The Ole Hands in the Dirt Itch

Summertime is sitting out on the back porch with a glass of sweet tea. It's watching for fireflies and smelling good things growing around you.

As summer crests its hill here in FL, I find myself itching to get my hands in the dirt once again. I find myself wanting to invest in two cheap plastic chairs for the back porch, even though we barely have room out there for people. If I consolidate my planting stuff and the cooker stays in a corner, we'd have room to sit out there. Just takes a smidge of elbow grease. It won't happen this weekend, because we're going up to SC, but I want it to happen before summer slides into fall...

I remember how markedly pungent citronella is...we bought two plants of that when we were landscaping the backyard of the house pre-sale. It's a brilliant plant to put out in a grove, IMO, since it keeps the area from being too bogged down with skeeters. Wouldn't mind one on the porch, to keep us from being eaten alive.

I'm hitting that point where stuff is packed and I wish I knew where it was. I'm itching to reacquiant myself with Starhawk and T. Thorn Coyle, and damned if I can tell which box those books are in. Next weekend, I'll start cataloging/labeling boxes for the move, and assessing what boxes may need to be replaced. Also hoping a spare $10 can go toward larger boxes...we've been operating with mainly book size so far, and we're hitting the point of needing more mediums and larges.

I have a trip planned to Charlotte the first weekend in August thru the 10th. Wanted to get a couple of days there to explore and visit a) staffing agencies, and b) real estate offices/property management companies. I've been checking out house rentals on Rentals.com, but until I have a letter of intent from someplace, it's moot. Since I have gotten zero nibbles from real job applications, I'm researching staffing agencies, expanding my search. Looking at paralegal ops that don't require certification, or admin asst positions that fit my experience. May not pay as much as we need initially, but it'll get us up there, and I'm still planning to work remotely as well (not that that's a money maker at all nowadays, but it's something). And if the injections continue to help Husby, hopefully he'll be able to grab something part-time once we're settled too.

This post really belongs in the Moving blog, but as I write these things down, I'm always with my eye on the bigger picture, that of getting us up there, so we can start refining our credit further and get in the market to buy a house with a little land. It's doable, especially as the economy continues to crawl...I pray we can find ourselves in a position to still take advantage of the shitty economy/soft housing market a year or so from now. I still think about meat and laying chickens, 3 sheep, a dog or two, a decent garden. It'll take money and serious hard work, but the benefits will far outweigh the effort required.