June

Omigosh, it's July!

June was a whirlwind for us.  Anybody else?  I swear that we were non-stop all month.  I am always hoping that things will slow down, but they never seem to.  I can't wait until I am done with class.  I am looking forward to having some of my evenings and free time back. (Oh, wait, that's me hoping again...)

 Toyota trucks of all shapes, sizes, and colors meeting up before going on a trail ride.

(this was only a fraction of the whole group)

We started out June still recovering from jet lag and then soon packed up the truck to go the Great Smokey Mountain Trail Ride. It's an event put on by the Toyota Land Cruiser Association.  Matt goes on this trail ride every year with his brother, Michael, who co-owns ACC and Smoking Gun Custom Powder Coating, which are sponsors for the trail ride.  This year, Matt asked me if I might like to tag along. 

One of Michael's customers, Josh, won the rock crawling competition.  It was a lot of fun to watch!

I had a really good time and it was really nice to see all of the people, trucks, and events that Matt talks about every year.  I rode with Michael on the trail two days and had a lot of fun.  We generally got out of the truck whenever we reached a really steep or tricky spot to investigate the best route.  It wasn't until just before Michael's alternator died on the trail on the last day, resulting in a jump start, that I actually rode on the really tough stuff with him.  Not because I don't trust him, but it scares me!  Still, he is a great driver and his truck is incredibly capable (you wouldn't believe the stuff these trucks move over, the pictures are deceiving as to the inclines and roughness of the terrain) and I felt pretty safe with him.

 Michael in his spring green '71 FJ-40 (Land Cruiser). 

We took our newest K9 addition, Cooper, along for the three day/three night camping trip and I think he had a very good time too.  Of course we were all whipped, smelly, and mosquito-bitten by the time we got home...

I may pass on this trip next time.  ;)

Oh, and of course it's ultimate frisbee season.  I've had fun catching a couple of the boys' games (Matt and Wade are on the same team this year) with Amanda and Staci. I think it's more of a social outing for us and we're often caught up in a conversation when one of our husbands scores or makes an awesome layout.  (Don't tell them that.)

I've decided that I need to get a telephoto lens.  My kit lens makes taking action shots from the sidelines all but impossible. Oh well, this fuzzy pre-throw photo will have to suffice.

Moving on.

I haven't really bought very many plants this year.  Partly because I'm maxing out on flower space, but mostly because I just haven't had enough time to keep everything weeded/fertilized/sprayed, etc. like I have in the past.  However, some of the sweet ladies at Dave's Garden set up a swap where newbies (that's me) could get a box full of daylilies in exchange for postage.

One of my sponsors ended up being a lady who lives a mile from my house!  Can you believe that?  She let me come over one day in May and we dug up a few plants for me to take home. Then, she sweetly invited me over at the end of June to see her beds in full bloom.

I was jealous.

She has something like 200-300 different cultivars of daylilies.  She's got several beds completely dedicated to them, and they truly are a sight.  I've never seen so many colors, patterns, heights, and styles.  She should charge admission to those flower beds, they were so pretty.

I think I may have drooled a little.

I just have to remind myself that I already have some beautiful daylilies!

On a side note, aren't those pictures gorgeous!  They're straight of the camera (because I don't know how to edit anyway).  I'm still not very good with my DSLR yet, but I think my flower photos are turning out exceptionally well.  I still need practice in any other environment other than the yard in early evening, but I am in love with these results.  These photos were taken with the kit lens too, not even the nicer lens that my dad loaned me.

Anyway.

Around the end of June, my high school class had its 10 year reunion.  I could not decide if I wanted to go for the longest time.  It's not that I didn't love my friends in high school, but I haven't kept up with most of them since college, and just thinking about those years (the most insecure of my life!) still makes me shiver.  That, and I'm so uncompetitive about what I've "accomplished" in the last ten years.  I am pretty content with where and who I am in life and wasn't sure if it was going to be one of those competitions on who lives in the neatest place, makes the most money, has the cutest kid/coolest job, etc. 

Jenny, me, and Lauren.  10 years later.

I caught up with one of my very good friends right before the reunion weekend and at the last minute decided to go ahead and attend the informal night, which hadn't required prior reservations.  I'm really glad I did.  There were several girls/guys that I have missed so much and I got to see almost all of them.

