March 2010 | Kate's Point of View

Month: March 2010 Page 1 of 2

Elevating My Assets

On March 26, 2010

I’ve known B for nine years now through work and we’ve gotten to be good friends, for which I am grateful. This past fall she competed in her first triathlon (canoeing, running, biking) with her husband and they did really well. Her husband was sweet saying how proud he was her for sticking to her training schedule and doing so well. They were going to do the spring triathlon but her husband found out, after they entered, that he had a conflicting work schedule.

Enter her new partner: Me.
Out team name: Elevating Our Assets

I have done this particular triathlon before and I finished, though not particularly well. I have never used an actual training schedule for any athletic event but I always finish, even if it is with some difficulty. I explained this to B so she immediately sent me her training schedule.

HOLY MOLY PEOPLE. Since then I have been on an active campaign to set expectations. I’ll do more than my fair share in canoeing, suck a little at running and make up for running when I get on my bike. She acts okay with it but is still training with zealous that I feel guilty for not having. So we shall see, I may have to step it up a bit.

Introduction to Our Community Garden

By Kate

On March 21, 2010

In gardening

I have toiled in my yard for the last many summers growing things and enjoying the experience. I have had particular pleasure with the edible fruits of my labor. Wonder Boy has been a perfect companion in this endeavors. We’ve redone portions of our yard, played with the locations of where we plant certain items and learned a lot about gardening along the way.

One struggle with almost anyone living in a true urban environment is that yards in urban areas are smaller in nature and buildings are often higher which can often mean those small yards have a lot of shady spots. Both of those issues pertain to us. But we’ve made do! We plant a lot of things in pots so the plants can be moved to where the sun is at any given moment. Our yard might be tiny but it is packed with as many plants as can be.

I recently saw a posting in the Mt. Auburn community newsletter that there were openings in their community garden. Wonder Boy and I jumped at the opportunity. We went to a kick-off meeting for the year and were disheartened to learn that this is the final year for this particular community garden, after almost 30 years of use. At that point our sadness was really selfishness. We had stumbled into a chance to get a sunny plot of land where we could grow veggies and learn about growing techniques from seasoned professionals and that opportunity would go away.

Today was the first workday for the community garden and Cincinnati truly is losing something special. There were people outside all teaming together and working hard to make one large plot of land (it could hold 2-3 row houses) ready for the upcoming growing season. The work that has been done over the past 30 years is tremendous. The area is terraced, has running water and carefully segmented plots and the soil and compost are rich.

I know we’re both proud to be a part of something so special. But it would be nice if this sacred little place could become a permanent fixture. Even as the newbies we clearly are, Wonder Boy and I felt immediately included by this large group of people. We were tired and sweaty at the end of the day but our little plot of land looked wonderful thanks to some final effort added by us and four kids who volunteered to help us turn our soil. Does teamwork get any better?

Beginning of the work day.

Me starting to turn our soil.

Wonder Boy turning our soil and working in compost.

Admission

By Kate

On March 20, 2010

In books, reviews

So I’ve mocked the Twilight readers for a while. And then I saw, and admitted to seeing, Twilight and New Moon. I have since made illusions to not being able to shake some vampire characters but I didn’t go into specifics.

But the specifics are these: I read the entire Twilight series. Quickly. And I liked it. A lot. I would even say I loved it.

Too much time has passed since I completed the series for me to give a proper review of any one book or even of the series, really. I can give these overall impressions:

The writing is good but not great. The storyline is creative and addictive.
The first book hooks you in and is a blast. Book two is good and moves the plot along nicely. I struggled immensely with book three. Book four is wonderful.
I stand strong on this – Team Edward all the way.

We Are Barbie Girls

By Kate

On March 19, 2010

In family / friends

My sister has this awesome handmade piece of jewelry. It’s a glass heart pendant that is a mix of sweet and twisted and I love it. The woman who made the jewelry is having a jewelry party. I was invited but legitimately cannot go, which is just as well because jewelry parties rank right up their with baby and wedding showers. That said, I asked if I could buy a pendant like my sister’s.

“What if we do a trade?’ the lady asked. “I’ll make you jewelry and you make my daughter a Barbie cake for her sixteenth birthday.” We agreed.

A note to make this sixteen-year-old’s birthday cake sound normal. Apparently many years ago the jewelry lady made a Barbie cake for daughter #1. Daughter #2 never got one and has complained since. Sixteen is her year.

A note about this barter plan. My sister and I are SUCKERS.

I attempted to make the cakes and it was a disaster. Night two went much better but all told I went through six boxes of cake mix and about 2 dozen eggs. Yikes!

Last night my sister came over for decorating. It took about 3 hours but WE LOVE IT – the final results are fabulous.

My sister said, “I feel like this is what moms do now — make cake’s like these for their daughters. I won’t do this again.” And then that’s when I pointed out why having aunts is so nice. And she stopped asking my why I wasn’t popping out babies.

Not Motivating Me to Get Lady Friends

By Kate

On March 14, 2010

In books, reviews

A book review of “The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship” by Jeffrey Zaslow

I have, for basically as far back as I can remember, had more guy friends than girl friends. I don’ know why and usually I don’t care why. Sometimes an offhand comment will be made (“She’s one of those girls who doesn’t have girlfriends”) and I get all paranoid. What is one of those girls??? I never want to be that girl!

In reading The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women & a Forty-Year Friendship, I’m not sure I want to be the kind of girl who has a lot of girlfriends, either. Certainly not the types described in this book. The friendship that Zaslow goes into great detail to describe sounds fine enough. These women obviously have a great support system that they have developed for each other and, to some extent, I think that is all of the point he desires to make. But the way the circle of friends works, well that just plain old didn’t sound appealing to me. Sorry. He tried to show that they were clique-y in high school but not anymore but I read about it immediately reverting back to my high school self and feeling excluded.

Zaslow’s book read less like a novel, which I suppose it wasn’t, to me than a PhD dissertation. But who wants to read a PhD dissertation?! It was mostly written in story form with some facts and citations of scholarly journals thrown in. The facts inspired him to write the books, to learn more about the power of female relationships and how those relationships will effect his daughters’ and wife’s lives.The potential behind this research is important, especially for ladies like myself not in large friends circles of women. If I had better friend sources I would be happier, live longer, have a better marriage … all powerful stuff. But still, in The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women & a Forty-Year Friendship, pretty boring stuff to read about.

I chugged my way through this book, completing it in time for a monthly book club deadline. Here’s the thing. I don’t recommend it to you, internet, and I won’t recommend it to other people. But at one point in the book I did cry. CRY. I don’t think my crying was because the book was so good but more because it was detailing the death of someone and the death of my grandmother is still so fresh. But regardless I sat on my couch weeping. Most books don’t leave me with emotional reactions. So I offer you up a review of this book — not the best but maybe the fact that it did touch some part of my emotional core means there is something more here I missed.

Book club is later this week so I can report back if other people liked it.