Wednesday, May 31, 2006

what do cookies, rhododendrons, the UPS man and Harvey Girls have in common?

Nothing, except that I'm writing about all of them today. But it was a catchy caption, no?

Yikes, I deleted cookies and history last night, so I had so sign in here in order to post. Good thing I keep a journal with all my usernames, screennames, logins and passwords. Learned that the hard way long ago.

Anyhoo, it was a full and busy weekend, and we got much accomplished in our landscaping and gardens. The porch is constructed -- all except for the stairs. LOL That first step is a doozy. The UPS man rang the bell and left a package last night and I don't know how he did it. Well, he climbed, obviously. Must have taken a similar pledge as the pony express: through sleet and snow and bounding up to the doors of homes where the owners seem to have forgotten stairs, and all that.

We had purchased dwarf evergreens, rhododendron bushes and hydrangeas and had been watering them in the pots (not a good thing in the heat), so we got all those planted once I could see where the porch was. Then, like the overachiever that I am, I bought more. More hydrangeas and butterfly bushes. Waited until after 8pm last night for cooler weather and got most of those in. My gardens are like the inside of my home: More is better. If one is good, then three are excellent. Ten are awesome.

We also made another run to the salvage yard for more paving bricks. Good exercise, let me tell you. Most of the vegetables are finally in, except the pumpkins. Last year they were so early that we had too many way before fall, so we're holding off.

I am working on putting a proposal together. I just wrote a Harvey Girl story set in Newton Kansas and I brought in Caleb and Ellie from The Doctor's Wife as secondary characters. This new story is Benjamin's. If you read The Doctor's Wife, you will remember that he is Ellie's younger brother. They shared the same horrible mother and backstory, and I've wanted to explore what effects the past had on him as a young man, and how it will effect his relationships. In deciding who was the perfect woman to match him with (perfect for plotting purposes anyway - heh heh) I made a list of three different possibilities and then listed all the reasons that they would make for great internal conflict. The preacher's daughter won by a landslide. On the outside, she's the perfect woman for him. But digging deeper, she's everything he's not and all he holds in high esteem. Just the woman he'd put on a pedestal and...well, I'm not going to tell you the whole story here, now am I?

Summer is truly here and school is out. This is my first official morning to sit in my jammies and not make the zip-to-school drop off. I'm liking it.

It was a quiet weekend; I'm thinking maybe I need to liven things up with a contest!

7 comments:

  1. We also spent our weekend working on our house. We didn't build anything but my husband painted and painted on the outside and I painted on the inside. Everyone I have talked to also worked on their house. I wonder, are we all working on our homes because with the price of gas we expect to spend a lot of time there?

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  2. Keen observation, Maureen. I make a lot less freecycle runs for things that I would have gone to get a year ago, and the same is true for many freecyclers. (Freecycling is discussed at length in one of my early blogs) I plan my errands around where I'm going and try to stay on a route that doesn't veer off course.

    I want to do some inside painting too, but I'm waiting for HOT weather when I won't want to be outside much at all.

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  3. Wow, Cheryl. You've been busy!
    How come UPS guys are so cute? *g*
    I spent my weekend reading. I live in an apartment so I don't have any outside work to do. The maintenance people did though. I was sneezing and wiping my eyes for hours after they finished mowing and triming. I never had allergies until I moved to New England.

    LOVE THE PROPOSAL!

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  4. You know, I think there must be a criteria to be a UPS man. Must look like a hunk even in brown shirts and brown socks. Must have broad shoulders and a trim midriff, also neatly trimmed hair. Must have muscle power to bound up porches with no stairs. Must have the I-am-cool-even-though-I'm-driving-a-boxy-brown-van appeal.

    The FedEx guys aint't have bad either.

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  5. Maybe the UPS guy is a mountain climber! lol Glad the porch is done. It's a great place to read!

    Rhododendron bushes are beautiful. We have a huge one on the side of our house. I didn't trim it enough! lol

    Yes, summer is here! It was 94 degrees yesterday and much too hot for me! lol

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  6. I do believe you're right, Cheryl. You described them perfectly. LOL!

    94 degrees, Carol?!...*thud*

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  7. Okay, seriously, have you EVER seen a UPS man who looks like that guy on King of Queens? Never.

    I've got it: they make them try on the universal uniform. If it doesn't fit, no job.

    They have Delivery Training stations like firefighters where they scale porches and hedges and dodge dogs to pass the test.

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