One of my girlfriends went to the formal reunion night and picked up some stuff for me out of the time capsule, including a letter she wrote me and one I wrote myself ten years ago.  It was kind of fun to read what 17-year-old Becca had to say to 27-year-old Becca. 

As I was reading, I thought, "wow, I was so mature.  I had some really good insight."

And then I got to the page where I listed all of my crushes and boyfriends since 4th grade.

Some of what I hoped for the future turned out to be true (some things not so true):

In 10 years from now, I'd like...

- to be out of college with a solid degree? doctor architectural engineering?

- married to a strong Christian, happily married

- possibly a kid or two

- to advance my Christian growth, a lot

- still keep in touch with my family & Alisha

- to have waited until marriage

- to be able to own my own house & a car I picked out

- to still be in love with my husband

- to further mi espanol

- to find a good church I enjoy attending

- to have a figure

Haha!  All sounds like serious goal setting until that last one.

Wow, this must be a record-long post.  Anyone still reading?

(crickets chirping)

Oh well.

Back to flowers.

If you're still reading and not tired of flower photos yet, here are a few more...

I love this red and pink clematis on the left and the lacecap hydrangea on the right.  The white shasta daisies are fun and cheered up my desk at work last week.  Something about fresh flowers on my desk makes me happy.

And here is my double hydrangea, 'Together'.  I think the flowers on this plant are really striking.  I'm trying to eventually turn it blue, but the pink is pretty too.

That's all for now. 

Adios.

Nihon Part 1: Tokyo

For fear of forgetting some of the details of our trip to Japan in May, I've decided to try to write out a summary of the trip before my memory loses even more of the highlights of our two week tour of Honshu.  I'm dividing this travelogue up into several parts based on the places we stayed.  It won't hurt my feelings if you find yourself tired of looking at our travel pictures/musings by the time I get to the Nagoya stuff.  Like I said, it's mostly for my own benefit.

In front of the imperial palace's main gate.

We kicked off the trip through Nashville to catch our international flight from Atlanta.  Luckily, I was able to score us all seats on the exit row.  That more than made up for the long flight and old airplane (complete with malfunctioning theater system and cranky Northwest/Delta stewardesses forced to now work together).  I think Matt surmised that he would, in fact, marry me again since I saved him from cramming his lanky legs and broad shoulders into the normal coach-sized seats. I felt bad for the three large men sandwiched on a row together behind us... but not bad enough to offer up my roomy seat! 

I loved seeing all of the Japanese school children.  

The younger ones were almost always wearing matching hats.  Too cute!

When we arrived in Tokyo, I had our route to the hotel all mapped out.  All we needed to do was go pick up our Japan Rail (JR) passes and change trains once at Tokyo Station (which I also had a map of).  My sisters ran off to pick out their first purchases of Japanese sodas and candy while Mom and I tried to hand gesture enough to get our rail passes.  As soon as we got the passes, the helpful JR employee told us that all of the JR trains from Narita Airport were canceled due to "the accident" (suicide by way of high speed train).  This meant we had to take a much longer (and fully packed) local train with a different rail company and change stations a couple of times in order to get to our hotel, but we made it.

Bike riding in front of the Tokyo skyline.  

We crossed several long bridges with really great views of the city.

We finally made it to the hotel around 8 pm Tokyo time.  By then, I was feeling sea sick from all of the train riding and felt like I'd spent the day swimming in the ocean, a feeling that didn't go away for a day or two.  We were all starving and grabbed dinner around the corner before showering and hitting the sack.  I was so thankful that I picked a hotel less than a block from the train station.  Even though the rooms were small by American standards, they were roomy enough for us, clean, and came with breakfast.

The boys (and Manda) in one of the narrow side streets of Tokyo.

We woke up and grabbed breakfast... our first encounter with miso soup, rice balls, pickles, salad, pasta, and corn (I still can't eat corn with chopsticks!) for breakfast.

I loved walking through the middle of this giant, modern city and finding

small remnants of former Edo hidden throughout, like this Shinto shrine.

We completed a bike tour of Tokyo that day.  It was an excellent tour, but I hadn't ridden a bike in probably 10 years, and was really shaky and nervous navigating it through the crowded streets.  I don't know how I didn't hit someone!  Yukiko, our guide, kept the pace very fast, and I was worried I'd get left behind a few times.  We saw the old imperial castle wall, a sleepy fishing village, thousand year old shrines and temples in the middle of the bustling city, Tsukiji (the world's largest (and probably cleanest) fish market), sky scrapers, and other Tokyo staples.

