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I forgot to mention that Emily's working. She got a job at Rita's. Do you have a Rita's in your neighborhood? They serve the best frozen custard and ices. Yum! This is her third week of work. So far she's been working 3 hours on a weekday and 4 hours on a weekend. Seven hours a week. I asked if she thought she'd be working more, but she thought not. Apparently they hire lots of kids and no one gets many hours. She seems to like it. I arrived an hour early to pick her up on Sunday (by mistake) and there were 32 people in line. When I came back at the right time there were still that many people. It was in the 90's and it looked like a lot of the crowd was coming in from sports events. Emily was tired. She makes the orders. She gets one free item when she gets off. Which is right before dinner on the weeknight. Dessert before dinner. I usually just ask for one taste.

I'm at Panera's now. I spent the morning and early afternoon cleaning and doing paperwork. And Facebook and e-mail. Back and forth. The AC guy came and put freon in the unit and some cleaning up of wires and stuff. It's back to working as well as it can, which isn't too good because of all the bends in the duct work. Anything is better than how it's been. Of course we're cool in MD again. In the low 60's but cloudy and damp. Better than winter, though. The rain we had yesterday activated the lime I put down, and rinsed the pollen. Here's a pollen picture from the bottom of my driveway. It got dammed up by cherry petals and weeds. The pollen is about 1/2" thick and dry. I used a stick to stir it up after I took the picture. I was just curious.


Here's a puddle ringed by pollen. Artsy, huh?

And another sign of spring: ant hills. For some reason they love the crack between the asphalt of my driveway and the concrete of my garage. I spend the summer sprinkling ant dust on them. Sorry if that offends anyone.


They also make a gazillion ant hills in my yard and garden. I don't like ant hills. You can tell where every one of them are because they're all white with ant dust.

Yikes! Where'd the time go? I'm gonna be late picking up my Rita's girl. I'm bringing her French Onion soup. Hope that helps.

La De Da

Hi. I'm here. Did you miss me? This and that took me away. Living instead of writing about it, although one of the things that took me away was writing but not here.

I'm sitting on the deck. Em's in my spot on the porch reading The Handmaid's Tale for class. I think it might be nicer here. Total shade. The chimes are singing in the strong breeze. Where's my 'Life is Good' t-shirt? Oh right, I don't have one. I will say it's amazing how black clouds can come and go.

It's been brutally hot and sunny these last few days. In my younger years I'd be out on the deck working on that tan. Now it's my daughter, much to my chagrin. Sun causes cancer and wrinkles but that means nothing when you're 15. More than anything I pray she never, ever smokes. She'll get tattoos, and I'll hate that. Hate. That. I hope she'll change her mind before it's too late, but I'll love her just the same. Am I rambling? Yes? So be it.

I ran my errands this morn. Bought a heavy duty fan for Emily's room cause our upstairs gets so hot due to shoddy air duct installation (is that the word, Brad?). Bought lime (thanks Brian) and razor blades. Any one use Gillette razor blades? They cost a fortune. And that it's $34 for a 20 pound bag of Niger (thistle) seed at Walmart? I hope the finches appreciate my generosity. Anyway. It was a big money day. I bought 10 bags of mulch; a start. Went to the grocery store then stayed inside. On this brutally hot day with my AC not working. 80 degrees inside, and that's downstairs. I had the fans going. Thanks Mom for teaching me to have service contracts. They'll be here on Thursday between 7:30-noon for the routine maintenance and to fix what's broken. So as I said, I'm sitting outside and it's so comfortable. If it weren't for all the pollen, I'd have the windows open. I'm looking at the yellowish green layer on my glass patio table and thinking: not. I'll stay out here till it's dark.

Em just called my cell from the porch (aren't they great?) to tell me she saw a hummingbird at the feeder. The first sighting of the season. I ran out and watched for a while, but alas, it was not for my eyes to see.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. The active social life I enjoy at work is great. It feeds the part of my ego that needs stroking. My home life is probably pretty typical of a single parent of a teen. In other words, not too much fun. I'm ready for more fun. I'm ready for company. I'm just at the thinking stage, but it's a start. I keep myself busy, but I think I need a person.

