compost: 1 year later

Remember when I was trying to make compost? It was around this time of year in 2009 and I raked all the leaves in my parents' back yard together. Then I put them in a big barrel and crushed them up with a weed whacker.

 

Yeah, so not all of them got pulverized, but enough did to do the job.

Then I made some catchalls for the leaves and layered the leaves with some dried grass clippings.

 

They look a little sloppy, but I was recycling that chicken wire and it wasn't that malleable. 

There were four of them in all.

It doesn't look like a lot, but that's about eight to ten big brown lawn refuse bags worth of leaves. They take up way less space when shredded.

So after all that work, I sort of forgot about it. Every once in awhile, we'd put in some kitchen scraps, but once it snowed, going all the way back into the corner of the back yard seemed like a lot of work. Come springtime, the compost had reduced down by about 75%, but I still didn't see any "black gold" that was supposed to have happened. It might have if I had turned over the compost as I intended. 

But this year, as we were raking the leaves (the weed whacker wasn't working so I didn't try to compost them, which is too bad because there was a pile about the size of my small sedan), I went back to check on the compost. 

The contents of my chickenwire bins had reduced to a small mound on the ground. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but IT WAS REAL COMPOST! IT WAS GREAT! All soft and coal black and full of nutrients! Just like the book had said! I was so excited! So we cleared out the dead stuff from the garden and spread it all over. I'm not sure if that was the best thing to do, but I didn't want to forget about it again. 

 

 If it doesn't snow this week, I'll go out and add a picture.

It's because everyone else is out partying

I'm not sure you've heard, but the apartment (built in the '70s) is not quite as nice as the condo (built in the '00s). Cereal boxes are too big to fit in the cabinets, the kitchen drawers don't really work (in fact, jon built us a separate IKEA standalone cabinet w an awesome chopping block-ish top) and we can't put anything too far back in the fridge or it'll freeze solid.

And the parking. Some of you are aware of my longstanding love affair with parking. The spaces are not Hummer-friendly to say the least, and I think we'd have all benefitted greatly if they were diagonal instead of perpendicular. Many of the cars have scrapes on them from bad parkers and one nicer ride's front end got smashed by an overzealous resident who may never confess. It's just too tight up in there. So every night when i come home, most of the close spots near the doors are taken. I vacillate between parking far away from the crammy area but having to walk in the cold, or jamming my vehicle into a too-small spot where it might get nicked just to save myself a long walk to the entrance.

The only exception? Friday nights. When I get home at 9pm on Fridays, most every great spot is open. Often I can pull right in without a bunch of adjusting, and I'm right by the door. It's awesome. T hat, on top of the affordability, makes this place totally worth it.

-- Posted From My iPhone--everybody needs an editor.

love a gadget-lover and the gadgets'll grow on you

Tonight after I left work, I stopped at my parents' house for a little couch time with my mom, some aloo bhaaji and chapati and an episode of Sasural Genda Phool from like two weeks ago (yeah, I'm behind). And I left my phone there.

I cannot describe to you how immensely odd that is. Tomorrow I will be sans alarm clock (the one we have is really complicated and can do dual times, but I don't get it), as well as communication with anyone via text or telephone. Worst of all, I can't watch an episode of Leverage or listen to a This American Life podcast or play Angry Birds on it tonight while I'm trying to fall asleep. Sad, I know.

The funny thing is, originally I was the last person in my group of friends to get a cellphone.* I was resistant to having a "homing device" after a bad experience with being forced to carry around a neon pink pager and then interrogated as to why I did not respond within the "acceptable 20-minute window" by a crazy ex. Yeah, that pager is now an algae anchor at the bottom of a lake in my parents' neighborhood.

When I finally caved and got a cell, it was never the latest model. I always went for a very small, functional piece that didn't necessarily have fancy ringtones, a color screen or do pictures. Even though I'd been dating my gadget-phile Jonathan for several years I had a pretty old-school functional phone. But then he got an iPhone. He started showing me new and exciting ways it could change my life. And dag-gummit, it sure did.

So here I am at the computer, reading and commenting into the wee hours of the night because I'm not completely sure how I can get myself to fall asleep without that dang phone.

*Technically I was the first one to have a cellphone: A Zach-Morris model for use only during emergencies driving to and from Champaign, so I never really used it, thank God.

my chompers were JUST FINE before this guy got to work

More than three weeks ago, I went to the dentist. Because of the insurance situation (when I was freelancing, I had none), and because I am a little insane, I hadn't gone since December 2008. So of course the dentist managed to dig up a few cavities.

