it just keeps getting better

I have just about had it.

I am, right now, using my husband's computer due to the complete drain of my laptop. Hubby says I just need a new battery, but i think it may be the AC adapter. Either way, it's another big expense I don't want right now. A new battery is $100+ and an adapter will run me in the neighborhood of $70-80. They both have to be ordered, so it's not a quick and easy fix. In the meantime, my computer is useless. Which means, no pictures. I guess it's a good thing I've let my etsy shop just sit there, as I wouldn't be able to list any new items either.

Moxie got scared yesterday and let out a yelp as she twisted her back leg. Then she limped around for awhile, so I gave her one of her old anti-inflammatory pills from her last injury. She was fine later, running and playing. This morning, Hubby came out of the bathroom, she turned to run, slipped on the hardwood floor, let out another yelp and started limping again! She's fine now, but she must've pulled something and she's just so crazy all the time, I'm sure it's just a matter of time before she does something foolish again.

Hubby and a bunch of our friends are out having fun today. They are having a 'slackathlon'...a triathlon for slackers, I guess. First they played a game of candle pin bowling. For those of you (like me before moving out East) who have never heard of it, it's bowling with a smaller hand-held ball. I think you get 4 balls per turn to try to knock down the pins (same pins at 10 pin bowling, though). After that, they went for pizza and beer. Then it was off to mini golf. The last event is a game of Texas Hold 'em poker, followed by a BBQ at our friends new house. I think it sounds like a blast, but I am working. The kennel is closed for business, but we have a surrendered cat and a stray dog and one of the doctors left her cats there for the weekend. So I went in this morning to feed/clean/walk/medicate them. Then back at noon for a quick check and the dogs afternoon feed/walk/medicate. And later tonight I go back for the dinner shift. In total I will probably put in 2 and 1/2 hours of work...but it is taking all day. oh well.

And of course, it wouldn't be life without some good old fashioned family drama. Dad's back to his usual rotten ways. Stef called to let him know we would be coming over this week to finally start working on his old Barracuda. He said, 'don't bother. I'm getting rid of it.' Stef said something like, 'but i thought we 3 would have fun working on it...' and he said, 'well, just as you changed your mind about taking care of me, I changed my mind about the car.'

I'm so mad at him, because Stef is very sensitive and she should not be made to feel guilty about wanting to take her young life back. It is not her job, and he can afford to pay for someone to help him. So I guess that project is over before it has begun.

More time for myself, I guess. So now what do I do?! ;)

my week thus far

(exciting title, I know!)
I think I already mentioned our trip 'off Cape' to the home improvement store, where we bought new hammocks (Saturday)? If not, that's pretty much the whole story.
Sunday, after I worked til noon, I came home and Hubby and I spent the rest of the day, pretty much, lazing about in the hammocks drinking cocktails. Great day!
Monday and Tuesday, the usual work all day, eat, sleep.
Wednesday I went to a friends house to help her put up her 'inflatable' pool. It is a soft-sided pool with an inflatable ring around the top, and just has a couple bars holding the whole thing up. It's a lot of water being held in place with some pool liner. I don't know who the engineers are who thought this thing up, but I hope they knew what they were doing. It is amazing to me that it works. But that's not the point. The point is that I can swim in her pool if I ever get out to her place this summer. It's not a bad drive if I leave from work, as she's pretty much right off the highway after a 25 (or so) minute drive.

Step 1:lay the pool out flat(-ish).

Step 2:put the bars in and inflate the giant tube rim. This part sucked b/c she recently hurt her back and upon trying to blow it up, 're-tweaked' it. I wasn't sure how I was going to blow the whole thing up myself, but it turned out to be not so bad. She had a large hand pump for me to use and it filled up surprisingly quickly.

Step 3: begin filling with water and smooth out the bottom. This, I thought, was the most difficult bit. It turns into a pool by filling it with water. As the water fills, the giant tube continues to 'stay afloat' while the base expands with water and the side bars hold it in place. So after a few inches of water, you have to get in, lift the sides and smooth the bottom out around the edges. This pool has to come down for the winter, so I think next year, maybe a soft broom would work to push the liner out to the edges...wish I'd thought of that Wednesday...oh well.

I didn't stay to put the filter/pump together, because that part gets done after the pool fills. I got a picture and email yesterday. She had it filling until 11 o'clock that night!
While I was there, I got shots of her cutie pie dogs. Monty is her teacup Chihuahua. Wednesday was the first time he didn't bark at me when I drove in! I think he's decided I'll be around a lot more.

This is Sophie, her Italian Greyhound. She's the bravest IG I know, especially considering she can barely see. She's also the mother of Monty's babies (all have gone to good homes, of course). Sophie, when she was younger and could see better, used to be a good companion for my Moxie, because they just run around all day.

