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Weeding

I don’t know if it is just me but there are certain things that just taste better when other people make them. Take iced tea, for instance. Probably the easiest thing in the world to make yet it never tastes quite right when I make it. Tuna salad is another one. Why is that?

Saturday was an iced tea kind of day. Sunny, warm (it got up into the low 80’s here) and spent weeding. I finished the beds around the house and now I just have the big bed in front of the garden shed to do. Lest anyone gets a romantic notion about any type of garden shed I might have let me set you straight. It’s actually made with chain link fence walls on two sides (with slats of wood woven into the chains), wood walls on the other two sides and it has a tarp for a roof. It was actually a kennel before we moved in.

We tacked on a pen for the goats on one side and the other side (that faces the bed I need to weed) is planted with jasmine which climbs up the chainlink fence and at least hides it’s true ugliness when you are approaching it from the driveway.

Before you enter it you have to stomp about a bit so the rats are warned. Sometimes they scatter and hide, other times they just sit nibbling the goats hay (which is stored in the shed) and look balefully at you when you walk in.

You also have to kind of kick things before you pick them up to warn the black widow spiders that you are there so they have time to scatter and hide.

My dream garden shed would be a small stone, one room structure with a convervatory attached to one side. I would have a sink with lots of counter space for potting and arranging flowers. There would be shelves and shelves of my vases and pots. An old shabby dresser for my trowels and clippers. A bookcase for all my gardening tomes and an overstuffed chair in the corner were I could curl up and read.

There would be no spiders or rats invited in. Just the cat and dog who could curl up on the old oriental rug in front of the small fireplace.

The problem with such a shed is I would probably spend all my gardening time inside of it rather than out tending to the weeds.

Erin Go Bragh!

Careful what you wish for…

Worst. Day. Ever.

This picture just does not look as appetizing as the donut, does it?

Let’s step back a bit, shall we. I had chronic ear infections since I was a preteen and finally was diagnosed in the late 90’s with a cholesteatoma. A cholesteatoma is not a tumor exactly, despite the scary ‘oma’ at the end ~ it’s more a cyst/tumor of the middle ear. I had surgery to remove the cholesteatoma and the ossicle chain (the ear bones – hammer, anvil, etc.) then six months later I had reconstructive surgery and had fake ear bones put in. I’m like the Bionic Woman!

I have an ongoing relationship with my ENT for yearly check ups and hearing tests. My ENT is a lovely, lovely man – whenever any other health professionals hear that he is my doctor they get a dreamy look in their eyes and says "he’s the nicest guy ever. Don’t you think?" The women, especially, get a far away, unfocused look and I have to snap my fingers in their face a couple of times to regain their attention. He’s pretty adorable.

Well fast forward to about six or eight weeks ago when I developed an ear infection. One that won’t go away despite antiboitics, drops and the like. So this is what prompted the CT scan earlier this week. Results are in today and the cholesteatoma is back and I have to have another surgery.

This is not the bad part.

The bad part is that when I was in his office and we were discussing when the surgery should take place, yada yada yada – he had my chart up on the computer screen so he could put in a prescription for me. I notice in the lower right hand corner there is a little box for current conditions or something like that. I see the ear issue noted. And under that – – –

Oh this is awful.

Under that it said I am FAT! As a condition! And they used the "O" word. Now it that really necessary? I mean okay – I am pleasingly plump. Traditionally build. Rubenesque even. But ob…. oh forget it. I can’t even say the word. I can’t be THAT fat, can I? I wear a size 14 (okay ROOMY 14’s and the occasional 16).

I suppose now a days the 14’s Marilyn Monroe wore are more like a size 8 or 10. Not that I’m comparing myself to Marilyn Monroe, heavens no. I’m more the Ethel Mertz build. Oh I don’t even know where I’m going with this. I can’t get over that my PERMANENT record says I’m fat.

I do see what needs to happen though. It’s been a long time coming and there is no more denying it. The writing’s on the wall, so to speak. I’m going to have to buckle down and learn how to hack into the clinic’s computer system and update my medical file.

Harrumph.

Unchained melody

All this talk of bakery trucks and donuts makes one work up an appetite, doesn’t it?

One of my goals for the year was to learn how to crochet and here it is March already and I’ve gotten absolutely no where with it. Of course I haven’t learned to speak French yet either but what are you going to do.

So today I headed over to JoAnn’s for supplies. We do have a number of fabulous, chi chi yarn shops in the area but I didn’t want to be seduced by all the expensive, dreamy yarns. Nope, I wanted just a basic yarn and a few basic hooks. I also picked up "Learn to Crochet" by the Nomis Yarn Company because they have the instructions for both right handed AND left handed crocheters. And if you are left handed you know exactly the kind of frustration one normally runs into with instructions books.

Does anyone ball their yarn anymore? I remember growing up one of us girls was forever being recruited to hold out a skein of yarn on our forearms while my mother rolled it into a ball. My arms ache just thinking about it.

Anyway, I made my purchase, took a photo for posterity and then fully intended to crochet a granny square or two and take a photo of it for the dramatic after shot. But guess what? I can’t even make a basic chain! I couldn’t make it work or really make sense of the pictures – even the left handed ones. I’m a crocheting failure.

My Grandma Agnes tried to teach me about 20 years ago and finally told me to give it up because I was too tense. I do remember making a bit more progress than I did today but I think, if I recall correctly, that she made the chain for me and then turned it over to me. All I need is three chains to get my granny square started and I think I’m going to have to get back in my car and go to the chi chi yarn shop and ask them to create the chain for me. Those ladies there are pretty nice, I bet they would do it.

I do have one bit of crocheting advice, despite being a total novice. Don’t eat a chocolate donut and try to ball white yarn at the same time.

Bakery Truck

My post on my current job angst and my dream job struck a chord with a number of readers. While I’m sorry so many of us are employed in less than fulfilling endeavors I am happy that so many of us have bigger dreams.

Thank you all for sharing with me YOUR dreams. Now I can picture our cute little village full of fabulous shops and services. It turned out another blogger, Tracey from A Cottage Industry, had a very similar post on the very same day as to what HER dream job would be. A fabulous cupcake shop in her Nevada town for walk-ins and a vintage bakery truck for deliveries. I left a comment on how growing up one of my very favorite memories was of the bakery truck coming once a week and how we would all run out with our shiny dimes to buy a donut off the back of the truck while the driver sold loaves of bread to our mothers.

Tracey emailed me back that she too had a bakery truck that used to come to her neighborhood. After a bit of back and forth emailing we determined that it was probably the very same truck! We grew up in neighboring towns and both remember the truck being creamy yellow. Now how is that for serendipity?

Really, I am in awe of all the fabulous ideas you all have for your dream jobs and for those of you that have done it already. I’ll tell you what baby step I have taken towards my dream – I actually registered a domain name! Who knows – maybe I’ll start a little online enterprise and when that takes off I’ll be able to take the next step towards my dream. Thank you again for all the lovely responses and for the suggestions for books and offers of guidance. Believe me I’ll need it!

Is it anyone’s dream to be an accountant? If so let me know ~ I’m hoping I’ll need one!

(The picture above is not the truck from my childhood, alas. It’s a still from the movie Hairspray)

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