So: Finally got the little backyard-patio area fixed up. I knew it had potential. James built the planter boxes last fall and I planted a fern, three hostas, pansies, and a few mystery plants in there. Everything that should have survived, did! Hoorah for me. Also, I added more pansies, some petunias, a whole bunch of strawberries, and a whole bunch of nasturtium seeds. Those will come in about two weeks, and I even got pink ones. Yay! Also, I have peppermint, rosemary, honeysuckle, carrots, some flowering groundcover, and a whole bunch of mystery bulbs that haven't bloomed yet. Not pictured: bbq and several spiders.

































For my birthday James took me to Crate and Barrel to pick out a vase. The first moment we walked in the door I caught site of this cool 60's looking blue one that I could swear my great-grandmother or somebody in my family once owned. I needed it immediately.













I picked some of the flowers that I had planted a few years ago at my in-laws. The pink tulips are the largest I have ever seen, and I took this picture for comparison: that's my camera lens cap. The tulip is almost as big as my hand. Ginormous!




























And the yellow and red ones are some of the prettiest I've ever seen. I got lucky with those bulbs.

Hilarity. And music.

Springtime! Hoorah!
Friday we had a half day at school. It was great, especially since my prep period was one of the two classes scheduled. Most of us on staff went to Golden Valley Brewery afterward and enjoyed some foods and drinks. Hilarity ensued.
Then, after school, Liz and I did some gardening. We found curry plants, which we found fascinating, as you normally don't find curry in the gardening section - it smells so strongly! Our fingers even smelled like curry long after we'd touched it. I found this super weird succulent that feels like worms. I got some carrot seeds, and nasturtium (pink?!), and more strawberries, and another hosta.

Enjoy some Postal Service!

If you haven't seen "Lazy Sunday," well, here it is.

do yourself a favor

...and listen to Heavy Metal Drummer, by Wilco. Actually, listen to this whole album. Several times. I've had it for years, and I've never gotten sick of it, not once. Also, become familiar with the song "Jesus, etc." Video below.



...and I link this next one for two reasons: first, you get to listen to "Heavy Metal Drummer." Second, this was clearly made by five punk teenage boys, but it has good production value for highschoolers. Seriously, I can only hope my kids will be able to pull something like this off. I genuinely enjoyed watching it. Also, we at the school have already begun discussions about some sort of music-video contest. This is an exemplar.

Still super sick. My voice is slowly coming back, but my throat still kills me... and I've a pretty bad cough at night, and I'm running out of my precious Vicodin. :( I did manage to escape bedrest for a couple of hours on Saturday to take some pictures with Liz - we went to Bald Peak State Park outside town and took some shots. It was pretty hazy, unfortunately, but here are a couple 180 degree views - one looking south/southwest, the color one looking northwest. You can't see very well, but the color one was a shot of Mt. Saint Helens, Mount Adams, Mount Hood, and Mount Jefferson. You could see all four, it was awesome.

I'm going to crawl back into bed.

PS: Happy birthday, Dad! I hope you had sushi.

Guh, I'm totally sick again (worse than ever this time), and miserable, and out of it. A few days ago I even dug out my stash of Vicodin from last year because my sore throat/coughing was keeping me and Hubby up... only five left, but the doctor gave me a new prescription today (I was also glad that I had made the right call with the Vidocin, considering she wanted me to continue it. Oh, Vicodin, my best friend!). I did luck out, though - after I went in to work and realized that I can't effictively teach with zero voice (hardly a whisper), I managed to find a sub for the afternoon. Then, my doctor just happened to have an opening at 11. Good news: not strep, but definitely something nasty, and she says if it continues to get worse I need to go to the ER. Gah!

Side note: it's embarrassing running around in public with no voice. Trying to get someone's attention? Forget it. Filling a prescription? They think you're a junkie. This checkout lady at Fred Meyer's self-check-out was so incredibly rude/condescending to me, and I really wanted to tell her off, but I couldn't! Torture, I tell you.

The kids are being super sweet about it though. I love my kids.