May 2008 Archives

Looks like there's a meme going around, and I've been tagged by Coco's Mami, so I thought I'd play along!

What was I doing 10 years ago?

Let's see . . . I was a web designer and single at the time. Since I was not, and am still not, a party girl, I would spend quite a bit of time online when not working. I used to hang out in various Delphi forums (most of which are now closed). In one of the forums, a member was ranting about she was angry about what had happened to her personally and holding certain people responsible for her personal hurt. I posted a reply to her about how she shouldn't paint others with a broad brush. Another member read my reply and was intrigued enough to start up a side conversation with me. Something told me to respond to his PM, and I'm sure glad I did so, because we're still together after ten years!

What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?

Let's see . . . the day's almost over and I don't plan on doing anything else except to cook dinner, other than playing with my computer while hubby watches movies. So, here's my list for tomorrow:

1. Go to church. Say goodbye to a dear friend who is leaving after the service to fly to France to settle there permanently with her soon-to-be-husband.
2. Visit my parents after church.
3. Work on the garden.
4. Work on my knitting.
5. Spend some time with my spinning wheels.

Snacks I enjoy:

Oh, that depends on my mood, whether I crave salty, or sweet food. Right now, I like Ritz crackers. Whatever's in the fridge that I can nibble on. And I like cookies (although sometimes I have to have something to drink to get it all down). And when I can afford to get pastry from the bakery near home, I like take a few bites from the pastry over the next couple days.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

First. I, along with hubby, would diversify the money so these would keep on growing, and we'd live off the interest. Build a nice house with plenty of land surrounding us, and set it up so that the land couldn't be further sub-divided. Donate to my church with the goal of encouraging unity to form one Orthodox Christian jurisdiction, and to enable the priests at my church to help anyone who comes to the church in need of support. Help organizations that have the goal of teaching people to "fish" and get beyond victimhood. Set up trust funds for my nephews, with the provision that they not be able to touch the main funds until they're 35 years. We all know how "young and stupid" we were during our twenties, don't we? Do some traveling - I'd like to go to Russia, Italy, India, Georgia, England, France, for starters.

Places I have lived:

Lanham, College Park, and Bowie, all in Maryland.

Jobs I have had:

Clerk-typist, publications specialist, quality control coordinator, online information manager, proofreader/copy editor, web programmer, programmer/analyst. Notice that I'm not including the job at The Nursery, since it's not what I would normally be doing.

Okay . . . now . . . consider yourself tagged! Or not . . .

This is what I've been working on for the past couple weeks - Mr. Greenjeans from Knitty. I'd had this in my RavQueue for quite a while. I wanted a new cardigan to take place of my red cardigan that I currently use. This is a great pattern and knits up quickly. I'm using Brown Sheep NatureSpun and the color is Plumberry. It's a truly lovely color. So far, I've used up one entire skein and a half of the second skein, an I'm getting ready to knit up the first sleeve. I'm surprised at how little yardage this pattern requires. I figure that by the time I'm finished I will have used 3, maybe 4 skeins.

Meanwhile, work at The Nursery is making me tired. You have no idea how heavy hoses with water turned on can be until you've spent several day moving it around from place to place. But, at least, I've gotten quite a few plants from the nursery - the usual, tomatoes, beans, etc. I've got most of the squash and zucchinis in the ground. This year we're going to try something new - growing some of the tomatoes upside down. We're planning to do more work this weekend, especially since it won't rain. [Did the endless days of heavy rain put a damper into your gardening plans? - Ed. Yup . . . sure did, along with the fact that my favorite time to work on the garden is now taken up by working at the nursery]

I need to get on with my job search. This time I'm going to try something new - going through my LinkedIn connections. I've built up enough contacts that I can now go through their contacts to see what's out there. Hopefully this will cut out the recruiters, who seem to be my main obstacle. [Please make an exception for recruiters who work at companies that do direct hires. - Ed. That's a really good point] I found a good article on how to use LinkedIn for job searches along with links to other resouces.

Finally . . . here's a message for a certain candidate - if you insist on sending your spouse out to campaign for you, anything your spouse says is fair game. No exceptions. So stop whining and grow a thicker skin. After all . . . your spouse could get the itch and desire to become POTUS down the road.

Here's a picture of the climbing rose that I managed to take during a respite from the deluge of rain that we've been having lately. We've been getting a lot of rain, so much that I think we're close to erasing the rain deficit that had built up over the past year. I just hope this continues into summer, with the minimum assistance of hurricanes.

I've got big plan for the garden - I've got spinach growing to the left of the roses. And I'm planning to try to grow tomatoes upside down. I picked up a couple of pepper plants at the MDSW that have yet to be stuck into the ground. I need to pull out spent plants except for the leeks (which seem to be taking their own sweet time getting big). And of course, I've got to get that corner tilled properly. And I need to try to get the spearmints in control. [Ha! Good luck with that! - Ed. Yup, I know.] I'm planning to drop a god amount of $ this week on plants from The Nursery as it's Employee Appreciation Week and I can save even more money.

Oh, what about my knitting, you ask? Well, I've been rushing around tying up loose end with the old car, so my time was kinda limited for the past two weeks. I do plan to get the Rosemarkie vest blocked later today. And I've started work again on Mr. Greenjeans (need to take picture of that as well). I've been working on it especially when I watch La Femme Nikita on tape. We're just getting into the 4th season now, having finished the 1st volume. Waiting for the next two disks to come. I really love our time sitting in front of the tv downstairs, cuddling on the couch. Hubby makes sure I'm warm and snuggly under the quilt (it's a bit cold in the living room with all those windows and with the weather we've been having lately . . .

I did go to the sheep and wool, but I got there later than expected on Saturday because we were wrapping up purchase of the new Saturn Astra (a very sweet car indeed). I don't have a picture yet, thanks to the H2O falling from the sky. So, I didn't really buy very much - just a lovely wool-silk fiber blend from Spinner's Hill that will be destined for sock yarn, a set of stitch markers to use with Bordhi's sock patterns, an orifice hook from Woodchuck (who retired), a spinning book, two skeins of sock yarn from Crestari - I want to test these yarn to see how it stands up under wear and tear. Oh, and a Romney cross fleece that will be processed by Ohio Valley. I know it will be 4 or 5 months before I get it back, but the wait will be worthwhile.