Summer's Bounty and Beer

Share with me, friends, in the first harvest of the Rabbitt Garden! I was weeding out purslane, and discovered some oddly shaped cucumbers hiding in their leaves. One was Siamese Twinning another one, so I'm letting it/them grow to see what it turns into. I've got a weird fascination with Siamese twins, if you didn't know.
I'll HAVE to make pesto this week, and will take orders. Anyone? Anyone? Perhaps a certain Illinoisian who I'm chillin' with on Friday likes pesto.
Also of note in the garden: the pokeberry plant is taller than me and everything else around it.
My tomatoes are quite leafy, and only have a few green tomatoes.
The pepper is the size of a nickel, and just as cute as you're imagining it.
The dill reseeded and smells wonderful.
Morning glories and purple hyacinth vine are taking over exactly where I wanted them to take over.
My newspaper-as-mulch idea sorta worked. Next year I'll lay down more layers of newspaper instead of just one.
Here is a cute picture of Matt's Beer Delivery Service.


Oh, and here's a shot of my first wedding anniversary present-a birdbath the color of my *sob* old blue Mazda. Note the happy blackbird striking a pose.

Bellydance and Barbecue

For you locals, come say howdy to me tomorrow evening as I sell my wares at the Bellydance and Barbecue Benefit at The Royale restaurant/bar.
I'm not sure exactly how this will work, but my crystal ball sees it this way:I am sitting at a table, hopefully with a Schlafly. On the table there is a sign stating that a portion of each sale of potholder or oven mitt will go to the Panda Athletic Club. A woman is bellydancing, making me vow to practice more. I think of the video website where I wasted so much time last night, and know I'll find just the right song to shimmy to. Rick James, here I come.
See you tomorrow!

Eighties videos

Some of you already have this. I posit 2 questions:
1. Will I ever be able to leave my computer again?
2. Why don't they play old videos anymore?
I love 80's videos.

Why can't I live in the Der Kommissar video? WHHYYYYY????

Check out Kate Bush's modern interpretive dance in "Running Up That Hill". This song is on the CD I used to play when I wanted to get busy with boys.
Check out that freak Appollonia's "Sex Shooters". We do more intense moves at bellydancing.
And...the song "White Horse"!!! It's in the "L" section. Remember when Doberman pinschers were the dog of choice for thugs?

Girl Stuff

Sometimes I'll hear myself say to a student, "Why do you care about things like this? It's not a big deal. In a month it won't matter. In a year it won't matter. And when you're my age, you'll laugh yourself silly thinking about how much it mattered."
The "it" refers not to Ebay, but to relationships with friends. Hmm. After typing that, my brain says, "but friends DO matter! No wonder we worried about it!" Perhaps I'm just an insensitive bitch, made easy by the fact that my best friends are, at the minimum, 5 hours away from me, and I don't even talk to them that much. Yet I still consider them my buds!
Eh, here's an entry:

April 28th, Tuesday.
Hi Sandra.
I am tired. Nothing really happened lately. CT was in one of her piss moods yesterday. She said I like Lexi better than her (true) and I always call her (false). Well maybe Lexi is better to get along with! CT loves Chris C., and I like MP. Today in English we were trying to send him mental messages to look at CT. It didn't work.
G'Night!
Allison

Hey, who could resist Lexi? We went to see The Goonies together and shared a twisted love for mint chocolate Bubble Yum. She was cheerful, which was a far departure from CT. Don't worry, Lex is still cheerful, even when the Cubbies blow a game. Hi Lex!
Here's another example of how fleeting my fancy was. Also, an example of how little I paid attention in school, yet made honor roll each quarter. My crush on Chris Conway came in about 10th or 11th grade. He was sort of a sk8r boi (couldn't resist), and very smart. It's funny that I married a very smart former skater boy, and today is our one year anniversary!

Oh, and definitely check out the link for Bubble Yum. I can't believe we ate so much gross crap in the 80's. I do miss Checkermint gum, though.

