Houseplants and Phone Calls
As much as I love winter and the inclement weather which accompanies the colder months; let’s face it, I go weak in the knees for falling snow, whipping winds, and the sound of hard rain falling on my roof, but I can’t wait until things warm up again so I can get out into my gardens. Enough already! It’s too damn cold and if I don’t get something into the ground soon I’m going to lose my mind! We’re already checking out seeds and trying to decide what we’re going to plant this year, and half my problem is trying to convince my husband that growing opium poppies probably isn’t a good idea, but try telling him that. “Why should Afghanistan have all the fun” is his response. See what I have to live with?
We did build an indoor greenhouse so we could start seedlings early, even tho what I really want is a real greenhouse in the backyard, we are planning on starting many plants next month. I’ve also been shopping for a Bodhi tree, which is a sacred tree to Buddhism, but I’m probably going to have to settle for something I can grow indoors because my northeastern climate really isn’t suited for a Bodhi. Three of my favorite indoor plants tho are my two Bonsai trees and my Bamboo plant, so, maybe an indoor Bodhi tree might work.
It’s been a busy few days for me with work and with house stuff, especially since this is school vacation week, and I’ve actually entertained my son’s girlfriend which I mentioned here – and even tho a few of my friends took me to task privately about my unkind mother-in-law to be comments, I’m still not convinced I’m ready for this.
My phone rang the other day, and it was someone from the Hillary Clinton campaign calling to inform me that they were setting up a campaign headquarters in a nearby state and they were wondering if I’d be willing to volunteer.
Guy: Hi! Is this Nina? This is [so and so] from the Hillary Clinton campaign!
Me: Um… yes?
Guy: Hi! I’m just calling you tonight to let you know that we’re setting up our campaign headquarters in [city here] and we’d like you to come down and help us out!
Me: Oh. Wow. Really? Um…
Guy: Yes! We really need all the help we can get and you can be a part of the most exciting campaign the Democratic Party has ever seen!
Me: Um. Wow. Yeah, but. Well, I’m supporting Barack Obama.
[pause, silence]
Guy: Oh. Well. [pause] Hillary Clinton is ready to be commander in chief on day one….
Me: Um. Sure. If you say so. I think she’s John McCain with breasts, but… what do I know.
Guy: Wow. Really? Well…
Me: Yeah… kinda. So, thanks for calling! Bye! [click]
I keep wondering how they got my number. I think maybe back when Jeff was all excited about Hillary like a year ago he may have included our phone number in one of those online forms or something like that. I’ll have to remind him that unless he wants to stay home all day and answer the phone, because unlike him, I actually work from home and have no time for this shit – don’t give out the number! It’s bad enough that we get calls offering us free trips to Hawaii if we refinance now, or from credit card companies wanting us to transfer our balances now at this incredible low rate! Good lord… I’m never answering the phone again.
I also have to thank everyone who has emailed me and has requested access to the sanctuary section as I outlined here. I had no idea that my words have had such an impact, and you truly cannot measure how many people read any given site by the number of comments they receive. What I learned is that people are really reading and that they truly care about the topics I present here. I am touched and humbled by some of the messages and kind words people from all over the world have shared with me in these last few days since I made this change. Thank you all so very much for your support and your faith, and I should have everyone’s email answered by tonight, there’s a lot of them!
So, until this whirlwind I call my life quiets down a bit… Aishiteru wa!
1Lazy Ichi
wrote on 20 February 2008 at 23:27
Um Nina, given any more thought about putting the “Live Nude Girls” sign above virtual doorway?
