The Thanksgiving Letter (back by popular demand)

The Thanksgiving Letter (back by popular demand)

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It's been awhile

Seems to be the topic of most of my last posts here.... But it has. I've been distracted. With summer mostly. Summer is the most calming and blissful season of my life. I try not to spend a moment fretting about anything, outside of how I'm going to find time to read in my hammock today.

Aah but here goes it, politics has penetrated its' way into the cracks of my delirium once again. And the summer winds down. I spent the week bringing my children home from school for Obama's speech to them, since their superintendent avoided adult responsibility and waited till Friday evening to decide to "leave it to the teachers" whether or not to air the speech, but only with parental permission, before school started Tuesday...

...

(Another post entirely.)

And then defending the health care overhaul has been a full time job in itself. I refuse to spend any extent of time on how insane I think this country has turned- I can only hope it is a minority and includes the vocal crazies around here- it's not just depressing, it's scary to think what I hear everyday is anything close to a majority. I was involved in the FACT based outrage that was post 9/11 and the war on Iraq, the death of thousands of our brave young troops and the rest of the desecration of the position of President of the United States that was G.W.Bush, and while that has turned the crazy right into a raging hypocrisy, I was never so afraid of crazy people actually harming the President as I am right now.

Because in this case the angry people are being fueled by Glen Beck, who laughed about assassinating Nancy Pelosi, and Rush Limbaugh, who... well... is Rush Limbaugh. I've seen more blatant lie and subtle misinformation based disrespect for President Obama than I ever saw in my days of working in the Far Left, Bush Years.

I'm done going on and on. An example. I hear this kind of crap actually coming out of people's mouths and see it in editorials (just better grammar) every day here.

From Yahoo!Answers:

Resolved Question
Does anyone else realize that obama is evil?
reasons
1 socialist
2 globalist
3liar (said to make "change" we need "new" players and the
entire cabinet are clintons cabinet and his number 3 is hilary
herself)
4 gets rid of thousands of jobs by shutting down factories
in the North
5 SUPPORTS ABORTION
6 wants to get rid of dont ask dont tell
7 went to germany during his campaign and stated he was a
citizen of the globe
8 want universal healthcare and says he is not private
interest (his wife was a lobbyist for a healthcare corporation
7 hours ago

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
Even his own
mother realizing this!

Asker's Comment:
haha

...

Other questions he's still waiting to find out the answers to, in case you thought you might feel the need to reach out:

• Do dark faded black jeans look good with all black chuck taylors and a tight T
  shirt ?
• Why are my questions so random?
• My girlfriend is straight dancer at a lesbian bar and i have a thing that bothers
  me.?
• Ever snorted caffiene?
• Can you tell me about legal drugs that ARE NOT on my list?
  

I'm Serious. These people own guns. Somehow. Scariest thing? They are immune to reason.

I spend so much time fending off yelling fits from the above type people that I have yet to have an intelligent conversation about health care reform. I'm open to reason, I promise. I just want to hear some.

Eve's Wedding 08/15/09 (192 photos), by Sarah Peterson

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Yikes

End of the year gradecard for my blogging....Big Fat "F"

So I've been selfishly wrapped up in my own selfish problems to update. Apologies. If I'm too stressed to write, it's gotta be bad. Unfortunately for you (and probably for me as well- I honestly could use the therapy) I'm not quite ready to blog about it yet. And for those who know me well, you know that I'm an open book, so eventually it will all come pouring out, whether or not you really want it to.

That being said, I'm trying out Twitter. I couldn't honestly actively attempt to start up another networking program- considering I'm already hopelessly addicted to Facebook... Not to mention it's been so long since I've stopped by Blogger! So because of my love for Blogger, and because I have nothing to talk about in less than 140 characters or less with no one at all, I thought I'd drop a "follow me" button on here and see where it got me.

I haven't quite figured it all out yet, but I follow a few people already- like Ashton Kutcher- as if I could actually spike up a conversation with him! And it sounds like something I could actually get myself pretty obsessed with. So maybe instead of blogging my record length blogs, I'll try this out... hmm...

Garden: April 3rd, 2009

Wow, let's see...

