Weekend warriors

Joe and I just finished putting in two hard Saturdays' worth of work getting the pond installed in my backyard outside my parents' bedroom window. It's about 4' x 6' and about 18" deep. There's a lot of cosmetic stuff that still needs to be done and plants and fish need to go in but it's basically done. Here's the photo of what it looked like about an hour ago when we were finished (for now):
As you can see, the liner is still very visible and a lot of things need some adjusting, but it's basically finished, as I said before. This week when I have time, I'll go around with a spade and even out the ground under the liner around the edges and get the pavers in tight, and I'll spread more pebbles out over the liner, and maybe I'll finally get the roses planted at some point. I also want to put in some papyrus and irises, but those will probably have to wait longer until we get the bed around the pond better defined.

Updates and a link

Sorry I haven't written anything lately... Been pretty busy the last few days. Figured I should write something while my facial is drying.

The pond in the backyard is about halfway done. It's all dug out. Now, it just needs to be lined and filled with water, plants and fish... I've got blisters though and that won't do because one can always tell a lady by her hands, although in my defense (unlike Scarlett) I *was* wearing gloves. So finishing that will have to wait until tomorrow. After all tomorrow is another day. (Who saw "Gone With the Wind" far too often at apparently too young an age?... Me! Me!)

I can't remember if I mentioned it yet, but I got a B on my Geology midterm and an A on both my Archaeology midterm and paper. WooHoo!! Quite happy about that. I'll be able to register for Spring semester classes on Nov. 16th. Don't know what I'm taking yet because once again there are like *no* Medieval history classes being offered... Professor Hughey and I must be the only people in the school who care about Medieval history. ::sighs:: I'm going to try to do an independent study so I can get my upper level credits finished. And then there's two options: foreign language (which is almost definitely out because they aren't offering many beginning levels this semester unless I want more French, which I don't because it will require 4 more credits than I need to take it and that's like $400 I don't need to give USF), or the History exit requirements. I'm going in to talk to my MIA advisor next week come hell or high water or both. And that's that.

And as I promised some people a while ago, here is a link for the "Very Secret Diaries" written by Lord of the Rings fan Cassandra Claire: http://homepages.nyu.edu/~amw243/diaries/ The diaries are a work of parody, all in good fun, but they are *definitely* not appropriate for children. And for the sake of continuity, they should be read in the order in which they are listed going left to right. Also, best if read when one is in the mood for something funny. If you're not, you might just think it's really dumb... which it probably is, but it can be really funny too...

Green Acres is the place to be...

My mom told my dad and I this evening at dinner that, now that the remod on our house is done, she's thinking that my dad and she should look into buying a vacation property/retreat somewhere (of course, my dad's response was "With what money?"). She loves our home, so she doesn't want to move or anything, but she's really missing the farm she used to have in Brooksville. She said it's always been a dream of hers to have a lovely, 5- 10 acre property in the Carolinas or Virginia that she could eventually keep horses on... maybe some goats. She said no chickens, which is disappointing. She's worried about the bird flu thing, silly as that is. As someone with a degree in Biology, she should know better. (added 10/16/05: When I asked mom if she was serious about the no chickens because of the bird flu thing today, she laughed and said she had just been messing with me and that by the time we were ready to get chickens, the bird flu wouldn't even be remembered by most people. ::sighs:: She's been hanging out with dad too much, starting to develop his sick sense of humor.)

I started looking around on the internet to see what I could find and I didn't find much. Mostly listings for way too much property or smaller parcels at $8,000+ per acre. If anyone knows good places to search, please let me know.

If only we could win the $1,000,000 Lake Lure, NC home that HGTV will be giving away in January... ::sighs::

Josh is home

Josh arrived home early this morning... around 4 o'clock. He leaves again on Sunday to go to Philadelphia. I don't know what for - something with some of his friends who live there, I think. And I don't know when he'll be back again. I don't think it's for a job. He goes out on tour sometime this fall.

It's terrible for me to say, but I get along better with him when he's not at home. Not even 12 hours since he got home, and already he's invading my space without reservation or remorse. If only he'd have the slightest respect for me and my things, I could probably deal. But he comes home and immediately begins complaining about how I should organize my things better in *my* bathroom... Neverrmind that I cleaned his bathroom for him early this morning while he was still sleeping so it wouldn't be dusty or grimy for him. And do I get a "thanks"? Nooo... I'm quite sure he didn't even notice. And when he started unpacking his car, he put all of his luggage and boxes in my darkroom, which was only finished yesterday. I asked him to find somewhere else to put it all because it's my darkroom, but he says he won't unless mom makes him because "if you can put things in there, then so can I." ::rolls eyes:: I hate sibling rivalry.

And if that weren't bad enough, he's started smoking cigarettes since he's been in California. I caught him smoking outside around noon with a friend of his who looks perpetually stoned. At least it wasn't pot that they were smoking, although I know he occasionally smokes that too. ::sighs:: He's my father's biological son, and he knows that cancer runs in his family, that dad is already having lung problems, that Zadde died of lung cancer and so did Bubbe, and still he chooses to smoke. I don't get it. I just don't get it...

Okay, hopefully, I'm done with my immature rant about my brother. I know I can't control his life, but honestly, he could make better decisions and be a nicer person.

I've also got my new computer working. I just needed a disk that my mom had misplaced. Once she got home, it was all done in about 15 minutes. And today, our contractor, Jay, got everything squared away with the last of the touch-up painting and baseboards, and the inspector from downtown came and did the final inspection. So everything is all done now (Yay!! ::wild cheering::) and my parents are going to start moving their furniture this weekend. It's beautiful. I'll eventually take pictures of the new rooms and post them.

or so I thought...

Well, I accomplished quite a lot this weekend. I completely cleared my brother's room of all mine and my mother's stuff, got it all organized and put away in it's proper place... And if that weren't enough, I got the photo submission for the contest I'm going to enter all put together and pretty much ready to go. I've got until August 15th, so I'm waiting to hear back from a few more people about which ones they think I should submit. #1 and #3 will definitely be submitted. #2 definitely no. I just need to figure out which of the blue sweater would be best, #4 or #5, and that will be that.

Today, I went out to lunch with two of my high school friends, Maria and Laura. We had a very nice time catching up and discussing the latest turn in local politics. We really need to do it more often. Then I came home and finished up some of my other recent projects. I planted the hydrangea and the banana tree, fertilized several plants, and checked over the garden just before the thunder started rumbling, and I supervised the installation of the mirror and shower door for my parents' new master bathroom.

On an even brighter note, I found out this morning that "Beowulf and Grendel" will be in theaters in October! That's a full six months sooner than I had thought. Here's the official site if you would like to check it out: http://www.beowulfandgrendel.com/ It was filmed in Iceland! ::squee!:: I can't wait to see it!