growth

I'm tired of all these cloudy overcast days. I swear I hear my plants weeping out there somedays. But actually, recently they've been doing fairly well. A few weeks ago I thought I had a pest problem, leaf-hoppers or something, and covered all plants with this insect killing spray. Ended up burning the sh*t out of them. Leaves crinkling up, turning brown, falling off. I seriously thought I had single-handedly killed off our entire garden. T__T But everyone has recovered since then, expect for the dill. Just had to throw that poor thing out. That thing was going downhill even before the spray. I don't know why.

Our very first cherry tomato finally ripened and we ate it last night! I felt weirdly proud as I held it in my hand, like it was a gold coin or somethin'. It was very tasty too. :)

Still on the plant

Tadaa! Ready to eat

The graphic design contractor job has been going well so far. I really do find that I enjoy it more and more. And the retail job...well, it is what it is. But that's how one feels between a job, and a career. I'm definitely gaining more experience for my resume, gaining some good material for my portfolio, and not to mention it's not bad money either! Hub thinks that this month will be the first in a long while that we'll end up saving money. I just hope it keeps going, that the boss likes me & thinks I'm worth keeping around! It may turn into my being employed, but I don't want to pine away on that too much. I get nervous when things are going well! I can't help it. Every time I've started feeling positive about where a graphic design job was headed, it usually ended sometime afterwards! Hell, the last position I had in Chantilly only lasted a month.

But everything seems to be in a state of growth lately - earning money at both my jobs, the garden starting to produce things finally, everything lush. It feels like the huge "thunderstorm" with rain, wind, and basketball-sized hail, that TK and I have been sitting under for about 2-3 years is starting to move away. I hope so.

On some other good news, the dude who hit us a week-and-a-half ago's insurance company called us the other day, and have accepted liability. So they'll be paying for the repairs to our f*cked up door, and a rental car, etc etc. So I'm taking the car into the auto body shop on Monday for an estimate. It can't be as much as the repair cost of the last accident it was in, with me in Virginia! Where I was hit from behind at about 30mph by an SUV, and then subsequently hit a 4-door in front of me. Completely punched in our trunk door. I think those repairs totaled about $3,000. Bleh. Good thing I didn't have to pay for it. So, we can finally get this door fixed so that it doesn't rain into the car anymore. Thumbs up.

i hate sharing the pool

Sure it's the community pool, but, I hate trying to swim in peace around dozens of little snot-nosed, screaming kids with floaties and huge neon water noodles. I came back from there about 20 minutes ago - I left prematurely because I just couldn't stand it. I didn't want to leave, but I got pool water up my nose one too many times while swimming, by huge waves created by groups of kids jumping constantly. I was spending most of my time spluttering, hanging on to the wall.

Maybe I'll try going a lot later in the day, next time. Might mean less people? I hope so, since I genuinely like to swim.

Going to drive to Annapolis again, for the scheduled meeting with the tea-boutique gig. Gotta wake up early at around 6:10am.... >__< waah.

Some new crappy news is that hub and I got into another car accident yesterday. No injuries! Nothing really serious. Just frickin' inconvenience at this point. We were pulling into the gas station, and there was a car we went to go pass behind to get through. He was just sitting there -- and then when we're right behind him, he backs up. Into us. >__>

TK was driving this time which is a first (since I've been the one in the past involved in an accident). Also another first is us being in an accident together. Yay more things to share and experience together? Hub practically flew out of the car after he put it in park, and looked like he was going to throw himself at the guy. Mumbling profanities and such.

So we all exchange info, and he was pretty chill to talk to about it but at the end he was like (in his slightly surfer-type voice), "But yeah man, just, look for those tail-lights next time OK?"

UH. No.

How about you look BEHIND you, like any responsible driver would, if you're to back up ANYWHERE.

Ignoramus.

Besides we thought he was parked! There WERE no tail-lights when we started to go behind you.

Rant rant, rah rah.....

So another frickin' trip to the auto shop, get a quote, go get it fixed etc. etc.


In happier news - sprouts! Yesh'.

Our first ever batch of home-grown sprouts was finished today. And they are sooo good. I am NEVER buying sprouts from the stores again. So much cheaper to do it at home. I just have to buy whatever I'd like to sprout; leafy greens, nut, grains, etc.

Growth over 5-6 days

They grew to the shape of the cup! You can definitely see how dense it gets

designing for tea

It's definitely a product that I am passionate about designing for! So, I have officially begun my "independent contractor-ship" for the tea retailer in Annapolis. Pretty cool, and I only have to drive the whole 72.5 miles to and from there on Wednesdays.

They have poured buckets of projects on me already - so I hit the ground running then eh? It makes sense though - I believe that they had no previous graphic designer working there. So now since they have me, and are not trying to put together designs themselves, they have tons of stuff they want to have designed. The only crappy part is of course, taxes aren't taken out of the paychecks. So I'll have to do some research about making quarterly tax payments.

I do love the fact that while I'm there, I get to drink/choose from a TON of different tea blends. So nice.

I still do the retail part-time. But it's nothing too substantial - still only 2 days a week, 5 hours each day. But hey, every bit of income counts.

I just got the "sprouter" device in the mail the other day. So I have started the first batch of clover sprouts! Let's hope it's as easy as the instructions say it is. x) I LOVE sprouts. Can't wait.