No water + South Florida summer = dead garden

I was really excited about planting and tending to my very own garden. I had a run of bad luck in the past keeping plants alive, but was making it a priority and really enjoying it.

But then life happened. And by life I mean a family trip to Disney World, another surgery for Mom and spending an extra week and a half at Mom's playing nurse. Add it all up and I got one very sad, very dead garden.

My garden (from left): strawberries, sweet peppers, basil, cilantro, oregano, cornflowers, sunflowers and baby's breath.

There were definitely tears when I saw what was left of my plants. There is hope for the baby's breath and the only herb that made it was never an herb at all and just a random weed. Thankfully my tomato plant survived the drought. It hasn't fruited, but it definitely smells like tomatoes. 

The plan is to salvage what I can and replant the rest in a couple of weeks. Next week I have to house/dog sit while my mother is on a business trip, but then it's back to being Mary, Mary, quite contrary and making something out of all the seeds I bought. 

To boot, this has put me in a rather foul mood that not even retail therapy was able to change. 

Zack Morris Saved by the Bell time out ... OK, time in!

A weak wrap up of the past two weeks:

• Job: Holy, I've been so busy, Batman. That's not even bemoaning the situation, just stating the facts. Since starting, I've been putting in major hours, but it hasn't been an issue. I enjoy my assignments and don't mind the work. It's less of an issue, too, when I can work in my yoga pants and take breaks to go grocery shopping or walk the dog.
• Garden: Deep, deep down, it turns out I have a green-ish thumb. Who knew? The tomato plant is blooming, I have fresh basil that's good for the kitchen and sunflowers ready to be transplanted in my mom's yard. The oregano is the only herb not growing well. I'm considering a do-over on that one.
• Etsy: To be completely honest, it's been a complete failure. I'm probably going to close the shop. If I didn't have a job, I'd be feeling a bit more embarrassed and dire about the situation. So it's not ideal, and now I have these extra embroidered goodies hanging around, but it's not the end of the world. Thankfully, people will continue to have babies.
• Other crafting: See job entry. Not much has gone on. However, I do plan on making Mom an embroidered card for Mother's Day. And maybe I'll get back to my knitting and start on those scarves.

For Mother's Day, my brother and I will be grilling. Here's what I'm thinking:

• Grilled pancetta-wrapped peaches with aged balsamic vinegar
• Ina Garten "Real" hamburgers
• Chicken salad
• Fruit salad
• Warm potato salad with pancetta and brown butter dressing
• Margarita cake

It's a work in progress and I still have to run it through the powers that be, but I think it sounds pretty damn tasty.

Phase 1 complete

In the past five days the following happened:

• I had an interview
• I was offered a job

Seriously.

Yeah, my head is still spinning. I'll be working for a local firm. That's all sorts of vague and abstract, but alas, that's what I am. Stoked doesn't even begin to cover it. 

The ultimate test will be whether I manage to maintain this more laid back, simple outlook on what's important in life. I certainly hope so. This time off has helped put a lot into perspective. Within the past month especially, I feel like I'm just getting into my own stride. It's exciting. 

Put on your yarmulke ...

Dad asked if it was possible to embroider a yarmulke. After nudging a couple of times I realized he wanted one for his birthday. Hooray and thanks for the hint because I had no idea what to do. 

A trip to the Judaica store and Michael's for some extra supplies and I was ready to stitch. I bought two yarmulkes just in case I flubbed it so badly that I needed a back up. I also decided to try working with metallic floss even though I'd heard it was difficult to work with. Yeah, it is, but worth it. The bit of sheen and wiry texture makes it a little extra special.

Stitches used: chevron and back stitch 

With the border done, I had to plan how to make a symmetrical Star of David. Google, pins and spare floss helped me measure the star. The yarmulke was too stiff for an embroidery hoop, which made me nervous, but it all worked out.

It kind of looked like Pinhead at first.  

I incorporated threading to give the star a little more interest.

Now all that's left is to find a dust pouch, make a card and wrap this baby up.

Career crossroad

I studied journalism in college, focusing on copy editing. My internships were as a copy editor. My first job was copy editing. It was a career path my parents didn't readily understand. Mom thought I was in a telecom program and dad assumed I'd be a reporter. It was difficult for them to grasp that I would be reading stories, writing headlines, designing pages and never have a byline. When I switched to the dark side of journalism, public relations, I was thankful I no longer had to explain why I had such crummy hours and still didn't have my name in print. 

My career is back in the spotlight since I've been unemployed. My family has been super supportive, although now they're making it clear it's time for me to get a job. I understand how it affects them -- mom has been helping me with rent and dad feeds me more than usual, but I haven't really been motivated and still don't know what I want to do.

In lieu of making any real commitments (which speaks volumes about my life in general), I've decided on a tentative course of action: find temp or part-time work to hold me over until my lease is up. At that point, I need to have a long-term game plan because I would like to move out of Miami.

So I've submitted my resume to several temp agencies and have a headhunter who is keeping an eye out for me. Most friends and family members also have a copy of my resume on file just in case they hear of anything. My references have also been put on red alert should something come up.

