Crazy Week is Crazy

It’s been an emotional roller coaster of a week, yo!  We’ve had so many new and exciting things on the schedule and so many things decide to totally fall apart.  I understand that life has extremes but it would be nice if they came a little further spaced apart for my health and sanity.

Anyway, the garden is on hold for a bit both for monetary and weather issues.  I need the wood for the frames and the rain is keeping the soil wet enough that digging would be an issue. I’ll work on the seedlings and planting what I can in the bed that finished and the big planters already out there.

Mark helped me plant the peas a couple days ago and they are just starting to poke out their little leaves.  I’ve started stripping some of the longer branches we cut down to make climbing poles for them.  I need to hurry, though.  The rain and the lovely compost we put is is making them take off like little green rockets. They will be delicious. ^_^!

I’m about a week and a half ahead in my Python class and Mark decided to join me.  He aced his first test.  We’ll see how he does on the second.  I finished the second week’s videos last night around midnight.  (I was staying up with Bri while he worked on the class he’s teaching today.)  I thought I would go ahead and get the test done since the information was fresh in my mind.  I was not prepared for the SUDDEN TRIGONOMETRY! DunDUN!

I am an English Major!  Not a very good one, either, since I’m always forgetting my grammarz and stuff.  Anyway, I still got 100% because I have a well balanced brain pan and was able to figure it out without ever having taken a class in Trig.  Yeah, I’m playing it off cool but I was totally like: “OMFGTRIG! I NOEZ IT!” and danced around like a crazy person when I got my score.  Bri was impressed, confused, and scared but I tend to inspire those reactions in him a lot so, yeah, sorry.  -_-’

Bri had to put a clopen yesterday and today due to a scheduling snaffu.  They forgot to give him the day off so he could teach his class so he had to switch shifts with an opener.  That also meant he couldn’t work on his class today so he did it when he got home last night at 11pm.  Sigh.  So he’ll be staggering in about 9 tonight.  We’ve also missed 2 nights of martial arts class.  I’m terrified that well be going in behind again.  Sadly, Bri is scheduled to teach on Thursdays so we’ll have to go in early to the Y and wait for the class.  That means we’ll be spending about 5 hours at the Y.  Joy.  Maybe we can find something to do.

I’m debating getting a part time job in the mornings.  We really could use the funds but it’s hard to coordinate between the homeschooled kid and having only one car.  If I could find an early morning shift somewhere that would get me home by 1pm so Bri could leave for work, that would be the best.  That means we won’t really see each other but it beats homeless and starving. XD  I would find an online job but our equipment is getting old and can’t run a lot of the things I need.  Our stuff barely runs online videos.  It’s all kinds of depressing.

BUT!  No time for depression!  I have a garden to tend, a kid to raise, and a husband to cuddle.  That’s not even tackling the furry four legs running around.  Also, I need to clean for company and feed everyone so I am off.

Have fun, kids!

A Bit of a Snag

This week is not starting off as productive as last week.  I think lack of sleep is playing a part in my lack of motivation.  I did fall asleep on the couch for a couple hours so I’m hoping the week will get a little better.

We were working on the last 6 feet of the first garden bed and Bri found the rusted bits of an old largish can.  We’re not sure what was in it (if anything) but don’t want to take any chances.  I can do without a motor oil marinade on my veggies.  Bri is going to dig up around where we found the bucket and get that soil out of the garden.  There was no discoloration around the can except rust where the pieces were.  It’s probably nothing since we did have the soil tested around that area.

My days are getting busier and busier.  I’ve started taking classes with Mark so I can keep him company, check out the classes, and keep my own brain active.  He’s taking more advanced classes that are interesting to me both as refreshers and for new information so I’m enjoying it.  We’re taking 2 college 101 level English courses later this summer and an Archeology course courtesy of Coursera.org.  We’re also signed up for Khan Academy and Code Academy where we’re racing to see who can complete which modules, first.  I have both forgotten and not forgotten more of the math and programming than I thought.  It’s really fun.

I am personally taking some classes for my own benefit, too.  I’m attempting not to completely lose what Japanese I have by working through JapaneseClass.jp.  I’ve also signed up for programming (python), guitar, and a class called Online Games: Literature, New Media, and Narrative. We’ll actually be playing the LOTR Online game with the course which should be amusing. Mark was interested until he saw there was a writing component. XD  These classes are all free and I can do them from the comfort of my own home in my PJs. YAY!

