My Life in Six Words or Less

So I've been tagged and invited to write a six-word memoir, which is funny since just a few weeks earlier I had been reading my roommates book, Not Quite what I was planning: Six Word Memoirs by the famous and obscure. It's quite the interesting read. People were asked to sum up all or part of the life or I guess the essence of it in six words. That's a pretty hard feat. Below are some of my attempts. Let me know which one you think epitomizes me and feel free to share your own six word bio, I'd love to hear it.

calm on surface, paddling furiously below

well I really had good intentions

found joy in the smallest flower

indiana jones stuck in librarian's body

One Woman's trash...

So I pretty much believe there are two kinds of people in this world-Savers and Thrower-awayers. I myself am a saver, like my dad, and my mom likes to throw things away. This has caused no ends of quarrels, but I can't throw away perfectly good things just because I don't have a lot of space for them. First of all what if I need them again? Second I hate the idea of being wasteful and third a lot of these things I have are my history. Letters, ticket stubs, my old clothes and toys from when I was a kid-this is my past, my life. Somehow along the way my old barbie got tossed and I so regret that!

I also am a partaker of things other people are going to jettison, mostly books and furniture, (I just can't stand the idea of perfectly good things in a landfill! And some people do discard the most wonderful things). As you may have guessed I like yard sales, but what I really like are signs that read FREE on old furniture that people set out on the curb. I picked up a great big bookself this winter (good thing I drive a minivan)! My roommate is a bit of a bargain finder as well. Yesterday she found a really cool solid wood mission-style table on someone's curb-for free. Well she snatched that up in a jiffy and now it looks really cool in our house.

I read this article quite a few months ago in the New York Times about a group of people in New York that live entirely on garbage-I mean they eat things people throw away, like dumpster diving! and furnish their homes and their bodies with perfectly good things that people can't be bothered with anymore (there is even a term for this stuff-Mongo). And these aren't like homeless types, these are people with real jobs and such that have dedicated themselves to not consuming so much. Amazing. I of course could never live out of the trash, but it's an interesting idea.

If I do actually have to throw something out-like real garbage I always try to recycle as much as I can. As a kid I would recycle pop cans and newspaper (because that is pretty much the only recycling you could do in Utah County), but now I'm in Salt Lake I can recycle almost everything. It's lovely. I've decided to get evenmore earth friendly and now I recycle cups and plastic things that I get when I eat out. I just scrape them off and then put them in the recycling when I get home. I know it sounds a bit fanatic, but it is not hard and makes my conscience feel oh so much better. Along with recycling more, I try to use less, my mantra is Reuse, Reduce, Recycle! I hardly ever buy water bottles. I either opt for a drinking fountain or reuse a water bottle. I'm also going to start taking my own bag grocery shopping instead of getting plastic sacks and I try to buy things in larger packages instead of getting lots of small packages.
Well I'm not as Eco-friendly as I want to be yet, but it's a start.

I think this saver/collector personality of mine has extended into all areas of my life. Most of my jobs have revolved around collections of some sort-Herbaria, Libraries and Museums. I even love dictionaries which are really just collections of words.

Well here is to are the savers/collectors/historians/recyclers/scavengers of the world-I salute you!

In Bloom

There are so many things in bloom right now, it's lovely to take a walk around the neighborhood. Here's what's in bloom in my neighborhood right now:

Trees:
Cherry, Plum, Pear and Apricot trees-Cherries usually have white to pink blossoms with smooth bark (also all of the "weeping" trees are cherries), Plum have purplish pink blooms with dark gray bark and Apricots have white flowers with light gray courser bark, Pears have white blossoms.

Maples-Large trees that look like they are getting light green leaves, these are actually green flowers.

Magnolias-Big white or Pink flowers













(Forsythia)

Shrubs:

Phlox-a little shrub with mounds of very light purple flowers.

Forsythias-Large bush with bright yellow flowers

Flowering Quince-Dark pink bloosoms and spiny branches

(Tulips and Grape Hyanciths)
Bulbs:

Tulips-yellows, reds, pinks and whites.

Daffodils-yellow bulb flowers

Grape Hyanciths-little dark purple clusters of flowers.

