A weekend in the life of two Kentucky homeowners

I have never (and I mean never) had a green thumb. In fact, I've killed everything I've ever tried to grow. But now that I am a homeowner with window boxes and domestic responsibilities, it seems time to give the great outdoors another try. So last week, I planted vinca vines and fiber optic grass in our window box:And then, upon deciding that I spend too much money on herbs, I planted an herb garden. If they survive me, who knows, I might try having kids next.


But of course, since I get bored quickly outside, I decided that the pots should be painted. Now that's my kind of gardening.


After I was done gardening, BJ and I decided it was time to trim Gus. First, BJ tried to brush out all of the extra hair that he is currently shedding.


Later, the trimming began, but BJ got so angry at the dysfunctional hair trimmer (or Gus or me - no one really knows at what or whom he was angry), he quit after trimming the torso. So Gus has been running around for about a week with short hair on his torso but long hair on all four legs, his head, and his tail. He looks stupid, but I wouldn't really call that a recent development.

So that is how we spent our weekend. I think it was good for all, except of course Gus who just ended up with a bad hair cut. It's "ruff" being a long-haired dog (I know that was cheesy, but I don't care).

Blame it on the fever

I apologize for being delinquent on my blog this week, but I have a really good excuse. You see, I'm currently wrapping up day 5 of a nasty virus that has been accompanied with high fever, non-stop coughing, and things coming out of my nose that I didn't actually believe could fit in there.

Unfortunately, when I run fever for long, sustained periods of time, psycho-Kalyn has a way of coming out of the closet. For example, last night my brother was on a bus heading back to Winters from Austen, and he had not called me by the time I thought he should have returned. So I called to check on him, but there was no answer. So I called again and again and again... I tried to space my calls out by at least a minute or so, but sometimes I couldn't wait. Around the time I was convinced that something terrible had happened, he answered the phone. In the background, I could hear a pack of screaming high schoolers, and my brother simply grumbled at me, "I'm not home yet." I giggled and wrestled psycho-Kalyn back in her closet long enough to say, "Alrighty! Call me when you get home. hehe."

So this is how I handle five consecutive days of fever. I am hoping and praying (and I would appreciate prayers from everyone else) that this fever breaks and I can get back to work. Until then, please forgive all the errors that are inevitably in this fever-induced post. And family, please forgive me when psycho-Kalyn strikes.

YAY Government!

Last night, BJ and I set in bed with his lap top watching the premier episode of Parks and Recreation, the new sitcom on NBC. I was intrigued to watch the show because it is actually about the profession in which I am currently getting a degree, public administration. It's funny watching a show or movie about a topic you know a lot about. It makes the cleverness of all the comedy even more exaggerated.

The show is set in Indiana, so it spoofs the anti-government Mid-Westerner pretty well through the character of the mayor. Near the middle of the show, the mayor goes on a rant about how government is bad and we should do everything possible to make it smaller. Specifically, he talked about privatizing.

Now this was meant to be a funny little monologue, but I've been reading hundreds and hundreds (maybe even thousands) of pages over the past three months about the damage of privatizing and anti-bureaucrat rhetoric, and, additionally, I was tired from just completely a 39 page assignment in which a good 15 pages was devoted to the topic. So I decided to go on a rant of my own. It was a rant about the intrinsic value of government and the evils of unabashed privatization. I thought it was really thought-provoking and engaging. BJ did not. So I was banned from talking for the rest of the episode.

Four months ago, I never would have given this topic a second thought. I would have laughed at the joke, and moved on. But now I'm educated about it, and education has a way of making you care about things you didn't care about before. I take comfort, though, in knowing that if the show had been about a minister as opposed to a public administrators and if the topic of the trinity had been tossed around, BJ would have quickly stepped on his own platform. But what are the chances of that show ever premier? I'll probably never get the chance to ban BJ from talking *sigh*.

The point at which technology has gone to far

The other day, I was using a public toilet with automatic flushing. When I first stepped into the stall, I noticed a drop of water on the seat, so I started cleaning. As soon as I finished, the toilet flushed. It was a powerful flush, and immediately, there were more drops of water on the seat. So I cleaned them up, and when I finished, it flushed again leaving water on the seat. I think you can get a sense of the cycle. I stood arguing with the toilet in this clean/flush/spray cycle, but to no avail. I eventually gave up.

Who decided that pressing down on a handle was too much work for humans these days? When did that become beneath us? Because I'm pretty sure that self-flushing toilets are a ridiculous invention. I can flush my own toilet. And then I can wash my hands, and everything will be just fine. I don't need (nor do I want) the toilet to flush itself for me. The toilet is not as smart as me, and therefore, does not know the best and most appropriate time for flushing. In fact, I think I could go for an outhouse after this experience. A place where no grand rapids of toilet water interrupt my day. And as I walk out to the outhouse, I will feel defiant and triumphant in my stand against technology that is useless and silly.

oh, our dogs

If you were to peruse the past two and a half years of my blog, you would find a lot of posts about how disgusting and weird my husband's dog is. I hate to say this, but Sienna is not a very good dog. She is stinky, gluttonous, and mischievous. But she is quite beautiful, so as an artist who thrives on aesthetics, I like having her around.

Because of Sienna's issues with gluttony, we have to keep a very tight leash on her diet (i love puns). Usually, she is good about eating only what we put in her bowl, but yesterday afternoon when we weren't looking, she scooted over to her food bag and polished off what was left of her food (about 2 to 3 meals worth). BJ was angry, and immediately decided that since she had eaten the food meant to be her dinner last night and her breakfast this morning, she would just not be getting those meals. He sure wasn't going to be making a special trip to Walmart to get her more.

So this morning, Sienna started whining, and her eyes clearly conveyed this message: "I'm starving father. I am wasting away. I'll blow away in the wind if you don't give me substanance. Don't make me die. I don't want to die." BJ, in true BJ fashion, did not care. Here is a conversation between BJ and I a little after the whining session:

BJ: Could you please let your dogs in.
Me: So they're both my dogs now.
BJ: Excuse me. Could you please let your dog in and let my dog wander in behind him.

I'm hoping BJ and Sienna make up later today, because this is kind of ridiculous.

Gus and I are having our own problems. This is the time of year when he sheds, so everytime I turn around, there is another spot to vaccuum. Last night when I brushed him, the pile of hair I pulled out looked like a Pomeranian. Poor little guy. He always looks depressed when I brush him, and the dreaded spring hair cut is fast approaching. Last year he didn't eat or play for a week afterwards, so I'm hoping this year goes better.

Reading over this blog, it strikes me how neurotic our dogs are. I guess the good thing about dogs is that they'll never go to some shrink and find out BJ and I are the reason for their neurosis. Instead, they'll just go on being weird and making fodder for my blog.