Even more progress

Despite an ugly bout of powerbarfing first thing this morning, I managed to get myself together and get some things done. There are only four bags of mulch left in the garage, and I can get my car in again. Those last four bags are earmarked for the spot in the back flower bed which needs a layer of limestone gravel laid down to absorb the water before I can mulch.

The laundry is almost done, the bathroom has been scoured, and all but eight of the houseplants are now outside where they can revel in sunshine and fresh air. My sheets are changed and I've done a quick inventory of the linen closet. I need another set of nice twin sheets, and I'm down to only fifteen Ice Hotels. If Lush NA ever gets their act together on offering Retro products, I foresee a great poorness in my future, especially with new scents from Skindecent and BPAL. Oh, and my second invention has made the Skindecent scent list. The first, as my few loyal readers will remember, was Treefrog Jammies, a blend of green scents & lavender. The new one is a combo of key lime, maraschino cherries & ginger ale, named Ultrasonic by a fellow Lushie named Andromedi.

Thanks to my assorted addictions, I'm rather spoiled for choice. Right now, for example, I am trying to decide what scent to use for my bath tonight. Whatever I decide on, the bathtub is one of my most important refuges. The other is my garden, especially when I am out there watering.

I was trying to describe to a friend what I love about watering plants. It's hard to verbalize because I am not a particularly philosophical person, but there's a ritual aspect to it, a definite sense of being connected to the earth, the plants, the water and a sort of calm chance to contemplate whatever my little butterfly brain feels like thinking about. I guess articulating the process doesn't really make much difference--it still feels good.

And now I have to go retrieve Bigfoot, who is outside barking hysterically at poor Rooter. *eye roll*

Happy, happy autumn!

The last few days, I have been harvesting. My volunteer grape tomato plant has provided me with dozens upon dozens of tasty tomatoes, my lavender is ready to be cut down for the winter, and this past week I have harvested nearly half a cup of morning glory seeds.






The lavender is going in my linen closet and to co-workers, and the morning glory seeds are being divvied up into packets for next spring. I am going to plant some of them, some are going to Mallie for her new house, and the rest are available for anyone who wants some very pretty vines with dark purple, red-streaked flowers.

The cold fall air makes my evening baths much more enjoyable, and now I can use all my glorious fall scents. So far, the winner has been Julphia Soapworks' Sandalwood Vanilla, followed by Red Egyptian Musk from Skindecent. I am also very proud to announce that I was one of the forum contest winners for Isle of Eden's holiday collection. My suggestion, called Tucked In, is a pretty layered scrub, is currently one of the top ten best-sellers on the site, and I get a free jumbo scrub!

I built my very first book recently at work, and I am now responsible for three more. Even though my name doesn't appear on them anywhere, I still feel a real sense of pride in them. I'm also amazed at how much I am learning. And earning, for that matter--overtime is not only permitted, but encouraged, and so I have been bringing work home with me. I'm sure I will get tired of it, but right now, it makes me feel very grown-up to bring a book home with me and work on it. There is one annoyance that is not going to change any time soon--the software which converts data to PDFs for our books automatically adds "ISBN #" despite the teeth-grinding redundancy thereof. I get little angry quivers when I think about this, so I shall try not to think of it!

To paraphrase Berke Breathed, "L. R. Jammies, signing off and heading for the tub!"

My fancy pants don't fit

When Mom & I went to Gabriel Brothers, I was very excited to get two brand-new pairs of Lane Bryant pants for $2 each. One was turquoise twill, the other a black and white extremely fine check and both were size 24.

I'm now sure that they were at Gabes because they were mislabeled--both pairs are about six inches too big in the waist. It's a bummer because I really liked them both and they were one heck of a bargain, but good from the weight loss/morale point of view.

Despite the lack of fancy pants, my first week at work went well. I caught two errors in different books that caused other people to tell me "Good spot!" and generally felt useful. I'm overwhelmed by the jargon and acronyms, but I've grown up a lot since my last stint in corporate America, and I am not afraid to ask for a translation into English. There's a great mix of people on my team in terms of age, background, ethnicity, interests, and while everyone keeps warning me that the next few months will be a time of pressure and possible misery, I have enough lead time to brace myself and get settled in before the rush begins.

I spent this morning at the other office with Bosstopus, and we got much done. She went home for a four hour bike ride, as she is building her endurance for the MS Pedal to the Point in two weeks, and I came home and napped. *grin* I saw both a Monarch butterfly and a Swallowtail butterfly flitting around outside, but didn't manage to get any pics. I'll have to keep trying.

Josh is currently cutting the grass, and sadly, Amy did not come with him. I've got a lovely bag of Skindecent goodies for her birthday, as the scent she likes isn't currently available. I've also enabled Mallie, my friend Doc, and possibly a co-worker. I need to get a SuperEnabler suit (no cape).

As long as the size is marked correctly! *grin*

Edited to add the following, which I forgot to post:

Bigfoot poked the bathroom door open Thursday night while I was taking a bath. He sniffed the water, grunted sort of dismissively (and it was carnation, too!) and left.

None of this would be a problem, but he doesn't shut the door behind him, it's directly across from my curtainless kitchen window, the window looks out onto a major street, and it was night and all the lights were on.

I have no idea how many motorists I flashed before I could grab a towel and shut the door. Eep.

Bulbs, baths and burnt boobs

Saturday was a beautiful fall day in Ohio. I woke up early, got a month's worth of grocery shopping done, then came home and planted my last sixty-two bulbs and seven perennials. After I'd thrown away my old tennis shoes (one of which actually fell off my right foot while I was gardening!), it was only noon and I decided I'd earned a very special bath.

I still had half a Ceridwen's Cauldron from Lush and my entire "crop" of lavender for this year (six sprigs). I opened up the muslin, added my lavender, and dropped the whole thing into the bath. It was just wonderful! Not only did I get all the moisturizing bath oil benefits, but I got to enjoy knowing a big part of the luscious scent came from my efforts in my garden. And since I planted two more lavender bushes (shrubs?), next year I'll have even more to play with.

The only problem with the whole day was when I bent over to pick something up off the bathroom floor and my right breast smacked onto the heated towel rack. It's not hot enough to burn if I brush my hand against the bare metal, but in this case, the body part hitting it was both more thin-skinned and pressed down from its own weight. Thankfully, a friend to whom I whined reminded me that there's a reason I keep that aloe plant which is about the size of a small warthog (not that I have measured a lot of warthogs, it's just an eyeball estimate). Repeated applications have made the burn a lot less uncomfortable than it could have been (it's a flattish oval about 2" long).

I sincerely hope that was the end of "Stupid Week" and not the beginning of new and more stupid things!

Soothing stuff

Taking these pics helped almost as much as talking to Snick:





And I took the Heather's advice and had a Lush bath with a Happy Pill. I can't say that I'm particularly happy, but at least I'm relaxed and rested and I have pretty things to look at.