Goals 2017 -- April Recap

Phew -- what a busy month!

I got moved out of my condo, but the realtor asked me to leave the big furniture there for showings.  Not a problem generally, except it means I can't complete the setup of my sewing/craft area, because I'm going to use my current dining room table as my sewing table.  I also haven't moved my rugs, one of which I was going to use to define the boundaries of my craft room in the basement, so I am also without that. And since I don't have my notions cabinet in its final location yet, I don't want to fill it with a bunch of stuff that I'll just have to take out later in order to move it.

All in all, my April goal is a bit of a fail.

Nevertheless, I have some good news! S surprised me when I was super stressed out at work by building doors on my gardens!  Now it's easy to keep the vermin out but I can still get in without fighting with the chicken wire.

That was a wonderful treat, and made it much easier to plant my gardens, which has been mostly completed!  I have tomatoes and basil in the far one, cucumbers and peas in the second one, lots of herbs and stuff in the third one, and lettuces (as you can see) in the fourth one.  There is a little bit more room with the lettuces, so I may do some bush or pole beans.  However, it has been raining non-stop for about 5 days, so there is no planting happening anytime soon.  In fact, I'm having the opposite if my normal problem (forgetting to water), and my poor little plants are gasping for air right now!

What I Watched -- Hacksaw Ridge

There was a lot about Hacksaw Ridge that seemed overdone, overacted, or otherwise overly theatrical to me.  One thing that was awesome, though, was the story.  And it's a true story.

It's Desmond Doss's story.  He was a conscientious objector during WWII.  After the Army failed to run him out, he trained as a medic and was sent to Okinawa. After a brutal battle trying to take a ridge (Hacksaw Ridge, you might not be surprised to learn), the company fell back to the beach to await artillery strikes and reinforcements.  Desmond elected to stay, and the bravery and heroism he displayed was, assuming the events of the film are true, incredible.

There is a documentary about the whole event, which S has seen but I have not.  I think it's now on my list.

Bottom line: gruesome, but inspiring.

The Martian -- Take 2

I'm declaring The Martian to be a success.

I am also, perhaps surprisingly, declaring Overdrive to be a success.

The success of the former is without reservation. The book is funny, smart, and all-around entertaining. Even having seen the movie and knowing how it ends, it was still suspenseful. Plus I was thinking of my boyfriend Matt Damon the whole time I read it, so that's a bonus.

The success of the latter is qualified. It was nice to have a book always at my fingertips. I chose wisely, though I didn't know it at the time, with The Martian.

I think many books aren't suited for the type of e-reading that I do, which is extremely periodic. This book was great because it's not too serious in terms of requiring deep thought. Additionally, it's largely written as a journal, so there are stopping point aplenty.  As I discussed with K when she was in town last week, this format does not, at least for us, lend itself to an intense reading experience.

So, that's that.

Work

Ugh.  So much work.  I have never wanted so badly to have a few hours free just to cut the grass.

What I'm Reading Now -- The Martian

It's no secret how much I love (a) the library, and (b) paper books.  I've been hearing a lot about the Overdrive app, so I thought I'd give it a try.

For purposes of finding content, in case you're wondering, you might as well stick to the library's own app.  Overdrive is designed to give access to digital content.  I'm not much for ebooks, although I could see getting into reading magazines digitally. There so much ad content that is just wasted paper with a printed magazine!  Plus, the quality of the images on digital devices is great!

Anyway, I decided to test out the ebook service, and I know from my time at the bookstore that The Martian is a short one.  So I'm giving it a try.

Goals 2017 -- April Edition

Now that my notions cabinet is ready to be filled with sewing and crafting goodies, and since I will have all my stuff moved by the end of the month anyway, my April goal is to set up my sewing "room."

That's in quotes because it's probably just going to be an area of the basement, rather than a four-walled room.  Nevertheless, I will likely designate the space with a rug, and I have a table and chairs, my cabinet, lighting, sewing machine and supplies, etc.

Anyway, I'm excited about getting it all organized and finally moving my sewing machine off my desk in the office. Then I'll have a place to put my computer finally!

Goals 2017 -- March Recap

Great progress this month!  Here's an enumerated list of all the many things I accomplished:

1. The January Carryover: done!

2. The February Continuation:
     a. All the garden beds have been filled with dirt, and I have plans for each:
          i. Cucumbers, pole beans
          ii. Tomatoes, carrots
          iii. Onions, lettuce, peppers
          iv. Basil, lemon balm, chives
     b. In separate pots or buckets, I'm planting mint and potatoes.
Of course, to some degree it depends what's available when I go to the various nurseries, but we'll see how I do.

3. The March Goals:
     a. Moved all the books!  I have turned the guest room, previously fondly known as L's Room, into the library.  It shall henceforth be known as L's Library.
     b.  Out front, I'm putting in canna where S's step-mom had them last year as well in front of the garage.  I'm going to plant something in the flower bed, and hope they can take hold.  I turned over all the front-yard beds this month and tried to tackle anything that had started growing already.  I also topped them off with some of fresh soil.  Hopefully I can keep the weeks under control while the new guys take hold.

In addition to those things, I sold my wine fridge, moved lots more kitchen stuff, and (though I will miss my wonderful little condo) am looking forward to all the changes.

I feel great about all this!  Go me!

Fun Fact

Did you know...

That Ari Shapiro, who spends most of his public life as an NPR radio personality, is also a singer with the band Pink Martini?  Confirmed by Wikipedia and Pink Martini's own website.

 

Today's fun fact brought to you by the letter E!

Evasive Maneuvers

Major props to S for some movie-stunt-car-driver evasive maneuvers while driving me home from work yesterday.

I was minding my own business, listening to S's story about his day at work and playing on my phone. I felt him hit the brakes and my phone flew out of my hand.  I looked up to see nothing but our headlights reflecting off the bright white passenger door of a car which had turned left across our lanes of traffic, headed for a side street. S swerved left around their back bumper, then back right again to get out of the oncoming traffic lanes.

It all happened extremely fast, and was fairly terrifying.  I have no idea what the driver in that other car was thinking.  However, there were two things that were quite funny:

1. The whole experience was very quiet. I muttered my usual, "holy s***," which is the non-exclamation of choice when something bad is about to happen. S said nothing.  He did not honk the horn.  But as soon as it was all over and we were back headed the right direction down the road, he picked up with his story about his day at work right where he left off, as though nothing had happened.

2. S put on his left blinker to signal the swerve.  You know, just so other drivers know what's going on.

What I Read -- Laika

This is the second time I've read Laika.  I heard such a great review of it several years back that I picked it up.  I believe it was the first true graphic novel that I read, and it completely changed my view on them.  I still don't read them often, but if I hear repeatedly that one is good, I'll give it a shot.  Prior to Laika, I didn't believe that the medium had much to offer.

Boy, did I learn my lesson.

As one might guess from the non-enigmatic title, Laika is the mostly historical story of the first living creature launched into space.  The information about the launch is historically accurate; it's really the interpersonal stories of the scientists that are embellished a bit to give them some personality.

It's a quick read (one of the pleasures of graphic novels), and definitely worth it.  I would caution you not to plow through it with too much speed, which I sometimes catch myself doing -- just looking for the next words.  Take some time to look at the drawings.  They're there for a reason; they're part of the story.