This was disappointing to me because a) I am a very religious brusher (and as of late, regular flosser) and b) Up until now I'd only had one cavity, which I got when I was 26. I figured that was because I inherited my father's family's awesome, awesome (both in size and pearliness) teeth, but my mother recently informed me that she'd always had our teeth capped to protect them from all that dang sweet-eating (another trait I inherited from my pops).

So I was bummed about the cavities. DDS Novocained me up and fired up the drill. And I could tell he was being thorough. I didn't think much about it--mostly because I was really numbed up and kept slapping myself in the jaw to check if I was still numb. Later on that day, it felt kind of weird. So I went back on my lunch hour to get my fillings taken down a little to even out my bite. Unfortunately, in the following two weeks I had a serious and near-constant toothache. I was popping Advil like Pez.

I went back to DDS and he said "90% of pain after fillings is due to them being too high." So he whittled them down a little more. My bite felt much better. I mentioned that I grind my teeth at night, and he said that may be aggravating the situation, so he told me to get some Sensodyne toothpaste and a night guard. On my way out, he casually mentioned something about root canals. I would say what, but I have blocked that sentence right out of my memory.

So here we are, 22 days after these fillings and I've swapped toothpaste and added this ridiculous night guard to my daily toothcare regimen. At first, my jaw was sore from the weirdness of this foreign thing in my mouth, but I was told that is normal. Then it was fine. But THEN this morning I had some cold yogurt and the toothache is back!!!

Is this the usual case with fillings? I don't recall that last one being like this. Am I just paranoid? Please, Good People Of The Internet tell me this is going to go away. Because, now that I think of it, an unrelenting ache coming from deep within her jaw can really make a girl CRANKY.

older, not necessarily wiser

In 2005, I posted 183 times. So far this year, I have come up with  42 things to post about.

Back when I started this thing, ideas were certainly not easy to come by, but dude, it wasn't anything like this. The concept of blogging was hitting the mainstream, encased in shrinkwrap with that new-car smell. Now it's a household word--and has all sorts of connotations. People are "over" it. Today's general concept of blogging* is something of a "Snuggie" while 2005's blogging was the  "Slanket:" the high-quality original pushed out of view by incessant late-night commercials hawking the cheaply made knockoff. I've never been swayed by trends. In fact, people who pick up on a fad and drop it for the next one even before understanding the first are irritating. I'm in this for the long haul.

But all of a sudden I'm sad about it. I still love this thing. I mean, without it, I never would have met my future husband. We always thought of our story as unique and interesting, but it's probably happening all over the world now. Which is awesome; The One doesn't always live around the corner from you. I guess I'm just melancholy. The weather is changing. And while we had a gorgeous autumn, now it's dark a lot of the time I'm awake. I don't get to spend much time with my family or my fiance. And there's so very much to do and less and less time to do it. I can't even point to where the time goes.

It's a lot like how things were in the dungeon. But wobblier. And with a touch of arthritis.


*This in no way reflects upon all of you wonderful bloggers out there; you guys are still awesome

I haven't read a book since May

And I'm certainly not proud of that. I blame it on the inordinate amount of time I spend on television consumption.

J took a nap when he got home at 3 and woke himself up at 10 to hang out with me when I got home.

Guess what we're doing? Watching 30 Rock.

-- Posted From My iPhone--everybody needs an editor.

they won't know you're the bride unless you pile on the bling

We went to an Indian Wedding Expo today, and there was a fashion show. A pretty well-known Bollywood playback singer was singing during the catwalk.

This dude was, from what we could guess, a late addition. I think he was a bouncer. And he was pretty proud of being the biggest guy there. 

 This woman was Queen of Something. We weren't sure what.

The singer was pretty talented. And a good multitasker. Unfortunately, he didn't think anyone would see him checking his phone DURING his performance because he was kind of behind the curtain.

For the last song, he picked out some Caucasian people in the audience. "What's your name? Sandra? And you? Esperanza, that's nice. Amy? Well this song is for you three. And all the rest of my American friends." Then he busted out a very commendable version of Bryan Adams's Everything I do, I do it for you.

once you have the guy, the rest is just gravy, right?

Dude, there are SO MANY WEDDING SHOWS on television. It may just be because I'm thinking about it more as we dip our toes into planning this thing, but everywhere you turn, there is someone talking about getting some nuptials together. Tonight we happened to catch this VH1 show called My Big Friggin' Wedding. It's, well, very Jersey Shore-ish. And a little scary.


