Relaxing But Productive Weekend

That’s how I’ll describe this past weekend.  I didn’t get much done that was on my to-do list, but it was a productive two days anyway…in a very relaxing way!

Saturday morning I met a writing buddy for breakfast at 7AM.  For two hours we enjoyed awesome conversation about anything and everything.  After breakfast I stopped at Lowe’s then snapped this picture for all my winter weary friends.  Yes, the calendar says it’s winter but some of our trees are showing signs of spring!

Once back at home I decided I needed to work off some of that awesome breakfast, so I went outside to weed the backyard.  I planned to spend an hour or so puttering in the unexpected sunshine, but instead I got lost in the task and stopped 4 hours later, and that was only because my yard waste barrel was full.  My 96 gallon yard waste barrel.

Now in my defense, the backyard wasn’t that full of weeds, I pruned a lot of my red apple ground cover plants.  They didn’t quite understand the full scope of their jobs and thought they were supposed to cover the pathways and the “real” plants.  Since red apple is a succulent, the plant stems and leaves are very thick, hence they take up a lot of room.

That’s my story anyway…and I’m sticking to it (and I won’t mention that I still have 1/4 of the yard to weed).

The rest of Saturday was a blur of phone conversations and puttering.

Sunday morning I was in hyper-productive mode.  I made a huge pot of split pea soup, made ham and pickle salad with the leftover ham, made 3 large salads and chopped up the rest of the veggies so they’re ready-to-eat, washed the dishes, took a shower, walked to the mailbox to retrieve my mail, hard-boiled some eggs, cleaned the family room and started the 1st load of laundry -  all of this before the 10AM pacific start of the Daytona 500!!!

The rest of the day was much less productive, the majority of it spent working on a jigsaw puzzle as I watched the 500 and then some episodes of Law & Order SVU from my DVR, but it was definitely relaxing.

The weekend was so relaxing, productive and enjoyable, that, dare I say it?  I don’t even mind going back to work today when many others have the day off in celebration of President’s Day!

I hope everyone’s weekend was as awesome as mine was!

My L.A. Adventure Part II

As you may or may not know, I went into Los Angeles Saturday to see a play.  In case you didn’t know, here’s the post – a review of said play.

Now here’s the Judy part of the story…complete with voices in my head (I don’t always hear voices, just when about to do something stupid…repeatedly)!

I left the house 2 hours before the play was to start.  Plenty of time to get gas then navigate the freeways.  Except…the neighbor who said he wanted my front yard sod was home so I stopped to see if he still wanted it (I am converting my front yard from water-hog to water-wise landscaping – read about it here).  He did – WOO HOO – so we spent some time making plans for the sod transfer on Saturday the 23rd.  When I left I had 1-3/4 hours to get gas, travel 84 miles to a place I’d never been through traffic guaranteed to be heavy AND get to the box office before the start of the play.

I am not a fan of Southern California traffic, so non-fannish that I rarely head west where the conditions can best be described as insane.  To go to the play, which I really really really wanted to do, I was going to have to deal with traffic.  Bearing this in mind I opted for the 3PM performance on Saturday.  For the most part, my fellow travelers and I moved along smoothly at 75-80 mph…until the 101 north.  For a few miles we inched along, but that was okay as we were moving…not parked, as is often the case on the Southern California freeway system.

After passing Theater 68 once, I spotted and followed the parking lot sign the second time, drove along the side of the building and up the ramp at the end to the rooftop parking.  I drove towards the front of the building, hooked a left and then stopped next to a woman standing alone.  I put down my window and started a brief conversation:

Me: Excuse me, are you here to see the play?

Her: Yes, I am.  You can park in any of the “Reserved” spaces.  My friend and I checked downstairs and they aren’t reserved on Saturdays.

Me: Phew, thank you!  Would you mind if I tagged along with you?

Her: Oh no, please do.  My name is Melanie.

Me: Hi Melanie, I’m Judy.

We shook hands then I parked my car and walked back to where Melanie was.  I arrived at the same time her friend did.  Though I carried on a conversation with them I can only remember snippets of it because Melanie’s friend was Sonya Eddy!  The only voices I was fully aware of were the ones in my head…

Oh wow, that’s Epiphany from General Hospital!  Holy crap!  Don’t say anything stupid.  Don’t try to find a memorable one-liner.  It’ll come out wrong.  And stupid.  Keep talking about the quaintness of the theater.  Epiphany!  Hhhmm…how many other General Hospital cast members will be here to support the three on stage?  Doesn’t matter – keep your mouth shut!

