Woo~!

Right - Mother is working on making me some more pants, seeing as the ones the sis-in-law bought me for Christmas back two seasons ago are, well, old.

Since my Spring dress that I wore to work last week fit me like a tent in the hips area, she had me take my measurements while she played with the dough for a strawberry-rhubarb pie.

I have lost 4" in the hips since the start of this year.

Woo~!

*dances*

And so it begins

Spring is in the air. The days are longer, it's warmer out, and the stop sign is back at the bottom of the hill up the road. (It gets taken out for the duration of Winter, as there are some vehicles that have difficulty stopping there when having to also contend with snow and ice.)

Another sign of Spring is people start working in the gardens, and their flowers and other plants start coming up and blooming.

Mother's tulips in the back yard have finally bloomed, and they were beaten by a few days by the daffodils I didn't even know she had planted. This morning, Mother roto-tilled the garden, so it's nicely aerated for when we finally plant later this season.

Now, there are a lot of people who are already starting their gardens. They've bought their plants, and some of the are even in the ground already. My household is not among them for one very simple reason.

Planting outside right now is a Bad Idea. Sure, the weather is pleasant; Spring came early this year. We've had very nice weather for over a week, and even if we've had a few rainy days (April showers~), overall the weather has been very nice, so people are taking advantage of it. Farmers, also. There's only one problem.

It's still very possible for us to get a frost. And really, one frost is all it can take to kill all those spring flowers, tomatoes, and other edible items that people are already planting. Like it or not, this frost risk will continue until about mid-may, which is typical for Zone 4.

So, much as we'd like to otherwise, we're waiting with planting our garden. We've got the dirt all ready to go, and we're trying out a lean-to structure for the cucumbers this year (seeing how it works; it was in my Gardening Club magazine a few months ago), but the planting itself will have to wait.

Which is just as well, since Mother is still not quite certain what she wants to plant this year. I do know, much to my regret, what will not be planted.

Corn. We won't have corn in out back yard garden, and we haven't had it since I was a kid. Because the squirrels come along and bite the cobs off before they have a chance to finish growing. They did when I was a child, anyway, and ever since that year, Mother has refused to have corn in the garden. They did the same with sun flowers, so we don't have those either.

Le sigh~.

In the meantime, another sign of Spring is the rhubarb has come up. It's already up to my knees, actually. So, since my cooking club magazine had a recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb Upside-down cake, I'm going to try making it. We've already cut some rhubarb, actually. Much to our surprise, it's already starting to flower, so we'll have to watch for that and nip off the buds before they can fully bloom (if you don't, the rhubarb goes rather sour).

We also had some fun digging up one of the plants today. One of our co-workers had Rhubarb in her garden when she first moved in. For maybe a day or two. The previous home owners decided they wanted the plant, so despite it not being on the list of things they could have from the house, they came by when the new owners were at work and dug it up. So, she's been without rhubarb for quite some time. We asked her if she would like on of ours (they're trying to take over!), and she said yes. Turned out to be five smaller plants all clumped together from one root ball, though; it came apart, but with how hardy rhubarb can be (in my experience), it should be fine, once she has it in the ground.

Apparently, progress

This week has brought a pleasant surprise.

A few days ago, I was going through the laundry trying to find a pair of shorts that I figured would fit me, if I wore a belt. Main reason being I had spent the previous day working on a report that involved digging around in a very dusty area of work, re-arranging the things that were in said area. Net result? My pants were filthy by the end of the day. Unfortunately, it was also my last clean pair of pants; all three are now in the wash. When I explained to mother why I was looking for shorts despite it still being relatively cool out (I believe it was somewhere in the mid-fifties, maybe mid-forties), she asked me why I didn't wear the medium-blue pair she'd made me awhile back.

I could not remember a pair of medium blue pants made for me at all.

Still she dug through the basket of shirts and shorts that I have yet to put away, and pulled out the pair she meant. And yeah, I remembered them - I had to stop wearing them a few years ago because I'd out grown them, girth-wise. When I told her this, she responded with the ever-popular, "Well, you've been loosing weight, right? Try them on and see if they fit."

A-heh. They did. Do? Whichever. I can fit into a pair of pants that I have not been able to fit into for years. ^^

This makes me very happy. I still have a gut, mind you, but it is apparently a rather smaller gut - before, there was a good 2-3" between the button and the hole for it to close these pants.

I think I am definitely making progress, and I have used neither Acai berry nor an expensive gym membership to do it! Woo! :D

Not the screen!

Argh! I really, really do not like my laptop at the moment.

I'm sitting here typing, and the screen goes black. No warning, just -blip!-down it goes. The lights are on (ie, the computer is running), but no one is home. To say this in frustrating is the least of the things I could state about it.

The most frustrating thing about it is when it does this while I'm online, there's no way for me to save what I'm doing.

So, what have I been doing? Forced shut-down, that's what! Hold down the power key, and force it to shut down that way. Wait a bit, turn it back on, and I have a screen again! But while the wallpaper is there, the icons come back slowly. This is the second time this has happened in the last three, maybe four, days. Diddle the mouse - nothing. Try a few keys - nothing. Have to forcibly turn it off.

I am not happy about this. On the plus side, I use Fire Fox for my web browser pretty exclusively, and anytime Fire Fox shuts down unexpectedly (like, as what happens in a forced turn-off), it automatically asks if you want to restore the previous session when you open it again.

Alas, my local "tech support" is working 12-hour days, and most likely would repeat what my brother recommended: take it in for diagnostics.

