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Hooray for Facing Phobias
Jul. 16th, 2020 08:05 pmThis week was ok.
Work was the same. We are now patrolling just our own zones again, which is really nice (we had been doing double-zone coverage). It cuts down on the number of desks we have to use and the amount of floorspace we have to cover, and saves time. We still have to caption, but this is a nice return to normalcy at least in one aspect of our jobs.
I gifted myself an extra day off this week, Sunday. Most of my day was pretty lazy, I had wanted to clean the shower but just didn't feel like it. Instead I went to Target for some gift wrap (our dating anniversary is coming up) and a few food items, then went to Lowe's to look around and get ideas for gardening. Jameson wants jalapenos, but it's not the right season for them so there weren't many plants available. Still, I got to see what they look like and price them out.
I did buy a small dill plant even though they're out of season too. Dill attracts swallowtail butterflies, and that's the main type of butterfly I see around the garden. It can also be a host plant for them, so I want to see if I can get one to grow.
Back home I planted the dill and did a little weeding and deadheading in the pollinator garden, and switched out the hummingbird nectar. I haven't seen many birds around, at least not for long periods of time. Maybe there are too many people around.
The watermelon vine is honestly looking pretty yucky, the leaves are yellowed and decaying. I think there's just been way too much rain. I ended up picking the first sugar baby melon as it doesn't seem to be growing any more. It did have some edible flesh, but it was very seedy and kind of watery. I wonder if it was just due to all the rain, or if the nutrient balance in the soil wasn't right, or what. I mean all things considered it wasn't "bad", just not, like, an actual grown watermelon. I hope the second melon is better but I don't have high hopes based on the condition of the vines and how this first one turned out.
Other than that I spent most of the day just chillin' which was really, really nice.
Rest of the week was normal. I worked, Jameson worked. A long time ago my sister gifted us a Groupon for a bioluminescent kayak tour, and it occurred to me that since Jameson doesn't have summer gigs for once, now would be the perfect time to use it. So I booked it for next month. Hopefully it'll be a fun adventure!
On Wednesday Jameson had a bunch of meetings, so I entertained myself with housework, meal prep, and steno. I did laundry, cleaned the shower, set some pork cubes to marinate for skewers for dinner, and washed our bath mats. While Jameson was in his longest meeting I practiced my steno and did the rest of the meal prep for the skewers, which was mostly just chopping veggies.
I stayed out of the garden, mostly because it kind of is what it is right now. All of the lavender has died due to the heavy rains and extreme heat indexes over 100 we've had...I may replace it with some black and blue salvia or something. The other plants are all alive, though they're blooming pretty minimally right now and I wonder if they're conserving energy or just done for the summer. My passion vine has some damage near the new shoots and I'm wondering what's eating it, but am not going to buy pesticides since the rest of the plant seems fine.
Other plants like the mint, meyer lemon, strawberry, and basil look a little yellow, but I figure that's either because of too much rain or too much heat and I can't bring all of that indoors, so oh well.
At the end of August I can start planting more things because the weather will be less extreme. I'd like to have jalapeno peppers, green onions, a larger variety of tomato, lettuce, carrots, radishes, and strawberries. This year I'll be a lot more careful about how I space things out, and hopefully that way I can enjoy better results. I'm especially looking forward to another crack at the carrots!
Here's my second watermelon, btw. It'll be staying on the vine for as long as possible. Maybe that will make a difference.
Before starting dinner I happened to look out at the pollinator garden and saw a butterfly I hadn't seen before.
It wouldn't let me get very close, but I think it was a palamedes swallowtail.
Apparently pork takes a lot longer to cook in a stovetop grill pan than shrimp (I've made shrimp skewers before) so I ended up taking everything off the skewers and just flash-cooking it in the grill pan. I also made a cold soba noodle salad with peanut sauce, red peppers, carrots, and edamame. It was pretty tasty! Didn't get a pic this time.
I was careful that night to stop eating before 8pm because Thursday morning I had a blood draw to do. No reason, just part of setting up a PCP. I hate hate hate HATE having blood drawn and was very nervous about it. After a night of barely any sleep, I woke up and drove over to Quest. Luckily I had a good nurse who took exactly zero time at all to draw four vials of blood. Amazing!
Speed makes such a huge difference when dealing with the fight-or-flight response. She was done before a panic attack could set in. This is the first blood draw in a long time that I was able to walk out of without having felt like I was going to faint. My heart was still pounding and I was sweating bullets, but you know what, progress is progress. I was super pleased with myself for having a better reaction than the last time, and the time before that :)
On the way home I picked up breakfast for Jameson and I at Maple Street Biscuit Company (formerly Holler & Dash, and currently owned by Cracker Barrel). We haven't gotten to eat breakfast out since Covid started so this was a nice treat!
I did a little computer work, prepping for the work week, and weeding in the front yard while Jameson graded his students and had a meeting. We went for a walk in the afternoon which was cut short by a thunderstorm, but still, it was nice :) I saw two more butterflies, both spicebush swallowtails. One seemed very raggedy, with faded colors and torn wings. The other was pretty large and when I got too close instead of flying away it flew right at my head...I thought it would land on me!
I didn't feel like cooking dinner so we ordered pizza. I worked on my steno and read my book for book club and enjoyed a nice glass of wine since apparently we're just indulging in unhealthy foods today :P
Just another week and not much else to say.