The three of us went into the theater, checked in at the box office then walked into the tiny lobby.  And by “three of us” I do mean Sonya, Melanie and me, not me and the two voices in my head, though they were still lurking.  Both Sonya and I bee-lined to the ladies room, blaming the drive and water for that visit.

I went back into the lobby and immediately saw Bradford Anderson, AKA Spinelli!  The voices in my head started up again so in an effort to shut them up, I quickly went into the theater and sat in the front row, a couple of seats away from Melanie.  She and I chatted for a few minutes about the set and the cool temperature in the theater before leaving each other to our respective thoughts.

The set was both homey and interesting.  There were stacks of books on the floor, wooden boards leaning against one wall with folded saw horses in front of them, three windows with stained glass inserts, a desk in front of the windows, a table and chairs, a stuffed chair, a couple stacks of boxes, a chandelier, curtains which framed a window I couldn’t see from my seat, a telescope, rugs on the floor and a coat rack.  Very eclectic, homey and welcoming…at least  for me.

A bit later I overheard the gentleman behind me being introduced to people near him as Carolyn’s husband.  Before I could stop it, my head spun around to take a look…yep, it was Donald!

Turn back, don’t get caught looking.  And puh-leez keep your mouth shut!

Sonya returned at that very moment followed by the arrival of Bradford Anderson and Lisa LoCicero (Olivia), the latter two sitting in the first row of the first section.

Cue the voices…

Just before the lights dimmed and the play began, Brandon Barash (Johnny) took a seat behind Lisa.  The voices never had a chance to start as the play began and my audience-mates were forgotten while all of me focused on the story unfolding on the stage.

Then came intermission…

Sonya left followed shortly thereafter by Carolyn’s husband Donald.  Melanie and I chatted about the first act and all the story lines that were being played out.  The conversation then turned to mydriving to L.A. by myself and that I don’t not do something just because no one wants to do it with me.  Melanie said she wished she could do that.

Well, if that impressed her tell her about your solo cross-country move and all that it entailed.

Darn voices…I was tired of resisting them so out came the story.  Melanie listened intently, made comments throughout and when my tale was done, she told me that she knew that I’m where I’m supposed to be because everything went so smoothly.  I told her that has been my belief throughout the past five years.  If I wasn’t supposed to be here there would have been roadblocks the entire way.

I apologized for rambling on and on and whispered a silent “thank you” when Sonya returned along with another friend and Melanie could get back to the people she knew.

My attention returned to the empty set until Donald returned, kissed Sonya then introduced her to the couple sitting next to him.  His parents!

YIKES!  You are sitting in front of Carolyn’s husband and in-laws.  Don’t look!  Don’t say anything!  I should say something…a compliment on the performance so far.  NO!  That is so NOT your forte.  Keep your mouth shut!  You’ll say something stupid.  You’ll get a polite stare in return.  Don’t say a word!!

The theater went dark, act two started and the voices went away.  When the play ended we all started leaving the theater.  As I passed in front of Brandon Barash I said “Keep Sonny in line” to which he laughed and said “yeah”.

You idiot!!!  Keep Sonny in-line??  OY!

A few steps later I passed Lisa LoCicero and said “Keep Johnny in line”.  She laughed, looked up the audience seats to Brandon and said “yeah, keep Johnny in line”.

Ugh – you dummy!  Why aren’t you keeping quiet???  Zip-it!!

When I saw Sonya and Melanie sitting in the lobby I told both of them it was nice meeting them, and then in further defiance of the voices, told Sonya to “Keep the floor in-line”.

OMG – the FLOOR????  What happened to the hospital????  God you are soooo idiotic!

Sonya laughed, I turned red then headed for the ladies room.  The only problem was that I had the door to the men’s room half-open before I realized my mistake.  The ladies room was in the far corner when I came into the lobby from the front door, which meant it was in the back corner when entering the lobby from the theater.

Oh geez. 

Why did you blow it?  Why did you have to say anything?  Why didn’t you stop after your first comment??  You were doing so good, letting friends enjoy friends without reminding them of their day jobs.  UGH!  And why did you ignore Bradford?  You LOVE Spinelli!!!

Once I walked out of the theater I left the voices behind along with my multiple faux pas and tuned into my surroundings…like the drive down the ramp from the rooftop parking…

…and the ugly traffic that greeted me as I got on the 101 South…

…and kept me company for miles.