Update on List Progress

Last night, I attended my first belly dancing class.
My body started to hurt by the time I got into the car.
I learned a few things:
1. I have NO rhythm.
2. I dance a lot better when I'm drunk, especially if I'm with Tanya or Kerry.
3. I'm not as limber as I used to be. My left hip socket made popping noises.
4. I am rhythm-less.
5. I cannot perform what I learned for Matt without giggling.

Here's a link to my original list.

1. The purslane is almost gone. Did you know it's a food crop in Europe?
6. We had roasted chicken, green beans, and mashed potatoes for Matt's yesterday birthday. Don't get excited-it was supermarket deli, canned, and boxed. But it was real food.
7. Haven't touched the Chinese Coin quilt because I've been working on this:

And these:


8. Ouch. And as I said to CO Robin, I felt muscles I haven't felt since I was 16 and riding a horse in the Grand Tetons. I haven't felt those since Daniel was chest hair-less. Since I last wore neon and tie dye!
14. yes
15. yes
16. yes. "The Brief History of The Dead" by Kevin Brockmeier. Damned good.
18. Soon, my precious, sooon
20. Yes, some days TWICE!! But not today.

Deal or No Deal?

When I was 7 or so, my dad bought an old tow truck we named The Brown Bomber, since it was brown. Witty, eh? He kept the towing apparatus on it for a few years, but it was gone by the time we moved to Solebury in 1983.
I recall Dad trying to teach me to drive stick in this truck. We lurched across our fields (possibly on April 6) as his "beverage" sloshed across our laps. He got a kick out of it, luckily, since I was tired of doing the dishes. I never really got the hang of a manual transmission.
This truck was used for the heavy/dirty/hard work, such as hauling lumber, or dragging gigantic rocks up to the house. Why we were dragging rocks, I don't know. Sometimes my dad did wacky things just for kicks.


Sunday, April 6th
Hi Odessa!
Sory about the past few days. Today Dad and I dragged 2 rocks (big) up from the woods by way of the truck. My throat hurts. I hate Jamie and Brian . They always repeat everything I say!
I made a deal with Mom that if I fixed supper, she would do the dishes. I'm gonna fix dinner for the rest of my life. On Thursday I found a note between BW. and Frank. They want to screw Nadine and Stacey.
I hate BC. He calls me his arm rest and he smells!
Bye!

Yeeeah...fix dinner for the rest of my life....that deal sure did go south, didn't it? When I lived alone, I cooked a nice meal each Sunday and ate the leftovers all week. Ever since getting married, I rarely make even pancakes anymore. Anything requiring more than 2 ingredients is out of the question.
JW and BB were kids in my church group. They were a year or so younger than me, which explains the repetition game. JW remained a jerk for as long as I knew him, but BB ended up cool. He lent me his "Head On The Door" (by The Cure, duh!) tape on one of our ski trips. Years later, I recall him going to a New Order concert.
And I guess I should apologize for anyone's feelings that are getting hurt, but people, these thoughts of mine were from almost 20 years ago! I'm not a hateful person anymore! I've got good hair, cool tattoos, and am way more secure with myself than in 1987. And Lord knows, I was no prize pig myself in 1987-you can see the yearbook photo for yourself.

CO Robin, See What I Mean?

This post is dedicated to Colorado Springs Robin. Dan and I aren't kidding when we gripe about how we had to do dishes all the time as kids. I remember standing on a CHAIR to reach the sink in order to wash dishes. *sigh* I guess it could be worse. We could've been starved or neglected.

Tuesday, April 22

Hi.
We had to run 1.5 miles today in gym.
I took 18 minutes and 29 sec.
Daddy is sick with a major head cold. I have to do the dishes for a week because I didn't put any of my babysitting money in my bank account.
GODDAMN IT!!
I'm getting pretty sick of this dishes crap!