Apart from being horribly irresponsible with my garden updates, I really have been taking this thing seriously this year. It has been a little tougher, because, for one thing, decided to only plant a minimal amount of seeds. Meaning I wanted 2 Brussels sprouts, I planted 2 (but with 2 seeds in each pod). The other thing is, since everything has started from seed, I'm super nervous, over thinking everything, and have smothered several of my little plants with love. Literally.

So as it stands, in my garden, I have radish, carrots and beets coming up. Any day now I expect to see my peas start to peek. But I have actually planted my second rounds of radish, carrot, beet, peas. I also planted cilantro, and my first round of beans went in. Downstairs, in my "grow-op" I have all three types of tomatoes up,Brussels, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, and onions. I'm terrified to start moving those guys outside at all because last year, even being careful to only do it little by little, when I tried to harden them off, I lost a lot of plants.

So hopefully sometime this week if the sun ever peeks out, I'll get up the nerve to bring them out.
This spring has been so mild. Before I know it it'll be summer, and I'll be up to my knees and thighs with this stuff! I can't wait!

Umm....

I'm getting frustrated with myself.
I can't find my phone charger. And I'm expecting a bunch of important text messages.
It's too cold to go looking for it. I can't get out from underneath my covers.
I can't find my stash of fruit rollups that my hubby hid (from the kids?) and I can't call him because my phone is dead. (And I'm too cold to get up and look for it.)
And finally, I can't figure out how to request to read someone's blog I've been enjoying reading that is now private. I've tried and tried, and now I can't even leave a comment because it's private now! Lol!
AACK!
What to do, what to do? :P

AIG: Arrogant, Incompentent and Greedy

Un-flipping-believable.

Now, I think I heard about this whole ridiculous bonus issue a few months ago, so I was confused as to the reasons why we're all just now freaking out about it. Especially while watching Congress go ballistic after voting themselves an 8% pay increase, all while entertaining lobbyists from AIG and other undesirables, and passing laws (and loopholes) that allowed all this to happen in the first place.

Sad thing is, something like 52 employees that received these "retention bonuses" received them after they had already left the company. One in particular accepted over a $4 million bonus and then resigned.

My husband (always wanting to argue with me whether he truly agrees or not) said to me, "You can't tell me you'd turn down a multi-million dollar bonus if your company offered it to you." I felt like he punched me in the stomach, because OF COURSE I WOULDN'T. I proudly boast a couple rare little qualities known as character and morality. Even if my company would have given us our bonuses this year (which they didn't), I would have at least emailed the president of the hospital and asked him if he thought it was a good idea in the condition of our present economic situation.

Edward Liddy was mobbed...er...interviewed today by Congress (a hypocrisy in itself) where he had the nerve to say that he asked the employees who received over $100,000 to return at least half of it. Half? How 'bout all? And then when Barney Frank asked him if he would be willing to turn over the names of those executives who refused, Mr. Liddy said that he would consider it if there was a promise of anonymity.

Is this guy for real? Barney basically told him that there would be no such agreement, and to expect a subpoena. Hell yea, they should subpoena all these self deserving assholes. Then they should post their identity for public knowledge. Then see how many of them cough it up. McCarthyism my ass. The difference here is that these people aren't teachers and factory workers and nurses that have unfairly targeted for having a minority political opinion. These people robbed us blind. Only Rush Limbaugh, who makes something like $50 million a year would call that McCarthyism.

I don't care if their multi-million dollar bonuses are a minute fraction of what they're used to living on. I don't care if it was in their contract. They should be held accountable and I'm pretty confident that no one will ever do that, because the the people running Congress and the people running Wall Street are pretty much interchangeable. Literally. I'd really like to see the numbers on how many congressmen once had jobs in the financial market and how many CEOs of those bankrupt companies once were lawmakers.

Not that I have any faith in Barney Frank. I don't have faith in Congress at all anymore. Filibuster is now a household word, being used by the Senate something like 112 times in the 2007-08 term, more than doubling its use since the previous term. I doubt they know I (and most of the country) see them as siveling, whiney, greedy and pompous. Their least endearing quality is the fact that I really don't think they even care what we think.