If that wasn’t enough to keep my mind from the memory of my comments, thinking about the play and all its intertwined and conflict-ridden levels kept me so mentally busy that I never turned on the radio.  Not a bad thing except the NASCAR race was on and I had wanted to listen to it on the way home.  I didn’t remember until I pulled up to the cluster mailboxes around the corner from my house.

All’s well that ends well though…not only did I turn on the TV at lap 180 of 334, but my guy, Jamie McMurray was in the lead!  And he eventually won the race!!!

Three incredibly awesome events in one day – just like last Wednesday!

Life is good!

Labor Day Weekend

The three-day weekend has come and gone, and I don’t know about yours, but mine was GREAT!  A slow-paced, uneventful but totally relaxing 3 days – a treat so rare for me!

These long weekends are rare for me.  There are only 2 per year at the company where I work – Memorial Day and Labor Day.  Fourth of July is a shut-down week for us so that doesn’t count, and besides, it’s always a week with a to-do list that cannot possibly be completed.  Thanksgiving is a four-day weekend but I jam so much into those days between friends and oodles of cooking that I need to get back to work to relax.  The week between Christmas and New Year’s is another shut-down week and one that I cram with activities with friends and projects.

So, why was this past weekend so awesome?

Saturday morning I went out on a photo adventure then spent a couple of hours saving, editing, adding copyright info to my new treasures then uploading all on Facebook and some here on my blog.

I crafted while watching my guy win the NASCAR Nationwide race then shortly after headed off to bed and read for a couple of hours before falling asleep.

Sunday was a total crafting day.  I sat on my butt and worked on a couple of projects while watching movies on Lifetime.  When the NASCAR Sprint Cup race started I played Majhjongg Dimensions on-line while watching/listening to the race.  When it was over it was back to bed for more reading before snoozing.

Monday dawned a much different day.  I was out the door shortly after 8AM for nearly four hours of yard work!  I noticed my new neighbor was outside so I went down the street to introduce myself to him and asked it the guy who was working on his yard a couple of weeks ago had mentioned my offer to him.  New neighbor said yes, and also said that he’d be more than happy to take my front yard and put it in his if the HOA approves my conversion plans.  New neighbor came down to my house so I could show him the yard and explain my plans – not only does he want my sod but he also wants any plants that my other neighbor isn’t interested in!  I was so excited to know that except for the 2 trees, everything that is being replaced is going to be recycled into neighbors’ yards!

I mowed, edged, weed whacked, deadheaded, pruned and weeded until my 96 gallon yard waste barrel was full.  I showered then headed out to the pizza place to use the coupon they had mailed me – three medium pepperoni pizzas for $5 each!  I ate part of one for lunch then froze the rest of the first one and the second and third ones in individual meal packages.

The balance of the day was spent catching up with friends on Facebook and the telephone, taking and organizing more pictures, working on my short story, reveling in the cooler temps and watching a couple of movies on Lifetime.

I’d love more weekend like this past one, but I know if the three-day weekend were to happen more often I’d end up over-filling it with things to do instead of relaxing and enjoying it.  Though I will admit, I’d like to test that theory 

#3 In Victory Lane…

…and driven there by an Earnhardt…a Dale even!

There it is…Dale Jr celebrating in Victory Lane…

…at Daytona…

I  had chills and watery eyes.

Why?

Dale Earnhardt, Sr, The Intimidator, was killed in a crash at this very racetrack on February 18, 2001.  I was not a NASCAR fan back then, but his death was stunning news to me.

The “number 3″ has not been on the track since his death…until last night when Dale, Jr drove it in the Nationwide race.  The tradition started by the fans that lasted throughout the balance of the race season following Dale’s death was in full force – everyone in the stands was on their feet throughout the third lap, a three finger salute from each held high above their heads.

I am not a Junior fan, but as the laps wound down last night and Junior was in the front, I rose to my feet and stood in front of the television with my fingers crossed.  And I rose my clenched fist and screamed “yes” when Junior crossed the finish line first.

A one-time deal between Richard Childress Racing (who owns the # 3), Theresa Earnhardt (Dale Sr’s widow and Junior’s stepmother), Wrangler Jeans (the car sponsor) and Junior Motorsports (Junior’s company) put the 3 back on the track.

Junior put it in  Victory Lane, and in the process, brought back a bit of his father while giving NASCAR and its fans some salve for its biggest wound.

The Cookfest Continues…

Yesterday was an exhausting but productive cookfest round one.  I’d been preparing for the day for a couple of weeks so I was raring to go.

First up was shopping for supplies.  This is why I did that chore early Friday morning…

…at 6AM it was pretty much just me and the stock people.  YAY!

