I Did It

I did it!  I finally figured out how to hook everything up to my phone's hot spot, including my computer.  So, now I am internet free -- for the time being, that is.  I'm going to test it for a few days to see how much strain it puts on my hotspot before I take the router back and cut it off completely, but so far so good.  I'm able to watch a video on my ROKU and browse Facebook on my computer with no problems, so that's a positive sign. 

It should do OK, though, because my hotspot is what my internet used to be when I first moved into this house.  I had to upgrade it when Cody stayed with me a few days while he was moving from Texas to Memphis.  He played one of those massive multi-player online games and blew through my entire bandwidth in about two hours.  I don't do anything like that, plus I have that adapter that I can watch videos using my phone's data without even going through the hotspot.  The downside to that is, I can't use my phone while I'm watching videos, but hey, we've become too dependent on technology anyway. 

All that to say, I think I'm ready to cut the cord.  I just have to convince myself I can do it.  

In anticipation of all the money I'm going to save by cutting off my internet, I splurged and bought myself a little something that I've been wanting for quite some time.  And that something is a raised garden bed.

This one was a bit higher in price than some other brands, but it's very sturdy and according to the seller's page, it's rated to hold 500 lbs. I shook it pretty good, and there isn't any wobble at all.  It was really easy to put together as well, even with me doing it by myself. 

It's got a nice deep bed which holds 5 cubic feet of soil, with a liner that keeps your soil from washing out from between the slats in the base when you water it. 

I'm still debating where to put it, but right on the other side of this fence is the leading candidate right now. 

I originally wanted to put it inside the fence, but that spot where I had my plumbing repaired still isn't that stable -- especially because the cat keeps digging it up.  Or it may be the voles.  Either way, the ground is much more solid just outside the fence, so that's where it is going. 

As soon as I got it put together, off to Walmart I trotted to get some dirt.  OK, I drove, but you get the gist.  I'd gotten really excited because I was looking on the Lowe's app, and saw they had soil specially blended for raised beds and ooh, boy!  It said delivery available!  I immediately added it to my shopping cart, but when I went to check out, delivery wasn't an option.  That app lied to me!  The only options were curbside pickup and in-store pick up.  If I'd have wanted to drive all the way to Batesville, I wouldn't have been trying to order through the app. 

Be that as it may, I trotted on in to Walmart and picked up some garden soil.  Except that I drove.  Alas, right when I got there, it started raining and as of this writing it has not stopped yet.  Maybe tomorrow I can get the bed outside and filled, then comes the fun part:  figuring out what I want to put into it.  I'm definitely leaning towards rosemary and lavender, but there is lots of room for other stuff as well.   I'll probably pull up some of my wood sorrel and put it in there, too, and maybe some violets -- which are also edible, in case you didn't know.

Since it was still raining, I spent the rest of the afternoon knitting a new hat, watching documentaries on ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, and the ancient Celts, and waking up the cat. 

Hey, she insisted on waking me up at 4:30 on my day off.  I was just returning the favor. 

In other news, the dress I ordered for Cody's wedding arrived. Fun fact, I didn't know it was going to ship from China.  Funner fact, it took longer to get from Smyrna, Tennessee to Grenada, Mississippi than it did to get from China to Tennessee.   I don't know what goes on up in Smyrna, but this isn't the first package that decided to take a vacation there.  Vacation aside, it finally got here, and this is it. 

It doesn't look nearly as much like a flour sack when I'm wearing it, and it comes with a little jacket to wear over it. 

Honestly, I loved it on the website (which was Walmart), and I still like it, but it looks a bit cheaply made.  I might need to find something else for the wedding.  I might even get something out of the back of my closet to wear.  I mean, I'm just the mother of the groom.  It's not like I need to buy something brand new....is it?  Inquiring minds want to know. 

No, I will not model it for you.  Since some of you seem to think me wearing a dress is something akin to a me being carnival sideshow freak, if you want to see me wearing it, I'm going to charge admission.  Send me $20 by either Paypal or Zelle, and I will message you a photo. And I'm dead serious about that. 

And finally, I'm not exactly sure what kind of wild parties my cat throws while I'm at work, but here is what I came home to yesterday. 

And I thought she just slept all day...