Garden Round Two

Isn't Tucson beautiful? A month-ish ago, my friend who helped till the backyard for my first attempt at a garden came over to till again. He showed up, and he and I re-mulched and tilled. It was cooler outside than it was the first time, which made it MUCH nicer. Not only that, it was a lot easier and took way less time. Then, a week later, my roommate and I bought seeds and planted carrots, lettuce, and beans. At some point after that, Roommate also planted beets. We've had quite a nice amount of rain lately, and I think that, combined with better soil, has helped our garden. Like - we actually have one!! So far, I would say our only failure is beans, as we only have one (but at least we have one, right?). We are still planning on planting squash, herbs and sunflowers. Here are pictures (#1 carrots, #2 beets, #3 lettuce, #4 bean):

Must Keep Grading, But . . .

I wanted to show you this. My little bro showed it to me and it's maybe the most awesome geeky thing ever.

Hospitality

Being in that transitory, single time of life for many years now, I have had the opportunity to put many people out on many different occasions. Thus, I have really come to appreciate good hospitality. There's nothing like having to not be in your own bed for a night or two and arriving at a temporary sleeping place to find a space reserved just for you - maybe even a bedroom with a bed all made up and the sheets turned down, invitingly. Maybe a bathroom to yourself. You get in late, find these simple pleasures awaiting, and fall asleep as content as you can be when not at home. Then the next morning you wake up, get ready, and join your benefactors in the kitchen, where Substitute Mom is making you pancakes. Substitute Dad places a glass of orange smoothie down in front of you. And these people don't even know you - have never me you before. It just makes the weekend of adventure that much better! And to all those who let me crash on their couch - thank you, too!! Hospitality isn't necessarily connected with amenities - it has more to do with the attitudes of the people putting you up. There's nothing like feeling at home and at ease even when you are not at home.

Stranger in a Strange Land

Today I went to my second ward conference of the year for my church. It is so interesting being in a normal family congregation because I have attended college congregations for the last decade of my life. It was kind of funny recognizing a lot of people - "Oh, I remember seeing him around before . . and him, too . . . oh, and her . . . and . . ." The reason that I REMEMBER seeing them is because they used to be single and they are not single now. And then there's me. I think a benefit of getting to be around these family congregations is that it might prep me for my return to them when I age out of the singles ones. I'm going to have to re-learn how to pay attention to speakers while babies are all around making noise (kind of unrelated, but true).

4 Reasons for Today

• Arizona's Birthday
• Chinese New Year
• Valentine's Day
• the Sabbath

Flannel Sheets

Tonight I was playing a game - well, actually I played a couple of different games - and at some point we got to flannel sheets. I learned that people have very definite opinions about flannel sheets. I am on the "I LOVE them!!" side of things. I purchased some a number of years ago because I thought they would be nice, and I don't think I have ever regretted them. There were several people that were part of the conversation who seem to loath them - or at least on the "No way!" side of the spectrum. In fact, I might have been the only one who really likes them. Hmmm . . . maybe nobody likes them except for me, and I am the anomaly here. What say you?

Civil Rights Day Weekend 2010

I had been missing my Lu for awhile and decided that the long Civil Rights Day weekend would be the perfect time to visit. Lucky for me, she and her husband said I could come visit. The sad thing was that I ended up needing to be back on Sunday, which meant that I only got to spend Saturday with one of my most favorite people in the entire world. My youngest brother went with me, and it was really nice to have his company on the drive. Pretty much the visit consisted of LOTS of talking, as well as eating a delicious breakfast (which was actually at lunch time - we slept in!) in honor of the husband's birthday and watching various things on their new projector. Besides that, we took a drive, and I got a few pictures from it. Isn't it nice to take off and visit great friends?