A couple of days ago mom calls me with great news: a friend of a friend knows someone who is hiring. With such a promising lead I resend her my resume. Later on I think to ask what the hell I just potentially applied for.

Me: So yeah, what is friend of a friend looking for? 

Mom: Oh the guy apparently has an opening for a reporter to cover community news.

Me: Um, a reporting position you say? Well I've never really been a reporter.

Mom: Didn't I pay for journalism school?

Me: Yeah. And I left a copy editor. We've discussed this.

Mom (annoyed): Whatever. They would pay you.

Well alrighty then. She has a point. A paycheck is a paycheck. Thankfully I'll be seeing her friend soon so I can clear things up and see how likely an opportunity this is. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy however much of this time of unemployment I have left.

Baby on board

I spoke to soon -- for a week it's been all baby all the time with my latest projects. Each were gifts for friends, though, so there was a greater pleasure in working on them.

Embroidered fairy was part of a new baby congrats card

Train onesie for a baby shower mom will be attending

A planes, trains and automobiles gift needs a proper card

Lest I jinx myself again, I think it's safe to go back to embroidering kitchen towels.

Happy first day of spring

And that's when I broke his leg

Mom bought a puppy about a month and a half ago. It was her way of dealing with an empty nest when my brother moved. Dallas the dachshund is a handful, albeit a cute one. He is six pounds of nibbling, squirming, whining goodness. 

Dallas has a bell on his collar so we can hear him coming. It almost always works.

Dallas hasn't gotten used to going to the bathroom outside. He's more than OK relieving himself in his crate or really anywhere around the house. The other day he unleashed a surprisingly large pile of poo on an area rug. Annoyed about having to clean up after him (again), I opened the back door to toss said poo in the yard. There was resistance when I tried closing the door followed by a blood-curdling screech. I caught his leg in the door. Fabulous. Dallas limped the rest of the night and cowered whenever I approached.

A trip to the vet revealed the news: I broke my mother's puppy. Actually, it's only a small chip fracture, but the vet may as well have told me the dog had two days to live. I was a crying, blubbering mess. The vet assured me Dallas only needed a couple of weeks rest and minimal exercise and he'd be good as new. 

Two weeks later, Dallas occasionally limps and is terrified by the back door. He still cowers from me. That's been the worst because it makes me feel like such a jerk. I can't wait for the vet to give him a clean bill of health so maybe my guilt will start to subside. Until then I will feed him as many cookies as he wants and won't complain when I have to pick up after him.

Update: The vet said his leg is OK. Let the guilt magically disappear!

Valentine's Day warm fuzzies

Ordinarily I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day, but as this year is all about trying new things I decided to send homemade cards to my nearest and dearest. Lord knows I have plenty of crafting supplies and it was an ideal way of using the scrap-booking paper I found in the dollar bin at Target. Each card was also embroidered with a different cutesy message.

It felt good to set aside time to work on the cards and it was exciting to put them in the mail. I'm normally not this sentimental, but I thought it would be a nice gesture and could brighten someone's day. The cards were a hit. My mom cried when hers arrived.

So Valentine's Day went off without a hitch and now I have more ideas on what I can make folks for upcoming holidays. St. Patrick's Day embroidered coasters anyone?

Odds and ends

I've been incredibly distracted lately. There has been a lot of pacing, sleepless nights and I'm not quite sure what to do about it. It's making me a little cranky, too.

Part of it has to be because I'm anxious about "The Great Job Hunt." I've been sifting through job posts online and am waiting to hear back from a couple of firms. I still don't have complete closure from my previous employer. This week I finally conducted my exit interview -- a full month after my last day, but there are still pending items that need to be resolved.

My mom went back to work this week. It's the first time she's been in the office since her August surgery. I call her multiple times a day to see how she's doing and I have a panic attack if she doesn't answer. I don't know whether she fully realized how exhausting it would be to go back to the grind, but thankfully she's taking it slow and will transition into her routine. It's been a long six months and it's incredible to think of how far she's come and how well she's doing. We'll all be at peace once this is behind us.

The Etsy shop is open for business. I hit the refresh button more times than I care to admit to see whether an item has received another viewing. I have a celebratory jig planned for when I make my first sale. The waiting process is nerve-racking. In trying to draw more folks to the site, I'm changing up my Twitter account (and vowing to tweet more) and added the shop to my Facebook page. Let's see how this crafting experiment goes.

Officially unemployed

The times they are a-changin'

I resigned from my job today. I do not have a confirmed job lined up. It's both the ballsiest and dumbest thing I've probably done. Ever.

This is something I've thought about for a while. I had practiced multiple versions of the resignation speech at least 100 times, but for all the prepared voice inflections and hand gestures it was still a difficult experience. I thought I was going to word vomit all over my boss.

This is not a quarter life crisis (I hope)

I've noticed I'm a little distracted lately. It took me almost a week to write this post because I couldn't sit down at my computer long enough to put thoughts together. After much careful contemplation and some wine to clear my head, I've decided I need to get rid of some of the excess. What's that mean exactly? Don't know. I figure if I start purging the superfluous from my life I'll feel more satisfied. I make no promises, but I'll give it a whirl because everything has become a bit too routine for my liking.