thanks to dee, here's a quick update

No, no, don't worry, I haven't given up the ghost. Just fighting off the constant weariness that comes with the end of the school year. So much to do and so little time... you know the deal. I've been fighting on several fronts: technology that has been kicking my bum, being a bit under the weather (but not the flu, thank you very much), family issues, and trying to bite off more than I can chew at work, thus working late and coming home ready to sleep.

Oh no, I sound like I'm complaining.

Really, things could be much worse, so I don't mean to complain. I'm just tired to the bone, and I have commitments until basically the Fourth. Ah, sweet Independence Day, I am looking forward to it. OK, the Third, I shall be free on the Third of July.

So. Tired.

And I don't mean to keep you all dee in suspense for so long... I do fully plan to write the post about what was up in the garden. Just as soon as I get my pics off my husband's computer. (Oooh, a post with pictures! Really, it will be worth the wait.)

I'm reading those of you who are posting, but there's no time for commenting. I'm very appreciative, however, of the short stolen moments I get to enjoy reading!!

an experiment

I promise I'll post about it later, when I have the time to upload the pics to go with, but I've been working on an experiment for the past month? six weeks? I'm not sure, but the results are in!!

And if I do say so myself, I am impressed!

I will say it happened in the garden, and it has to do with deer and survival of the greens!

sweet

The video I originally put up here was taken down, so here it is from the source. Enjoy.

being green pays off

I have always wondered how this whole recycling thing works. This is a very cool animation that explains the whole RecycleBank process (one of the processes, which allows mixing recyclables). Brought to my attention by Sustainable Dave (he's cool, check him out!).

Plus, evidently, you can rack up points by recycling. Which I'm probably not going to do (rack up points, that is, not recycle), as I don't think this program exists in my area. :-( And even if it did, it sounds like you have to sign up for trash pickup in order to do this. We go to the dump. Which is fine. And getting points wouldn't make me recycle more, although who knows... maybe I'd be more assiduous about finding out how many more of those things that we have are actually recyclable.

Anyway, if you live in parts of: VA, MA, MN, PA, NE, CT you may have access to this program. (Sorry, I really have no idea if something similar is available in Canada. But if any Canadians want to suggest something, I'd love to hear it.)

One of the things that I thought was really super-cool was that they developed a program for universities to encourage students to recycle, where they have kiosks on campus, you have a little passcard (like those FastPass?? things at the Mobil station) to get credit for your recycling efforts. You rack up points and redeem them. Evidently, they also have kiosks in some cities for people who live in apartments. Hmm.

One thing that I thought was a little annoying about this video is that they show Ikea as one of their rewards partners, but I couldn't find anything about Ikea on their website. Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm obsessed with all-things-Ikea, but still, I expected to find them on their list. Maybe they just left the program, but then that makes me wonder why....

P.S. I don't think this is an April Fool's thing. But I have been told that gullible isn't in the dictionary before. Does anyone have any experience with this company?

why so much pink?

I see lots of toys in the stores that my son would like, either now or sometime in the future (I think). What I want to know is why does everything having to do with kitchen or houses have to be so pink??

For example:

This toy is actually labelled as a "girl toy." Don't get me wrong. I'm all for girls being (gourmet) chefs, doctors, lawyers, presidents, CEOs and all that other fun stuff. Hey, mechanics, software engineers, garbage collectors, nurses and teachers, too.

But don't manufacturers basically leave out half of the potential market with this kind of stuff? Will girls refuse to play with non-pink toys? Do girls think it must be a "boys' toy" if it's not pink and/or labelled as "for girls"?

I'm not philosophically opposed to giving pink toys to boys either, it's just that I don't really want all the traditionally "feminine" things to be all pink. Anything to do with babies, cooking, houses. Maybe they are available online in non-pink, but in the stores (at least the stores I've been in lately), no such luck.

There are a lot of toys that I loved as a child, and now that I'm searching for them, it appears to be hard to find them in "non-Barbie colors."

Whatever happened to primary colors?

things that make me cranky

Middle-aged man who asks me (while volunteering at a registration desk for an event... not the first aid desk) to help him put a Band-Aid® on his finger which currently has a tissue rubber-banded on. Reluctantly, I agree to help. Then, he proceeds to ask me to throw away his bloodied tissue. Uh. No. I ask him to kindly come around and throw the tissue away in the trash can. This man, who is not a teen Michael Jordan-wannabe, proceeds to try to do a free shot for the trash can. And, surprise! surprise!, doesn't make it. Then, he expects me to pick up the tissue from the ground and throw it away. Uh. Double-N.O. Spells "NO." I didn't want to touch your tissue in the first place. I certainly don't want to walk across the room, bend over, and pick up your tissue because you are too childish to just throw the thing away in the first place.

Note to clueless people: Don't expect a stranger to want to deal with your bodily fluids (even if dried), and especially don't expect said stranger to want to pick up your dirty tissues because a) you don't want to be bothered or b) you're too adolescent to just throw it away and want to make it into a game. DO expect me to give you my best teacher glare.

watch at your own risk

I found this (via Realigned Rain) truly frightening. I mean, I knew this existed, but....

The thing is that she looks so ... ordinary, blah, whatever at the beginning. If I saw her on the bus, I wouldn't even look twice. She looks like someone who doesn't really care much about her appearance. And after she's "made up," she looks traditionally "pretty," OK. But they have to photoshop her to make her even "better."

I feel sick.