I've been spending a lot of time just looking around. I realize that while I never fantasized about the details of my wedding, I knew I wanted to be doing Indian Stuff and having it outside. I guess that's a start, but it also leaves a lot up to the imagination. And there is SO much to look at on the World Wide Web; it is as Jon says, a great yet very terrible thing. What's worst, those of you who have spent more than 15 minutes with me know that I am what they call The Opposite of The Decider.

The saving grace is that there are some very smart, talented and capable people around who are willing to help. I don't know what I'd do without them.

spent the whole week looking forward to all i'd accomplish today

Today was my day off.  I woke up at 7a. I didn't actually eat, but snacked. I did all the laundry. I took a bunch of CDs my mom gave me so I could import their contents onto her iPod and realized that she already had 80% of them. I mended a couple pieces of clothing that I'm not ready to part with yet. Then a contractor came to see about a leaky pipe. We went and painted some pottery, then watched Dexter over pizza.

I have no idea where the time goes. Am I just underestimating how long it takes me to do stuff? Because this lack of checklist checking off is really getting me down.

"till i was told it was built in 1992"

Conan O'Brien has an awesome American Express Commercial, shot apparently in Jaipur. Here's the "making of" video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlzUdZWetK8


Here's the extended cut:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIZCtDJtFPw


Conan could stand to work on his Hindi, but he's probably a little busy.

St. Martin's Summer

The last two days have been GORGEOUS in this part of Illinois. Sixty-eight degrees, y'all! WAHOOO!
Of course, I haven't really been able to take advantage of it because of all the working and side projects, etc, but I sure have appreciated the heck out of it through the office, house and car windows. Jon took the opportunity to take an oil bath under my car, which would have been a lot more miserable if it were 22 degrees like most years, so that was nice, too.

The last time I remember such a spectacular Indian Summer St. Martin's Summer was in 2005. Right around the 3rd. Longtime readers may know that on that particular night, I went to Midway Airport at 1:10 a.m. (after my shift) to pick H (Jon) up from the airport and meet him in person for the first time. The funny thing is, I didn't know where this little meeting was going to lead, so I breezed over the experience in my subsequent post--the only reference to Jon was, "My company that night showed tremendous patience and sportsmanship, despite all the tailgating, screaming at traffic, time requesting, running, hostess pleading and inhaling of food that my tardiness demanded. The only comment was, 'you know, Cadiz, you definitely get an A+ for planning. It's just the execution that needs a little work.' "

What I didn't mention was that it was 60-some degrees and we were running around Navy Pier, Millennium Park and all over the suburban Chicago area in November without coats as if it were springtime. It was such a great weekend. For so many reasons, but the weather certainly helped.

Two years later I described that first visit again. For the record, Jon is a pro at revolving doors now. In fact, for a long time, the running line was that whenever Jon came to town, he'd bring the gorgeous So-Cal weather with him. Even in January, when we had to ice skate in a big puddle.

Sadly, when Jon moved to Chicago it seemed the streak was broken. It's been HELLA cold the last two winters. Sometimes when it's brutal, he likes to tell me the temperature in his hometown. And while I go to great lengths justifying this Midwest weather, I enjoy these heat-wave bursts more than anyone. The good news? It looks like I might have an ally on his side of the family!

nearly rotten

So today I walk into my office and my mom has left me some orange juice and a bagel, prepared just the way I like it, on my desk. She knew I had to get up at the crack of dawn to do a side job for several hours before my shift started, all the while fasting for 12 hours because in between I had a blood test (to get 20$ off my health insurance every month). That woman is so good to me.

Later, she stopped by to say hello and I asked if she could pick something up for me because my work hours wouldn't allow me to make it. My coworker began lecturing my mother about "cutting the umbilical." I didn't appreciate this. Because--while I AM very blessed--I do my best to try and reciprocate, a lot of which that coworker does not see. But it really got me thinking about how I am kind of spoiled.

To make matters worse/even better, today was a gorgeous 68-degree F day here in Illinois. For mid-November, that's remarkable to say the least. After working ten hours on his feet since the crack of dawn, my fiance swung by my workplace to grab my car, change the oil (and we're not talking about just taking it to JiffyLube, either), bring the car back, and put it in a kickass parking spot so I didn't have to walk near the forest at the end of the night. He's had a headache for three days that won't go away and I know he didn't have the best day at work, but he made time to come by, even though I was busy and couldn't come out with the key for nearly 20 minutes. Jon is THE best.