Saturday morning began with me plugging in Fritz the freezer.  He was so happy to be void of frost and happy to be refreezing so he could be filled with goodies!  Nest up was emptying the dishwasher that had run overnight and hand-washing the dishes that still needed to be washed and put away.  Do you know that I hate to wash dishes (and that even includes emptying the dishwasher)?!?!

After all the dishes were put away all the supplies needed for the cookfest were stacked on the counter.  And there were lots of them.  One stock pot, two pots for cooking pasta, one pan for frying, two crock pots, two lasagna pans and five cooling racks!  Then there were mixing bowls, utensils, measuring supplies and storage containers.  YIKES!  All of those things and I haven’t even mentioned ingredients!!!

First up was turkey soup using the stock I made this past winter.  I added some bouillon, one can of diced tomatoes, one bag of uncooked pasta and one bag of frozen veggies.  Everything else had to be cut up before being added – carrots, celery, onion, broccoli and turkey (also frozen since this past winter).  The stock pot was full to within an inch of the top!

While that was simmering I cut up more turkey and cooked that with the tomato based ingredients for lasagna, then compiled the lasagna.  That sat in one baking pan while I repeated the process but using a chunk of the ham that I had gotten from work for Christmas (a 5-lb ham that I cut into 10 blocks and froze).  The ham needed to go through the blender first so that it would be shredded and therefore easy to spread.

Once both lasagnas were in the oven I turned my attention to the beef stew.  I cut up stew beef into smaller chunks, peeled and cut two potatoes and one butternut squash, chopped some onion, celery, broccoli and carrots, then poured in a bag of frozen corn, a bag of frozen peas, two cans of kidney beans, two cans of diced tomatoes (one with green chilies) and a can of tomato soup.  A few spices later the lid was on the crock pot, it was plugged in and turned on.

As you can imagine from the four meals now cooking away, the counter was pretty full of dirty dishes.  Yep, I stopped and hand washed the dishes.  Have I told you how much I hate washing dishes?

By the time the dish chore was done the lasagnas were done and I deemed the soup done as well.  I ladled the soup into 22 containers and placed them and the lasagnas on cooling racks to…well…cool!

Time to hand wash the stock pot then refill it with ingredients.  This time it was with split peas, onion, carrots, shredded ham and water.

My attention then turned to crock pot number two.  Elbow pasta cooked al-dente filled the crock just over halfway, and after adding evaporated milk, shredded cheese, whole milk, butter, white pepper, salt, frozen peas and Parmesan cheese this crock was turned on as well.

With the last three meals underway I covered the containers of turkey soup and moved them all to Fritz.  The two lasagnas were then cut, each piece wrapped in foil, foiled pieces put into labeled freezer bags and bags put in the freezer.

After a couple of hours of relaxing and occasionally stirring the stew and soup, I divided the last the meals into individual containers and while they cooled I hand washed the dishes…again.

You do remember how much I hate washing dishes, right?

If you heard a really loud noise late yesterday afternoon that would have been me.  Why?

I forgot to wash these guys!  And they don’t go in the dishwasher!! 

Final tally for yesterday is 62 meals — 22 turkey soup, 9 ham lasagna, 9 turkey lasagna, 7 beef stew, 6 macaroni and cheese (counting the serving I ate for dinner) and 9 pea soup.  Fritz is soooo happy now (even though he worked hard all day freezing everything).

I wanted to make my Mom’s spaghetti sauce but discovered that I hadn’t bought enough tomato paste.  I also wanted to make next week’s jumbo salads but I used some of the ingredients for the meals. In order for the cookfest to continue on Monday, this morning I made a quick trip to the food store to get the missing ingredients and was handsomely rewarded for my efforts!  Look what jumped into my cart — at 18 cents each!

As for today, it’s all about ME!  I’m going to get some chicken breasts marinating in a Judy experimental marinade (crushed ginger snap cookies, apple juice, garlic and olive oil) then sit back and enjoy the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 while knitting!

I’ll finish these red gem socks and then start a new pair.

And to think there’s still one more day to this weekend!  HAPPY DANCE! 

May Day Road Trip

I’ve had the urge for several weeks to take a road trip so yesterday Putt Putt and I took off for a multi-stop 8-hour adventure…that started when we backed out of the garage at 5:30AM!

Where did we go?

