Happy Birthday to Me

It's my birthday! Happy Birthday To Me!

Currant Jelly

It's currant jelly time again! So far I've made 19 pints of jelly, and still have about that much to go. This is the biggest crop we've had ever. That cool spell in May really made a difference. This is the best tasting jelly, and it's just gorgeous when you hold a jar of it up to the light. It just glows this beautiful red.

I also went to the Orem Library and checked out about 20 80s anthology CDs. I know that sounds excessive, but I got a few songs off of each to add to my "collection." I'm listening to the B-52s even as we speak. I figured out that I really don't like ska, but like Depeche Mode and The Smiths a lot. My sister Caro loves to tell people that Tinkerbell's favorite song is "Girlfriend in a Coma." It makes me so proud (sniff sniff).

No More Drama

So my mom told me last night that my life is like a soap opera, and she was so right. So no more drama. I'm too tired.

My interview at Freedom went great, but I would rather stay at Sunset. For all its warts and crazy kids headed for juvenile detention, I like it. I like the teachers, the kids, and the school itself. My boss has been very kind to me and generous with responsibility, and I think that means something. So if Freedom offers me the job, I'm turning it down. I would rather tutor kids in math and reading, I think.

Secondly, Kitty Boy decided after all to go to Dixon. This was not an easy decision for him or us, but I do feel good about it. He'll be riding the bus with all the other neighbor kids going there, will have the same homework load they do, and get to wear pretty much what he wants. He even gets to do summer band and play percussion like Drummer Boy (Kitty Boy might need a new name now).

Thirdly, Tinkerbell is more than likely going to come back to Sunset. This is the hardest part of all because she is doing so well at Freedom, but it's a drama-free move for us. Less driving, less gas money, more friends in the neighborhood, walking to school, the whole shebang. I do worry about her being bored, but she is thrilled that she'll have next to no homework, unlike now.

Fourth, forget the baptism dress. Em sent her a beautiful dress for her birthday that is completely perfect. She looks darling in it, it fits her perfectly, and that's the end of it. I'll use the fabric I bought to make a couple of American Girl dresses to practice on maybe. Or maybe not.

I'm all signed up for Stats, but I may even drop that. I passed it way back in 1983 or something ridiculous like that, but I don't remember a thing and I could stand to get a higher grade in it. So maybe I'll take it and maybe I won't. And maybe I'll just forget about grad school for awhile. I am the only kid in the family without a master's, but I'm the only one who seems to be bothered by that. And what would I do with an MA in Mass Communications anyway? Work in advertising again? I doubt it. Maybe a non-profit. But until I figure that part out, I should probably put those plans on hold.

I'm still going to make jelly, and try my hand at the other stuff. But I'm going to try to enjoy it. And if I don't, tomatoes compost really well! And maybe I'll just wait on dry-pack until my husband is actually in the country and can do it with me.

Thanks, Mom. You're the best!
XOXOXOXO

Help! Stop Me Before I Go Nuts!

For some weird, compulsive reason I feel the need to completely overwhelm my life with projects and work. I wish I could hang out at the nail salon and be a Botox Barbie like my ex-boyfriend's wife probably does, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Maybe with that much silicone in you your brain shuts off and it doesn't bother you anymore. I'm completely free of silicone at the moment, so I'm self-destructing in other ways.

I just finished three knitting projects and am working on a smocked dress for Tinkerbell. It was supposed to be done by next Saturday for her baptism, but it has been the project from hell. I've had to pleat the thing FIVE times, and then one of the pleating threads broke and pulled halfway out of the dress. Argghh. And of course I'm planning on making a matching dress for her American Girl doll. Smocked, french seams, the whole works. And I'm supposed to be working on another dress as part of a SAGA course (Smocking Arts Guild) that I need to mail in for grading. Of course, I would have to start it first. Details, details. Plus Sweetie's Jack Sparrow costume for Halloween that I didn't do last year.

I need to inventory my food storage and be ready for a massive week-long dry-pack canning session at my currently filthy house in July. It can't be filthy then, though, because that would be gross. Especially since my sister-in-law and others will be bringing their stuff to dry-pack at my then spotless house. Never mind that I'm getting Kitty Boy and Sweetie ready for a Scout campout this week, Tinkerbell's baptism (and people probably coming by my currently filthy house), Sweetie's Colorado conference, Girls' Camp for Elvira, and DrummerBoy & Sweetie's two week trip to Europe. Mom wants me to fly home for five days in August, which would overlap with Caro's birthday. But I need to fly right home for Kitty Boy's birthday and then get him and Sweetie off to Boston for a week. Then everyone goes back to school (Note to Self: School Shopping!) and Drummer Boy has his birthday. No La Push this year I'm afraid. So sad about that. But Elvira and I will still go get "Breaking Dawn" at the midnight release. That will be my early birthday present to myself. I can lose myself in blood-thirsty vampires and werewolves for 24 hours. Who am I kidding--I'll probably stay up all night and have it done in seven.

Forgot to mention picking four currant bushes and canning about 30 pints of jelly. And I'm doing peaches, pears, and tomatoes for the first time. Did I tell you I just bought a dehydrator so I can turn all our grapes into raisins and dry our own herbs?

Just so we're clear on how pathological I am, I just applied to work 30 hours a week at the kids' school, volunteer in their GT program after school, organize an after-school merit badge program at the school, and retake Stats 221 at BYU so I can apply to grad school in February after taking the GRE. Oh no! Forgot to study for the GRE! I need drugs.

Help me!

Want To See Our Yard?

I found pictures of our yard online from the 2006 Hidden Garden Benefit. It looked so nice! That was before we lost the globe willow and the apple trees in the backyard that pretty much destroyed the landscaping back there. Now we're going to lose the peach tree. So depressing. But, it has given us room to expand the garden by two 5x10 raised beds, a better composting station, and hopefully a potting shed/greenhouse in a year or so. So click on the link and we're the first six pictures on the 2006 photos and you'll at least see what the front and the vegetable garden looks like.

Also, if you're one of the lucky few who knows who I really am, you can pull up our address on Google Maps and see a picture of the house/garden. Isn't my Sweetie a talented guy?

Sleeping

Maxfield Parrish, The Sleeping Beauty, 1912


I haven't been sleeping well for months--years, really. It has been particularly bad these last four or five months. I average about three-four hours a night. The funny thing is that once school (read "job") ended on Friday, I have been racking up the sleep hours like crazy. I went into Tinkerbell's room yesterday to look for laundry and woke up an hour and a half later on her bed. After getting Sweetie and the boys off to a Scout thing on Saturday, I folded laundry for about 20 minutes, then woke up three hours later. I LOVE this. I feel absolutely no guilt whatsoever about passing out cold. I appreciate sleep so much more (don't look at the time I posted this). In fact, I'm going to bed now. Good night!

Holly-Batali

Elvira, my lovely daughter, has a pseudonym. Actually, Elvira is a pseudonym, but she has yet another. For some months now she has been publishing her work under the nom de plume "Holly-Batali" on Fanfiction.net. She's so amazing. Check out her Springtime With the Cullens. It's my favorite!