Our bike tour guide knew these vendors at Tsukiji, and 

they let us try out their giant tuna sword.

On Tuesday, we'd planned to explore Mt. Fuji, but because there is still snow on Fuji until July, only the lower hiking posts are opened up by May.  We'd still hoped to go to the national park and Lake Ashi at the foot of Fuji-san, but the side trip turned out to be a bust because it rained all day and we wouldn't have even been able to see Fuji.  Instead, we hit up the Edo Tokyo Museum, which was really fascinating. (Edo is the original name for the town that grew into what is now called Tokyo).

We visited this temple atop a hill.  Legend has it that a samurai 

rode his horse to the top to pick a cherry blossom for the shogun.

So Matt and I decided to pose as the samurai and his horse.

That night, we spent some time walking around the hot spots of Tokyo and doing some people watching.  We visited Hachiko, toured the busiest department store I've ever seen in my life (12 stories of consumer bliss, complete with gourmet grocery shopping in the basement, much to Matt and Ryan's amusement), and visited Akihabara ("Electric Town," where you can find the worlds newest electronic must-haves, before they are available anywhere else).

This area used to be a small country fishing town outside of Edo.  

It's since been enveloped by the expanding Tokyo city limits.

One of the things I noticed right away included how much taller everyone was than I remembered.  I talked about this with several people and have decided it's not just my imagination.  Over the past thirteen years, the Japanese have lived in a very successful period and raised a whole new generation with modern nutrition.  The older generations, especially those that lived during the post-WWII era, are noticeably shorter than the younger Japanese.  I was not nearly as tall over there as I was in high school, which seems backwards!  Matt, however, was still above average height. 

People watching near Shibuya Station.

I also immediately noticed how much we stood out.  Not just by our coloring, but mainly our dress.  99% of the people in Tokyo were wearing suits or dark/muted clothing.  We did not blend in well with our brightly colored shirts and blue jeans. 

The city is very clean and very safe.  I don't think I saw a single homeless person begging for money.  The only evidence of the city's homeless population were the cardboard boxes tucked neatly together with shoes placed on top (the Japanese customarily remove their shoes when entering their homes).

Farewell to Friends

After a crazy few weeks, Matt and I decided that we were going to take it easy Saturday morning before The Pettus Pie hosted a farewell dinner for our friends, the Smiths, that evening.

We slept in till eight, then got up and got the boat ready to take out on the water for the first run of the year (yikes! it's almost July and we're just now getting the boat out!!).  Matt did all kinds of mechanical wrench-type things to it and then got the life vests and other gear out of the attic.  I packed a light picnic lunch and changed into my swim suit.

I think I could spend all day, every day, on this water.

We got out on the water around noon and dedicated the next few hours to a slalom/wakeboard/tube-free boat trip.  The only activities allowed were swimming, floating, and eating.  Just the two of us.  It was the most perfect and restful two hours I've had in months. 

Once we decided to pack up and head back home, there was one problem... the boat wouldn't start.  The battery had drained while we were floating and wouldn't turn over the starter enough to get us running.  About this time, Amanda called and asked what we were up to... their AC was on the fritz and she was starting to hyperventilate thinking about the 45+ people coming to her house in a couple of hours.  Unfortunately, I had no idea when we'd be able to get home and couldn't help her out.

 Little Man shows Lucy how it's done...

Matt fiddled with the starter and battery for about forty minutes before Cliff Hill, a former local anchor-turned-lawyer, came and graciously gave us a jump start.  We headed back to the dock and hurriedly trailered the boat before letting the Pie know we were on our way home.  Amanda and Wade called all of their guests and told them of the party location change, and began frantically packing up all of their party supplies to transport to our house.

We got home an hour and a half before the going away party was to start.  Has anyone ever agreed to host a 50-person party an hour and a half beforehand??  The Pie had done all of the preliminary work/food prep, even gotten their house ready, but my house was decidedly not ready for company, let alone a party worthy of sending our friends off in an appropriate manner.  Not to mention the fact that neither of us had showered all day.

About half of the kids digging into the grub.