My parents were big on the bank account thing. I had a passbook since the early '80s. If there's one thing they've instilled in me, it's savings. Even though I can afford to go to Target and get whatever I want, a part of me still thinks it's wasteful and bad. Thanks, Mom and Dad! I'm going to be miserly for the rest of my life!

Easter, Walker family style

There really was no rest for the wicked, or even the non-wicked at our house. When I say my dad was a slave driver, I'm not totally exaggerating. Looking back now, I understand that there was a TON of work to be done in/on/around our house. However, I'm not the one who decided to buy a ramshackle 120 year old farmhouse. Also, we could have been asked a bit more politely to help out. You win more flies with sugar than vinegar.

Even on holidays, we were expected to be picking rocks out of the garden, carting away whatever old building had just been torn down, or, my personal favorite, being The Holder.

"Get over here and stand on this board," was a common request from Big Mike. If he needed help with sawing or hammering, my brother and I were the perfect weight. Many's the time I had to hold a piece of lumber while my father ran the power saw inches (if that) away from my fingers. It's a testament to his carpentry skills and my nerves that I have all the digits I was born with.
So here is Easter Sunday, 1987. A day of celebration and rest? Not in my house.

Sunday, April 19th
Dear Olive,
Happy Easter!
Today was full! All day I worked outside, cutting grass, etc. My back hurts so bad and I have to go to Peddler's Village tomorrow for the YF auction.
Night-night,
me

For those of you who know me, it may be a surprise that I went to church at all, let alone be involved in the Youth Fellowship. Again, I grew up in the country, and there weren't a lot of chances for socialization. I took whatever I could.
Peddler's Village is a sore on the ass of Solebury Township. Imagine a shopping village where New Yorkers and Philadelphians are BUSSED in. Unlike Boston in the 1970's, nobody protested or threw rocks. Chi-chi can only begin to describe it. At the time, I liked it. There were good restaurants (The Pig and.....Something) and some cool shops with crystals and suncatchers that I liked.

When Poverty's Children Play

This entry sounds like something they'd make us read at work, and then discuss how it relates to our student population.
You'd think that I grew up on a dirt floor chewing on grass and riding a cow. Wait-my uncle broke his back doing just that....well...never mind, then.

Saturday, April 18
Hi.
Dear Jessy,
Today Dan and I went over to the houses in the woods. In the first house, I found a package with 3 doughnuts in it and at the last house we made a seesaw and played in the puddles in the cellar.
Today Mon, Dan and I spent all morning in Doylestown buying things.
I bought:
1. a basket for Mrs. Colby
2. 2 pairs of stockings
3. a bra
4. candy
5. wooden eggs for my Easter baskets for my friends.
Daniel is still doing the dishes at 9:47 pm. He started about 9 pm. We saw "Raiders of the Lost Ark". I am tired.
Dan and I also painted Easter eggs. I made a bunny (weird drawing here) only it was cute!
Bye!

We played in puddles? I was how old? WTF? How sad is it that construction sites were considered fun for us? When I say I grew up in the country, I really mean it!
As punishment, and because I was too big to get spanked anymore, Dad made us do the dishes for a certain amount of time. A little lip at the dinner table would get us 2 nights. Causing the other sibling to bleed was a week. Breaking something of Dad's was 2 weeks. Getting grades below a B was a month. How that would help us spend more time on homework, I don't know.
Because I was evil, I'd dirty every piece of silverware in the house if Dan had dish duty. I'd bake cakes, cookies, and use everything that could be washed. I'd volunteer to clean out all the Tupperware containers of forgotten leftovers in the fridge.
Sorry, Dan.

I have 12 hours left of work.

Sorry about the title-last night I couldn't sleep because it's almost the end of the school year. Each June, it seems like last summer was forever and a minute ago. Did I really drive to the Grand Canyon?

Did I really get married?

We bought a house? WHAT???!!