Regular Hyanciths-clusters of pink, purple or white flowers

Scillia (Spring Squills)-low growing light purple bulb flowers
(Scillia)















Herbaceous Plants:

Rock Cress-little mounds of purple flowers with four petals each.

Violets-low growing purple flowers

(Tulips and Rock Cress)

My Faves

So I've been living in Salt Lake for almost two years now! That is crazy to me, I never thought I would live here, but it's close enough to home without being too close to home. Since living here I've discovered some fun places, so here is a list of my favorite shops in SLC.

Granato's and Dolcetti Gelati

Amazingly Salt Lake has a great little Italian community and I can't get enough of the food. Granato's has a great deli and delcious foccacia. There are four locations but the one I go to is in Holladay at 4044 South 2700 East.

Dolcetti Gelato is a bit closer to my house and I go there a bit more often, ok a lot. Their gelatos and sorbettos are the bomb and have less fat than ice cream, no joke! Go there 1751 S. 1100 E. http://markenglandart.com/dolcettigelato/index.htm

After you enjoy your Gelato head a few block down to Abode, a funky little consignment shop. Cuter than a thrift store but cheaper than an antique store. 1720 S. 900 E. http://abodepfm.com/index.cfm

Ten Thousand Villages is a fascinating little gift shop with fair trade gifts from all over the world. Shop and feel good about it.

Cactus and Tropicals-2735 S. 2000 E. It has plants of course I love it, but it just doesn't have plants it has plants with pizazz. Buy anything from Geraniums to Orchids.

And for Breakfast try Eggs in the City 1300 S. 1700 E. The blintzes are great! or go to Scandia Kaffe House 1693 S. 900 E.-Delicious pastries and food from my homeland!

Books, Allergies and Plants

So It's getting to the end of the semester and I am way stressed out! Ah school, why do we do this to ourselves. I swear sometimes I think it is the least efficient way to learn. Anyway, so in this time of upheaval I'm looking to cut things out of my day. So I considered not going to my office today because I have loads of schoolwork and I just had to get to the store to buy allergy medicine (I had been sneezing and sniffling all day). But then I decided maybe I should go just in case a student shows up (although no one has yet this semester).

So I got off the elevator on my floor and I saw this handwritten sign "Free books this way". I pretty much never turn down a chance to get free books so I followed the signs to some professor's office and there was a full glorious wall of beautiful books, mostly novels and plays, etc, all for the taking! So 20 minutes later I had a good-sized box of Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Dante, Milton, Eliot and the like. And what else did I find Henry Sweets grammar and reader of Anglo-Saxon! Joy! I shrieked when I found it. I guess you really have to be a linguistics nerd to appreciate it, but I just so happened to be writing a paper on Henry Sweet so it was perfect! So the moral of the story I is if you do what you're supposed to good things happen! Well at least today they did. Now I've just got to find a place for all these books.

Oh so I've also decided to start giving "how to" blog posts just to mix it up a little and also to share my vast knowledge with my readers. So my first topic is something I actually know something about-plants!

How to Kill your Houseplants

1. Give them too much water- yes, that’s right a plant can have too much water.
Some plants don’t need to be watered everyday, especially when they aren’t in full sun. If mildew or mold is growing on the top of the soil you are definitely watering too much.

What to do- check the soil, does it look dry and light colored? Pick up the pot, is it light? If so, then it’s probably time to water. Your indoor plants may only need to be watered once a week or less.

2. Treat them all the same- Each kind of plant has different needs, a cactus and a fern are totally different kinds of plants, one likes more sun and drier soil than the other. One is native to the swamp, one to the desert.

What to do- look up what climate your plant is native to and how much light, water, temperature and humidity it likes and what kind of soil it needs.

3. Sit your houseplants outside in the sun when summer comes along-your plants were doing fine in your house all winter long, they don’t need full sun like your outdoor plants do. They like a little shade, that is why they are indoor plants.

4. Leave for two weeks with no one to watch your plants-Think of your plants like pets, they are living things just like your puppy and need a little TLC.

