Weekend Redux

Winnie and Kate mix it up
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

Saturday day was dead at work, no tables for four hours. Sunday Brunch was smooth sailing, I didn't have to fire anyone and Beth was so amazingly helpful. Sunday night Kate had a barbeque (pictured) at her folk's house. Many were in attendance. Much food was eaten, many beers were had and I was the only one left sober by the end of the night. I've been having some digestive problems and haven't been putting much in my mouth. Monday was another double, I made very little money, but I got to go home early. Matt finished the Fourth of July window and it is quite funny. I call it "the hazards of illegal fireworks," he calls it something else. Tuesday I slept off my intestinal problems and did a bit of reading. I went to see Howl's Moving Castle with Gabe. I did enjoy it, but it was no Spirited Away. Myazaki is still my favorite Anime director, but I guess Spirited Away is too tough to top. Gabe and I both thought the ending was a little too contrived. I know it's a kid's movie, but I felt an air of Disney in the translation. Billy Crystal was perfect as the fire spirit though. After the movie I droped Gabe at home and went to what I believe was the shortest BBH waitstaff meeting I've ever attended. I need to get together with my crew for the Floyd Awards soon, which means I should get cracking on those costumes.
Next post: reviews of all (okay most) things I have read this summer so far.

Like a Japanese zombie movie

Around three-fifteen this afternoon I was sitting in my livingroom folding laundry when I heard my front window rattle. I turned around to see if one of the cats was on the sill trying to catch a bug or something, which is usually the only reason my front window ever rattles. No cat. I went back to folding. About ten seconds later, the window rattled again. And again. And again. Just a little tremor, nothing that made me think the glass would shatter or anything like that. I thought maybe someone was upstairs. My father-in-law comes and goes quite a bit, but I didn't see his car outside. I got up to investigate when the window rattled again. Then the phone rang. It was Toni. She said "Go out on your front porch and tell me if you can see the huge cloud of black smoke just to your north." She was at the bank up the street. I opened the front door to see the sky just north of my house quickly turning very dark gray. I switched on the T.V. There were aerial shots of a building at Chouteau and Hickory, which is about 3/4 mile from my house. Enormous fireballs (later the news stated they were fifty feet tall) were shooting up into the air every few seconds. It looked like the scene in Wild Zero when the fireballs shoot out of the abandoned buildings, just before Guitar Wolf cuts the alien spaceship in half with his guitar-sword. About two seconds after I would see an explosion on television, my window would rattle. I was horrified.
It seems that Praxair, a company that compresses liquids and gasses for medical and industrial use, has a warehouse over on Hickory. I haven't learned how the fire started, but everything burned for four hours before the firefighters could get close enough to put it out. All the employees were safely evacuated, a few firefighters were treated for heat-related injuries, most of the damage outside of the warehouse area was slight. Several other downtown businesses were evacuated as well. I'm really glad no one was seriously hurt. I heard on the radio as I drove to work that debris from the exploded propane tanks was flying as far as five blocks away. There isn't any information about toxicity levels as of yet (i've read that some of the chemicals Praxair handles are hazardous) and I'm kinda worried. About my tomatoes.
I guess that makes me a bit crazy.

I think Thursday is my favorite day of the week

I get so much done on Thursdays. Amy dropped the girls off today. Naomi had a bit of a stomach bug, so she went down fairly early. Matt kept an eye on the girls while I did the grocery shopping for the week. While Naomi was napping I taught Anna how to knit. She is so incredibly smart she picked it up right away. I got a lot of cooking done too. I like to make a bunch of food on Thursdays for the weekend because I rarely have time to cook in between shifts. I made a huge pasta and bean salad.
I also weeded the garden, did laundry, helped Glenna edit her final paper for her Mexican History class, and completely reorganized my filing system. Everything is in cronological order, neatly filed and put away. I am so relieved.
Shawna spent most of the day here, reading my books, eating my food and chilling in my air conditioning. We hadn't spent any time together in so long, it was nice to have a day together. She also shed some light on the footnotoing questions Glenna had about her paper. I am a firm believer in the MLA format, but apparently Glenna's proffessor wanted her to use some other format that I know nothing about, so Shawna saved the day.
Last night I went to Circus Flora's Tzigan show with Kate, Sarah and Winnie. The Flying Wallendas were amazing, the horses were very pretty, Nino the Clown was hilarious, but in my opinion the show went to the dogs. Litterally. The Olate Family are from Chile originally, and have been in the canine capering business for three generations. These people are GENIUSES. They have about ten or twelve little poufy dogs who run around and do the most amazing tricks I have ever seen. They walk on two legs, do backflips, go up ladders, down slides and do the cha cha. I laughed my pants off. The best part of all is that each and every one of the dogs in the show was rescued from an animal shelter. That only made me love them more. Mutts rule.

