Two minutes

That’s all it takes for me to fully wake up, but during those 2 minutes after the alarm goes off and the time when I actually start to function, I would give anything, pay money even, just to go back to bed. This seems unfair to me. I go to bed at 10 o’clock! Ten! The alarm starts blaring at 5:30 AM so that seven and a half hours of pretty good sleep.

After we came back from our trip to Eastern Europe, I bounded out of bed in the morning, all chipper and ready to greet the day. You know, one of those people. I think it was some sort of reverse jet lag.

It’s worn off now.

And it's only 10:03!

You know how some days when you get dressed in the morning and you think you look fine and then you get to wherever it is your going and you realize you look like a complete tool? Me. Today.

The battle has begun

For the past three days, I’ve been slowly destroying the orange daylily garden in my back yard. On purpose. I’ve ripped off all of the leaves – a struggle that usually ends with me sitting down hard on the lawn clutching a particularly stubborn clump. The real war begins when we attempt to remove the underground bulbs though. Orange daylilies are known for their ability to breed like rabbits and the roots and bulbs are everywhere. Paul is going to have to help me dig them all up because our soil is rock-like clay and my attempts so far have been feeble.

It’s taken me a long time to get to this point. I really resisted taking these flowers out because I thought it was sacrilegious to destroy a plant. I figured that I just wasn’t trying hard enough to appreciate their beauty. Paul helped me see the error of my ways. Orange daylilies are invasive. They kill other plants. Baby lilies have broken through the garden barrier and are making a run for the lawn! No matter where I stick my trowel, I hit a mass of daylily bulb.

The battle was begun, but it remains to be seen who will win the war. I’ve heard of weary gardeners still fighting the fight even years after they’ve attempted to ban these flowers from their garden. We may just have to move instead.

Responsible cleaning

I don't know about you, but nothing makes me roll my eyes higher than cleaning product commercials on TV promoting their disposable (gah! pet peeve numero uno!) and expensive antibacterial products laden with chemicals. I think Mr. Clean oughta be retired.

Organic products and environmental responsibility have gone mainstream and I’m choosing to me optimistic about that. You can now purchase everything from apple sauce to T-shirts to garden fertilizer with the organic label and I think that’s cool. As a consumer, the words “healthy,” “non-toxic,” “organic,” “natural,” “biodegradable,” “cruelty free,” and “recyclable” go a long way with me and I’m libel to snap up and purchase anything that I think will contribute to the health of our household because, darn it, I want to live as long as possible and be in reasonable enough shape to enjoy that long life. There could be a whole other post on the impact of consumerism and how I've been sucked into it, but let's put that aside for now.

Using harsh chemicals to “clean” our house seems, well, counterproductive. For a while now, we’ve been using plain ole (and effective!) vinegar, baking soda, salt and boiling water to clean a wide variety of surfaces in our house as well as some Nature Cleanproducts. And now there’s a new kid in town. They are American, but Method’s products are available at Shopper’s Drug Mart here in Canada and I’m willing to give them a whirl. The products are derived from natural ingredients (which are listed on the label!), toxic-free, biodegradable and the packaging is recyclable. Design gurus may also be interested to know that the bottles and packages where designed by industrial designer Karim Rashid, who has a Canadian connection. Yeah it's a gimmick, but if it gets more people to dump their allegiance to the strong man with an earring, I'm all for it.

The Homemade Lunch

Paul made me his signature tuna salad sandwich for lunch today. Fat-free, full of veggies (including tomatoes from our garden!), on whole wheat bread.

Somehow a meal made by someone else always tastes better than one you made yourself. And apparently, it doesn’t have to be all that good for it to taste better. I remember my friend Jenn telling me that even when her mother just slapped two pieces of bread around some peanut butter and a smear of jam, it always tasted better than when she made her own lunch.

It must be the thought that really counts eh?

NOW I have something to write about

My sister-in-law asked me to serve as Matron of Honour for her wedding!

Whee!!

Gah!!!

Whee!!!

Cue happy dance:

And Paul has been asked to serve as Best Man!

Whee!!

We're both so honored and really, I have them to thank for ending the Toast and Tea blogging moratoriam. Most posting to come...I promise.