DAD’S PLANT (Part 1)

I have been meaning to share this with you for a few years now. I imagine that you’re wondering why it’s taken me so long and why I’ve finally decided to give it up… I have to admit that it’s kind of personal, that’s part of the reason I haven’t written about it. The other reason is that, well, it may be kind of hard to believe. But I think you know me well enough by now to know that I wouldn’t lie to you and that it’s perfectly normal for me to have weirdness.

This story is about a plant.  Which has since become three plants.  If my dream comes true, that number could grow to a whole terrarium of plants.  

“Where did this plant come from and why is it special?“ you may be asking by now.

When my father died in April 1998, many wonderful people sent beautiful flower arrangements and dish gardens, as people are wont to do when someone dies.  A few days after the funeral, me mum was divvying up the plants to assorted family members.  I became the owner of a beautiful and large dish garden.

The only surviving plant member from that dish garden has been with me for 11 years now.  That fact in itself is incredible, considering that my thumbs are not only not green, but utterly colorless.

A couple of years ago I finally was successful at (what is the word?)  Propagating? [ Whatever it is called when you make one plant into two and they are both alive and well.]  The main reason I did this is because I become totally terrified at the idea of the plant ever dying and I figured if there were two instead of one, my chances of saving at least one of two were way better than if I only had one and killed it.

I lovingly refer to the plant(s) as “Dad’s Plant(s)…”  for two reasons.  One, if it weren’t for my dad, I wouldn’t have the thing(s), and two, because I have never found out what the real name of the plant is.  It’s not because I can’t look it up or even that I’ve tried, because I haven’t.  I’m weird that way, some things are just not important to me.   Due to the amount of explaining that will be necessary for you to understand how important these plants have become to me, I will show you what they look like now and continue with the story another day.  If you know what family this plant belongs to, feel free to tell me.  I will be impressed.  I’ll probly forget two minutes after I go away from this page, but I will be impressed, nonetheless.

Here they are, the original (top) and then he and his brother for your thoughtful consideration:

COMING SOON…

I can hardly wait to see this movie.

NOTHING COMES

I wrote a lengthy post in my head last night when I couldn’t get to sleep due to being all stuffed up and slightly achy.  Guess what?  This morning I can’t even remember what the subject was.

But while I have your attention, I’ll tell you this. I’m considering getting my old blog put into book form.  Just because I can.  I was reading some of it last night and it’s so much better than this one.  I should be ashamed of myself for not giving this blog the tender loving care and time that I invested in the old one.  Just goes to show you, I’m getting lazier and less prolific in my old age.

Off to start my day.  Yay.

GREAT SONG

Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man – clean: Video

It says disabled but you can still click on it and watch it.  (I know…)

The audio clarity etc. is MUCH better on the not-so-clean version, but I would never think of posting anything “objectionable” here on my dear (neglected) old blog.  If you want the rough stuff, it’s here.  You know you want to anyway, and I recommend it anyway…

LIGHTEN UP

Arctic Monkeys – ‘Cornerstone’ (Official Video)

BITTERSWEET WEEKEND

Had an extremely lovely time with my family this weekend.  I am so very very lucky to have such wonderful people in my life.  I’m going to be concentrating on that fact with every inch of my being.

You just never know what’s around the corner.

I just learned of the death of someone I don’t know.  I don’t really have any business writing about this.  But this man’s son was killed not long ago and I can’t imagine the grief the surviving members of this family is experiencing right now.  It’s shaking my faith to the very core right now and that can’t happen.  When I’m not feeling strong in that respect, nothing feels right.  I can’t talk about this anymore.

It just occurred to me as I was selecting categories for this post that “God” and “wtf” should not be used on the same post…

Update:  found this news article.

DEAR BLOG

Dear Blog,

So how have you been?  I know that you’re here because I stop in once or twice a day to make sure you’re still up and running…

I apologize for not taking the time to tend to you lately.  Things have been especially busy with work and getting the house in order.  The kids are coming today and I want to have everything ready so that PD and I can relax and enjoy their wonderful company. I will try my best to come back and at least answer the comments that my friends have been kind enough to leave.

Take care and hope to see you soon.

Sincerely,

One Wink

THIS MOVED ME

Dave Matthews Rolling Stones Memory Motel

I’m only a casual fan of the Stones and I don’t particularly care for Dave Matthew’s music much at all, but when I saw this, I had to share it.  I Love It.

(Thanks, SpeakerFreaker…)

NOTE: NEW CATEGORY

Now and then I need to stop and remind myself that not everyone “gets” my sarcasm.  On here, anyway.   (And every once in a while in real life, too.)  It’s funny how you tend to assume that when someone reads what you write, that they’re taking it in in the same way you’re putting it out.   I don’t usually intend to come across as truly harsh or overly judgmental.  I forget that the reader can’t see me sitting here typing with a gleam in my eye or my tongue in my cheek.   A perfect example is the post I wrote recently about “pretents” in which I went on about how some of their speaking habits bugged me.  (A pretent, if you’re not familiar with the post, is the name I made up for a pretentious person.  It was supposed to be a jab at myself, as the whole point of the post was about how they (pretents) shorten words to appear to be cool…)  Someone I adore admitted to shortening her words and apologized for appearing to be a pretent.  In actuality,  she doesn’t have a pretentious bone in her body and I gasped to think that she thought I might consider her that way. She’s not the only person to read here who had that reaction, so I can only surmise that others may have reacted the same. (BTW, if you’re reading, B. and J., I <3 you both!)

There have been times that I’ve mistaken people’s sarcasm, too.  It’s not hard to do.  When you don’t personally know people and are just reading what they write, never having sat together for a real life conversation, how do you really know how to interpret what they write?  I’ve struggled with this and wondered how to get things across… There are terrific bloggers who are terribly sarcastic and it’s very evident.  The first one  who comes to my mind is dooce.  I envy her ability to be funny and sarcastic and still get a heart-felt idea across.  (The post I’ve linked to coincidentally addresses the fact that there are always readers who don’t “get” what she’s putting out there…)

Let me just say, I don’t really know how to get around this.  I was born with this sense of humor and I come from a long line of sarcasts.  I think though that I may label my rants as sarcastic in the future.  If you’re reading something here and it makes you feel uncomfortable or that I’m speaking directly to you, look up at the top of the post at the category and if it says “*wink wink*,” then that’s all it is.

So.  There it is.  I just wanted to get that off my chest.  If there’s ever anything I say that offends you somehow, please call me on it and give me a chance to clarify.  Just because I’ve been blogging for as long as I have, it doesn’t mean I know all the rules or even if I’m any good at it.

Now if I were getting paid to do it, that would make all the difference…

CAN’T WAIT!

Toy Story 3 – Official Teaser Trailer [HD]

Sorry guys. I thought I was pretty smart catching the trailer that was supposedly leaked.  It’s gone now : (  All I can tell you is that it looks really awesome.  Andy is grown up and leaving for college and the toys are all worried about where they’ll end up. Andy decideds a good home for them would be a day care center and oh, the adventures they have!  Release date for the much-anticipated third installment is scheduled for June 18, 2010.  I’m excited.