Wordless Wednesday

Are you downstairs, mommy?

From tomato bush to plants

Alright, so I separated my huge "tomato bush" into little plants. I am worried that keeping them outside will kill them, however, so I made a back-up one for the kitchen window that I can keep an eye on.

They look so sad, just a few little green sticks by themselves. And they all want to droop over the sides of the pots. Hopefully some sun will straighten them out!

Below that are my marigolds, which I weeded out. Still not sure anything will come of them. And my wildflower garden from last year finally has its first flower! (I'll have to do a close-up later, because I realize now you can't even see it... it's the yellow thing on the left).

Help wanted

My friend Kristen gave me a "grow-your-0wn-tomatoes" kit last fall. About a month ago, I threw the seeds in the provided metal bucket and watched them grow. Now the plants are this big (see above). What do I do?

There's a whole bunch of little plants. Do I need to move them over to some place bigger, and buy more soil? The instructions on the package, as far as I remember, only went up to the point of "...and watch them grow!!!"

Midnight snack

I feel very Swedish as I sit here with my toast, marmelade, cheese and a cup of milk. Of course, I've got the cut-up European cucumber and tomatoes so I can pretend that it's OK to have a meal at 2 or 3 a.m. Oh well, anything is better than McDonald's.

Wordless Wednesday

Helping mommy folding laundry.

Inside The Pentagon

I have a photo of the Pentagon on my desk. I can’t really make myself throw it out.

There’s really nothing special with the photo itself – I certainly didn’t take it. In fact, it’s a press handout photo from the Department of State. It looks old, maybe from the 1980s.

I’ve had it for almost ten years now. It’s been floating around in different folders, albums, binders… you name it.

My friend Julie and I took at tour of Washington, D.C. We walked the length of The Mall, we visited Mr. Lincoln at his memorial and we walked by the White House. On our way to Arlington Cemetery, I saw a stop called “Pentagon.”

“Let’s get off!” I said quickly, just as the train slowed to a halt. “I want to take some photos!”

We jumped off and the train departed. It was late in the afternoon, and we stood alone on an underground platform. The only way out was through a set of glass doors, leading to a very tall set of escalators.

When we got to the top, we found ourselves actually inside the Pentagon. Had I read Harry Potter at that time, I would have thought of the Ministry of Magic. Of course, I hadn’t. Julie and I instead wandered into a lobby looking lost.

A guard came up to us, asking how he could assist us.
“We want to get to the outside,” I said. “I want to take some photos.”
“Oh, I see,” he said. “I’m afraid there’s no way to get outside at this stop.”

We both put on sad faces. We didn’t know what to do.
“You can take photos over here,” the guard suggested, pointing at a lectern used for press briefings. The Pentagon logo was visible right behind, and I recognized the image from television.

We both got up and took turns taking each other’s photo.
“All set?” the guard asked, politely.
“Well… I was really hoping to get a photo of the outside…” I said.
“Hm… let me see what I can do…”

The man walked away and spoke to a colleague at the other end of the room. A few minutes passed; we waited patiently. Then the man returned with two glossy press photos of the outside of the building.
“Will this do?”

And that’s why I cannot throw it out. At least not today.

The weekend of small projects

It always drives me crazy when I have a whole weekend off and cannot seem to get anything done. But sometimes you just need one of those weekends... sometimes you need to relax, or watch seven episodes of "CSI" or read an entire Harry Potter book.

This weekend, however, I was set on getting SOMETHING done. I settled for a few "little" projects that have been bothering me - projects that were small enough that I could do them without help.

(I enlisted Albie's help with spray painting the candle holders above, since he's the one who was complaining that they were "too dark" and "too similar to the wall color." "Fine," I said. "Paint them white." And he did.)

I finally got around to painting our bedroom mirrors white,

so they will stand out against the chocolate walls. (The second

mirror is just drying right now in the basement... pictures later!)

Our lovely collection of former cats finally made it

back up on the wall after sitting in a pile on a dresser

for about eight months. They used to be in the hallway,

but after we painted we figured they would go

better on the chocolate background.

The curtain pull-backs finally made it up as well -
now we can make the bedroom dark in an instant,
and then pull the curtains right back to get some light in.