gardening

Seedlings = Planted

Yesterday, Scott gave me about a dozen Rose of Sharon shrublings (twigs with leaves and roots) that he removed from a friend’s yard. However, it rained like a mofo yesterday, so all I could do was stick them in a watering can full of water and hope for the best. This morning, before work, they actually looked pretty good. Perky, not wilty. Good sign.

When I got home from work today, I made myself some dinner and then prepared myself for some digging in the dirt. When all was said and done, I spent about an hour and a half gardening in the mud.

I ended up removing a patch of grass along the west fence that was maybe a little bigger than four feet square. I attempted to transplant the grass/sod/whatever to a bare patch in our lawn, handfuls at a time. We’ll see if that takes, or if Aaron berates me for attempting it. Anyway, I planted one Rose of Sharon in the middle of that newly-created dirt patch, and left the others in the watering can.

All the while, the wind was kicking up and it was threatening to rain, so I re-evaluated my evening of gardening fun once I was done getting the Rose of Sharon securely in the ground. (I hope.) I ended up leaving the remaining Roses of Sharon in favor of creating my little herb garden plot, as my seedlings were starting to look kind of peaked.

I ended up digging up a patch about three feet by five feet, right by the house, underneath the air conditioner. Believe it or not, it seems that this area gets the most sunshine during the most hours of the day. I hope I’m right about that. Anyway, I ended up with six catnip plants in the back row, six sweet basil in the middle row, and two lemon basil in the front row with six closely-spaced parsley plants. I really hope they take.

My two remaining hollyhocks ain’t doing too good. I put them in the front, with the other sun-loving plants that need planted soon. I think they’ll live, although I’m not sure if they’ll bloom (which will make it a challenge for them to reseed themselves for next year).

Aaron has gone on the record as being unenthused about me digging up so much grass, being that we already have giant grassless patches in the back yard. I’m going to make a concerted effort to make all this shit live this year, though. I want to make our shit pretty, dammit. I will make this work.

randomness 1 Comment

General Consensus

My Mom called a few days ago, and I told her I was thinking of donating my hair again and having it cut short. Predictably, she squealed, “Nooo!!” I really think it’s about that time again, though.

I’ve shared the few existing photos of the blunt bob from Summer of 2003 earlier. As I recall, that wasn’t even one of my better hair days, but those are the only photos I have of my supar-shortest-evar haircut. This time, I want to go with something a little different. Maybe some layers, maybe long bangs or fringy face-framing hair. Only thing is, I tend not to want to (or have time to) fuss with my hair. I’d want a ‘do that I could wash n’ go, preferably allowing it to dry in the car during my 10-minute commute. o_O

Let me share with you some photos I’ve collected from around teh intarweb of hairstyles that are close to what I might want:
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randomness 1 Comment

What’s My Motivation?

Man… I can NOT get motivated. I had thought that today was going to be a gardening day, just because I got some freshly-uprooted Roses of Sharon at work today, but then it decided to rain. I should be doing my PUSH workout, and finishing up my podcast, and working on the LSM site.

However. I am not interested in any of that. I’m not even interested in playing Civ IV, although that’s probably what I’ll end up doing.

I am interested in totally vegging out, but not taking a late nap or going to bed early or watching a movie or reading a book. I’m definitely not interested in exercising, like I should be doing, and I’m not interested in fixing stuff on the LSM page, although I’ll end up doing that this evening, anyway. Got some smaller stuff to take care of, and need to get started on some bigger stuff, like uploading photos and implementing forums. I’m so dropping the ball there.

Anyway, yeah. Lately, I’ve been in a little bit of a funk in the evenings. Just not interested in being productive, after thinking all day. It’s a problem I don’t mind having, I guess, considering that it means I’m using my brain during the day… 🙂

weight loss 2 Comments

Diet & Fitness Update, Week #16

Gotta get back into the swing of things.

I took my little break from exercise while I was sick, and never got back into it. Also, Aaron and I have been gorging ourselves on the weekends, and I know that our 2½ mile Saturday walks at Wildwood Metropark haven’t been offsetting our binges nearly as much as we wish they would. I haven’t gone back to eating completely shitty during the week, but I also haven’t been eating enough protein, especially in the evenings.

That said, I have purposely not weighed myself this week. No point.

Don’t take this to mean I’m giving up. Far from it. In fact, I’m approaching my fitness plan with renewed gusto this week, despite having a bunch of stuff I need to do. Finish up my podcast, update the Lakeshoremen site… but I’m setting priorities. First, I have to work out. That always makes me feel better and more energized. Then I can do the other things I “need” to do.

I am fucking sick and tired of being all frumpy and shit. I am doing something about it. I’ve gained back the weight I lost while I was sick, and I’m not going back up where I was, dammit. I need to change something about *me* if I’m going to make this thing happen. Cardio has to happen. Protein has to happen. Early rising has to happen. I need to act like I’m already fit, and then it will happen.

(Oh, and I apologize to anyone who recently found my blog who wasn’t expecting me to drop an f-bomb. I do that every now and then.)

Natty Jo, in response to your questions: I’ve actually only been on the PUSH program for two months — and thanks to my being sick and then slacking, I’m only on Workout #1 of DVD #2. So, I guess you could call this my fifth week on PUSH. I’m sticking with Bob Harper myself, although I am curious about the new trainer they have on the list. This particular workout is finally getting to where I need to be, fitness-wise, although I’m having my next DVD focus more on my legs. Yay for arms and abs, though! w00t!

Stay tuned to see how I’m coming along. Next weekend will be the monthly weigh-and-measure (for real this time)!