Tomorrow

Wow, only 2 weeks since my last blog?
Well, there was Spring Break, and a week of nausea that included 3 days without coffee, if you can believe that, and well, it's been nice outside.
The garden is sprouting like mad, due to the TON of rain and warm weather we've been having. I'm actually surprised that I don't hear the dehumidifier running in the basement.

Tomorrow, my friends and I will be chillin' at the Tower Grove Farmers' Market in the TG park here in St. Louis. The market is run by the nicest couple ever, Patrick and Jenny, and their stellar friend Chris and Jenny's great dad......Jenny's Dad. Jenny is the type of gal who makes me want to be nicer instead of bitchy and intolerant. However, when your idiot neighbors put a huge tree branch IN the "No Yard Waste" dumpster, one should be allowed to stand in her garden and loudly announce that some people must be fucking idiots if even the Vietnamese family can read the "No Yard Waste" sign on the dumpster.
Oh, I've been busy calling the neighbors idiots, too. So, if I get shot, you'll know why. The beauty supply store is...hmm...maybe two blocks away? Three?

Anyway, Pat and Jenny and Chris and Jenny's Dad are people after my own heart, what with their Local Harvest grocery store and reaching out to the community via an EBT machine and working in schools (!!!) over the summer. I am thankful that they allow us crafters at their FARMERS market, too. Plus, Jenny's Dad is a crossword fan just like me.
You can come buy cute market totes and matching bird potholders for your mom, or honey or meat or coffee or crepes or super hot salsa. There'll be bands playing and people with dogs and yoga and apple tarts.
Now, to wind the clock and to remind myself to pick Alecia up tomorrow morning!

What I've Been Doing

Recycling in action. I cut a toothpaste box in half, added some potting soil and a corn kernel and...voila! A plantable container! Yes, that is a toilet paper roll and a tea bag box.


A view from the steps. Ignore my hoosier neighbors' dead newspapers lying on their walk. I swear, I really did not pick the rest of their daffodils. It wasn't me!
This, my friends, is where sweet corn comes from. A tiny pale green finger looking for the light.

Le Jardin 2008. Thank you, Matt, for building the squares! Please also note my bourgeoisie compost bin. It was on sale and I was tired of messing with my bent plastic garbage can with the plywood/brick roof. You can see I'm surrounded by hoosiers (plastic toys in yard) so I don't need to add to the downfall of my block. The blue glass lantern is used to keep Matt's pepper plant warm these recent COLD nights. The screen door (found in alley) is covering the first basil I couldn't wait to plant. They're doing okay so far!

From Under the Rock...

I know it's been a while. Blame it on the MAP test screwing up my schedule and happiness!

The 2008 Garden is off to a good start. I planted a bunch of various flower seeds last weekend, as well as a pepper, German chamomile, onions, more spinach, lettuce and carrots. My corn has sprouted but I'm still waiting on the squash to germinate.
Photos to follow!
Let us go back in time, my friends:

Feb. 20, 1987
Today the YF went skiing at Elk Mountain. There is a new boy, Kevin, who is SO gorgeous. His cheekbones remind me of Mike's. OH MY GOD! Kindy was talking to a hot boy when Laurie and I got off the lift, and by the time we were at the top, they were at the bottom frenching. He's 16, name=Lyle. Kevin was looking at me so many times. Laurie and I sat in front of them on the way up and they (Jon K. and Kevin M.) listened to everything we said. Jon gave me a Cramps tape to listen to. Goo Goo Mah is the neatest song! I was listening to it and in between songs, I heard Jon say "Leave her alone, she's listening to the Cramps." And when we were at the place, Kevin kept on staring at me. He is so cute!
Love,
Al
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Okay, so my friend was a slut. A ski slut, no less. This never happened to me on a ski trip! There was a band trip later in high school where a local youth saw me and followed us around. Skateboarders....gotta love 'em!
I'm trying to figure out the logistics of getting off the ski lift, then knowing that the "frenching" was occurring when we were at the top of the mountain.....Kindy must have filled me in later. She did later go to the Catholic high school near us...
"Frenching". That kills me! Don't you think that frenching on a ski slope at night would lead to a painfully chapped face?
And god, was I acutely aware of who was looking at me and when! He was probably looking at me not out of teen boy lust, but out of wonder that I was such a rampant dork.
I still love The Cramps, and even had the classic yellow "Bad Music For Bad People" t-shirt, although its current whereabouts are unknown :(

I Can Grow Anything!

I got 4 dendrobium orchids from Freecycle on January 1, 2007. I carefully watered them, kept them from drafts, and put them on the back porch all summer, where they reveled in the Amazon-like climate that is summer in St. Louis.
Once it got cool, I brought them into the bathroom. Two went on top of the medicine cabinet, and the other two perch on the toilet tank. Apparently, I did the right thing, because look what opened today!
This may be the most beautiful thing I've grown, aside from my moonflower or morning glory/hyacinth bean hedge. I do mean hedge, no exaggeration.
The other orchids all have flower stalks of varying lengths, so my bathroom will be exotic for a few months! M's cousin is getting married next Saturday. We had discussed how expensive wedding flowers are, and I joked that I might have orchids for her. Well, I'm pretty sure I will, but I don't want to share!
Thanks, Mom, for my green thumbs!

