we are poor. ok...that isn't exactly the case, but we recently made some pretty drastic changes to the way our finances are set up. in an effort to train ourselves to save even more, i rearranged everything around to try to force ourselves to live a little more frugally.

we eat out a whole heck of a lot. and don't get me wrong, we can totally afford it...but we also are spending way more than we need to, just because we feel lazy about cooking at home.

but i like cooking at home, and we've got not one, not two, but THREE trips between now and the end of may that involve plane flights, rental cars, hotels, and spending money. so we need to live like poor people when we are actually at home.

it might finally be time to see if i can trick jeff into eating 99 cent store food. hahaha.

but while we might be low on spending money, our various little gardening projects around the yard a really taking off!

on the edible front we've got: 2 types of rosemary, sweet basil, greek oregano, lemon thyme, a yellow pear tomato, lemon and lime tree (not producing anything, yet), pineapple top in a pot, raspberry cane, thai basil (that i'm trying to salvage after the earwig destruction), 44 garlic plants, 3 mounds of hops, and a mystery plant which popped up out of nowhere, but appears to be some sort of squash.

yesterday, leanne gifted me with several seedlings including roma tomatos and eggplant. she has more faith in my ability to nurture them than i do, but we'll see how i fare.

the lovely blue iris on top surprised us. when we first began watering my garlic, we noticed several other plants sprout up from nowhere. jeff decided to uproot them and stick them in a pot, just to see what we might get out of them. guess we got irises?!

our yard has definitely been a little bit of an urban archaelogical dig. as we've discovered plants that might be worth hanging onto, jeff has been transplanting them, hoping that we might get a chance to put them somewhere else. in addition to the irises, we've got some aloe (rescued from a pile of aloe jeff discovered growing all around the base of our big palm tree in front, but only after he had gotten rid of a bunch of weeds) and a few tiny palms, including some sago palm babies.

we've been making due with what we have hanging around, and with a little patience and not TOO much money, our front and back yards have transformed into areas that we aren't embarrassed of anymore. jeff is definitely a master!

camilles (7:14pm, 4.15.10)

after spending a wonderful time celebrating easter with my family and in-laws, i returned home to discover everyone recovering from the earthquake that shook the area while i happened to be in the car.

i was sitting in my living room with the windows and doors open, just starting to review the news of the quake when all of a sudden i heard *crack*crack*crack*crack*...a sound sort of like fireworks. i thought to myself that it seemed strange that somebody would be setting off fireworks on easter. then again, i heard *crack*crack*crack*. then again.

i got up, and started to make my way out to the backyard, trying to figure out where that sound was coming from. that's when i heard a police siren getting closer, closer, and then stop somewhere very nearby.

while i was standing in my backyard, just listening and trying to figure out what was going on i heard someone yell "stop! don't move!" and then *pop*pop*pop*pop*pop*pop*.

that's when i ran inside. i called jeff, crying, telling him what i just heard, trying to sort out what was going on. he told me to stay inside and hide. i started hearing more and more sirens. pretty soon there were two helicopters flying overhead.

i eventually went back outside, to peek over the fence. i could see the sheriffs on the street below, crowded around holding their guns. i could see the little streets all through my neighborhood blocked off. eventually, the helicopters were gone and there was crime scene tape up everywhere.

news of the earthquake was dominating the tv and websites, but eventually the story started coming out. the man who lives one house over and behind me had walked down the street to his neighbors', and began firing into the house with a shotgun, circling from the front yard to the backyard. he killed the husband and wife who lived there before coming back around to the front, to be confronted by the sheriffs, and when he pointed his shotgun at them, they killed him.

this morning i could see them working on the investigation, a covered gurney in the front yard. when i walked down the street to see if it was still blocked off, i saw them roll a gurney into the house.

it is pretty gruesome to think about. i heard 3 people being killed yesterday in my quiet, unassuming neighborhood. i can't say that i haven't been a little traumatized by the experience.

just goes to show that there are bad people everywhere.

here's the story, so far...

camilles (10:07pm, 4.5.10)

oh, leilani. my sweet, weird, funny little dog. she's sitting on the sofa, passed out under my legs.

i've kept up with the working out, which means that i've also kept up with the dog walking. she seems to enjoy the opportunity to get out and strut her stuff.

my 4-day weekend started today. i ran around all day picking things up to prepare to participate in Easter brunch. i had a little down time, but i'm worn out and looking forward to getting into bed. i made potato salad and banana bread tonight, but still need to mix up a hashbrown casserole tomorrow morning before i head out.

i'm super lonely tonight.

the dog can only fill so much emptiness.

camilles (10:50pm, 4.2.10)