And, I have been keeping my garden watered with all the heat. It is good to come home for lunch, or be home from work by noon, so that I can water.
My Edammame are poking through the dirt!

This is a shot of the beds this morning. Cukes are sprouting and so are the pumpkins. I think it will be a couple more days for the peppers to sprout, but the jalapeno seedlings I transplanted are still going strong.

Last night, we went out! There's a summer hangout everyone goes to out in Wellfleet, and last night was opening night/locals night. We got our summer passes so we can get free beach parking and also free/discounted shows for the summer. WE don't go much but some of our friends are there every Sunday. This year we may end up out there more...I don't know. But I was hoping to run into a woman I know as a customer from my old job. And, I did. She showed up just as we did, so I yelled to her in the parking lot. She just had to put her sweet little Rottweiler, Lola, down. After finding cancer in her leg, they amputated. Then they found it in her lungs and had to put her down. Rottweilers can be scary, but Lola was the sweetest thing ever...it was especially cute when she wagged her 'tail' because it was just her whole back end shaking.

Then our friends' band, The Ticks, ended their set with a cover of Crazy Train by Ozzy Osborne!! My absolute fave Ozzy song...I jumped around and pounded my 'devil horns' to the sky and got stares from my friends who know me as the reserved little girl in the corner. It was fun. We only stayed until just after 11, as Hubby had to work, and I was getting smooshed and a little anxious about the crowd getting bigger.

This morning I have gotten the call from the car hospital where I dropped my car yesterday.

'I think I need new brakes.'

This morning, 'your front brakes are completely gone.' They have to replace the drums, the pads, and every other bit that makes up the front brakes! I guess I should feel lucky they were working at all?? He also said the back brakes are okay but the drums are getting rusty so they cleaned them up but they will need to be done in the future, so 'be aware of that'.

Upon Hubby's insistence, they are also checking the thermostat which may need to be replaced. AND, the radiator cap needs to be replaced, which 'is common in these Cavaliers.'

So, grand total, with labor (including the possible new thermostat) will be around $500, 'possibly less'. I don't think that's unreasonable, considering my front brakes are being completely re-done, and Hubby just paid $600 for a tiny piece of plastic to hold his airbag SENSOR in place.

Long boring post, that I really only meant to be about putting up a pool...sorry!

a little bit of sadness...

I had yesterday off. I had a bunch of stuff that I wanted to get accomplished, so I skipped my morning coffee with Hubby. On the days he works, but I have off, I go in with him for coffee, then he drops me back at home before going to work. It's basically just a car ride, but it allows us a few extra minutes before he leaves for the day. But I knew that if I didn't start my chores as soon as I could, I'd get lazy for the day. So, 8 a.m. I was at the dump as they opened the gates. Then off to the discount store for dishwasher detergent and other such stuff I had paying a lot for at the grocery store. Then, back to Trader Joe's for some stuff I didn't get after work the day before. [I met up with one of my sisters for coffee after work on Thursday, so I didn't get a chance to do it then.] Back home by 10 a.m. for a bite to eat. 11 a.m...down to the basement for a quick 30 minutes of hip hop workout. I could NEVER take a cardio dance class because I look like a complete goon!! Then outside to the garden. And there I stayed until about 3 p.m.
I planted up my beds with the rest of the seeds I had. I also put the surviving seedlings out. Unfortunately, most of them had not done well. They seemed to stop growing and maybe got too much heat too soon when I set them outside last week?? I'm not sure, but I basically only got a few sweet pepper plants, the two cayenne pepper plants, and a few small basil plants. All the tomato seedlings were beginning to rot from the roots...sad, indeed.
But look how pretty these edamamme seeds are!!

I hope they grow...I can't wait to eat them!! Yummy!

So, today after work, Hubby and I took a trip 'off cape'...once Memorial Day weekend hits Cape Cod, travel is pretty ridiculous and frustrating, so we decided to get what we needed now. We each got new hammocks and a couple plants.

So my garden will go like this:

Bed #1: herbs (basil, cilantro, parsley, chives), scallions, sweet peppers, pumpkins, yellow squash, Roma tomatoes, 2 types of green beans, jalapenos & cayenne peppers.

Bed #2: snow peas, broccoli raab, several types of radishes, edammme, watermelons (small 'sugar babies'), cantaloupe, and cucumbers.

Plus the yellow onions and garlic (which may not be harvestable -if that's a word!?- until next year, and the two buckets of potatoes.

My sister and aunt and I have been toying with a 'swap' idea where we would share our harvest if one of us has an over-abundance of something to trade. I think first we will have to see what grows. I know for me it's a crap shoot!

Hubby and I talked today about how happy we finally are with where our life is. We're ready for a good summer...'the summer of George!'

Picture Post...

My corner bamboo plant has REALLY enjoyed the day of rain we got today. The shoots that had already started since the transplant this year have double. And several new shoots have emerged just in the past couple days!