People need to make it a priority next chance to elect some Eliot Nesses and his "untouchables". Electing congressmen on familiarity of their name alone is just as much of a moral crime as what they do with their position after we shoe them in. Everyone needs to take some personal responsibility, not just while deciding on their vote, but in all areas of their lives. A little more responsibility and we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.

Garden: March 15th, 2009 Part 1

I was able to get outside today to do some spring cleaning in my garden... Unfortunately last year I didn't prepare for spring as much as I'd thought. Part of my problem is that I still don't have a stomach for killing anything by pulling it up, so I let id die off and by the time it's dead, it's too cold and I don't want to do anything when it's cold (I'm a sissy when it comes to winter). Hopefully this year I'll be better. I took some pictures of before and after the cleaning, maybe it'll make me feel as if I've accomplished something!

Looking west...You can see the remnants of my peppers, and those Japanese onions that surprised me early this spring. Also in the background is my hanging tomato project that was knocked over this winter by strong storms. What a mess.

After I cleaned it all up... Not sure how to get all the leaf debris off my stone. I have the same problem all over my yard, and it doesn't matter how much I rake, there's always leaves because we have so much fencing. I'll be honest, though, I didn't rake anything out of my garden last fall. The closest SFG has a lot of clay in it that I attempted to break up last year. I added quite a bit of peat but it's still very thick. The second has a little clay in it and the furthest garden has the best consistency out of the three.

Looking east...A shot from the other end. To the left of the picture is an area I had sectioned off for perennial food, such as asparagus, strawberries, and rhubarb. I asked my hubby to pick up some steel pipe last year for my trellis and he picked up PVC. I worked with it, though, and it worked alright. It did move with the wind quite a bit, but that never affected my peas.

All cleaned up. Hopefully now the soil will dry out so I can start planting soon. I'm scheduled to plant outdoors on the 18th. The weather report says it will be nice (in the 60's!) this week until Wednesday when it is supposed to rain. I may plant on Tuesday if I can get the soil dried up and workable. I'm still wondering what to do with those onions. They're a little soggy and sad looking but I'm having trouble just pulling them up...

My Backyard

I decided to dedicate a blog specifically to my gardening, partially because I'm OCD and have to obsessively organize all the time to feel sane, but also because I'd love to get constructive criticism and advice from fellow gardeners and I'm not sure how constructive that criticism can be from people who have to sift through all my angry political rantings to find the specific garden blogs I've written. (Wow was that a run-on sentence or what?? Big breath!)

So my garden journal will now be located at My Backyard. I need a written record anyways so I can learn from my mistakes (and possibly successes??) from season to season. I'm so excited! Especially since it's 50 degrees and beautiful! I'm outta here!

Quick Garden Update

I'm not feeling really hot, but I wanted to post a quick update before I pass out for the night.

I noticed one of my broccoli plants poking up today. Otherwise nothing has grown yet. I planted lettuce today, 4 plants, because I plant 4 per square foot. I planted 2 of each of the tomatoes I chose: Brandywine, Earlygirl, and Beefmaster. Hopefully all 6 will take, but if not I'll be happy with one plant each. Especially since I'm sure Brandon will plant his own. It's his only garden contribution every year. All these I planted from seed in a peat pod.

My plans for tomorrow were to hook up my fluorescent lighting setup. But we got so much rain this weekend that our basement is taking on more water than we can pump out. So with 4 inches of water in the basement, I'm not sure I want to fool around with electricity quite yet. But I'm worried I will get that started a bit too late to accomplish what I'd hoped. But we'll see. The rain is supposed to stop late tonight.

I'm scheduled to plant outdoors on March 18th, so I need to get my garden prepared. If I can get the soil dried up enough, I'll dump some compost and peat (at least in the most clay ridden of the 3 SFG) so I can start planting in 10 days! Did I mention yet that I have onions sprouting from last year? Japanese onions that apparently have been kicking ass for the past month or so. But I have a lot of work to do on those gardens before I can accomplish anything, so I'm crossing my fingers for no more rain!

Well, not much excitement, obviously, but a little progress, anyways. So, I'm off to bed... until next time...

