Ode To My Lovely Weeds

Since my body flatly refuses to cooperate with me as far as the whole baby-making campaign goes, I've been desperately seeking ways to exert control over other aspects of my life--as though it will make up for how out of control I feel otherwise. I've tried my husband as my main target, but he has this annoying habit of having his own opinions. In the past, my eyebrows have born the brunt of my controlling tendencies, but ever since my friend Kate suffered what we simply call "The Accident," I've practiced some restraint there. Fortunately, with the advent of a gorgeous spring, I've found a new project that seems to fulfill my desire to control something: my garden, otherwise known last summer as The Weed-Infested Mess. Did you know that, early in the spring, it is possible to see what is actually growing in there? I've spent every afternoon this last week out in the dirt, delightfully yanking up weeds that dare to poke their little heads through the soil. It's wonderfully satisfying, and not at all unlike plucking one's eyebrows. I shuffle along the garden on my knees, loosening the soil with my little rusty trowel, and then pulling out the offending weed with a shake. One tiny problem is that I'm basically unable to distinguish between weeds and potential perennials, but I am unhindered. If nothing at all grows this year, I'll start from scratch with a little faith, and the most beautiful flowers I can find.

John Krasinski is SO Cute

I always seem to be a little behind the times when it comes to the "now" tv shows; some might say this actually reflects positively on how I choose to spend my free time, but then again they don't necessarily know that I log an appalling number of hours on tmz.com and have been obsessively checking msn.com for news of Dannielynn's biological father (FYI--for those of you who aren't in the know, it is officially Larry Birkhead!). So there is my unapologetic acknowledgement that I am woefully out of step with the small screen--and here is the reason for this post: has anyone else noticed that "The Office" is like the funniest tv show ever? I'm now catching up on it courtesy of Blockbuster, and last night I almost skipped my very expensive Spanish class--the one I signed up for thinking it would be the intellectual stimulation that I needed to live a more fulfilling life--to curl up on the couch and watch the Sexual Harrassment episode for the third time in a week. I haven't been this addicted to anything since, well, I discovered "Sex and the City" about two years ago.

Spring Cleaning...Or Something

It's really a good thing that I decided not to continue my library science degree. This past week I had the tiniest amount of Spanish homework to do for my new Spanish class (the one that will teach me to be fluent in 10 weeks; I'm convinced of it). My class meets on Monday nights, so I had all week to do it. When yesterday afternoon rolled around and I still hadn't taken the homework out of my bag, I realized that I had some kind of a studying block. For heavens' sake, I wanted to take this class. I want to refresh my Spanish!

But here's what I did instead of reading a paragraph in Spanish and answering three questions. I took everything out of all my kitchen cupboards, scrubbed the cupboards themselves and then washed all the contents that were washable, created really cool new organizational systems that involved these cute baskets, and then put everything back such that I was amazed by how much cupboard space I actually have when things aren't just shoved in there willy-nilly.

The homework didn't get done--hey, I still have all day today--but my kitchen looks awesome. On second thought, maybe if I had continued my library science degree, I'd be able to actually find a pillowcase in my linen closet.