My 'bare root' privet sticks I planted aren't doing very well. Only one has had any promising buds...and practically overnight they have opened and look like a real plant!!

The pumpkin seed that managed to survive the winter and sprouted in my veg bed, is really thriving, too.

My snow peas...coming along nicely.

Radishes. I planted both the plain red ones AND the 'Easter eggs'. I can't remember how (or if) I separated them, so it will be a surprise when I tug them from their beds.

And then there's the bucket o' potatoes. They have been growing so quickly that I am adding an inch of dirt almost every day! Today, this plant was about 2 inches above the soil. Now I have as much dirt as I can get in the bucket to cover that one. I am planning on getting another (bigger) bucket for the red bliss potatoes that have sprouted in the kitchen drawer. The ones I have already planted are golds of some sort.

I am really excited to plant, but this year I am even more excited for the harvest...to see what I get...Christmas in July!!

Poker face

I played cards Sunday. Believe it or not, these were my winning cards! The last guy and I had been playing 'heads up' for quite a few hands. He went all in, I had about a third more chips than he did. I really wanted to be done playing so I figured, 'well, I could get lucky, and win, and be done; or, he could have something great, win, and then I'd have so few chips, I would lose soon enough.' He didn't have a great hand, ace high, maybe...but another 6 came on the board, and that ended up being good enough. One of the guys playing had just won a couple thousand in Vegas playing a small tournament...I even beat him!! He always commends me on my playing...I think he just wants fresh blood at the regular game!!
Hubby has been wanting to host a game, but since I have to get up so early Wednesday mornings (his regular game is Tuesday night), he has refrained. But this weekend was our 6 year anniversary of buying our house, it was great weather, and I go in later for my job on Mondays, so I gave the okay. Only 4 of his friends stopped by, so that was nice for me. Usually I don't play because some of his poker pals are a bit too intense for me. It was a nice low-key game and I beat out all the boys! My first win!! It was a $10 game, winner take all. I told Hubby I would only play if he paid for me. So, after paying him back, I was $50 ahead! But then one of the guys left, while the others wanted to play another game...so there went $10 more dollars, which I did NOT get back. But $40 up for the day...not bad. Especially since I had just worked a 6 hour shift at the grocery store for time and a half!!
I drank an entire growler (64 oz) of our micro-brewery's summer ale, ate a cheeseburger off the grill, a cannoli from our friends' bakery, chips and hummus...it was a good summery day. Then everyone left in time to watch the season finale of survivor (who knew, we actually have friends as lame as we are!!). I stayed up for the first tribal council...then fell asleep during the part where they remember their 'fallen comrades'. When I finished watching last night (thank you dvr) I was glad to be able to fast forward through that part!!

Well, another lame post, but I actually have to get ready for work. Sometimes when I get up so much earlier than my alarm, I lose track of time. And then I just don't want to go to work. Another 7 day stretch will come to an end with a Friday off this week. I should probably try to get the things done that I put off from last week??

Shoes!

This is pretty much how I felt all day. Days off seem to be full of eating bowls of nuts and chocolate chips, watching crappy reality TV, and wishing I was a napper.
This morning, though, I did have things to accomplish. I did most of it, but in my usual style, I lost all my energy and desire to do anything immediately after eating lunch. Oh well, good thing I only have one day off a week, right?
So I needed to get new shoes for work. I had bought a pair of Saucony running shoes when I got my job at the vet hospital, and fell in love with them. They are the most comfortable trainers I have ever owned. I went to the sporting goods store to see if I could find another pair in their clearance section (I rarely pay full price for anything, and generally feel like whatever I pay is always too much)...they had nothing under $65!! On sale!! So I walked down to Marshall's and found a great pair for just $35! I also needed at least another pair of jeans for work at the grocery store. NOTHING! Off to see if I could find a new bra (sorry if that's too personal?)...why is every single bra padded??? So of all the things I needed, I found the shoes. But, since they were the most important bit...I considered it a success.
Nice!
I actually have a pair that are just a bit too small that I guess I will try to sell at a yard sale or something. I think I'll have to do the same with the cute shoes I got at LLBean, too. I've tried them out, but they are just too wide...damn!

I also needed two more bags of mulch to finish off around my garden beds. Mulch purchased...mulch spread...garden simply awaits it's seeds to be planted.

I also needed to turn over my compost. I'm using the trash bin method. Every other day or so, I roll it around the yard, but today I dumped the whole thing out and refilled it. There were worms!! Also a ton of ants, though, so I may need to be more diligent about taking care of it.

Also on my list was a trip to the dump, but I didn't have it in me...I need to be in the right state of mind for the dump. I go in, dump my trash or sort my recyclables, and I'm gone in a matter of minutes...but, sometimes I just don't want to do it. And today was one of those days.