Garden Stuff

This weekend, I started planting. Two weeks late, I might add. This slightly annoys me, because last year I started planting late and it screwed up my entire rhythm. I promised myself I would start on time this year. According to my Square Foot Gardening book, there technically is only one month I shouldn't be doing anything garden related. Well, obviously I'm not at that level, nor is my house set up to garden in my basement. But there are vegetables that I screwed up last year that all it would take to do it right is to just start early.

I bought a new book, Guide to Ohio Vegetable Gardening, a little calendar, and a notebook, and sat down and came up with a game plan. Based on my successes and failures last year, as well as what vegetables I really got to enjoy and others I'd like to, I decided on the following vegetables: Beet, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumber, green beans, lettuce, muskmelon, watermelon, onion, peas, habenero, jalapeno, and bell peppers, sweet and red potatoes, radishes, zucchini, and 3 kinds of tomatoes. I'm also planting cilantro, garlic and chives.

The cool thing about the Ohio gardening book is that it suggests the best particular variety of each vegetable for an Ohio garden. Not only that, but I used what I learned last year to decide, for instance, that I wanted a pea that doesn't need a huge trellis, and that I liked my bushing zucchini so much that I'd like to try it again, and this time try bush watermelon and cucumber as well. Obviously it was too late to order all those specific seeds online so I had to go to several local stores to find what I wanted, and I still didn't find some of them.

And because I felt so unorganized last year, I got my entire game plan all mapped out in my little calendar. When to plant seeds, when to transplant, and even when to expect a harvest. I decided this year's goal is to not buy a single transplant. Last year I transplanted some onions, a bell pepper plant, and some tomatoes. I want to do everything from seed this year. Because my ultimate goal is to know that I can do it if I ever had to.

Because I'm planting everything from seed, I thought I'd step up my indoor planting by setting up an extra fluorescent light we have with a timer to help along the plants. Someone suggested also that while growing the seedlings, point a fan at them to strengthen them so they're not so spindly when you do go to transplant. I lost a lot of transplants last year because they were so puny and weak.

Finally, in an attempt to actually make this cost efficient, I'm keeping my seeds. I've got them in a freezer container away from moisture so they'll keep the full 4-5 years. After it's all said and done, seeds really run quite expensive- the cost of seeds has risen, and not to mention I'm growing 26 vegetables. At $2 a packet, it adds up. I would like to compost as well as save rain water this year, but we'll see. That's a different blog.

So after all that organization, I actually did get some planting in... I planted onion, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower. I did plant a little extra, because inevitably some (most?) of it will die, but not nearly as much extra as I planted last year. It's odd, but I do feel bad killing off extra seedlings that I can't use in my garden. Almost as bad as killing a mouse or something! So I planted 8 onion, and 2 each of the others. I really only want one each of those, but will be happy if I get two.

That was Tuesday. This weekend I'll set up the light so it's ready for when the seedlings pop up, and next week I'm scheduled to start a couple other vegetables. Believe it or not, soon I'll be planting outdoors. As soon as the soil is workable. A couple more days like today and it'll be ready to work.

Tough Spot...

So I had a little extra cash to buy the kids some clothes this weekend. They grow so crazy fast that I can barely keep up! Sometimes they don't even wear something once before they've outgrown it. So I bought Liv a couple outfits from the store, keeping in mind that I would probably have to hem the jeans. I'm used to this, though... Liv is short like me (and her father) and she's always been a little thick. She's also a little swaybacked, and although it's always been cute, clothes don't fit her like they do the average person. So at the beginning of the school year I was buying a size 8 for her and mending them. Then I was buying a 10. They seemed a little loose, but she was very comfortable in a 10 because of her build. But I needed to trim a good 6" off the leg length. So when I bought this outfit Saturday, and she tried it on, I was taken aback when she couldn't even zip up the zipper.

Brandon has been on her about her eating habits, and quite honestly, it upsets me. I was a little girl once, and even with the minimal problems I came across, it was tough. It's a balance that's very easily upset. And we eat healthy food in our house. Much healthier than when I was a kid. And I was a stick as a kid. But I put her on a scale and watched the needle touch the 80 mark. I measured her and she's just barely 4'1". I did the math, her BMI is 23.5 . That means she's over the 98th percentile for her age .

