I can't brain today...

...I haz teh dumb.

*Gasp*! Not *WEASLEY*!!!!

This morning was rather brisk, so I put on my lovely Weasley sweater, and then went to brush my teeth. Looking in the mirror, I discovered the following problem at the elbows:

One of those stitches is down to a single thread!!!

When I went to take photos tonight, I found an even *worse* problem at the hem, although it will probably be a faster repair due to smaller area:


Although it's nowhere near as dire, this spot near the collar looks like it could use a little reinforcing:


I don't think I can risk wearing Weasley again until the elbows and hem are repaired. I have worn it enough that it's generally getting thin all over, but I just think of it as a "light" sweater now. I suspect the thickness of the new patches will make them stand out, even though I'll be duplicate stitching them in.

Klaralund #1 (the blue-green one) is also awaiting a major repair at the bust-level seam. (I need to rip out the whole seam, unpick the cast-off, and then live graft the seam so that it has stretch, and stops breaking.)

If I don't get knitting and/or repairing, I'm going to have problems staying warm this winter! (Strangely enough, yarn only keeps me warm once it's in sweater form, not all balled up in the closet.) Right now I have four sweaters that are in good condition. (That I know of... but then I thought Weasley was fine too!)

*Yawn* Time for bed! (I was doing so well, and then I started answering work-related e-mails and posts... *sigh*)

Oh Dear...

*sigh*... Teaching has been fun so far. However, it looks like tomorrow I'll be getting to the "and *this* is an icon, and *this* is..." part. :( (I think there'll be a mass exodus of my students at that point... although some are not experienced computer users, I think most of them have used them at least somewhat.)

Where Did My Weekend Go?

Turns out my "to do" list from yesterday was overly optimistic... even for the whole weekend. *sigh* Although I did do two things today that weren't on yesterday's list... I spent much of today riding around on buses, picking up some coloured jeans offered on freecycle (for use as fabric), and some groceries while I was at it. (If I'm going to be near the awkward-to-get-to-but-cheaper grocery store, I might as well take advantage of that fact.)

Another late night to prepare for class, and it's looking like I'll be buying lunches again. :P (I have the ingredients and the clean dishes, but insufficient time for the prep!)

Gimp

Argh. My arthritis has been acting up this week, mostly in my right knee. It bothers me at night, and then I hobble along in the morning until it gets warmed up. Last night was particularly bad. (It hasn't warmed up yet today, but it's not hurting as much as it did while I was sleeping.)

I slept late today, and I don't think I'll plan any gardening this weekend. My knee hurts today, I have a library book that is almost due, and it's supposed to rain some tomorrow. I'll just take it easy, do some work inside the apartment, and see if I can manage to be prepared for Monday's class before 2 am Monday. ;) (Preferably by 10 pm Sunday!)

I had a dream last night that I got a bunch of cleaning done in my home office, enough to move out my "temporary" (used, shoddy, particle-board) desk, and be ready to move the "new" (antique, but recently refinished to the gorgeous original wood) desk. When I got up this morning (afternoon, actually), everything was still the way I had left it last night. The dream was lifelike enough that it was a bit of a disappointment. *sigh*

Perhaps I'll manage to make progress on my office between loads of laundry.

Also on today's "to do" list:
• stop by mom's house
• write an e-mail to the art workshop coordinator on the workshop I'll be holding next month
• wash dishes (they've been piling up again since last weekend, but they're not too bad because I haven't had time to do real cooking)
• bake bread
• make hummus
• chop cabbage for cole slaw
• clean the decrepit food from the fridge
• watch some TV shows that I taped earlier this week

Already done:
• ate breakfast
• called my (third, but only remaining) grandma

Hmmm... I suspect several of today's items will spill over to tomorrow. There's other things I've been meaning to do (like sew a lunch bag for H, and do workshop preparation), but I don't think I'll get that far this weekend. I'd love to do some more work on my current painting too, but I think I'll just plan to bus my supplies to the art club on Monday. (Tuesday I'll be at the club too, but that's for the annual meeting.)

I guess I'll go have a shower and get started...

Le *Sigh*

Tonight I feel a kinship with Pepé Le Pew, although what I feel is in no way similar to his unrequited love. I feel... morose? Hmm, no. I just looked up the definition of that in some online dictionaries, and gloomy/sulky does not describe how I feel. (How have I misunderstood morose for so long?) It's like I have a profound sadness in my soul, but not despair. Perhaps my antidepressants are keeping it enough at bay? I do believe I need more sleep.

