Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Event Planners (Behind the Scenes)

This week is a bit of a stress nightmare, as it's the week before a BIG event at work.  People seem to think I have the easiest job on the planet, and while it is pretty awesome, it has its moments.  The week leading up to an event would be one of those moments.

Here is an idea of the thoughts and emotions that precede an event:

6 Months Prior to Event: "This event is going to be AWESOME!!  It will be the BEST EVER!!  It will blow last year's event out of the water!"

3 Months Prior to Event: "Things are coming along smoothly.  This event will rock!"

2 Months Prior to Event: "Wow, this event is coming up fast.  No worries, I'll be ready, and it's going to be sooooo much fun!"

1 Month Prior to Event: "Still lots of time to prepare. This event will be at least as good as it was last year.  With luck, it may even be a bit better."

2 Weeks Prior to Event: "Jeez, there's still a lot of work to do to make sure this event is a success.  But, it'll get done.  As long as people have a good time I'll be happy with the event -- even if it's not quite as good as last year."

1 Week Prior to Event: "F* this event is going to kill me!  How am I going to get all this work done?!?!  How did we DO it last year???"

1 Day Prior to Event: "This event is going to suck.  I hope I don't get fired."

Now to add to the complexity of all these emotions, imagine they overlap for multiple events.  Now imagine you are One Week Prior to and Two Weeks Prior to the two biggest events of the year.  Yup, that's where I live right now...  So if you don't hear from me for a few weeks...  Or if you start to hear nasty rumours about me...

And for those of you who think I have the sweetest job in the world...  I do, actually.  Just don't wish you were me in the month of September.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Secret Love Affair

I love tomatoes.  My love of tomatoes goes back to the days of my childhood when I used to pick them from my parents' garden and eat them until I had cankers from the acidity.  To this day I will frequently enter the house with a mouthful of sun-warmed cherry tomatoes answering a garbled "Nuffin'" to the inevitable question, "What are you eating?"

This year when my local Metro was closing the garden centre they began giving plants away for FREE!  I couldn't resist picking up one of each kind of tomato to add to the three semi-exotic varieties I had already planted.  Here they are:

The Grape tomatoes are doing very well and make a tasty addition to salad, or just a nice snack!












The Romas are producing well, but so far everything is staying quite green.  












The Amish Paste are both bountiful and LARGE, but are also staying pretty green.  This is the first (exciting!) sign of colour on the plant.  Between these and the Romas I will be making a lot of sauce this year!  I'll also be looking for a recipe for pizza sauce.










The Green Zebras also seem to be well-producing, but slow to ripen.  These bad-boys are almost there, but still quite hard.  I can't wait to try them!

Also in the garden, but not featured here are Brandywine and Black Cherry tomatoes.  The Black Cherries are on the deck (better sun) and early producers, so I've been eating them for a few weeks.  They're delicious and perfectly snack sized!  The only problem I've noticed is they sometimes disappear at the peak of ripening.  I'm not sure if I have the dog or some other wildlife to blame for it.

I do know it's not @jclarkey munching on them because he has a strong dislike for tomatoes.  I won't say he hates them, because he does like salsa and tomato sauce, but he doesn't tolerate raw tomatoes.  I'm kind of hopeful I can convert him.  Especially given the number we'll have this year!  I also have to thank him for tending to my tomatoes.  They often grow to heights beyond my reach and he has to stake them for me.  Thanks hunny!


Garden Dilemma:
My chives are in flower right now, and I'm not too sure what to do.  We hardly use the chives so I usually try to cut the flowers as soon as they appear because they spread like weeds.  This year some local honey bees have really taken to them!  I feel bad taking food that I won't eat from someone else who's really enjoying it.  Thoughts?

P.S. Blogger is once again taking liberties with photo rotation.  It doesn't matter how I format them prior to upload, blogger seems to have a mind of its own when deciding how photos should be laid out.