Here's a Before & After, in case you find such things satisfying (I do - because they are).
It was really only a matter of angling the couch back. Oh, and trading the chairs. But now I have a different view. This is important to life.
So is this:
I saw this "patch" of a gazillion different irises today. I died of bliss. ...This picture is also proof that I only show you the good ones. It looks mildly obscene, I look considerably dumpy... and it's all good. :)
I cannot abide sameness right now. I need change. And since I'm here for X amount of weeks or months or whatever, I have to re-arrange.
Like I already do, periodically. But in this, I feel justified, as Tina Fey has the same issue.
Spring cleaning = purging my brain of pretty much everything. Spring cleaning = distraction. Spring cleaning = seeing instant results.
So there's that.
I also took a veeeeeery long walk last night, and took a bunch of boring pictures of my favorite flower. Boring to you, pleasing to me. I don't know why I feel the need to photograph every one I see. I just do. It's like an iris scavenger hunt.
I've decided that the peach one is my favorite. In looks. Though I enjoy the various two- or three-toned ones. In terms of smell, they are all gorgeous delicate citrusy goddesses of fleeting wonder. Though they do have distinct variations on this. At some point, I will probably elucidate just what the distinctions are; not now.
Busy.
Distraction.
In sartorial news, I wore the go-go boots today. With my elephant shirt that people like to think makes a political statement. Depending on the person, it can mean anything. I just like it. I don't wear my politics on my sleeve, HA HA HA.
(I kind of do. But don't look for sartorial representation.)
(I'm totally giving my phone the stink eye in this pic.)
On the road.
Walter.
Ernie sweater.
RPM.
Trusty steed.
Thrift weirdness #1.
Thrift weirdness #2.
Thrift... something.
Wrong.
Stay tuned.
Mesh.
Plastic.
Reading.
Plants.
Yes.
I promise I do more than just get dressed. ;) Though I do so enjoy getting dressed. I started teaching at an additional school this week, and seriously, by day two, I even felt like taking a break from Dirt Chic, like even it was too much. It's no bother to show you what I wear. But I was so overwhelmed I just wanted to crawl under a rock somewhere. It's better today.
It helps that I am doing things, once again, to remind me that I am a human being. I've undertaken a new "trick" that gets the house straightened up and me out from under at least some pressure: I set the kitchen timer for 20 minutes and put away stuff as fast as I can. I usually finish before 20 minutes is up.
I like my house.
I just wanna be in it. Can't do that if it's a pigsty.
Oh, and Aldi succulence:
Couldn't help it. I like small things. I like houseplants.
Anyway. Moving onward. :) Have to finish my screenplay, write my biography, teach, GET DRESSED....
Camp time is rolling around, and we all know what that means. Pictures of food? Check. Pictures of me in weird summer-inappropriate clothing combinations? Check. Pictures of randomness? Check. TOAD OBSESSION? CHECK.
A retrospective:
What friends they are. Oh, how I love them. So pumped. So pumped to find toads.
I don't just go ga-ga over amphibians. I love reptiles, too. And yes, I had to look up the difference. (This is the person who thought birds were mammals up until recently.) (But I'm not stupid. I'm just a ditz.) Proof:
Turtle-hugger. That's what I am.
(By the way, Wendy is my amazing friend, and I warned her because I love her and she doesn't want to see pictures of toads and I validate this. :)
I got up today, threw on a favorite Gap striped shirt, Gap black pants, my black boots, and headed out the door. To meet with students that never showed up. S'ok. Had plenty of grading and such to do.
Then, on a break, I took a much-much-much-needed walk. To chew on things. I chewed for a long time.
I also enjoyed spring. :)
I especially enjoyed this squirrel, who I thought at first was perhaps a little... demented. The way he was just sitting there a little lopsided with the nut in his mouth. But he finally moved in a more characteristically squirrel-like manner.
Since I didn't "get dressed" today, I'll post some outtakes. To remind myself not to be so serious sometimes. :)
Bonsai is REALLY thirsty.
This is the 2nd magic watering globe in 4 days. The other plants have barely sipped from theirs. I even moved Bonsai from the room w/the A/C.
This isn't a bad thing. I guess I need to learn more about Bonsai. It's making me feel like it's almost alive... I mean, animate....
I can't stand - CAN'T STAND - to let houseplants die. I have inadvertently killed 2 cacti, and I was devastated. I feel that since these living things are entrusted into my care, the least I can do is water them and stuff. And since I no longer am a pet owner in the daily sense of the word, I feel at least a smidge more affection for these things that at least demand a small bit of my attention. (Plus, most of them have been given to me, or I've had them for years, so it would be extra-devastating to let them die...)
Not that it's really a problem. Besides watering, a bit of pruning here, a repotting there, and my spider plant and "bamboo" and I-don't-know-what-it-is-but-it's-large-and-ornamental and remaining cactus are doing fine.
Bonsai, on the other hand, has been a bit of a problem. Bonsai-selling (and onion-smelling) (sorry, she was eating a raw onion in front of me) lady told me to keep the soil moist. !!! So I've kept a water bottle by it, and water it fairly often. But bits of the leaves (or whatever they are) keep turning brown and falling off.
Solution (As Seen on TV! but purchased at ACE Hardware): watering globe thing. Been meaning to get one for a long time. Came in a 3-pack, so I stuck the others in Bamboo and Spidey. They are currently not being very thirsty.
But I checked Bonsai today, and Bonsai has been VERY thirsty. This made me happy/excited, as I at first thought maybe the globes were a rip-off. Apparently, when the plant needs more water, an oxygen bubble goes up the globe and sucks the water out, or something scientific like that (that's not my area of science, so I don't know).
Nice solution, especially as I head for camp for a week, soon. (Yah, the globe is big, but whatever. Looks somewhat alien-ish. I like it.)
As you can see, Bonsai still has Fishing Friend. And keeps the tent revival company. And continues to make me happy and relieved, to keep another living thing living.
This
As an apartment dweller, I enjoy houseplants especially, as I can take my Nature with me, no matter what the surrounding terrain of my apartment is like.
I haven't got to the point of having a greenhouse-amount of potted plants, but it feels like I'm well on my way. Some fun ideas for setting up house with houseplants:
Painted wood! My jam!
Plexiglass shelves - but I think any shelving system would easily do.
A modular stand area, very transportable as well (replete with wine!).
A unique idea, from The Apartment Book: a hanging ladder on which to hang plants.
And for the truly ambitious: a hand-crafted bamboo arboretum. (But do you have to have matching bamboo wallpaper?)
For that conservatory effect. :)