Yes, I realize how lucky I am. And I thank the heavens for how good I've got it every single day.

and there's nothing you can do about it

Last Friday, my coworker was driving along with her two kids in the car, minding her own business. She was crossing the intersection on a green light as one is supposed to do, when a vehicle to her right decided to just jump on into the intersection. Apparently that driver didn't happen to see the HUGE WHITE TRUCK my friend was driving and slammed into the passenger side, where her son was sitting. Everyone was fine, save for the possible broken ankle of the son and the seatbelt marks on everyone, but the huge white truck was completely totaled.

That same day, another coworker of ours was in a five-car pileup. Hers was the first car stopped at a light. The fifth car was driven by an elderly man, who plowed into the fourth car hard enough to cause a chain reaction all the way to the front.

Both of these coworkers were obeying the laws, keeping within their limits and these boneheads just hauled off and caused terrible accidents. You can be the most perfect driver on the road, and if you happen to cross paths with some idiot, you could be seriously injured. The reminders that these things are possible at any time with no warning makes my brain hurt.

I know, cocooning yourself in the safety of your home is no way to live. But it's easy to forget that the world is a dangerous place.

this coming from the boy who changes clothes like three times a day

"There's a store in L.A. that sells almost all the Jordans. Even the really old ones."

"Are you serious? Why out there? Why not in Chicago?"

"I guess it's more of an L.A. kind of thing, I don't know. They have other shoes, too."

"You had so many of those ridiculous shoes when you were a kid."

"Yeah, I had the [insert unsure rumination about which Air Jordan models he may have had over the years]. This place has the MJ 3s, but not in my size."

"Wait, didn't those come out in the early nineties?!"

"Uh huh. Some of the ones they have listed have notes like 'the plastic has yellowed.' "

"Wait, so YOU would be willing to wear USED GYM SHOES?!?"

"Cadiz, we're talking about MICHAEL JORDANS. Of course."

"I'm not going to even ask what they cost."

move over snuggie?

Apparently this Norwegian onepiece sweatsuit is all the rage. I rather enjoyed the "extreme sleepover" promo photos at cushzilla.com. (Via www.gofugyourself.celebuzz.com). I would totally show you some of the pics, but I can't' figure out how.

In other news, we downloaded the Netflix Streaming to the actual Wii so now I won't have any way of knowing when that someone has been playing Guitar Hero instead of going to sleep early anymore because I'll never have to change the disc.

My apologies for this lackluster post. But it'll seem better if you check out those ridiculous photos on cushzilla.com.

take a little time today to make a turkey out of your handprint

On the way home from work, NPR had some Canadian radio program on* with Lynda Barry who has written a book about drawing, and how everyone does/can do it but somewhere around age nine people become aware that others can judge them on it and that's when they start nonsense like "I can't draw." She described putting pen to paper or other actions you can do (I'd like to consider knitting or even dancing work the same way) give you a little boost that few other things do. Examples: doodling during a boring meeting makes it go just a teensy bit faster, and smiling after creating a turkey out of the outline of your hand works at any age. It was pretty interesting.

It got me thinking about this past weekend, when my mom and I volunteered at a fun fair of sorts for breast cancer patients/survivors. My mom has been working at this event for years, long before it pertained to her personally, but it was my first time being there. They had booths of all kinds and massages and paraffin hand wax treatments. Mom signed me up to help at the Henna/Mehndi table, and a beautician and I gave the attendees temporary henna tattoos. We worked nonstop from 9a to 3p! It was a big hit, and I think it brought a smile to a lot of people there. They so totally deserve to be pampered. Which made it totally worth the effort.

And on top of it, there was the personal joy I got from doodling. What Barry was saying on the radio really rings true for me. Drawing and painting introduced me to the wild concept of staying up all night. I couldn't get enough, and had an art class nearly every semester in high school. I was almost talked into going to The Art Institute in Chicago instead of University before my parents flipped out over the possibility of my being a "starving artist." I tried to get into classes in college, but if you weren't a declared Fine Art Major, you basically had to fight to the death for a spot/be randomly selected and that only worked once. Of course, just as I was about to graduate college, my mom was like "You know what you should do? Graphic Design! That's not starving artist, that uses COMPUTERS!"

