Corner of Bourbon & Division

The weekend part of my night shift is always the hardest. After working forty hours, I then have to work an extra 24 (two twelve-hour shifts) right off the bat.

I don't like twelve-hour shifts, for obvious reasons. They're long, and they actually take up more than half the day, because of the prep and travel time. Forty-five minutes to get ready before work, forty-odd minutes to get there, and forty-odd minutes to get home. It amounts to an extra two hours out of my day, which leaves ten hours in which to get eight hours of sleep and maybe watch an episode of X-Files, oh and feed the cats and eat. So whenever I end up working a twelve-hour shift, it essentially means my day is shot, especially if I'm working night shift.

That being said, I did manage to put together 2/3 of one bookcase yesterday. All that's left is to finish nailing the back, and then to put in the shelves. I moved the cat tree, and so when I get home I'll finish it up and hopefully put it into place. Then if I'm not too fried I'll try setting up the other one.

The next ten days or so are going to be devoted almost entirely to house and garden stuff. I have some serious spring cleaning to do, in the form of finding homes for a few boxes that have yet to be unpacked, Freecycling a bunch of stuff, maybe trying to sell a couple of things on Craigslist, and washing windows. Oh, and fussing with setting up my furniture to go the way I want it to.

I also want to get out in the garden to turn the compost and turn the earth in the raised beds, and get everything ready for planting season. There are leaves that must be raked, and sweeping to be done, and lots of exciting garden things that probably only I really care about.

I am also planning on cooking up a storm, to finally re-stock my freezer and pantry whose supplies have been dwindling alarmingly due to my working so damned much. I haven't done any baking in forever, and I am overdue to bake some bread. Haven't done that in... gah, about a year. Maybe a bit less.

The weekend is going to be spent in the Godforsaken Howling Wilderness, or at least in Ottawa, taking my Canadian Firearms Safety Course, so that I can then apply for a RPAL. I don't actually want to own a gun right now, but apparently there's a nice little gun club in LaSalle (so fearsclave tells me) where I can probably get in some practice and see what it's all about. I'm looking forward to this, because I get TONS of questions at work about the CFRO, and I don't always quite know how to answer them. So this will be a great opportunity to learn.

I also have to find my camera cable, in unrelated news.

Next up is getting a nice set of garden furniture and a barbecue. I am thinking of having a housewarming barbecue, likely sometime in June.

All in all, it's going to be a busy but hopefully relaxing and productive two weeks. I should invite my parents to dinner at some point too. *makes mental note*

I'll see you on the flip side, everyone. Right now I'm just waiting for the night to end (two and half hours to go!) so that I can go home.

THE CATS ATE MY TOMATO PLANTS!


GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!


:::sits on hands and makes tremendous effort of will NOT to turn cats into cute throw rugs:::


I will have to start over this coming weekend. There are no words. None. Only incoherent rage.

I had a dream that all my hair had grown back. It was shoulder-length again, and looking better than it ever has in real life, and I was wondering if the fact that it had grown back so quickly meant that I should try shaving it again. Luckily for me, it was not in fact real, and my hair is still short. I'm going to get it trimmed and organized tomorrow, and that will be that.

I have rented Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I have yet to see. I gave it a miss in theaters, having been a little disappointed by the movies in general. Still, I figure it's something I ought to see, and if I enjoy it enough I may go back to watch #6 when it comes on the big screen.

I have been fantasizing about the lobster I plan to eat in Halifax. I haven't had lobster in a little under a year, since the last time I went, and it's calling to me with siren song. ;)

In other random news, one of my snap peas has already started to germinate. Umm, oops? I figure if worse comes to worst I'll buy the large pots ASAP and just grow the poor beans and peas indoors until I can put them outside. If they don't make it because they don't like being inside, well, then I'll know that I really can't start them this early. Heh. In my wildest, most optimistic dreams I didn't think a four-day germination period was going to happen.

On a final note, I still don't feel like going to work. Shocking, I know. Time to hop into a shower and get going.

If there is one, I should be lighting a candle. Or at least, thinking about lighting a candle and then deciding to do it later. ;)

I got only one thing done today. Okay, no, more than one. But not nearly as many of the things as I wanted to get done.

