The Thing About Nothing

Home. Home Sweet Home. I'm finally here!
What a semester! Whew! So glad it's over. I have never worked so hard throughout (and at the end of) a semester in my life. Grades turned out really well too. Except a B+ from a crazy person. Seriously. I don't like to make excuses for my grades, I hate excuses all together. All I am saying is that perhaps I would have gotten an A++ because I find the subject extremely interesting (Public Budgeting) if my teacher didn't have so much disdain for his students. For example, he would continually respond to my emails by calling me "Sheena" even though my name was all over them. But that's not really a big deal, right? I mean, he could just be senile, right? People get that way when they're 104 years old and still teaching, right? Well what about when he yelled at the girl who was nearly deaf that if she spoke in class again he would ask her to leave. She explained that she was asking her friend to repeat what he (the professor) had said because she was hard of hearing. To which the professor replied, well then your friend can leave too. Cray cray. These were common occurrences in this course. So basically I knew from class 2 what my grade was going to be and I have had time to cope. I sound like it, right?

Any way, all is well that ends (moderately) well and I am ready for an awesome summer. I haven't said much about it, but as of Friday I'll have a second Master's degree. I haven't made a big deal out of it, and I am not walking at graduation, even though I worked just as hard (actually probably harder) for this one that I did for the first one. I guess I figure that I had enormous life events happen just 2 years ago (can you believe it has been 2 years?!?) with graduation and the wedding all within 2 weeks of each other.  It feels a little gluttonous to try to get people excited about something else. But rest assured, this girl is totally celebrating in a very big way when I finally graduate with the PhD (Lord willing).

But now it is time to celebrate the summer.  I still have many projects for school to work on this summer, but without the pressure of deadlines. I am also teaching a course again this summer online (technology really is amazing).  I resolved a few weeks ago that I as soon as I got home I was going to take a few days off from school and just regroup and try to put the rest of my life back together. And to readjust to being home. Like, pulling clothes out of a drawer rather than a suit case. Yesterday on Facebook I proclaimed that I was going to do NOTHING.  I did a great job. I did my part to clear off some of the DVR.  I read something that I actually wanted to read. I laid out on top of the hot tub and tanned.  I unloaded a whole 2 boxes out of my car. I went to Sprouts and grocery shopped which was more fun than a chore because I was curious. Then my dear friend Anna texts me:
-Are you in town?
-Come with me to the Thunder game tonight! My treat!
-Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?!? We can celebrate your being done with class!
-And you have plenty of time to get ready because it doesn't start until 8:30

I think she was getting anxious because I left my phone in the house when I was laying out. Of course I said yes! She got some AWESOME tickets from someone at work who was a very generous soul.  I had a great time catching up with her and watching the game. It was SOO close! And if you were watching the game last night, I totally called that Randolph guy from the Grizzlies missing those free throws.

We sat next to a girl who told us she had just had her last round of intense chemotherapy. She had a wonderful attitude. My heart breaks for her, and my prayer is that it really is the end of the treatments for her, so she can go on and have a long and wonderfully happy and healthy life.

Today I decided to channel my inner hippie.  I went out to the garden because I wanted to make a salad from our home grown goodness. Here's an update on how things are going.

This is plot 1. Check out that head lettuce! It really is making heads of lettuce with leaves that fold upon each other. I don't know what I expected (maybe that the bugs would try to eat them before it got to that point) but it's awesome!

We have very tiny strawberries growing. I ate one the other day. Tasted like a strawberry!

This is Plot 2. We have artichoke on the right growing really well, but still no artichokes. Then Kale in the middle. Then broccoli on the left. 

Now our broccoli looks more like something you put in a vase than something you eat. This is problematic. So I've spent part of the morning watching YouTube videos on how and when to harvest each type of vegetable we have. It turns out we let our broccoli go tooooo far. So I cut off the tops and they'll grow again. I stuck them in the composter so they can be part of future gardening projects. Circle of life folks. Circle of life. 

This is Plot 3. My pride and joy! My experimental plot. You may remember me describing this when we first put the garden in. I used my own compost and we planted everything from seeds (except Matt's tomato plant). I wasn't sure that this was going to succeed because well, I had no idea what the true nutrient content was of my compost like I did with the store bought stuff. I also worried about growing from seeds. But look! It's doing great! We have spinach, lettuce (not sure which variety), squash, zuchinni, and egg plant on the right. We also have some random stuff growing that we forgot to mark when we planted it, so it will have to be a surprise. 

I went through and grabbed as much as I needed of each thing. I forgot to mention the green onions too. I also cut off the roots of the green onions (not the entire bulb, just the entire root plus a tiny portion of the bulb) and replanted them in my experimental plot. Don't tell Matt though because he probably thinks that's a goofy idea. You might think that too. But what if it's a genius idea??

Because I am clever I have decided to make planters out of my "planters" nut cans. I tried this once and it didn't work out, but I think it is because I didn't have holes in the bottom and the water can't percolate out and you don't want your seeds water logged.  So I rummaged through Matt's tool box (don't tell him that either) and jabbed some holes with a screw driver (free therapy!). I used my compost again and planted some dill and Swiss chard (which will have to be transplanted if it takes off). This is upcycling if I have ever seen it, folks! Assuming that this works. 

So I came in with my veggies and sprayed it all down really good with some fruit and vegetable wash which gets all of the bad stuff off. Although, when it comes from the garden and we don't use pesticides or anything (or not as far as Matt tells me) water would probably do just fine. I also use this stuff when I get things from the grocery store. It cost about $3 at whole foods.  And while we're on the topic, I've started to steer away from using those plastic bags for produce.  I have some reusable ones that I use when I remember to bring them in (I have many fewer produce bags than the actual grocery bags). I've decided that while it may seem less sanitary to set the produce itself in the basket and on the conveyor belt at check out, in reality it can't be much different than having a bunch of hands on your food anyway. I just make a practice of thoroughly washing everything when I get home and I save myself having to recycle those bags, and I save the planet in the process. The check out clerks don't seem to mind either. Not that that would bother me. 

Here's a bowl of our salad for tonight! Shown is 100% from our garden. I am going to add some carrots and strawberries that I got at the store, but this looks great! Considering the number of inputs we have made to this garden already, this may be the most expensive salad I will ever eat. However, I'm hoping those costs drastically improve over time and we will have great fresh produce for years to come.

I am going to pair it with Seared Ahi Tuna which I Googled how to make today. It was on sale at Sprouts so I decided to go for it.

Going to continue my relaxation days with more reading, maybe drink some wine, hang out with the boys, and watch some Modern Family.

My version of "nothing" is really "lots of things" but filled with things that I prefer to do. But truth be told, I like to keep busy.

Tomorrow I may even be inspired to leave my house and pick up some items for our Italy trip and a gift for Danielle's birthday. Look forward to many more posts this summer!

Posted in: Being Green,Nutrition,Ph.D.ing,saving money