What to do- If you have a tendency to forget about them pick a time and day when you will check them, make it a habit, mark it on your calendar, put it into your palm (no pun intended)-your plants will thank you (in their own plant way that is).

*If you have a half-dead plant now, you may still be able to save it. Just remove the dead leaves and stems then water it regularly, make sure it has some light too.

5. Water them just a little bit each day-This may work for a few plants, but not most.

What to do- water your plant, when needed, (with lukewarm, not cold water) until some water comes out the bottom of the pot (oh about 10% of what you’ve put in). This way you know water will reach all the roots and toxic salts that can build up in the soil will be flushed out. Also it’s better to water in the morning than at night. Night watering can lead to rot.

6. Never repot them-when a plant has been in a pot too long, it may become rootbound. This means there are too many roots in too little space (the root/soil ratio is off) and the roots start to circle around the bottom of the pot and come out the bottom. You may also be noticing that you have to water your plant a lot. This is because there is too little soil to hold much water.

What to do- find a pot of the same material and just one size larger than your current pot (remember root/soil ratio). Make sure there is a drainage hole(s) at the bottom. You may place gravel or a some pebbles at the bottom to help drainage. Fill the pot part way with soil, place you extricated plant in the pot and fill the sides and just a little of top with soil, then water in. Be sure to leave some space between the rim of the pot and the soil line.

7. Let them sit in water-Again with the drowning issue. Make sure you dump the excess water in the catch plate under the pot.

8. Don’t give them light-when a plant doesn’t get enough light it becomes leggy. This means its stems and leaves become stretched and can’t support themselves, usually falling over.

What to do- If plants become leggy move them to a sunnier location, also remember to rotate your pots, so one side of the plant is not always facing the light.

*plants that get too much light may have dry, brown leaf edges.

California dreamin' on a Winter's Day

I'm snowed in! I should be in class right now. But I'm here in Springville and just don't feel like braving the snow on the freeway up to Salt Lake. So not feeling like grading papers and with the satellite not working because of the snow, what is there to do but blog! And I'm way over due for a post anyway.

So lately I've been thinking about dreams. Not the kind at night, but the things you've always wanted to do and not the big ambitious life goals either, but the little dreams that you'd love to accomplish one day. One of my little dreams has been to own a Volkswagen Bug! Can't you just see me tooling around town in a little Beetle car maybe a convertible with the roof down? I don't know what the fascination is, maybe it is my hippie side coming out or maybe they just make me nostalgic for the past. I remember watching Gidget reruns on television when I was young and I'm pretty sure Gidget had a Bug that she would take down to the beach. So maybe I equate Bugs with youth, summer, the beach and freedom. Pretty good connotations.
Every once and a while I will see a bug for sale and I will long to buy it or at least test drive it. In the last few weeks I've noticed that a neighbor has had a dark blue bug for sale. And I've been itchin' to find out the price and maybe test drive it. On Friday I finally called and asked about the car-a 1973 VW Bug with a new engine for $5000! Well I don't really have that much money, but I thought there was no harm in test driving it just to see if it was a steal and I had to have it. So on Saturday I walked over and they gave me the keys and let me take it for a spin(now that is trust!).

So here I am in this little car trying to drive it up and down the hills of Salt Lake. First of all it had a very old stick shift (now keep in mind I haven't driven a stick in awhile) and I couldn't even get it into 3rd gear! Also the speedometer didn't work and neither did the blinkers and neither did the seatbelt. So here I was sticking my arm out the window everytime I had to turn and trying to remember from driver's ed how to sign a left turn and how to sign a right turn. It was probably an interesting sight. Oh and I also accidentally killed the engine at a stop sign and it took me forever to get it started again! Ok so not exactly a dream machine, but I probably looked really cool driving it around (except for maybe the occasional looks of panic on my face). I guess I'm not going to get this car, I don't think I have the mechanic skills to maintain it, but the dream lives on for the perfect Bug and one day, one day I will buy one.

But I have other dreams too, here is the short list:

to be a drummer for a band (I think I'd be really good at drumming, I just need a drum set and a teacher!)
to play the harmonica
to live in a village in Italy and maybe own a little villa
to learn Italian well
to have my very own garden
to be a great dancer