Another prof at work mentioned suffering from sleep-deprivation-induced snippiness.

No, I am not yet prepared for class tomorrow. Another late night. Le *sigh*...

Water Bottle Annoyance

The majority of my water bottles leak. (Why is it they can make pop bottles that don't leak, but seem incapable of doing the same for reusable bottles?) Early on in my bus ride, I noticed my leg was a bit damp from my water bottle, but didn't worry too much about it. Then I fell asleep. When I woke at the university, I discovered that the front half of one leg of my shorts was drenched... there's a dinner plate sized soggy area. *sigh* The stupid water bottle was basically upright! How did it leak so much?!?

Sheesh! I just noticed that it leaked all over my back pocket too!!! And I *know* it was upright while I was walking!

Hee hee hee!

Found via Deneen's blog:

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

(Yes, I'm still glad I don't live in the USA.)

Yay!!!

It's a slow day in the help centre, so I was checking the blogs I read... and discovered that I won a contest!!! Yay! Thanks Sara! :))

What a lovely pick-me-up on a day when I haven't had enough sleep, and keeps being "hurry up and wait". Mmmmmmm!

PS: She has another contest going on, where every comment earns you an entry! So go comment and enter!

Forecast

Temperature is currently 8 C, pressure 102.2 kPa and rising. Right knee: hurty, with a chance of whining.

Update: Make that 100% chance of whining. Morning came way too early today! My knee hurts! *wah*! *whimper*

*whimper*

Morning came *way* too soon!

Head hurts! *splitting*

Expensive Starbucks hot chocolate weak this morning.

*wah*

:(

(At least I can look forward to my friendly group of students! They're such a great class.)

Gardening Question

Looking at those photos reminds me... my AC drips in the middle of the area I've been preparing, and has been creating quite a puddle. Adding peat and compost should help some with the drainage, but it's definitely going to be a wet spot during heat waves. Does anyone have any experience with wet spots in zone 3 gardens that get the morning sun, and then are in shade the rest of the day? Do you think a day lily will survive that? Do you have better recommendations? (Even better, do you live in the city, and are willing to split off some of yours for my garden?)

Gardening

Although summer seems to have finally arrived (highs have been near 30 C all week!), I felt like some exercise yesterday. So I donned my gardening duds, filled a water bottle, and headed out to garden until the heat stroke set in. However, I straggled out of bed late enough that I was in the shade all day, and the caretaker kindly refilled my water bottle for me once, and so I didn't quit until I finished digging the last of the sod I wanted removed on the left hand side.

Before:


After:


The caretaker helped some too. (In the second shot, I think he's saying "I'm leaving that bucket for you to carry.")

We put some of the nicer chunks of sod in the nearly-grass-free boulevard:

Even if they don't take, we were just replacing weeds anyway. (I should have watered them, but by the end, I was pooped. There's rain in the forecast for tomorrow.)

People (crazy lady, J, caretaker, E) kept interrupting my gardening efforts to talk to me. (Not that I don't like talking to the neighbours, but I was hoping to get things done faster.) After talking to the caretaker for a bit, I asked him if he'd mind if I worked while we chatted. He was fine with that, so that minimized his interruption. He even helped dig a bit, did much of the sod transplanting, and handed me things as I needed them. :)

I worked through part of my chit-chat with crazy lady too. She sat on the steps and smoked. There wasn't too much of a breeze, but what there was came, unfortunately, from the wrong direction. I didn't want to offend crazy lady by asking her to sit somewhere else, so I just put up with it.

For some reason, several people asked me why I'm gardening. I enjoy gardening (in a love-hate kind of way). I like living in a nice looking place. I like doing things for others. It's supposedly good exercise. Not everything work-like has to be for money. It's one of those things where, if you have to ask, you probably won't understand the answer. Especially since it's complex. For example, I hate being hot, sweaty and dirty... yet I perversely enjoy digging up sod, and turning compost and peat into the clay soil to improve it. Frankly, I'm not 100% sure *I* understand it.

Crazy lady has been doing some more gardening too:

Looks like she's been inspired by my sod removal. She doesn't have the advantage of the right tools, though. (I'm not sure *how* she accomplished what she did... perhaps her sister loaned her some tools?) If she's done it reasonably, it'll reduce the amount of work I need to do on that side. She put all of the removed sod in *one* garbage can, though... I'm a bit worried that the trash people will refuse to take it. I suppose it's not my job to fix the problem should they not... I wasn't the one who put it there, and I'm not the caretaker. When the caretaker asked who had done the digging on the other side, I let him know it was crazy lady... and he knows that I've been putting my sod in the small buckets for my dad to use as fill.