I have never seen four people on such a mission as the forty minutes that Amanda, Wade, Matt, and I spent stuffing laundry into closets, vacuuming hairballs, scooping dog poop from the yard (thanks, Manda), and piling papers on the dryer in the laundry room.  Matt and Wade ran to drop off two of the dogs (to avoid any toppling over of unsuspecting children) and pick up Wade's grill while I rinsed off and threw on some clothes at t-minus-thirty minutes.  I almost freaked out when a guest arrived forty minutes early, but Amanda just put him to work helping out.

Tyson, Katy, Jennifer, Kalia, and Jessica.

Amanda chopped, Wade grilled, and I tried not to become the psycho that spends the whole party cleaning the house and running around like a mad woman (although I do admit to windexing puppy nose prints off the back door in front of 25 people before I realized I was fighting a losing battle). 

I don't think it mattered, though.  Everyone had a good time, the house was remarkably clean by 5 pm, and the kids loved the cornhole, sidewalk chalk, and croquet set the Pie brilliantly thought to bring and also absolutely loved playing with Tyson, the one dog allowed to stay home during the party.  The adults all seemed to have a good time too, and we were able to enjoy our friends Joel, Rachel, Abigail, Isaac, and Noah one last time before they head out to North Carolina.

Bye, Abigail.  We'll miss you (and your sweet smile)!

Manda Panda

Manda's 26 today, y'all.

Here's to my pie-baking, Body Pump/Attack-instructing, camera-toting, skort-sporting, well-tressed, snort-chuckling, artistically gifted, theology-debating, Roosty-obsessed, grammar rule-knowing (do I hyphenate these terms?), carpet-fire-setting, Wade-loving sister. 

Happy Birthday, yo!

You Wish You Were As Cool As These Guys.

For an incredible song and even better dance moves, bounce over to check out the latest post by the Heathermomster. EXCELLENT! I wonder if I can find that one on iTunes. Great find hc.



Those guys are even better than the Trololo Russian.



Matt

Please Pray

 Sherri and Terri (left and center, respectively)

Please take a minute to say a prayer for my Aunt Terri.  She's in the hospital with a brain hemorrhage with extreme pain and the doctors aren't really sure what to do.  No one seems to know the cause, extent, or what to do about it.  She's been admitted and released a couple of times, only to have to return as things get even worse.

Terri, for those of y'all who don't know her, is my dad's youngest sister.  She's also the lady who shares my love of gardening the most out of my family.  She introduced me to daylilies and encore azaleas, and from there the obsession began.  

L to R: Amanda, Sherri, Jim, Terri, Grandmother, Herb, Amy, Mom, Dad, me

Please pray for fast and complete healing, for the pain to subside, for wisdom for the doctors/Uncle Jim/Aunt Sherri (Terri's twin sister), and for peace and grace for everyone.

UPDATE 6/17: We think Terri is improving and she's been released (again) from the hospital.  Please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Thoughts on Japanese Culture

 The country if full of beautiful temples (Buddhist) and shrines (Shinto). 

This is a statue at Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island.

Japan is an extremely efficient, modern nation, and I was honestly amazed at all of the things they do exceedingly well, with seemingly no effort.
 
Walking through the congested areas of Tokyo, there are hundreds of people within a small space, all going different directions, and no one is running into someone else.  No one is stopping in the middle, backing up others (except for foreigners with luggage, of course :)).  Everyone goes where they need to without getting in someone else's way.  Everyone is accutely aware of others and does their best to not hinder anyone else.

Downtown Tokyo is alive and full of people.

Trains are almost always on time.  Someone told me that if a train is 30 seconds late, people start to get really nervous.  If people tell you that they'll do something at a certain time in Japan, you can take them at their word.

The Japanese do a lot of walking and also practice a longstanding tradition of self moderation in all areas of life.  As a result, you will immediately notice how skinny everyone is.  They teach that you should only eat until you are 80% full and never over-consume or be wasteful.

Kinkakuji, the golden pavilion.  A beautiful temple in Kyoto.

The Japanese are a very modest culture and I think I saw maybe one or two women wearing shorts without leggings underneath the entire trip.  You will see a few short skirts, but they stand out a lot because they make up perhaps 0.01% of the population.  It was kind of nice to not have to see anyone's cleavage, mid-drift, plumber's behind, or butt cheeks for two weeks!  In addition to dressing very modestly, they also go to great lengths to avoid UV exposure by wearing arm coverings, loose fitting long sleeves, and carrying UV protecting umbrellas.

Every bit of space is used efficiently.  

If you live in Japan and want a garden, this is probably how you'll have to do it. 

