TBQ's LJ

The weather was so nice when I got home today that a few moments spent with the tomato plants turned into nearly two hours of pruning and weediing all of my plants. It was longer than I thought, but the sun was setting, the air was neither too hot nor cold, and it wasn't humid. It was relaxing, with the only breaks in the silence being when my neighbors passed by or when the nearby church chimed the hours.

I saw lots of worms. I'm guessing because of all the rain we've been having. I said hi and thanked them for all their hard work in the soil my plants are in. Also lots of ants, though thankfully we were pretty content to leave each other alone, much though me pulling out weeds near their homes understandably upset them.

Possibly the most fun was weeding around the vinca minor. I got it last year because there was a looooooong stretch of dirt right in front of my porch which needed something to keep it looking barren. The catch was that the dirt was shallow, in no way rich looking, and had a huge wooden fence right next to it which effectively blocked out most sunlight.

After doing research I found that the vinca minor was pretty much made for that spot, up to the point where I'm pretty sure that some of the entries mentioned that the ideal location for the plant was at my address.

Last year it didn't grow much, but this year it's been flowering and getting lush. It's slowly covering the space. But what was fun was watching it choke out the weeds. I felt like the vinca minor and I were working together, like it had hunted down the weeds and held them up for me to spot and I got to yank them out to help finish the job.

The best was when I got to the end. I hadn't bought enough last year to cover all the ground, so the end was where the dirt was thinnest and for the most part I let it be. Today as long as I was on a role I figured I may as well make a dent into the thick clump of weeds. As I started to pull, sure enough, I saw my creeping vines sneaking their way along the bottom of the dirt. I felt like a proud mama. A mama who was proud of her slowly murderous baby.

Now all I need to do is figure out if I want to call it Audrey or Dexter. 8)

I am repeatedly reminding myself that it is not a good idea to nap at 7pm. Not when you have work the next day, anyway. My second wind can kick in aaaaaaaaaaany time now.

Today I slept in then went down to the beach to walk and generally observe life. Back home for a shower, then making dinner. Since I had vegetables left over from the weekend I grilled them up then mixed them with pasta, salt, pepper, olive oil, and parmesan cheese for dinner. Quite yummy if I do say so myself.

Wee tomatoes are still coming in, and I spotted more morning glories today. If I can stop yawning for five seconds I may knit.

Such was my day.

As is so often the case, it is helpful to check one's bank account before going off and buying things. Nothing like vacation to eat up funds. So much for that steak I was going to buy to put on the grill tomorrow. ;)

I had a lucifrix with me for the holiday. There was fondue, BBQ, Rifftrax, and other sorts of fun things. I dare say good times were had by all.

My plants are not yet dead. The other day I spotted some morning glories, which was very exciting. Today I saw that one of my tomato plants actually has tomatoes coming in! Now if I can just keep the basil from dying we'll be good to go.

When a hiking trail is rated "strenuous" they MEAN it.

I can only imagine "aggressive" refers to the exact same trail, only they have people shooting at you while you climb it.

Overheard today in the nail salon:

Mother, to her 6 year old daughter: "Let's say you had nine lollipops and some friends came and took three. How many - "

Daughter: "I CAN HAVE NINE LOLLIPOPS?!!"

This week I shall be roadtripping on a three hour tour drive. That's three there, three back, and assuming no traffic.

I need music! Rec me your favorite stuff to listen to at the moment. Preferably stuff I can download right away, like from iTunes or where ever *cough*.

Danke =)

Some memories of Stuart/Minotaur that keep going through my head:

"He's not gay, he's just British."

Examining my hand in during a panel to see if my fingernails were short enough to qualify me as someone who has sex with girls.

Holding up his hands to indicate the relative size of a hobbit to a human... then turning his hands to face each other as we all realized how useful that size difference can be for certain sexual situations.

That his last entry involved creating a sizing cheat sheet for cock rings.

Man will he be missed.

