The Tomatoes Are In!

We wait awhile to plant them per the advice of Melinda Myers in Month-By-Month Gardening in Nebraska, a straight-forward book that I have found very helpful.

She says transplant shock is less if they are smaller, so we also wait awhile to get them started.  We planted 6 plants for regular tomatoes, plus two pots of cherry tomatoes, so we'll see how this goes.  I still haven't used the canning jars I bought two years ago, but hopefully this year is the one!

Job Update

I applied for four more jobs today, leaving off my Ph.D on three of them.  Hopefully that will help, or at least, I can see if I get different results.

I did find a temp job at a construction company.  It's subbing in for their receptionist who is going to be gone two days here, three days there, a week here for the next month and a half.  I really liked the people there.  I've been wondering if I can invent my own thing called a "perma-temp": someone who  knows the job but only comes in when you need her.  I'd be part-time in the spring and fall, full-time in the summer, and sporadic during the winter.  I wouldn't need benefits, and in exchange for only having to pay me when they needed me, they could give him a higher-than-usual hourly wage.  I'd also want the flexibility to work on my freelance writing.  I bet they would go for it.  It's a thought.

Lunch with the Girls

I'm blessed to have such good friends!

Today I am....

.... interviewing with two temp agencies.  Hopefully I can find a temp job without too much typing, as my old wrist problem can flare up if I am pounding away at a keyboard too long.

I am paid from my teaching job through June, so any extra income can go toward tiding us over my employment gap.  I am hoping that I won't be out of work for too long, but regardless I will try to trust in Divine Providence.

Planted today!

We are WAY behind schedule!

Today we planted:

carrots
lettuce
beans
peas
cucumbers
beans
watermelon
pumpkin
and some flowers.

The garlic went in at Halloween, the potatoes went in at Easter, the new strawberries and blueberry plant went in in early May, and we are waiting for the tomato seedlings to get a wee bit bigger to transplant them.

Belovedest is also figuring out a way to daisy-chain our rain barrels.  He didn't like having one so close to the house, although it's been there for years now.   There is a rain barrel class at SCC some time this summer for those who would like to make one of your own for cheaper than you can buy one.

And Andy and Ann (plus kiddos) gave up a whole lots of grass for the compost pile.  I've got high hopes that it is going to heat things up out there!

Now I need to get the seed packets and the garden calendar, and write down when we can expect them to germinate and when we can expect a harvest.  We used A LOT of last year's seeds and A LOT of self-harvested seeds so I'm not sure what our yields will be like.

Job Hunt Update

Jobs Applied For: 16
Networking lunches/coffees: 4
Job Fairs: 2
Job Interviews: 10 with three companies--(one company has had six interviews)

Job Offers: 0

What I've Learned:

1. Most people are really nice, to the point that they will go out for lunch or coffee with a total stranger who is a friend of a friend, and give out lots of insight into their field.
2. Keeping a "Job Log" has been SO helpful!   It answers the burning questions like 'When did I send that resume?' and 'When was the last communication I had with that company?' and 'When did she say she'd get back to me?'
3. I'm not 19 and looking for a summer job.  Job-hunting takes a long time in Grown-Up Land.....
4. "I'll get back to you by ___________" means almost nothing, even from really nice HR people.

Laundry Life Hack

How to NOT leave laundry moldering in the washing machine OR out on a line all night:

Leave the laundry basket on your bed.  You'll at least remember before you go to sleep!

Did You Know?

"In colonial America during the first half of the eighteenth century, carpets were considered much too valuable to be used on the floor.  Carpets were originally used as coverings for tables and chests, while floors remained bare or covered with fine sand that was swept into patterns each day with a broom."

from By Hand: 25 Beautiful Objects to Make in the American Folk Art Tradition by Janice Eaton Kilby

Lucrative... cleaning

Yesterday I cleaned off my desk and found $50.  

I should clean more often!

Plus it feels so good to have more of the space in my house usable.  And organizing took less time than I thought it would.  Next, the studio.....  Maybe.  Soon.  Or maybe later....

Last Day of Teaching

Today was graduation, the end of my last year of teaching.

Here's a quote, as I say good-bye:

Teaching is "one of the noblest vocations on earth, for, in the last analysis, the purpose of all education is the knowledge and love of truth."
--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Someday Project: Pine Needle Bowl

Isn't that cool?  And I'll bet it smells wonderful.  It's from By Hand: 25 Beautiful Objects to Make in the American Folk Art Tradition by Janice Eaton Kilby