just so you know

busy girls don't blog

mom, pre-performance
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

I have been too busy to keep up with my blogging.
Mom and I went to St. Louis Shakespere's final performance of The Tempest in Forest Park on Sunday. We had a picnic and drank some wine and enjoyed the play. The weather was perfect, the crowd was huge and we even managed to get a decent parking space.
Saturday night Matt and I went to see Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre's "Glen or Glenda Live!" at the new Regional Arts Commission building with Diana, James and Ashley. Magic Smoking Monkey adapts cult films and TV shows for the stage. The result is ridiculous, in a good way. Drew Bell and Amy Elz were in the production. I think I prefered Plan 9 from Outer Space to this choice of Ed Wood films, but it was still very funny. I had a very Theatre weekend.

strawberry blood

strawberry blood
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

Toni and I went to Scharf Farms in Milstadt Illinois today and crawled around on the ground picking strawberries for two hours. I was very impressed with Toni. She hates the great outdoors, but for love of strawberries she will bear any manner of heat and bug and weed that mother nature can fling in her general direction. I got ten pounds of berries. These are the last of the season and are kinda runty. This was not a good year for strawberries. Apparently the late frost we had (what late frost? It's been hot since April!) stunted the crop. They are small, but very sweet.
Gabe is back from Chicago. He gallantly offered to help me core the haul tonight instead of going to the Tap Room to see "Mini Kiss" with The Vultures. Mini Kiss is a Kiss cover band made up entirely of midgets. Really. I think he chose wisely, even if he is covered in strawberry blood.

I swear, they're even taller today

I swear, they're even taller today
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

okay, I know that the last few posts have been about my garden, but I am just so amazed with the growth spurt that has been going on here! I think I'm going to have to ignore it for a few days next week, just to make up for all the attention I've given it this past week.
Work went well today, long and slow and steady. Jill got rained out tonight, she was supposed to be on the patio at the boat house, but instead she's making tarts and coming over. I think I'll send her home with some lettuces.

why is it that...

...every assist shift I have on Friday nights kicks my behind? I am so pooped. All the bending and lifting and clearing, eesh. It's the only non-wait shift I have, and I understand that everybody has to have one assist shift per week, but I get so tired by the end that I'm useless afterwards.
Okay, enough complaining.
The tomato plants have grown since this morning, I swear. I talked to Toni today, and she said her cherry tomatoes are already ripening. She made fun of me for pinching off the blooms on my plants all last month, but my plants are now four feet tall and just starting to fruit. I would rather have healthier, more sturdy plants than an early crop, so I did what the library books told me to do. So there.
I think I'll spend tomorrow night at home learning how to use my new printer. I've been putting it off for weeks now and I really want to master the scan option. I have a bunch of old photos of my family that I'd like to put on the flickr page, and Shawna said she'd help me set up a test run of a Turpel website. I should check and see if there already is one.

houston, we have tomato!

houston, we have tomato!
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

I swear when I went to bed last night the tomatoes were at least three inches shorter than they were this morning. and there were no tiny tomato buds on them, but this morning I went out to survey the damage from the thunderstorm last night and voila! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. I love the thrill I get from growing something edible, even when it is still too tiny to eat.

naomi with tomatoes

naomi with tomatoes
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.

little miss muffin head says: I'm bigger than MOST of the plants, but not all of them.

another wonderful monday

Sarcasm.
I fell on my butt today at work while I was setting up. I slipped in a nasty puddle of something greasy, which was probably grease. I skinned my knee. I felt like a dolt. I took the cut and went home to change. My favorite skirt has what looks like a tire track right across the back. I really hope it comes out in the wash.
I got home right as the sky exploded with a huge-but-short thunderstorm. I haven't gotten around to staking the last four tomato plants yet, and two of them are all bent over and looking rather sad.
I went back to Blueberry Hill for my second shift, which ended up being a total waste of time. We were so slow that I finished my sidework at 8pm. I made about thirty bucks.
The only decent thing about tonight was Jill stopping by for a drink after she finished her shift at the boat house. We got to talk for a bit, and made plans to hang out tomorrow. Then she told me that Daniel is coming tomorrow to take Miles back to Maryland for two weeks. I have to see my eldest godson before he leaves. Jill is totally worried about Miles leaving. I would be too, if I was sending my son off with a father who has never changed his diapers in the two-and-a=half years he's been alive. I told her if that baby comes back with diaper rash or even one hair out of place she should, well, I won't get into that here.
Last but not least, no new Megatokyo comic today. I'm going to bed. Tomorrow had better be stellar.