I *heart* Fridays

So apparently my employer has modified their PTO policy in such a way that I am required to take 26 days off before the end of October.

While it kind of sucks that the PTO policy is changing, this DOES mean that I am taking Fridays off for the rest of the summer. WHOO HOO!

What in heaven's name will I do with all that free time?

25 Things You Didn't Know About Me

I enjoy reading these lists from other folks, so I thought now was as good a time as any to make my own list. Hopefully it will make, um, entertaining reading....

1. I would not trade my life as it is today for any amount of fortune or fame.
2. I have always excelled at math (especially algebra) and I enjoy doing calculations in my head.
3. I once had fire-engine red hair. Note: Manic Panic does NOT come out of blond hair. Ever.
4. I love singing in the shower and in the car.
5. I come off as aloof, but I am really just shy around people I don't know well.
6. As a teenager, my father and I reroofed my parent's house.
7. I *really* enjoy a good adrenaline rush.
8. I am insanely proud of being an old-school Minnesota liberal.
9. I have in my lifetime played: French Horn, Trumpet and Piano.
10. I despise food on my plate touching. Life was grand when I had divided plates.
11. I didn't touch alcohol or cigarettes until I was in college.
12. I managed the photography for my senior yearbook and did most of the film and photo developing myself. Those chemicals are nassss-tay.
13. The summer after my sophomore year in college I spent two weeks in Paris. I traveled alone and loved every single minute of it. I met the coolest people there.
14. I am pretty laid back but will react harshly to things that violate my beliefs.
15. Junior Mints are my favorite guilty pleasure.
16. I have the attention span of a hyperactive gnat.
17. I really, really suck at mornings.
18. I don't think I'll ever "retire" in the traditional sense. Not being able to contribute makes me crazy.
19. I took my first computer programming class when I was eleven (summer school '86 baby!)
20. I cringe every time I have to dig things up in the garden because I feel really bad for the worms that get caught by the shovel.
21. I built my dad a gun rack in wood shop when I was 14.
22. I am absolutely, positively terrified of guns.
23. At one point I owned a shotgun. I can't remember if Dad sold it after we all realized how terrified I am of guns.
24. I think bats are adorable.
25. I don't think I tell my friends and family often enough just how wonderful they all are.

Feel free to make your own list...You know I'll be reading!

Now Playing.....

KT Tunstall Eye to the Telescope
If you haven't, check out the Rolling Stones video of her playing "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree." Pretty amazing to realize the range of sound she puts out all by her lonesome.

The Flaming Lips At War with the Mystics
These guys are pure genius.

I'm resuming my ark project.

What the heck was that rain last night?

I pulled into my driveway last night around 9:30PM only to be greated by an actual river flowing down the path on the side of the house. The water had worn away the dirt and found a lip so it could launch off the end of the path directly at my car. I was not amused.

The news said we got something like 3 inches of rain/hail in the course of 2-3 hours. Whee! Tom had undertaken a project to raise the basement window well cover slightly but ran out of time to finish the last little bit on Sunday night. That little bit? Raising the back of the cover slightly to allow rain to flow away from the house. Yeah. Unfinished project + 3 inches of rain = wet basement.

I got a bunch of plants in the ground this weekend, which I'm sure benefitted from the rain. I had one planter that I discovered does not have drainage holes - my poor little pepper plants were floating on top of 3" of water :( I have a feeling my evening will involve one or two rainproofing projects!

Here comes the sun....

Here comes the sun
dodododo
Here comes the sun,
and I say....
It's alright :)

Love me some sun! For awhile there I was contemplating whether or not I was going to need an ark for Tom, the birds and me. But finally the clouds parted, my trees are once again getting trimmed, and I can take my fancy garden shoes out into the mud to work on my flower beds. AND its almost last frost time which means I can start planting like a madwoman!

I like spring...