And with that, I bid you adieu.

PS. The squirrels are actually eating the tender new leaves on the trees. Geez!

Why do it today when you can do it tomorrow?

I wanted to do it today, but I didn't. So, I'll see ya'll tomorrow.

A spring day with friends

I said I'd have a real post, and here it is. Well, it's forming. Getting longer with each sentence I type. I could go on like that, but, OK, I'll stop.

A fun time was had at Karen's house. I just love it there. Of course I took pictures, but Karen and Kathy didn't want to be in them. I had to settle for parts of their arms.

Cheryl's Mimi's Salad, Kathy's famous decaf Green tea and Karen's homemade wheat bread

Karen's fabulous cheesecake and strawberries

Wish you could have joined us
I just love the spring. Who doesn't? It's hard to imagine that parts of the country are getting snow while here everything is bursting with new life. The redbuds are in bloom, as are the dogwoods, tulip poplars and cherry trees. The pears are about done. Daffodils and tulips are up. Phlox abounds. The perennials are growing in leaps and bounds. I just love it. It's hard not to take pictures of it all, and I shouldn't since I've got years' worth of them. Still, it's spring and everything is new. Here's a picture of my neighbor's mutant cherry tree. The white buds will produce cherries that I'll pick. The tree is by the side of their house and they never go outside. Same neighbor whose truck I hit. The pink buds won't produce anything. It's supposed to be an ornamental tree.


I've downloaded my current audio book to my iPhone. I can either use my earbuds or the built in speakers. What a wonderful thing. I took a very short walk today, and wound up on a bench facing the 'beaver pond' with the sun in my face, listening to Prisoner of Birth by Jeffry Archer. I say short walk because of my knee. I'm definitely calling the orthopedist tomorrow. Anyway, it just felt so good to be outside. After dinner I sat on the porch with my laptop, writing and watching the hummingbird feeders, hoping that a hummingbird would show up. This is the week they arrive. Here's a picture that shows the branch that they like to hang from. Ignore the hook; I need to move it. I find it amazing that the hummers come back and find this same hanging-down little twig to perch on. Alas, no hummers tonight.



Things are pretty quiet on the home front. That's always a good thing. And it's almost Saturday. Again.

Ladeda

Can it be Thursday already? How come I haven't posted anything new? Why am I writing when I don't have time to post anything new? I guess I just want to say I'm fine and I'm still around. This morning I'm busy preparing none other than Mimi's Salad, again. Kathy and I are meeting at Karen's for lunch. I'll take pictures, and write a real post later. Till then, I hope it's gorgeous out your way. Enjoy the day!

Something for Sunday when it's almost Monday

Yesterday found me at Border's, as usual. I had two lattes. Living large, huh? Read good magazines and took notes in my little Moleskine with new iPhone apps or cool websites to visit. I came home for a while then left again to get a veggie burrito from Baja Fresh that I ate outdoors in front of Starbucks while cruising the web. It was a gorgeous night.

I walked this morning. It was great to be outside on a beautiful spring morning. I'm way out of shape, though. It was a start. I'm thinking I'll like walking now that the weather is getting better. I hope.

Today was book club. The book was Love in the Time of Cholera. I read maybe 30 pages. I just couldn't do it. The food theme was tapas. Little dishes. At first I stressed, then came up with a great idea. I don't know why it popped into my mind, but it did. I've talked about how I love a particular salad at Mimi's Cafe. I've never bought Belgium Endive, but I thought of how the separated leaves looked like little boats, and that I could recreate the salad in these leaves. So, here's a picture. I tore a fancy lettuce blend into little pieces and put it in the endive. Then added pistachios, Craisens, chicken, strawberries and feta, and sprinkled the boats with home-made balsamic vinaigrette. Easy to pick up and eat in two bites. This one's a keeper.


All of the food was delicious, as usual.