They are also very conscientious about others around them and go to great lengths to avoid impeding anyone else in any way.  Just a day after our return, Matt and I were out running errands and caught ourselves sharply criticizing the apparent lack of self awareness displayed by our fellow Americans.  At Lowe's, one lady stood silently and happily watched as her children got in people's way and pulled one another in the car in the middle of the entrance to the store, blocking anyone from entering or leaving.  At a clothing store, the family in line before us waited until they got to the cash register before deciding to trade sizes for one of their items.  The father began checking out and paid the cashier before the mother and son returned with the exchanged item.  Instead of getting into the back of the line, she stepped up to the register with her extra item, looked at us and said, "Do you mind?", as if it were perfectly okay to make us wait on them.  The Japanese always put everyone else ahead of themselves in this manner while Americans are overall a very self-absorbed, me-first culture.

Of course, on the flip side, there are some consequences of being an extremely efficient, others-prioritized nation.  I spent some time talking with our friends and missionaries, the Wilsons, about this.  The Japanese are expected to always be on top of everything, to perform to the highest expectations and quickly.  As a result, fathers often spend all week working themselves to death, hardly seeing their families, and sleeping all day Saturday to recover from 18 hour work days.  I noticed that you almost never saw working-aged couples together, especially during the week.  We saw a few complete families on the weekends at the parks, but overall, you only saw groups of females or males together.  I saw one or two retired-aged couples traveling together and lots of college-aged couples, but no one from our age up to 60.  No couples on date nights or doing the grocery shopping together.

The pressures and expectations of marriage on the wives has resulted in many women never getting married.  This, coupled with the Japanese's hard-working culture, has produced one of the highest abortion rates in the world.  People are not getting married and starting families, and the government has succumbed to bribing people to have children by giving out cash and other incentives to families with children.

Even in Japan, the gospel is present if you know where to look.

The sermon preached when we visited our old church, Senri Newtown Baptist, really hit home.  The Japanese pastor spoke of how the nation as a whole has no sense of self purpose and a lot of people have no joy.  With evolution taught as the unquestionable origin of our existence, people feel like they are here by accident, and without any reason.  Only after knowing Christ and learning that our gracious heavenly father designed us each specifically and with a purpose and that He loved us enough to send his only son to die in our place did Pastor Gorou find joy and direction in his life. Japan is not like the Deep South.  People don't know basic Bible stories, regardless of their religious views.  The Japanese Christians are a very small minority, and new Christians start out without any scriptural knowledge gained through general cultural exposure. 

So, I think I can learn a lot from the Japanese, especially putting others first in more aspects of my life, efficiency of time and efforts, and practicing moderation in lots of different things.  But, on the other hand, I'm also more thankful to have been born to a Christian family in a country with a long history of people striving to serve our Lord and to have had the opportunity to hear His Word from a very early age.

Japan in a Nutshell

I promise to come back with more details on our two week trip to Nihon, but here's a quick run through after finally sitting down and spending 10 minutes quickly scanning through some of our photos.

Here's a quick tour and a little of what I learned those two weeks ...

 First off, I learned right away that we are freaking AWESOME (or insane, depending on how you look at it).  After some 30 hours of non-stop travel, we finally got to our hotel for a good night's rest before waking up bright and early to spend our first day in Tokyo doing an 18 mile bike tour of the city.  The Tokyo Great Cycling Tour was one of my favorites and highly recommended.  The best way to see the city. 

 As Matt put it, "There are Japanese people EVERYWHERE!"  It's a little intimidating at first when you realize how obvious it is that you don't quite fit in. 

 Y'all, my dad is hilarious.  Don't let his quiet, "shy" demeanor fool you.  He's a big goof and a whole lot of fun.  I think he's saying either "pea-su" or "word to your muthah".

Another thing about my parents - they are the model for what I hope my marriage to be.  The best example of a loving, Godly relationship that I can think of. 

It's not just my dad that cracks me up.  My whole family is made up of a bunch of goofs and kept me laughing for two weeks straight.  Like this kid.  He's another undercover jokester/prankster. 

 I like to think of myself of just above average when it comes to height, but next to my husband, I'm a shorty!  This is one of the reasons I like wearing heels. Too bad they didn't give Matt a sword to try on.  I think that would have really completed his outfit. 

Boys will pee just about anywhere...

