empty rooms that echo as I climb the stairs, and empty clothes that drape and fall on empty chairs

I found this little survey thing on Jessica and Chris' blog and thought it sounded fun. So here goes!

I am: a mountain. I am a tall tree. (it's a song.. I'm not actually speaking in metaphor)

I think: frequently about the spider in the bathroom that both my parents refused to kill today. Mean!

I have: to go to the bathroom. which brings up a major dilemma!

I dislike: how cold our basement is.

I miss: BYU.

I fear: that I get my hopes up too high.

I feel: pensive. I could write a song or something haha.

I hear: "Empty Chairs" by Don McLean in my left ear, the ticking of the wall clock in my right ear (only one earbud in)

I smell: pretty nice if I do say so myself!

I crave: life experiences that will inspire some great essays.

I cry: pretty often, but I'm becoming okay with that. Seriously, Relief Society gets me almost every time!

I usually: am a pretty social person. What is happening to me this summer?!

I search: for my cell phone about ten times a day.

I wonder: who Don McLean wrote this beautiful song about. She must've been something else!

I regret: some things.

I wish: that he would realize his potential, and run with it.

I love: a good soil.

I care: even when it's safer and easier not to.

I always: carry a little bottle of hairspray. I'm really shallow...

I worry: about my future. WHAT WILL I BE?

I am not: completely bummed that the charming man in my English class got engaged this summer. I'm totally happy about it actually :|

I remember: painting this cute picture that hangs on my wall. good times, good company :)

I believe: "in Christ as I believe the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." -C.S. Lewis (new favourite quote)

I sing: if I'm feelin' it.

I don't always: say much. Sometimes I like to just watch.

I write: because life is too good not to. Or because sometimes life is too bad not to. Life is just too everything, not to write about it.

I win: to ze basroom and feel much bettah.

I lose: staring contests every single time.

I listen: very poorly. Sometimes my mom will say like 5 sentences to me before I realize I need to be listening, at which point it's just my best guess as to what she might be talking about. I'm really sorry about this, Mom.

I don't understand: the art of flirting. I'm pretty sure I've done it before but it's nothing I have control over.

I can usually be found: in over-sized t-shirts and boxer shorts. Gotta love summer!

I need: this survey to be over.

I forget: every second of my life before this survey began.

I am happy: when I receive comments on my blog hint hint!

annie

Okay and I had to get Annie too! She looks just like this little pocket-pig I have. She squeals if you poke her. They call this her "feature" at the cyber-pet store, but from the sound of her squeal I don't think she likes it much! So you can just watch Annie, but probably don't poke her.

my new cyber-pet

As you may have noticed, a cute little fishy named Lewis swims on the side of my blog these days. I found him at the cyber-pet store and had to keep him! I want to write in (on?) my blog more often, so maybe he will keep me coming back! Because obviously he will need to be fed regularly. You can feed him too if you want, which you probably do. Just drag the little can to the top of his tank and click to let the food out. He is so cute!

Why "Lewis"? you might ask. Well, I don't really know, but it was one of the first names to come to mind and the only other Lewis I know is Lewis Stevens, who I'm still pretty much in love with, so I don't mind being reminded of him when I see Lewis the cyber-fish. Please don't bring another Lewis to my attention now because I am pretty happy with this name, even though I'm sure the Lewis's you know are really nice.

Also the orange clock is supposed to remind me and everyone to not waste too much time blogging. But I don't know if it will be very effective because it's almost impossible to decipher a time out of those no-number clocks. But it's cute and it's fun and maybe since it's a fruit, it will remind me to eat healthy. And feed Lewis! Two important things.

So welcome welcome to Lewis.

copy cat

I copied Alli's background. I couldn't help it - it was the cutest one!

In other news, tomorrow is the first day of August! And you know what happens in August?

School starts!!!

Can I Just Say...

"So, Amelia, how are you liking BYU?"

"Oh I love it so much - can't wait to go back!"

"You have some good friends down there now I bet."

"Ya, it's been so fun, I've made lots of great friends."

"Any one in particulaaar?"

"Ha ha ha."

"You know you can't go marrying one of those Americans or they'll take you far away and we'll never see you." (then they might throw in a line about my sister)

"Har har... well we won't have to worry about that for a while."

"Ya that's what they all say."

"Heh heh.........."

I'm sure everyone from here who goes to byu has this conversation and I'm sure they all get tired of it too, but CAN I JUST SAY: what if that's exactly what I want? What if I want to marry someone who happens to be American, and I want to be taken far away, and I want to only come back to visit occasionally? What if that "yankee who'll make you go live in the US" is exactly what I'm praying for?!