Only 3-4 people read the book. Most started but couldn't finish. I was relieved that it wasn't just me. The next book is The Book Thief by Marcuz Zusak. It's been on my list of books to read, so that worked out. I'm the next book-chooser. What will it be?

I have a 10:00 appointment tomorrow at the Apple Store. Somehow I deleted all the contacts in my iPhone. That's bad! So I'll bring my laptop with me and hope for the best. Should be interesting. I'll pick my mom up first and afterward we'll go out to lunch. It's what we do.

I'm up way too late. Till the next time, ado.

The story of Pica the Chinchilla

So here's the Pica the Chinchilla story. Emily has always wanted a dog. Always. I'm not a dog person. Not a cat person. Not a pet person. Except for my bird, whom I came to love, but accidentally let fly away. I wish I loved dogs so I could have given one to my daughter. I regret that I didn't get one anyway years ago, because I think it would have been good companionship for her. That's on the one hand. The reality, as everyone tells me, is that kids never take care of pets and that the dog would have been mine. I'm sure that's true, which brings me back to: I don't like dogs. Over the years we've had hamsters. They've never worked out. The cage gets relegated to the dining room table or some other out of the way spot. One we gave to a kindergarten class and it quickly died from the custodial cleaning fumes. Another went to a friend's where it quickly died. Emily thinks the bars of the cage contained lead paint, and that could be true. Another hamster died a natural death but he was never picked up or loved. Then there was the giant goldfish with 9 lives that was hers but really mine because I was the only one that took care of it, and I hated cleaning the tank. Knowing how much Emily wants a dog, I was reluctant to say no when she came to me asking for a chinchilla. She had done all the research. Her father was in favor of it. She would pay for it and her dad and I would split the cost of the cage and supplies. Me, the one who always seems to say no, said yes. That night I came home to find the cage bought and set up next to her bed. Did I mention that 'chins' are nocturnal? I made myself not do any research. That was so hard. The next day at work I couldn't help myself. I watched YouTube videos. Read articles. Knew it was a bad, bad idea. But....I had said yes and I wasn't going back on my word. Emily was so excited when I got home from work on Saturday. She'd printed out all sorts of information on chins. She was waiting to hear back from breeders. I casually asked if she'd watched any YouTube videos. She hadn't, so I suggested we watch them together. We saw them spastically running up and down stairs and around rooms. I asked if she knew they could jump 5 feet. She didn't. That they're not cuddly? No. So she asks me to go to PetSmart and see them. We do. They're very cute. But they have tails that look like squirrels. And oversize ears. And big fat bodies. Faces like hamsters. Still, cute. The PetSmart employee held one for us. We petted it. It seemed nice and cuddly. A family came by that bought theirs a year ago and said they make great pets. Another employee had one too and loves it. Emily really wanted to bring one home. I asked about the return policy and they said 14 days. Emily said if it didn't work out she'd pay us the cost of all the supplies. So I said yes. We took him home. He was so cute. Emily put him in his waiting, fancy, 3-level cage. She couldn't wait for him to climb up to the second level. Before we knew it, he jumped up. Then to the third. Then to ground level. Very cute. So far, so good. In the morning I found Emily sleeping in the guest room. No surprise. Guess Pica stayed up all night. On Sunday I went about making space in the computer/stamping room for Pica's table and cage. I moved boxes of magazines from a shelving unit onto wire shelves in my walk-in closet. It only took two magazine file boxes to cause every plastic bracket attached to the wall to break due to the excess weight. Yes, it caused a huge clean-up job for me. All the stuff on that shelf had been hidden by the shirts hanging above it. It was the land of hidden unused stuff. Candles, books, old cross-stitch, tax returns...you name it. So, I put stuff temporarily away. Then I finished cleaning out the shelving unit from the computer/stamping room and brought it down to the basement and transferred the table with Pica and his cage there. That night Emily asks if we can let Pica run around in my large and clean bathroom. I said sure. He was so cute to watch. Except every minute he left a poop. I'd hand Emily a square of toilet paper, and she'd pick it up and put it in the toilet. Poop, pick up, poop, pick up. Getting the idea? After 15 minutes she was ready to put him back in his cage. Guess what was on the table outside the cage? Poop. On the carpet? Poop. Not messy poop, but poop. So Emily uses the hose on the vacuum cleaner to pick up the random poops. Not what I want my vacuum used for. The next night she asks if we can take him into my bathroom again. I say sure. Same deal. Poop, poop, poop. I pick him up and stroke his head and he likes it. He's soft and cute. When I hand him to Emily I have 3 poops on my lap. Emily doesn't want to hold him. She thinks he's disgusting. I don't say a word. The next day I say something about her taking him when she's out of college. That's when she says, "I'm not keeping him!" He went back on Tuesday. His cage and other stuff are still on Craigslist. So far no takers. Emily doesn't miss him, but I do, a little bit. I might go back to PetSmart to visit. Just to visit.