I’ve been stagnating for so long but there are a lot of new learning opportunities online now that fit our budget.  And by “fit our budget” I mean “free.”  There are scholarships at certain places, but, in order for us to be able to afford them, they would literally have to pay us to go.  We can just barely squeak by with affording the Martial Arts classes.  I really don’t want to lose those but we’re very, very tight.  Cross your fingers that we hear back about some of these jobs!

Speaking of: Bri has about 5 jobs that have passed the initial screening and are with the hiring manager.  Sadly, the usual turn around time for this particular place is about 6 months.  I guess the good news is he’s had some of these applications out for 5 months already.  So they can PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CALL AT ANY TIME.  No pressure… No, wait: TOTAL PRESSURE!

Ahem.

Also on my plate is a hefty dose of sorting.  I finally tackled the utility room, sorted the tools, and EVERY SINGLE NAIL, SCREW, AND BOLT WE OWN.  It was not a minor undertaking but it’s mostly done minus the tools and supplies I pulled for the garden work.  Mark is excited to see the tools out again and went downstairs to build a ballista.  He also built a hood to vent the downstairs room and some other odds and ends he needed.  It’s good to see that he both understands how to use the tools and is unafraid of them.  I taught him how to use the big drill the other day and the way his eyes lit up and his smile got really big was probably not a good sign.

My days are a mix of gardening, video games, classes, kid tormenting, animal snuggling, and reading/writing.  Notice I didn’t say “housework,” though.  That will need to be rectified soon since we will be having company in the next few days and I’m fairly sure streaks of garden dirt everywhere is not attractive no matter how hard won that dirt may be.

And now I go make yet another meal with rice.  I’m kinda tired of rice.  Come on job! XD

I also need to take more pictures. -_-’

Garden 2013: So it Begins…

I was going to make the usual “Lack of Posting” apologies but, really, do we want to hear about that?  Good, I don’t want to type about it either. ^_^!

Instead: Garden!  We can have one this year!  And not just the little 4X4 box of questionable growth.  We have an entire yard!  Not that I’m going to plow the whole thing over right away. That’s a bit too big of a chunk for me to chew.  We’ll be starting with five 4X25 foot beds.  Exciting, no?  My arms may fall off before high summer.

Mark was kind enough to go out with his dad and dig up soil samples for us so we know our yard isn’t a Superfund site. YAY!  We sent the samples out to University of Massachusetts Soil and Plant Tissue Testing Laboratory this time because they had a comprehensive test.  (Very nice people in the lab!  They were very happy to listen to and answer all my idiotic questions.)  We have pretty acidic soil so we need to fix the PH levels. (That explains the ‘grass’ in the yard.)  After we got the test back, we built a grow station in the kitchen, started some seeds inside, fenced off half the yard so the puppies wouldn’t get in the way, marked off the beds, built a lovely gate (but didn’t hang it), and… then it snowed. I may have wept a little.

We’ve just not gotten a break in the weather and we are going to take every advantage.  The gate has been hung and is not longer being held up by cinder blocks* and the first of 5 planned beds was started.  We’re double digging the beds this year because we are suicidal er… because we actually own the place and want to grow nice things in our garden for a very long time.   We also have some seriously hard soil.  I’m going to see if I can get some compost to help break it up a bit along with the augments suggested by UMass.

We eventually want to put in fruit trees and berry bushes along the North and West sides and a pond with native and bee friendly plants around it.  I might even try for some bees if I think I can get away with it. ^_^!

Mark is way more excited about the garden than even he thought he would be.  He built himself a planter box out of wood scraps and is planting Chamomile and a flower mix.  He’s also asked for a strawberry patch.  I’m going to try to fit it in.  Somewhere.

He’s been helping me do the calculations on the raised bed frames as well as how much of what we need to put in the soil to make things grow.  I’m really proud of him.  It’s also funny to see his grouse and grumble about having to do work until we get to the yard and he’s the first to grab a shovel and the last to put it down.

I should also mention that it feels really good to be working in the sun, again!  I feel pleasantly tired instead of completely dead like I was afraid I would so I shall quite while the quitting is good.

 Kiba wants to eat your brains…

* One of the neighbor kids called my lovely gate a “fail” until we pointed out the lack of hardware.  It still stung a little, though. -sniff-

In Which Cat Gives an Opinion on Something Besides the Weather:

I don’t tend to give real advice.  Mostly because I haven’t learned how to give advice in such a way that won’t make people cry.  It’s not that I’m trying to be mean.  Honest!  It’s that I speak in a way that addresses the issue and forgets the human behind the issue.  In my own head, it’s easier for me to separate the two.  Not so much for other people.

