RANDOMNESS

Here are some more random facts about me, bullet style:

• Cinnamon is my favourite spice.
• Until I came to London, I had never seen the snow in my life.
• There is no nail polish out there that lasts on my nails more than 2 days.
• I love to sing at the top of my lungs but rarely do it anymore.
• One corner of my mouth does not smile. This is very weird but instead of going up as it would normally do, it goes down. Most of my pictures look like I am sort of snarling.
• I cannot sleep if Husband is not in bed, asleep with me too.
• I don't wear moisturizer of any kind. (I've been trying to get into it more since winter struck and my skin feels parched)
• I secretly like the Oprah show.

RUPERT UPDATE

Well.

First of all, thank you everybody for your comments on Rupert. It's so amazing to realize people out there are actually reading, and have so much useful information about everything. I should have posted a picture of it before repotting it, because then I would have known that the worst possible thing I could do to Rupert was precisely that. I would have also realized the poor thing was completely overwatered, and would have then hopefully saved its roots by only changing the soil and letting it recover.

Unfortunately, I did not know it was a peace lily, and thus did not conduct any kind of useful research before repotting it. It also does not help that it's dead cold now here, and my flat has no heating. Predictaby, I guess, Rupert is, uhm dead? How do I tell if it's dead? The only three leaves it had are now completely brown and srhivelled, and I don't see any new shoots coming through. Should I give it a couple more weeks, or should I just give up and mourn it? Could it be hibernating? If the roots were dead, what would they look like?

I would have loved to save Rupert. It would have been a live reminder of the fact that for the first time in my life not only did I love every single thing about my job, but that I made it happen (yup, a la "The Secret"). It would have been a nice memento to keep from the amazing experience that it was to work for a company that made a difference. Sigh. Sorry Rupert, I hope plant heaven is bug free, full of healthy soil and lots of warm light.

CROSS YOUR FINGERS FOR RUPERT'S SAKE

Around March -or maybe it was February? Doesn't really matter- a friend of mine from Workplace decided the office was too grim and bought a plant to cheer her desk up. The plant was nice, and it indeed livened the place a little bit. Rachel watered, touched, fed and talked to the plant and it started to thrive. And thrive. And thrive.

One day it started to wilt, and look sort of sad and a bit cramped. The leaves drooped and turned yellow and died. Rachel and another colleague of mine sat around the plant, plotting and planning to buy more soil, and blah. Then they would forget about it for a week, until one of them noticed the plant shedding leaves, and they would plan again. You can guess where this is going. The grand potting plan never happened. It would amuse me to see them fretting over the plant, knowing they would not do anything about it, wondering just how long the poor thing was going to last.

About two months ago, Rachel got this amazing opportunity to live Latin America with her boyfriend for a year, and left the plant in the care of the colleague who had fussed the most around the plant. Andrea sort of neglected it. She would remember it once in a while, giving it sidelong chagrined glances and would then proceed to promptly over water it. (I really don't blame her, I would have probably done the same thing) On our last day, she asked if any of the people staying in the office was willing to care for the plant. Nobody volunteered. So she decided to just leave it to die. Just like that. There would be no more soil buying, or repottting. There was no point. It was almost dying.

I don't know what came over me. I am usually very practical. I would normally have been the one to suggest we just chuck the piteous thing and put it out of its misery. But I couldn't. I couldn't just leave the poor thing to die. I don't know why.



So I brought it home with me, planning also to repot it, and care for it and make it live. But then I got sick. And the poor thing got sadder. And sadder. And sadder.


I kept glancing at it and worrying about it. I ventured unsuccesfully outside for a short while to my local shops to see if I could find a pot and more soil. Did you know nobody gardens, or plants or repots during the winter months? Of course not, why would they? Plants become dormant this time of year. It is not a good idea to repot them now. It is also not a good idea do repot a dying plant. I didn't know that, but I digress.

I named it Rupert. It is probably a she, but because I haven't the faintest idea of what kind of plant it is, and I can't even remember if it had flowers when Rachel bought it, I decided not to care. Rupert it is.

I really want to save Rupert. I have a soft spot for it.

So the first thing I did when I felt well on Friday, was find a place to buy a pot and soil to save Rupert. I didn't really have much choice of size, design etc (see above: winter) But we came home with what we could, and even got a 'salvage dying plants' solution that promised miracles.

I know nothing about plants, or potting, or winter. I just transferred as best as I could onto the new pot, watered it and asked it to hang in there, hoping come spring it will thrive. After doing this, it occurred to me I could google about it, and learned it was not a good idea to do anything to the poor plant. But I could not let it just sit there looking so pitiful. I couldn't. I can only hope it doesn't go into shock and die.



As of today, two of the three leaves are starting to yellow and I fear the worst. It's also getting quite cold here, and I don't know if it is better to just leave it to the normal temperature of our flat (which is badly insulated, and hence, very cold) or if to keep it in the living room where the radiators are warm. Also, my flat does not get much light. And the window is drafty. We'll see what happens. Cross your fingers for Rupert's sake.

ENOUGH

Right. So I am unemployed. Boo hoo. Enough with the self pity don't you think?

On a brighter note, what do you think about the new looks around here? I downloaded this beautiful (and Free!) template, and while I think it looks gorgeous, I can't work out how to edit the 'Contact' tab, and my blogger profile seems to have disappeared. Also, my twitter tab is kinda funny, which may be driving me a bit crazy. Do any of you know how to fix this? Haaalp!

Also, as I was re-writing my 'About me' bit I realized this blog was meant to be about writing things I like - kind of expanding on the daily gratitude lists I make each morning- and so far I have mostly indulged in the wallowing of the job loss, so there will be no more of that. I am still making some finishing touches on my next post (she says!!! As if they were brilliantly written... ahem ( I don't mind not being good, English is my second language so being coherent is the main aim here, mostly. (This also gives me an excuse to shamelessly abuse the use of parentheticals))) but for now, I give you:

Shoes. On a wire. What's up with that?