I am sorry it didn't work out for Emily. I wanted it to. One day she'll have her own dog. And you know what? I'll probably love it.

Deja Vous

Another cold and rainy day. Pouring, in fact. Another good day to be inside working. The upside of this weather is how green everything is. When the sun shines it's going to look like it's morphed into true spring. Which seems to last about 48 hours in MD. You never know. Sometimes it lasts longer; sometimes we go right into summer weather.

I started writing a post about Pica the Chinchilla, but I've run out of time. I'll have that in my next one.

Happy Wednesday!

The best laid plans

It's a cold and rainy day in MD. A perfect day to be at work, since I'm not the kind of person to stretch out on the couch with a good book. I like the idea, in theory.

Yesterday unfolded very nicely. My plans with Emily didn't pan out and I found myself with nothing to do, so I called Happyone (Karen) from Walmart's parking lot. She invited me over, so off I went. We had a great afternoon together in her very cozy new home. When I left there I called Kathy (Kathy's Peace) from the road and her husband said to come by. I surprised Kathy on her back patio where she was sitting with her sleeping granddaughter. We had a really nice visit. So, no plans turned into a day with good friends. It couldn't have worked out better. And talking of work, it's time to say goodbye.

Happy Tuesday!

A real post

I woke up thinking I overslept because my room was so light. Nope, only 7:00. I'm not used to the sun. Yet. It's only after 9:00 and now it's cloudy, but that's OK. I'm up and out. Another day of not being sure of what will unfold. I'm thinking of checking out the new 'town center' area near Annapolis. Emily needs to go to Target and there's one there. Maybe she'll like the idea and that's what we'll do. I felt like I should visit my mom and would have done that instead of this, but she seemed content and anyway, her helper is coming at noon. So I didn't mention anything.

Yesterday was the first Easter in years that I didn't have plans. Emily and I have always been invited to my neighbor's. It's hard to see a tradition end, but life changes and you have to change with it. I just did this and that. I made our new favorite chicken dish with the French's fried onions. Broccoli. Rice. Baked potatoes. Yes, two starches. I sometimes think I'm losing my mind.

So, I've been feeling out of sorts. Probably depressed. Too much time on my hands and no drive. My shoulder bothers me and so does my knee. Not anything horrible or overly painful, but something that could be healed with the right treatment? I need to see a doctor. The Orthopedist thought my knee problem might be a Baker's Cyst. I finally had Emily look it up and it perfectly describes my problem. Fluid behind the knee. I need a MRI. My shoulder doesn't interfere with my work, but it hurts and I really need it and my knee for all the gardening work ahead. Plus I can't swim. Emily is of the age that she doesn't need me for much, and whereas in the past my alone time was fine, it's not so much anymore. That's why I'm here at Panera's. This is a happy place to be alone, and I need to do those things that give me pleasure.

I got to see my GA sister and her family 5 times while they were in town. I know that if we lived close we'd see each other often. They went back to Augusta on Saturday and I miss them already. I booked a week's vacation in N. Myrtle Beach in June so I'll see my sister then. It will be she and I, my mom, Emily and a friend. So we'll be together then.