We were rock stars over there.  I can't count how many school kids came up and asked for our autographs and to take photos with us.  It kind of sucks to come back home and not have people running up to you like this anymore.  Ahhh, back to the life of the commoner.

Castles are cool, at least the first couple that you tour.  After that, your feet start hurting and the white boys in the group start complaining about the bazillionth castle you've seen that day. 

I was so spoiled by the food there.  We went to the supermarket one night and got some of the best sushi we had on our trip.  And, it was cheap!  Publix don't have nothin' on their sashimi!

My family is always up for fun.  I really love this about them. Not only do they entertain me, but also all of the Japanese kids and passerby.  I'm glad we didn't get kicked out of the park, or told we couldn't ride down the slide like this anymore (like the 3 of us girls and my dad were told back in '97).

Thirteen years later, the whole fam back in Japan.  I'm so glad we were able to take this trip.  We've been talking about doing it for the last decade, and I think these memories will last a lifetime.
 

Back, but Sleepy

Ohmigosh... it's almost June!  My posting has really been on a downward spiral the last several months.  At least I have an excuse for the past couple of weeks, but I'll just have to ask you to overlook the lack of regular posts since winter.

We got back from a two week stay in Japan a few days ago but are still a little jet-lagged.  This morning, I got up around 4 AM, caught up on some household things, got dressed, went to the store, bought stamps, and still got into work well before 7.  Weird.  I'm usually having to drag myself up in the morning to get there early enough to make up for missed hours due to school.

For anyone who might not know, Matt and I took a two week tour of Japan with my parents, sisters, and brothers-in-law.  My mom's job moved us to Osaka for a year when I was in high school, and we've always wanted to go back.  After everyone graduated from college, got married, and started working, we figured now was the time.  Better get in any major trips like that before we start having kids! :)

We started out in Tokyo, and then visited several places: Hiroshima, Miajima, Osaka (including our old apartment, school, and church!), Kyoto, Nara, and then saw our friends, the Wilsons, in Nagoya.  It was a lot of fun, and a LOT of walking.  It was definitely not a restful trip, as we got up early every single day (except for one, when I got to sleep in till 9) and did a lot of sightseeing.

I haven't even gone through our bazillion photos of our trip yet, let alone seen the photos taken by the rest of the group.  I'm sure we'll have a ton of great shots as my Dad and Amanda are both excellent photographers. 

So, until I get a chance to go through our photos and notes from the trip, here's something to hold you over.  A little taste of Japanese entertainment.



This is a famous Japanese comedian who was pranked.  He is put into a taxi and is on his way to the airport.  The cab driver asks if he's in a hurry and he says yes.  Then, it all goes downhill.  The cab driver tells the comedian he's going to take a shortcut to the airport and to buckle up (the comedian gets nervous because it's a racer's seat belt).  After it's all over, the driver asks for payment of 660 yen.

Teacher of the Year

This post is a little belated, but I wanted to congratulate my gifted mother-in-law, Diane, who was honored on Thursday night as the Elementary Teacher of the Year for the entire city of Huntsville!

I have met many parents of her former students and they have all told me the same thing: Mrs. Harness is an excellent teacher.

This a very high and exciting honor! Congratulations, Diane!!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Matt, who is 31 today!

Us at our first AXO formal, Fall '01.

Here's to another year of growing "old" together!

Circuit Diagram

I think I may need a little help with this one. I never did all that well in any EE classes and Becca doesn't seem to want to help.


(2000 points for whoever figures out the equivalent resistance of that resistor ball.)

http://xkcd.com/

Spring 2010 Plant Sale

 The Huntsville Botanical Garden is hosting its annual spring plant sale this week.  Members can shop on Thursday and the rest of the general public is welcome on Friday/Saturday 9am - 5pm, and Sunday 1 - 5pm.

Spring Plant Sale - Public Shopping

The Garden Guild is gearing up for its 2010 Plant Sale! Don’t miss what promises to be the best year ever. In addition to all of the wonderful plants you are used to finding at plant sale, you’ll find NEW for 2010 – berry and fruit trees!

Shoppers are encouraged to bring their own wagons for their shopping convenience. As always, Master Gardeners will be on hand to perform a PH test on your soil. Please bring ONLY clean, DRY soil for testing!

This is one of the best places to buy your spring plants. They have a great selection of herbs, vegetables, trees, roses, perennials, shrubs, and more.

Algae Blooms?

