Some updates

It has been longer than I like since I wrote words here so I am going to further postpone finalizing our taxes (that's what extensions are for, right?) and see if I can remember what interesting things have happened over that last month.

This past week Eric called me from work to tell me that he had made a student throw up. Not from the quality of his teaching, I was glad to hear, but on a field trip to a local wastewater treatment facility with his mircobiology lab class. Apparently the intense sewage smell was too much for this delicate flower and she tossed her cookies. Another prissy girl loudly declared their tour the "worst field trip ever" but those who breathed through their mouths and paid attention learned a lot and Eric was pleased with the applied microbiology lessons to be learned from turning sewage into potable water, with a few useful byproducts like nitrogen fertilizer.

Somehow I still have not seen the Hunger Games movie though I really really want to see it even though I already know I will be disappointed because the version in my head from reading the books is so much better.  But I must go see it soon.

With help from Emerson, I started a bunch of plants indoors from seed. While the seed collection I brought with us from SF was a little heavy on cool weather crops like spinach, chard and lettuces we picked out some of the warm weather crops like tomatoes and peppers that grew poorly in SF and should do well here. We've been ambitious and started five different heirloom tomato plants, a container variety jalapeno, two plants of basil, one mint, one serrano chile and just for fun one zucchini plant. The seedlings are all doing well and now I need to figure out where outside we will put them. As summer gets hot I may need to arrange a shade canopy to keep them from burning. This is all just a big experiment to get us started on gardening in Florida.

I have been reading the news from a new perspective recently. I had what I am referring to as my "mushroom-induced revelation" a few weeks ago after eating a lot of mushrooms one day and then sleeping poorly that night and doing some deep thinking while lying awake. The short version of the revelation is that I don't have a responsibility to reside in my anger about all of the despicable, unconscionable, horrible things going on in the world. I can read the news and be horrified and then I can let it go, rather than carrying all that anger about how wrong everything is around with me all the time. For the particularly terrible stuff, I will choose to do something about it. But the rest of it doesn't get any better just because I am pissed off about it. In fact, it probably makes it worse because what this world certainly does not need is another really pissed off person. This revelation has freed me up to read the news and be interested in what is going on without the oppressive emotional experience. I have thoughts on whether the Supreme Court is playing the right role with regards to Obamacare (no), whether student loans should be forgiven (no), whether it is OK for Secret Service to bring prostitutes back to their rooms (no), whether "stand your ground" is a helpful law (no), and whether Ann Romney works (this one is complicated), but you won't see me shaking with fury once we're done discussing it.

In related news, I am back to doing some yoga when I can squeeze it into my current life. I don't know how I survived so long without it. It definitely contributes to me being a better, happier person. It does, however, compete with blogging in those few minutes every day when I can do something that isn't taking care of children.