Facebook interferes with my writing

Mark Zuckerberg, I have a bone to pick with you…why did you have to invent a website so compelling? A website that is such a black hole of time that I am a helpless victim with no choice but to sit and see what EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE 500 friends I have (you know, just my best friends) are doing right now! I mean, if I log off, I might miss that somebody I used to know/haven’t talked to in 10 years and probably won’t ever again but we’re such good Facebook friends!, posted a picture of what they ate for dinner! The horror!

Seriously, why do people post pictures of what they ate for dinner? If you really want me to know about it, drop some off – it is probably delicious!

Okay. In fairness, this really probably isn’t a problem that Mark is responsible for. Before there was Facebook there was undoubtably a different time-sucking website, though I am hard pressed to think of one right now. Or there was TV.

The point is, it is really a pain in the behind to focus. Really. Big. Pain.

I have been sitting at my computer for 25 minutes and so far I have read my favorite writing blog (but that’s legitimate, right?), caught up on Facebook and now, in an effort to really not open that document I have been working on for over a month now (we’re at odds right now so I want to give it the silent treatment and really teach it a lesson) I am actually writing a blog post – which almost NEVER happens anymore!

Can we say fear of commitment?

FEAR OF COMMITMENT!

Very good kids!

Merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas…and all through the house…not a creature was stirring…not even a mouse…

But Gil Cat sat patiently under the tree…

Gil and OSU Santa patiently wait for Christmas to arrive

Deep thoughts…

Today I have been thinking a lot about how and where we end up in life. How did I end up on the career path I did, and the home I live in with the husband I live with? How did he end up here? And how far back are things set in motion? How much of it was simply my decisions and how much of it was my parents or even grandparents?

I won’t swear to still believe this in a year, or even a week…but I think life is a series of choices. We reach a branch in the road we are traveling and we can go left or right.

When I was growing up choose your own adventure books were a big thing. You would finish a chapter and you had to choose one of the two (or sometimes three) options for the story to continue. I loved them. I soaked them up like I still soak up books today. But there was this one thing…I was always really stressed that my choice would make the book end badly. So, I would try to cheat and read option a, but then go back and read option b and figure out which one I liked better.

Honestly, thinking about it now gives me a serious headache.

But that’s like life, isn’t it? We reach the end of one chapter and we have to choose…but we can’t read ahead to see how it goes before we have to commit to a choice. So we worry about every choice we have made and where it has led us and where we are going from here.

But, then there is this idea of fate. Things happen when they are supposed to, in the exact way they are supposed to. Which would mean we could just float through life without a care – because what will happen (good, bad or indifferent) is going to happen with or without our help, encouragement, efforts or even awareness?

But what if life is somewhere in the middle? What if we are on a path that is set out for us? What if that path isn’t so much a straight line but twisty with lots of forks in the road? Maybe, I’m saying, there is a path that starts at the beginning and ends at the end, but gives us the option to choose the details.

And because of that, we have to choose to be present or not, to be happy or not, to value every moment and adventure and experience.

Your life is your story – choose your own adventure…wisely.

Mind-blowing, right?

 

A love story…still unfolding

Once upon a time, a girl and a boy (who maybe looked more woman and man than boy and girl…but who are we to judge?) had a very pretty wedding with lots of family, friends and a few random strangers. And, for the next year, they lived happily ever after…right? Because it was super easy! Except for family illness, problems dealing with the Federal government holding up their end of a bargain made long ago when the boy said he would go fight for his country, and way way WAY too much on the schedule from day to day. Yeah, except for that…

And you know what? That girl was…ME! And that boy…it was Brandon! Hooray!

In other words, Brandon and I just celebrated our first anniversary!!!!!!! Of COURSE all those exclamation points are necessary…hi, my name is Laura…I love to overdue get punctuation EXACTLY right.

So, one whole year under our belts. That means we are experts at this, right? RIGHT? Probably not, actually. But we’re doing pretty good. The before referenced “opportunities to grow closer” have been challenging, but in all seriousness, I think we’ve done a decent job of approaching them together. As a team. That’s what all the so-called experts encourage, right? I’m assuming. You’ll need to let me know if I’m wrong because I don’t listen to them. Terrible listening skills are my plight in life.

Before I got married…I’m sort of ashamed to say this and I REALLY hope my mother has no knowledge of this blog and will never see me say this…my mother told me that being married was different than anything else I had ever done and kind of hard. My listening skills being what they are…I didn’t listen. Actually, I had a bit of an attitude. Shocking, I know. I thought “Hey, we’ve lived together for several years already. It’s the same thing, so I’ve got this whole marriage thing down already!”

Stop laughing.