RIP Minotaur. The only comfort is that you're making Heaven kinkier for the rest of us.

http://community.livejournal.com/escapade_con/65683.html

The day dawned overcast and muggy, which meant that hanging laundry outside to dry wasn't going to work. Especially since overcast turned into occasional bits of rain. Sometimes it was sunny and rainy, just to mix it up a little.

Laundry was still done, I just hung it inside to dry. I find that air drying in any form, even the kind that has to be done over a couple of days thanks to humidity, gives a result that I prefer over machine drying.

While the laundry was in the machine I took care of the plants. The tomatoes haven't come in yet, but their vines are doing very well. Ironically the plant for the grape tomatoes is bigger and bushier than the big boy. Go fig. They are starting to show flowers though so that's good. And, of course, they smell like tomatoes. 8)

The basil has been strange. Normally you can't beat it off with a stick but this year four of the plants have just withered and vanished, leaving one and a half left. One seems fine, the half I'm not sure about. They all came from the same batch so I'm assuming whatever it was was something they brought with them. If necessary I'll buy more. We'll see how the remaining one and a half does first.

The parsley, OTOH, is doing great.

The morning glories and moonflowers haven't begun to bloom yet, but they are growing. Every few days I have to unwind them from the main stake and wrap them around the spiral cage that they're supposed to be climbing. But they're not dead yet and I think that's the key part to all of this. Once they bloom we'll see what made it and what didn't. At least for the morninig glories, as the seedlings I got had only blue flowers, but the seeds were multi-colored. So if there are multi-colored morning glories we'll know the seeds made it in spite of me touching them. Moonflowers I have no idea.

Now if only I could get some goats and chickens... ;)

Did the Hope in Motion walk today. It went well! Huge crowd. The day was warm but thankfully not humid. Also thankfully I thought to put sunscreen on before I went. I failed the decision on if I should wear a hat, but very luckily they had free hats for anyone who wanted one. So I scored one of those and that kept my face from bursting into flames.

All told, my dad and I raised over $1300 for the Bennett Cancer Center. Thank you so much to everyone who donated and helped out!!!!

Conversation had at the checkout of my local Borders:

Me: Hi, I'd like to give this book a home, please.

Saleswoman: I've never heard it put that way before.

Me: I promise to love it as my very own.

Saleswoman: That's good, because we do do background checks to make sure you'll provide a safe environment for it.

Me: Of course. For all you know I'm the sort of monster who breaks the spines.

Saleswoman: We can't have that.

Me: Indeed!

You have probably heard (or at least I hope you have) about radio station KRXQ, aka home of Rob, Arnie and Dawn in the Morning, aka where transphobic bigoted assholes vomit their stupid all over the airwaves, aka NAMBLA. If not, GLAAD has a good roundup. The short version is that the show's hosts thought it'd be funny to spend a half hour talking about how transgender children are freaks who should be beaten with shoes. Good times, no?

The happy news, such as happiness can be found in a situation like this, is that people are pissed and have been making their displeasure known. This has resulted in companies like Nissan, Chipotle, Sonic, Verizon Wireless, and Bank of America pulling their advertising dollars from the radio station.

But the fight is not over yet. The hosts have refused to apologize and some companies haven't yet responded one way or another.

So what you, the viewers at home, can do is contact their sponsors and folks at the station (scroll down) to let them know just how much you appreciate this kind of humor brightening up the airwaves.

I've already done so, and I've included my letters for your enjoyment:

( To the advertisors )

and ( To the radio station )

Now go forth and kick bigot butt, assuming you haven't already.

First of all, thanks to everybody who not only helped me met but surpass my goal for this Sunday's walk for the Bennett Cancer Center. You all ROCK!!!!

Second, if there was anybody out there who wanted to donate and hasn't yet, might I be able to tempt you to (anonymously) help my dad meet his goal? He's only five dollars off as of me writing this and I know it would totally make his day to go over.