My chit-chat with crazy lady *did* solve one mystery, though... the plants she's been acquiring haven't been "liberated" (as I feared), her sister has been dividing them from her garden.

Strange

Suspiciously strange. When I start my laundry, I put the required number of coins in my pocket: one loonie and six quarters per load. Today I put in enough for three loads, then remembered I actually wanted to do four today, and added another load's worth. I specifically remember going back and getting those extra coins. However, a short while later (the third load in the dryer... oh...

...I figured it out. I didn't lose exactly one load's worth of coins, I divided the laundry into *five* loads. Eep! I'm doing extra laundry today (housecoat, couch afghan, sheets from my grandma), but I thought it would only be one load extra. (I *think* I normally do three in the summer...?) Hmmm... perhaps that is why the loads didn't end up as big as I thought they'd be?

I think I may be losing my mind. Sheesh.

*gah*!!!!

Oh, the stupidity!!! Aaaack! I just discovered that ****** published ****** to a *public* place on the web!!! *People*!!! THINK!!! You *don't* do things like leave a sign on your front door saying the key to your house is in the ceramic frog on the second step. You just DON'T!!! Gah!!!!!!!

(PS: Sorry for all the exclamation points and shouting. I needed to get this out of my system.)

Friday

Good: It's Friday. I can go home tonight and have a nap, and not worry if the nap becomes a full night sleep.

Bad: It's still another 40 minutes until I can go home, and I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open.

Good: I made it through the first full week of teaching, and I *love* my students! They're so friendly and cheerful, and I can tell that at least some of them are learning stuff!

Bad: The engineering "band" is making noise downstairs... and not in a musical way.

Good: I don't have to prepare for class *tonight*. I still need to do prep work, but it doesn't have to be *tonight*.

Bad: Last time I did dishes, I only got half way through (it was a pre-dinner wash, so I continued until I had to stop and eat), so all my pots and cutlery are dirty.

Good: I can still scrounge enough clean dishes for a bowl of cereal... that'll do me tonight, should I wake up enough to eat.

Good: I bought two shirts on sale at Northern Reflections, and mom gave me two more, so now I have "lots" of nice clothes to wear for teaching.

Good: I finished the section of slides I was supposed to finish today in class.

Good: A friend gave me a bunch of fresh garden tomatoes! Yum!

Bad: I desperately need to clean out the fridge.

Good: I got tired of how nasty my toilet had become earlier this week, so I sacrificed a few minutes of sleep and now have a clean one.

Bad: I'm *reeeeeealy* tired. Did I mention that?

Good: Seven minutes have passed, so no there's only 33 minutes until I can go home.

Good: I can nap on the bus.

Bad: Napping on the bus tends to give me a crick in my neck.

Bad: I've been catching the express lately, and I usually end up standing. Perhaps I'll sacrifice taking longer in order to get a seat? However that'll mean I might miss my nice connection downtown... Hmmm....

...

You know that thing/sound where you purse your lips, make a sound, and then use your finger to wobble the lips? That thing you do to indicate crazy? That's a bit how I'm feeling right now.

I had enough sleep Friday and Saturday nights, but am now working on my third night of insufficient sleep. I'm also currently unwinding from this morning's class. The first one I taught without the aid of an expensive Starbucks signature hot chocolate. I made tea before class, but, due to my first bus running 15 minutes late, and not having a heat-proof mouth, I didn't get to drink it until after class. (Surprisingly, it was still somewhat warm.)

I'm seven slides behind where I had intended to be, but I'm pretty sure I can make up the time next class, since there's several "light" slides in the next chunk of notes.

Teaching is going reasonably well. I didn't even have a panic attack before class! (I think... but then I wasn't fully awake before class either.) I did encounter tangle-mouth at least once in class, but I think the students are finding me okay. There's a bunch of really friendly faces in the class, and that helps a lot. :) (Plus I speak English without an accent... the guy teaching the section before me has quite a thick one.)

Anyways, I'm here, I'm alive, I'm doing reasonably well (besides not getting enough sleep). I'd probably ramble on more, but I want to go have lunch.

PS: The painting I was working on last night at the art club is coming out really fantastic, in my opinion... but it's in the series I can't show you yet. Sorry.