2Tony
wrote on 21 February 2008 at 4:22
nina, if you ever come here to hawaii with your family, be sure to visit matsumoto’s shave ice shop. the shop is located in the north shore but it has the best shave ice ever! its to die for. ^_^
3Richard
wrote on 21 February 2008 at 10:24
I’m with you on the cold,enough is enough already!!!!!I have some seeds starting inside on the kitchen window, it is fun to watch them grow and prosper, and with the sun getting higher in the sky, the better they grow. I went to the Point last night to check out the Moon, Wow it was crisp and cold, and to watch the it covered by the Earth was just . It makes you understand just how huge outer space is.As I type I have two pair of Red Cardinals having breakfast. I hope you have a wonderful Lazygeisha kinda of day. Let me know how Jeff’s poppy are soming along…… as ever Richard
4nina aoki
wrote on 21 February 2008 at 12:55
Lazy Ichi,
lmao! No hon, I have no plans to do that! But thanks for the idea!
xoxo,
nina
5nina aoki
wrote on 21 February 2008 at 12:56
Tony,
Hey thanks! That sounds like it would be a lovely place to check out! Is that on the big island?
xoxo,
nina
6nina aoki
wrote on 21 February 2008 at 12:59
Hi Richard,
Oh I know… enough cold! It’s going to snow here overnight and into tomorrow morning again too!
Yes there was a full lunar eclipse last night! That’s always an amazing sight to see. Well, I’ve got Cardinals this year too, but I’ve been too lazy to go out and fill up my feeders! It’s too cold!
Oh hon, Jeff is out of luck with his opium poppy plans! NO WAY! lmao!
I have enough trouble with him as it is!
xoxo,
nina
7Tony
wrote on 21 February 2008 at 16:26
nina, matsumoto’s is located in o’ahu. ^_^ i hope you can help me with something. i’m using blogger now but i also have a wordpress account. i am debating if i should switch over and just use wordpress? i noticed that they updated their storage space to 3gb. hope you can gimme some feedback on the advantages/disadvantages. have a lovely day. :bow:
8nina aoki
wrote on 21 February 2008 at 19:04
Tony,
Oh thanks! I’ll have to remember to check that out, provided we actually refinance and get that free trip! Or, if we decide to vacation in Hawaii!
Well, okay, two things. I run the Wordpress software on my own server and with my own domain, so it isn’t the same thing as having a blog hosted with Wordpress.
Meaning: blogname.wordpress.com
So, you don’t have all the flexibility that I do because I self host my site, but even saying that, I think that even the Wordpress hosted blogs are a better setup than Blogger. I started out with Blogger way back when, and I used it for six months before buying my own domain and moving to my own servers. I’ve never been a fan of Blogger or their service either. Blogger has made a lot of improvements since I used their service tho, most notably more integration with your google account and some more features like tagging.
Also, I’ve noticed a lot of people who use blogger have been migrating over to wordpress hosted sites. So, that seems to be the trend, and that would be my recommendation.
For me, hosting my own site was the only real option for my needs, and I looked at Movable Type and Wordpress for core software to run my site, and I chose Wordpress.
xoxo,
nina
9lazy ichi
wrote on 21 February 2008 at 19:12
sniff sniff. (heh heh heh!)
ok, but beware rodents bearing gifts. heh heh heh!
10saratoga
wrote on 21 February 2008 at 20:12
Nina-
Hope you get to planting soon.
xoxox
-saratoga
11Andy
wrote on 21 February 2008 at 21:47
All I can say about all the cold days and snow we gotten this year is, thank God for global warming. Can you imagine how much worse it would have been with out it.
Andy
12nina aoki
wrote on 22 February 2008 at 17:55
lazy ichi,
lmao! Thanks hon.
xoxo,
nina
13nina aoki
wrote on 22 February 2008 at 17:55
saratoga,
lmao! I bet you do! ;)
Thanks sweetie!
xoxo,
nina
14nina aoki
wrote on 22 February 2008 at 17:56
Andy,
Hmmm. Not sure if I would look at it that way, but thanks for sharing your thoughts with me!
xoxo,
nina
15Tony
wrote on 22 February 2008 at 18:57
nina, hiya. thanks for the tip. i think i figured it out on wordpress. take a look at the link and tell me what you think. i’m sucha newbie. thanks. :bow:
16nina aoki
wrote on 23 February 2008 at 15:21
Tony,
Very nice sweetie! Good job!
xoxo,
nina