Picture time!
Sean, on the left, and Heather and Hannah on the right are my brother's kids. They live minutes from my parents. The middle two boys, Jonathan and Andrew are from GA. They have 2 other brothers, both married and dads-to-be, Adam (N.C.) and Aaron (WI). Their sister Sarah is about to graduate from UGA. The other nephew in the picture is Ryan. He's my sister Lisa's older son (Lisa lives minutes from my parent's too). Her other son Eric lives in NJ and couldn't join us. Then, of course, there's Emily.


Just the cousins

My brother and his family

Guess who?

Here's the sibs. I'm the middle girl. Younger sister Lisa on the left, older (but not by much) sister Ilene on the right. My brother is the youngest.

With the folks

Group shot. This time including my SIL Cindy and BIL Andy.

Gefilte fish anyone? I think not.

This looks much better!

And this one just because I think it's so pretty.

Now for a this and that. The goldfinches are getting so yellow. I find that amazing. They're almost the color of the forsythias. The hummingbirds should arrive in the next two weeks. The robins are busy gathering nesting materials. The pear tree is snowing white petals. The trees that aren't flowering are in bud. The grass is getting green. Spring is springing.

Emily got a pet last week. I reluctantly agreed to it. I'm always the bad guy, so I just said yes. Here's a picture of Pica the chinchilla. He lived with us for 3 nights. His cage and supplies are on Craigslist. He was a very cute poop machine.



Em imitating Pica


Well, it's time to move on. Walmart for thistle, then home sweet home.

Happy Monday!

Do good intentions count for anything?

I meant to write a long post. Friday. Saturday. Today. What did I write? Obviously nothing. As I sat on my deck today looking at how yellow the goldfinches have become, I thought of writing. As I watched and listened to the tufted titmouse at the feeder. As I listened to my chimes. When I breathed in the smell of my freshly mowed grass. Then there's all the pictures I have ready to upload. Alas, none of it got written or posted. Emily asked me if I still wrote in my blog. I said, it's been a while. People will forget me if I don't write soon. If I don't say hi to my friends on their blogs. So, this is an IOU. I have great intentions for tomorrow.

It felt like a Sunday

It' s been a mostly great day, but it flew by. There were 16 of us for Passover dinner at my parent's house. Lots of pictures were taken. Memories made. It was really so nice. I don't remember the last time all four of us sibling were together. Only 3 nephews and one niece were missing. I wonder if there's a way to splice them into the pictures?

I'm writing on my computer! I brought my laptop to my neighbor's house and the Dell technician fixed it there. Let's hope it lasts for the next 15 months of my warranty with no further ado.

Tomorrow Emily and I will meet my sister and her family downtown. They'll drive there and start with a White House tour at 8:30 AM. Unfortunately they were only able to get 4 tickets. We'll take the Metro down and meet up with them at one of the Smithsonian museums. It will be warm and rainy. That won't matter. I hope.

I'm too tired to read blogs or do much more than put on my PJ's and go to bed. Hope all is well in your world. I'll be back to visit when I can.

It's all good

Just a quick hello. I'm using Emily's computer since I can't use my own. I could have. I gave Dell my cell number as my primary contact number. I had my phone on my station all day and my laptop in the car. When I got home after work I found the technician had left a message on my home answering machine at 9:30 AM saying he had my part in hand and was ready to install it. Too bad for me that I was at work, where I said I could be contacted. Hopefully he'll call first thing in the morning.

I made a Starbucks run during a quick break at work. The 4 drinks in the holder got safely into my car. My drink wound up on my car mat. Every drop of my grande caramel latte, extra shot, extra caramel soaked right into the carpet and the sides of my seat. My car smells extra good. The mats are outside of the car right now, drying. The car windows are open so the rest of the drink can dry out. Good thing it's not hot. Lots of milk in that drink. They did make me a new one, no charge, and it was as good as ever.

My nephews are spending the night. I'll take them and Emily's friend to the bowling alley for 9:30-midnight bowling. I wish I felt a little more caffeinated..it's going to be a long night. Why do I feel like I could take a nap right now? I want them to have fun, so I'll stay up. I'll try to catch up on blogs. Time will fly.