You know what? We were both kind of right and kind of wrong. So there. I said it. My mother was not TOTALLY wrong – that’s as far as I’m willing to go. I had a pretty good handle on what it meant to live with another person…a BOY, nonetheless…and approach life together. This added level of permanency has been a strange, though not unwelcome, feeling. It’s been weird to realize that even when the tough stuff comes neither of us will ever be alone to deal with it again. That has taken some adjusting, honestly.

And I feel like I am in dangerous territory for this whole post being misunderstood.  So, in closing, I’m going to clarify.

My husband, Brandon, is amazing and I love him with all my heart. I feel fairly confident saying he feels the same. And living with him is NOT hard. Actually, living with our crazy furple (my new word), Gil, is actually harder than living with Brandon.  Seriously…PeePee Pants likes to jump on my head when I’m sleeping and follow me around the house “talking” to me. Have you ever seen that episode of Family Guy where Stewie is standing by his mother saying “Mom…Mom…Momma…Mommy…”and so on? That’s our cat.

I’m really proud of our first year together. It worked. And I’m nervous and excited and happy to think about everything that will come over this lifetime together.

Happy Anniversary Honey!

Reminder to myself

Dear Self -

You have problems saying no to things. Seriously, you need to cut that out. It’s not that you really WANT to be involved in everything under the sun or that you have all this boundless energy to spend down (trust me, you definitely don’t have a lot of energy).

What I’m trying to say, Self, is that this is all a ploy. An attempt to keep you from sitting still. Sitting still is when you would have to write and, God forbid, we actually give ourselves the time to do that. It’s much easier to avoid it and say you never have time than to risk just sucking big time.

But I’m on YOUR side, so I wanted to alert you to this nefarious plot. (See what good writers we will be if we ever actually give ourselves the opportunity? We know the word nefarious.)

It’s easy!
Step 1: JUST SAY NO!

Step 2: Sit down, quietly or with good music. A pen and paper or a computer would be helpful with this step.

Step 3: Begin to write.

It’s really not that complicated, Self. It’s just that you  are scared. But don’t be. We can do this together. And the next time someone says, hey wouldn’t it be cool if you got involved in this, you will be able to shake your head, smile and say…”I’m sorry, but no, I just don’t have the time.” And then breathe a sigh of relief.

Go on, try it.

Reviewing

I was going through old posts and categorizing them (for your reading pleasure – I know you were all upset and say to yourself, “Hey, I want to read all her posts about gardening, but gee, they are so hard to find”) and I came across the posts from the beginning of my Happiness Project. One of them was the 10 Commandments of Me. I wanted to re-read it to see if the commandments still applied.

The idea was to make 10 statements about who I am or who I want to be. I want to re-post my 10 statements because I think it is worthwhile.

My 10 Commandments:

1)      Be Me

2)      Every day matters

3)      Laugh often

4)      Love always

5)      Be good to myself in order to be good to others – this is not a luxury

6)      Pay attention

7)      Find the problem – fix it

8)      Be creative

9)      Ask for help

10)   Make time for family and friends

It was funny, reading them. There are some I am doing quite well (Laugh Often, for example…I laugh A LOT…sometimes quite inappropriately. Especially at work.) and some I really need to keep working on (Pay Attention, Every Day Matters and many more…SO MANY MORE!).

I guess it was a good reminder that I am a work in progress.

What I’m reading now…in the blog world!

I have a secret confession to make…I read parenting blogs. But not because of the parenting part. Because the writers of these particular blogs are so good and so entertaining, I look forward to their newest post. I have to restrain myself from checking every day – once a week is all I allow myself to look. It’s like a treat for good-behavior. Or, as I like to call it, I showed up for work Monday treat!

There is one blog that I really, truly love. It’s called Finslippy.com and it is written by a woman named Alice Bradley. I wish we were friends. (Call me, Alice!) I think we could sit around and make each other laugh for hours.

Earlier this week, during my weekly check of her blog, I read some fantastic news. Alice Bradley has started a new blog – which I immediately book marked on my browser – called Write Anyway, with Alice Bradley. Here is the link, so you can experience its awesomeness for yourself: http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/alice-bradley-write-anyway/.

This is like my heaven. Seriously. A fantastic writer who I read constantly anyway, has started to blog about…writing. And not just writing…making yourself write every day no matter what and talking about her experiences being a writer! Make sure you check out her post “Why ‘Write Anyway’” The list of excuses hits home with me…how about you?

I am looking forward to following Ms. Bradley’s thoughts on writing and being inspired to keep going with my own writing.

August is half way over

We are having some weirdly low temperatures here. At least to me. And I’m fascinated by all the people talking about how much they are enjoying it and how they are looking forward to fall. And, while I understand where they are coming from…I mean it was horrifically hot there for awhile…I can’t agree. (Sorry friends! I mean no offense!)

