Digging in the Dirt

Last year we did a little garden. We got lots of cilantro (which I ruined by not cutting off the flowers apparently) and some really nasty lettuce (which was the "bitter" kind I guess) some green peppers, and some melons (of which, I am not a fan.) There was suppose to be corn, but apparently the sprinklers went out and we didn't notice for a while, so the corn died (RIP.)

But This Year(!) I know more! I want more herbs, and sweet lettuce and maybe a tomato plant (gasp!) and some onions. Basically I want to grow my own curry-making garden.

I have all this huge plans in my head, but Saturdays lately have been less then nice or filled with stuff. So the last few days, after work, I've been weeding. Which, if you were to talk to my mom, was my least favorite activity as a child/teenager. Weeding is the worst, but when it's my garden, I don't know, it's different. I feel all accomplished. I like to look at the bare patches and think "I made that!" and while there is (in theory) nothing growing in there that we want, it's easy to just pull and pull and move on. No question if things are weeds, of course they are! Nothing could survive our cold winter! But I'm finding little lettuce plants and cilantro. I haven't gotten to where the peppers were, but those have got to be gone, there from a tropical zone and this is a temperate zone. But it's great, I have little baby seedlings in my window and I have to think of new ways to keep the cats off the counter so they don't knock over the containers or eat all the leaves off the baby plants. I don't think seedling can live without leaves. Stoopid cats. But I really want to plant them, to save them from the cats and to get the garden going. I have such high aspirations, but this is the way I am. I want to jump in and get my hands dirty, but gardening isn't free (those lying liars said I would save so much on groceries!) and you know how I loathe to spend money. I see how the fruit trees would cost me a kidney and I think "maybe next year I won't need a kidney, we'll wait until then." But turns out I'm always fond of my internal organs.

Ideally I would like to plant containers in the front yard, but also have containers in the back. The porch is pretty ugly, I would like it to look less so. I also want lounge chairs, from which I can relax and watch my garden grow and my child run around and eat dirt. I also want to grow strawberries, and raspberries and mint! And rosemary (which I won't use, but it's nice to smell!) But I'm sure I'll only get 1/4th way towards my vision. But that's okay, because I have 27 more years of living in this house (or more if we refinance!) and when I'm 60 it'll probably be close to what I want.

31 Months of Coughing & Runny Noses

This month has been tough for us what with being sick all the time, between the two of us. Seems that of course you get every disease at daycare and then you give it to me. That's so like you, always sharing!
Of course with your diseases, you've occasionally taken the very needed nap! It's been blissful again! I can read or watch TV while you pass out and struggle to breathe through your nose! Everbody's happy! Except that we're not. We're still dying too.
At first we thought it could just be that you're getting new teeth (more teeth for you to not brush!) But then the cough came and that theory went all to pieces.
It's hard to believe how big you've gotten, you're running around like a maniac and talking in sentences and soon you'll be driving and going to college. Although if you can't subsist on a diet of cereal and hot dogs, that might not be the way to go. Hopefully hot dogs are brain food, since I know your little body needs more nutrition then just to suck on a chicken nugget and announce your done. I think it's your father's fault. I'm not sure how, but it can't be my fault. You usually don't try new foods, but if you do, it usually touches your tongue and is then dropped unceremoniously from your mouth, usually onto the carpet. Thanks for that. Like the cat puke isn't enough to keep me busy.
You are getting more vocal about singing. We have a potty song and you can sing with me for several other songs. You love to sing and it's so fun to listen to you when you're suppose to be sleeping and we hear you talking and singing to yourself.
Potty training is very hit and miss. Some days for hours you are great! and then you just can't be bothered anymore and there are accidents all over the place. Also, you are not so great with the #2 potty option. That is probably where the potty training goes right out the window. And really it's not so much that I'm "training" as I am "threatening" and "cajoling" and so far you're only receptive when you want to be, which is very frustrating.
I had parent-teacher conference, sort of. They say you're doing really well and you know all the shapes and colors, and while you're not doing great on using the potty, you're average with the other kids. Of course I was hoping to hear that you're the genius in the class and are learning to read all by yourself, I didn't expect it! But I'm glad that you are average. Reading other mommy blogs I've been forced to wonder what we would do if you were developmentally behind. Lucky for us, we don't have to worry about that at this point. Of course I totally expect you to have ADHD later, since you did take a sip of my soy milk that one time.
I love all the smiles and seeing your imagination really start to take off. It's scary what a big girl you are already, but a good scary.

Love You,
Mama

The Band Who

Last night something happened that I thought I would never get to see. Travis the band playing in Salt Lake. It's great because I've been a long time fan, since there The Man Who album came out in 2000, thanks to friends who knew that Brit pop is something I love.

They've never come to Utah in the whole of my fandom, so I figured it was just a matter of time before they followed my favorites, Gene, and broke up and never toured again.

When I found out they were coming I started listening to the new album online. It's good, a return to the energy of their first album but with more umph. I'm not sure how to put that into technical terms. But I didn't buy the album, by the time I got around to really listening, there were only a few days left before the show.

Erika and I were partners in crime and get there pretty early and ended up very close to the front. It was standing and so there was a lot of shifting as people pushed in and whatnot.

The opening band was Republic Tigers and they were great, it was hard to really hear them well, but they sounded very new wave but with some Killers mixed in and the guys voice oscillated between the deep of Peter Murphy to an amazing falsetto. He sang Blonde's "Heart of Glass" and he sounded like Debbie Harry, it was wild.

