Category: Uncategorized

{*I know, I know, but I couldn’t resist the pun.}

When we bought our house way back when I had dreams of tending a bountiful garden but except for a few half-hearted attempts at growing tomatoes I never really did anything. But this summer is going to be different! This time around I’m not going to give up and let the weeds overtake everything. Serious Faith is serious! and all that.

So I planted this pot of herbs for our patio. It has rosemary, mint, purple and sweet basil, oregano, and cilantro in it. In the past I’ve had horrible luck growing cilantro and rosemary so we’ll see how they do this time.

In our garden plot I put in some strawberries, onions (Walla Walla and scallions), tomatoes, cauliflower (I was curious to see what it looked like as it grows), zucchini, beets, spinach, and two lettuce mixes. I’m especially excited about homegrown tomatoes; they taste so much better than the store-bought ones.

Did you know that tomato cages come in fun colors? They cost a bit more than the normal ones but they were so cheery that I couldn’t resist.

I’m pretty sure that being so stylish is going to help my tomatoes taste extra delicious. 🙂

There are a lot of charities doing good work in Japan to which you can donate cash. But if you’d like to do contribute something tangible, you can put together and send a care package for affected kids.

The Misawa Girl Scouts are organizing a backpack/care package drive for kids displaced by the disaster. You can send a complete package inside a backpack or backpacks/care package materials by themselves.

The Girl Scout troop will be collecting care packages until May 15th after which they’ll distribute them. They say that priority mail from they U.S. takes about two weeks so that still leaves you several weeks to get everything together.

E doesn’t know about the tragedy in Japan (and wouldn’t understand even if I tried to explain) but if you have older kids this could be a great opportunity to get them involved. I bet they’d have fun picking out items to include in the care package.

For a list of recommended items, shipping info, and other details see here.

If you live here in UT county and want to participate let me know and maybe we can bundle our care packages together for shipping.

I took Mimi to the doctor this morning for a follow-up. She is doing great and except for some crusty eczema on her ears is basically back to normal.

I, on the other hand, have a raging sinus cold and like everyone else am heartsick about the devastation in Japan.

I remain firmly convinced, as I have been since middle school, that National Geographic must be one of the coolest places to work EVER.

Photos and info via My Modern Metropolis: On March 5 at dawn, National Geographic Channel and a team of scientists, engineers, and two world-class balloon pilots successfully launched a 16′ X 16′ house 18′ tall with 300 8′ colored weather balloons from a private airfield east of Los Angeles, and set a new world record for the largest balloon cluster flight ever attempted. The entire experimental aircraft was more than 10 stories high, reached an altitude of over 10,000 feet, and flew for approximately one hour.

How great is THAT?

I took my Holga camera to Korea with us but sadly the trip was too hard on it and it broke. I was pretty bummed but that’s how it goes sometimes with all-plastic toy cameras.

So I was super excited on Valentine’s day to open N’s gift to me: another awesome plastic lens camera, the Diana F+. The Diana is kind of a step up from the Holga in that it has different lenses you can switch in and out. N was very sweet and got me the kit that comes with the extra lenses as well as the flash. He also gave me an adapter ring that will let me attach the Diana’s lenses to my digital camera which I’m looking forward to trying out.

I need to go buy some film; I can’t wait to snap some photos with it!

He came down with a cold yesterday just in time to slam the brakes on my planned day of efficiently running around town getting a long list of errands accomplished. I couldn’t take him to preschool so instead I dragged him along to the dentist where N and I had appointments for check-ups. E was alternately frightened of all the machinery and fascinated by the drawer full of toys the receptionist had. All afternoon after we came home he kept informing me that he was a doctor and was going to clean my tongue.

E’s feeling a bit better today but is still a little cranky. He’s curled up on the couch watching My Neighbor Totoro. And I’m trying to decide which of the projects I need done before the baby comes I should tackle. But maybe E has the right idea and I should just curl up on the couch and watch Totoro with him.

…do I always procrastinate finishing my taxes until the very last minute? Ugh.

As someone with family members who are adopted and who would like to adopt someday (and as someone with a normal sense of decency) this makes me FURIOUS.

Who does that to a kid?

(Via Harlow’s Monkey.)

So yesterday my dad (whom E has dubbed “PeePa” to go with “MeeMa” which is what he calls my mom) graciously offered to watch E so my mom and I could to to the Korean spa or mogyoktang. As I’ve mentioned before, I love going to Korean bathhouses and visiting one is always a highlight of a trip to my parents’ house. And having a child makes any opportunity to sit around for a couple of hours pampering myself seem that much more decadent.

Anyway, I had a wonderful time. Afterwards my mom and I stopped by a restaurant for jjajjangmyeon and then we rounded off the day by trying out a new foot massage place. (I know, I know–I’m still trying to recover from the hardship.)

The only thing missing is N. I miss him like crazy.

E and I are flying to Seattle today to visit my family for a while. It will be my first time flying alone with E so wish me luck. I seem to have the worst luck when it comes to sitting next to cranky, rude people on airplanes so I’m a little nervous. It’s only a two-hour flight so it can’t be that bad, right?…RIGHT?