One of those days...

Procrastination and some flowers

Um, I may have been a wee bit behind on the raking part of lawn care. Maybe.

The spring I moved into this house there was a corner of my yard that was fenced off like it was meant to be a garden. I left it alone for the first year, just to see what would happen. Weeds happened. Really Big Weeds. Like over my head big.

I had a landscaper cut it all down just last fall. I even took down the little fence. Even had I intended to try an grow a garden of any kind, a foot high fence does nothing but make my dog laugh as he merrily jumps back and forth over it. So the fence went.

I tried a couple times last spring to grow some things in pots. I bought some big pots and some little pots and an array of seeds. I planted them, little green sprouts came up and then, well, they died. I was a little sad, but not too surprised. My thumb has never been accused of being green. Now, I remember taking what was left of the seed packets and scattering them in the weird little garden area. I had forgotten that until just the other day when I was out playing ball with the dog and saw a little bunch of yellow daffodils. I went over and peeked at them. They were pretty. I turned to walk away and found some little pink flowers of unknown type a few feet away. I crept away much like a parent sneaking out of a sleeping infants room. I don’t know how those flowers thrived, but they did and it made me a little happy.

So I bought a rake on my way home Friday night. The leaves had to go and the big sucker truck comes on Mondays. I also might have bought some more seeds. I might have cleaned up a spot in the weird little garden area, planted the little seeds, covered them with some miracle grow something or other and watered them a little. I might have. I’m trying not to get my hopes up, but I’m telling you if they sprout, there will be pictures. In the meantime, I’m going to try very hard to forget about them. It seems things do better when I ignore them. It’d be nice if this worked for credit card balances, dirty bathrooms and weight loss.

The long overdue Meme

The lovely and animal friendly Anne tagged me for a 5 things meme., like a month ago. Since I recently did a 6 weird things about me, I’ve been trying to come up with 5 really cool things to share. Upon reflection, it appears I’m not that cool, so you get this. Anne can be found by following the Queen Anne’s Revenge link in my sidebar thingie. Go visit her. She’s new and fresh and sparkly. Oh, and she knows someone named Roger Dodger. What's not to like?

1. I had a boyfriend that was competitive in sport bike motorcycle racing. He taught me to ride, found me a bike, and entered me in my first race. I raced for just over a year. My “career” came to a bitter end when he admitted he couldn’t deal with the fact that he couldn’t beat me.

2. One fourth of July I went swimming with a boyfriend in a river in West Virginia. While swimming out to some rocks mid-stream I became tangled in some fishing line and almost drowned. My boyfriend He-Man-ed me out of the water (I’ll never know how) and saved my life. Today I am still very afraid of water with current.

3. I hate U2. They have never produced a song I could stand, but I think Bono is kinda hot.

4. I am moderately obsessed with flossing my teeth.

5. I secretly and strongly dislike one of my co-workers.

There you have it, Anne, late, but done.. betcha won't make that mistake again!

What dreams may come....

In early 2004, I stopped dreaming. Or, as some of the more nit-picky people in my life insisted, I stopped remembering my dreams. There were enough big, life changing things happening in my life at that time that the disappearance of my dreams barely registered.

In late 2006 I started to wonder if I’d ever have another dream.

In early 2007 a satellite-sister who knew of my extended period of dreamlessness, made me a dream catcher. She crafted it with her own two hands, and even put beads on it to match the color of my newly painted bedroom. It is a beautiful gift. I brought it home from our weekend together and hung it on the window closest to my bed. Dreams or no, it was nice to have a reminder of this special friend so close at hand.

My dreams returned. Sometimes I only remembered fragments, sometimes they were sad dreams, but they came, and they kept coming. I’ve never been a ‘big’ dreamer; I don’t think anything I’ve ever dreamt or will dream will be the next great invention. My dreams aren’t terrifying or very remarkable in any way. They are just mine. I missed them and I was happy to have them back.

