It's almost gardening time! :)

Now, onto the garden..

I've been

alternating weed-wacking (Thanks again, Dad. It IS a huge help!

Sorry I doubted..) and hand-pulling (even got a blister!) the back

garden. I think I need to invest in a rake now. I have uncovered a

passionflower vine (that is about to start flowering, yay!), pepper

plants, and THESE things.. whatever they are.

Anyone got a clue? 

In addition to the plants, I have two spiny orbweaver spiders that have been living in the vicinity of my patio since we moved in. I've been calling them Grandma and Daughter, although we've had a couple of generations of them living back there. I like them, they are interesting to observe.

As you can see, the bananas are almost ready to be harvested. I met the lady who used to live in the house before we moved in and she tells me that the fruits are the edible kind. That's pretty exciting to me for whatever reason..
The morning glories are trying to consume everything, and have

already had to be cut back a few times now..
And lastly, the elder tree (the one buried under all that morning glory), it is starting to berry now, so I am keeping a watchful eye on it. The flowers were so pretty, I am disappointed that I did not get a picture of them up close while they were still around.
A couple more weekend warrior days in back there and I may have some semblance of a nice backyard. Happy Summer!


PS - Sorry about the spacing on this, but the the Blogger upload was being a major pain in the neck today!

Excuses, excuses

What is wrong with me? I can't write more than two or three sentences before I get distracted and run off. Then, when I do come back to finish and it has been a week. Or more. Do babies do this to everyone or is it just me? She sure is a cute distraction though...

I'm going to try and start reading Fifty Shades of Grey today. I acquired a copy from a ultra-conservative friend who called it "trashy and pornographic." Sounds like it'll be right up my alley! Wish me luck though, reading has been damn-near impossible since I delivered my daughter and it is a habit I am desperately trying to get back.
Household projects are still going on, although progress has slowed substantially. I still have to replace a drywall panel in the closet (big hole), finish clearing out the backyard to start the landscaping (still a jungle, despite the weed-wacking) and build myself a small writing desk for the livingroom. I'm sure there are more things on that list, but that is all that's coming to mind currently.
Now, off to fix some food for the munchkin and (hopefully) get her down for a nap so I can clean up the kitchen and get some reading done. We'll see how that goes. ;)

I'm back!

It's been ages! I am hoping to get settled back into the writing, but I just haven't had the time of late. My daughter and I got back from Virginia and we've both been going non-stop since! Crawfish boils, gluten & soy-free brunchs, Easter weekend shenannigans, gardening and today, general Spring cleaning.
Also, got two new new books, and those are always distracting for me. On Writing by Stephen King, which I haven't started yet and Pride & Prejudice and Zombies, which is hilarious and I can't put down.
I have being working quite a bit on the courtyard off the side of the house so the baby can have a place to run around in relative safety and I'm happy to say that it's almost where I want it. In a stroke of luck, I found a couple of rolls of astroturf at the five-and-dime to throw down on the concrete. It gets exceedingly hot out there during the day and can burn feet.. or little hands, so I figured it would be a good idea. I have planted sunflowers, strawberries and tomatoes. I have 3 avocado seeds getting ready to open up and I am considering obtaining a palm for a little tropical flavor. What sort of plants are you playing with? Inquiring minds would like to know!

                                                                My other best friend..



In other news, I have acquired Dead Can Dance tickets for myself, my daughter, my father and best friend to the August 27th show at Wolftrap! So excited! I have been wanting to see them perform for well-over a decade! Not to mention, what a cool first concert for the kid!
That's all for now, as I must try to get some sleep. Toodles!

Counting down the days

Less than two weeks to go before my daughter and I fly to D.C. to visit the family and friends. I haven't
even started packing yet, and I'm not looking forward to the process either. Just checked US Airways baggage policies and it looks like we'll be taking the large suitcase with both her and my clothes and shoes, my backpack for all the things we'll need at the airport and her diaper bag. The flight also leaves at six in the morning, which will be rough, for both my daughter and me. I am guessing we'll have to be there no later than four-thirty. I have been known to go to bed at that time, so I am envisioning a few energy drinks of some sort. I'd prefer Red Bull.
We'll be arriving in D.C. at nine-thirty, so we'll be just in time for morning rush hour(s). My father is coming to pick us up, thankfully. So I won't be trying to carry all the luggage on the Metro to meet him at the Vienna Metro Station (which would be easier for him, not for me - but, being a good daughter, I did offer to do it anyway, but he said it wouldn't be a problem navigating through the worst traffic in the country to come and get us. Good man, my father!)
I have been compiling a list of things that I would like to do while my daughter and I are on the visit. My mother has taken nearly a full week off work so she can watch the baby and give me time to myself. Six whole days to myself!? I can even imagine that much free time.
VNV Nation is playing at the Rams Head in Baltimore on March twelfth. I have seen them numerous times, and they always do a fun show. I have a few friends going there as well and it would be nice to see them. ...assuming I have had my hair fixed by then, because it looks terrible.
I was also thinking about doing a hiking trip or two to Great Falls, MD or Rocks State Park because everyone I have spoken to in the north has told me how beautiful the weather is. I'll also be away from the gym for nearly the whole month of March, so I had better find another way to exercise or I'll be in trouble.
I am going to try and get a bit of reading done as well. My vocabulary, as well as grammar, is terrible. I have spoken to other writing friends and we have theorized that it because I do not read enough anymore. I have to say that I agree. In the past year, I have not had much reading opportunities beyond assorted Dr. Seuss
books, Grimm's Fairy Tales and Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes (with one exception being the Hobbit, which as a nerdy mom, I was in a hurry to read that one in particular to my child)
I did just acquire this for her too.