I say anonymously so that way he doesn't know that it was his daughter behind the final stretch ;)

It would be totally awesome if that happened. My dad is one of the most amazing dads in the history of ever. But for some reason he doesn't realize just how awesome he is. Hitting (or passing) his goal would be a great thing to happen for him.

Thank you thank you thank you!!!

I'm so close! Mere inches from goal! The event is this Sunday, so you still have time to sponsor my walk for the Bennett Cancer Center.

(With thanks to all those who have donated already)

ETA: Goal met, yay!!! But donations can still be accepted and certainly welcomed!

Three day weekends are awesome. I heart them so.

Other things I love are air conditioning and yummy holiday meals.

Now if only it would rain.

In other news, I only have a little more to go to meet my goal! Please sponsor my walk for the Bennett Cancer Center. Every little bit helps! Thank you!

Watching So You Think You Can Dance. I love the audition stage because you watch these people and marvel at how their bodies can do what they're doing.

I've accepted an invitation to watch a polo match next weekend. I'll have to figure out what to wear. Who knew my life would have a sudden attack of Pretty Woman?

If you haven't yet, there's still time to sponsor me in my walk for the Bennett Cancer Center. Doing so helps support a worthy charity and makes for happy TBQs *nodnod*.

The downside:

I was putting together some melt-n-pour soap today and spilled the dye, thus turning myself into a smurf.

The upside:

Having cleaned myself up, my hands are now AMAZINGLY soft.

Attention! On June 7 I will once again be participating in a charity walk to benefit a local cancer center. For a snapshot image of said center I shall shamelessly steal from the first post I did when I did this:

[T]he Carl & Dorothy Bennett Cancer Center is a place for healing, where they like to say that science and soul come together. Their patients are provided with a superior level of clinical care and access to world-class physicians, skilled nurses and the latest in treatment options, research protocols and supportive services. A full-range of cancer services is available in both the inpatient and outpatient settings, with the oncology team working together to provide the best possible outcome for their patients.

The June 7 Walk, Run, & Ride is their biggest fundraising event. All money goes directly to the cancer center and is 100% tax-deductible.

Why do I mention this? So you can SPONSOR ME!!! You can donate online via that oh so handy and easy to use link and pay by credit card. If you would rather mail your donation in feel free to let me know and I can email you the relevant information.

I know the economy sucks, but every little bit helps. Even weetiny donations are welcome. The Bennett Cancer Center is where my Uncle Tommy got some of his treatment. It also does research so it's not like a donation here only benefits the center.

So please please please please sponsor me. Also please feel free to pimp this link and plea for help in your personal LJs or blogs or what have you, if you are so inclined.

Thank you thank you thank you!

So last night I was at work until 11:30. Could've been worse. Others were there until 2:30am. And then back at it around 8 this morning. Yeah.

Today was, comparatively speaking, not too bad. I was in a conference room all day as we did fine-tuning. And during the various interruptions of that fine-tuning I was able to get SO MUCH DONE because NOBODY WAS INTERRUPTING ME. IT WAS HEAVEN.

It's all still not done yet. If I had to bet it won't be done until Monday afternoon, which is when the folks giving this presentation head out of the office. So it's possible I'll have insanity to deal with Monday morning, but they're leaving at 3 (or thereabouts). And either way by the end of Monday I am OUT OF IT WHEEEEEE.

Don't get me wrong. I got to use my mad skillz 1) at all and 2) not only in front of my boss but the CFO and CEO. This was a very awesome thing for me to be so heavily involved with. It's only the marathon aspect of it that's a bit much for what my system can handle, so it's nice to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

For those who asked, I'm on salary so no overtime. I will get to take time off next week which I'll turn into a 3 day weekend on Friday. The tangible benefits, such as they are, of when I do work like this tend to be in extra paid time off and in how my raise/bonus is calculated (those years when we do raises/bonuses). Plus my boss knows that I rock in stereo, so it's all good.

In other news, I think the cats might be finally convinced that I didn't totally abandon them forever and forever. Poor kitties. *pet pet*