We headed east to Indian Wells, CA to be at the kick-off of retired NASCAR driver Kyle Petty’s Charity Ride 2010 that benefits Victory Junction, a camp for sick children that Kyle and his wife Patty founded to honor the memory of their son Adam.  I won’t go into all the details about the ride or the camp, the links speak MUCH better than I could; instead I’ll share some details of the kick-off.

First, it was a great ride over to Indian Wells, and a very quick one given the speed at which I was driving (and being passed as if I was standing still!)

By the time I was driving through Palm Springs I was getting a bit bored so I took the above shot and the below shot (and a few others that I’m not including)…

This wind farm stretches for miles!  Though I find it fascinating I know that people who live out here aren’t quite as happy with their views, even though the turbines create enough power to power Palm Springs and all of the Coachella Valley!  You can read all about it here.

Once at the Miramonte Resort and Spa I quickly found the gathering spot for the cross-country ride.  It wasn’t hard to miss..

What I did find surprising was all of the support vehicles needed for this trip.  I don’t know why I was surprised, but I was.

Patty Petty emceed the “driver’s meeting” where the rules, regs, do’s and don’ts were reiterated along with a reminder of the purpose of the ride and most importantly, wishes for a safe and fun journey.

I was very disappointed that there wasn’t a rousing “Drivers, START YOUR BIKES” before the engines fired, but I got over it quickly as I took pictures of and waved to all the bikers as they drove by…

They just kept coming and coming and coming…bikes & trikes, guys & gals, bald heads & pony tails, young & old…  It was a successful kick-off for sure!

I followed the support vehicles and bikes for a couple miles before I veered off to go to my second stop, Moller’s Garden Center in Palm Desert.

I was in plant heaven, and if you click on the link above you’ll understand why.  I was VERY good though and didn’t buy a single plant!  I did buy 2 redwood trellises so Coral can climb as soon as she’s ready.  Each trellis is 8′ x 2′ and I wasn’t sure I could get them into Putt-Putt so one of the employees, Christine, was very helpful.  She and I took one trellis and messed around with the seats in Putt-Putt until we got it to fit.

When I went back to get the second trellis I could hear a humming sound that was constantly changing pitch.  I finally found the source and was so intrigued I had to take a picture…

Oh yeah, here are the two trellises as they currently reside in my garage.  I’ll put them up in the backyard as soon as Coral needs them…

My third stop was in Palm Springs.  It was some serious putzing time in my favoritest store!

I always find something in this store that I didn’t know I needed – and yesterday was no different.  What I found was a cast iron birdbath that is the prefect resolution to a backyard problem!!

I’m not sure if you saw the small pile of rocks in my backyard picture – it’s a pile that looks out of place, kind of like I didn’t complete my cleanup.  In actuality the pile was there to mark where a drain is that leads down into the U-shaped drainage system that goes around my entire yard.  I’ve been searching for something to put over the drain (besides the open grooved cover) so that mulch doesn’t get shuffled onto it and down into the bottom pipe.  This birdbath fit the bill perfectly!

The base is an upside down cone, wider at the bottom then where it meets the leg so it fit over one of the rocks!  YAY – one more thing checked off my to-do list!

My fourth stop was nearly THE driving force behind the trip even though everything I did was awesome.  I took the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and went up to 8,516 feet so I could…

PLAY IN SNOW!!  It was the first time in more than 3 years that this snow-lover has been in the presence of the white stuff so I didn’t even care it was dirty – the point was that it EXISTED!!!  Please note that my pants aren’t that short…I put my foot in the snow then leaned back so my shadow wouldn’t be in the picture, that’s when my sox appeared. 

Yep, on May 1st I was hanging with some snow!!  And it was COLD —

…but the sights in the woods were awesome thanks to incredible weather!!

After lunch in the restaurant I took in the view of the Coachella Valley from the observation deck…

…then boarded the tram for the trip back down the mountain…

I hopped in Putt-Putt and pointed her towards home, snapping a few more pictures along the way…

The San Bernardino Mountains with wind turbines in the foreground…

…the San Jacinto Mountains (hey – I was just up there)…

…and the San Jacinto Mountains again!

I had a fifth stop scheduled but I wasn’t able to make it as the exit I needed to take from the freeway was closed for reconstruction.  Though I could have taken the next exit, turned around and come back, the exit for the freeway that would take me directly home was just 2 miles further and to be honest, I was tired…very tired…so I opted to postpone the 5th stop for a day later this week.

Putt-Putt and I were snugly tucked back into the garage/house shortly after 1:45PM – a little over 8 hours after we left.

I hope you enjoyed my trip — I did today almost as much as yesterday!!!  I know this post was kind of picture-heavy, but given that I took 127 pictures, you guys lucked out! 

