Catching Up

• I have a garden. And by "garden," I mean "cartons on my counters with seeds and seedlings in them." Technically, the last frost date is in mid-April and last spring, I got too excited about the garden and planted everything precisely five days before the last frost date. Of course, everything died, even though I was out there covering them with cups and blankets and all kinds of crazy things. (Not entirely true. The tomatoes, which were covered with Solo cups, lived. They produced plenty of fruit. The dog ate every single one. If she eats my garden again this year, we're going to have some problems.) So this year, the garden is happening in easy-to-transport containers that are transported inside when it's rainy or cold and outside when it's warm. I'm counting down the days to the last frost date so I can put these plants in the ground and quit carting them around every day.
• We tried to grow broccoli. We failed miserably. They all got too tall and fell over, at which point the children and I ate the seedlings and called them "microgreens." What? That's what microgreens are. It's a thing.
• We went to visit my mom and stepdad last week. We went to a museum and saw an exhibit about Spinosaurus. We rode the train to and from the city. We watched a movie. We ate at delicious restaurants. And yet, when I asked the children what their favorite part of the trip was, they both agreed that it was "finding sticks in the yard." 'Cuz, you know, there are no sticks in all of Raleigh. Not even one. Nope.
• Yesterday, they both wanted to sell some rocks to me. I offered them a nickel per rock if they managed to convince me that I wanted or needed the rocks. Immediately, they started pointing out every shiny facet of the rocks, how the rocks could be used to break open things that were stuck, how they could be used as decoration or jewelry, how I could use the rocks to pay for other things (um, what?) and so on. Finally, I told them that I was convinced and I'd buy the rocks. They looked at each other, put the rocks back into their pockets and said, "No, actually, we need these rocks. These are really good rocks!" Ahh, if only this strategy worked to deter the solicitors that come knocking at the door.