Then out came the fabulous Travis. I knew who the lead singer was, and I had looked up the names of the rest of the band, but the crowd obviously knew them all, which really helped me figure out who was who. The bassist, Dougie, came out in a long buttoned up peacoat and was basically a rock star the whole time. Fran was amazing, so full of energy. They rocked out! I was taken so by surprise. Most of their songs are pretty laid back, but none of them were at the show, they were all amped up to 11! The guitarist Andy was jamming on his guitar with his whole body and Fran got up on the bass drum and played his guitar several times. It was great. They played a lot of the new songs at first, which were familiar, and I was surprised at how clearly even up close I could make out all the words. They played almost every one of my favorites, "Writing to Reach You," "Turn," "Closer," "Humpty Dumpty Lovesong" and "All I Want to Do is Rock." During "Falling Down", Fran got off the stage and walked through the center of the crowd. We were too far on the side to be in on that, but he danced with some girl, shook hands, gave high fives, for almost the whole song! It was really cool. We were right in front of Dougie and let me tell you, this guy enjoys his bass playing. He smirked and rocked through the whole show, he was a treat to watch all by himself. It helped that he looked our way and smiled even wider. I like to think it's because I'm so freaking awesome.

It was also the night of the Britney Spears concert just yards away for our venue, so of course "One More Time" made an appearance, it was really fun.

The played "Slideshow" during the encore and on the album after that song is a "hidden track" after you listen to air for 5 minutes a song called "Flashing Blue Light" starts, and i thought "Wouldn't it be funny if they did that song right after?" and they did. To close the show they did "Flowers in the Window" acoustic and it was really lovely.

I bought a cool Travis shirt that I can wear and people will ask me who the heck this Travis guy is, but it's all good. It was great how chatty they were, mostly Fran talked, but Dougie also did a bit, and it was so great to hear their cute Scottish accents. Erika got me a copy of the drummer's setlist, for which I am very grateful, since I didn't know the names for all of the new songs, but now I have it forever!

We booked it to the side of the venue where the tour buses were. It was raining lightly and it was just us and some other guy there trying to meet the band. We walked around the loading area, but there was no sign of life, we even walked into the back of the venue and walked around but most the doors were locked. After a few minutes of serious discussion, we decided that this had to be the place they would come out. We were right, after a few minutes the crew appeared and straighted putting away the gear, including the huge gong used for one song. This went on for a while and it continued to rain and more people came until we were a little group. Finally the keyboardist came out and headed around us the tour bus. A few people talked to him, I decided to focus on official band members. I had brought my "Turn" single if there was a chance of getting something signed, that would be the coolest thing that I had. It also had the live cover of Britney's "One More Time" so it's a treasured possession and I'm really glad that I remembered that I had it that day.

Andy, the guitarist came out and posed for pics and signed stuff, he was cool. Turns out they are from Glasgow, so we could chat about that a little. The drummer Neil came out and he so reminded me of the Irish guy from Braveheart, very similar sense of humor and also the same dark, lanky hair. He was fun.

Dougie came out and was mobbed. Apparently he might as well be the band leader since he gets lots of attention. I can understand that, he's easily the most attractive band member, but mostly it was all boys that were calling out to him and shouting that they loved him. He's probably their man-crush. He was such a rock star on stage and very kind in person. He asked us our names as he signed our paraphernalia and was very gracious with all the people that wanted to get his picture.

After a few minutes Fran came out. The people were respectful, I'm not sure that giving them a CD of your band is the way to go, but I guess if the right person hears it and you don't suck, there's a chance. Still, I think it's dumb, but I'm not in a band. I should be, I decided that since I rock the house on Rockband drumming, I should be some one's drummer. Every band needs a drummer. But that's neither here nor there.

We waited patiently for Fran to work through the crowd. A nice guy named Robert was letting everyone borrow his sharpie to get things signed (what kind of groupie am I that i don't have a sharpie on me at all times?) and we told him we'd take his picture with Fran and e-mail it to him if he took ours. I took his picture and it looked good, then we tried to exchange the camera and it went crashing hard on the pavement. Even Fran said "that's not good." The view screen was all white. I wasn't thinking rationally or I would have tried to take out the battery and memory card, but we decided that it might still take pictures okay, so we took 2 sets of pics of me and Erika with Fran. One with Erika's cell phone and one with my damaged camera. Robert felt really bad, but it was an accident and I wanted a new camera anyway since it takes not so good shots at concerts. After Fran left for the tour bus, I took out the battery and put it back in and it turned on but said the battery was dead (which it was close before, so that could have been natural) but it wouldn't let me view the pictures, so I didn't know if our pictures with Fran had come out or not. Finally I got the screen to work, but it was upside down. Not the worst, but I was hoping for no real damage. We looked and saw that the pictures we took with Fran were there, but the one of Robert and Fran wasn't. I'm still not sure if it was erased or if it's somewhere on the camera. But look! Aren't we cute?

Of course we thought our adventure was now over and we headed to the trax station to get home. But Wait! Even though Erika had gotten the weekday schedule for Trax online that said the last train was at 1 am, the sign at the station said it really left around 11:30. And it was 12:05. Luckily Erika was able to call her friend and she headed right over to get us. Of course while we were waiting we thought some guy was going to kill us, but he just walked on by. Maybe he didn't know that trax was done running too.

So we got home very late and now I'm at work wishing that somehow I could sleep under my desk, but it was so worth it!