So, we had a talk. Not a big deal talk, but I think I helped her understand the possible risks that she's up against if she doesn't get up and exercise- and quit eating out of boredom. She didn't seem upset that we were talking about it. She was more upset when we talked about diabetes. Having to give up candy and possibly having to give yourself shots every day got her attention. So we found a website called MyPyramid. It has a lot of resources for kids (and grown ups) to help them eat healthy, exercise, and keep track of all of it. So far she digs it. She's got a paper she takes to school that talks about how much of each food group she should be eating every day and examples of each group. When she asks for a snack (which is always), we look at what she's eaten and what she could still eat, and it usually ends up being a fruit or veggie.

So this is the second day we've done this. Of course it's all exciting right now. Then things will get boring and the plan will get scrapped. But hopefully not before she learns how to eat healthy and exercise regularly. I can say, though, that this snuck up on me. I don't think I'm one of "those" parents. A parent who enables their child and never notices that they're 300 lbs, force feeding them cheeseburgers all the while. Obviously she's not 300 lbs. But she is beautiful, and smart, and talented. It's just this one little thing we need to work on. And I look forward to getting healthier with her. We can keep each other focused.

Day One

(Well... actually day 4 or 5 since my decision, but hey- I'm still a habitual procrastinator. Sue me.)

This will be short because I'm exhausted. I'm almost too embarrassed to explain what made me exhausted. I ran 3 kilometers. That's it. And a lot of it I walked. I did stretch, before and after, but my legs do feel like Jell-o.

I tried to analyze exactly what caused me to stop when I did. I know for sure I need to work on my breathing. I tried the "in, in, out, out" method, and that seems to work at 5mph. But anything faster, and I have no idea how to breathe. I also felt pretty good physically; I'd say the thing that made me quit was the "side stitch".

I forgot about the fact that I always get those when I attempt to run. I have no idea what causes them, but I always get it, and it interrupts my concentration, throws off my form and makes it difficult to breathe properly. This makes it nearly impossible to complete any goal.

So I have to figure out what that pain is about. Maybe it's just something that goes away after lots and lots of practice. I hope not- because that means I have to put up with it in order to get over it. And I'm a bit of a sissy. I don't expect this to be easy, but I hope that it won't be very far from my expectations.

So today I didn't push myself too far. I pushed probably a half kilometer over when I really thought I couldn't run anymore. So hopefully that means I'll be able to run tomorrow without much trouble.

A New Goal

Those of you that know me are going to have to reread the following sentence, possibly twice.

I'm going to run a marathon this year.

Yes. Me.

I am pretty surprised myself. I never thought I would set such an unattainable goal, something that I find so miserably awful. But for the sake of fitness, I'm going to set the bar. And I'm not unknown to make ridiculous goals for myself.

This is coming from someone who can NOT run. I've always been athletic, and absolutely love sports; I even ran track. But I was a sprinter. Long distance is another story. I even remember in grade school nearly passing out just playing "Catch the Cowboy" in gym class. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I can narrow it down to two possibilities: either I don't run correctly or it's a physical anomaly. One is fixable, the other is not.

I'm not one to let silly things like not being able to do something slow me down. I joined swim team my sophomore year upon urging from my schoolmates. I failed every year of swim class I ever took. Failed. I can NOT swim. I drown. It was a sad, sad thing to watch. My father never came to a swim meet because it was so painful to see. But it didn't keep me down. I improved (however slightly) and found that I can really kick ass in the back stroke, so this is where I raced. (However, not until I nearly died in several freestyle relays....seriously.) And now, if faced with the situation, instead of drowning, I could probably save myself...just no one else.

So now, my next unattainable goal: run Columbus's half marathon in October. I have 8 months to figure out how to run, work on my "core", get in shape, practice, and do it. I need a goal like this to get me focused to get in shape. My girlfriend Mary, who is also a glutton for punishment (she just ran a "mountain run" which forced her through mud pit, slush, ice and over mountainous hills) has agreed to help get me in shape for this thing. She's a career runner, and knows her stuff. Or at least I hope.

So maybe I'll walk 90% of the race, but damnit, I'm gonna finish it.

