Christmas Update
I haven't updated in a long time, so thought that this weekend was a good time to do that, since I actually have (gasp!) some extra time off.
Christmas was great this year. The loot was good, but it was also a nice, calm day. I got to cook the holiday meal, which I always enjoy doing. And if I do say so myself, it turned out better than usual. (Probably has something to do with me saying "screw being healthy" and adding a metric ton of butter to everything.) We ate ham and all of the sides, sat around and talked and opened gifts, then ate the cherry pie a la mode that J's mom brought over. It was excellent!
I encouraged family to give me cash monies or gift cards to Lowe's this year, and that's mostly what I got! I'm excited about this, and am going to drag J off to Lowe's at some point this morning. You see, I've gotten very excited about gardening and putting plants into the backyard. What a lot of my Christmas money is going to go towards is a set-up for the basement, where I can start some of my plants from seeds in a couple of months. After doing some research, I think the cheapest and easiest way to go about this is to get a utility shelf (like you'd find in a garage) and some under-the-shelf fluorescent lights, and then light up two or three of the shelves, so that I can have multiple levels of seedlings this spring. So today we get to try to find the shelves and the lights. I can't wait! Of course, once we get it set up, I'm still going to have to wait until late February before I can plant anything. But it will be done, and I won't have to scramble in Feb. I can just plant and hover. :)
I have completely geeked out over my plants. I've read about 10 books on garden plants, done some analysis in the backyard to determine how much shade different parts of the yard gets, and have made a chart of the types of plants that I want to put in, how much sun they need, how I will plant them (seed, bulb,tuber, plant from nursery, etc) and then how I will repropagate them in the future to avoid paying a fortune every year, where I plan to put them, how much fertilizer and water they require, and how to get them to survive the winter. On the next decent (and dry) day, I need to take a tape measurer out to the yard and get exact dimensions of all of the areas that I plan to put beds in, so that I can put it all down on graph paper! Yes, I am a geek.
In other, non-plant news, J got me a magazine subscription to a writer's magazine for Christmas. I have always wanted to try to publish, but gave up after the first few rejection letters. I feel like I need continual motivation to keep writing, so am hoping that this will help.
And the cats. Where to start on the cats? They are so much fun, and I'm so glad that we have them. I can't remember what it was like without them, to be honest! We got some bad news about Charlotte; they basically confirmed that she has a serious heart condition. It requires medication every day, twice a day, for the rest of her life. She probably won't live past another 18 months. It's very sad. We're taking good care of her though, giving her plenty of warm perches, as much food as she wants, and lots of love and affection. Her twilight months will be happy ones.
As for Annie and Q-bit, they are a riot. Bit ended up in the bathtub with me last night, after she fell over the side while trying to drink the bathwater. That was a traumatic experience for all... poor little thing. I'll be curious to see if she comes back for more bath tonight. J said he knew what had happened when he heard a ker-sploosh, and then me swearing. Heh.
Two more days off, then it's back to work for another few days until New Year's Day. I love this time of the year... lots of days off. Then after that, it's a long grind towards Memorial Day. :(
Well, off to Lowe's!
Christmas was great this year. The loot was good, but it was also a nice, calm day. I got to cook the holiday meal, which I always enjoy doing. And if I do say so myself, it turned out better than usual. (Probably has something to do with me saying "screw being healthy" and adding a metric ton of butter to everything.) We ate ham and all of the sides, sat around and talked and opened gifts, then ate the cherry pie a la mode that J's mom brought over. It was excellent!
I encouraged family to give me cash monies or gift cards to Lowe's this year, and that's mostly what I got! I'm excited about this, and am going to drag J off to Lowe's at some point this morning. You see, I've gotten very excited about gardening and putting plants into the backyard. What a lot of my Christmas money is going to go towards is a set-up for the basement, where I can start some of my plants from seeds in a couple of months. After doing some research, I think the cheapest and easiest way to go about this is to get a utility shelf (like you'd find in a garage) and some under-the-shelf fluorescent lights, and then light up two or three of the shelves, so that I can have multiple levels of seedlings this spring. So today we get to try to find the shelves and the lights. I can't wait! Of course, once we get it set up, I'm still going to have to wait until late February before I can plant anything. But it will be done, and I won't have to scramble in Feb. I can just plant and hover. :)
I have completely geeked out over my plants. I've read about 10 books on garden plants, done some analysis in the backyard to determine how much shade different parts of the yard gets, and have made a chart of the types of plants that I want to put in, how much sun they need, how I will plant them (seed, bulb,tuber, plant from nursery, etc) and then how I will repropagate them in the future to avoid paying a fortune every year, where I plan to put them, how much fertilizer and water they require, and how to get them to survive the winter. On the next decent (and dry) day, I need to take a tape measurer out to the yard and get exact dimensions of all of the areas that I plan to put beds in, so that I can put it all down on graph paper! Yes, I am a geek.
In other, non-plant news, J got me a magazine subscription to a writer's magazine for Christmas. I have always wanted to try to publish, but gave up after the first few rejection letters. I feel like I need continual motivation to keep writing, so am hoping that this will help.
And the cats. Where to start on the cats? They are so much fun, and I'm so glad that we have them. I can't remember what it was like without them, to be honest! We got some bad news about Charlotte; they basically confirmed that she has a serious heart condition. It requires medication every day, twice a day, for the rest of her life. She probably won't live past another 18 months. It's very sad. We're taking good care of her though, giving her plenty of warm perches, as much food as she wants, and lots of love and affection. Her twilight months will be happy ones.
As for Annie and Q-bit, they are a riot. Bit ended up in the bathtub with me last night, after she fell over the side while trying to drink the bathwater. That was a traumatic experience for all... poor little thing. I'll be curious to see if she comes back for more bath tonight. J said he knew what had happened when he heard a ker-sploosh, and then me swearing. Heh.
Two more days off, then it's back to work for another few days until New Year's Day. I love this time of the year... lots of days off. Then after that, it's a long grind towards Memorial Day. :(
Well, off to Lowe's!