I am clinging to what’s left of summer. With every bit of strength in me. Fall is okay – I admit the cooler weather and brisk breezes are sometimes welcome after all the heat and humidity. And the cute fall clothes don’t hurt either. But I dread giving up sunny, warm weather for rainy, cool days. And winter? No thanks.

Summer is full of fresh summer squash and tomatoes and eggplants! The sun in a clear blue sky! The smell of fresh basil or sunscreen! Feeling the dirt under my feet and in my hands while I take care of the plants! Patios with chilled adult beverages! Picnics.

And so, as I’m watching summer start to slowly wind down and the sun going to bed earlier and earlier, I can’t help but be a little sad for what we are about to lose (at least until next summer).

Then again, fall hiking in the Hocking Hills and enjoying homemade caramel corn while handing out Halloween candy to the kids in our neighborhood and maybe even a crisp night around a fire pit (can we get one, honey?) with friends and warm adult beverages are all lurking around the corner. So maybe it is true that each season must come and go.

You can still keep the snow and ice and freezing cold of winter though. You will never convince me to be a fan.

Tomato Rot Update or, Why I love Oakland Nursery

I was panicked about tomato rot…or what I have been informed is actually called Blossom End Rot. Even scarier, in my humble opinion. How did I deal with this? How did I take control of a terrifying situation? How did I rescue the poor plants from certain doom?

I’m glad you asked.

I ran, post-haste, to Oakland Nursery in Clintonville.

Best. Nursery. Ever.

You can go there and ask questions! And, even better, they answer them! In depth!

I met a lovely man who told me that my tomatoes were suffering because we had so MUCH rain, followed by so LITTLE rain. And, because I water when I get home at night. Apparently, that upsets their delicate sensibilities. And this, friends, is why the bottom of my tomatoes look like someone set it on fire for 10 seconds.

The lovely man also told me that the tomatoes are still good, you just have to cut off the bottom. Good to know.

He then gently led me to where they keep the weapons to fight things like bugs, unbalanced soil nutrients and…sprays specificially made to help with End Blossom Rot! Hooray! The Calvary!

He helpfully informed me that it cannot reverse the effects, but that it will slow it down on tomatoes already suffering and keep it from starting on tomatoes not already suffering (as it happens, I have a good number of both).

Elated, I rushed home and sprayed both tomato plants with the spray and I am anxiously staring at the plants every spare moment willing tomatoes to not rot.

If it works, I am sending Oakland Nursery a card.

Adventures in Gardening: From Blossom Drop to Tomato Rot

After initially feeling like our poor tomato plants were doomed, stricken with blossom drop, I regrouped.  I soil tested. I “deeply watered”. I went and got a plant food that had a good nitrogen content after the soil test revealed our plants soil had no nitrogen to speak of (it’s like the potato chip of nutrients for tomato plants…they just can’t stop eating it!).

And…much to my surprise…the tomato plants recovered! They have grown big and strong and have lots of green tomatoes. It was a veggie miracle and I started to believe that, yes, I could grow food to eat in my own backyard. I started to believe that I wasn’t clueless and a walking gardening disaster. I walked around my garden  proudly, feeling in control. I was a gardening rock star!

And, while this newly discovered confidence and commitment did greatly upset the squirrel gang, who have found themselves unable to successfully pull off their darkness of night attacks on my plants (oh, did I mention the cayenne pepper is working GREAT? Score another gardening victory for the Gardening Rock Star and her husband) it was, sadly, a short-lived confidence.

Which brings me to last night. As I pulled into my parking spot, I surveyed those beautiful plants. I had noticed over the weekend, a few were starting to turn red, and I wanted to see if they were getting closer to picking time. And that’s when I saw it…

One of those beautiful, red tomatoes looked like someone had sliced off the bottom half. How odd, I thought. (I immediately blamed a squirrel. Jerks.) I jumped out of my car and hurried over to the plant to see what was wrong with my beautiful baby…I turned the tomato over and was SHOCKED! to see that the whole tomato was there, but the bottom part was black and gross looking. I picked it and threw it away. I looked at my other beautiful plant and realized ANOTHER tomato looked the same way!

Dear God! What was wrong now?

Some quick research on Burpee.com and Gardening.com revealed that we now have…(gulp)…Tomato Rot.

And, not unlike Blossom Drop, it could be any number of things causing it. Most likely, it is calcium deficient (who knew!). But it could also be too much water or not enough phosphorus or too much nitrogen (Please tell me they are joking on that one – I went from too little nitrogen to too much nitrogen? I have a headache.) or too rainy a beginning of the season followed by too dry currently.

And with that, my rock star status ended.

I am sure the squirrel gang is rejoicing. Maybe having a dance party in my cucumber patch.