I did go and get seed starting soil, and I shoveled the front and the back, which were in sore need of it. The front wasn't so bad, because I've been mostly keeping it clear, but there was another heavy snowfall since the last time I cleared a path to the shed out back, so that took some work. I'm hoping that by tomorrow the temperature will melt more of the remaining snow.

I'm a little frustrated with myself and my lack of progress here. I really want to start organizing the place properly, and I lack the time, money and energy to do any of it. I have a vague idea in mind, and it involves lots of various kinds of shelving. It's all going to have to wait until I'm back from Halifax, and the shed-organizing I want to do will have to wait until all the snow melts. There is no way I am lugging disassembled shelving through the snow and assembling it out there in the cold. There are limits to what I'm willing to do in the name of organization.

In the meantime, I've been keeping a vague eye out for some of that wire shelving that can be used to organize closets, but I haven't seen any. I'm hoping to find some later on.

That being said, I didn't get any cleaning or tidying done. The day is young, I know, but I'm tired and I don't feel like doing the rest.

I'm going to finish watching Star Wars instead. In a fit of pique because the FLVS didn't have the last two discs of BSG, I rented the trilogy instead. Maybe after that I'll be more motivated.

I'm going to the seed exchange on Sunday with ai731! Whee!

The problem is that I have WAY more garden ideas than I actually have room in the garden. Uh, oops?

Part of me is squeeing and declaring "I want lettuce and carrots and tomatoes and peppers and onions and ooh! maybe I should try broccoli again, and what about chives and leeks and potatoes and of course I'll need several varieties of squash and zucchini and I wonder if cucumbers can grow in this climate and..."

The other part of me is trying desperately to put on the brakes: "Uh, yeah. Where exactly were you planning to plant all that?"

Eesh.

ai731's latest post in her blog has reminded me that I haven't done ANYTHING yet with regards to the garden.

I really need to start thinking about seeds and the like. It appears early seeds should be started about now.

*headdesk*

I have too much food tonight. Originally I just had a sandwich and the fresh broccoli I picked out of the garden last night. Oh God, the broccoli. So delicious. I hope it keeps coming back over the summer: there was barely enough to fill two cups' worth.

Then my supervisor (the one whose brother owns a farm) gave me freshly-picked beans. They were delicious (though sadly overcooked) and lettuce picked this morning, and suddenly there was more food than I could possibly ever consume in one sitting and live to tell the tale.

I feel a little bit in limbo these days. I keep thinking of projects I want to start and things I want to get or do, and a little voice pipes up and tells me: "Not before you move!" Even things like baking projects and getting books or DVDs. It's only six weeks away, but it feels both much longer and much shorter.

I think I need to get myself a green man (or green woman? I think those exist too... if not, they should) icon.

Anyway, I stopped off at Canadian Tire today and got myself a bunch of herb seeds and pots in which to plant them. I bought thyme, rosemary, sweet basil, sweet marjoram, oregano, and mint. I also neatly labelled all my pots, so that I can tell them apart while they all still look like, well, dirt in a pot.

I am very excited. I should be seeing growth anywhere from a week to twenty-one days from now, and by the time summer is out the herbs will be nearly fully grown, supposing I don't manage to kill them all in the meantime.

Does anyone have any idea if and how I might grow these for seed at one point? I'd love to start a huge unstoppable colony of herbs. It's just that I know diddly-squat about how to go about instigating the circle of life, here.

I didn't get all the herbs I wanted. I may go back in search of parsley and sage (so I can have a proper Scarborough Fair mix), but I think we have sage in the garden already if memory serves. Anyway, I'm sure there are plenty of herbs I could grow, once I find a suitable spot for them. Right now my only problem is that I lack horizontal storage space with adequate lighting. I may sacrifice the position of honour by the window that I've given to the cat tree up until now, so that my herbs will grow. I'm sure the cats will understand.

I totally forgot that I was planning on starting a potted-herbs garden this year. I shall have to remedy that either next week or the following week, depending on how sleep-deprived I am. ai731 has already planted a bunch in the garden, but I'd like to try my hand at some on my own, as well.


One thing I've noticed about working night shift is that I no longer have the option of having a drink at the end of the day when I get home, since it's, like, 07:30. I almost never drink when I get home at the end of the day anyway (maybe once or twice a year), but I resent not having the option. It also means I can't have a drink in the evening, since I have to go to work shortly thereafter. So, night shift means a lifestyle free of booze for the most part.

Y'know, 'cause I drink so much to begin with.