blog tagging

ok, so i admit i'm a little behind. i had no clue what blog tagging was until a few months ago when bloggers that i liked to read got tagged and shared whatever information was requested and then tagged other bloggers. it's kind of like the popular kid's game, internet version. i never got tagged, didn't know the "rules" of tagging, didn't know anything, basically. but then i saw more and more of it and thought to myself, man this is kind of dumb. i get the concept - you know, share random bits of info about yourself to total strangers so you feel like you're "getting to know each other". but what i wonder is, why can't there be sharing useful information tagging going on? well, maybe there is, i just don't know about it. see, in reality, i'm just a dork trying to play with the big kids. so instead of waiting for someone to have pity on me and tag me i am going to make up my own tag and invite my own friends to play so :P!

in case you're like me and haven't the foggiest idea of how to play, here are (my) rules: if i mention your name and link to your blog in this post, you have to answer the question and tag another 5 people by naming them in your post. don't forget to alert them by commenting on their blog and let them know you tagged them. my tag is going to have a farm-y theme (naturally) and it goes something like this:

1. Name one of your favorite flowering plants and any info you may have off the top of your head about it.

2. Name one of your favorite farm animals or pets and explain why.

3. Name one of your favorite vegetable/fruit/nut plant/tree to grow and show picture(s) of it.

4. Name a plant or animal that you want to grow/raise in the near future.

5. Name a home remedy that you use for whatever ailment and share the recipe/technique.



that's it! wouldn't it be interesting to see what other people have to say about that? i think so! so, the people i am going to tag are:



1. my bff Vanessa, who just started her own blog and will hopefully grace us with a link to it in the comments.

2. Ellen, my first internet buddy :) http://everydaycraftygoodness.wordpress.com/

3. Amy @ http://www.magicalmuse.typepad.com/

4. sister bluebird, a new aquaintance @ http://sisterbluebirdgardener.blogspot.com/

5. Tammie @ http://unusuallyunusualfarmchick.blogspot.com/

i think it would be interesting and valuable information from these folks, and i am excited to see what they have to say. i'll answer the questions, too :)

1. one of my favorite flowering plants is the TEA OLIVE tree. i just love the way the flowers smell when it's in bloom. it smells kind of like a cross between honeysuckle and tuberose.

2. my favorite animal (besides dogs, of course) is goats. i've never had one, but i have been around goats, watched videos, and read a lot of stuff about them. i think they are absolutely adorable as babies and it's so cute how they like to bounce around, head-butting. i think it's endearing that they'll eat anything and they all have personality. i love goats!

3. my favorite crop to grow is peas. because they grow so fast and without fail, and they are fun to watch with the tendrils grabbing whatever they can. plus, they build up the soil with nitrogen and who doesn't love to eat peas? i don't have a picture of mine right now, but i'll come back and post it later :)

4. something i would like to grow in the future - well, there are actually many things. i'd like to grow leafy vegetables. for some reason, spinach and lettuce and rhubarb and all things leafy intimidate me as a gardener. i'm admittedly inexperienced but i've tried to grow leafy things and it never works! they just sprout and then die.

5. haha - i almost forgot this one myself! a favorite home remedy of mine is cranberry juice. frequent bladder infections (and UTI's) plague the women in my family and if you've never had one, consider yourself lucky. unfortunately, i hate all things cranberry. especially the juice. but, miraculously cranberry juice has worked every single time. i will happily chug a gallon of the stuff to make a bladder infection go away. i did find a cheat, though - cranberry pills! yes, you can get then in a little tablet, and i take a few of those if i feel a UTI coming on. but for a full on bladder infection, chug a gallon of cranberry juice!

oh, Atlanta... what has happened to you?

today i happened upon two separate articles online that list the top cities for traffic congestion and pollution. guess what? yup, ATL is on both lists! and pretty high up on the traffic list, coming in at #2, behind houston. It's #6 for particle pollution and tied with San Diego at #12 for ozone pollution.

10 years ago, i don't think Atlanta was even on either list. so, wtf happened? well, everybody and their freakin grandmother decided to move down south, where it's warmer and there are more jobs. unfortunately, Atlanta's infrastructure was not up to par with the influx of new residents. also, Atlanta is one of the most sprawled urban / suburban cities. you HAVE to commute to get anywhere.

i remember the city back when there was way less traffic and better air. i wish it could go back to that sometimes but all cities are supposed to grow, right?

a moment of silence, please...

for the late great Martin Luther King, Jr. Today is the anniversary of his assasination and the very unfortunate loss of a great person who gave some of the greatest speeches of all time. Have you heard a MLK Jr. speech? If not, I highly recommend it.

