Digging in the dirt

[rockinlibrarian]

Karma got back at me for complaining about my Friends page being dead lately by making sure that lots of people posted in the past 48 hours while LiveJournal was down for me last evening. Last evening being the only time in the past 48 hours I attempted to get on here. It was sort of exciting to have to scroll the entire way down the page to catch up, though, I admit!

Soooo...

I've almost completed creating my tomato-growing-patch-of-land in the only sunny spot of my yard. The yard is VERY VERY CLAY (assume "clay" is an adjective in this case), so this involves lots of shovelling and cultivating and mixing stuff in and wishing I had a tiller. We went to Lowes today and got among other things some big bags of garden soil to mix in. But when I got to the point today where I was GOING to mix the garden soil in, I found I was unable to lift the bags off the patio to carry up the hill to the future tomato patch, and of course by that time Jason had already left for work! Oh well. I'll be done by the time I actually have to PLANT the tomatoes.

There's a whole lot of stuff sprouting in my herb patch. Unfortunately I'm not entirely sure yet which of it are actually herbs.

Speaking of gardening, here's an interesting fun fact I just learned that I was completely wrong about, and even double-checked it in several gardening info sources to further discover that I was completely wrong: A SHOVEL is the pointy, curved one. A SPADE is the flat rectangular one. But I'm sure I'm not the only one in the world who always thought they were the other way around. After all, doesn't this mean that "snow shovels" are really "snow spades"? And that the pointy black suit in a deck of cards should really be called "shovels"? I think so. So, who was wrong first, anyway?

Today I did the paperwork for the daycare job which I will start on the 15th. I will be working primarily with the preschoolers, 4&5, which is good as they're the ones I have the most experience with. Of course I'll be getting training with everyone. I did find out that I don't get health insurance until I've been there six months though, by which point I'll be able to get it through Jason's work anyway. Still, the commute is GLORIOUS. When I think about how much of my time was completely WASTED each week just sitting in the car spouting fossil fuel fumes into the atmosphere and burning up money! Listening to music wasn't bad. But that's about the only good thing that came of it. Oh, the other negative I just learned about this job is that we're not allowed to wear tennis shoes. I'm going to have to invest in some loafers. Anyway.

Marty and Denisa have apparently signed a lease on an apartment that is JUST DOWN THE STREET from us. We will actually have friends in our town! And this also means Marty will finally get his stuff out of our house! Well, starting in July, after they get back from Romania again.

The in-laws have gone to Florida for the sis-in-law's graduation, which coincidentally is happening the same day as my own sister's graduation. They've left us all the perishables out of their refrigerator. Unfortunately I found out this just AFTER I got home from the grocery with a whole bunch of perishables of my own. So I'm going to have to eat a lot of salad this week, I think.

Oh today I got emails from both Angie and Jen, both of whom I haven't heard from in awhile, so it was quite exciting!

Do I have anything else to say? Well, if I do, you'll tell me, right?

Comments

[jent9202003.livejournal.com]

I thought both kinds were shovels - the flat one and the round one. Sort of like screwdrivers - you have a flathead and a phillips head. At least that was my rationale. ;)

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Basically, if you're standing around and point to a spade and say "somebody hand me that shovel," nobody's going to have a problem knowing what you're talking about. So it's all fairly silly anyway.

Wierd

[gloworm59.livejournal.com]

I can understand places having dress codes, but I can't see why you couldn't have tennis shoes at a daycare. Seems pretty silly.

Re: Wierd

[tigger18325.livejournal.com]

If you think no tennis shoes in a day care is weird you should see business casual in a chem lab with steel toed dress shoes.

Re: Wierd

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Well, I guess they want everyone to look professional, like real teachers (it's basically a teacher dress code, except that blue jeans day is EVERY friday and you don't have to make a donation for it), but they really don't leave a lot of leeway room in the footwear department, because heels are on their list of no-nos for practical reasons as well. So basically that leaves, like, loafers. Open-toed sandals (not flip-flops) can be worn "at your own risk," and I have a feeling that will be my primary choice in the summer.

[wonderingmind.livejournal.com]

That's why I used to call the cards in the deck "shovels"

Your new knowledge was actually a QUESTION on an archaeology exam I had in Theory and Methods!

YAY GARDENS! I can't wait to be home in June for all the Irises. We have hundreds at my house! If you ever want some, let me know! We have sky blue, orange, pink, burgendy, white and purple, purple, black, mustard and buttercup yellow, pink, lavender colored, etc...hahahah!

Have fun at your new job! You should think about BIKING to work if it's only a few minutes away! Talk about saving fuel.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I knew I knew somebody who called the spade card "shovels"-- I guess it was you!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

A SHOVEL is the pointy, curved one. A SPADE is the flat rectangular one. But I'm sure I'm not the only one in the world who always thought they were the other way around.

I think I agree with jent9202003, in that I think a spade is technically a KIND of shovel. That said, does this mean that we HAVEN'T been calling a spade a spade? {g}

It's good that you have less of a commute to work now. The driving has been the most annoying thing about all the jobs I've worked recently. I wish I could work close to home, but I don't know if that's possible.