ANYway, there is so little room in my life for that kind stuff anymore. And I miss it more than I realized. We were so busy, I hardly took any pictures of the mehndi event, but here is a rudimentary version of one of my most popular designs that day (I was just starting to get a feel for the cone at this point, which is why it looks so globby).

Trust me, these were better as the day progressed. THERE! I just reacted to the thing Lynda Barry was saying, by worrying you guys would be all judgy judgerson about the quality of my Mehndi work! She's really onto something there.

*The program is called Q and here is a link to the November 4 podcast. Lynda's segment starts at Minute 32, right after the interview with Bryan Adams, and it is about 20 minutes long. The part at the end about the amputee's phantom limb was REALLY interesting.

nightmare: the only guaranteed way to get me out of bed in the morning

I had a horrible nightmare this morning. I spent 20 minutes here describing it in detail, but I've deleted that to spare you further opportunity to think I'm a freak. So I'll gloss over the gory parts and say I dreamed about two unknown people coming into my place of business for a shooting spree, cornering me and threatening to shoot in several places (including under my chin) and then being distracted by a very unfortunate nurse. She was eventually dispatched, and what woke me up was seeing/feeling her demise.

Very upsetting, I know. And of course I couldn't go back to sleep, so I hopped on the computer to figure out what it means. Here is what www.swoon.com had to say:

Killing: To dream of being a witness to a killing portends a change that will not be entirely to your liking. 

Guns: Whether you saw it, heard it or used it, any type of gun featured in your dream forecasts an injustice, either to you or to someone in your close circle, that you will have to fight hard to overcome.

Blood: Be prepared for a period of hard work against hostile forces if you saw blood in your dream.

Death: To dream of a death often signifies news of a birth.

Fear: As a general guide: If you conquered the cause of your dreamed fear and/or the sensation disappeared during the dream, the forecast is that you will overcome your difficulties; however, if the feeling persisted and/or the cause was indefinable, you should expect to have to cope with problems arising from the deceit or dishonesty of someone you trusted.

Threat: You are being strongly warned against gambling or speculation if your dream featured any form of threat or threatening atmosphere.

I haven't had one of these types of scary dreams in a long time. I think I'm good for a long while.

yesterday was my work friend's 30th bday

And now I can add balloon-animal artist to my resume.

hey, at least i've saved on sick days

Have you noticed that if you get the flu shot, instead of dripping and coughing and puking and feeling like utter garbage for three days but getting over it, you've got prolonged sniffling, clearing of throat and acheyness that drags out over weeks and weeks? As more people get the flu shot every year, I wonder if we'll have hordes of functioning-but-irritated people instead of a good smattering of really sick people who stay home a few days. I'm not sure which is better.

Take me, for instance. I work in a hospital and while I'm not actually administering direct patient care (unless you consider the healing powers of a cheerful smile in the face of serious grumpiness), there are a lot of germs floating around the halls. So I find the flu shot necessary. But I've been feeling generally blah for a few weeks: sniffly, sore-throaty and really really tired. So I take an allergy-fighting med so I can work undisturbed all day, then basically collapse at the end of the night. This is really wreaking havoc on my extra-curricular time. You know, the hours I need to catch up on Spanish/Hindi soap operas and make baby booties.

I guess this is just a rite of passage of winter. But I'm so ready for it to be over. And I could really do without the bloody nose first thing in the morning.

it's the time of the season

I'm coming out of hibernation for NaBloPoMo again, folks. I wish I had great excuses for why I don't post more often, but my free time happens to occur in the morning, which is when I do my very best sleeping. It is what it is.

Anyway, I'm not one to break a 5-year streak, so there will be something up here every day. Here's a little recap of what's been going on the last few months, for those of you playing along at home:

• In June the condo was [insert angels singing here] sold, after 2 years and four months on the market. I don't know how she did it, but even though it almost fell through a couple of times (apparently the renter/owner ratio was hovering at dangerous levels--something the association has now decided to deal with by trying to get people to vote on not allowing anyone else to rent out their units) my realtor made it happen. 
• J got a new job out in suburbia. I work evenings, he works mornings, and though we see each other once a week, at least we're not separated by 30 miles anymore!
• We flew out to Cali and drove his car back (I can sort of drive manual transmission now).
• We're saving for a wedding that may happen sometime in 2011.

And that's about it. A lot of people I know just had/will be having babies, so I've been busy making stuff. I love babies!

Let the monthlong posting begin!