Showin' Off

A wee praying mantis on the cup plants by the porch steps. See the water? That's why they're called cup plants.
Yes, those are the second generation of the $1.00 gladiola bulbs I bought last year. They have multiplied, and are gorgeous next to the orange day lilies out front.












Here's some awesome pics of the yard this year. Gaze in wonderment, world!
In the above photo, you'll see mostly tomato plants, some green zinnias, and volunteer sunflowers. Birdseed- the gift that just keeps on giving.

On the right is a picture of the yard from the alley. The zinnias are mostly oranges, but there's 2 lavender ones, which is a color I've never seen in zinnias. The vine, is of course, morning glory and hyacinth bean.

The basil does not appear to be living up to the 5-foot -tall behemoth I raised last year, but that's okay. It is still delicious with walnuts, olive oil, garlic, Parmesan cheese and a blender.

Productivity

I have learned that my habit of keeping fabrics, quilt blocks, and etc. for years is a good one to have. For example, these 2 Dresden Plate rings were given to me during one of my grandmother's Great Cleanings of Her Sewing Room. I appliquéd them onto black fabric, folded them up, and stashed them away.
Years later, they make a fine wedding wall hanging, even though the purchaser just realized she told me the wrong date! Seam ripper, ahoy!
The tiny little squares making the borders are from a bag of fabric scraps Tiny Montgomery picked up for me. Thanks, TM! Even though the rings are from the 1930's or 40's, and the squares are from the 60's and 70's, they work well together.
Thus was my Friday morning. Oh, and when I let the dog out at 3-freakin'-AM, guess who was getting into his hot tub? That's right....my hoosier neighbor. I love South City.

*stomach churning*

First, here is what I have growing in my yard. Thank you, Dollar Store! My pink and white gladiolas from last summer are amazing this summer. You must drive by my house to enjoy.

And now for the stomach churning....
May 11th, 1987
Monday
Dear Tippy, (name of my mom's childhood dog)
I got my ears pierced today. BAAAAARRRRFFFFF!
First, the earrings were soaked in alcohol, same as my ears.
Second the doctor marked 2 x's on my ears.
Third (very barf), He (ugh) took a needle and screwed it through my ears. It didn't hurt that much but I really winced at it.
THEN, he threaded another needle and ran it through my ear. OUCH!
Then he stuck the earring in. YOWCH! My earlobe is so fat! I almost barfed I was so nervous. I had to lay down. Dr. Sugden took my pulse. I must have been white. I couldn't keep steady for a while. It was THIRTY bucks!

Daddy is in a very bad mood just because he didn't get dinner in the living room. He got all pissy, threw pans on the floor, stomped all over the place, threw out a lot of pictures and one of his photo albums from the Navy.
Good lord.
G'night!


Let's remember, my parents said it was this way or no piercing.So, my mom sat in the doctor's office, with her hands over her face, because she was unable to watch me be tortured. I didn't write what the second needle and thread did. He pulled it back and forth to make the hole a little bigger for the earrings. Even now, my stomach is doing flipflops remembering how it felt. Believe it or not, worse is yet to come in The Earring Saga.

Needless to say, when I got the other 6 holes done, it was at the mall, sans parental consent (it was the 80's). It took my dad 6 months to realize I had gotten more earrings.

As for the finale of this diary entry, I looked up emotional abuse, but it doesn't fit what happened. This stomping and yelling and freaking out over minor things was a weekly event for a while. Who knows what was really wrong?
We Walkers are pretty strong-willed. When we're pissed off, we are PISSED OFF. For example, when Tom broke my heart into a million billion pieces, I didn't speak to him for 4 months, even though we saw eachother each weekend at The Model. He spoke to my roommate and friends, but I totally ignored him, even if we were both waiting for drinks at the bar. Finally, I got over him and was cordial again.

You gotta watch out for we quiet short people. There's a lot of malice simmering inside, and not just from the brutal way our ears were first pierced.

*blows dust off diary*

May 9, 1987
Dear diary,
I don't want to play my flute in church. Dad asked why I never play it at home. I said, "I don't want to." So now I can't get my ears pierced! I want to die or just stay up in my room forever! I have to plant ALL the goddamn onion sets. I hope the birds eat them all.

Ah, I can just hear Big Mike saying, "Well, I guess I don't want to pay for your ears getting pierced!". Also, a typical punishment in the Walker household, once we were too old to be spanked, would involve physical labor. No wonder I can't sit still when I'm outside. I always feel like I have to be doing something.
This also may mark the first sign of teen-hood: "I want to die!"
For those who did not grow up with a garden, onion sets are just teensy tiny onions that you plant and wait for them to become regular onions.
The whole issue with ear piercing was that it was 1987, and my parents thought if I went to Piercing Pagoda at the mall, I would get AIDS. Instantly.
So, it was off to the doctor's I went., clueless as to what would befall me.Stay tuned!

