Farmtown Patterns

I love making patterns in my Farmtown fields. This one:

turned out particularly well, but I think I'm going to have to do it again. The resolution is not as good as I'd hoped. This one:

is better.

Party Time

Yesterday: mowed lawn, gathered recipes, sent invitations
Today:
- I put the ingredients for the pulled pork in the slow cooker on schedule. Next, groceries.
- Groceries done and liquor restocked. Next, put together the quinoa salad and sangria.

Later:
As usual, I got too busy to update the blog.
I finished putting together the sangrias (white and red) and the quinoa salad and marking the time as very late (getting close, too close, to the anticipated beginning of the party), I immediately began the vacuuming. I was just finishing up that task when my first guests arrive. One of them was my cousin, Susan, who is always so helpful in the kitchen. We tidied the kitchen table and Susan helped me finished the pulled pork and make the hummus (it is SO quick).
I lost track of the time as other guests arrived, including my parents, siblings and their spouses, Stacey and JR, and Janiece and her SmartMan. It was a potluck, so there were many tasty dishes, including potato salad, a spinach salad, three fruit salads, three dips (guacamole, dill dip, and my hummus) with various chips and crackers. The dessert was a delicious blueberry pie.
We had a lovely time. The guests all knew each other to some extent, with a few minor exceptions, so conversation flowed easily. Those whose temperment is less social amused themselves by simply listening or by playing with Matti and Martin. I got around to talking to most of the guests and hostess duties were pretty light. I do like the potluck style parties for easy and informal get togethers, but there's something fun about providing everything your guests need, so I don't think I'll give up formal dinners. There's a time and a place for everything. :)

Thank you to all my guests for the wonderful entertainment and tasty food you provided! We should do it again some time soon. :)

Burn Baby Burn

Apparently when they were giving out thumbs in the beginning, I reached into the box labelled "black" rather than "green."

Those plants I was so proud of, then left out in the hail, have now gone through a trial by fire. It's been a hot couple of days and I have them out on my deck (west side of the house). They're marked "full sun," but when I looked at them today at noon-ish, they were burnt to a crisp! WTF?


(This is them pulled back inside the house for their own protection from the freakin' elements.)

I seem to do OK with houseplants, but I can't seem to win with outdoor plants. :(

Again, I predict the mint and rosemary will do OK. The thyme will probably recover. The parsleys and basils are toast. (Sorry, Susan!)

Day 2 Nutshell

Had a good day, all of it out at the job site. I'm picking up the lingo and strategies of historic preservation pretty quickly, which makes me feel good. Spent the whole day with one of the principals too, getting to know each other better, so that made me feel more at ease too. (My very worst job ever was at a place where I felt like no one else there ever made any mistakes. Yes, the same place that gave me a negative performance review a week after I started working part time there.)

Then, I spent three hours visiting with a friend I hadn't seen in months. That was good too.

FB still takes too much time in the evening. I think I'm going to have to cut some of my activities there. No, not FT. That's top of the roster. I have some other bench warmers I don't need.

Wheels Within Wheels

My boys. Too cute.

First Day

In short, it was OK - a little nerve-wracking, but OK.

I got started pretty well. I got there on time, I was dressed appropriately without being overdressed, and I met up with the HR gal (my first appointment) on my way in.
Halfway through the morning, I got an enormous document from the principal I'll be working with first. It was the Historical Assessment Survey (or something like that) for the buildings I'll be working on first. It was not riveting reading, but I wasn't sure how much I could skim. We had a staff meeting, at which I was introduced to the rest of the firm. They seem like nice folks, though you have to get used to the ultra sharp wit.
After lunch (found a yummy cheese and tomato panini at a local deli), I managed to get an internet connection. I was at no time tempted to get on Facebook or Farmtown, and even felt a little nervous about dashing off a quick tweet. Part of that was because almost all the computers in the workspace (serving 7 employees) faced the wall, meaning my screen was constantly open to observation. The other part was that it seemed to me that no one else was taking any time to do personal tasks - that may have been due to the deadline looming tomorrow, but who knows? So, no risk of lollygagging here!
In the early afternoon, I was getting pretty tired, having stayed up late wrestling with CUBline (the unemployment claim website), and I was reading the gigantor report, which didn't help. A mid-afternoon tea help revive me. Towards the end of the day (as often happens), the principal showed up again and we talked a little about some of the things she'd like done. One of which I was pretty sure I could accomplish by the end of the day (in preparation for a site visit tomorrow). It took a bit of clever computing, but I managed to do what I intended. I wasn't able to do the little bit extra she wanted (which came up after I showed her my first pass and about half an hour from the end of the workday), but I wasn't really willing to stay that much longer than I already did. Yes, I worked late on my first day.
Tomorrow is a site visit! Woo hoo!
My one big mistake was mis-answering the phone with a simple hello. It was after hours and I was taken by surprise by my phone ringing. I was certain it was a wrong number. Of course, I forgot that I'm supposed to have my ultra professional answer every time. I was gently corrected by one of the other gals and I put a post it note on the phone to remind me until I get into the habit.
Speaking of which, one of the nice things about this firm is the number of women in it. Maybe it comes from having one of the two principals a woman, but it was always something I noticed about my last place -- especially after most of the few women who were there (and not administrative staff) were let go early in the layoffs.

Alright. Satisfied, my audience? Now it's time to go work on Farmtown. And cut up the strawberry marshmallows I made on Sunday morning. (A little bit too sweet, if you as me. Next time I'll try lemons or oranges or mangos or something.)

In the Meantime

While you're waiting to hear how my first day went, enjoy this lovely photo of a flowering artichoke sent to me by Mechanicky Gal.

Rollin' ...

Rollin'...
Rollin' on the River

I finally got up to level 27 in Farmtown. That's the level where you can buy yourself a river! I've been looking forward to it since they added rivers to the FT game a week or two ago.
Here is my beauty:

Nice, eh? I'm trying to strike the right balance between the river and the trees. (On one hand, trees naturally grow on river banks, on the other hand, if there are too many trees around it, you won't be able to see it!)
I also added a mill (my second Fairytale reference: "First 'ouse past the mill...") which is quite pretty.

The next things I might want to get are: a large pond and a greenhouse. The levels for those seem pretty far away, so I have plenty of time to fine tune the current layout.