However, last night, in my dreams, I was dressed in a brightly colored unitard, a helmet and white knee-high boots, and I was running through the aisles of the local grocery store at full speed while friends and family lined the aisles trying to chuck ramen noodles into my basket. Apparently hitting me with the noodles was worth *extra* points (hence the helmet?).

I don’t want to appear ungrateful but, I think I'd like to know what my friend put on the webbing of that dream catcher.

What Roo wants, Roo gets

I was telling Tiff the other day that I envy her the ability to just sit down and write. I have to think about it, mull it over, figure out how I’m going to approach it, and then I can sit down and start the process. I could never just generate a post like her rain post from Friday.

However, I’m going to give it a shot, cuz my friend, Roo just sent me an email that said (and I quote)

“Write something. Now.”

So, um. Here goes nuthin’.
__________________________________________________
A large percentage of my friends are in the middle of some crappy life-changing things. Some I’ve dealt with in my own life, and some I haven’t but all are in their own crappy way, the SUCK.

The worst feeling in the world for me, is not being able to ‘do something’ for my friends when they are hurting.

My friend Purl, told me a heart-wrenching story the other day, about how good a friend her husband was to a friend in need. When another friend turned away from the situation because he just ‘couldn’t deal with it’ Purl’s husband quipped in disgust, “Just pick up a box”.

It seems to me, this is perfect.

As hard and sad as this may sound, more often than not, the only thing to do is get on with it. Unless you are the curl up and die, be a victim type (which absolutely none of my friends are) there’s only one way to handle the suck things in life.

Straight through it. Head up. Eyes open.

Tears, setbacks, and occasional whining are allowed. I’ve got a box of Kleenex, a pep talk and a quitcherbitchin all ready.

I am ever ready to pick up a box to help you get to the next minute, hour, day or week. There is no expiration date, and there is no limit to the number of boxes I’ll pick up for you.
_________________________________________________________________

One last thing.

What happens when you don’t pay your exorcist?



You get repossessed!
__________________________________________________________________

Yeah, really, that’s all I got.

Yes, Mom if all my friends jumped off a bridge, SO WOULD I.

Anne, I haven't forgotten, your Meme - I'm working on it.

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Of puppies and sunshine

Nobody liked Plucky the hen so I guess I have to write something *real*.
Fine. What you people have against chickens is your business.

I spent the weekend working on the old homestead. My sore places have sore places. I probably succeeded at 90% of what I set out to do, so I’m calling that a win.
I have not solved the riddle of rusty-as-hell screws, but I have a handyman coming over tomorrow and hopefully he’ll be able to give me some suggestions. I actually looked it up online, and apparently coke or Tabasco sauce works, but I can’t quite figure out how to apply either substance into the screw hole-area. I’d bet my socks that they sell just such a device at Home Depot though.

Unfortunately, the sun room is on delay – I have an extra 5,000 of dental work to do, and until I pay that off, I’m not signing on any more dotted lines. I’m hoping I can give myself the sunroom for Christmas. So for those of you that wanted to come for sangria slushies in the sunroom this spring, hold that thought, and I’ll spike some eggnog for us.

In happy news, last Thursday morning 10 little puppies made their way into the world. One of which will soon enough become the newest four-legged critter in my home. I am over the moon at the prospect of pencil-eraser paw pads, frito-smelling feet and puppy breath. There will much joy in Cravey-ville on that day. Ohyestherewill.

North Carolina is busy reminding me why I love it here. Seventy degrees in March does turn this girls head, and there’s a rumor that 80 is just 48 hours away. There are flowers in bloom – some even in my own backyard, no idea how they got there, heaven help them. There some crazy-basketball thing happening down here, not being a fan of the sport, I just nod and smile when the talk to turns to it. Er, Go….Cubs?...Rams?
Whatever.

Things at the place of business are good. When I took this job a year ago (in May) it was a leap of faith in many ways. I really thought I’d be in it a year, and I’d be packing up and moving, probably to Austin. As things stand now, I don’t see me going anywhere.

I’m happy right where I am.
Even without a sunroom.