Rainy Days and Mondays…

…Always Get Me Down!

As I begin writing this post it’s 6:37PM Thursday night, the clouds have finally broken up and the sun is shining; puddles still dot the street and my patio; my iPod is shuffling the songs in my “Purchased” playlist; dinner was a mish-mash of munchies; a glass of chardonnay is next to my laptop; my winter jammies are on and I’m feeling…

ICK!

Several things are weighing on my mind right now and I think they and allergies have pooled their resources to gift me a massive sinus headache right above and below the eyes.  Since my upper teeth have very long roots (translation = roots reach into congested nasal cavities) you can just imagine how sensitive and angry said teeth are!

I was all set to finish up the 12-page family newsletter tonight but shortly after I started working on it the head pain gremlins appeared.  I saved my work then went on-line to let the head unwind with some mindless web-surfing.

Unfortunately one of my first stops was Facebook and my putzy self started clicking on my friends friend lists and before I knew it, the previously bad headache had exploded to that aforementioned massive level.  So many of my former classmates are parents and even grandparents, and have incredibly interesting lives that I instantly regretted my friends-of-friends surfing.  Don’t misunderstand, I am not jealous, at least I don’t think I am, but I was suddenly back in the high school tradition of comparing my life to those of my peers and all the old insecurities came flooding back.

It took a glass of wine and a good half hour to semi-cajole myself out of that pity party.  I am very content with my life – is there room for improvement?  ALWAYS no matter who you are, but honestly, if I could wave a magic wand and change as much as I wanted, the changes would be so minimal that the wand would keel over from boredom.

Unfortunately I then headed over to the Facebook fan page for retired NASCAR driver Kyle Petty’s Charity Ride and found that they’re leaving Indian Wells, CA at 8AM on Saturday May 1st!  Since February I’ve been planning to show up for the cross-country ride send-off but really?  8AM at a location 1-1/2 hours away???  Yes, I’ll be awake in plenty of time to make the trip, but I was expecting them to leave around 10AM or so after a couple of hours of kick-off celebrations, especially since their next stop is North Las Vegas…a mere 4-5 hours away!  But 8AM???  When are the festivities???

I quickly surfed to their website and found a message apologizing for the delay in updating their schedule.  It was supposed to be updated today (Thursday) but the only update is the apology!  Maybe the kick-off I’m expecting will be Friday night???  I’m so hoping that’s the case but I DON’T KNOW!!!  I set aside hours of my May 1st Saturday…do I need to switch it to Fri night?  Should I get a hotel room so I can be there both Fri night and Sat morning????  I DON’T KNOW ‘cuz it appears THEY DON’T KNOW!  You’d think this was their 1st ride not their 16th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you feel my frustration yet???

Do you remember my mentioning, or hinting at, the word “rain”?  It has been cold and rainy here in Southern California for two days.  This past Sunday I was outside gardening in nearly 90 degree temps wearing a tank top and shorts.  The past two days?  Winter clothes in order to stay warm when the thermometer failed to reach any higher than the mid-50′s!  For the vast majority of you rain is no big deal.  BUT…for those of us in So. Cal.?  Rain this late in April, with another dose to follow next week, is as rare as Southern New England snowfall in May, and it is just as disruptive!!!

My creative side has been shut down thanks to pain and frustration which of course, as  you creative folks know, further aggravates an already bad situation, hence the pity party.

I’ve been up since 3:31AM today (Thursday) and I’m absolutely confident that being up and functioning for 16 hours is coming into play here, so I’m going to end this rambling post, shut down my computer, do my nightly bedtime routine and snore my way into ZZZZZZZZzzzz land by 8PM.  Again.

If all works according to plan I’ll be awake long before daylight and if things truly look better in the morning, then WATCH OUT Friday – Judy will be ready for you!

Clickety-Clack, Clickety-Clack

Remember how badly my Monday morning started?  Well, it didn’t end any better than it began!

While driving through the neighborhood on my way home from work I slowed when I approached a dad and some kids playing street hockey.  That was when I first heard it — clickety-clack, clickety-clack.  I really hoped it was the hockey sticks but the further away I drove with the sound still filling my ears the more my heart sank.

The sound was very connected to my speed – the faster I drove the faster the sound, ditto for the slow end of the speedometer.  I just KNEW there was something in one of my tires and I was just as confident that it was my left rear tire!  This confidence made me feel sooo like any of the NASCAR drivers I admire as more often than not, they know which of their four tires is sending their car into fits.

