2004-03-30 - 11:27 a.m.

On the internal soundtrack: "Crazy on You", Heart

OK, quick, quick, quick:

This weekend was insanely (but fun-ly) busy.

- Cleaned up the backyard a bit on Friday after work. The hollyhocks are coming back, and so is the tarragon. And the miniature roses. Still waiting on the various mums, the poor frozen rosemary, and Nikolai's lemon balm and mint.

- Planted about 85 seeds of various types in my little seed houses on Friday night. The blue and red morning glories, which I soaked overnight and planted on Saturday morning, are already coming out of their little shells. I know they don't like being transplanted, but I'm hoping if I transplant them before the roots stick out of the pellet, they won't fuss.

- Saturday morning, hunted around Home Depot to find some chicken wire to build little fences around my bulb pots so those GODDAMN FUCKING SQUIRRELS can't dig in there anymore. I found some that was opened, partly cut, and had no price on it, and got it priced for about $5. Good deal -- we went to a different HD this morning and they charge $12.97 for it normally. It's covered with green vinyl so it's more pleasant to look at than the plan kind. It's two feet high and I have about 25 feet of it. I also looked at trellises, and decided I am going to line my 4th floor deck with trellises and put pots of morning glories all over and make myself a morning glory forest up there. Hunh, it just occurred to me that if we re-shingle the roof and put a roof deck in, in September, I'm going to have to tear them all down. :( Guess we'll have to move that to October. ;)

- Saturday afternoon, went to a party at Alicia's house for her twins' 4th birthday. The youngest also got some presents, and his way of dealing with them is SO amusing. He opened a puzzle, and wanted it opened immediately. He completely ignored the rest of his presents. His mother told him he could play with the puzzle later and to open his other presents. Next present was a book. He immediately went back over to Mom, holding the book, turned around, aimed his butt, and backed down onto her lap to be read to. They read the book together. THEN he went back to open another present. It was another book. His mother wasn't available, so he went to the next nearest bookish-looking type, who was me. He did the same turn around/aim butt/back up process. SO CUTE. We had a good time reading the book, which was about dirt and how much fun it is to plant things in it and make mud pies and take a bath afterwards, because you have to get clean to enjoy getting dirty again.

- Speaking of playing in the dirt, this afternoon I planted my poppies, cannas, campanula, and a clematis. I made chicken wire cages for all of them, plus the bulbs, so now they are protected from moronic squirrels while they get established. I was happy to see that the black tulips, whose leaves were eaten, still have blossoms beginning to poke up. I "pruned" the miniature roses, by cutting off branches above the spots where I saw new leaves coming in. We'll see how it goes. I also found something that looks suspiciously like a volunteer petunia, and have put it in a little pot of its own so I can keep an eye on it.

- Poindexter, meanwhile, impressed the pants off me by removing the marble-like double vanity top and the vanity itself from the guest bathroom. There's nothing left now but the water inlets and outlets and a square hole in the floor where the vanity used to sit (there is no tile under it). Photos coming when I have time (probably Tuesday). He cleaned it all up and we can actually still use that bathroom (provided we wash our hands under the tub faucet) while he's messing with it. I am just SO impressed. I wouldn't even know where to begin with a project like that and he's just methodically plowing through it. He's talking about moving the drain pipes to the wall (they're in the floor now) and then he will fill in the hole and either install the flooring himself or we'll hire someone to do it. WOW-IE.

Recognize these lyrics?

Show me that smile again (show me that smile)
Don't waste another minute on your cryin'
We're nowhere near the end (we're nowhere near)
The best is ready to begin

As long as we got each other
We got the world spinning right in our hands
Baby you and me
We gotta be
The luckiest dreamers who never quit dreamin'

As long as we keep on givin'
We can take anything that comes our way
Baby rain or shine
All the time
We got each other
Sharing the laughter and love

I remember all that from MEMORY. I did not Google. Obviously I watched a few too many episodes of it. I Googled afterward to see if I was right, and found that it's part of a longer song by Dusty Springfield. I may have to buy that and annoy the hell out of my husband playing it all the time.

I really like TV theme songs. There seems to be somewhat less interest in using them nowadays, but what would "Hill Street Blues" or "Cheers" have been without the themes? Excellent shows, but the song really added something. "The Greatest American Hero". "Happy Days". The theme from "Friends". And of course, "The Monkees". I watched that show as a child, I watched it as a lovestruck teen (Mickey Dolenz, with curly hair), and now I dance with my husband's cousins to the song.

I like to listen to songs over and over, so I never get tired of theme songs. I get really mad when TV shows go into syndication and they cut out half the theme song.

Like Camille, I like television. In many ways I prefer it to movies, because when I like characters, I want to see more of them. At the same time, I have enough other stuff going on in my life (see next paragraph) that I have stopped watching TV almost entirely. The only show I've watched with any regularity in the last year is "Survivor" with the stupid deaf chick in it, and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", which I never got back into after it went on hiatus.

The odd thing is that online journals seem to have replaced television in my life. It fulfills my desire to follow the lives of characters (real people, even!) on a regular basis. Even then, though, I've got so many "shows" on my plate (friends list) that if I go away on vacation or get busy, I miss episodes. I hate that.

Since I can't seem to watch TV regularly and am unwilling to bend to its strict scheduling, I'm really glad that some of the best TV shows are now available on DVD. I really need to see "Six Feet Under", I think. I've also watched multiple seasons of shows when they are shown in order in syndication (like Bravo did with "Hill Street Blues", God bless them.)

Two of my favorite shows, by the same producers, were "My So-Called Life" and "Relativity". I'm still pissed they canceled those.

When I was younger, I watched a lot more television. It wasn't until college that I started to get out of the habit. In my first year of high school, I watched "Moonlighting" on Tuesdays, "Dynasty" on Wednesdays, and "Dyanasty II: The Colbys" on Thursdays. Somewhere in there I watched "Family Ties" and the show from the lyrics, whose name escapes me at the moment. I had a big crush on Mike.

What else? I watched a really bad yet oddly addictive show called "The Charmings". I watched "Small Wonder". I watched so much "Three's Company" (despite half the humor going over my head) that I was sad when John Ritter died even though I've hardly seen him in anything since. I watched "Joanie Loves Chachi", if you can believe that (crush on Scott Baio) and I remember the theme song from that show too. (OH MY GOD!! The sheet music!! I LOVE THE INTERNET!!)

More shows I've really liked:

Ally McBeal
Picket Fences
Northern Exposure
Adam-12
Seinfeld
Sisters

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