Cabin Story

A post over at The Estate Store reminded me of a funny story, so I thought I'd post it here (too):

I come from a family of short people, and am short myself. One summer we needed a “new” hide-a-bed for the cabin. We found one in the classifieds, hauled it out to the lake by boat (hide-a-beds are *heavy*… transporting them by boat is… um… entertaining), and took the casters off the bottom so that it would be comfortable to sit on. That night, when we went to use it as a bed, we found the mattress *highly* uncomfortable! A few weeks later we found another hide-a-bed in the classifieds. This time we were “smart”, and checked out how the mattress was before hauling it all the way to the lake by boat. It was great, so we paid, transported it, and took the casters off so we could sit comfortably. That night, we discovered that the mattress was once again as uncomfortable as the first! What was wrong? It had been fine when we tested it!?!?!!! Then it dawned on us that the casters changed the height not only for sitting, but for the head of the bed when it was pulled out!!!

Come to think of it, maybe we replaced the regular legs with castors so that it would (a) be shorter, and (b) be easier to move around… because now we have lengths of two-by-fours between the couches and casters. (We’re classy folks, especially at the lake.)

If you ever want an uncomfortable night’s rest (or need to deal with an unwanted house-guest), try sleeping on a hide-a-bed whose head end has been lowered by several inches. And no, you can’t just swap head and foot ends, because the foot end doesn’t have much in the way of support. We tried that too.

Podcasts

Oooo... I just found an unofficial feed for The Age of Persuasion podcast! It's an awesome CBC show, if you haven't heard about it. It's all about advertising. From the AoP website:

"Terry O'Reilly is back exploring the countless ways marketers permeate your life, from media, art, and language, to politics, religion, and fashion."

I highly recommend this show... there's some pretty fascinating stuff on it! It will definitely open your eyes to how advertising works (or doesn't), and how it sneaks in places you don't expect.

Speaking of CBC shows, I also highly recommend Spark, As It Happens, Ideas, Quirks and Quarks, Vinyl Cafe, and And The Winner Is. I've recently subscribed to Tapestry, The Next Chapter, "White Coat, Black Art" (I used quotes because of the comma in that title), and Definitely Not The Opera ("DNTO"), since I've enjoyed them when I happen to catch them on the radio. I also really like Revision Quest, but it doesn't seem to have a podcast. :(

Here's a link to CBC's podcasting page, which has links to all of the above official podcasts.

Rugrats

To those of you who have been concerned that I can't say no, or that I may be being taken advantage of... I did say "no" earlier today when my neighbour showed up with her kids, asking what my plans for today were.

Sorry, I'm crazy busy right now with class prep, and preparing food for lunches.

Allergies for low achievers

Just now I went on the weather network to check the pollen forecast to check that I won't regret going off my antihistamines & decongestants. Grass and ragweed are both low, and that something-sporidium-or-other isn't listed any more. What *is* listed as high is "Misc. Fungi Imperfecti". With a name like that, even *I* feel sorry for them.

Vacation Advice

For my mom, not me.

My mom, B, and two friends are thinking of heading south for part of the winter (three weeks maximum for the friends, possibly longer for my folks). Arizona appears to be in their radar, although they're open to other suggestions. (I think.) When mom went to look for places online, a dozen or more cities and towns popped up. Mom asked if I knew anyone in Arizona, and if I could ask their advice.

So, here I am. Anyone have any recommendations on an inexpensive place to defrost? They'll have a car, so somewhere with interesting stuff within driving distance would be nice. Thanks!

Class & Dream

I think class went well. If it didn't go well, it was at least not horrible. I kind of blathered on a bit too much at the beginning, and so had to rush through some slides at the end. I said "um" a bunch too, and got my tongue twisted a few times. However, I think I looked relatively comfortable and in-charge, and I think (I hope!) I connected with the students.

To overcome my bad-dream vibes, I started the morning off with a handful of chocolate chips (before my shower, even), then I wore my cute, delicate, gold elephant bracelet for luck, and the silver froggy necklace my mom and B brought back from Mexico to have them with me (in a way) too. Then, when I got to school, I had one of those fancy-expensive Starbucks hot chocolates. Today's Savage Chickens cartoon seemed appropriate, so I put that on the screen while I was waiting for the clock to tick over.

So, my dream. My dream is about my family's cabin in northern Manitoba. I spent my summers there growing up. There are other cabins on the lake, but none near ours, and you have to get to ours by boat. If you take the batteries out of the clocks (which I do as much as others will let me), all you can hear is nature. It's wonderful. It is a place of solace and refuge for me. That the cabin exists, and is available for me to visit, is very important to me, and is comforting, even when I'm not there.

