rainy sunday

I guess today would be a great day to clean the house.
I have been so disorganized lately that I didn't even realize that I missed Hubby's car payment last month, and so owed two months worth this month. I was so horrified! Forgetting to pay bills is not something I do...EVER! The really terrible part? Two days later I got a credit card statement saying, 'Whoops! You are behind one month payment.' ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? Upon further investigation, I realized that I HAD made the payment...4 days LATE! I immediately paid the remaining portion of the bill in full because I was so mortified! Then, because of all this craziness, I looked into the credit card we just got to transfer our high interest rate to a '0% for 10 months' deal. I have never gotten a bill and it occurred to me, I never got any emails either. I went to their website, logged onto my account, and read, '$0.00 minimum due'. Phew! I must've paid and forgotten. Then I saw that my last payment was March. ??? I signed up for email alerts so I would know when it's due, MADE A PAYMENT (though, it won't arrive until April 20 because it's the weekend), but figured that since it said ZERO due, I was okay for now. This morning I got an email saying '$0.00 minimum due April 14' WHAT!?

I'm so confused. But more so, I am so ANGRY with myself for letting this happen! How could I have forgotten to pay, not one, but THREE huge bills this month!? Worse than that, we've only had the new credit card for a couple months. The ONLY reason we got it was for the 0% introductory APR...with a late payment, they may take that away! So we're right back where we started!! ugh...

In happier news, it's been raining off and on a little since yesterday. Great for my newly transplanted hedges, bamboo, and other little plants I moved around the yard Thursday.

I didn't start any of my seeds indoors last year. I just basically threw seeds in my veg beds and waited to see what would happen. It turned out alright for me. My carrots didn't get much bigger than about an inch because we had a bunny family move into the space under our shed last year, and the babies ate all the greens from the carrots, stunting their growth. My broccoli was devoured by bugs before getting any fruit. And I have never had luck with bell peppers, though I continue to try every year. This year's the LAST TIME, I swear!

But...I have really been wanting spring this year. And after hanging out with a friend and buying plants and gardening stuff, I needed to get my hands dirty. Looking out at my empty beds (well, except for the parsley and chives that came back from last year), makes me sad. So I started some seeds. Tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers, watermelon, cantaloupe, and two kinds of basil. Being the un-savvy gardener that I am, I thought the brightest window were the cat couldn't cause any harm would be the one in the shed. I thought maybe the warmth throughout the day would be enough to keep them warm at night. But then the weathermen were saying there was a chance for snow this weekend. I decided to bring them in and hope the cat would be good.

It was then that I realized the basil was beginning to sprout! I have a small terrarium that I could fit 4 of the 7 seed packs I made, so I put the tomatoes, one of the basils, the watermelon and the cantaloupe in. The next day, I saw the tomatoes were sprouting!

I needed something to keep the heat on my other seed packs...down to the basement to search for anything I could make into a 'greenhouse'. I found some old plastic zippered pouches from some curtains I bought years ago (yes, I tend to keep strange things thinking that some day I may have a use for them!). I was able to put the remaining 3 seed packs into the pouch and zip it up, safe from kitty! The other basil was starting to sprout, but none of the other plants were doing much. I even realized this morning, that the melon seeds had opened...but only the outer shell remained. So, I took out my seeds and replanted the melons and peppers this morning. In about 10 days, I should see some more action. Otherwise, I'll just wait til it's warm and throw them in the ground, as usual.

In unrelated news, I decided to bring my empty growlers to work with me, in case I felt like beer Saturday night. It was cold and rainy, but I was really looking forward to homemade pizza and a baseball game, and decided I needed beer to go with it. Did I mention how much I love going straight to the brewery to have my beer taken right out of the tanks?! It just makes me happy!