This book started it all for me and I felt myself compelled to make sure that my daughter has one of her own. You see, I never had a copy of my own and this book was the source of a lot of library fines for me throughout my youth. There is a Norse Mythology companion book which is equally as beautifully illustrated and well-written. I shall acquire that too, in good time.

The Carnival is over

Mardi Gras has officially ended and I didn't have my camera for the last five days, so I'll be relying on other's peoples Mardi Gras pictures of the family, neighbors and friends doing the Saint Anne's parade and subsequent wanderings afterward around the French Quarter. The baby made it like a trooper through most of it, but by the walk back home, she was passed out cold in the stroller.
Lundi Gras was nice too, the family finally made it out to Washington Square in the Marigny to check out the playground. I am happy to report that the swing-set had a bucket seat swing that the baby could use. She was squealing with delight on both swing and slide (it is a big slide that her and her father could use together) and got upset when it was time to leave (another little girl was waiting patiently to use the swing behind us).
When we got back to the house, the Daddy Man stayed at home with the baby so my dear friend of twenty-two years and I could go out and see a parade and have a drink together. She had gotten injured on her bike on the way over, but she did not let that dampen her Carnival spirits and we went out and had a great time after my partner patched her up.
We were late to the parade and it had already passed Saint Roch, so we biked down to Buffa's Lounge on Esplanade and caught up with it there, and had some vodka cocktails. Afterwards, we opted to head back towards the neighborhood, with a stop at Marie's Bar for happy hour and their cheap vodka cocktails. I have no idea how many, but it was enough.
Then we came back to the house and I fried some pork chops, made some stuffing and a salad and
we feasted. It was a happy Carnival, to be sure.

The hair saga continues.

More washing, conditioning and breaking apart of the dreadlocks and I am almost a third of the way done with my head. That's pretty good for the first day of removal, right? My fingers are pretty sore though. I still have eighteen days to get them out before the trip to Virginia, Maryland and D.C., so I am not worried yet.
I'm also really not looking forward to cutting all my hair off either, but the stuff it so dead there is no saving it. I have no choice here! I actually have a long black wig if the hair has to get cut really short, haven't worn it for ages, but it may come in handy in the Mid-Atlantic climes. I leave New Orleans out because the heat and humidity here prohibit anyone from wearing wigs and hairpieces except in the dead middle of winter. ...and even then, it is unpleasant.

I was hoping to get by the gym tonight to see if I can do another 9-minute mile. Don't scoff, that's the best time I've ever had, even when I was a kid. I have become very fond of the elliptical machine, as it is a little more forgiving on the knees than the treadmill is. I hope to move up to the ten-pound hand weights soon, but the five-pound weights are still a lot of work, so I haven't done it yet. Abdominal exercises are the worst though. I hate sit-ups, but there is no machine to achieve what they do (Sadly!) or I'd be using it.
I have gone from 245 pounds to 195 in a year and gone from a size 24 (plus size xxxl) to a size 16W (plus size 1X). I'd like to be able to devote more time to workouts, but my full-time mom status makes it difficult. I hope it gets better as the baby gets older, because I sure would like some semblance of my body back.
I mean, it'll never be the same again, I know that. My midriff was stretch-marked beyond repair, not to mention it's been a year now after pregnancy and I still have the loose, hanging skin. I am not a wealthy woman by any stretch of the imagination and the thought of having corrective surgery is laughable. Diet and exercise are the only options I really have to correct this, and even then I have no guarantees that it'll be back like it was before. But if I could fit in a size 10 again, that would suit me just fine.


In other news, my daughter got a package from her great aunt today containing these...

I especially like the jacket. The outfit overall is nautical to me and tasteful. It'll go great with her black Vans shoes my dad got for her. Her great-aunt has got excellent style and taste and my daughter is lucky for it.

Tangled up in Hades

My hair has been troubling me for some time now. For a few years, I had been bleaching my hair out every couple of months to put bright colors in it. Then I got sick of all the work, particularly when I had the baby, and decided to go for something requiring a little less maintenance. So, I dyed it black. I figured I could buy the dye at the drugstore once a month and be done with it, instead of dropping $25 on two bleach kits and another $40 for two bottles of the good Paul Mitchell dyes (every color of the rainbow and long-lasting!). But, my hair was fried. Toasty fried. All it wanted to do was dreadlock, so eventually I got tired of fighting it and had my best friend section it out and let it lock away.
Sadly, the dreadlocks aren't working out. I can't abide not washing my hair and with every wash, the dreads have gotten lumpier and more uneven. It's time to move on. So, I have begun the lengthy process of breaking the dreadlocks apart and straightening the hair back out. It's going better than I thought it would.
I'm still going to need a decent amount of length taken off, as the hair is dead and a frizzy mess. I was thinking about doing something like this (keeping it black, of course!) for a cut..

                     http://www.marieclaire.com/hair-beauty/trends/wavy-hair-how-to-hairstyles


Not bad, although I may have to get some rollers to achieve that level of wave though. But, it's the most workable thing in terms of short that I have found so far. I hope it works out better than the dreadlocks did.

I am looking into getting new glasses too. I am thinking some black rimmed nerdy glasses are the way to go. It would be nice to see again. My partner had found a pair of Guess frames a while back that are the perfect style that I want, but not the right size. They are just slightly too small for my head. After I get the hair dealt with next month, I think I will go to Hour Eyes with my mother and best friend and see what we can find. Yes, you read that right. I am willing to take suggestions these days. Who knew?