we leave for freaking India on Wednesday!

I leave for Milwaukee on Wednesday. That's...not as exciting.

DJ, let's exchange addresses in email so we can send each other postcards. I still have the postcard from your last trip abroad!! And Maria's from Italy, too. I love postcards. I got out of the habit of sending them because Steve doesn't think it's fun to sit in a cafe and write them, but this next trip I have several days before and after Steve's overlap, so I will have time to indulge.

I really should do laundry. Really don't want to. I guess I'll at least do dishes, since that's easier, and I've got enough clean clothes for another few days, but don't even have enough clean dishes for dinner.

I'm glad the visas and DL came through for you, DJ.

smonster, I sure hope the poison ivy itchiness stops soon.

The raised beds were finished last night so I've spent this morning trying to transplant the plants I bought way back on Oct 2. I hope they survive. I bought them all as small as I could because I suspected there'd be a delay on the raised beds but I didn't know it would be this huge a delay. So all of the plants are rootbound now and some, like the poppies, aren't looking that healthy.

I also dug a hole and emptied my bokashi bin into one of the beds and covered it with soil. Bokashi is a Japanese composting method that basically pickles the waste. The advantage is that you can compost things you can't do in normal compost like meat. It doesn't reek the way you'd think it would. If you do it right, it just has a mild pickled smell. Plants are supposed to love it. The beneficial bacteria used in bokashi are also good for the soil flora.

We went put and got cheap breakfast at Ikea, along with a bunch of black-and-white stripey boxes to organize stuff into. Now the second load of laundry is in and it's time to throw more shit out and put the rest into the aforesaid boxes.

Spidra, I've never known anyone who did bokashi composting! Very cool. Do you have to add something to pickle it?

I'm now watching H50 and doing routine work stuff. I need to start writing evals and prepping for a meeting. Which reminds me, hivemind, I could use some info from anyone who's worked with troubled youth, basically backup that a 1-5 ratio is much more reasonable than 1-10.

I have been informed that one of my sisters is conspiring with one of my neighbors to throw me a baby shower, which I wasn't expecting because I didn't think people did showers for second kids. But since they're making the effort, I'm putting together a registry on babiesrus.com, and am having real trouble coming up with things I want that aren't just fancy/expensive versions of basic cheapo things I already have. (I would have registered for some glass baby bottles, but apparently you can't ship those, which is dumb.)

You have a plastic bokashi bin with a spigot at the bottom for drawing off any of the bokashi "bongwater" that builds up. You put in the waste, then you sprinkle it with bokashi (which is usually wheat bran that has been impregnated with EM [effective microorganisms]). Then you put something over the pile inside the bin just as an added step to try to keep the pile anaerobic. Then you seal the lid on the bin. You do repeat these steps until the bin is full. Then you leave it sealed for a week and a half to two weeks. Then the bokashi is ready to use. It doesn't break down in the bin so it looks much like what you put in. So it's usually then tossed into a regular composter or vermicomposter to really break it down into unrecognizable bits. But you can also just toss the bokashi at the bottom of any potted plants you're just potting up or you can dig a hole and toss it in there and put soil on top of it.

The advantage, as I said, is being able to compost stuff that would normally be verboten in a regular compost process. And the resulting stuff being very good for plants/soil.

My mom is pretty anti-composting as she is scared to death that it will attract vermin and she also thinks it looks ugly. The bokashi bin is much smaller and I can keep it out of sight. And it's sealed so she can't argue that rats will get at it.

Oh, java! For sure!

I love surprise showers! Congrats again.

Smonster, sorry it's rough going withthe itchies.

Diapers. Register diapers, blankies, consumables. Instead of a few fancy things get a years supply of consumables out of it. Also some stuff for mama on grounds that a happy mama is good for baby. Unless some of the fancy versions have advantages for you. Or you really like them.