Favorite Things #6, #7 & #8
Favorite Thing #6 I think I'm one of like two people that love Arizona in the summer. I love the bright sunshine and the struggle of the plant life to survive in overwhelming and oppressive heat. I love the oppressive heat. I love the feel of the sun baking into my skin and heating it. I'm always cold because of poor circulation so it's lovely to stand in the sun and bask. Of course, I also have an air-conditioned house so when I get too hot, I can go inside to where it's temperature-controlled. I'm certain if I didn't have A/C but, rather, even a swamp cooler, I wouldn't appreciate the heat as much as I do. When I moved here, people back in PA asked why I would ever move out here. My response was and remains, "You don't have to shovel sunshine". I very rarely have to suffer a case of SADS because the sun shines all the time. I don't bother with lamps until after seven during the summers. I just open my blinds and invite the outside in. I like going for a walk in the morning when it's already warm. I like the citrus trees blooming. I like not worrying about owning an umbrella. I like the huge downpours during monsoon season. I love that the rain clears out quickly. I love watching the kids play in their little wading pools. I love tank tops until October.
Favorite Thing #7 Gardening. I know. I'm shocked too. I love watching my zucchinis grow. Myra is constantly giving birth now and Zeke is constantly having plenty of male blooms. And, yes, I named them before they started populating so I guess my zucchini plants are adhering to traditional gender roles. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three (My tomato plants. Sif is a grape tomato plant and the rest are Early Girls) have given me enough tomatoes so far that I've been able to make homemade tomato sauce once and two batches (four servings) of stewed tomatoes. My green pepper plant (named Potts. Get it? Pepper Potts?) is struggling with the heat but I'm rigging up shade cloth this weekend so she'll be fine. Tony (my jalapeno plant. Cause Tony Stark's spicy like that, amirite?!) has three peppers on it that it's now time to harvest. I'm just really enjoying watching these plants grow and struggle while I nurture. My strawberry plants haven't done a damned thing other than grow about a bazillion new leaves but I have hopes for next year. I have petunias and random other flowers. I've rosemary in a pot that smells divine every time I water it.
This one shocks me because I grew up on a small "farm" in the middle of bumfuck Central Pennsylvania and I hated it. Loathed it. Begrudged every time I had to go out and harvest anything. Yet, here I am enjoying having a little garden in my backyard. Photos under the cut for people to see, if they'd like. They're not the greatest photos but they're ones I tweeted awhile back.
Favorite Thing #8 Time. It's weird, when you don't have any free time, how awkward it is to adapt to free time. I'm still readjusting from working 70-80 hours a week to only working 40-45. I don't know what to do with myself (probably has something to do with the gardening thing). I'm writing more (original fic and fanfic), I'm spending a lot of time on tumblr. I'm reading and watching movies. I'm playing with my dogs. I'm playing video games. It's nice to have free time. I knew, at a numbers-only sort of level, how much working two jobs was draining everything from me but now that I have that time, I now know how awful I felt back then because I feel so much better now. I'm happier, more zen-like. For the most part, my insomnia is gone and I've lost weight. I'm eating better because I have time to cook. I'd forgotten how much I love baking until I got that free time back and, now, I'm making bread most weekends, playing around with cake recipes, making brownies. I've started yoga again, which is probably helping the zen thing, but it's so nice to just take some time and relax, work out all the tension and breathe.
Favorite Thing #7 Gardening. I know. I'm shocked too. I love watching my zucchinis grow. Myra is constantly giving birth now and Zeke is constantly having plenty of male blooms. And, yes, I named them before they started populating so I guess my zucchini plants are adhering to traditional gender roles. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three (My tomato plants. Sif is a grape tomato plant and the rest are Early Girls) have given me enough tomatoes so far that I've been able to make homemade tomato sauce once and two batches (four servings) of stewed tomatoes. My green pepper plant (named Potts. Get it? Pepper Potts?) is struggling with the heat but I'm rigging up shade cloth this weekend so she'll be fine. Tony (my jalapeno plant. Cause Tony Stark's spicy like that, amirite?!) has three peppers on it that it's now time to harvest. I'm just really enjoying watching these plants grow and struggle while I nurture. My strawberry plants haven't done a damned thing other than grow about a bazillion new leaves but I have hopes for next year. I have petunias and random other flowers. I've rosemary in a pot that smells divine every time I water it.
This one shocks me because I grew up on a small "farm" in the middle of bumfuck Central Pennsylvania and I hated it. Loathed it. Begrudged every time I had to go out and harvest anything. Yet, here I am enjoying having a little garden in my backyard. Photos under the cut for people to see, if they'd like. They're not the greatest photos but they're ones I tweeted awhile back.
Favorite Thing #8 Time. It's weird, when you don't have any free time, how awkward it is to adapt to free time. I'm still readjusting from working 70-80 hours a week to only working 40-45. I don't know what to do with myself (probably has something to do with the gardening thing). I'm writing more (original fic and fanfic), I'm spending a lot of time on tumblr. I'm reading and watching movies. I'm playing with my dogs. I'm playing video games. It's nice to have free time. I knew, at a numbers-only sort of level, how much working two jobs was draining everything from me but now that I have that time, I now know how awful I felt back then because I feel so much better now. I'm happier, more zen-like. For the most part, my insomnia is gone and I've lost weight. I'm eating better because I have time to cook. I'd forgotten how much I love baking until I got that free time back and, now, I'm making bread most weekends, playing around with cake recipes, making brownies. I've started yoga again, which is probably helping the zen thing, but it's so nice to just take some time and relax, work out all the tension and breathe.