Well, I've done that before, back when I first started having screen issues; they company I bought the lap top from told me it was most likely a software issue, and if that was the case, their warranty-included hardware diagnostic would run me $60 that I don't want to spend.

In the meantime, since this did start recently, it's most likely has the root problem in one of the programs that were installed recently. So, I'm going through my list of programs in the "Add or Remove Program" portion of my control panel, and getting rid of stuff I don't use. And something very important has come to my attention: I don't know what half of these programs are for.

This is extremely annoying, because it means that I don't know if it's safe for me to uninstall them of not. The one that I presume is the problem told be it's being accessed by another program and would not be uninstalled. I find this very disturbing, and also annoying.

Hey, Microsoft! How about making it so the programs in the "Add or Remove Programs" area also give a little description for what they do?

Monthly update - March

Whup! I almost forgot to do one of these! *^^*

Okay, here we go: Another month virtually wasted, though I have started a few projects.

Pages written: 6
-Had writer's block for a bit, but managed to get over it by switching to one of the three perspectives I'm working with.
Pictures taken: 75
-This is both for the jewelry I made last year and for some custom creations that I find I need to remake. With the former, I intend to put a sort of catalog together for when at conventions. In the meantime, I hope to also sell some items through either etsy.com or e-bay. I also took some photos to sell other items on E-bay, but I will not be counting those here.
Weigh in: 193 pounds
-This is better than I thought, as it means I'm still loosing weight. This is actually a surprise, given how much chocolate and sugar was consumed in March. Hopefully, now that Easter is over, I'll be able to resist more of this, or at least ration more sensibly.

Now, obviously there is a reason why I'm calling March a month that was virtually wasted. The above is really all that I managed to accomplish. I spent way too much time on the computer - specifically, online. Reading the archives for www.girlgeniusonline.com and delving into the associated Wikia. I really need to manage my time better.

I understand being out of work, but~

I find it very interesting, now that we've been having a lot of people come in for interviews since my work is hiring for the summer, how people dress themselves for a job interview.

When I was in 9th grade, I was taught that you're supposed to dress for the interview, not for the job. Regardless of whether you're interviewing for a position on Wall Street, or the thrill of flipping burgers, you dress nicely for an interview. Decent shirt (ie, with a collar), slacks or a modest skirt (both of these should be ironed), maybe a light jacket or sweater that looks nice (ie, not a falling apart mess), and descent shoes (with socks of some kind). You're outfit should not be too tight, but also should not be falling off of you. If you wear makeup, do it modestly, and don't wear loud jewelry. It might also be a good idea to take out the eyebrow/lip/nose/tongue piercings, while you're at it.

Now, I can understand how, if you've been out of work for awhile, you might not be able to go out and buy a suit or something, but it doesn't take much effort to put on a descent shirt, and iron a pair of slacks. I imagine you *could* get away with wearing jeans to an interview, so long as they don't have any holes, and both fit and are worn properly.

We have people showing up in t-shirts. One guy was wearing a V-neck sweatshirt over a t-shirt, and had matched this with khaki cargo pants with ragged bottoms and what looked like mildew stains all over them, tennis shoes, and a baseball cap. Was he going to an interview, or to the ball game? I can guarantee that if I had showed up to my job interview with my current company six years ago, wearing a t-shirt and wrinkled pants that didn't fit properly, I most likely would not have gotten the job. Even more so if the t-shirt had holes in it (yes, this has been the case with some of these people).

I can see the idea of business casual for an interview, but this is more like go-get-a-burger casual.

On the plus side, they're showing up to their interviews on time - typically about 10-15 minutes early, actually - but this does not give them time to go home and change clothing. This is true of all but one person, whose interview had to be rescheduled; we suggested he iron his shirt in the mean time, which he laughed at the very idea of doing so.

Seriously, people - the person doing your interview is someone you want to impress. You will not do so by looking like a slob! If they think you look good on paper, you better make sure they also think you look good while you're sitting across from them during an interview. After that - if you're hired, it's whatever dress code the business has set up.

This Change is Bad.

Back about 2, maybe three weeks ago, I found I was almost out of shampoo. Since I bought the last bottle at Target, I figured I would just back there and buy it again - it was both a nice size, nice price, and I could get the top open easier than the normal bottles the grocery stores carry.

I normally use Aussie brand moisturizing shampoo and conditioner. Well, Target had the conditioner, but they were out of the shampoo in the same size. They did, however, have the "aussome volume" type, so in addition to another bottle of my moisturizing conditioner, I bought the shampoo and conditioner for that.

This type of Aussie product is supposed to "help hair that's fallen flat," and I have to admit my hair does seem very limp sometimes. This was the main train of thought that prompted me to try it out.

I don't think I'll be trying it again after these bottles are gone.

I have not noticed any discernible difference in the volume of my hair. I have, however, noticed a definitive difference in texture and handling. For one thing, it's harder to get a brush through my hair now. For another, I used to have lovely, silky hair - I loved the feel of it. Now my hair feels tacky, like it's slightly sticky, or - you know that feeling when you've got sweaty or otherwise wet palms and you pet your cat or dog? Yeah, like that. Needless to say, this will not do.

It has also made my scalp itchy, so I'm wondering if I'm actually allergic to whatever they've used for the floral scent it has (the moisturizing type smells more like coconut; before the redesign Aussie did, it smelled like nothing, which was one of the reasons I liked it). Makes me think I should just return it to the store, but I'm not sure if I can.

Regardless, I do not consider this a good product.

(Look, ma! I remembered to use tags! :D )