Today's reading

"When you feel yourself starting to become whole, it's all right to accept positions of power, but not before then. The overriding problem with our country, and our world in general, is that we are, in large part, managed by incompetents. Most of these are men who have spent their lives seeking power rather than themselves.Consequently we are confronted with the grotesque spectacle of working for childish figures --half-baked little generals with overblown egos and no more understanding of the seach for meaning than some primitive, base organism spending its time feeding on the lives and feelings of others, guzzling them up like strained peaches, cackling to themselves as they play shell games with other people's destinies." -Robert James Waller

What it is?

I need to make this blog more fun...right?

More multi-media. Last weekend I had the opportunity to see Manah Hontana live at the Hudson High School. My very funny and talented cousin Adam is in the band. I have a clip of that to post....but will have to do that later.

In the mean time, I would like to share with you the drawing of our house created by our in-house architect:

Hope

Spring is sort of here. It has almost kind-of arrived. We hit 60 degrees earlier this week.

I spent last Saturday getting the growing area (otherwise known as my basement) set up. Grow lights, tables, heating pads, and the onions seeds are planted in the flat.
This coming weekend I will plant pepper seeds, with my good friend Katy's help. I borrowed some soil blocks from my friend Joan, have the organic soil ready.....success will be had!

This weekend will also provide some time for Katy and I to discuss plans to sell some produce and other items at farmers markets and maybe the local co-op. Katy had a lot of success with hot sauce last year so we will hopefully build on that this year.

In other news, I have negotiated a 30 hr/week schedule with my corporate job. That will allow me more time with the boys, getting stuff done around the house, and hopefully relieve some of my guilt about taking care of home.

Spring, spring, my favorite season. Can't wait for the tulips to bloom!!!

Snob.

Dilemma at hand.
I was never a facebooker or a myspacer, and truth be told...I still am not a big fan. I see value in LinkedIn in that it is for the most part functional in terms of business connections and the personal/political/opinion/silly-crap stays out of it. I like that.

HOWEVER, I did create a facebook page at the urging of my family members and a few friends. For years it sat there unchecked and then I started about 5 months ago paying attention to it.

What I enjoy is the general monitoring of the younger family members because I get a kick out of remembering what "those days" were like and find it fascinating how different their lives are now with facebook, text messaging,etc...the days of passing notes in class are over.

I also enjoy the daily updates from my dearest friends and family. A quick blurb from them can make my day (if it's a happy blurb) or even throw me into friend-role to help someone out. That is wonderful and a human connection that would be hard to have otherwise given the normal schedule of my life.

What I don't like...are the random friend connections from people, who for the most part...I had not connected to anyway for a reason. This presents a dilemma for me:
Do I want them to read what my friends/family are up to?
Do I want to read what they are up to?
Am I interested in engaging in non-like minded chatter?

It has even occurred to me that I find some of these "random friends from the past" embarrassing. They just aren't of the same political and religious beliefs as I am or my current social circle is.

Okay, okay...I know. It is good to have a balanced group. Makes you think..blablabla. But my feeling is that I get that "balance" by being around most of the people I work with and see around town. I am pretty maxed out on that way of thinking. I need balance in the other direction.

So, I started removing the "random friends from the past" from my facebook. I guess I must have decided facebook is important to me. That is not to say that all of those removed are people I don't want to be friends with or keep in touch with...but what I am trying to promote is a nice sanctuary for me. A place that I can check throughout the day and find inspiration, connections to people, and NOT silliness and I do NOT want to have to apologize for any ignorant comments made by anyone NOR to I want to feel compelled to respond. I have a forum for that...and that is most of my life.

Rant complete. Anyway, thoughts?

Time for spring.

It's been a long time since my last post.

Work has been busy. Too much work for too little money.

That is my only excuse.

Things look better this week.

I finally placed my seed order today. That means spring is certainly around the corner. I am ready!! Well, sort of. Now I need to start my seedlings indoors this year. Time to set up the grow lights, heating pads, etc.

Still, plans are in the works to hopefully go part-time by summer. This will give me more time with the boys and more time to tend to the growing of our food. As a family, we eat a lot. The more I can grow and preserve the better off we will be. I am lucky to have a few friends that can provide a lot of very good guidance this year in the garden. With any luck this will be the biggest most successful growing season I've had. I CAN'T WAIT.

As promised included within this post are some pictures from my trip to Key Largo.....