Philosophical Nonsense

My sister Melanie is driving up to Ohio from Florida next weekend, and I have it arranged to be able to spend all day Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with her!  She's up to drop Awesome!Niece off with Grandma Buckeye, and will spend several weeks with my dad and Bitz as well.  I may have to kidnap Awesome!Niece and take her to the zoo/go swimming/who the hell knows with her for a bit. 


Squeeeeeeeeeee!

Saturday was a little rough for me emotionally.  I had to get a refund on Boe's layaway gifts because we just can't afford them.  Unfortunately, one is only able to get a refund on one's layaway at the store at which one put the item aside for layaway.  So I had to get a refund at "my" store where they know me.  It was embarrassing on quite a few levels.  And then to boot, because I wasn't able to put much money on the layaway in the first place and because there is a $10 fee to cancel the layaway, I only got $10.25 back.   I came home feeling an awful lot like George Bailey about midway through It's a Wonderful Life.  That kicked-dog feeling. 

Sunday was a little better.  On a suggestion from a gardener on my f-list, I read up on lasagna gardening.  Well, yesterday I dragged Boe out of the house and back to my store, where we got a car-trunk-full of cardboard boxes and expired newspapers.  Today I am making a run to Starbucks and asking for their spent coffee grounds to spread on my garden-to-be.  We have fall's leaves on top of the cardboard  on a 15' x 20' area up against our backyard's levee wall; this will eventually be our garden.  Last year the weeds and random-seeded plants grew out of control, and our dickbag neighbors called neighborhood code enforcement as their first line of action instead of coming over and talking to us.  We got it mowed down, well, kind of, but we'd rather not deal with those neighbors again.  So the garden will help with that.  Sure, it might not be the prettiest thing ever, but it's something the city can't ding us for, it will be a food source for us, and frankly, I plan to can our extras in my spare time this summer in order to give some away as Christmas gifts.  I have sweet corn, popcorn, tomatoes, hot peppers, watermelon, and cucumbers planned; if I have room I'd like to add some sunflowers and some lavender (sunflowers for the birdies, lavender for me).  I might need to make an additional plot for those.  I can get compost for free through Allen County Solid Waste Management (fees only apply to folks dropping off compostable materials).

My aunt has repeatedly told me that I can have as many lilac starts as I want, and Bitz has offered me her volunteer roses of sharon.  I figure if we plant alternating lilacs and roses of sharon in the direction of the dickbag neighbors, it will grow to become a living hedge.  Between the free composting materials, free plant starts, seeds I already have on hand, and stuff acquired through Freecycle and Craigslist, this year's landscaping should run me less than $20 total.

Dang.  If this turns out to be a success, once we're financially stable we might need to purchase a pickup truck, lol.

Can I hit the lotto just so we can afford a live-in housekeeper?

Here's what I had planned to get done today:

Clean the bathroom (Yes, with RGG in the house I use medical-grade latex gloves, no worries, darlings!)

Get 5 loads of laundry done

Clean the bedroom

Here's what I actually accomplished:

Threw 1 load of clothes into the washer (in my defense, the cats had soaked some articles of clothing in that particular load, so I had to run it twice with a bunch of white vinegar to get the smell completely out)

Whined about not being able to go to Pennsic as usual this year

Figured out Pennsic tentage for NEXT year (it has crossed my mind that I am either the poster child for the adage "Hope springs eternal" or for the one that goes "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."  Not sure which one applies, I'll let y'all come to your own conclusions.)

Watched The Steve Wilkos Show -- OK, I admit it, I like the trainwreckiness of trash talk shows.

Aaaaaaaaand that's about it.

I'm going to knock out some chocolate-dipped cocnut macaroons today, as well as some chocolate-dipped pretzels -- the pretzels were left over from making chex mix. It keeps me out of trouble, right?

We did a bunch of spring cleaning yesterday and my mom came by with some surprise petunias to plant alongside the side of our house. Boe got the lawn seed and fertilizer spread over our nuked-from-orbit lawn...I'm hoping that the seed takes root and grows fairly quickly.

I go back to work on Monday and I really don't wanna. Oh well.

Random Gamer Guy came home and proceeded to announce that he needed to wash his only pair of jeans because he had, and I quote, "an accident."

I am SO bleaching out the washing machine before I wash my work clothes...I can almost guarantee the concept of using hot wash temps for that particular load (har) of clothes totally passed Random Gamer Guy by.

Now where's my gorram Clorox?

Been trudging through life.  We're broke as hell, still, but I only have 2 more weeks of classes and that will be done for the semester.  Boe's getting his substitute's license back up to scratch so we have money coming in as soon as Christmas break is over and while he puts applications in with any educational facilities for which he qualifies.

We had a quiet Thanksgiving, and spent the rest of the long weekend cleaning out the Tornado Room and working on projects.  I am 3/4 done with Mom's Christmas gift, done with my Adrian gift exchange person's present, 1/2 done with a gift for a close cousin, and have not yet started my niece's Christmas gift (but hers can wait til I have most of the others out of the way).

Still here, still breathing.  Just doing what I can to deal, you know?