Fortunately for me I could hear the problem but I couldn’t feel it — that meant that all four tires were still round.  PHEW!

I parked my CRV in the garage, checked the tires but couldn’t find anything so I went in the house and put it out of my mind.

Tuesday morning when I went into the garage to turn on my sprinkler system I once again checked the tires and a smile spread across my face when I found four rubber circles beneath Putt-Putt.

That smile quickly faded a couple hours later when I backed out of the garage and once again heard that sound…clickety-clack, clickety-clack.

*sigh*

Unwilling or unable to deal with a vehicular problem, I did what all problem deniers would do – I cranked the radio and shut the windows!  Yep, no sound = no problem!  Just in case that logic was skewed, I did spend the whole drive holding tightly to the steering wheel with both hands…

As a treat to myself for creatively ignoring the obvious, I stopped at Starbucks for a cup of coffee.  When I blissfully walked out of the store reality smacked me in the face…

…that folks is the rear tire on the driver’s side.  And that silver thing?  That would be a bolt head, absolutely THE cause of the aforementioned clickety-clack sound.  And the bolt body?  Buried deep inside the tire of course!

FUDGE!

And by “fudge” I mean YIPEE, the cause of the sound has been discovered and OH CRAP, will the tire stay inflated until I can get to the local garage I use — at the end of the day???

To make the icky matters worse, when I lifted my purse off the car floor its strap pulled the lever underneath the shelf between the front seats.  That shelf contains two cup holders, one of which had my cup of coffee in it.

Emphasis on “had”.

Yep, my just purchased cup of coffee fell and spewed some contents all over a square foot of carpeted CRV.  The good news?  I was able to right said cup with 90% of its contents still in place.  The bad news?  8 hours later my CRV still smelled like coffee.  Don’t get me wrong – I love the smell of coffee, but not as a car air-freshener. 

I was on “tire watch” all day, a task easily accomplished given the clear driver’s side view of my CRV from my office.  The tire stayed round all day AND throughout the duration of the ride to my local garage.  $20 later the tire is patched and nearly good as new.

As a bonus, my people-watching skills combined with my creative side and went into overdrive at the garage, a treat I will share with you readers later this week.

I made it home safe and sound, my CRV in the garage atop 4 round pieces of rubber.  I’m $20 poorer BUT I ended up with 2 stories to share via this blog — this post you’re reading and one that will follow.

Talk about turning good into bad!  It’s all about silver linings, the glass half full…whatever you choose to call it.

Am I Suffering From Burn-Out?

Yep, I really think I am.

Not backyard burn-out, though I have been in a bit of overdrive out there so I’m taking this weekend off.  I’m very anxious to finish up out there because it’s looking spectacular, but my body is also tired and since this last stage I’m doing, finishing the second path, requires lots of lifting, I’ve opted to take a vacation from yard work this weekend.

I’m not suffering from work work burn-out either.  As of yesterday afternoon, being “caught up” is just beyond my reach, so close I can taste it!  The boss hasn’t been in since noon on Wednesday and won’t be back until Monday so that’s a huge help.  I’m able to sit at my desk and work without interruption.  Amazing how that allows so much progress to happen!!

I do need to define “caught up” as it applies to my job.  I’m hopeful that by Monday I will only be three or four days behind as opposed to months behind!  Yep, I said MONTHS!  The last time I was “caught up” it was August of last year.  Unfortunately I am very serious…I’ve been running work marathons since last summer and if all works, I’ll only be facing a work 5K next week.

Of course I’m not about to tell the boss or I’ll be back to marathons…

So if I’m not burnt out with my back yard or work, then what?

NASCAR!

Huh?  This fast-car fiend thinks she is burned-out???

Yep, me thinks me is.

I haven’t sat and watched a race since the Atlanta race on Sunday, March 7th and I haven’t rearranged tomorrow’s schedule to watch the Phoenix race (yep, it’s a Saturday race).

To be fair to my boys, I listened to the March 14th  Bristol race on MRN radio while I labored in the backyard, and the Sunday March 21st in Martinsville was rained out so I “watched” that by keeping tabs on-line on Monday.  Last weekend was Easter so it was an off weekend for the boys.

BUT…

I didn’t even tune into any truck or Nationwide races either!!

What’s going on with me???

I’m not sure but I’ve pulled out the cross stitch ornaments to stitch for my nieces and nephews for Christmas 2010 so we’ll see if the NASCAR Cup race + stitching = Judy on her butt for 3 or 4 hours tomorrow afternoon!  Should be very interesting since I haven’t cross stitched for personal pleasure in months!