I love Magrath and I love Southern Alberta and I love Canada. But this is all I know. And we just can't have that, now can we?

supplemental vid

I took my camera to work one day and snapped some pictures to document my summer. Isn't this place beautiful!? Read about the greenhouse in the post below, and enjoy the video! Watch it in 480p, full screen!



p.s. the citrus flower has a real name I just can't remember it.

also. I don't know why I didn't wait until I looked better to take the pic at the end... I look like I just woke up! I did just wake up! I guess this video is to summarize my summer, and in summary I usually looked pretty awful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgSGRsegBJ4

Garden City Greenhouses... *growing with you*

I still have about a month left at the greenhouse, so I'm sure I will still learn some more, but this is just a small list of new knowledge I have since working at the greenhouse this summer. (Wooah someone needs to be writing more - that sentence was horrifying.)

So aside from the technical stuff like peat moss to soil ratios and pollination habits,

I have learned that:

1. "Gardener" is not a type of person. People from all walks of life garden.
2. Therefore, gardening is for anyone!
3. Petunias are sticky. VERY sticky.
4. I love to weed.
5. Water is incredible.
6. You shouldn't drink out of the hose. because one day I was asked to refill the fertilizer that gets pumped into the water system. what? fertilizer? I refilled it and smelled like pee for the rest of the day.
7. Knowing that I water the plants with pee water doesn't stop me from eating the tomatoes.
8. You could go out and spent 15 bucks at a restaurant and eat it away in about half an hour. Or you could buy a flat of 6-Pack flowers and enjoy them for the whole summer! I stole this one from Cathy (my boss). (I hear a LOT of rationalizations from people when they're dropping the monies on flowers... well I don't drink or smoke like lots of people do, and that would be much more expensive. So really my husband should be happy about this!)
9. People care about my opinion.
10. The best tasting flower is the Fuschia Swingtime. Yup I know this.
11. I just love old people so much.
12. Snapdragons hate me and I'm not too fond of them either.
13. It's best to just be nice to mean people.
14. Folding boxes is an awesome task.
15. Sorting tags is not.
16. You must always turn off the tap before you take the wand off the hose.
17. I love planting planters and hanging bags.
18. I love planting topsy turvy tomato bags too (as seen on various infomercials). It's tricky at first but I had it mastered after my third beefsteak.
19. Beefsteak is a type of tomato. Along with Patio, Early Girl, Prairie Pride, Roma, Heirloom, Tiny Tim, Tumbling Tom, Sweet Million, Sub-Arctic Maxi, etc.
20. So. Many. Names.
21. Wind is a nursery's worst enemy.
22. The sound of rain on the greenhouse is just lovely.
23. Spiders multiply at an impossible rate.
24. Big box stores might discount but they don't actually care about the plants. I mean have you seen the way they pack those shelves? There's a little thing called air flow and flowers like it, but oh ya who cares what the plants want.
25. Hutterites are so rich because they're so cheap.
26. A bird inside a greenhouse is the scariest thing ever.
27. I look like I'm still in high school.
28. I sound like my boss's 10-year-old daughter. (I have this phone conversation almost daily: "Hello, Garden City Greenhouses." "Hi sweetie, is your mom there?" "Uhh.. ya I'll get her.")
29. Most people don't care what their total comes to, they just gotta have their flowers. I love these people.
30. B-93 plays some good songs. Wanna know which ones? 'Cause I can name all ten of them.
31. When I wear shorts with the apron it looks like I'm not wearing pants. I don't really mind though.
32. Some people will pay $18 for an 8" tall yard gnome. (THIS is what the big box stores are for, people.)
33. You should just stop watering when customers are in the greenhouse. I know they seem far away and you're going to be very careful, but 9 times out of 9 you will spray them!
34. Flowers aren't as fragile as I thought. But it is still important to be gentle with them. I seriously believe that plants have feelings. I've heard that they remember people. Like if someone comes in and mangles their plant-friend, they will sense that person's presence in future encounters and lean away, or activate whatever defense mechanisms they have. And I also heard that plants grow healthier when they are surrounded by classical music, as opposed to rock music. They even grow towards the source of the music, or in rock's case, they lean away from it. Something to do with the sound waves. COOL RIGHT?! I believe it. When I slide open the greenhouse door in the mornings, I feel like the plants acknowledge my presence. I'm sure they recognize my voice too. I believe we can actually have personal relationships with our plants! Some angry lady the other day tried to return a planter she'd gotten a few days earlier, claiming all the flowers were dead. Well, those flowers were certainly not dead but they were looking a little sad, and the way their owner talked about them it's no wonder they were. She didn't believe in them at all! I told her to sit them out in full sun for a couple of hours and they would perk right up. But she mumbled something negative and reluctantly took them back to her car, and I knew then that they would not perk up and it had nothing to do with the quality of the plants. Plants react to us. So as plant owners we need to be the kind of people our plants will want to flourish for!
35. Flowers are pretty awesome. Vegetables too. I'm sold on this gardening thing.