Gardening

I'm trying to get my veggie garden going and it is so hard to loosen up that dirt. Why didn't I do ths dring our rainy period? Oof.

I'm growing roma tomatoes, some kind of jelly hybrid tomatoes, watermelon, green beans and sweet peas from seed. I even caved and bought a Topsy Turvy only because it said it would grow herbs too. And if you know about our mojito consumption on the weekends, yo'd know this purchase is a must. But I guess I was confused about this Topsy Turvy. You have to buy the plants and soil for it. This should have been a given considering the size of the box, but I've lost a few million brain cells since bcoming a SAHM. I was going to return it after reading the reviews about the tomoatoe, but I think it might be useful in growing a ton of herbs. So it's a keeper!

And I have to big planters I need to fill up. Th Bear and I have been browsing different plants to make ou final decision. He likes some pretty fuzzy annuals and I think I'm gonna get some colorful mini elephant ears. I loooove color! It's a mood booster.

Everything in the back yard is growing and getting super bushy. I love it! Our roses are fnicky of course, but the lilies are blooming now. And our big weird bee attratants are about to bloom. They are the most interesting flowers.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with our big beds in the front. We have large shrubs, hostas and lillies in there. The previous owners used pine mulch for the rest of the beds, but the leaves and saplings from the fall and spring get mixed in and it turns into a huge mess. I'm already spending close to $50 on the mulch for the backyard. I don't want to spend another $50 on pine mulch. Blech. I'm trying to find a more permanent solution.

Thise homeownership is making me exhausted. Sometimes I miss renting, you know?

Frankly...

I think all my former Katrina friends are jackasses for not checking on us during this flood. I've given a few days to think it over, and I can say that 3 checked on us. I had more than 3 friends...Seriously. What jackholes. We all suffered in various ways, and they HAVE to know how troubling this flood has to be for us. What jerkboxes...

I'm seriously about to seek counseling. I'm breaking out in hives from this hidden anxiety. I can't even listen to people talk about the flood. I cover my ears and hum like a child. And don't get me started on people justifying the flood with "God's mighty hand." Eff you! You justify crushing good people's hearts and drowning loved ones only because you didn't get hurt. I don't wish this on anyone. It's a horrible empty, aching feeling that takes FOREVER to go away. It's been nearly 5 years for me, and I still can't watch Katrina related stuff without sobbing or trembling.

What asshole friends.

An Epiphany on the Epiphany

I need to sack this load of negativity about Nashville and woman up.

I'm decided to try to find one thing new in Nashville once a week and take a picture of it. Let it be a site, store, park, painting, car, farm or whatever. Something that someone has decided is a love or jewel to them in Nashville, and I must partake in this love to try to appreciate this city.

I think this is good. Good for us. I need to put in some more effort and I'd like to find a little more beauty in my life. I need it nowadays.

Saturday

J-cakes finally had a Saturday off so I decided it was time we headed to Nashville's zoo. We still have a current pass to Des Moines' zoo and it gets us into the Nashville zoo for free. Score! Besides, it was "Ice Day" which meant free ice cream, bounce houses, music and other things.

Ugh, we left at 10am and it was pretty humid. Definitely a shorts day even though my legs are albino white. (They never ever tan. Only the top half of my body tans.) Of course it was our duty as doting parents to lead our son the free ice cream.

After eating a little scoop, the Bear spotted the carousel. I gladly refused this ride. We once did a local photo shoot on a carousel and it was hell going round and round. J-cakes totally took over this one for me as I made the Bear request his dad. lol

By this time we had been to the zoo for nearly an hour and seen zero animals! So we began our trek and gawd was it crowded. I'm so use to doing things like this during the week, that I forget what it's like to face regular crowds. Like, oh yeah, everyone else has been working all week and they want to go out on Saturday too.

I'm not sure what I think of this zoo.It's on such a large plot of land. You did sooo much walking to get to a couple of animals. It was really nice and well kept, but the walking was hard. Nashville is very hilly, so we were constantly going uphill. Poor little Bear was trudging as hard as he could.We brought his little stroller, but he just had to be independent and walk,you know? He was definitely rewarded with sights of butt scratching monkeys, elephants and giraffes. This tickles the hell out of him since he calls all the animals by the names from Madagascar. Zebras are Martys and giraffes are Melmans.

The one part of the zoo J-cakes and I can't agree on is the bug/snake area. J-cakes is a wuss about the creepy crawlies. I'm a wuss too in real life, but I totally love the creepy crawly buildings at zoos. Where else can you see these things up close and personal? And the Bear was pumped about snakes! He always tries to scare me with a rubber snake, or he'll shriek when we're sharing a blanket,"Ah! A snake!" Friggin precious. He loooved the snakes and they had huge tanks of fish for him to bang on the glass saying "Hewo!" Nice.

Finally, the Bear was just completely wiped. We were wiped. It was butt sweat hot by this time and we called it a day. We totally missed a bunch more "Ice Day" stuff, but whatever.