There will be 18 of us at my folk's house tomorrow for Passover. It should be lively. I'll be sure to take pics.

Later!

I was resigned

I'm pecking away on my little iPhone to write this post. When I got home last night my laptop wouldn't/couldn't recognize the hard drive. Taking it out and putting it back in did nothing. Though I thought I was done with phone calls to you know who, I wasn't going to let this be the demise of my laptop. Not this. I called this morning. Explained what's been going on. Guess what? A new motherboard is being sent to a technician. He'll come to me to install it. At no cost to me. As in covered by warranty. This will fix my AC adaptor problem and the hard drive. If I'm lucky? Could my faith in Dell be restored?

In other news, not much is going on. It was a good and busy day at work. I had a new curly-haired client. She came in with an absolutely horrible cut. She hugged me when I was done. That made my day. My last client hugged me too. Kathy was in for a cut and color (kathy's peace) so we got to hang out. I've got a great job!

Time to put this day to rest. Thanks for listening. I hope I don't sound like I'm saying blah, blah, blah. You know? I don't want to be boring but my life is pretty mundane. It's in the title you know.

More later, now

Maybe I like technical problems? Maybe there's a name for my syndrome? Something to talk about? I need stories to tell my clients after all. So here's the new deal. I think the way to explain it is that that an AC adapter plugs into a port in the back of a laptop. My adapter had an elbow. I must have damaged the adapter because it didn't quite fit into the port correctly and occasionally the monitor brightness would flicker and I could see it was switching back and forth from AC to battery power. This happened a few years back and because of my warranty Dell came to me and replaced the motherboard and the problem was fixed. Well, I don't remember what I did that caused my adapter to get bent, but I finally called and they sent me a new power adapter. It seemed like it didn't go all the way into the port and didn't work as well as my sometimes faulty bent elbowed adapter, so I didn't use it. About the time the laptop stopped recognizing the hard drive, I called Dell and told them about both problems. They sent out a new hard drive and a new adapter. I saved everything to an external hard drive, installed the new one, then transferred all the files. Spiffy me. So far so good except the new power adapter had the same problem as the last new one. It didn't fit right. Plus, I keep getting messages that my battery has almost reached the end of it's life. This morning I call Dell to tell them about my power problem. They run a diagnostic and tell me that I need a new battery, and it's $135. Then they tell me they can switch me to the warranty department to find out the price of a new motherboard because there must have been some damage to the port which is attached to the motherboard and because I don't have a 'complete care' warranty that I will have to pay for it. I explain that I had this problem a few years ago with the same warranty and it was covered. Well, he says, their policy was changed and now you need a 'complete care' warranty. I told him that when my last warranty was about to expire I spoke to Dell, wondering if I should extend my warranty or buy a new laptop. They told me it was more economical to buy a warranty than a new laptop and anything that needed repair or replacement would be covered, so I would always have a working computer. Made sense to me so I extended for 2 more years. It cost over $200 and I still have 15 months left on it. There wasn't a 'complete care' warranty and a regular warranty. Just a warranty. I explained this very nicely, but he told me while he understood, there was nothing to be done about it. I asked to speak to customer care and he switched me over. I got a recording saying they weren't open yet. I spent a bunch of time researching batteries and found I can buy one on eBay for $35. Finally I reach customer care. Yes, she understands. Yes, she realizes I probably didn't cause the damage, it just happens over time with the adapter being plugged in and out. No, she hadn't heard of the term bait and switch. Yes, she's sorry the policy has been changed. Yes, she could switch me to someone else, but I'd only get the run-around and still get the same answer. What she could do was have someone replace the motherboard and throw in a new Dell battery all for the low cost of $250 (the motherboard alone is normally $450). For $90 more I could have the remaining 15 months of my warranty upgraded to a 'complete care' warranty. And, oh, sorry but there's no way we can refund the 15 months left on your existing warranty. Well, that's just too much $$ for a 5 year old laptop. So, right now I have the adapter cord delicately balanced over the top of my screen and at the moment it's on AC power. If I move it the wrong way, it switches to battery. I'm walking a tightrope here. And no, this has nothing to do with it being left out in the rain last week :)) What to do? I won't call Dell again. It would be futile. For now, I need to get out the bent adapter since it's the one that works best.

