I tried to revive them? Yeah, well, it didn't work. So now I have a bunch of
window boxes and flower pots that need to be dumped out, or at the very least,
seriously weeded so the random or two flowers that did manage to survive can
mock me when I walk by.
And then there was this plant.
It has been pretty much ignored since day one; it never even earned the
courtesy of being transplanted into the ground. And yet, the other day*, I saw
the beginnings of a couple of tomatoes - so I ran inside to get some water to
try and help them along. At this point I doubt that my sad cup of water helped
anything along, but lo and behold, this morning there were five tiny orange
tomatoes smiling at me.
What can I say? This is just proof that our plants and flowers don't
really need us. We just like to think they do. And just knowing this
little fun fact makes me feel a ton better, much less guilt-ridden and possibly
even open to the idea of planting a real vegetable garden next summer so that I
can ignore and admire it from afar - preferably from an air conditioned room.
Cleaned The Van, because if nothing else, it was an event worthy of capital
letters. It was just a regular morning, the older three were in camp and the
baby was napping and I needed to clean the van like someone on the South Beach
diet needs to eat a brownie. I get in and out of the van several times a day and
I am mortified each time, especially when I pull up to camp and have to open the
sliding door so a kid can get in or out, and my Froot Loop encrusted interior is
visible to the world.
Everyone says their van is gross and messy, but mine could have won an
award. And I was so focused on the idea of cleaning it that I neglected to take
a picture. I'm sorry.
A few weeks before this Event, I had borrowed my mom's dust buster in
the hopes of giving the car a once over, which never happened. So the time was
now. I headed outside armed with my water bottle, the baby monitor, the phone,
the dust buster and a garbage bag.
I started by picking up the debris - empty water bottles, random
plastic spoons, granola bar wrappers and about a thousand empty freezy pop
wrappers, left there every single day by the same kid who gets one of these
freezy pops every single day, as camp is ending. Then I picked up all the toys,
hair bands, socks (yeah.), and sippy cups and piled those up on the front seat.
All that was left was the crumbs. I turned on the dust buster and started to
dust bust. And I have to tell you, I may be crazy and I may be hearing things,
but I'm telling you, the Froot Loops laughed at the dust buster. It was time to
call in the heavy artillery.
I went back inside and brought out the vacuum cleaner, plugged it into
the outside outlet and 25 minutes later, that van was beautiful. It wasn't easy,
I used all the attachments, even the ones I never use inside the house. I had to
climb into the trunk to vacuum the back seat, I took out car seats and booster
seats, I folded down middle and back seats and I even vacuumed the cup holders.
The van almost won, it really did, but in the end, I won. And that van is clean.
And it's going to be a long while before I buy Froot Loops again.