I do remember that part of the reason I love to “watch” NASCAR is because it’s a window of opportunity to sit and craft, something that totally relaxes me.  On the other hand, I’m so familiar with the sport that I can visualize what the announcers are saying so I didn’t feel like I missed anything by listening rather than watching the race a month ago and I can’t say that I felt a huge emptiness from the lack of a race the past two weekends.

I have so much invested in NASCAR on an emotional level that I’m hoping I recover from my burn out as quickly as the cars in Victory Lane – a quick tire change after their celebratory burn out and life is back to normal.  Here’s hoping that the few weeks off is like the tire change and I’m ready to sit and “watch” again!

A Successful Sunday

I didn’t open my eyes Sunday morning until just after 7AM — a nearly unheard of late start to the day for me.  The good news was that daylight was waiting for me instead of me waiting for it!

I was outside by 8:15, iPod in my ears, gloves on my hands and said hands on my hips.  I looked around, sighed and wondered where to start.  I opted for eliminating the part of the one pathway that needed to disappear and within minutes I was hard at work, and sweating to prove it!  The sky was full of clouds which translates to humidity here in So. Cal., at least what our bodies out here consider as humidity.

I was momentarily distracted by this site, but fortunately, yesterday’s attention span was much more focused than Saturday’s.

Shortly after 10AM I swapped my iPod for my boom box and listened to the NASCAR race while I slowly made progress on the new pathway.  I spent 2-3 hours dragging a pickax through the ground to create a ditch for the bricks that will line the pathway and hold everything in place, and painstakingly placing each brick making sure that the bricks were straight and even.  And that was just ONE side of the pathway!  The second side took another 2 or so hours, this time making sure that the bricks were straight, even, and exactly 23-3/4″ away from the first row!  Then I had to scuff up the dirt in the middle of the pathway with a steel rake and pile the extra near the new home for my manzanita. 

But at least the pathway is all set for the final step — adding sand, bricks and blocks!

Once this main pathway is in I’ll figure out the placement of the off-shoot on the left side – probably this weekend.

Though I didn’t get every plant in the ground, the two largest are in.  And that wasn’t easy!

I had to use the pick ax to dig into the ground.  I have clay soil that is so hard even jumping onto a shovel doesn’t break it up.  I shoveled the broken clay into the wheelbarrow then used my hands to break up all the chunks of clay so that I would have a sand-like consistency.  I added lots of soil amendment to the clay crap so that it (hopefully) will not solidify again and pinch the roots of my new plants.

For the manzanita tree I built a mound about 2′ tall and 4′ across so the roots will have a good shot of surviving.  I did break up the clay underneath this mound so hopefully when the roots get that deep they’ll be able to wend their way through the clay.

The other plant I put in the ground was the California Lilac bush.  Its leaves were looking a bit unhappy but they plant still smelled fabulous so I’m hopeful it will do an about-face in the appearance department now that it’s in the ground.

The hole for the lilac took me 20 minutes to create…and it was my breaking point as except for a 20 minute lunch I’d been at this for 7 hours.  Though the sun only popped through a couple times, my new outdoor thermometer that was in the shade of my canopy told a story that made me VERY glad the sun had not been out!

Now here’s a view from the swing area looking back across the yard os you can see the plant placement…the blue litter box holds all the rocks I sifted out of the clay soil.

The best part of yesterday, besides the progress, was the awesome feeling I had!  Yeah, I was so exhausted when I finally stopped that I was near tears, but it was an AWESOME day!  I was outside all day doing physical labor, I listened to my iPod and for 4 hours, I switched to the radio and the NASCAR race, and not once did I pay any attention to the time.  I just puttered until my putterer was done!!

When I took my sneakers/sox off before coming inside I laughed because the dirt had gotten inside my sox and covered my feet!!  I laughed again in the shower because of the dirt that covered me.  It was proof positive that I had worked hard as the dirt was so ground in that it wouldn’t come off unless I scrubbed it.  The water hitting me wasn’t strong enough to dislodge the dirt by itself.

Yeah, I know, I’m amused by some weird stuff…

Today I’m giving my body a break, hopefully this will keep a blister threatening to break forth from doing so.  After work I’m going to scoot up to Joann’s to get some fabric and then on the way home I’ll stop at Home Depot to pick up the bags of sand I need for the pathway.  I’ll haul those to the backyard when I get home then that’s it for me for today and possibly Tuesday night as well ‘cuz I need to finish up the family newsletter…