Work was the same. We are now patrolling just our own zones again, which is really nice (we had been doing double-zone coverage). It cuts down on the number of desks we have to use and the amount of floorspace we have to cover, and saves time. We still have to caption, but this is a nice return to normalcy at least in one aspect of our jobs.
I gifted myself an extra day off this week, Sunday. Most of my day was pretty lazy, I had wanted to clean the shower but just didn't feel like it. Instead I went to Target for some gift wrap (our dating anniversary is coming up) and a few food items, then went to Lowe's to look around and get ideas for gardening. Jameson wants jalapenos, but it's not the right season for them so there weren't many plants available. Still, I got to see what they look like and price them out.
I did buy a small dill plant even though they're out of season too. Dill attracts swallowtail butterflies, and that's the main type of butterfly I see around the garden. It can also be a host plant for them, so I want to see if I can get one to grow.
Back home I planted the dill and did a little weeding and deadheading in the pollinator garden, and switched out the hummingbird nectar. I haven't seen many birds around, at least not for long periods of time. Maybe there are too many people around.
The watermelon vine is honestly looking pretty yucky, the leaves are yellowed and decaying. I think there's just been way too much rain. I ended up picking the first sugar baby melon as it doesn't seem to be growing any more. It did have some edible flesh, but it was very seedy and kind of watery. I wonder if it was just due to all the rain, or if the nutrient balance in the soil wasn't right, or what. I mean all things considered it wasn't "bad", just not, like, an actual grown watermelon. I hope the second melon is better but I don't have high hopes based on the condition of the vines and how this first one turned out.
Other than that I spent most of the day just chillin' which was really, really nice.
Rest of the week was normal. I worked, Jameson worked. A long time ago my sister gifted us a Groupon for a bioluminescent kayak tour, and it occurred to me that since Jameson doesn't have summer gigs for once, now would be the perfect time to use it. So I booked it for next month. Hopefully it'll be a fun adventure!
On Wednesday Jameson had a bunch of meetings, so I entertained myself with housework, meal prep, and steno. I did laundry, cleaned the shower, set some pork cubes to marinate for skewers for dinner, and washed our bath mats. While Jameson was in his longest meeting I practiced my steno and did the rest of the meal prep for the skewers, which was mostly just chopping veggies.
I stayed out of the garden, mostly because it kind of is what it is right now. All of the lavender has died due to the heavy rains and extreme heat indexes over 100 we've had...I may replace it with some black and blue salvia or something. The other plants are all alive, though they're blooming pretty minimally right now and I wonder if they're conserving energy or just done for the summer. My passion vine has some damage near the new shoots and I'm wondering what's eating it, but am not going to buy pesticides since the rest of the plant seems fine.
Other plants like the mint, meyer lemon, strawberry, and basil look a little yellow, but I figure that's either because of too much rain or too much heat and I can't bring all of that indoors, so oh well.
At the end of August I can start planting more things because the weather will be less extreme. I'd like to have jalapeno peppers, green onions, a larger variety of tomato, lettuce, carrots, radishes, and strawberries. This year I'll be a lot more careful about how I space things out, and hopefully that way I can enjoy better results. I'm especially looking forward to another crack at the carrots!
Here's my second watermelon, btw. It'll be staying on the vine for as long as possible. Maybe that will make a difference.
Before starting dinner I happened to look out at the pollinator garden and saw a butterfly I hadn't seen before.
It wouldn't let me get very close, but I think it was a palamedes swallowtail.
https://instagram.com/p/CCrMmdRgP4R
Apparently pork takes a lot longer to cook in a stovetop grill pan than shrimp (I've made shrimp skewers before) so I ended up taking everything off the skewers and just flash-cooking it in the grill pan. I also made a cold soba noodle salad with peanut sauce, red peppers, carrots, and edamame. It was pretty tasty! Didn't get a pic this time.
I was careful that night to stop eating before 8pm because Thursday morning I had a blood draw to do. No reason, just part of setting up a PCP. I hate hate hate HATE having blood drawn and was very nervous about it. After a night of barely any sleep, I woke up and drove over to Quest. Luckily I had a good nurse who took exactly zero time at all to draw four vials of blood. Amazing!
Speed makes such a huge difference when dealing with the fight-or-flight response. She was done before a panic attack could set in. This is the first blood draw in a long time that I was able to walk out of without having felt like I was going to faint. My heart was still pounding and I was sweating bullets, but you know what, progress is progress. I was super pleased with myself for having a better reaction than the last time, and the time before that :)
On the way home I picked up breakfast for Jameson and I at Maple Street Biscuit Company (formerly Holler & Dash, and currently owned by Cracker Barrel). We haven't gotten to eat breakfast out since Covid started so this was a nice treat!
I did a little computer work, prepping for the work week, and weeding in the front yard while Jameson graded his students and had a meeting. We went for a walk in the afternoon which was cut short by a thunderstorm, but still, it was nice :) I saw two more butterflies, both spicebush swallowtails. One seemed very raggedy, with faded colors and torn wings. The other was pretty large and when I got too close instead of flying away it flew right at my head...I thought it would land on me!
https://instagram.com/p/CCtj16JAnXn
I didn't feel like cooking dinner so we ordered pizza. I worked on my steno and read my book for book club and enjoyed a nice glass of wine since apparently we're just indulging in unhealthy foods today :P
Just another week and not much else to say.