It was a gorgeous day here yesterday, but I didn't take advantage of it. I wasted away the hours, and when I was finally ready to go out for a walk Emily insisted we clean the house. I didn't want to, but I did. Then we went to my parent's house and waited for my GA sister and her family to arrive for their spring break visit. We got there in time for take-out Chinese for 8. Yum! Emily had a great time hanging out with her cousins Andrew and Jonathan. They've grown so tall in the two years since we've seen them. It was great spending time with everyone and we hated to go home. Today my mom and sister picked me up and we went to Mimi's for lunch. We all had the same amazing salad and muffins. Then we went to my salon and I did my sister's cut and color. The salon is closed on Mondays, but my boss was there. Afterward we went to Trader Joe's, a treat for my sister since they don't have them around her. We came back here, then they left for home. And here I am. It's only 6:30 but I'm ready for pajamas. I wish. Emily is getting a job (that'll be another post) and I have to bring her by to drop off the final paperwork. Then we need ice cream. Them I'll settle in for the night. Whew.

And how was your day?

More later

Rainy Monday in MD. My sister and her family are visiting from GA, staying at my parent's house. My mom and sister are on their way to my house for a haircut and a lunch date. Really, this is a filler post in disguise. I was trying to think of a way to use the phrase bait and switch here, but it only applies to Dell and the conversation I had with them. Grrrr. If it's not one tech issue, it's another. I'm a fighter, but with Dell, I'm resigned to the run-around. This laptop might be on it's way out. More later. Wish it wasn't raining. I'd jump on Metro and see the cherry blossoms. Not today. Salad at Mimi's cafe. Yum. More later.

Still life with bananas

a bounty of mini fruit

the water well open so you can see the root-filled basin

the bottom branches are drying out

short and squat

I was looking at the AeroGarden yesterday when I remembered that one of the tomato plants is the Golden Harvest variety. It dawned on me that some of the yellowish tomatoes might be ripe. Duh. So, I picked it, thus the 'still life.' Then I ate it. Opinion #1? Tart. Opinion #2? Save your money.

Happy Friday!

AMOK2

Jamie's that way also, and how many times does one get the opportunity to say amok? My life is often amok. I'm just fine, then something happens, or I'm informed of something, and there I am amok. If it weren't for my ability to forget the bad as soon as something good happens, I'd be swimming in in, and all you'd see would be an outstretched arm holding up the letter "A". Like in Sesame Street. But, you won't ever see that because I'm an eternal optimist, and the good will always conquer the bad. Of that, I have no doubt.

On the work front, an new phenomena is occurring. I have developed a reputation as a to-go-to person for curly hair. It was brought to my attention a few months ago that a new client found me on a website devoted to curly hair. Someone had written a review of me, then gone to my salon's website, then to me. I had no idea the curly hair website existed, or that I was on it. I'd say at least 6 new clients have been steered that way because of it, and there's at least a second review. I never think to check the site. Some of these clients have recommended their curly haired friends. Last week I did a new client who told me her boss (who I haven't done) heard about me and encouraged her to be the office guinea pig. She was thrilled with her hair and said she works with a lot of curly haired people. Besides the fact that I really love cutting curly hair, and can relate with curly issues, I'm thrilled to have new clients. In this economy, in my high end-ish salon, we're feeling the pinch. I'm thankful for every one of my clients. When I have a new one, and I've been getting a few a week, I'm always happy to see a head of curls, and so are they when they see me. When you have curly hair, it's not just the hair. You're a curly haired person.

I got to see Happyone and her husband last night. This was the second time he's come to me to do his hair. She and I chatted for a few minutes before I sent him back to get shampooed, then for a little bit afterward.

Well, time to get ready for work. It's dark and cloudy, but that's OK. It's a workday. Happy April 1!