(Next blog topic: "Screw this, there ain't no way...")

Square Foot Gardening, 201

I'm ashamed at my lack of blogging this winter. It's strange...as much as I dislike this season, you'd think I'd be blogging every day just to get my mind off how lame I feel. But no, I really have no excuse.

Now.

I need to get focused. Last year, I started gardening- it was my "practice" year, but I still ended up having a very productive garden. I kept a logbook of my progress so I could see where I went wrong and things I could change. One of the things I realized that I did wrong was that I started waay too late. So, here it is, February, snow still on the ground, and my square foot garden still covered in snow, and I'm actively planning out my 2009 Square Foot Garden.

For those who haven't heard of Square Foot Gardening (SFG), it's an amazing gardening method that combines space saving techniques and organic ideas to net the perfect quantity of food for your family. And with produce costs being what they are right now, as well as this questionable economy teetering on a new depression, who can scoff at the idea of being self sufficient. (Next goal: talk Brandon into letting me buy chickens! Ha!)

Last year, I borrowed my dad's book, Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholemew, and built 3 4'x4' of my own raised bed boxes. This took up about an 8'x20' plot of my back yard, along with a 2'x5' plot along my garage. In this, I planted peas, radishes, a bell pepper plant, 2 banana pepper plants, a jalapeno pepper plant, onions, cantaloupe, cucumbers, pumpkins, asparagus, strawberries, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, squash, green beans, celery, tomatoes, basil, mint, and beets. Offhand I think that's about it. I had some failures, which I'll try to fix this year, but I had a lot of successes. And all this was entirely organic.

First things first- the dog(s). I need to figure out how to keep them out of it. Or there will be no garden. (And maybe no dog, if I get mad enough...!) Last year, I put up a simple 2' chicken wire fence that did the trick. But only a decorative 1' edging fence around my asparagus and strawberries along the garage. This was a joke to Penny. I found my asparagus plants that I so tediously plucked asparagus beetles from and nursed back to health laying root up next to a dog hole. And (thankfully after my harvest) I found Penny inside my SFG, working on new holes. I'm not sure my temper can handle much more of that. But dogs are dogs, so I need to do a better job dog-proofing this year.

Secondly, maybe the most difficult thing, is that it takes just about an engineering degree to plan correctly to get the most from this garden. Every plant flourishes in a different growing season. When one is finished producing, you pull it, compost it, revitalize the soil, and start something else in it's place. You also have to take into consideration the size of the plant and the placement of it, because you pack so much into these small squares, a tall plant would block out the sun if planted on the east or west side of a shorter plant. Also something to consider is growing time. I used a 3'x3' square for my squash last year, but it took nearly all summer to grow. Had I been comfortable with this method, I'd have planted a quicker growing plant (maybe carrots or radishes) around the seedling that would be harvested long before the squash were big enough to steal nutrients or sun from it.

Thirdly, I want to start on time this year. I should be starting seedlings indoors soon. And along the same lines, I want to build a cold frame to garden earlier in the season, as well as later. According to the book, there should only be about a month out of the year that you're not actively gardening. (I want to smack myself for not snatching up some discarded windows I saw along the road last fall. But I'm sure I'll find more.)

I also want to save rain water this year. Last year I talked about making a rain barrel to collect rain water for my garden. Maybe even hooking it up to soaker hoses under my SFG to supplement my watering. But I know rain water can be very acidic, and might do more harm that help. But something to try. Also along the lines of minimalism and conservationism, I have been wanting to start composting. I have to admit I'm a little nervous about this, because, well, it kind of grosses me out. But I know it's a great idea, so will at least try this year.

Lastly, my great idea last year was to hang my tomatoes. This wasn't from SFG, just an idea I got from a friend. I took 4 hanging baskets, cut holes in them, hung tomato plants from them, bought a hanging stand, and placed it in the corner of my garden. This might have worked wonderfully, had I not taken it to the next level and added a companion plant (basil and mint) to the top of each basket. I couldn't water it fast enough. Everything died. There were just too many ideas in that hanging display, lol.

So here starts my new project for the year. And probably the topic for most of my following blogs. I would love to hear your thoughts or ideas.