Why I Love Big Cities

I grew up in the country. No sidewalks, street lights, public water, bus stops, homeless people, no nothin'. So, when I was considering colleges, I knew for a fact that my country ass belonged in a city, where I could experience all the cool stuff I read about in Jay McInerney and Bret Easton Ellis's books, minus the drugs and poor life decisions.
Boston gave me sidewalks, a subway, crazy homeless folks, pigeons and gross tap water. I have never regretted my choice, and am glad that I live in a city (for all its problems) now. The country still beckons, but that's when I'm older and retired. Or when country school districts aren't filled to the gills with Meth Addict Megan and Paris Hilton wannabes. Yes, I judge unfairly.
This blog has a million reasons why I love cities, particularly New York. When I considered myself a writer, I was always listening to others' conversations on the streets or on the T. I heard some awesome stuff, some of which I wrote down. Mostly I wrote about the people I saw, instead of their wacked out dialogue.
There's something so brazen and snappy about New York. When I'm there, I feel younger and cooler. Not that I think I'm a total dork now, but it reminds me of my Boston days of crazy hair colors and outfits involving striped tights.
Read, my friends. Read and laugh until you almost pee yourself.
If I were to contribute one, it would be the conversation Matt and I heard in a pastry shop near NYU. A bunch of 20-somethings were seated around a table. It seemed like some students from a summer college program who knew each other loosely through the dorm they were staying in or a class they were taking.
One girl was holding court about what a slut she was, all the sexual things she could remember doing, blah blah blah. It was obvious that all the geeky guys there were totally turned on and thinking they might be the next lucky Slut Victim. The other girls were getting annoyed with her, but Queen Whore kept talking about her boobs and underwear until I was ready to get up and slap her filthy mouth.
It almost ruined the chocolate masterpiece we were enjoying, but it did make for good conversation afterward.
Ah, I love New York.

Feb. 19, 1988

Feb. 19, Friday

Yesterday, C. and I were discussing what we would do if MP came up to one of us and said, "I want yer sex!" It was funny. Tonight I'm leaving to go skiing, so I won't write until Sunday. Anyway, today I saw MP again. Someone named Chris just called and told me that a boy in 10th grade likes me. I don't believe the, though. She (or he) said he's in the library 1st period on Wednesdays. Come Wednesday, I WILL NOT march in there and stare!! I'll send J. in.
Help?!
AL
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God, again with the MP. I was 15, remember. And again with the damned " I want your sex!"!! That song has cursed me!

I totally remember this conversation with C. I had a steady babysitting job after school for a woman from my church. I'd get home, pee, and she'd come pick me up. Nina had 2 girls-a 2-year-old and a.....maybe 5-year-old. It was fun, as the girls were good and they had a super cool haunted house. Plus, Nina and her husband had a Porsche 911, which she occasionally picked me up in. They bought it during the oil recession in Texas in the 80's. Remember that? All the oil farmers went bankrupt or something. Nina also informed the girls in the Youth Fellowship that if we ever needed birth control, she'd get it for us, since she was a registered nurse. I was in the front seat of Nina's car, coming back from the Youth Fellowship summer retreat. (Which was SO FUN, I can't believe I never wrote about it. I bought "The Joshua Tree" by U2 and hung out with older kids and watched "Witness" for the first time. Mmmm...Harrison Ford.......)
In the rear view mirror, I caught the eye of my older friend Betsey. We were a little shocked, but that comment cemented Nina's coolness in our minds!
When C. and I were discussing the improbable event of MP wanting to boink one of us, I was in Nina's kitchen. The kitchen had been the scene of several possible ghost encounters. Things would disappear from the top shelves, or you'd put a glass on the counter, go away and return to find it moved. It was dark outside, as it was about 5 pm in February. At the time, it was a really, really funny conversation. We were like, "What if we had sex on his skateboard?" and such. It seems kind of stupid now, though.

JM was slowly becoming my friend at the time. She was always willing to do my spying and I enjoyed her humor and sensibility. You will note that I didn't believe the person who called me. Perhaps JM was a good influence. She was a total Jersey Girl, even though she wasn't from Jersey. Big hair, weird clothes....very Jersey. Years later, her parents bought a brand new house and paid cash for it. They also got a Jaguar. We joked that her dad was in the Mafia, as they were very Italian. Perhaps we weren't too far off! Ol' Ralph was a made man!

And I guess I totally got my ski trips screwed up. Eh, you go to one Poconos ski area, you've been to them all.

Wardrobe Refashion Pledge

The Pledge

I, Allison___________ pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings! Signed_Allison_____________.

Goodie! I can do the Value Village Half Off Day Sale! Look out, March 26!