Saturday, 24th of April 2010 at 02:06:48 PM 
Well, here we all are, itchy and wriggly, as if the space outside our comfort zones was composed entirely of nettles.
Kira, challenged by Mir to pick up her pen and WRITE, says she “is bothered and annoyed by the unyielding nature of time. She has yet to find a suitable daily block of time to write, and has resorted to snatching tiny pockets in her day. It is an unsatisfactory solution. She is a complete failure who should never show her face in public again. She is also somewhat less than adept at that whole “perspective” thing people have been nattering at her about. Whatevs.” To which I say pish and also tosh, and also, minute snatching is WINFUL and worlds better than hand-throwsing-up-in-despairsing-and-quittsing.
Gray, also stepping outside her zone by putting fingers to keyboard, says, “I’m now awake at least as many hours as I spend sleeping. VICTORY! I hate to jinx myself, but my stigmata seems slightly better. Hard to tell; my thinking is extremely WISHFUL. I am very happily writing my little heart out. Check out Gray James and see if I keep my promise to post again. All signs point to…” I dunno where … is exactly, and I think all signs point to YES. Good job!
Lydia, speaking as one of the Virginia Janes says, “I recorded some songs I wrote. Contemplating releasing them for FFP consumption in my upcoming post. Also my stair climb is on Sunday. Yay for me.” Yoda responds, “There is no contemplate. There is only POST or POST NOT.” I pick post!!!! Plus she promised. Also, how very cool that it is time for the charity stair climb for the UP Center from challenge one!
Mir says, “Mir is still bravely undecided about her children’s educational future, but she’s definitely leaning towards… ha! Fooled you! Undecided, people! (Why yes, she is feeling a little stressed out about it, why do you ask?) Twitchily yours, Mir.” To which I say, Waffle on, Mir, you non-deciding Rock Star. Mir’s nickname for me, you should know, is “Plan Cat.” Plan Cat likes PLANS, and I am a little in awe of anyone who can go for even a MINUTE without one.
As for Plan Cat (aka Joshilyn, aka me), I have continued to put myself forward, which makes me want to vomit because what if you think my hair is weird and you do not like me? (Yes. I am twelve.) Even so, in the spirit of discomfort, I have been ramping up the promo for Backseat Saints, posting on Facebook about the FAN page and asking people to “Like” it and even starting the VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR on my blog with 7 reasons why everyone on the planet should buy my book instead of my usual fast and apologetic link with an immediate subject change. I even threatened DEATH. (Mine, not yours.) The whole thing makes me feel like a scabby kneed Girl Scout banging at your door, pegging you with Thin Mints and demands for Camp Money, but, as my editor keeps telling me, if I am PROUD of the book, which I am, I shouldn’t be so skittish about telling people it is worth buying. After all, she says, most people actively LIKE Girl Scout cookies, which, yeah. Me, too. Especially Samoas. So.
Meanwhile, HOW ARE YOU? Are you in the nettles with us or have you made a run for the comfort of your picnic blanket? Inquiring Plates want to know.
I put in a forsythia bush and I bought Gerbera daisies (because they were beautiful though not cheap — palpitations in my frugal heart). They are all planted in sunny spots and I am waiting for them to die. No. Wait. I mean I am waiting for them to live long and prosper and bring my happiness all season.
I checked out the new Square Foot Gardening book from the library and I have good intentions of putting in some vegetables and herbs tomorrow. We will see what transpires.
I dreamed that the SFG book came attached to a small gardening frame, and I was most surprised to discover that a cat had crawled into the frame (while it was in the house of the last person to check it out, presumably) and given birth to 17 kittens. This was distressing because in my dream I was reading the book while house-sitting for a friend who loathes cats. Whoops! Seventeen kittens plus their mama in your living room, friend! I was relieved to discover that it was only a dream, but now I am wondering if it is a SIGN that I should give up on gardening because it will cause distress in unexpected ways.
But I think I will be brave and plant some tomatoes anyway.
signed,
Black Thumb, Scourge of Plants
Jamie, LOVE Square Foot Gardening. It is the way to go. Because I am a…let’s call it a FREE SPIRIT, my squares tend to get all rounded off and elongated and…sometimes L shaped. It is still a vast improvement over my very own FREE FORM style.
Good choice, is what I’m saying.
BAHAHAHHAHAH @Jamie.
Maybe it means it will bear unexpected fruit? Like tomatoes are a fruit.
I live in a really small, tight-knit community. And I wanted to do something to give back and to honor God. So I am planning a ladies-get-together-learning-workshop day at the chapel. I am WAY out of my comfort zone because I’m usually the helper church mouse behind the scenes (which I still plan to be) but I’m putting myself way out there being the big in-charge mouse. The event is next Saturday. I’m providing lunch and hope I get 10 people on that freebie alone.
I’ll keep y’all posted.
If the nettles are the place you go when you’ve got the shakes and feel like you might lose your lunch, I’m there. I’m writing again and telling people about it. I’m 85% sure I’m going to homeschool next year and telling people about it. And, I want to get my family to be more mission minded, so as soon as my husband and son get back in town, I’m going to get them on board with raising $3,000 to buy a well to provide clean drinking water to people in Africa. Providing a well would be a privilege and does not make me sick in the least, but this does: I’m going to ask people I know to donate. GAH!!! (I’m going to call it 5 Bucks for Water, because there are five of us and we are the Bucks and everyone can afford to donate 5 bucks, right? And there’s nothing I love more than a play on words, even if it is corny.) So yeah, I’d say where I’m at is knee deep in the nettles. Where’s my blanket!?!
My challenge is to spend more time with people. The good news is we jammed 26 people into our lounge for a party on Saturday. Great fun.
The bad news is that last week I said I’d join my local photo club and didn’t. Still need to work on getting out of the house in the evenings instead of collapsing in an unmotivated heap.