In my dream, we had been approached about a possible development near our cabin. It would just be a few cabins, and not too close. Since the request seemed reasonable, and we didn't want to prevent others from experiencing the same thing we did, we agreed to allow the development. However, the development was *very* close... it was all around us, and really tore up the forest. There was a busy construction road placed about ten feet from the cabin's back door! (The geography was a bit different than in real life.) The cabins were within easy sight of ours, and packed together like sardines. In addition, there was a resort a bit to the west, and several wide paths with lots of foot traffic were cut between the new cabins and the resort. In addition to all of the trees removed for the cabins and paths, I could tell that the soil was going to get trampled away very quickly (there's only a few inches of topsoil over sand up there), leaving nothing but barren sand... and that this was going to cause massive erosion, and soon the whole area would be sterile. Plus (it just kept piling on!) there was this... mall type thing... it's one of those weird dream-contradictions where you're both inside a mall, and outside in the forest. We were all horrified at the destruction of the natural environment, the noise, and all the people, but we were powerless to do anything, because we had signed permission. I was in a panic and desperate, and so was running around, destroying store displays, in the hopes that they would give up and leave. I was being chased (sort of). I felt *horrible*!

Note to self: get rid of the stress *before* trying to sleep!

:(

Woke up this morning during a soul-wrenching dream. It had gone on for over an hour, because I woke up from it an hour earlier too. I want to curl in a little ball, cry, and hide from the world... but missing the first day of class wouldn't look too good.

I don't have time now... perhaps I'll tell you about the dream after class. It's something that would probably sound weird to you: developing of the land around my family's cabin. (What's even more silly is that that won't happen unless the current laws change, and so it's something I shouldn't be worried about!)

I suspect the dream is a result of going to bed stressed.

Well, off to catch the bus.

Gack!

My first class is tomorrow! I want more time!!!!!

As a brief distraction, before I get back to work (and then early sleep!), here's a great thrift store score from last week:

Four plates (two china dinner plates with 22K gold trim, a fun lunch plate, and a china dessert plate that matches my free mug), a cute Wade rabbit with a chipped ear, and a curling broom (suitable for my once a year curling game), all for $3. Total. Score!

*sigh*... now back to preparing. My stomach is in knots!!!

Ew, Awkward

Definition of awkward: Knocking on a neighbour's door, and then, while waiting to see if someone is home, hearing something you'd really rather not hear.

Ugh

It's the birthday of one of the boys across the hall. So what happens? Sperm Donor calls, wanting to talk to the mom. *sigh* I suppose I should have expected it, and not answered a number I didn't recognize. Thankfully they weren't home... but then he tries to get information out of me.

Towel Toppers

I cranked out the second towel topper recently:

The one on the left was the first, and has been washed several times. The one on the right is the second, and has yet to be washed. (Amazing to see the difference!) I managed to get both out of one ball of yarn (and one hand towel), with just a bit to spare. I *love* these!

Crazy-Busy Life

Yesterday: Gardening, babysitting, then finally showering and collapsing in front of the TV. (I meant to accomplish more yesterday, but found myself... unable? Unwilling?)

Last night: Slept poorly due to gardening aches.

Today: Dishes (yes, they once again reached mountainous proportions... but I dealt with at least half), library run, pottery, then art club. (By art club time, I was desperately in need of a nap. Why am I still up? Too much to do!!! I have been somewhat productive while posting, though... I got the evil Microsoft Office installed. Yay for enough RAM to do multiple things at once!!!)

Guess what?!? My first glazed piece of pottery was out of the kiln!!! Here it is, in all it's awesomeness:

...and here it is with the cool mushroom pincushion I bought on Etsy:

This dish will sit beside my sewing machine to collect the threads and bits that I trim off things I'm sewing. The green was supposed to be much darker... but it turns out with transparent glazes, you need to put two thick coats on... and I only put one thin coat on, worrying that it would run. Whoops. I now know better for the next pieces. Of which there are many.

Although I had a bunch of stuff to apply glaze to, I only managed a single colour on one bookend and one set of buttons... so neither are ready for their second firing. (It was the same colour on both.) However, I did get two coats of the colour. :)

I also trimmed my thrown pot, which was at the leather-hard stage this week. It's now ready for it's first firing. I don't think I knew about trimming of leather-hard stage thrown pots before, so that's two new things I learned today. After accidentally wrecking my first thrown pot last week, I threw the second one extra thick... so I could trim to my heart's content. :) (What a happy coincidence!)

