Being Southern

Some days I am sad that I am not southern, because being southern, in my romantic view, would mean lots of romantic notions. For example, how about drinking a mint julep in a cotton dress on the front porch of your huge, old, farmhouse underneath the magnolia trees covered in moss while sitting in a rocking chair and watching the sunset.
That is precisely what I wish I were doing at this moment.
Instead, I am sitting in an ergonimically incorrect desk chair, watching the minutes fail to tick by on the clock in an otherwise completely uninhabited office.
And, I was thinking about leaving early, but then my compatriate decided to do so instead, even though, as far as I can tell, he spent nearly EVERY day this week playing golf, rationalizing it as work.
Whatever. I know you like golf an all, but come on--can a girl get a break here???
So, at this point, I am typing just to stay awake.
Last night the Religion & Philosophy discussion group discussed Relativism. Most of the crew cancelled on me fairly last minute, so there were just a few of us there, but the discussion was rich and enriching nonetheless. The menu was watermelon agua fresca with pink champagne (which only I drank) and red velvet layer cake (which pretty much only I ate). Rita brought a new girl, Val, and I have to say that most people rub me wrong when I first meet them, but Val did not. I actually liked her right away. Yay! I hope she comes back. Heather and Rita both brought interesting items to discuss in regards to Postmodernism. We discussed the logical fallacies of relativism. We also did some logic exercises to learn the meanings of and the differences between deductive and inductive reasoning. Overall, other than the lack of attendance, it was a very enjoyable evening.
And then, after everyone left, I went outside into the darkness, turned on my "fairy lights," lay in the hammock, and watched the trees etch their leaves and branches against the murky, dark sky. And that, my friends, is a truly glorious summer moment.
I have some strange things in my refrigerator on any given day. For instance, the Christmas Milk I tried to feed my friend, Matt, in April. Since that sad incident, I have tried to do a better job of cleaning out the fridge more regularily, leaving room for actual edible goods. But, one of the things in my fridge right now would hopefully not be considered edible. It is mesh bags filled with ladybugs. Their sole purpose: to eat the gross bugs off of our elm and ash trees that are making GROSS eggs sacs on everything. How violating. Yay ladybugs! Eat your fill.
I also ordered a.....well, what would you call it, I guess....probably an egg sac filled with potential praying mantises. My husband zip-tied the sac to the bottom of a potato plant leaf (what can I say--he's a mechanic and very handy--most people would've used string). They should hatch in a few months and eat every kind of bad bug EVER in our garden. Yeah, a few months too late, but for only $2.80, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see them hatch.
I have good news. My soap kitchen/workshop is complete as of this morning. My husband has wired and plumbed in a dishwasher and stove (don't tell the city of fargo), I have organized the entire area and put away ingredients, and husband also completed drying racks this morning.
Nothing can stop me now. Except money.
So, hopefully by the end of the year, my little pipedream will start to become a little bit more of a reality, and I will actually be able to start taking real orders from people at least for soaps. And hopefully I will have some very strong contenders/prototypes for the standard set of soaps I hope to sell. Cosmetics is more complicated--there are lots of scary laws and things, so for now, I will just experiment with those products until I find things I like.
The first project I will do the in the new soap kitchen will be to make up gift baskets filled with purple and lavendar-colored items for the attendants in my grandma's wedding.
[See previous posts in regards to my grandmother getting married--I am not going to get into it again.]
My hope for the weekend is that it will involve lots of lying in the hammock, probably lots of sipping of drinks such as the watermelon agua fresca that is almost totally left over from last night as well as some mojitos made with fresh mint from our herb garden. Yum!