The Universe

One bit of good news....I have nine of these that will be blooming in a couple weeks. Remember, I paid one dollar for a bag of 10 bulbs last year. Now, I have many, many more.

And now, a warning--whining ahead!

Today, I believe the universe is against me. Twice today, TWICE, I yelled,"Oh shit! Please stop! Please stop!" to other drivers.
On Forest Park Parkway, the car in my rear view mirror did not appear to be slowing down and I was at a red light. The hair on my neck actually stood up, and I imagined my precious car being crumpled. Luckily, Drinky McGee did stop, an inch away from my bumper. Then, once the light turned green, he zipped around me on the right. A few lights later, he realized he wanted to turn right from the middle lane.
Sounds stressful, eh?

THEN, I find out another one of my friends is pregnant. I'll leave it at that.

On the way home from school, a tractor trailer pulled out in front of me on 55 south. I'm cruising along, at the speed limit, and saw the truck with its blinker on. "Oh, he's not REALLY going to pull out. Surely he can see there isn't enough room for him to get in front of me oh shit he really IS coming into my lane from a dead stop oh crap!"
By some stroke of luck, I did not smash into the back of the Lane Furniture truck, and the car behind me was paying attention and did not smash into me.

Oh, and the reason I signed up to teach summer school? Nonexistent. At least I'm just teaching art, to 3 classes of 8 students each.

I've had way too much adrenaline today. Someone else go run my errands. I'm staying inside.

Drawers

I know I'm a bad person, but I couldn't resist this photo opportunity.
That clothing, basking in the beautiful setting sun? Why those would be the boxer shorts of the former owner of Little Jerry Seinfeld: my hoosier neighbor.
His yard starts behind the basketball hoop. It's got the hot tub, non-running vehicle, 18 lawn chairs, 2 patio umbrellas laying around, and 3 broken park benches that you can't see. Plus, a child's blue plastic truck thing. You can't see the other pile of children's toys.
NO CHILDREN LIVE THERE. HIS NEICE AND NEPHEW ARE TOO OLD FOR PLAYSKOOL TOYS.

Training Babies

Not, not teaching them tricks; I mean like a training bra training baby.
I got to hold this one today:
www.xanderlucas.blogspot.com

and got to feed this one on Memorial Day:
http://luckybeesbazaar.com/home.html
For some reason, the pics of that baby are no longer on the blog, but buy some cute pouches!

Thinking further, wouldn't a training baby be a good thing? I mean, they're all heavy and sweaty and drooly and mercurial. It would really solidify one's desire to be a parent, especially if that "one" is a lonely teenage girl.

Since my last "if you post it, it will sell" trick worked (thanks, Robin!) here is what I have for you today:

It is a full-size-ish unpadded summer quilt. Just 1 layer of the quilt top stitched to a backing of heavier cotton upholstery fabric. It was made at my MIL's house during the December ice storm. I had an idea of what it would look like, but didn't have the space to lay out the blocks to make sure that they looked good together. It turned out pretty awesome!
This might be up for silent auction later on this month.....stay updated!

Oh, and I am officially on Summer Break. Envy me, you might, but I am teaching art at summer school, so break will be short lived/profitable.

Update for Matt

Even though my husband is on the other side of the wall, he wants an update.
So, in a numbered list:
1. Gypsy Caravan was DRY, thanks to all my creative visualization. If you watch this clip, you'll see not only my badass grey streak, but how eloquent I am after hours of watching frontbutt and American flag shirts.
http://cw11tv.trb.com/news/kplr-052807-4,0,3042563.story

Please note that I am identified as Becky Rabbit, even though I emailed the reporter to correct it.

2. I had a great corndog, which came with a face. See above. And no, it is not possible for me to take a decent picture.

3. I have 12 hours of work left, and am trying to suppress the urge to throttle certain children. As I said to R. (of Chilicraft fame), "I am trying to remind myself that I love you a lot" as I grabbed the back of his neck. With love, people, with love!

4. My garden shows promise of another banner year. My basil appears to be 2 different types, but once you chop that bastard up with pignoli and olive oil, it's all good.
I have many volunteer tomato plants if you want tomatoes.

5. My grandfather will be 97 tomorrow. NINETY SEVEN. And I'm all wistful this morning about when I was 24! Such folly! That man still remembers Polish from when his parents were alive and non-English speaking!

6. No Lisa, I could not be any cuter. Do you like my corndog photo?

7. I am working summer school so I can go to Maine in August to visit Kate. If you need new potholders, buy some from me and contribute to my Maine Fund. I want to eat as much seafood as humanly possible while I'm there.


8. I tried to take some photos this afternoon with our new digital camera, but.....yeah. I don't quite have the hang of it yet. Note that I said NEW, and that I haven't blogged in a while.

9. I swear to you all I will get back to my diaries on Friday! Or I will buy the Monday Moms at Hartford all coffees!

10. Time for a rum and coke.