Here is his last speech - do you think he knew what was about to happen?

can i get a valium, please?

yea, this past weekend was truly insane. but we survived and we have memories to keep. the baby shower i was hosting couldn't have gone more wrong. first of all the space that we had rented was FULL by the time i got there at 10 am to set up. turns out a tennis league was having a tournament and BBQ. yea, i almost lost it at that point, but i thought, OK let's make it work. So, i began setting everything up and just as I was getting ahead, a thunderstorm started to roll through the neighborhood. Johnny and i were trying to do a bunch of last minute things like getting food, setting up the badminton net, putting up decorations, etc etc while waiting for others to come help us and waiting for balloons and then the mother-to-be shows up with her extended family just as it begins to rain. i had to run out and pick up some food specifically requested by the pregnant woman and while i was gone they decided that this outdoor party was going to become an indoor party - at my house. so, while i was out and in the pouring rain, my pregnant friend and her grandparents and in-laws MOVED the entire party to my house a few blocks away. I raced home and began to set up the food (all the while impressed at how they managed to move everything AND decorate my living room) and giving directions to all of the lost guests who went to the park who evidently didn't read their invitations which said "if it rains, we'll be at heather's house at .....address". then we began to run out of space - no tables or chairs - everything was wet, and nobody knew each other. we had no indoor games planned and one guest who was deathly afraid of balloons (which was the only thing we had to entertain with). yeah. and i didn't get to shoot a single picture.

i felt like i had completely failed as a host. but damn, the food was good and there was plenty of it and that's all people care about, right? yea, it wasn't so bad in the end because we all got together and were able to dote on the parents-to-be a little bit... afterwards, johnny did much of the cleaning and we went to bed completely beat.

unfortunately, i got one of my monster midnight migraines and didn't get any sleep. the very next morning, bright and early, my mother began stalking our house. i could tell because the dogs were whining and i knew she was anxious to get started with the errands of the day. i had to drag myself out of bed with as much will power as i could and face my mom with a smile on my face. you have no idea what this takes.

then we drove out to duluth to pick up a ginormous screen for the powerpoint presentation during her speech. it barely fit in the mazda and we took it to the restaurant. then we went to dim sum, which was actually nice. then we went home, i re-wrote my mom's speech on flash cards, downloaded pics from her camera, and demanded a nap before my head and chest exploded. I got almost 2 hours of rest and then it was up and at 'em until 9 pm. we went to the restaurant with cameras and flags and once we got there my mom tells me the address on the invitation was wrong. so i had to go find out where everyone was going instead and see if i could direct them to the right place. what a fucking nightmare. my mom started looking disappointed and so i started calling all the american people on her guest list to give them directions. then they started with all the speeches and introductions from chief of staffs to secretaries to president of this firm and that firm... all the while we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the mayor. who was late. finally she arrived and people began to eat and things started to be OK. then we had to wait until everyone left and take the stupid screen back to my mazda, along with giant bouquets of flowers, and go home. i still had to shower and get ready for work the next day. thank god i was able to get some sleep with no headache, even though bibi instisted on sleeping on top of me all night.

throughout all of this, i had an expanding pressure in my chest that was making it very difficult to do anything. i was so mad at myself for having this stupid problem. i did not have time for chest pains at all. i don't know whats wrong, i dont want to take prevacid and risk a freaking heart attack. what a bunch of bullshit. today its not so bad but i have to take it easy. my body has completely refused to let me deal with stress at all.

it's f'n cold...part duex

i know i already have a blog post titled it's f'n cold but damn, i thought winter was over. when we got into the atl area we didn't stop until my stepbrother absolutely had to pee, at a gas stop about an hour from my house. as soon as we opened the car door, a cold gust of wind burst into the car. then we find out that there's actually a freeze advisory for the evening. i'm pretty much giving up on the hopes of starting a garden from seed this year. i still tried to save my seedlings by literally covering them in a blanket and then some pinestraw. i put the plastic from our new pillows over the blackberry bushes. i just have to cross my fingers and hope they survive.

but anyways, wtf is up with this weather?? i mean, i didn't expect it to be like florida but i was at least hoping to see everything in full bloom by the time we got back. oh well, i can look at the brightside and think of it as extending my winter clothes wearing. i have like little to no summer clothes.

johnny and i managed to do minimal damage to our wallets for our vacation. not bad. i didn't do very much shopping, mostly because i don't really care to buy junk like snowglobes and keychains - especially from florida - and all the other stuff i can make myself. i did however, buy some really pretty seashells that i could neither make nor find myself. they happen to be from the phillipines. anyways, they will go on my back porch which is going to have a beach theme. I am getting a rope hammock chair to hang, too - the perfect chill spot. i can't wait.

we have a new roommate - the younger sister of one of our friends. she was nice enough to watch the dogs while we were gone and she is staying a while longer while her brother and his wife have their first baby! i shall refer to her as 'B' henceforth. oh, i almost forgot to mention that we met my stepbrother's mom, Karen, who lives in mexico beach. this woman is amazing. she has a small house, and a tiny office but she has organized it to the nth degree - it was awesome. she likes to do crafts!! she does mainly graphics-related crafts like stenciling, embossing, scrapbooking, cardmaking, stamping, quilling, etc. anyways, she showed me all of her stuff and it was great. plus, she gave me one of the christmas ornaments she made - a little birdhouse which was really cute. and, she gave me a very nice seafood cookbook filled with local favorite recipes. i can't wait to try some of them. she has also survived breast cancer, which it was amazing to hear about how she went through it all. i truly admire this woman.

so johnny and i have some mild sunburns. well, mine are mild - johnny's looks pretty angry. he burnt his shins and i burnt the back of my knees and the top portion of my back. but i think we both got some tan so we are happy. the seashells we brought back smell like fish-ass, though.

today it's back to the grindstone. i have to return my rental and start working on the baby bbq. i already miss mexico beach. we will be going back.