This is me making an effort to give the one piece of advice I find rings the most true.  Hold on to your socks, Kids.

I have been married for all of 14 years. (YIKES!) I have known Brian for about 8 years prior to that and we dated 4 of those years.  We are still together and we still kinda like each other despite the various drama the world has thrown our way.  This gives me a very small margin from which I might offer a little sliver of advice though I can hardly accomplish this advice in my own life.

In ANY relationship, ask yourself: “What can I do to make this relationship better?” And then do it.

The High Life

Have I mentioned how much I like living on the second floor?  It completely solves the window dilemma: open the windows and let in the light and the breeze or keep them closed and shuttered so no one can see in and I can keep my pajamas on.

It’s less about the pajamas and more about the “seeing in.”   I grew up with an annoying older sister who liked to read over my shoulder and make rude comments about whatever I was doing.  And you guys wonder why I’m neurotic?

My home is my safe spot.  It’s for pajamas, bad hair, and wolfie slippers.  It’s also for first drafts, making mistakes, making art, and making a mess.  My cats don’t care what I look like and my husband thinks I’m cute no matter what so everyone else can go boo.

But, now that we have a second floor, I can keep the windows open AND be a total slob!  I mean: relax in the knowledge that I am in my safe place and everyone else can go Boo!

Discombobulation

I hate job searches.  I hate when Brian is in the middle of a job search even more than when I’m in the middle of one and that’s saying something.  When it’s Brian going through the motions of the waiting and the nail biting and the finding something not 10 years old to wear for the interview: I. CAN. DO. NOTHING.  and it drives me crazy.  Or, worse, I try to do something in my nail-biting, neurotic, rabid buffalo-ish, and brutally honest way and end up crushing his will to live.

Most Useless Wife EVER.

Anyway, the gooey, sludgy cloud of stress and negativity that’s been staining our house is really starting to wear on me.  I want it to be over.  And I want it to be over with the kind of victory Brian needs and deserves.  I’ve seen my husband struggling with his personal identity and self worth for the last 10 years as he tried to find a place that “FIT” his talents and personality.   We’ve both gone through so many personal, emotional, and physical changes that it’s a wonder our lives haven’t just imploded.  It’s so long since we’ve been stable that we’ve forgotten what it’s like not to be stressed.

We are getting closer.  We have a home, Mark has friends right next door, we’re working on the garden, the bills are getting paid.  It’s just this one last thing: a job that provides just enough and that won’t destroy my best friend or compromise his beliefs in the process.

Cross your digits, Kids!  Wish us luck.

Stretching those teachable moments.

Spent the day shopping for interview clothes and other important stuff (like toilet paper).  No one in this family likes shopping.  We avoid it, we procrastinate, we finally give in and grab the quickest solution possible.  Frankly, we’d rather be scrubbing the bathroom.  I may or may not have actually used scrubbing the bathroom as an actual excuse not to go shopping.  ahem.

Anyway, we went shopping.  Bri had to go since we were shopping for him and we can’t afford a body double.  I went for moral support and Mark went because I needed someone to torment  we needed his love and support.  ^_^

Mark was doing really well up until the point Brian stopped wandering from store to store and actually started trying things on.  All three of us had picked things we thought would work and Mark and I were just waiting for Bri to try things on.  This is the point where Mark began the lean and sigh attack.  He leans, he sighs, he looks to see if I noticed, and then leans some more.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  If I do make the mistake of noticing, I get the “I’m bored” speech along with the sad eyes.  -shudders-

I told the kid to find himself an interview outfit.  He, for some strange reason, thought this was a GREAT idea!  We talked about purpose and fabric and impressions and color choices and yeah…  He went out onto the floor and came back with a questionably bright lime green and khaki ensemble.  I pointed out the need to not make people’s eyes bleed.  He argued valiantly for the tie so I sent him back out with the tie as INSPIRATION making sure to note that all pieces of the outfit didn’t need to come directly from the love child of M.C. Escher and Lisa Frank the tie.  Ladies and Gents, that kid came back with a perfectly respectable blend of pale green and black that turned that tie into a statement of identity instead of cry of insanity.  I would have taken a picture if I’d had my camera or a fancy phone.

So, if he learns NOTHING ELSE, he will have learned how to be a snappy dresser. XD