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    Wednesday, June 25, 2008

    Houseless Home-Mates & More

    These last couple of weeks have been a doosey to say the least.

    A friend of mine became homeless and is now sleeping on our living room floor with her husband while they await his next paycheck so they can move into an apartment of their own, and it's been a lot of fun staying up late at night after he gets off of work chatting, telling stories, and playing games, but it has cut my productivity down to nill.

    Ladybug's birthday party went well, and we all had a lot of fun, even if the invitations to our homeschool groups didn't go through for some odd reason. Of course, this means that there are a LOT of party bags left over, but we'll be taking them to the free homeschool clothes, toys, & food exchange this weekend and they will all find nice new homes there, while we will hopefully find some new-to-them clothes and shoes for the girls.

    The garden is growing well, and the cuttings we've taken are rooting nicely. As usual around this time of year, we are at a loss for planters, and have need of many more than we currently own. We've trimmed back some of the trees lining the parking area so that we can plant something there, and already begun beautifying the neighborhood with flowering edible plants. I'm sure the neighbors won't mind.

    We still haven't gotten an answer from the landlord as to whether we can garden the back lot, but we decided we didn't need permission to put up a small retractable clothesline, so we went on ahead, and that's helping to save us a lot of money on at least drying the laundry, since my mother still refuses to give up our washing machine.

    If we don't get an answer on the gardening thing by next week, we're going to set up a load of planters back there and garden that way. Nobody has ever said no to a container garden, only to digging up their precious (yet poorly-tended) grass. At least there are edibles in the yard. *grin*

    One of the local coffee shops has agreed to save their used coffee grounds for us if we provide the container, so the pickle buckets will soon be on parade yet again, and our wait for garden soil, both for our own garden, and The Radish's many projects, will soon be over, or at least significantly reduced. Today, I deliver their first empty pickle bucket.

    The Radish's community garden is coming along nicely, and we've donated a few plants over there, as well as continued to contribute to their compost heap with our un-wormable compostables.

    I've taken lots and lots of photos of pretty much everything, but as the battery on the camera is now dead, and with me not knowing the charger's location, showing them off is kind of on hold for now.

    The house continues to pull into shape, and we've decided that we need a lot of shelving all over the walls of the house to be able to have enough storage space. This place doesn't have nearly enough closets to store the things we need. Looks like it was made for college students, with three small closets, and only enough kitchen cabinets to store a couple of pots, some spices, random boxed foods, and a set of dishes. We really miss our old house.

    There have been some pleasant dumpster scores as of late as well. Not that we've been out hunting, really, but when a shelving unit looms up out of the trash as you drive by, you just have to go pick it up, no matter if you have no place to put it back at the house. *chuckle* Of course, shelving is one of those things that not having space for isn't a problem, what with the average shelving unit itself being able to provide at least twice the space it takes up.

    We've been requested to teach a class on sushi preparation, and two people want to come over and have me either create or upkeep their dreadlocks for them.

    Now, I know where the time goes, but why the heck can't I somehow barter time from those that have extra lying around that they're not using?

    7 comments:

    Todd said...

    I got your birthday invite. Apparently you didn't get my response. *sigh* Glad it was a good day for her though.

    Sorry about your friends. Hope they're able to find a place soon. *energy*

    Congrats on the dumpster score! Good luck getting the garden going, ours only has a few tomato plants right now.

    TheyDHD said...

    Unfortunately, I'm really behind on my emails too, or I would have not only received your reply to the invite, but also the notification that the emails I sent to the other groups had not been delivered. Ah well, I'm sure I'll get your message when I manage to slog through all of the email. *smile*

    Want me to send you a squash or zucchini seedling? Ours ore doing great, and are sturdy enough to mail! *grin*

    Anonymous said...

    I live in an apartment complex, so we can't do gardens:( although I've never been able to keep any plants alive or fish...only my kids:) I did think about putting a pot on the patio and growing some tomato's but I never did it. Maybe next year. (because I think it's too late, is it?)

    lovelife said...

    you sure are a busy person. I my self have been home alone and will be for ever tell the weekends lol long story. tell the kids hi.

    Anonymous said...

    SPARE TIME?!?!!? WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!?!?! lol seriously, sorry i couldnt help you out, everything is crazy with dr visits and health department and oh yeah, they want to come to your house to test for lead. give me a call tomorrow after you wake up.

    Todd said...

    Nah, don't worry about the veggies, we're not big on eating them anyway. Preciate the offer though :-)

    TheyDHD said...

    The Flip Flop Mamma,

    I am replying to your comment via a new blog post, as you inspired an answer worthy of a whole new post.