Sunday, June 3rd:

I couldn't sleep after 4:30 am, who knows why, maybe the song birds were especially loud this morning-- but I suspect it's because I have a couple things on my mind these days, and I'm trying to make some decisions about this summer...

So, thus far in the morning, I have:
weeded the gardens, paid my astronomical credit card bill (I pay for everything I can with my Discover Card so I can track my monthly purchases *and* get a huge cashback at the end of the year), did some budgeting (ack!), smudged the house (before church, no less. I just like the smell, it reminds me of the desert), and pondered my fate, all somewhat simultaneously.

I had THE most wonderful time with my friend Laurie yesterday, I'm hoping she wasn't bored with all my tours and stories. I loved checking out the shops downtown, the Jasmine Tree reminds me of who I used to be when I was young and carefree...
Speaking of which, I cleaned out my records box the other day, and found some old pay stubs from when I was in nursing school working in Cardiac as a Nurse Tech. It was the most physically demanding and stressful job I've ever had (even more than planting cabbage and weeding acres of farmfield), and I was paid a whopping $7 an hour. And I'm sure with my hopeful, young mind, I thought that wasn't bad. Of course, being a fully fledged grownup these days and therefore miserable and malcontent, now that I make $20 more an hour, I find it ironic that I am often lamenting my poor state. I am probably short about $500 this pay period, which freaks me out, but I have to keep reminding myself that I recently purchased a puppy and paid expensive vet bills, which is why it appears that I have less $ in my account today.

That said, I am in the throes of trying to decide if I should leave one of my positions, the one that is the farthest away and pays less than my Burlington job. It's quite a distance, 60 miles round trip, which is the biggest drawback-- the staff is ok (Laurie is fab-u-lous!), I like my boss, the job isn't too bad (dull at times, but I suppose that never killed anybody). I just want to simplify my life, especially for the summer, even if it means that I'll be a little broke.
But broke=scary, and I'm not sure if I have the guts to take the plunge. I think I told Laurie yesterday that sometimes you can't look a gift job in the mouth, especially someone with my crazy work history.

I have a full day ahead of me; I'm a little anxious, as I'm sure there's shopping needed today, and I'm hoping I can put the day to good use. With summer and camp fast approaching, there's few days ahead to enojy the cooler weather to get work done, and less time to play. I'd love to take the train to Chicago and check out the CSI exhibit before we head to camp, but I know it won't happen. I'm trying to wrap my brain around being away from Gracy Pants for 5 weeks~ I know she'll come home a new girl, I hope it's one that will be ok with the less expensive schooling option.
UPDATE 8:59 pm:
We had two brief storm showers today, and combined with the soakers we've had recently, we've discovered that all the asparagus patches have finally sprouted!
So, if all goes well, we should have our very own asparagus ready in the next couple years-- asparagus that is growing freely in the prairie, where interlopers can't get at it:-)
The day went much faster than I expected, but we were able to wrap up a few more projects before the great summer of lounging begins:
We finished the walkway to the chicken coop! Jake installed a fan formation of bricks at the very end, which looks slightly primitive and very cool. Little did we know, we purchased some sort of polymeric sand, which, if I had thought for 2 seconds about it, I would have realized was something a wee bit more than ordinary sand... we used it fairly incorrectly, and hopefully when the sand settles, we don't have nasty clumps of plasticized sand everywhere.
Jake bought me a very nice little retro patio table; it's lime green and makes me smile whenever I see it. Plus, it holds the strawberry margaritas I made from our very own strawberry patch, harvested just this morning, keeping me from spilling on myself when the tequila kicks in..
We fixed the impromptu "pet escape hole" in the screen door, the one the cat made but all pets enjoyed. We used this HEAVY DUTY screening that was almost impossible to squeeze into the channel in the frame-- what joy it gave us as we watched each pet figure out that their escape route was closed off. One animal even tried to walk through it without even noticing the hole was gone, haw haw! Even Charlie cat was perplexed, as he furiously tried to claw a new hole in vain-- ah! To be entertained so cheaply... but I'm sure Charlie is already sharpening his claws and planning his next jail break.
I planted at least 100 grape muscari bulbs and 25 tulip bulbs back into the coop garden, when it was too damn hot to be doing any such thing, and scattered some alyssum and zinnia seeds just about everywhere (and I transplanted the cactus into a patch of dirt by the gravel-- Joanna's looks so robust in her gravel patch; hers even flowers and is gigunda, unlike my 1/2 dead plants), and made some pretty crappy fajitas. Boo for crappy dinners.