I really want to clean and organize my shed, but the sun was shining and and I wanted to soak in some rays. So I pulled out the ol' textbook and did some studying in my back yard...what a great feeling. Warm sun, learning, doggy sitting next to me...aahhh!

However, I have wasted a grand total of 2 hours of this day watching Deadliest Catch and Gilmore Girls. And I'm okay with that, because I know that tomorrow I'm back to work and I get another chance at tackling my list when I get home.
Wish me luck!!

I'm going out!

I have been working so much (so much that I gave someone one of my days just to get a day off!), and working a strange schedule (working in the kennel on a Saturday evening; having a weekday off -tomorrow), that I totally forgot about meeting a friend for dinner tonight!! That would've been embarrassing...good thing she and I fly by the seat of our pants and didn't actually finalize plans until just about an hour ago. I'm psyched for drinks and dinner. My anti-social ways sometimes give way to an urge to just go out and feel like an adult person!

So, tomorrow is a day off for just me. Hubby will be at work, and I'm planning on playing in the dirt. My seedlings aren't growing like mad, but they are doing okay.

My basil plants are getting their second set of leaves, and looking like basil. My sweet peppers are okay. Unfortunately, I can't remember which seedlings are the cantaloupe and which are the watermelons. Oops.

I also have super leggy tomatoes. My jalapenos are doing okay, though. And my sister gave me two cayenne peppers that she thought were dying but just needed some water.

My snow peas are popping up in the garden. I also have some radishes and broccoli coming up, but didn't get a good picture. Luckily, I labeled them in the garden, better than in the house, because they look exactly the same right now! My onions are getting huge!

And...I made my own granola bars. They are more cakey than I was hoping, but it was my first try, so next time I'll try a different mix of flour and stuff. This batch was chocolate chips, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries. I also threw in some ground flax seed. The taste was great, but the thickness was a bit...too thick. I also used applesauce and agave syrup instead of oil and honey.

So, I'm off to pretty up for my dinner date!!

hhmm...

I got a nice surprise today...i got to leave work an hour early!! I also asked 'was i scheduled for 5 shifts again because it's mother's day weekend?' My boss looked confused, said she hadn't scheduled me 5 days, then said the guy who usually does the schedule finished it. I said that i didn't mind doing it next weekend, but in the future i only wanted 4 shifts. I'm not sure, but I think she MAY try to get me another day off next week. We shall see.

So, what did I do with an extra hour? Well, I caught Hubby on his way out for his Sunday walk, so he waited for me. We got coffees, chatted up our friends, and walked to the beach. Then off to the garden store, and back home for a day in the yard. Hubby had gone to the dump for some free dirt. Our dump has piles of stuff...a pile to dump leaves, one for wood chips, and a number of other piles, such as a pile of topsoil you. Not only can you dump your stuff you can also take what you like. It's not super clean dirt, I have found old screws and even some glass in the stuff I got for my garden, but it's rich and it's free.

So, he started adding dirt to the 'sand path' so that he could start planting the 'steppable' plants he got. It looks great so far, and we are eager for it to grow in and just be slate and greens.

My hostas are looking great. I still have a couple new ones to plant. I think I will put them in the back corner where I want my 'sanctuary'.

Early last week or so, I was cleaning out the cupboards when I noticed the ants were back (yuck!) and we found about 4 open bags of tortilla chips. We get them often because we like Mexican and we like to make it at home. We also had a few bags that people had left after we hosted poker a couple times. It has been a long time since we hosted, so you can imagine how stale these chips were! Hubby was going to dump them in the yard for the birds. Instead he decided to to crush them and put them in our empty bird feeder. I thought it silly, but the blue jays seem to like them! (and the squirrels, but they'll eat anything!!)
It isn't a great picture, taken through the back slider, but that is a bird eating tortilla chips.
Our neighbors were home most of the day, blasting their radio. So, of course, Hubby cranked up his ball game. They finally left for the day, and the day was so nice. We just relaxed, enjoying our yard and dreaming of how nice it will be when my hedges fill in!

I also am still excited about my seedlings, though they are slow, leggy, and few. Mostly, I just want to get them out in the beds.

The lower left corner of this picture is where I planted my sweet pepper seeds. They have not done anything...until today. When I got home I had 3 little plants finally poking through the soil. Maybe there is hope for them after all?

This is my Bleeding Heart plant. When we moved in, this one and a white one were dying in the front yard due to the intense sun the front yard gets. These are partial sun/shade plants. I decided to try to save this one, as the white one was too far gone, and it grows bigger each year. It's about 3 or 4 feet tall this year!

And...my onions have already started to poke through the soil!!! This warm weather weekend has me hopeful for the summer.

Tomorrow, Monday, it's likely to rain. But that is about par for the course, as it seems to rain every Monday lately.