Jibs and Jabs

I have a ton of little things to write about and not much of substance.

On thrift:

Big Lots. Love it. Bought a pair of really comfy jeans there yesterday, for $10. I'm also stoked, because they have tool after tool after tool for gardening, and on the CHEAP. So so exciting!

The Kroger down the street from me has a Pete's Brewer's Box on sale for like $6.99. Yes. 12 beers. Unadvertised. There are three kinds of the beer in the box: Pete's Wicked Ale, Strawberry Blonde, and finally Wanderlust Cream Ale.

On hair:
I last washed my hair on Sunday afternoon. Yesterday was perfect...my hair looked just as good as it did the day before. Thanks to my new Pssst! brand dry shampoo. Of course it's hilarious. The directions say to lift sections of your hair up, spray, wait a few minutes "for it to dry", then FLUFF, and finally brush really hard. I'm on day 2 without a shampoo now, and it's not horrid so far, even! Psssst! rocks. CosmoGirl recommends it, so it has to be good, right?

On garden: I might be making raised beds after all; the city where I live sells compost by the cubic yard on the cheap. Transportation is another story, but they do have delivery. It's NOT cheap, but I'd not have to load or unload it. I have tentative plans for Pedro and Mom to come up in early April to make the boxes and get the compost in them. And then Jamie is coming up after the last frost (mid- t0 late-April) to help with the planting. Whee!!

On birding:
Yesterday a.m. it was 20º F here. I was out birding, with the coat Pinky gave me, the new long johns I bought up in MI, and many other layers. I didn't have any gloves, as they had been in my old coat's pockets, but a quick stop into the drugstore and $1.06 lighter and I had some chenille tiny gloves. They don't work so well for birding. I'd like to get some of those newfangled fingerless gloves. Brrrrrr!!

I saw a bunch of birds outside the backyard regulars I am used to. The most exciting was a Sharp-shinned Hawk. They're notoriously difficult to tell apart from the larger Cooper's Hawk, but I was lucky to see it close up, unobstructed, in great light and for a long time. To top it off, the bird was perched on a chain link fence, so I took note of how many links the tip of its tail was, relative to the perch, measured it, and extrapolated based on the proportion of tail in the picture to get its likely full size. Which was the size of a "Sharpie" as the lingo goes. Plus I had seen one in mid-November not too far from the same place. Might have been the same one.

Also saw: Hermit Thrush, Golden and Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Pine Warbler, Brown Creeper, White-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Flicker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Goldfinch. Ever ubiquitous this time of year and therefore not very exiting were the tons and tons of Dark-eyed Juncos, plus Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, Cardinals, Bluebirds....etc.

On jobs:
Have a second interview for the good job. (!!!!!!!! WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!)

On friends:
Imperatrix makes a mean "Happy Mix"!! Tomorrow I'll post the eclectic playlist. But for now? THANK YOU SO VERY VERY VERY MUCH!!

On other crap:
My mantra: all will pass, even the stuff that seems scary, freaky, and really stressful.