Another reason why I couldn't sleep last night was the sheer joy of selling 20 oven mitts and 30 sets of potholders at the Rock and Roll Craft Show. I am well on my way to a sizeable down payment on a new car. I was so excited and thrilled at how well my humble kitchen wares did. As I lay in bed, images of future fairs and selling to actual stores drifted through my head. Even the book I'm reading, "The Devil In The White City" couldn't dispel those sugarplums.

I learned a few things this weekend:

List Of Things I Learned This Weekend

1. The public likes my oven mitts and can't tell the difference between poorly applied binding and well-applied binding.
2. I can price my potholders at $11 a pair and nobody bats an eye.
3. Other folks, as cheerful and wonderful as they may appear, are also not as perfect as I assume them to be. For some reason, I always assume I'm the one with all the problems and everyone else has a happy wonderful life. We all have problems, so it's nice to know I'm not alone. I miss having friends I could dish with. I hope my knitting group turns into those type of folks.
4. This war freaking sucks. It's not just the people actually in "the shit", it's the sisters and mothers and wives of those people who have to deal with the aftermath. Just like we're creating future terrorists out of little kids who see their parents die, we're also creating future pacifists and Democrats.
I keep asking Dan if he's okay, if he's having any flashbacks or depression yet. I guess after 2 years, I can stop, but after 2 years, I'm the one who can't watch the news or read the paper without getting teary-eyed. It's kinda f-ed up that I'm the one with the post-traumatic stress and Dan was the one who got shot at and fought scorpions.
5. St. Louis wants its crafts, and it wants them now.
6. I have a lot of sewing to do (again, sigh) for the Tower Grove Farmer's Market.
7. I really want a new car. I am unabashedly jealous of Beqi for getting one already. Yet, I also miss my Mazda.
8. My cute shoes hurt after wearing them for too long.
9. Karen/Diane can get me and 6 others into the Botanical Garden for free.
10. Hmm...I had to make an even 10.....okay-I know an awful lot of people in this city, all of whom appeared happy to see me. Yay for softball teams!

I'm baacckk

Here's a link to a good pic of the Gypsy Caravan...event on Memorial Day. I like Autumn because she's a positive thinker, but even she was a little dejected after 9 hours of sitting in the Libyan heat. However, she did take some good pics.
So, after all those hours of sewing potholders and mitts, and telling my husband that I'd come out of my sewing room eventually, I was a little let down at my sales at the Caravan. I'm not a complainer, but it was SO hot! I drank like 4 giant lemonades and only had to pee twice! I got sunburned UNDER my tent!
On a good note, I sold 19 oven mitts today at Rock and Roll Craft Show. That's 18 more than I sold on Monday. If you're local, you should go tomorrow.
I have 20 hours of work left before summer vacation. My classroom is pretty much packed and ready to go. I even had Lavell pick all the staples out of the bulletin board.
Time for a list:
20 Things I Plan To Do This Summer (in no particular order)

1. Weed all the purslane out of my garden.
2. Give my demonstration in writing class without getting nervous.
3. Blog each day.
4. Read Alice Sebold's "Lucky" because I loved "The Lovely Bones" all 5 times I've read it.
5. Read young adult literature.
6. Eat healthier.
7. Quilt the Chinese Coin quilt I've had laying around for 6 years.
8. Take a belly dancing class at the YMCA.
9. Go to the YMCA every other day.
10. Kick ass in the flower beds out front.
11. Buy a new car and be able to kiss my old one goodbye.
12. Visit Noel in Connecticut.
13. Talk to my grandmom about her life as a youth in New Jersey.
14. Not wear shoes for 50 % of my day.
15. Drink a lot of homebrewed ice tea.
16. Read.
17. Go to Ted Drewes once a week for the Crater Copernicus sundae and rationalize it by "Well, I'm walking there and back".
18. Hang out with Robin and drink iced mochas and make fun of art quilts.
19. For that matter, drive my new car to the Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky.
20. Walk Maggie each morning, like the cool-looking girl who I see walking her two large beagles. I want to make friends with her, but how does a 33 year old make friends? I forget how! What if she thinks I'm a wack job?