oh, the pain....

Well, the tiller came in. Dad got it all put together for us. I didn't know it was going to be so small! I took one look at it and thought, "this is going to be a piece of cake." Saturday morning -- it takes all 3 of us to read the instructions... but I got it fired up and ready to till. I started it on the first row of my garden patch -- and made one row - and thought I was going to die! That sucker may be small... but it still took everything I had to run it! Today I feel like I've been beat up by a gang of ninjas. My arms hurt... my legs hurt... my back hurts... heck, even my feet hurt!! The good news is, between myself and mom and dad - the garden patch has been tilled and cultivated. I even had enought energy left to put in a small flower bed at the back of the garage. That one was fun as well -- my mom and I don't have the same 'eye' for flowerbeds. My big picture (which is Alice in Wonderland meets an English Cottage) is not the big picture she has (which is tight and orderly and everything has it's place). In the end, she just didn't watch and let me do as I wanted (nice of her, seeming it's my house). We will see how it comes up - I did everything by seed this year. My first time to try it- so if it doesn't work - note to self for next year! Needless to say, today my list had a lot on in  and NONE of it got done... basically all I accomplished today was a nap -- but, hey, it's hard to garden when you can barely lift your arms!!

nobody said it was going to be hard work!!

So, I started my journey into the wonderful world of landscaping and gardening this weekend. I woke up at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and did 50 transplants -- my little seedlings were needing much more room to grow. Dug out a flowerbed and got it planted. And on Sunday, finished the raised garden bed and got 18 strawberry plants in the ground. Here's the thing -- number one, after all that work, you can't tell I've done a darn thing around here! Mom says it's not instant gratification... but it would be nice to be able to tell a little difference. Number two - and maybe most importantly, MAN am I out of shape! Sunday morning I was sore in places I didn't even know I could be sore!! I was hobbling around all over the house. Not to mention, woke up with a horrible headache and sore throat - more than likely caused from working outside all day. On the flip side, here is the good news... it felt good. I loved being outside in the nice weather - although I think I spent as much time staring aimlessly at birds and clouds and trees than anything else! I love the sounds of outside - the wind in the trees, the birds chirping, the squirrels scampering around. I absolutely LOVE digging in the dirt. It's like a whole treasure trove... I saw all kinds of bugs and found all kinds of things buried. So, I guess the girl who said she would never work in the yard, has in fact, changed her mind. I have a whole Spring and Summer full of projects out there -- and can't wait till I get it all just like I want it. And have veggies and fruits to boot!

What part of that was confusing?

Perhaps it's because I live in East Texas. It might be because my town holds a mere 4,50e0 people. Maybe it's for the same reason I hear "then how do you get your protein" every time I tell someone around here I don't eat meat. I suppose maybe in the land of barbecue, beer and beef, I stand out as an oddity. I mean, I have to drive 45 minutes to find a grocery store that has any kind of selection of vegetarian or vegan food. However, that doesn't deter me from being, well, me. However, what I love most is the reaction I get from people in the area. For instance, as you can imagine, there aren't many restaurants around with vegetarian selections. I have to be pretty creative when eating out. We were eating out at a local Mexican restaurant the other night and I really wanted fajitas. There was no reason I shouldn't be able to have them... there was enough to fill a tortilla, even without leaving out the meat. So, when the waitress came by to take our order, I ordered fajitas -- of course though, I told her to hold the meat. If I could only begin to explain to you the look on her face. I guess you could call it one of confusion. So confused, in fact, that she then started to ask if I wanted chicken or beef. I stated again, no meat. Confusion again. "So, you're saying you don't want any meat?" I reply, "that's right, no meat." To which she asks, "well, do you want the other stuff?" Apparently, if you're leaving off the meat it makes taking the order much more difficult than just cutting the onions. So, just this evening I was at Home Depot, picking up the pots and potting soil to transplant my seedlings for the garden. Upon checking out, the oung man could not get the plastic bags open to bag my items. I told him, "I prefer you not bag them at all." Once again, confusion. His whole face just went kinda blank. Stupid me, I then tried to explain to him my reasoning... the plastic bags are bad for the earth - I'm trying to be greener - the bags are an unnecessary evil. All this did was creat more confusion. So, I've decided... I simply just have to expect people to look at me as if I'm speaking a different language. I'm different -- and sometimes people don't understand different. But, I'm totally cool with that. Plus, really, it's quite entertaining too!