This weekend

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Frog

I got home today and told the better-half that I like working so much that I think I’ll only take one day off this week.

‘Tis true. I’ll be taking Saturday off and then leaving the fair city bright and early on Sunday with four colleagues. We’re loading up the Lincoln and heading to DC (my apologies to the Rappin’ Duke).

We’re going to the ASTD International Conference with 9,000 of our besties. I have been to conferences before, but I’m sure this will be the largest one. I’ve tried to pack my schedule with educational sessions so I don’t have to roam the Expo hall for too long. Because thousands of people also roaming the hall is not a happy-scene for me. I did promise my new co-worker that I’d hit up some booths for him. I plan on picking up some swag and then we can split the spoils when I get back to work on Thursday.

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Three Day Weekend

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Frog

Bought the plants:

As you know, built out the first planter:

Hung out on the deck after planting:

Had burgers and spinach salad with edible flowers and strawberries for dinner:

Woke up and went to brunch with friends:

Today we finished setting up the second planter and put in a cucumber (you can just barely see it in the second planter):

Had tacos and burritos for lunch:

Then, took a rainy afternoon nap.

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The first garden is done

Posted on April 26, 2014 by Frog

We went to the Maymont plant sale today and then made multiple trips to the big box for gravel and dirt/compost.

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We like it so much that we have plans to set another one up. We already have a cucumber plant waiting to go in.

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Some weeds are pretty

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Frog

A bunch of these appeared in the yard this week:
star of bethlehem

I went around them with the lawn mower yesterday because there’s so little color in our yard (the house was built in 1932 how can there be no bulbs?!). Turns out they are weeds.

It’s OK that they are weeds. I may actually move them into a bed. I also spared some hyacinth that evidently originated in our neighbor’s back yard. They look terrible where they are now–like most escapees. I’ll be moving them for sure.

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Playing Catch Up

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Frog

This morning I woke up feeling like someone had punched me in the jaw. It’s still sore. I’m wondering which of the three beings in this house did it. Probably Simon since he likes to stand on you and make small paw-sized bruises on various fleshy parts. I’m not sure how he could have stood on my face, but I’m blaming him until a better option comes along.

On Tuesday night, we went with a friend to see Amos Lee and Mutlu. I barely knew who Amos Lee was and Mutlu was a complete mystery. Turns out they are both amazing. We had a thoroughly good time except for the drunk bastards who were either sitting in the row with us and made us get up 57 times so they could pee and consume more alcohol or they were in front of us yucking it up over booze. My friend was ready to start stabbing people with the end of her umbrella.

It’s not that I don’t like to consume alcohol, but for crying out loud it was a Tuesday night and you don’t really need 14 beers to have a good time at a concert. As we were walking back to the car we said the music isn’t too loud yet, but we are old. Damn kids get off my lawn.

I finally replaced my work-in-the-yard shoes. They were an ancient pair of Reeboks (are those made anymore?) and not only had the rubber and plastic worn out, but they had also stiffened up so that my feet were seriously uncomfortable every time I wore them. Now I have a pair of KangaROOS (electrically purple). The shoelaces are about 40 feet long so clearly these shoes are meant for stylin’ and profilin’ but they were on sale and who can resist a shoe straight outta the 90s?

I also picked up a pair of Rocket Dog shoes that are a wacka-doodle paisley. I’m digging on these and now the Converse can go in the trash. Those things were seriously torn up inside and hurt various spots on my feet. I’m hard on shoes mostly because I wear them until they fall apart.

Amos Lee and his band killed this:

Mutlu cracked us up (but he can also really sing and writes some great tunes):

Did anyone watch the Katie Couric show today on organ donation? Know what? They totally mispronounced the doctor’s name and then it was like “well, Katie botched it so we all have to botch it”. Hear him say his own name.

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Subs and Music

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Frog

Tonight we had dinner at a divey sandwich shop that we used to go to a lot when the better-half worked on the U of R campus (the hot peppers cleared up my clogged head–hallelujah). Then we headed over to the campus to catch the Shawn Colvin and Steve Earle show.

Shawn performed this and I am pretty sure, aside from the better-half, we were the only ones in our little section of seats who were thrilled:

I’m still having a hard time figuring out the dynamic of the crowd. I was seated next to Debby Downer, but she seemed to know the really enthused people behind us. There were a few people who were very familiar with Shawn’s songs and more who were familiar with Steve’s.

Steve told a story about his lost years and one of the points of light was knowing that Shawn had recorded one of his songs. They performed this song tonight and it was touching:

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Happy anniversary

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Frog

The better-half and I are celebrating our 18th anniversary tomorrow. It doesn’t feel a day over 17.5.

This afternoon we bought this amazing stuff:

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We joked about getting each other cinder blocks to celebrate the nuptials.

It doesn’t look like much right now but in a month it will be great. What you are looking at is our raised bed for gardening.

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Busy weekend

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Frog

Ever have one of those weekends that ends up being busier than you thought it would be? Yeah, I know. All the time.

Yesterday was amazing as far as the weather is concerned. We were outside for most of the afternoon smoking bacon. The last thing on our long list of chores this weekend is to slice and freeze the bacon.

This morning we walked down to our neighborhood green grocer and picked up a few things to round out our corned beef feast tonight. While we were there we signed up for the veggie box. Starting this week and running for the next twelve weeks, we’ll pick up a box of fruits and vegetables. The grocer sends a reminder email and recipes the day before so we will have some idea of what’s going to be in the box. We’re really excited about this.

The trip to the regular grocery store was straight out of every cliche of The Impending Storm of Doom movie! (Wouldn’t that be a great movie? SyFy needs to get on that.) Seriously, folks, I know we’re supposed to get snow, sleet and who knows what the heck else tomorrow, but that is no excuse to block every single aisle. Get your stuff off the shelf and make a hole. I’m coming through.

The box included:

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The simple thank you

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Frog

Know how I was worried about a co-worker treading on thin ice? She is being ridden hard now to meet deadlines. We’ll see if she can do it.

Here’s something I’ve noticed about her. She doesn’t say thank you to peers. That’s really awful. On Friday, I saved her lame ass from starting a training webinar late. That is not something you do especially when we were at capacity and people had been pouring into the virtual space for over 30 minutes. I started the session and I ran the slides so the participants had no idea that we were experiencing any sort of difficulty.

Then I spent half of Monday editing the recording to remove all signs of her ineptitude. The recording that will be posted tomorrow is very different than the session I originally heard on Friday. I’m positive that I’ll never hear anything about it. Ever. Heck, I was the one thanking our experts who had joined us to answer participant questions. She was going to let them walk out of the room without saying anything. Whatever.

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What the What

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Frog

It is March 3rd and I’m off from work because we started with sleet and ended up with a few inches of snow. I’ve worked at my place of employment for about a year and all I’ve heard in that time is “we don’t close”. Well, apparently, we do.

The snow has tapered off so we cleaned our sidewalks and my car. I think the better-half is scraping his truck. I think he really just wants to be outside in the cold and wind because he is part polar bear. I’m content to warm myself and hunker down on the couch with a cat or two, a book and a blanket. Perhaps it is time for some hot chocolate.

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