Quick work story before we get to the lists: I knew it was going to be one hell of a phone call when the little old lady at the other end of the line says, icily and with authority, "STAY WITH ME." Honestly, Little Old Lady, I'm paid to stay with you, but let's not split hairs, shall we?
So she hadn't gotten a paper yesterday morning and she was Pissed Off. Yes, capital PO, that's the level of pissed off-ness we're talking about here. She had called THREE TIMES in THREE HOURS and she STILL DID NOT HAVE HER PAPER and she was MAD ABOUT THAT. I was like, I can tell you're mad. I said it in the voice I use to calm down screaming babies or Grandma's having panic attacks on the highway (although in that latter case, it doesn't work). The Voice does apparently work with pissed off little old ladies because she calmed right down. I took her info, I agreed that it was frustrating not to receive something you've paid for, I sympathized with the fact that she can't get out of her house to go get one her damn self. I almost played the "Steve just had brain surgery" card (actually he just had some melanoma scraped off the top of his head, but wow, we're talking Frankenstein) but she didn't seem to need that, so I figured I'd save that particular excuse for another day.
When I hung up, Stacey was like, throw that message on Steve's desk and get out of there! Which is what I did. I stopped long enough to say, this lady is pissed off with a capital P, but then I was out like a flash. Steve gets cranky about these sorts of calls. Irony, since that's essentially his job, but who am I to point that out? So he grabs a paper and tells me he's going to get Betty or whatever her name was her paper and Stacey was all, maybe bring her chocolate to sweeten her mood, and I was all, or Valium, and Steve was all, maybe chocolate laced Valium? Which we all agreed would be a good idea.
Pointless List time!
Books read
Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1. Um, wow. This book took me all month, I kid you not, and I'm even a fast reader. It's just that it's so damn long, and when you essentially just read at night... well, it takes a while is what I'm trying to get at. It's pretty slow paced... I mean, stuff is happening, but the author is in no hurry... but that's cool because the imagery is nice and it's an interesting storyline, even though there are certain characters I'd like to punch in the throat (and I'm actually a very non-violent person, so there you go). I started the second book last night. I suppose this one will take all month too. I'm happy about that.
Movies watched
None. And I don't even care.
Something I keep forgetting to mention
I switched up my homemade laundry detergent this month just for kicks and I am so, so happy I did. If my towels were any fresher I'd have to slap them. The addition of baking soda is golden. Last time I doubled this, but next time I'm going to go for broke and maybe make five batches, since I figure if I'm going to grind up some bars of soap I may as well GRIND UP SOME BARS OF SOAP.
2 cups Borax
2 cups washing soda
1 cup baking soda
1 bar Fels-Naptha laundry soap, finely grated
Mix all that together. Use 1/4-1/3 cup per load. (I use the quarter cup, just in case anyone cares. Also, it helps to dissolve it in the water while the washer is filling up, THEN toss in the clothes.)
Garden update
Things are growing! It's pretty awesome. The disappointments: The spinach is sick and the beans and zucchini aren't doing much of anything. On the upside, the tomatoes are in!
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| The spinach has mites. Talk about a disappointment. Eric picked a leaf and it fell apart. Most of it is just dead and gone. |
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| But the lettuce is doing great! Plus we have what appears to be either pumpkins or zucchini growing too. I figure we'll just see what happens. Why not? |
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| Upper garden. Later in the summer when it's chaos and anarchy up there, I can prove there were paths at one point. |
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| Our raspberries are going nuts. Hooray! |
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| Raspberry closeup because I can. |
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| Thornless blackberries aren't doing too shabby either. |
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| Skilly appreciates our abundant weed population. |
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| The bushes are going wild. |
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| Lavender is starting to bud. Chives are beyond control. |
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| We planted three different basils this year just for kicks. |
So that's the state of the union.
Things I learned
Walking into a clean house is nicer than walking out of a clean house. And for some reason our town's Little League likes to schedule coach pitch games on Farmers' Market Thursdays. Not cool, Little League. Not cool.
Things I got at the farmers' market now that I think about it
Lettuce, spinach, spring garlic, garlic shoots, spring onions, green onions, broccoli, braising mix, swiss chard, blue cheese, pastured ground beef, Colin the Ethically Raised Chicken (still in my freezer, by the way. I need to get on that), parsley, tomatoes, English cucumbers, ciabatta bread. Not too bad for spring in a temperate zone.
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