Do you remember "Crashergate" last year, when two reality tv wannabes crashed the Obamas' state dinner?  Well, the White House Social Secretary, Desiree Rogers, has been sacked as a result, and the security heightened. 

Now, a Congressman is saying that lawmakers are being punished because of the security breach.  Not sure what I think about that, but I found this quote to be highly entertaining:

Gohmert called the White House’s handling of the incident “incompetent.”

“The point here is that this is a circus over there,” he said. “Nobody seems to know what’s going on and when accountability was demanded and the social secretary was requested by members of Congress to come testify, they said we’re not going to let you come testify.

“It is a circus going on over there and now the people of the circus want to be in charge of your healthcare. Good grief, it’s time to say we don’t want clowns in charge of something as important as our healthcare. I don’t even want them in charge of algae blooms.”

On a side (but actually more important) note, Democratic Representative Stupak, the guy fighting to keep federal abortion funding out of the government health care plan, gives the reasons that he's been told that Democratic lawmakers will not strip taxpayer-funded abortions from their health care bill:

“If you pass the Stupak amendment, more children will be born, and therefore it will cost us millions more. That’s one of the arguments I’ve been hearing,” Stupak says. “Money is their hang-up. Is this how we now value life in America? If money is the issue — come on, we can find room in the budget. This is life we’re talking about.”

Update

So, I've noticed that the blog postings have dwindled to the single-digits over the last few months... have you?  I could chalk this up to school, but that's probably not all of it.  I just haven't had the time or interest to keep up with my former posting frequency.  I sometimes think that there's not a whole lot to post about - we're pretty boring as far as married people go, but there are still a couple of things going on in our lives.

We've really enjoyed fostering for Weimaraner Rescue of the South.  Cypress was adopted last weekend.  We went back and forth about 100 times over whether to keep her for ourselves.  I still can't believe we let her go; I hope I don't regret that decision.  She went to a really good home where she will get endless amounts of one-on-one attention and no snotty foster brothers (Ace) who growl every time she comes near.  I feel really good about helping out these dogs and have really come to love the breed.  Weims and dachshunds - what a weird combination of dogs to love!  Anyway, I'd like to get another foster, but with some upcoming track time for Matt and a big trip this spring, I'm not sure that now would be the best time to get the next foster dog.

I am really struggling with time management.  Things at work have been slow lately, and it's starting to get to me.  On the other hand, at home, I'm unable to get everything done that I want.  I want to devote an hour or two every week towards working on a drawing of Matt and his brother that I started two months ago and I also need to find time to regularly sit still and complete more Rosetta Stone Japanese lessons (in preparation for that big trip we're taking this spring).  Plus, I want/need more practice with my new camera.

We're starting some home projects and will hopefully have the first one wrapped up in the next several weeks so that I can actually post photos.  I decided to stop thinking about what we'd like to have in our next house and spend a little time concentrating on how to make the one we're already blessed with more fun for us.  So far on the list are smooth ceilings in a few of the rooms, some crown moulding additions, and tile backspashes and floors in the kitchen.  Matt is very handy in the garage, and I can plant a mean perennial, but larger-scale interior home improvement tasks are a little new to us.  Scraping popcorn ceilings was a mess, but I'm hopeful that it will all come out beautifully in the end!  Those are my goals for this year, so we'll see how it goes.

Matt's been spending a lot of time in the garage, transforming the old white e30 into a beast of a track car.  He's got the roll cage in (thank God!) and fully padded, a new paint scheme, stickers, and all sorts of mechanical revisions that I can't begin to understand enough to list here.  He's really excited about all of the track time he's going to get this year.  After the wreck in December '08, he didn't get much car time last year.  He's already signed up for several weekends this year and will be working towards eventually getting a competition license (to race, which he'll do as a hobby, not professionally).

Our church's yearly missions conference is coming up soon, and I don't have to do a single thing for it!  That's right, I've been on self-imposed sabbatical since the fall and it has been great!  I'm not saying that I don't cherish serving on the missions committee (I really do), but I needed a break from something, and this was the first to go.  I'm really looking forward to attending the conference, seeing all of our missionaries, and just being able to enjoy the weekend without any responsibility attached to it. 

The weather warmed up for a spring preview last weekend and I was able to get out and enjoy the sunshine for the first time in months!  It was absolutely wonderful.  Now I'm getting excited for spring and dreaming of a green yard and lots of colorful blooms!

So, that's us.  What's new with you??