. The MoDOT map said all state roads were "covered" (rather than the preferable "partially covered"). And my driveway was buried. So, we went back to bed. We finally left around 10:40 and I got to work around 11:40. It then proceeded to sleet most of the day. Luckily, I discovered on the way to work that 44 was a much better route so I took that home and this time our trip only took about an hour.

When we got home the snow started and counting everything, I think we've got at least 5 inches of "winter precipitation" on our driveway.

I got sidetracked a bit - back to how this relates to work. OK, so I missed that time today. Last week was a holiday and we're starting to get really behind. I know my supervisor didn't have freetime in her schedule and mine is very little, so it's impossible to add an 8 hour job to our plates and not notice it's there. So, we're busy and missing time for weather, and we're not allowed to make it up on Saturday.

Did I mention that the month is over this week and when we normally process month end, Monday, we have payroll? With 3 people it usually takes around 4 hours, and we're down to 2.

Is it just me or does it sound like something's gotta give here?! All I know is we absolutely MUST make it known that we're affected or management will say..."We don't need to replace her, you're doing great!" Or as I've had said to me before "You're doing so well, I can lay off the other people."

Fuck. That.