The hook part broke off the stocking holder I made last week. :( It hasn't had it's first firing yet. The instructor said it's probably easier to fix after it's first firing. I'm thinking that perhaps maybe I should just clean up the broken edge, and not call it a stocking holder. I suppose what happens will depend on whether I make it to pottery again before it gets fired for the first time...

How My Garden Grows

Before I started digging yesterday:


"After" photo taken today, because I forgot yesterday:

It did indeed rain today, so it's good that I got a bunch of digging done yesterday. The area under my air conditioner was still really soggy right by the wall, but the rest was okay. (It's been hot this week, so the AC has been going non-stop.) I placed the soggy bits of turf upside-down in the sun to dry for a bit before trying to knock the dirt off the grass.

I didn't finish all of the sod removal on this side, but I did make progress... just a bit left on this side. I stopped after three hours for three reasons:
1. I was tired.
2. I had filled the six big buckets my dad loaned me... he's using the weedy sod as fill out at his shack.
3. It was 3:00, which was the time that dad had said he wanted to leave to go to his shack.

While I'm showing photos of the garden, here's some more strange gardening done by other people:

That stump is the stump of the weed tree I mostly removed the last time I was out gardening. *Behind* the stump (which itself is behind a fringe of bushes) someone else planted... half dead things. The deadest patch is bachelor buttons (the small kind), and I think one of the other plants might be sedum... but I haven't really tried to identify them yet.

At first I thought that the sometimes drunk lady in the building had planted them (she's been at the booze again, and pestering other tenants for money and/or beer... but thankfully not me), but it turns out it was the caretaker. The drunk lady had... "acquired"... them somewhere, and placed them in ice cream pails beside the stairs on the lowest level. The drunk lady told the lady across the hall that I could plant them if I wanted to (but she didn't speak to me, and the lady across the hall didn't pass this info along until after they had been planted), and I think she told the caretaker that she'd help him plant them... and then never did. Finally the caretaker plopped them in the ground because he got tired of the bugs coming out of them into the apartment building.

The caretaker asked me to remove the stump and the scraggly bushes in front of it... so the placement of the flowers makes a bit more sense now. (He figured they were tall flowers, and wants tall flowers in front of his bathroom window.)

The lady across the hall came out, and her kids "helped" me garden... mostly they dug in the soil I had already dug. (I knew they wouldn't be much help, but I invited them anyway, because I figured they'd enjoy it.) The lady pulled some weeds from the lawn, and made sure her kids didn't cut off any fingers. ;)

Near the end of the time I planned for gardening, she asked me if I'd mind watching the kids while she went across the bridge and got some money from a friend. Thinking she wouldn't be long, I said it wasn't a problem. (I don't think she thought she'd be long either.) I ended up babysitting for another 2.5 hours!!! Ack! All I wanted to do was have a shower and take a break after all that digging in clay! *sigh* I sure have been doing a bunch of babysitting lately. I think this makes four sessions that she owes me for now... she says she's planning on paying me $100 once she gets money again. (She's having problems getting her cheques right now, because her ex hasn't filed his taxes, and the last time he filed he used her address (even though he was in jail at the time)... so they're saying they need his taxes in order to compute how much she should get on her child tax benefit. So that's $500/month that she's not getting right now, until she can get things sorted out. Whee. I know that I may or may not get paid, and understand that I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart. I have told her that I can't do any more right now, though, so that I can get ready for teaching on Friday. Eeeeek!)

PS: My landlord said he's bought me two big bags of peat moss. Yay!!! (I'm going to dig in a bunch of peat moss and some compost from my mom's composter to amend the soil before I plant the perennials.)

PPS: Does anyone know how to get more hours in the day?

Oy.

I babysat the two rugrats from next door for *six* hours today, starting at 8 am. (I was *not* expecting it to be six hours.) Then I had a three hour nap. (I did *not* sleep well last night... I kept tossing and turning, and I dreamed that my doorbell rang twice. At least I think I dreamed it... when I went to my door, no one was there.) Now I feel like a zombie. Plus I have a killer headache.

I have a ton of reading to do before tomorrow. *sigh* I've done some, but I didn't expect to have nearly as much of today eaten up by babysitting (and nap) as I did.

My, that was a loud *screech* just now... I think an accident was just narrowly avoided outside! (The screech was not followed by a pop.)

PS: The rugrats also ate all my pickles.